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Episode Six: The rain of blood
Turning as quickly as lightning, Vryce took out his Varista and shot three times at a dark shadow behind them some 30 feet away.
The shadow had dodged each and every bullet with incredible ease.
Aziel turned on his Pallasch, which flickered, and put himself in front of Faye.
Haruka bit her lip and took her side next to Vryce.
Faye stood there, speechless at the sight before her.
Panzer Lynx had seen better days. Her frame was literally crumbling into pieces in some parts. Part of her face had broken off, probably from a direct hit against a pointed object, and it gave her a ghastly visage, as it looked like her skull was grinning back at them. One of her arms was almost severed, but somehow, was still clutching at empty air. But the most striking feature was her eyes.
They burned bright with hate.
All of the team, including the cocky Vryce stepped back. They had never seen anything like it.
Aziel nodded to Haruka and she nodded back. He pointed the flickering Pallasch towards the pile of corpses where there was a door behind it, the very same door Aziel had told them about before.
Vryce kept the HUcaseal on his sights, barely blinking. Cold sweat on his neck, he knew he was one of the best shots in the Pioneer 2... if that... that thing had evaded those shots that easily, then he knew he was in trouble.
Faye was paralyzed with fear... she could only stare at her sister... or what was left of her.
"Come now, sister" the word spilled out like poison from a lilly's petals "aren't you happy to see me?"
Lynx took a step towards the group. Vryce slowly squeezed the trigger.
"Ex-lieutenant Vryce, please..." Lynx waved her Pallasch casually, as if swatting away a fly "there isn't a single move you can make that I wasn't programmed to counter it for..." she paused and looked at Aziel "...except for you, rogue HUcast... you did manage to trick me because of my eagerness back there, but this time, it's different".
Aziel clutched his Pallasch with his two hands. Moving next to Vryce, but still covering Faye, he said in a calm voice:
"And why is it different now, Lynx?"
"Because I have all the time of the world..." she began
"TO KILL YOU!!!" and she darted to him in a blur.
Vryce tried to shoot her, but all his shots missed their mark, making pockmarks at the other side of the room.
Coming in low, she rolled into a small ball and just under Vryce's chest, she kicked her heels with a mighty spring. Vryce's eyes widened with surprise and he flew a good 20 feet into the air before crashing loudly on top of the remains of a Belra.
"Vryce!" Haruka started, but before she could even move her feet, Lynx had backhanded her into the wall, cracking it a bit with the force of the impact.
Faye tried to raise her weapon, but still paralyzed from fear, all she did was stare wide-eyed at the scene.
Aziel tried to slash horizontally and catch Lynx from the side, but she raised her own saber in time, blocking his attack with ease.
He tried to push the HUcaseal putting all his strength into the handle of the flickering Pallasch. Lynx smiled at him and said
"Oh, the big bad lone wolf is all beat up and tired?"
"I will fight you off with every ounce of my strength!!!" he roared.
With a mighty burst, he pushed Lynx away from him, sending her into a stone column. The stone cracked as Lynx's figure tore through. Aziel quickly glanced to his right and noticed that Vryce was getting up and was smirking his usual cocky smile back at him, just wincing a bit.
"Get Haruka and go through the door! NOW!" Aziel yelled.
Vryce spat a mouthful of blood and hurried to the knocked out Haruka on the floor.
Aziel, grabbed a large piece of debris that had fallen from the ceiling long ago and lifted it. He felt his body aflame as his arms and torso stressed under the great weight, and then, he heaved it at the column where he had sent Lynx. He felt as something had snapped under his frame.
"Faye! Faye!" he turned to see her still standing there... his voice made her blink twice and look at him.
".........." she shivered in fright, she wanted to help out Aziel or at least help Vryce with Haruka, but fear had overcome her.
"FAYE! Please!" Aziel shook her once, forcibly "Help Vryce and leave Lynx to me! I know I can take her on if..."
"No! You come with me!" the words just escaped her lips. She wasn't going to let Aziel sacrifice himself fighting Lynx in his condition.
Aziel opened his eyes wide in amazement.
Faye took his hand and lead him through the door. Vryce and Haruka had already gone thru and they were staring into a large teleporter device. Faye looked at it for a moment and shoved Aziel next to Vryce. Aziel groaned and put a hand over his torax.
"He's hurt, do something! I'll hold my sister off if she comes"
Vryce put his hand on her arm and said calmly,
"There is no time, we have to go inside"
"But... but you don't know where it leads to!" replied Faye, fear coating her voice.
