Chapter 11: Mechamasu
"A titan is only as mighty as the pilot inside him."
Rick wasn't lying when he said the Command Station was practically vacant. From the moment the four snuck in, Akikta hadn't heard or seen a single enemy. Not that he had a problem with the lack of salmonids. In fact, he preferred it.
The Command Station's lights barely functioned, so he'd rather not fight anyone if he can help it.
Akikta followed closely behind Frye while Rick and Eight led the way. He noticed some missing panels on the ceilings and walls as they walked through the mechanized halls. Those would be places he'd expect a defense system of some kind to be stationed, like turrets or security droids. Actually, why didn't Sal utilize those? Atlantis clearly had the technology for it.
Sure, the place was in disrepair. But Akikta found it hard to believe the defenses were non-functional, considering everything else seemed to be. There was the possibility Atlantis had no defense systems, similar to Alterna in its golden era. Though, even if other areas of Atlantis had none, a place such as the Command Station definitely had to.
If that's true, how come Sal hadn't used such defenses on them yet? Did he simply not know how, or was he waiting to get the jump on them? Or maybe the defenses were only triggered by unauthorized presences? No, that wouldn't make sense. The system would've turned on the salmonids occupying it long before Akikta came into the picture... right?
The more Akikta thought about it, the more his paranoia grew. At any moment, there was a chance a turret or droid of some kind would pop out of nowhere and end the four of them right where they stood. Akikta held himself as his anxiety worsened.
"Right here," Rick called out suddenly, making Akikta jump.
The group stopped in front of a closed metal door; on the side was a panel. "This is where I last saw them move those strange devices." Rick pointed. "Strange though. The door was always left open."
Eight attempted to open the door, but it didn't budge. "Great, how do we get in?" asked the octoling. Rick replied with a shrug.
Akikta looked over at the lit panel, realizing the text displayed was in English. "It's asking for a code," he pointed out, causing the two to look at the screen.
"Do you have it?" Eight questioned, looking to the salmonid.
Rick shook his head. "I do not."
Akikta looked at the metal door, blocking them off from weapons of possible unimaginable power. The hinges looked worn down and rusted, which didn't spell out anything good for whatever was on the other side. Regardless, it did give him an idea. "The door looks in rough shape. Maybe we can just yank it open?"
Eight examined the door, tugging on its handle with minimal effort. It budged slightly. She turned to Frye. "Help me pull." Frye came to Eight's side. Both gripped the handle while Rick and Akikta stayed back and watched.
Eight counted down, and when she reached zero, Akikta nearly let out an audible "whoa" at how quickly her and Frye's arms bulged. He'd been under the impression that inklings and octolings were nothing but ink. And yet, as they pulled, their arms showed more muscle mass than Akikta thought possible for them. He desperately hoped this was just an agent thing.
After a minute of strained pulling, muffled groans, and gritting teeth, the metal door flew off its hinges into the wall behind them. It clanged loudly upon hitting the wall and floor, echoing down the halls. If there were anyone here, they definitely heard that.
"Quickly, before any guards arrive!" Rick ushered everyone into the now-open room.
The room was no better lit than the halls, but the minimal light gifted him a jarring sight. Weapons of varying shapes and sizes littered the ground. Some resembled rifles or grenades; others were completely alien to Akikta. "You sure these are human weapons, Rick?"
"They aren't salmonid weaponry, if that's what you're implying."
Akikta turned to Eight. She shook her head, as if already knowing what he was wondering. "I've never seen weapons like this in my life."
He turned back to the weapons on the ground, unsure where to start. Akikta would've just taken the best-looking thing and learned how to use it on the way out, but some of these guns looked inoperable. Most were covered in various stages of rust and decay. Some even snapped under the weight of his foot when he accidentally stepped on them.
"Damn," Akikta muttered, gazing up at the wall. There was a display of weapons. They looked no better than the guns on the floor. However, there was one that caught his eye.
"Bingo!" Akikta smiled as he grabbed a pistol from the display. The black-colored handgun looked like it was still operable, with only hints of rust being visible.
"What is that?" Eight asked.
"My way of fighting back." He answered excitedly before checking the magazine. Thankfully, it was fully loaded. Akikta looked up, frowning after quickly surveying the rest of the room. "For now..." He realized a bit too late that there were no other cartridges, so the ammo that was in the gun was all he had to work with.
