Chapter 14: King of the Titans.
I didn't lie mate. Here's your second chapter! Well, 14th. Anyways, I hope you've been enjoying them so far, I've put quite the bit of time in them. Especially this one! I have yet to write it, so that's easy to say for me. But today's chapter features ye ol' shadow, aka ass kicker. So Elijah is gonna get his ass kiked. Will he beat them? Who knows, read it to find out!
Is that a fucking shadow! What the hell Stephane!... Fuck, I shoulda turned back the moment he mentioned anything about those things.
"It was very hard finding you... A whole universe for me to scour! Hehe, but now I've found you..."
Stephane pushed us to our feet and glared at the shape that lurked amongst the dark, it didn't approach just yet it just glared right back, laughing quietly to itself. I could also hear a voice ringing out through my head, yelling angrily, one I hadn't heard before. But if I had to guess, it was probably the General or whatever, if things got dicey, I'd maybe be able to call for help... I could feel the damages along my hull, my chest-plate had been dented horribly, and scorched beyond belief. I'd have to get to work on repairing that sooner or later.
Though before I could think, Stephane rushed forward and cleaved my blade in a clean arc towards the shadow, it burnt through the thin foliage as it barreled towards it. Though before I could land a clean hit, it leapt from the ground and flew right into my face, smashing in my visor as I felt little tendrils of pain run through my faceplate.
I heard it laugh slightly, it's raspy, ethereal voice worming my way into my ears as Stephane recovered from the blow, clutching my head in pain as he held my blade at the ready. We looked amongst the shadows, trying to catch at least a glimpse of it. Although trying to find something literally made of the dark, in the dark was pretty tough.
Rustling came from all around us, it stayed hidden in the dark, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. I thought these things were more aggressive! Fuck off Clara, hits like a truck my ass. Well, that doesn't really mean anythi- I perked up and immediately yanked the controls from Stephane as I turned a full 180, quickly shooting up my hand and letting free a vortex shield. It materialized from my palm and set ahead of me. Right dead center was a bolt of darkness, it spun harmlessly it it's grasp, and from amongst the darkness, I spotted the soft glow of it's eyes.
"What the..." Stephane muttered, before immediately being thrown back into action.
Now here's the idea. Just kill it before it kills you! That simple. I let the bolt free from my grasp as I set open the battery upon my shoulder. It flew at an incredible speed into the dark, and it exploded somewhere amongst the rainforest, hopefully upon the shadow, although that would be unlikely. It sent trees into splinters and many more falling, but through the chaos I kept locked onto the shadow, it'd dashed away from the bolt at the very last moment. And it had it's gaze locked upon me, it's red eyes following me as it dashed just out of the corner of my vision.
Although luckily for me, somehow my missile salvo had locked onto it, giving me a pretty clear view on where it was actually going, although it was a bit disorienting with those little indicators darting about my screen. More bolts were fired as it dashed around me, sending projectile after projectile from every direction, and having a big chassis, kind of makes you a big target. Some missed, others collided, it wasn't pretty. I got pushed around as bolt after bolt collided with my hull, digging deep into the element of my plating as it sent my stumbling about.
"Big Guy, give me back control! I can take em'" Stephane said, as I felt him tumbling about my head, grasping onto whatever he could grab.
"Fuck no!... Uh, I mean. Negative. Stay calm and let me deal with this" I replied, my voice breaking momentarily. Can't let that happen again.
I narrowed my cameras, if I even could and fired a barrage of 'missiles'. They shot off at speeds too fast for me to notice, and they all homed in on the Shadow. They soon collided with it's form, ever single tiny explosion, forming into a massive cloud of smoke as a massive BOOM rang out that sent me falling to my ass.
The explosion had cleared out a number of trees, which had barreled to the floor in a massive heap, others colliding with more causing a sort of domino effect, as trunks snapped and cracked, falling to the ground. A few nearly crushed my chassis, and my body was beaten with branches from the once thick canopy, not that I could feel it though. Luckily.