"It's a chance we have to take" and quickly applying a monomate to his friend's wound, he quickly grabbed Haruka and entered the teleporter, he stood there waiting for the pair of androids to walk in or stay there and face the hellish HUcaseal.
Aziel looked at her and with a faint smile, he added:
"I'm sorry... I-"
"Stop saying you're sorry! I am here because of you! I am fighting besides you because I want to! Don't say you're sorry anymore!!!" Faye gritted her teeth and sobbed. Angrily, she swept back her tears and tried to focus her attention to the door.
She didn't notice Aziel getting up, taking his mask off, holding her gently and kissing her.
She lost her focus on everything except him. For a moment, she felt like she was on the top of the world.
"Let's go... if your sister wants to join the final dance, she can, but I don't think we will get out of this alive, Faye... I prefer if we both didn't leave Vryce and Haruka to their luck"
Faye looked into his eyes, and taking his hand in hers, she nodded at him and stepped into the teleporter.
The eerie red glow of the machine transported them into a white flash; Vryce noticed as Aziel and Faye had stepped into the machine, that a third form had leapt into it as well.
He gritted his teeth and pulled out his Varista, but then, it happened...
Suddenly everything went white and numb.
Episode Seven: The valley of death
Haruka felt her nose tingle. The smell of flowers? But it was so long since she had smelled fresh flowers.
She drowsily sat back and quickly noticed her chest hurt like hell. Clutching her ribs, she opened her eyes slowly and noticed a strange sight.
Weren't they fighting inside the ancient underground ruins?
Where did the dank caverns go? Where were the misty vapors? Where was everybody?
She lifted her other arm and touched the green grass. It felt damp and moist. She looked around her and saw flowers and green mountains around her, but most striking, she saw a tall monument a hundred yards from her. It rose like stone spike jutting out of the ground, reaching for the blue skies above. Haruka had the sensation, this was some kind of memorial... but for whom?
Looking puzzled, she got up and cleaned her dress from the few blades of grass that stuck to her. She found her staff next to where she had lain a moment ago and tried to survey the place to look for anyone else who might be with her.
Pouting, she started to walk and felt that something was amiss.
"Doesn't feel right... this here place... where did everybody go? If they left me here as a kind of stupid joke!!!..." she stopped as she bumped into the still sleeping form of Vryce on the tall grass.
Kneeling down, she put her hand on his shoulder and rocked him back and forth.
"Vryce! Hey! Wake up! Do you know where we are? HEY!" she felt his hand grope her leg as he started to feel around to get up.
***WHAM***
"OW! Why did you do that for?!?!" said Vryce, massaging his head.
"Serves you right you hentai baka!" her red face scowled back at him.
Vryce got up slowly, without feeling around as to not getting whacked on the head again by an irate newman, and was startled when he noticed the surroundings.
"Where the...?"
"Exactly... where are we supposed be now, Mr. Know-it-All?"
"I honestly don't have the slightest idea, but..."
"You feel it too?"
"Yeah, something's not quite right" he then got up quickly, and added "Did you find Aziel and Faye?!"
Surprised, Haruka got up and looked around, "Uh... nope... sorry, you're the first I have found so far... why?"
"I think whatever attacked us back there came in the teleporter with us..."
Her face showed a tinge of fear.
"WHAT?!?" she looked to one side to the other in panic "WHERE? WHERE IS S-"
"Hush!" Vryce placed a hand over Haruka's mouth quickly "I think if I was out when we transported here, maybe Aziel, Faye and the other one may be also out cold... he have to avoid waking the assassin droid before we find Aziel and Faye, ok?"
Haruka nodded and pointed at the large stone monolith that stood there in silence.
"Go check it out, but!" he added quickly "don't touch anything! There's something quite not right here, and I think that monolith has something to do with it"
"Ok, ok!" Haruka whispered.
Vryce glanced around and found that the tall grass wasn't so much of a hindrance to him. He saw the limp forms of Aziel and Faye next to each other some ten, fifteen feet to his right, but he didn't see a sign of the other Panzer android.
Sighing in relief, he approached the two comrades, and picking his Varista off the grass, he silently turned about, trying to make something out of the strange, fantastic scene that surrounded them.
It certainly felt strange, and the hair sticking up in the back of his neck made him worry more. Without the need of pinching himself to verify if this were a dream or not, he knelt down next to Faye and Aziel's prone figures.