"You know how to use that thing?" Rick questioned, still doubting Akikta's capabilities.
"Oh, yeah, definitely." Akikta held the gun up, not aiming at anyone.
He suddenly chuckled after recalling an amusing memory. "Y'know, it's funny. My family had a gun range beneath our house, but Father Axe didn't want me anywhere near a weapon, let alone a gun."
"Ah, your father wasn't the warrior type, I take it?"
"Oh, sorry. Father Axe is actually my grandfather."
A look of confusion washed over Rick's face. "Then why do you refer to him as father?"
"Well, Granddad named my dad after him. But I think Dad's friends didn't like calling him Jr., so they just called him Axe, and referred to Grandpa as Father Axe. I kinda just picked up on it, I guess."
"Oh, I see." Rick nodded, seeming to understand what Akikta was saying. "So, your father—Axe, did teach you?"
"Ha! Nah. My father was so stuck in his work, he rarely had the time for anything. Not that he ever showed interest in firearms anyway."
"How did you learn, then?"
Akikta softly smiled. "My brother..." He lowered the pistol, resting it at his side. "Mind you, we never had any real crime in Alterna, as far as I'm aware. But Chaska always said there may be threats out on the surface. That's why he taught me. I guess he wasn't wrong in the end..." I just never thought he'd turn out to be one.
Eight noticed Akikta's smile falter, prompting her to take action. "Well, we got what we came for. We should go before anyone else comes."
Rick nodded. "Good thing the human knows how to use those ancient weapons." He added before following Eight out the door with Frye.
"Y-yeah. Good thing..." Akikta mumbled, electing to keep the fact he only knew how to use a pistol to himself.
He absentmindedly followed behind Frye once again, staring down at the handgun. I really lucked out with this pistol. Akikta thought, only to ponder on that sentence for a moment longer. Luck? No, now that he thought about it, this situation was purely magical.
Atlantean weaponry was drastically different from what Akikta was used to. Yet, here this lone pistol, resembling an Alterna weapon, was. And what were the odds that the pistol would be in the best shape out of all of those rusted guns? Actually, the pistol itself was the most out-of-place object there.
It was as though some higher power put everything in place just for Akikta... If that were true, he wished said higher power left him some more bullets.
Just as the thought crossed his mind, Eight stopped dead in her tracks. Everyone else followed suit.
Down the hall was the silhouette of something tiny. It bopped up and down like Little Buddy. Wait, was that Little Buddy?
Akikta took a step forward, only for Frye to reach out to him. "What are you doin'?"
"What does it look like? I wanna get a closer look." Before he could advance, Eight held her arm out, preventing him from getting any closer. Luckily, it wouldn't be an issue, as the tiny figure approached them instead. The group drew out their respective weapons.
The figure stopped halfway, now standing underneath a half-functioning light panel. It wasn't Little Buddy, but it was another smallfry that looked like him. It held no weapons, and instead of wearing the usual green pants, it wore a red suit that matched their red eyes and tuff of hair.
"Aw, look at the little guy. Ain't he cute?" Akikta commented. The smallfry's eyelids narrowed. He didn't like that comment one bit.
"Cute?!" The smallfry shouted with a hop, their voice being high-pitched but mature sounding at the same time. "You'll pay for those insolent words, human!"
Before Akikta could say anything else, the salmonid turned and hurried off in the opposite direction. Eight was the first to give chase.
At first, Akikta questioned why she was even pursuing the small salmonid. But then he remembered the Command Station wasn't entirely empty, so the smallfry was probably running to alert others of their presence. "Great. We just had to walk right into a guard." He said to himself before following after Eight alongside Rick and Frye.
Akikta heaved as he ran, feeling a burning pain in his lungs. He got winded a lot quicker than he thought, and he was only running at his jogging pace. Still, he couldn't slow down now. That'd be inconveniencing the others.
Akikta considered aiming and shooting the smallfry, but the little guy was so small, he was sure he'd miss the first few shots—or maybe all of them. His aim wasn't all that great. His brother could probably hit a bullseye on the smallfry, no problem. But him? Unlikely. Not to mention, there was the possibility of hitting either Eight or Frye. Rick was the only one lagging behind, most likely due to his lack of legs. Though, that made Akikta question how the smallfry was outrunning them.
