Dark on the Waters [Dark Data]

[Proto Man]

After taking some time to recalibrate his systems and ensure that everything would remain functional for the battle ahead, Proto Man had Rush bring him below the cloud layer. From this height, he could see a great deal of the Sabaody Archipelago. While he had looked over Dataverse posts on the island, he was still amazed when he confirmed with his own eyes that it truly was a large forest jutting up out of the ocean. Each of the giant trees was domed with a giant, translucent bubble. Reports told Proto Man that he was actually looking at giant amalgams of tree sap.

Under normal circumstances, Proto Man was certain that this place would be a wonderful spot to spend some free time. On top of the glut of beautiful natural flora, there was a little society among the massive mangrove trees. The place even had its own amusement park! Back before Mickey and Minnie fell into the recluse life, there had been talking about sailing the seas and visiting all the various amusement parks in the Vasty Deep. While he genuinely had no idea why people like attractions designed to nauseate and frighten them, Proto Man enjoyed the spectacle and how silly people acted at these places.

Unfortunately, the images from the Dataverse didn’t match the situation on the ground, and even from his height, Proto Man could spot the various fires amongst the trees. The sound of gunshots and heavy munitions drifted up on the wind, along with a mixture of human and not-so-human noises. If this was a contested zone, the android wondered what the situation was like in areas where the darklings had claimed victory.

“Take us down, Boy.”

Rush let out a bark of affirmation as the roar of the thrusters dropped to a nearly silent purr. As the pair descended, the din of combat grew to cacophonous heights, until they found themselves under fire from the island.

“I’ll take it from here.” Proto Man grimaced as Rush banked to avoid a condensed beam of black energy. “Stay within range of communications, and if you spot any friendlies, send them this way!”

The dog barked once more to convey its understanding as the preteen machine adjusted his helmet and glanced down at the wristband. One of the sub-systems mentioned replication, so Proto Man quickly executed that query. A few beats later, another band appeared and dropped down onto the recessed stabilizing platform on Rush’s back.

“If anyone comes, give them copies of that!”

After a spin to avoid a few more errant attacks, Proto Man launched himself from the Rush Jet. As he descended toward the edge of the island, the Proto Buster flashed to life, and its owner released a torrent of energy blasts. While he couldn’t physically see the creatures trying to welcome him to the Archipelago, the machine’s sensors painted the path of his projectiles down into the dense brush. A few bursts of fire and burnt plant matter sprayed out from down below as Proto Man’s boot thrusters popped on to deaccelerate his descent.

Dropping safely through the brush, Proto Man landed on a dense root with a dull thud. His balance stabilizers kicked in as his scanners immediately went to work on the surrounding region. With the range boosted, he was able to pick up what was around him far better than he could in the past. Unfortunately, none of it was good news, as his HUD rapidly started to spawn red blips in his periphery.

Even worse, they were below him as well.

Proto Man jumped just as a gnarled claw erupted through the root and slashed at his ankle. Punching his hand into the building-sized tree to serve as an impromptu anchor, the robot aimed the Proto Buster and charged a blast. He didn’t wait for the darkling to show itself. As the explosion tore through the network of roots, the blip vanished—an indication that the target was destroyed or incapacitated. Either way, he had to shift his focus as more of the creatures swarmed in from his flanks.

Grimacing, the robot kicked away from the tree, tearing away a chunk of it with him as he dropped back down toward the crisscrossing network of roots above the ocean. Overhead, he saw one of the darklings landed where he had been perched and dive for him. Proto Man swung his buster cannon around, but before he could blast apart the monster, it was slashed in half by a massive gray blade. Two perfectly bisected halves crashed into the roots as the man with the spiky blonde hair landed nimbly on an upturned root. He glanced down at the small robot.

“Name’s Cloud. You look like you could use a hand.” He muttered as more darklings started to descend from branches overhead. Proto Man took aim and blasted on apart, much to the clear amusement of the swordsman. “All right, I guess I could use a hand too.” He grinned as the two primes readied themselves for their amassing adversaries.