The sky was open, and the moons were shining bright in the sky. Slightly lighting up the arena and finally letting me get a good look of the thing. As described, pitch black, seemed to absorb all the light around it, blood-red glowing eyes. And it seemed pissed, despite the fact I couldn't see it's face, I felt it's emotions blaring from it's mind. It groaned as it stood and it tilted it's head as it looked up at me.
"Did you think that'd work? Heh, stupid-" Before it could finish it's sentence, I'd pulled my pistol from my hip and I immediately opened fire. I wasn't gonna give up an opportunity like this, especially since it was distracted.
It was engulfed in a fiery ball of cyan, as the corruptive properties of element seeped deep into it's skin. And hopefully blew it to smithereens. I kept at it, firing over and over again till my arm heated to an uncomfortable standard, until my weapon completely overheated, shooting out two modules from the side of the gun and releasing an unnecessary amount of smoke. The muscle beneath my plating had grown red hot as well. I was soon to push myself to my feet as I brushed off the grime from my chassis with an unsettling screech of metal on metal.
I looked to the spot where the shadow once stood, in it's place a crater scorched entirely black, small specks of element littered about the hole burning bright as they burnt into the ground, eventually fizzling away and dying. I let my gun down and stared in disbelief.
"It couldn't have been that easy... right?" I muttered, my metallic voice echoing off into the woods.
And as I'd expected, it was much too easy to be true. A strong 'pain' rang through the back of my head, and I'd felt the plating breach as something stabbed into the cockpit.
"Ahh! What the fuck!" Stephane yelled
Well, luckily he didn't get hit. I set my hand to the back of my head and grabbed onto whatever had imbedded itself into my 'flesh'. I pulled hard and ripped it from my metal, I looked down to it, a spear of black, barbed at the end. I grumbled as it crumbled away into nothingness, then raising my sword high and turning around. My pistol still needed time to cool off, and from what I saw, I doubt it'd be strong enough to kill em'.
I swung as I turned, my blade quickly grazing across the terrain behind me as I made a full 180, it caught something and a cry of pain sounded out. I flung whatever I'd hit off into the distance, where it flew off and smashed hard into a tree, my sword sizzled as it burnt away whatever had fell upon the corrosive element of the blade. Sadly, I'd hit it with the flat, but it seemed to have done some damage.
Shadow. Red eyes. I barreled towards it full sprint, looking to literally grid it to a pulp. Look, I ain't one for quick moment decisions, well, decisions which are good but it was a relatively good plan. I grew nearer and nearer as it pushed itself out the crater it'd made, looking up at me as I approached. I was so close, so very close. I'd brought my sword high above my head, and yet just before I struck, I felt something stab through my chest. Knocking me back a step or two.
I looked down to my chassis, spear, in my chest where my heart would be if I were Human still. I would've collapsed if it weren't for the fact that I didn't have any vital organs to hit, and I'd probably be dead. Although I did have some sort of circuitry somewhere beneath all that element that he'd hopefully not hit. Once more, I wrenched the foreign object from my hull and threw it to the ground, now positively angry.
I shot my hand forward and grabbed hold of the shadow before it could dash away from me, I know, I know, bad idea. I then pulled it from the tree and slammed it into the ground, grinding it's ethereal-esque body through the dirt and stone before scooping it up and attempting to simply crush with my iron grip. Granted, it was easier said then done, but I felt it crack, even just a little.
Though it backfired, obviously. It brought forward it's arm and unleashed a hellish amount of dark flame right into my face. It completely engulfed my head and it burnt away at my plating at a temperature much hotter than anything I'd felt so far. Nothing a Scorch could produce, probably not what even a hundred could. I hurled it away from me as the flames stuck to my visor, melting away at the element.
I smothered the flames out with my palms, scorching my hands black and slightly melting the metal upon their surface. I'm most certainly not cut out for this stuff, I'm not trained at all!... But I know someone who is.
"Goddammit!" I muttered
"You alright Big Guy?" Stephane asked
"Yes... Yes. I'm alright, Pilot, I severely apologize for my actions." I replied. As Stephane was still equipped with the motion capture gear he still had partial control over some of my systems. All I needed to do was give it up. I sighed and let go, my body growing weak and tired as I fully lost control over my motor functions. "Transferring controls to Pilot."