"You can't get far! You're too small to outrun us!" He called out, but that didn't seem to deter the smallfry.
The smallfry was running towards what looked to be a bright light at the end of the hall. Akikta turned his head to see they were now entering the main hangar of the Command Station.
Akikta squinted his eyes when they entered the much brighter, square-shaped room. When his sight adjusted to the lights, he noticed ancient vehicles, mostly aircraft, aligned in certain sections of the hangar. In the back was a long rectangular windowless strip—possibly the opening for aircraft to take off and land—that gave a semi-gorgeous view of the metropolis that was Atlantis.
Akikta's gaze was so fixated on their new environment that he hadn't realized Eight was punched hard. She flew into a completely rusted helicopter with a loud crash. The aircraft crumbled like clay instantly.
Frye jumped back, and Akikta looked to see the culprit responsible. It was Hucho, and this time, he had something new. A giant red gauntlet covered his entire right arm; sparks of red electricity shot out as he balled the fingers of the gauntlet into a fist. He looked like a supervillain.
"Well, would you look at that." A familiar voice and a horrible chafing sound of scratching metal filled his ears.
Akikta turned to see Masu walking towards them. The source of that terrible ear-grating noise was her dragging a sword... or was it a chainsaw? No, it was a mixture of both—a chainsaw sword. "The human decided to drop on by with almost no help. That certainly makes our job easier." Masu smirked underneath her strange mask.
"I should've expected this..." Rick grumbled. Akikta frowned, knowing what Rick meant. That smallfry wanted them to chase him—it was a trap.
But wait. Where was—
"Hey." A deep metallic voice called out from above. Akikta got to look up only for a split second before Rick dive-bombed him out of the way. Frye also maneuvered out of the vicinity, and soon after, a massive twenty-five-foot-tall mech dropped right where the group was just standing.
Akikta peered up at the towering machine, noticing five cockpits. One was on each shoulder and ankle, with a larger cockpit in the hulking machine's torso.
In the center cockpit was the salmonid they had chased earlier; he was also the one speaking. "Which one of us is the smallest now?" The pilots in the other cockpits, who were also smallfry, cackled at the red smallfry's taunt.
Akikta was helped to his feet by Rick as he stared up at the mech in both awe and fear.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Masu stated, staring up at the mech as well. "The Chrome Hog. Our most sophisticated contraption, requiring a total of five pilots to operate." She explained, divulging information absolutely no one asked for.
Akikta had to admit. The mech was cool looking. The spherical torso was red, matching the middle pilot's shirt. Not only that, but each limb had a different color. The right claw-like arm was purple, while the left arm, which wasn't really an arm but rather a launcher with tubes filled to the brim with a murky liquid, was green. The right leg was yellow, while the left leg was blue. Each smallfry pilot wore a suit matching the same color as the appendage they operated.
The mech took a step forward, shaking the ground slightly. "Behold and despair, human! For we five brothers shall be the ones to deliver you to our almighty chieftain, Lord Sake!" The Chrome Hog's right arm raised, clenching its claw into a fist. "Know it was we, The Mighty Morphin' Salmon Rangers, who sealed your fate!" The red pilot cheered valiantly.
Though it was supposed to be a 'badass' moment, Akikta couldn't help but snort. The snorting soon morphed into a muffled chuckle as he covered his mouth in an attempt to stop. "What?" The red pilot questioned, and the mech lowered its hand.
"Oh, nothing, nothing. It's just..." Akikta couldn't hold it anymore, and any ounce of fear he had vanished instantly. He broke into a fit of laughter. "Mighty Morphin' Salmon Rangers?! Is that really your name? HA!" His legs grew weak, so much so, he fell to his knees. "C'mon! Your mech got a cooler name!"
"Chrome Hog is a cool name." The yellow pilot commented.
"No one asked for your input, Rhyn." The red pilot barked, only for the purple pilot to chime in.
"I actually agree with Rhyn on this one; Chrome Hog is a way better name."
The red pilot looked over at the purple pilot. "What? You mention this now? We had a vote on this for a reason! And you chose this!"
The blue pilot sighed, a bored expression written all over his face. "You know Tsu is complacent in things like this. Of course, he voted for whatever you wanted."