A smile crept up Vryce's face. Both had lain one next to the other, their hands clasped together, their heads touching ever so slightly. Noticing that they had survived this strange teleportation, Vryce sat down in the damp grass and rested one arm over his knee. He thought how funny life was sometimes, and looking at the two androids, he snickered.
These two were made as weapons of death. A type of spy, assassin and infiltrator all in one. Created by a corrupt government, paranoid and power-hungry. Both, Vryce knew, had taken countless lives in the excuse of 'regulating' society.
But Aziel had broken away from that horrible existence as a soulless monster, a puppet whose strings were pulled by shadowy individuals. He had cut those strings with his resolve and taken a path of penance under the watchful eye of a grizzled old hunter, whose teachings and patience forged Aziel's life into one of honor and strength.
It had taken Aziel only a month to learn patience and true skill, a true marvel of the advanced systems the government had given him for darker purposes. The old hunter had treated the android with respect, and through grueling lessons, had imparted a level of swordmanship almost unequaled in the android. It had also raised a new code of conduct into him.
The old man had taught Aziel that long ago, there were warriors devoted to honor and duty, examples of true chivalry and honesty. These warriors upheld this code above anything else, even above their lives. And that had made a deep impact into Aziel. Vryce had felt glad that Aziel had become something akin to these knights of ancient times, these samurai.
But Dean Bernier was right, he didn't approve of Aziel trying to sacrifice his life for the benefit of the countless people aboard the Pioneer 2. Even if he knew that Aziel felt tremendous guilt over the sins he had committed over the years, he would not accept the loss of his friend's life just because Aziel felt that was the way he needed to clean the slate.
Striving for honor did not mean one needed to die, not if one should live. Live for others. Aziel should live for Faye. And Faye should live for Aziel.
Looking at Faye, he smirked and thought some more. Could this Panzer android take the same path as Aziel? Vryce was very impressed that she could go against her programming in such a short time. He had an idea of who had made the original programming for Aziel and the Panzer twins. He had a hunch that their creator did not mean to create killer empty shells. It had seem that there was a pattern here. He would confirm his suspicions when they returned to the huge ship orbiting the blue planet of Ragol. If they returned, that is.
Getting up and stretching his legs, Vryce shot a look around him. He was sure the other android should be around here somewhere. Taking the safety off the Varista, he glanced at the strange stone monolith behind him. He squinted, trying to look for Haruka's small form. He saw she had gotten close enough to examine the thing without actually touching it.
Haruka felt strangely attracted to the huge stone spire. She had seen some kind of engraved words on its side, but she resisted getting any closer to read them. She also knew that without Vryce's approval to touch the thing, she would be in trouble real quick.
<Mmh? And what is this?> she thought as she leaned closer to the ground.
A strange, metallic object jutted out of the grass. Looking to her left and then to her right, she stretched a hand to the object.
Suddenly, she felt pressure under her chin and lower mandible. Wide-eyed and caught unawares, she panicked as the air left her.
The pressure rose, and whatever had gotten a hold of her, made her rise on her two feet.
"Awwww... the iddy biddy Fony got a widdle wost?" said a chilling voice, devoid of anything but sarcasm and hate.
Haruka's eyes shot to her left and saw the leering visage of Lynx right next to hers.
"Are you scared? Are you afraid?" Lynx's other hand took Haruka's staff and with a quick snap, the weapon had broken cleanly in half. Next, Lynx took Haruka's left hand lovingly. Haruka felt panicked, and tried to get away, but the burning, demented eyes of the HUcaseal, and the laconium grip Lynx had her stuck into, just fixated her into paralyzing cold fear.
"Oh my! Such lovely, delicate hand!" Lynx shot her a venomous glance, and her voice turned into ice "What would happen if you got one of your soft hands hurt? Probably you wouldn't be able to cast your techniques as well... am I wrong?" and at these words, Lynx applied such crushing pressure into Haruka's hand, that the newman just let out a muffled yelp.
Tears rolled down Haruka's cheeks as blood spattered onto the green grass. But Haruka did not cry out.
Lynx still held her close, and saying softly to her ear: "Ooooh, trying to be brave? You will learn to-"
Vryce squeezed the trigger ever so softly. He grinned and let out a chuckle.
"Got you now, you psycho monster..."
The gun's barrel rested on Lynx's temple. Vryce had managed to creep up avoiding any noise with the expertise of a trained killer.