Stephane pushed me to my feet and looked down to my palms, they were severely melted but still functional. My hull had been battered and eroded but was slowly molding back, and I mean slowly. There was a gaping hole in my chest from the spear wound and my head could be in arguably better condition. But we had no time to stall, that shadow was still about and in much better condition than us.
"Pilot, I suggest you be careful. It is faster, and stronger than us, though it's durability is something not to be desired in comparison. Time your hits carefully, and do not worry about me, I can take a beating." I spoke monotonously as we surveyed the area.
"Got it mate" Stephane replied, raising my sabre cautiously, he focused in on the faint glow of red off in the distance. "Alright you ugly bastard, let's dance."
Stephane pulled my pistol free, as in the time waiting the heat had died down and it was rendered usable once more. The shadow only laughed and let free a barrage of shade... shadow, I dunno, dark explodey shit. In response, Stephane fired back, the much larger circumference of the bolts of element engulfed them and burnt them to a crisp before they could have reached us, and they flew true. Once more, the shadow was engulfed in a explosion of element and Stephane wasted no time rushing while it was 'crippled'.
As the smoke cleared, the shadow was still there set upon it's knees and sent skidding a few metres back from the blast, it seemed wounded in one way or another, either from our constant attacks, or that single bolt. It'd primarily evaded most of them, but when they landed phew they definitely did something. Stephane didn't bother wasting any of our precious time, rushing forwards and stomping down on it, before flicking on my thrusters. I was lifted high in the air, and jets of light cyan element shot out from the boosters mounted beneath my feet. The surrounding area was lit up like the 4th of July, coating the area in a brilliant blue light, and the sound could probably be heard from miles away. I heard it scream in pain as it was roasted thoroughly by thousands of degrees of pure jet flames, though eventually they ran dry.
I fell from a decent height and landed back down on it, driving it into the ground under 48 tonnes. But of course, it was still breathing, and still trying to rip me apart. Which I'm pretty certain it can do. Stephane was quick to backpedal stepping off the beaten form of the shadow, and it most certainly looked very much alive. But we could definitely tell it was wounded very much.
"Hurt... But I'd have expected more..."
It leapt towards us in a flash, much faster than I could process, this time brandishing a weapon of dark which it'd fished from amongst it's foggy exterior. A sword, serrating and burning with a dark fire. And the next thing I knew, it was embedded deep into my neck, maybe it'd struck a wire or something but I still yet didn't feel anything. A blessing and a curse. Stephane grunted as he felt the shockwave that followed ring throughout our bodies but he reacted quickly, beating the shadow off our body as it attempted to push it farther within, wrenching it back and forth trying to sever it completely from my shoulders.
It left the blade embedded in my neck as dodged away from our fist, it seemed slower but yet it was faster than us by many. It grunted and clutched it's ribs and it fled back into the shadows of the canopy, well, that which hadn't collapsed. Looks like we're playing on the defensive once more. Stephane kept track of it as it dashed from tree to tree, watching us closely, just waiting for that juicy moment where our guard was down, even if that moment was less than a second.
Eventually it grew tired of waiting and it just set upon us a barrage of spears, that which if collided would probably kill me. Stephane brought up my sabre and sliced burnt most of them to nothingness as they collided with the bright blue surface of the blade, yet some barely missed, and one hit true. Didn't hit anything terrifically vital so we shrugged it off for now. But then... BANG
Something had embedded itself into my neck, BANG, into my shoulder and just then had Stephane taken into consideration the danger we were in. He sheathed my pistol and turned around, bringing up my vortex shield just quick enough to have caught the next projectile. He let it free off into the dark, where it shot off towards where the shadow hopefully was, yet it'd dodged right at the last second.
This is just getting annoying now... If we kept up like this, I'd end up a heap of scrap. I see what he's doing, keeping just out of range to dodge any of my projectiles, and hidden away in the dark where we couldn't see em. Very well, we'd just not give em anywhere to hide.
"Stephane. Use the missile salvo on the surrounding area. Destroy the terrain, do not give it any space to hide." I spoke, as we kept hidden behind our shield.