The red pilot snarled. "I don't wanna hear it from you, Shaw! You wanted us to be named the Fantastic Rainbow Trouts."
"Between that and Mighty Morphin' Salmon Rangers, it's no wonder Quinn's suggestion won," said the green pilot with a nonchalant facial expression.
"Thank you, Tyee. Sometimes, you're the only reasonable brother here."
Rhyn suddenly looked confused. "But we don't even morph?"
Before the brothers could continue their feud, Masu banged her chainsaw sword on the ground twice. This caused everyone to fall silent. Even Akikta abruptly stopped laughing, standing back on his feet. "That's enough." She pointed one of her metal claws at Akikta. "The human. Now," she commanded, and the mech took another step forward.
"Hey, hey! What happened to taking me alive?" Akikta whipped his head between Masu and the mech.
"Oh, don't fret, human. That hasn't changed." Masu rested her free hand on her hip. "But the others aren't needed."
"Ha!" Frye laughed, raising her own weapon. "As if we'll let you get rid of us so easily!" With a ferocious cry, Frye lunged to attack Masu. The salmonling countered by blocking with her chainsaw sword. They locked blades, but not for long, as they both broke out into a flurry of critical swings.
Frye struck fast, staying nimble on her feet to avoid Masu's heavy slugs. Sometimes, their swords would clash; other times, Frye would get a hit on Masu's metal armor. Unfortunately, she never so much as made a dent.
Contrary to her, Masu swung wildly, but slowly. Her chainsaw sword had more weight to it than Akikta would've thought, which worked in Frye's favor. Masu could never seem to land a direct hit on the inkling, always missing her or just barely grazing her slick skin.
With Frye's superior mobility and Masu's tanky exterior, the two were locked in a stalemate. This was unlike the one-sided affair between Rick and the Salmon Rangers.
Rick could not do much against the Chrome Hog with his frying pan, so he resorted to evading the thing altogether. The Salmon Rangers were nice enough not to use the mech's weapons, instead attempting to crush Rick underneath its feet.
Akikta wanted to help either of his allies, but with Eight down, that left him face-to-face with Hucho. They stared at each other like statues for a long while before Hucho made the first move and approached Akikta. His steps were slow and cautious. Even after Akikta raised his gun at him, Hucho's pace did not change.
He prayed to the almighty spirit above that the gun wouldn't jam or explode when the first bullet exited the chamber and then fired.
As he had hoped, the bullet came out without issue. Hucho flinched like he didn't expect that to happen.
Swiftly, he raised his large gauntlet, blocking the projectile. Sparks of electricity vibrated throughout the gauntlet upon impact—almost as if the kinetic energy from the bullet was absorbed. The gauntlet glowed a brighter shade of red. Then, Hucho charged at Akikta like a raging rhino.
"Oh damn—" He rolled out of the way, feeling immense pain trailing down his side as he did so.
Hucho missed the punch and instead hit another rusted aircraft of peculiar design. The force from the punch sent the aircraft careening down into another rusted vehicle. This caused a domino effect, and soon, multiple stationary vehicles were slamming into each other, sending bits of metal chunks flying everywhere.
I thought they were trying to take me alive! Akikta thought, turning to Hucho, who was now speed-walking toward him. The twin either underestimated the strength of his punch or overestimated Akikta's durability. Either way, it looked like Hucho was out for blood.
Akikta tried to get up, but the searing pain he felt in his side told him he must've torn or pulled a muscle during his evasive roll. So, instead, he aimed his pistol at the nearing foe. This didn't deter Hucho. In fact, the salmonling approached faster. Akikta squinted his eyes to get a better shot, and instead, he saw the menacing red pupils that had been hiding behind the blackness of Hucho's hockey mask.
The sight was enough to spook Akikta into dropping his gun. "S-shit!" He panicked, scrambling to grab it again. But by the time he did, Hucho was already on top of him with his gauntlet reared back to deliver a devastating punch. Instinctively, Akikta raised his arms to shield himself, although, after witnessing what happened to those metal vehicles, he knew this would do nothing but get his arms broken.
Just when he was prepared to experience inconceivable levels of pain, Hucho changed his stance from offensive to defensive. Soon after, Eight landed right on top of Hucho's gauntlet, dropkicking off it and landing beside Akikta with a backflip.