"Let go of her very, very slowly" he said without blinking, and added "and don't try anything funny..."
"Or else?" Lynx said coyly.
"You got that right, sister..." Vryce was unnerved at the android's lack of surprise.
Slowly, Lynx let go of Haruka, who quickly ran around the RAmar and whimpering, grabbed ahold of his arm, resting her maimed hand against her chest.
Lynx slowly turned around, still the gun pointed at her face.
"Careful, Panzer twin... there is no way you can dodge me this time... not at point blank range..." Vryce gritted his teeth.
"Ooh... got me covered, big boy? Are you really sure about that?" Lynx teased.
Haruka's eyes went from the android's face down, where she saw, to her horror, a photon dagger, humming low.
Before she could say anything, or before Vryce could react, Lynx ducked her head a bit to the left and made a lightning-quick swipe with the photon blade to Vryce's head.
All that Vryce could do was pull the trigger and jerk back his head, trying to avoid having his head severed. Light flashed over his eyes and felt a burning sensation on his forehead. He heard the shot from his Varista hit something and he also had heard Haruka yell; he also felt sparks showering his hand and Haruka grab his arm with more force and pull him back.
Her friend's gun had been cut into two, showering all three of them as the photon battery sizzled from the cut.
Haruka pulled Vryce back enough to avoid Lynx hit him on the chest with her second stroke after she had nearly cleaved his face in twain.
But she tripped as she fell back and took Vryce with her.
The pain felt like fire, and he couldn't see anything! And if he couldn't see his target, how could he shoot her?
Haruka put a hand over Vryce's eyes and felt about, as she sat up and let him rest on her chest. The cut had been above his eyes, but the photon burn had blinded him, and he would need first aids, but in this situation, it would be impossible.
"Don't worry, she didn't hit your eyes, Vryce-san..." she rested her face over his red hair.
"Do I have a weapon yet?" Vryce felt as Haruka moved her head side to side, as to let him know that was a negative.
"Few have been able to dodge with such quickness a cut at that speed... that much I have to give you, ex-Lieutenant" Lynx said, playing with the dagger as she spoke. She threw it aside, into the grass and pulled out her Pallasch. Turning it on, the red blade materialized with a low hum. She looked at the man sprawled on the floor before her, resting his head on the newman's chest, with her good hand covering his eyes.
Haruka looked back at her with fear and apprehension, tears rolled down her cheeks and with her other hand, which was broken badly, she rested it over Vryce's chest. The human was blinded by a burn over where Lynx had intended to cut his skull open. He just limited himself to grit his teeth and mumble under his breath.
Scowling back at them, Lynx raised her saber and prepared to strike them down.
"You won't be able to dodge this, meat-things..." she smiled wickedly.
To be continued...
Episode Eight: The storm breaks
Faye felt herself float in nothingness. She couldn't feel her body, but she felt a warmness all over her. Opening her eyes, she blinked once and then again, as the blue skies greeted her vision. She couldn't understand why she was lying on the surface of Ragol, looking at the zaphire skies, as she vividly remembered holding her Beam rifle in her hand and on the other...
She opened her drowsy eyes widely and got up. She looked at her left hand and seeing her fingers clasped with Aziel's she knew this wasn't a dream.. although... this place... didn't match with any satellite data she had from the surface of Ragol.
Looking around, she saw movement towards a strange, tall, block of stone that resembled some sort of monolith. She saw Haruka's small form peeking around the base of the structure and it also seemed as if something else was crawling on the grass, with such silence it reminded her of some predatory cat.
Alarmed, she tried to raise her voice, but she felt a squeeze in her left hand.
Looking down at Aziel, she saw his yellow eyes looking at her tiredly.
"Hush... that's probably Vryce trying to play a trick on Haruka..." said Aziel with a very tired voice.
His face contorted with pain and with his free hand, he clutched his chest.
Faye put her other hand over his chest and bent low, as to not let Haruka see her by accident. But she also felt more comfortable being closer to Aziel. Looking at the damaged chestplate, she frowned as she evaluated the damage.
"Aziel! Your armor is ready to fall off, and you pushed the limits of your muscle's servos..." she knew that if it weren't that Aziel was constructed by the best scientists, his body would have just snapped in half when he had lifted the huge piece of debris back then.
He squeezed her hand a little tighter and whispered
"Don't worry, if I stay like this for a moment longer, you know the nanomachines inside of me will repair some of the damage..."