Stephane grunted in response, making us stand to our full height and he set open our missile salvo. It'd only refilled by a quarter, but it'd me more than enough to take down any hiding spots. He didn't bother letting the tracker systems boot up before he let them free, they flew wildly all about us, blowing up the moment they collided with something. They spread out, blowing up on each other, on the ground, on us, and in the surrounding foliage, which was what I was mainly looking for.
Trees collapsed around us, their mighty trunks collapsing to the ground and amongst the carnage, a blob of black was flung from the trees and up into the sky. It'd deviated in the air, angling itself to face me, and it somehow jumped off thin air and barreled towards me. It smashed into my chest and sent me skidding back a few feet, jumping from my chest, it floated backwards and a stream of shade flew from his cloak of a fog.
Stephane leapt out of the way, as the stream collided with the ground just barely away from us, in it's place, a crater. We quickly pushed ourselves to our feet and readied on the defensive, glaring at it as it stood there with a smug, twisted grin plastered on it's face.
"My, you're a resilient one aren't you? Well, the man in your head is. You're just dead weight aren't you, Plainswalker?" It mused "Dead weight, soon to be dead~" It sang. It's crooked smile growing even wider.
"Dead weight huh?" Stephane said, "Well, I doubt that, especially since you're the one hiding just out of reach" Stephane mused. "How about you prove that we're lowly. By fighting us up-close and personal?" Stephane said, a grin probably growing beneath his helmet.
It stood there for a moment, it's smile growing dull for a moment as it thought, before a raspy laugh tore through it's throat, it's crooked grin growing wider now. "Well. Those are some big words for a pathetic mortal that I could crush with no second thought. But-" It's billowing shroud tore open and it held out it's hand. The sword which had embedded itself in my neck shook and ripped it's way from my chassis, eventually coming free, pulling a fair share of element 'muscle' from the wound as it flew into it's hand. "I'll amuse you, for now."
It slashed it's sword down, flicking my 'blood' from the edge. It's face lit up with glee as it stared up at me, brandishing the blade. Stephane raised my sabre and holstered my pistol, keeping my disfigured hand clenched tight in a fist as he stared it down.
It dashed towards us it's body in a blur and it's sword raised, Stephane attempted to stamp down on it, but it was simply too fast for that, it spun up my leg, dragging it's blade up the length of my leg before stabbing it right in my groin. Good thing I didn't have the manly bits around there, but it still hurt... my dignity. Before it could wrench the blade from my body, Stephane punched it's form causing it to fly back, ripping the blade from my body in the process.
He turned and rushed it's form bringing my sabre crashing down on it, it'd recovered by now and just barely dodged it's cleaving arc. It leapt onto the back end of the blade and ran up the length of it, smiling giddily as it readied to strike. It leapt and aimed for a soft spot between my shoulder and chest-plate, yet before it could, We managed to land a solid blow with our heads. A headbutt will you say, you'd assume it wouldn't be effective against a creature specifically designed to destabilize universes, but you'd be wrong.
It was stopped dead in it's tracks and it fell to the ground, not without immediately recovering of course, but hey. It's the thought that counts.
Stephane attempted to stamp on while it lay still, but as expected, it rolled away at the last moment. Instead of rushing forward for another melee, which would most likely be countered a moment later, he dashed back and let his shroud open wide, and from within it emerged rows and rows of spears. Oh god dammit.
Stephane brought my melted hand up and let free a vortex shield, it had enough energy to stay alive for a few moments and enough to catch everything. Much to my relief. Amongst the magnetic field lay projectiles aplenty, they looked as if they were still attempting to stab into my hull, pointed towards me, though halted completely in their tracks.
"Hey! This was supposed to be close-quarters!" Stephane yelled
It only let free a wretched laugh, as it gripped it's sword tighter. "No promises." It mused, holding a finger to it's dry dead lips.