Hucho was pushed back a couple of feet from the momentum of her sudden attack, but he didn't fall. Furthermore, his gauntlet glowed a redder hue.
"Eight! You're alright?" Akikta exclaimed, surprised she was still standing after that punch from earlier. Her clothes were slightly torn, and she had a noticeable bruise on the front of her face. Aside from that, she seemed fine.
"Yeah, I'm alright. I was just a bit dazed, that's all." Akikta sighed in relief. At least now he didn't have to tell her to watch out for Hucho's gauntlet. "Where's the others?" Eight raised her weapon, not breaking eye contact with Hucho.
"Rick is avoiding being turned into a pancake." He pointed to the Chrome Hog, which had trouble squashing the chum. "And Frye is dealing with the other twin." His finger moved to where the other two were, still locked in their heated duel.
Eight's gaze shifted over to Frye and Masu. Her pupils suddenly dilated, and her expression turned to one of disbelief. "What..." she sounded terribly shocked. "Why do you have that...?" Eight murmured, which Akikta barely heard. Despite that, the question was clearly directed to Masu, as he noticed Eight's gaze focused on her chainsaw blade. The way she was staring at it made it seem like a ghost of her past was in the hands of Masu.
"That...doesn't belong to you!" Eight seethed, immense anger written all over her face. Her expression matched the look she gave Akikta back when she first heard Sal's voice.
Eight aimed her weapon over at Masu, and that's when Akikta realized her attention was no longer on the enemy right in front of them. Hucho noticed this as well and rushed her.
"Eight!" Akikta shouted to gain her attention. She was too slow to react, but Akikta wasn't.
He whipped his pistol downward and let off another shot. The bullet pierced Hucho's thigh, one of the few areas that wasn't covered by his light armor. An orangish-red liquid that Akikta assumed was blood splattered when the bullet went through, causing Hucho to let out a muffled grunt. He staggered during his charge, allowing Eight to dodge the initial punch and retaliate with a rounded kick, which landed square in Hucho's face.
The masked twin tumbled to the ground with a roll. His mask nearly came off, but not quite. His roll abruptly stopped when he bumped into a barely intact plane. The tip of its wing fell onto him, keeping him pinned.
"Hucho!" Masu called out, having turned her head to witness everything after Akikta fired his gun. Frye went for a downward strike, but Masu grabbed her blade with her free hand and pulled, elbowing Frye in the face with her other arm simultaneously.
Frye stumbled with a yelp of pain. Then Masu turned and puffed out her cheeks. Akikta knew what was coming. "Dodge!" He shouted, and Eight ducked the moment Masu's mask shot a stream of concentrated orangish-red ink at her.
The stream would graze the blue leg of the Chrome Hog, causing the mech to stagger. "Hey!" The blue pilot, Shaw, yelled. The mech turned to face the direction everyone else was in.
"Stop playing with that exile and kill the octarian!" Masu barked her next order instead of apologizing for the friendly fire. To Akikta's surprise, the pilots heeded her command—albeit with a collectively annoyed grumble.
The Chrome Hog raised its green arm. The green liquid within the arm's tubes bubbled before three swirling projectiles launched out.
"This thing can fire trizooka rounds?! Come on!" Eight complained before bolting between two intact helicopters, dodging the projectiles and their splash damage.
Some ink from the trizooka rounds landed on Akikta's leg, and it was then he realized he had been sitting that entire time. Come on! Get up and do something! His conscience shouted, giving him the motivation to stand. Then he aimed his gun at the red cockpit, intent on taking out Quinn. Right as he was about to pull the trigger, a sharp pain surged through his chest. Akikta winced and fired. The bullet pierced through the cockpit's glass, missing its target by a hair.
"Ah!" Quinn yelped in surprise. It took him a moment to process what had happened, but when he did, he was none too pleased. "You'll pay for that!" He promised before ejecting the shattered glass of the cockpit so he could see better. The Chrome Hog raised its trizooka launcher arm, aiming it at Akikta.
"Guys! To our left!" Shouted Tsu, drawing the Salmon Rangers' attention away from the human.
When Akikta turned to see what caught the purple pilot's attention, he saw Eight running at them with speed unnatural for an octarian. Not only that, but something else was off about her. Was her hair...glowing?
"Gah! Stay back!" Quinn demanded, turning the Chrome Hog toward her and firing off more trizooka rounds.