"But..." she protested, but he had lifted the hand in which he was clasping hers and putting one finger over her lips he added:
"And I would also recommend you stay still too... you need the rest as well as I do"
She stared at his eyes. Her soft blue eyes held his golden glowing eyes and closed ever so slightly.
She rested her head near his and kept her hands where they were... one clasping his and the other over his chest.
"You know what will happen the moment we come back to the Pioneer 2, right?" she asked in a soft voice.
"Yes... but I promised I would safeguard you no matter what" he answered, with resolution equal to steel.
"Do you think... do you think we're actually going to have a chance at happiness?" her voice trembled.
"................." Aziel just stared into the skies.
Faye's smile faded softly and she closed her eyes... trying to think into the future was not going to comfort her.
Aziel turned his head just a bit, so he could see at Faye's face.
"I think... I think we can be happy... even if we end up making a place just for the two of us in some forgotten island in this planet, were we can be alone and not be bothered by petty governments, paranoid military suits or anyone else..." he gave her hand a stronger squeeze and added, "I'd fight for our future, as I am fighting for the other people's future.
"There is no risk I couldn't take and no enemy I wouldn't face for this... this personal quest I took when my teacher and swordmaster gave me the title of samurai" he felt pride when he spoke that word.
Faye felt it too... somewhere in her database, she knew what that word meant. If Aziel had been given such an honorable title, then it finally shed some light on the why of his actions and the reason behind his reasoning.
"But... doesn't a samurai has to have a lord to serve? I believe you would be a ronin..." she bit her lip as she noticed she had spoken the words, instead of just thinking about them.
Sighing, Aziel smiled at the sky and continued to explain himself "I believe my master would be the immigrants, the people who left a dying world in a promise of a new one, and found themselves tricked, fooled by some dark plan in some twisted mind. I am ready to give them the just award for their toils I know they should receive by making this planet Ragol, their new home... and I am also ready to die even, if that's the price I must pay for that to happen."
He felt her shudder on top of him. His gaze locked into her eyes and saw a tear fall upon his chest.
"Dying proves nothing, Aziel." Faye said in a sour voice "It only causes pain in others... pain in the heart of those who remain behind... and though I never had something happen to me like that, I know I am right... and you too... don't you?"
"... yes..."
Faye lifted her head a bit and stared into his eyes and then said calmly "Then if you value your honor above anything else, you must uphold your promise to never leave my side or let me come to harm too, right?"
She smiled in amusement, she knew she had cornered himself using his code of honor as leverage.
"Er... well..." he looked at her with amazement. His master had warned him not to make such hasty propositions... but now that he did, he must abide by them.
"Mmmh? So? Are you to uphold your promise? I shouldn't be even be asking this, because I know you will" she smiled even more and got close to him, her lips getting closer to his.
But she stopped.
Something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention.
With horror, she gasped and squeezed her hand when Aziel had opened his mouth to ask what was wrong.
Aziel understood and moving his gaze, saw Panzer Lynx grab Haruka's staff and snap it like a twig with one hand.
Tensing his body, he felt as even as he had recovered some of his stamina back, his chest still was giving him trouble. Rolling to his side, letting go of Faye's hand, he grabbed his Pallasch and noticed, to his chagrin, that not only the casing was cracked, but the photon battery was almost dead... he knew he had to strike and block using a very dangerous and complicated technique, but if Haruka was in trouble, that would be his only option... he didn't have Vryce's or Faye's uncanny aim... or Haruka's ability to harness the elemental powers of her techniques, but if his training as a warrior served him well, he must put it to the final test, right here, right now.
Faye pointed to a spot on the grass, right where the hill that supported the monolith rose.
Vryce had sneaked up to Lynx and was pulling out his Varista.
But Aziel's senses let him know that Lynx wasn't unawares... she had already baited Vryce into her trap!
Getting up, he quickly began to run to the hill.
Faye looked in horror as Aziel sprinted away like a demon possessed.
She quickly grabbed her rifle and ran behind him. Luckily, her damaged frame had healed almost to peak efficiency, but the weight of the long, large firearm made her run slower than she expected.
"Or else?" Aziel heard Lynx's cold voice was tweaked with a hint of humor.
"You got that right, sister..." answered Vryce back.
80 feet away and yet it seemed like forever! He needed to run faster!
Faye's lithe body didn't help her much making her way through the tall grass. Struggling, she tried to make small leaps, and keep her rifle at the ready.. but at this distance, she didn't want to risk a shot that could strike Vryce or Haruka.