Stephane frowned and let the spears free, they spread out and shot forward to the shadow, it effortlessly dodged around them, seemingly molding between the gaps. It leapt high into the sky and dove towards us, sending a flurry of projectiles our way as it readied it's blade to strike. Our vortex shield was dead, and there was no time to dodge, so I'd just have to take the brunt of it. A rain of darkness was set upon me, digging deep into my chassis, breaking apart the spears that'd buried into my body previously, and nearly severing my arm clean off. My visor had cracked, and most of my plating had been thinned to a point where it was barely visible. Whatever was left had been severly dimmed, littered with dips and holes. My sabre had been knocked free of my functional arm, leaving me basically defenseless.
Stephane shook off the aftershock and brought my working arm to block the shadow. It's sword dug deep into the 'flesh' and element and nearly cleaved my wrist right off. I groaned as it bounced back, ripping the blade barbarically from my 'flesh'.
"Heh, just like I said. Soon to be dead. Now your time has come!" It cried, as it stood just a ways away from us.
I fell to my knees, and propped myself up with my barely functional arm. We looked over to it, as it slowly approached. It had replaced it's sword with a gnarly looking spear, thin tipped but sharp. It was hopeless, why didn't I just leave while I had the chance...
That was until a ball of flame engulfed it as it cried out in pain. I looked over toward where it'd came from, a dark-red scorch stood amongst the carnage, T-203 Thermite Launcher shouldered as it constantly firing towards the shadow, or at least in it's general direction. Couldn't see much from among the thermite.
Behind it, an Ion, Vanguard, Legion and Ronin emerged. Heh, took them long enough. The Vanguard kept at a distance keeping it's XO16A2 Chaingun to it's hip for the time-being while it looked for a clear sight of the shadow. The Ronin had dashed amongst the flames, broadsword at the ready, and the Legion stood alongside the Scorch with it's Predator Cannon revved up and ready to fire. The Ion ran up to us and set it's hand upon our shoulder, a voice ringing out through it's speakers.
"Not so smart now, was it Stephane?" The Ion said hurriedly, looking back to the flames. "Can you move?"
"Josh? Ha. No, I'm fucked, but I ain't leaving this Titan behind..." Stephane replied with a cough, as we weakly tried to push us up. We managed to get us upright but that was the best we could do.
"Just get out! You're a... relatively valuable member of our team, and I'm not just gonna let you die." Josh replied.
"Look mate... I'll figure something out, just keep the thing at bay." Stephane said, grasping our head in pain.
The Ion looked at us worriedly, then he turned around, unholstering his Splitter Rifle and running off towards the commotion.
The shadow had recovered from the sudden blow and had set it's sights upon the team. Rushing from the flames to tear them limb from limb, brandishing the same blade it'd used on me previously. From what I know, Titans are made from stainless steel, and that isn't nearly as tough as element, and along with the fact that they have many weak points to target, and I doubt they'd live to tell the tale if I didn't interfere in one way or another.
The Legion and Vanguard had provided cover fire as the Ronin held back the shadow in close-quarters melee. It was much more skilled than Stephane ever was, managing to block, parry and dodge most attacks, but it's blade was growing ever duller, and none of it's counter hits barely made a bruise. The Scorch was forced to stop as he didn't want to risk scorching the both of them, and the Ion stood at a distance, sniping it with it's laser shot, but the Legion and Vanguard obviously didn't hold back. I believe the Legion was in long range mode, as it's bullets were a reddish hue, and more streamlined. But I can't think of that right now! I've gotta come up with something.
I looked about my HUD. There was a health bar that blared a yellow and brown caution bar, with my total health being around 36%, that's the doomed health bar. So basically, I'm fucked if I get hit once. While my wasp missiles were still on cooldown, my thrusters were grayed out, so was my vortex shield. But there was one thing, my only hope. Right on the bottom left, lay my core, just barely filled and sat right on the edge on 99%. If I could get that up n' running, I'd be on-par, if not faster than it, and let's not forget the absurd weapon upgrades it provides also.
I just needed to fill it up.
"Pilot. I h-have an idea" I said, my voice glitching out as my systems glitched and sputtered.
"Lay it on me... I...I can do it" Stephane said, out of breath as he panted from within the confines of my cockpit.