In response to the attack, Eight glowed exceptionally bright. When the brightness dissipated, the glow of her hair ceased. But she was now encompassed in a... ball? Yeah, that's what it was—a ball. The scene vaguely reminded Akikta of those videos with hamsters running around in their little see-through balls.
The ball looked flimsy, but surprisingly, it protected Eight from the trizooka projectiles. Even direct hits were shaken off as she kept rolling toward them with a scary look in her eyes.
Eventually, the Chrome Hog stopped firing, and the purple claw-like arm swatted at her when she got close enough. It missed her, and like a spider, Eight quickly made her way up the arm.
Before she reached the shoulder cockpit of the purple pilot, the arm violently swung upward, launching Eight into the air. Quinn smiled. "Gotcha!" He said with certainty in his tone, only for the mech to fire a single trizooka round at Eight. The projectile collided with Eight's ball, causing it to explode in an inky mess of yellow and green.
"No!" Akikta cried.
Just when he thought Eight was gone, she suddenly emerged from the dispersed ink. As she descended, she threw a cylinder object resembling a miniature version of Marina's hyperbomb. It stuck right onto Quinn's head.
Eight landed behind the mech with a roll, looking over her shoulder. "Gotcha," she repeated with finality, only for Quinn to let out a panicked squeal.
The cylinder object exploded shortly after, turning Quinn into a green puddle of ink. "QUINN!" The rest of the pilots screamed, horrified at the death of their brother.
Even though he just witnessed the death of yet another salmonid, Akikta couldn't help but smile after seeing Eight come out of the fight just fine.
His smile faded when he heard the loud clang of two swords. He turned to see Frye slide beside him with her back to the ground. Her and Masu's fight must've resumed after the Chrome Hog switched targets, and from the looks of it, Frye was not doing so well.
"Hey, you ok?" Akikta asked worriedly while looking down at Frye. He would've kneeled to her level, but he was afraid he wouldn't be able to get back up as quickly.
Frye gradually opened her eyes with a soft, pained moan. "I'm good... But dang, this girl is crazy tough." She admitted, still facing the ceiling.
"Why haven't you summoned your eels yet? This is the perfect time to use them!"
An irritated expression befell Frye's face. She turned on her side to face Akikta, still lying down. "This is, isn't it? Man, if only I had my flute on me right about now."
A wave of embarrassment washed over Akikta as he looked away shamefully. "R-right. Forgot about that..." Akikta turned to Masu to avoid the topic, seeing she was still on guard. She must've noticed what happened with the Salmon Rangers since she barked out more orders.
"Enough fooling around. Let's just get the human and be done with this!"
"B-but Quinn!" Tyee, the green pilot, responded. It would seem the pilots were still shocked about their brother's death, which confused Akikta since he was confident all salmonids saw death as a good thing.
Masu grumbled. "I guess if you want something done, you gotta do it yourself." She sheathed her blade in a strap on her back and rushed to the stationary Chrome Hog. Akikta watched as she climbed onto the mech, moving over to Quinn's cockpit.
Though the cockpits were obviously designed for a smallfry occupant, Masu managed to squeeze herself into the seat still covered in Quinn's inky remains.
"W-what are you doing?" Tyee questioned.
"Yeah! The Chrome Hog only works if we're fully synchronized!" Rhyn revealed.
"Without Quinn, we won't—" Shaw attempted to get his point across, but Masu was not having it.
"Shut up, all of you! We're gonna be just fine. Just follow my lead and grab the human!" With the press of some buttons, the Chrome Hog clumsily made its way over to Akikta.
"Run!" Eight shouted, snapping Akikta from his daydreaming.
He had been wondering how Masu, clad in heavy metal armor, managed to fit into such a small space. Now, he wondered how Eight expected him to outrun a giant mech. His aching pain gradually increased the more he exerted himself, slowing his running pace as a result.
Fortunately, the mech chased him like a newborn baby, possibly due to Masu being at the helm and not Quinn. The efficiency once held by the Chrome Hog was barely there anymore as the other pilots desperately tried to keep up with Masu's clumsy input. The mech continued tripping and bashing up against rusted vehicles, buying Akikta more time to escape.