"Ooh, got me covered, big boy? Are you really sure about that?" Lynx flicked on a beam dagger behind her back and was moving her arm in a wide circle, from low to high. Aziel knew that she was going to strike Vryce in the face, probably cleaving his head in two.
70 feet!!! He needed more speed! And his chest felt as if on fire!
Haruka's yell, the photon bullet striking across the grass flats and the shower of sparks that resulted all in less than a blink of an eye left Faye with a chill on her heart.
<Lynx killed them! She killed Aziel's friends!!> she thought in panic... and in the blind rush, she didn't notice that the skies suddenly began to darken.
Aziel began pumping his legs so hard as he sprinted to his friends, that he barely heard the words "Few have been able to dodge with such quickness a cut at that speed... that much I have to give you, ex-Lieutenant".
He thought that demented monster had killed Vryce and that if he didn't hurry, Haruka would be next. The emergency systems they all carried would teleport them out of danger and into the hospital ward instantly, but only if they were inches from death. If the person would be killed before the system activated itself, then it would be for naught... as the body of the fallen hunter would just appear on the hospital, dead. Dean was safe... but his had been a close call.
60 feet! It felt like time had stopped, and his legs weren't moving him at all.
Lynx was playing for keeps, and she would not let anyone escape her mad thirst for blood.
Everything began to darken around Aziel, but he didn't notice.
The only thing he saw was Haruka placing a hand over his dead friend's eyes and another over his chest. Lynx was raising her saber to cut his newman friend in two... it was now or never.
At 50 feet, he felt a rush of photon energy course over his body, and he also knew something had broken inside of him. But it wasn't the moment to worry about this... he needed... to... be... there... NOW!!!
Aziel felt as his grip on the dying saber was crushing the weapon's hilt. Fueled by anger and desperation... running only two steps and springing using all his might, he was able to leap almost 40 feet in the air. Making a rolling flip in the air, and landing just between Lynx and Vryce, turning on the blade for less than a second, he made a quick sideswipe and deflected the Pallasch to his right, which burned through his shoulder protector, but didn't cut the mechanical muscles behind it.
The HUcaseal looked genuinely surprised, but her resolve and insane anger settled once again when she was denied the perverse satisfaction the death of the human and the newman girl. She quickly stroke three times in rapid sucession, once at Aziel's head from the left side, once at his right knee and once more at his midsection.
The Hucast had parried each and every slash by igniting the red blade at the very last second and deflecting the blows to the side with ease and cold precision. He remembered the training days with his old master, and the leasons well learned came back to his mind, flowing into his body and guiding his every movement.
Lynx was surprised by the way her opponent was blocking her attacks. She tried again, this time thrusting the blade at his right shoulder, then again at his chest and finally making a great cleaving blow from the ground up, trying to cut the android in half.
Aziel moved to his left on the first attack, leaving his saber off. On the second, he turned on the ball of his heels to his right, turning the blade on in vertical position once just in time to throw the opponent's saber tip up and to the side. He still turned with enough speed as to evade completely the slashing uppercut, and from the side, he flicked the blade once and smashed it into Lynx's left arm. A shower of hot blue sparks hit both fighters and Lynx was thrown back a few feet.
She gritted her teeth and recovered her balance. She saw Aziel stand between her and her two helpless enemies. She was irritated that none of her attacks, save the first one, had managed to get through. Her vision began to blurr in a red sheet of hate when it suddenly stopped.
She tried to grab her Pallasch with both hands, with more force, her opponent would be hard pressed to try that deflecting, parlor trick again, as a saber blade that is ignited for a short time doesn't have the cohesivity to fully block harder blows.
The problem is that all she felt was a tingle... a really creepy tingle in her left arm.
Looking down, she saw a severed android arm with a blue-silver color scheme. It had been cut down just below the shoulder and bright blue sparks still jumped out onto the grass.
Horrified, her gaze went from the arm on the ground, to her left side. She felt cold when she noticed that all that was left of her own left arm was a shoulder stump... dripping very familiar blue sparks.
The moment had lasted only for a second, and the red sheet of anger returned, this time as a berserk bloody rage.
"UUURAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!" Lynx cried from the very depths of hell. Slashing with a downwards motion from over her head, she leapt a bit, so as to give her attack her weight into it.
Aziel knew he couldn't deflect the attack by flickering the saber for a moment, so he turned it on and caught the blade just in time by positioning his blade horizontally over his head.