"My core. It is a-almost avail-lable, you need to fill it up. Take the X-BR-M-P3R Pla-Plasma Pistol and fire at will. I-It should only withstand a f-few hits before overheating, though if you m-man-manage that, it'l-ll fill my c-core, and the fight w-w-will be won" Hopefully...
"Got it mate." Stephane replied. My arm groaned as the scorched metal scraped against each other, Stephane reached down to my hip, where the pistol had somehow held on. It'd been damaged, but it was still functional. We raised it with a shaking arm, that looked as if it'd fall apart any second. The shadow had managed to knock the Ronin to it's back, and it was stood atop it, just about to stab it's blade right through the hatch. Perfect.
We let a flurry of bolts, but as expected, the gun immediately overheated as smoke rose from the gun. The bolts of pure element barreled towards the shadow, and with it not expecting it, they landed steadfast and true. Getting thrown back in an explosion of blue, the shadow let ou scream of pain. Granted it hit the Ronin also, but it didn't kill him, or injure him too badly. Besides, we saved it's life. But most importantly, my core was filled, right to the brim.
"Core Active. K-kick ass Pilot."
Just as I said that, I felt a huge surge of energy rush through my body, It hummed with a purple hue and I felt like I could take on the world. Things seemed to slow to a snails pace, the burning of the thermite, the shadow flying back, the bullets flying, but I moved perfectly fine. It was amazing. We reached down and picked up our sabre, as it graced my body once more, it hummed with a light purple glow, an ethereal white coating the edge of the blade that spun back and forth, almost like a chainsaw. My doomed health-bar quickly died away as the regeneration was sped up by tenfold, I could see the plating ever so slowly forming back over my body.
Well, there wasn't any time to ogle, we had a shadow to kill.
The shadow had recovered from our previous blows, pushing itself to it's feet as it brandished it's blade. Our other arm had already been rendered usable as the repairs had focused on the major injuries first, so we'd have much more ass kicking capabilities at hand. We sprinted towards it and without so much as a hint of mercy and without even letting it say a word, we swung hard with the sabre, cleaving into it's body. It just barely nearly dodged, yet it's speed had been hindered greatly, therefore, it was an easy picking.
The blade started up almost immediately as it dug into it's body, spinning at incredible speeds and sending bits of it flying everywhere as it dug deeper and deeper into it's form. The corrosive properties of element also came into play as it melted away whatever tough material the blade itself couldn't rip. We grasped the sabre with both hands and forced it deeper into it's body, ripping apart more and more flesh as it screamed out in pain. Sounded pretty funny too in slow motion.
It ripped itself free from the blade, painstakingly pushing away at the corrosive element. It had managed to free itself but it lost it's arm in the process, it had been ripped brutally from it's socket and it was torn to shreds as it burnt away amongst the blade. It looked surprised, maybe even afraid for a moment, till an overwhelming rage took their place.
"Die!" It's wretched voice came out slow as it dashed towards us. Yet no longer in an unpredictable blur, it was waaaay way easier to see what was coming, so in return we smacked it away with the back of our blade, before it could even fathom landing a hit.
It was flung back and plummeted into the ground as it's form was forced through a few feet of dirt, it'd nearly gotten itself up by the time we'd reached it, maybe if it'd gotten up, then it'd have a chance at killing us. But not now, this time, the tables had turned.
We grabbed hold of it's wretched body with our free hand, crushing it's form within our grip until we slammed it mercilessly into the ground. Kicking up dirt and dust in the process as we repeatedly piledrove it further and further into the dirt. It was fun, no doubt, but it was time to finish what we'd started. We flung it into the ground one last time, before we raised our sabre up high. It managed to catch a glimpse at us standing above it, and all it could mutter out was.
"...How-"
We brought the sabre down upon it's horrific form, letting the blades rip it apart, piece by piece. The element tore deeper into it's body, spreading among it's wretched corpse of a body and before we knew it, it was completely split it two. It's body burning away in a cyan hue as the rest of it's wretched form faded away to dust. I did it, I killed a shadow, and lived to tell the tale, well it must've been a pretty fucking weak shadow for me to have actually pulled that stunt off. It screamed out in agony as it disintegrated, the element eating away at whatever remained, it's voice ringing far out into the woods before it faded away into nothingness. Ironic, isn't it?