He didn't get very far before flaps on the top of the Chrome Hog's torso opened. From it, ink missiles similar to a Flyfish's came barreling toward Akikta, causing more destruction.
One missile hit the ground directly behind Akikta, sending him flying forward. He tumbled harshly, painfully gasping. It took him a moment to realize he was right beside the edge of the open hangar bay. On the other side was a steep drop to the buildings below—There was no running forward anymore.
Akikta forced himself up, turning to see the Chrome Hog nearing him. He may not have been able to run, but he could still fight!
He aimed at the Chrome Hog, debating which part he should shoot next. The obvious choice was Masu, but she was heavily armored. Plus, after the warning Rick gave earlier, he was afraid of actually killing her.
Akikta lowered the barrel of the gun to the mech's feet. Taking out one of the leg pilots was probably a better idea. But the more Akikta thought about it, the more he thought disarming the mech as a whole was better. So, he shifted his aim to the tubes on the mech's left green arm.
He let off a round, puncturing the tube easily—the green liquid within bubbled rapidly, emitting a loud whistling noise like a kettle. When the green pilot noticed what had happened, his eyes widened. "Uh oh." The tubes exploded, taking Tyee and the Chrome Hog's whole left arm with it. The force of the blast also toppled the mech over, and it began sliding toward Akikta.
His own eyes widened, as he didn't expect all of that to happen. He tried to move out of the way, but the pain he felt hindered him, locking him in place. The mech would slide right off into the city below and take him with it if he didn't move! But the pain was paralyzing. Akikta was surprised he could still stand, but that was all he could muster, apparently.
When the mech was a few seconds away from hitting Akikta, Rick jumped from seemingly nowhere and tackled him out of the way.
"Rick! Where have you been?" Akikta stammered. He hadn't seen Rick for most of the fight.
"Hiding. Something you should've done!"
Akikta wanted to argue, but Rick did the right thing in this specific case. Otherwise, he would've only held everyone back, kind of like what Akikta did in earlier altercations.
A loud metallic rumble could be heard as the mech slid off like Akikta thought would happen. What he didn't expect was for it to latch onto the edge with its claw-like hand, now dangling off the side.
Akikta and Rick peered over to see the remaining pilots panicking, Masu included. She tried to free herself from the tiny cockpit, but as it would turn out, squeezing herself into the seat to begin with backfired. Masu found herself stuck, as her hips were too wide—not to mention her heavy armor, which didn't make her predicament any easier.
Akikta and Rick glared at each other. Almost immediately, Akikta could sense what Rick wanted to do. "Rick, no! That's a terrible idea."
"But we must. She won't survive that fall..." On any other day, Akikta could've cared less if they let one of Sal's children die. But Rick was right. No one was going to survive that fall. Not even the mech itself.
Just when Rick started moving toward the mech, Hucho beelined it past the two. He ignored them entirely and went straight for the mech, presumably to help his sister. Akikta had no idea when the twin freed himself, but this worked out nicely.
Rick helped Akikta to his feet, and he found it hard to walk. The pain was terrible, akin to standing on spikes.
Right after, Frye and Eight came into view. From the looks on their faces, they were able to process what transpired and rushed to Akikta's aid.
Despite not receiving any physical hits from the opposition, Akikta looked much worse than Frye and Eight did. "Dang, did the mech step on you?" Frye thought out loud, causing Akikta to chuckle. Even laughing was painful...
"No, but it sure feels like it..." He weakly responded.
Frye eyed Hucho, who was climbing down the mech carefully to save Masu. She turned, garnering Rick's and Akikta's attention. Akikta was the first to speak. "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like? This is the perfect time to take those baddies down!"
"No!" Akikta blurted. Frye gave a confused look in response. He'd then clear his throat. "L-let's just leave them be. We got what we came for and—" Akikta held back a painful grunt. This pain was starting to become unbearable. What happened?
"Aki is right. We should leave while we still have the chance." Eight finished his thoughts, seeing as he couldn't. Frye was initially reluctant, but considering their group's state, she sighed and gave in.
With help from Rick and Frye, Akikta followed Eight away from the scene behind them. As he did, he looked over his shoulder at Hucho, watching him free his sister from that terribly small cockpit. He admired siblings prioritizing helping each other over all else.
It was a silly thought, but he could see himself being friends with the twins if they weren't so hellbent on killing him.
If only things were different...