The blow shook him and what he had felt had snapped previously inside of him twice, coursed inside of him like white fire.
His strength sapping away, he kneeled under the extreme pressure Lynx applied over the interlocked sabers. A flash of light went over their heads and they both felt a great tremor under their feet, but none of the two gave any quarter to their test of might.
Haruka thought they were as good as dead, until Aziel, in his white battered armor had appeared from nowhere and drove off the demon android away with such skill, she was still mesmerized from it.
"HARUKA! PIONEER 2 TO HARUKA!!!" Vryce's yell made her return from her astonished look at the duel before her eyes to the man in her arms.
"Oh.. hey! You don't need to y-" she was cut short by Vryce's calm voice
"We need to get to a better position... are you still carrying the handgun I gave you last year?" asked Vryce, getting up quickly and putting on arm over her shoulder.
"Yeah... why? You can't shoot anything anyways, at least not until you heal that wound on your brow"
"Help me up and hand me the gun... you will be my eyes" he said as she took the small gun from her holster and gave it to him.
"I'M GONNA WHAT?!?" she felt her knees buckle under Vryce's weight. Haruka was petite and very lithe... she wasn't too strong physically and she had to recline into something or both would just fall down.
"I told you, you are going to help me aim and we're going to shoot the goddamn witch... I don't think Aziel's fully recovered from his wounds, and if I remember correctly, his Pallasch isn't doing so well either" Vryce said matter-of-factly.
"Damn, I hate it when you're right" said Haruka, helping herself by putting her hand over the cold stone behind her.
"I know... I hate it too... heh..." Vryce couldn't see anything, but he felt as if every alarm in his mind was ringing with deafening noise.
"Haruka... don't tell me..." he said, gripping the gun tighter.
"What?" she suddenly noticed where her hands were. One was around Vryce's waist, the wounded one. But the other, the one she used to prop herself because of Vryce's weight... was... over... the monolith...
She found strength in her panic, and helping Vryce move out of the way, she didn't really notice the grey stone block crack and spew fumes around it.
"I TOUCHED IT!!! I TOUCHED IT!!! I'M SORRY VRYCE!!! I DIDN'T MEAN TO!!!" she cried at the top of her lungs, tears of fear running down her cheeks.
"I told you not to tell me... *sigh*"
They ran about 20 feet before they fell down on the grass, as the ground shook with great force.
Haruka got up first and was starting to help Vryce get up again when she noticed the ground had become lumpy and irregular.
Her eyes froze in complete shock. Her stomach felt like it was about to return her lunch, but the spectacle in front of her... around her was too impressive, too tetric for her to handle in that instant.
She was kneeling over the faces of the first immigrants, the brave people of the Pioneer 1.
The grass had disappeared and sounds of moaning came all around her. The sky was jet black, with crimson clouds billowing all over the valley. The blue-green mountains around them had melted down into jagged dark grey rock, jutting its spiky summits to the heavens, as if to escape this nightmarish scene. And worst of all, besides Aziel and Lynx who were still locking blades, the monolith had disappeared completely!
Faye had regained her composure the moment he had seen Haruka and Vryce get up and back away from her sister and Aziel's duel. But at the very moment she had seen the newman girl rest her hand on the stone pillar, she had a flash of something sinister finally stir from whatever slumber it had gone to. She also felt a tug in her heart, like a cry for help from a very deep, very dark place.
She raised her rifle and tried to shoot at her sister, but she hesitated... she couldn't bring herself to do it.
When she saw Aziel deftly cut Lynx's arm, her hands trembled and still couldn't bring herself to pull the trigger.
But in the moment Lynx had roared with a passionate hate and attack the one she knew she had developed such attraction to, she aimed straight at Lynx's head. She squeezed the trigger and under her breath said:
"I'm sorry sister..."
Her aim was ruined as a huge tremor shook her from underneath and made her not only miss her target by inches, but lose her balance and fall on top of something disgustingly soft. Her left hand quickly going to the side to absorb the shock of the fall, recoiled in horror as she saw what she was touching.
A face of a person... embedded in a macabre tapestry of pained and tortured visages, as far as the eye could see.
Getting up, Faye took her rifle in her two hands and closed her eyes as she ran towards Aziel.
"Bet you can just keep humiliating me? Think you're the better model?!?" a manic tinge in Lynx's voice made Aziel feel a chill on his heart.
"Well... I do have some issues I want to clear up with you, Aziel!!!" and with that, she changed the direction of the pressure she was exerting with her saber from the top to just away from her.