My steroids wore off, forcing me to my knees, I propped myself up with my sabre as I fought back the very imminate blackout that lingered amongst the back of my mind. I felt control melt back into my body as Stephane fainted within my head, and I could feel his wounds. This wasn't like the games, these Pilots couldn't just up and regenerate every wound immediately, lord how I'd love that, no, this was real. Severe head trauma, a small incision along his palm, and light abrasions and cuts, but he also had a deep laceration along his arm, from elbow to shoulder. It wasn't bleeding, but he was risking serious infection. Especially with all this liquid element I'm leaking.
I looked back to the others, they were a little confused to what'd happened, but only Josh had seen the once-blur that was me. I stared at him momentarily before rushing deep into the rainforest, disappearing amongst the trees. I had no clue where base camp was and I'm not quite sure that they'd be able to get him patched up without severe bodily damage. Though a place filled to the brim with fantasy magic, (Bullshit) and incredible technology would be a much more favorable option. Especially when said place was just at my fingertips.
I reached to my waist and pulled my key free, letting a plethora of rift-energy flow through it. I jabbed it forward, stuffing it into an invisible lock and twisting. Forming a portal in which emerged from nothing, shining with a beautiful golden glow. I slowly pushed myself up as I gazed to the swirling form of the portal, eventually stepping through, letting the gate close behind me with a satisfying bloop. I looked to the key in my palm, it swiveled as if though it were a compass, and I followed, sprinting as fast I could down the halls of gold following whichever direction the key pointed in.
In doing so, Id activated my thrusters in an attempt to go faster, and I discovered a new way of transit. I was immediately thrust forward at alarming speeds, being forced down the tunnels as my key pulled me along effortlessly the 0-g environment. Before I knew it, I was sent crashing through the portal to the realm of Locostral, my form smashing through the wall like a wrecking ball, and I was spat out with surprising force.
From the entry portal I was spat, but with that came some repercussions. I was hurled right up into the air, but luckily not into the nearest building. I set my thrusters active once more as I descended, slowly reaching the streets below. They sputtered away just as I landed down on the asphalt of a road. I looked about, panicked hoping to find somebody, anybody!
The streets weren't nearly as filled as the day of The Gathering, but there were a few people about. And I say people very lightly. I jogged up to a nearby group of people, dressed in a neon garb, trying to look as non-threatening as a 48 foot tall killing machine could look. I crouched down to them and let my visor fizzle away, before gently tugging Stephane from my cockpit, he still wore my motion capture kit, but luckily it wasn't properly connected to my internal wiring.
"Is any one of you a doctor?! My Pilo-... Friend is badly wounded, he needs medical attention" I said, trying to keep my tone low.
A petite looking woman stood from her seat amongst the group of 5, she had white clothes, a glowing golden 'skirt', white hair, mechanical golden wings and a halo above their head, I didn't recognise them from any media I knew, but she was one of my few hopes left. And she definitely looked the part, with the whole angel look going on.
"I can heal him." She spoke as she pulled a staff of sorts from her back. "Show me your friend, I will fix him to the best of my abilities" She sounded... particularly calm about this, as if it were a common occurrence. Granted, it gave me comfort.
I slowly lowered Stephane to the ground, gently laying him upon the concrete. She looked over him momentarily before grasping her staff with both hands. and pointing it towards my Pilot. The head narrowed and from it, a tri beam of golden light broke free and shot into him. I watched as his wounds miraculously stitched themselves together, and eventually, it looked as if though nothing had ever happened. Aside from the damages to his suit.
"You're lucky I was around" She said with a smile
I slowly scooped Stephane into my disfigured palms and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank you. You have no idea how much this means." I said as I held my Pilot close.
She let out a slight chuckle and she sat amongst the others. "Just doing my job."
I walked off down the street, not caring much about my physique and more concerned with getting Stephane somewhere safe. My body was ever so slowly healing, but I was leaking a trail of liquid element, not the raw stuff, but it'd still be an issue for anyone who stepped in it, and myself. I continued down the streets, catching the concerned glances of many passing Plainswalkers, a few had asked me of my condition. But I just told them I'd regenerate sooner or later.