Aziel didn't expect the change so suddenly, and fell on his back.
Lynx quickly stomped the ground with her heel, cracking the tortured face of a person on the floor instead of Aziel's chest.
He had rolled to his side just in time, and without giving too much thought to the strange change the enviroment did around them, he concentrated on his opponent.
"Your reflexes are very good for a defective, older model like yourself!" she tried kicking him on the back of his feet and then slashing sideways with her saber. The HUcast hopped to avoid the trip, and flicked the blade on his saber just for enough time to block the spinning red photon blade aimed at his legs.
Aziel notied how much the blade flickered and grew tense. With no weapon left, he couldn't hope to block Lynx's attacks and even less, defeat her. He then saw a small green glow to his side. A beam dagger was lying in the floor, unnoticed by his enemy.
"And even your strenght is very impressive, you really left a mark on me when you threw me against the column and then shoved that debris on me..." she smiled evilly as she lunged forward. Missing her mark by mere inches, Aziel spun to her left and dropped to the floor. He knew she had missed on purpose, but it was his only chance at grabbing a fresh weapon.
As Lynx lurched forward in her attack, she knew Aziel would try and dodge the attack from her wounded side, her left. As such, when she lept forward, she spun her right leg forward and her left leg a little to the back and to the right.
Aziel sprang, and seeing how Lynx's legs were moving in a way that indicated that she would kick his back with great force, he quickly lunged at the ground, rolling as he hit the floor.
Lynx's spinning kick missed her mark, but the momentum had given her enough force to throw her pallasch at Aziel with the strength of a magnetic rail gun.
As he was rolling, Aziel saw the saber cutting through the air like a spinning scythe at him. He quickly lifted his hand with his saber flicked on and deflected the mighty blow, but it knocked the hilt off his grip.
Both sabers turned off in midair and rolled on the uneven floor, Aziel's saber completely useless now from the shock. These had fallen a good 20 feet from either combatant.
He turned around, raising the small photon dagger to avoid being beheaded.
Lynx had produced a photon glaive and had made a wide circle with it, putting one end of it behind her back as to give it more force, she was severely disappointed when the reddish blade struck against the small beam knife Aziel had taken from the ground.
"Your luck also seems never to run out... all very good qualities in a military-class assassin android I must say" she added as she applied even more pressure. She knew Aziel was exhausted and would not be long before he could not parry anything else.
Aziel measured his situation with a grim prospect. He wasn't unarmed, but the HUcaseal had now the advantage of reach, and if he was using just a simple dagger, he could be cut in several pieces before he could even reach her. His strength was dwindling... and if the Panzer android still made attacks with that kind of strength... He stopped thinking about it and decided to change his tactics as he noticed several somethings rise up from the floor... all around them.
"What are you waiting for? You told me she's holding him with a glaive... take the shot, I trust you can guide my hand!" Vryce said to her.
"But the problem is, you moron, that we're surrounded!" Haruka's good hand over his own hand trembled.
"What?!? Are there more Panzer Psycho androids???" Vryce's brow felt warmer. Actually, he felt pretty darn hot, as if someone had lighted a torch to his face.
"Nope, but I don't think these things are gonna help her or us!" Haruka said quickly and waving her hands in a quick motion, she called upon the powers of flame to surround her and cleanse away the obstacles. She winced at the sharp pain from her crushed hand.
"See if ya can stand the heat!!! GIFOIE!!!" she yelled.
Hundreds of spinning bladed things had sprung from the floor, and were approaching each person in that field, as moths to the flames. However, these moths possesed wickedly sharp edges, and the flames were dying out in strenght.
Luckily, the newman's tech had burnt to a crisp the many blades that were surrounding them.
"What was that? Haruka?" Vryce called to her. He knew she was just behind him as he felt her knees on his back.
Quickly taking Vryce's hand in her good hand and pointing it at Lynx's back, she said:
"Nothing, just giving us a little space to make the shot" she smiled and tried to aim the gun.
Faye had begun shooting frantically at every direction when the blades had popped from the earth and started to approach her menacingly. She knew that if assistance were not forthcoming, she was going to be shredded into tiny bits.
She managed to unleash volley upon volley of photon fire to the metallic spinning things, but the circle was closing in on her.
<Aziel...> she thought as she shot another round at the things.
To be continued...
 Tsunami K · Wed Sep 13, 2006 @ 09:21pm · 0 Comments |
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