Eventually, as I passed through the many different districts, I ended up in the mountains. Right in front of a massive cargo gate, in which automatically opened as I trudged towards it. I'd memorised the way back here from my first trek here with the clan, good thing I did too. I continued down along the halls of concrete and eventually into a sturdy lift, built upon tight steel cable and tows. I pressed in my floor with my free hand on the keypad and let the elevator take it's course.
The moments passed by slowly as I shuffled about worriedly. I never thought I'd get so emotional about a guy I'd only know for at most, three days, but that's what happens when said person spent most if not all the time you'd known inside your head, metaphorically and literally. Eventually, the doors parted open to show the familiar sight of the living room, it looked a little roughed up, but alright for the most part.
It was silent, but there was a singular inhabitant. A mech with a chassis of yellow and a windshield of dark blue, sat upon the couch watching an old TV show. He looked over to us as we entered the room, but the moment he caught a glimpse of my condition he jumped to his feet and rushed to my aide.
"Holy! What happened to you Elijah?" He said, as he grasped my arm. "Do you need help? I can get help!" James added as he rushed about worriedly.
"No, no. I'm... I'm fine. But him-" I lowered my hand, and showed James the unconscious form of Stephane who lay relatively motionless in the palm of my hand. "He's not doing so well. All I need is a few tablets of element. They're blue, made up of hexagonal plates. They aren't very big, but they can carry incredible amounts of power."
"Ok... Ok, I'll go place ask some from the quartermaster." James said as walked towards a console beneath the TV, switching it on and typing in something on the screen.
I trudged onwards towards my room, down the hallway and through the thick steel door. And finally, I'd found a purpose for the bed. I collapsed beside it, but I kept Stephane from being flung from my gentle grasp. I lay him gentle upon one of the cushions and I pulled myself upon the incredibly soft mattress. Staining the white sheets a mix of dark blue and black as oil and element seeped from my wounds and wires.
I felt my visual feeds slowly cut out as I slowed fell back onto the bed.
What a day...
Well, that's today's chapter finished. And I just wanted to clarify for the few guys reading this fic who've actually know what the Riftiverse is, and along with that, shadows. What Cade faced against was a Harbinger, y'know the thing that kicked everyone's ass and sent them to kingdom come, and made our funny little protag get depressed and run away. Yeah, what Elijah faced against was actually an Orchestrator, (Or a servitor, depending on how many people complain). Much weaker, but still potent. That explains why he could take it on in a 1v1 scenario. (let's just forget about the Pilots interfering)
Yeah, I get it. But I have a feeling that most of you come from Titanfall or from the Riftiverse discord, or maybe some of my fellow Ark fans are out there amongst the crowd, but completely forgot all about what the Mek truly was. Well, let me clarify. In the Ark lore, the Meks were created to counter Titans. Towering corrupted beasts of immense power that overran the world. And specifically when a massive horde of them was approaching some of the main dossier writers. When used correctly, they could bring down all but the biggest of foes (King Titan) Not unless they used a little doodad called the M.O.M.I but I don't wanna spoil the story too much. That explains why he kicked so much ass. Granted, they're complete and utter dogshit in the game since WildCard nerfed them into the ground because a bunch of little whinging crybabies complained that it was 'OP' because their shitty high-turn radius Giga's didn't one shot them, and they had an actual decent chance against them.
One day, I might pin Elijah against a Dark Knight, with help of the M.O.M.I, three other copies of himself and his fancy pants core to bring them down, and hopefully without Sleepysaurus Rex hopping on my ass and whinging and moaning about shit that doesn't really fucking matter. Yes, I'M STILL SALTY ABOUT THAT SLEEPY. I WONT FORGET WHAT YOU DID.
Hello, did you enjoy the chapter? If so, leave a review, positive, negative, I don't mind, just send me your thoughts, and I'll change some of the stuff you'd think needs changing, maybe discuss what needs to be discussed (I won't, I have crippling social anxiety) And, with that, I hope you have a wonderful day.