07-21-2017, 11:22 AM
The din of combat.
It does many things to the individuals involved. Chiefly, it can forge quick bonds between individuals under fire. In a matter of minutes, Proto Man and Cloud had been joined by two others and a third providing aerial support. Although they’d only had a short time together, the robot and the mercenary had managed to mesh their combat styles in an efficient manner. Quick bursts of low-intensity fire would often be followed by the blade of the executioner.
A woman with purple skin had joined the fracas. Proto Man’s systems had grabbed a few quick scans, enough to properly identify her name and a loose affiliation with some factions in the Vasty Deep. When she started to teleport around the forest, releasing rapid dagger strikes and the occasional javelin as she evaded direct combat with the more hulking variations of the monsters. Cole, the other arrival, fought with a pair of handguns.
Every now and again, a ship idling just outside the trees would releases lances of energy into the trees. While mostly ineffective, the intermittent flashes of light and the chunks of wooden shrapnel they spread everywhere provided a nice backdrop for the frantic struggle against the darklings.
An island of trees growing straight up from the surface of the ocean, Sabaody didn’t seem like the sturdiest of places. Already, there were small fires dancing around in the canopy that stretched hundreds of feet above their heads. Around them, a few of the trees had already crumbled into the ocean. Proto Man feared that even if they were able to fend off these creatures, Sabaody would be shattered beyond repair in the process.
Who does these things? Who would willing destroy something so wonderful?
Although Scylla—the mastermind of the Blight—was what popped into his head, Proto Man couldn’t help but recall the remorse that Mickey experienced when the subject of Nippur was brought up in conversations between the two of them. For some reason that the robot still struggled to understand, the mouse continued to regret their decision to join in the Battle of Nippur. They hadn’t killed anyone. They hadn’t purposefully or deliberately destroyed anything. They had simply sent a tyrant to the Omniverse’s equivalent of jail. They had even returned to Nippur to try and make things better! How were they supposed to know that the people of Nippur would turn against one another?
Proto Man shook his head. Maybe Mickey just understood people better than he ever would.
Boom!
A concentrated burst of ‘aerial support’ smashed into a tree just a few yards north of Proto Man’s skull. The red robot dove down into the water as a vehicle-sized chunk of bark came crashing down on top of a pair of encroaching darklings.
As he vanished into the defiled ocean, the preteen machine’s low light scanners immediately kicked on and the world was overlaid with various shades of orange and red. The thrusters in his boots activated a moment later, and the water became a frothy mess as the robot rocketed up out of the ocean and landed awkwardly on a tangled mass of roots. Vision switching back as he shifted his torso, Proto Man activated his energy sword and leaned back as the oncoming darkling inadvertently skewered itself on his weapon.
Its life—or whatever semblance of life it had—rapidly draining away, the feral monster slashed at Proto Man’s face with its clawed fingers. An errant swipe scratched across the surface of his visor before a massive blur of gray cleaved away its skull.
Hopping over to Proto Man’s tree, Cloud held out his mighty weapon and grimaced as a larger darkling turned its slobbering, bloodshot eyes upon them. In the periphery, Blink and Cole were preoccupied with small detachments of the creatures.
“Go low,” Proto Man whispered as the darkling stalked toward them with all the patience of a big cat eying some wounded gazelles. “It’s top heavy… go low.”
“You don’t need to tell me twice,” Cloud said with a grin as he launched off the roots toward their foe.
It does many things to the individuals involved. Chiefly, it can forge quick bonds between individuals under fire. In a matter of minutes, Proto Man and Cloud had been joined by two others and a third providing aerial support. Although they’d only had a short time together, the robot and the mercenary had managed to mesh their combat styles in an efficient manner. Quick bursts of low-intensity fire would often be followed by the blade of the executioner.
A woman with purple skin had joined the fracas. Proto Man’s systems had grabbed a few quick scans, enough to properly identify her name and a loose affiliation with some factions in the Vasty Deep. When she started to teleport around the forest, releasing rapid dagger strikes and the occasional javelin as she evaded direct combat with the more hulking variations of the monsters. Cole, the other arrival, fought with a pair of handguns.
Every now and again, a ship idling just outside the trees would releases lances of energy into the trees. While mostly ineffective, the intermittent flashes of light and the chunks of wooden shrapnel they spread everywhere provided a nice backdrop for the frantic struggle against the darklings.
An island of trees growing straight up from the surface of the ocean, Sabaody didn’t seem like the sturdiest of places. Already, there were small fires dancing around in the canopy that stretched hundreds of feet above their heads. Around them, a few of the trees had already crumbled into the ocean. Proto Man feared that even if they were able to fend off these creatures, Sabaody would be shattered beyond repair in the process.
Who does these things? Who would willing destroy something so wonderful?
Although Scylla—the mastermind of the Blight—was what popped into his head, Proto Man couldn’t help but recall the remorse that Mickey experienced when the subject of Nippur was brought up in conversations between the two of them. For some reason that the robot still struggled to understand, the mouse continued to regret their decision to join in the Battle of Nippur. They hadn’t killed anyone. They hadn’t purposefully or deliberately destroyed anything. They had simply sent a tyrant to the Omniverse’s equivalent of jail. They had even returned to Nippur to try and make things better! How were they supposed to know that the people of Nippur would turn against one another?
Proto Man shook his head. Maybe Mickey just understood people better than he ever would.
Boom!
A concentrated burst of ‘aerial support’ smashed into a tree just a few yards north of Proto Man’s skull. The red robot dove down into the water as a vehicle-sized chunk of bark came crashing down on top of a pair of encroaching darklings.
As he vanished into the defiled ocean, the preteen machine’s low light scanners immediately kicked on and the world was overlaid with various shades of orange and red. The thrusters in his boots activated a moment later, and the water became a frothy mess as the robot rocketed up out of the ocean and landed awkwardly on a tangled mass of roots. Vision switching back as he shifted his torso, Proto Man activated his energy sword and leaned back as the oncoming darkling inadvertently skewered itself on his weapon.
Its life—or whatever semblance of life it had—rapidly draining away, the feral monster slashed at Proto Man’s face with its clawed fingers. An errant swipe scratched across the surface of his visor before a massive blur of gray cleaved away its skull.
Hopping over to Proto Man’s tree, Cloud held out his mighty weapon and grimaced as a larger darkling turned its slobbering, bloodshot eyes upon them. In the periphery, Blink and Cole were preoccupied with small detachments of the creatures.
“Go low,” Proto Man whispered as the darkling stalked toward them with all the patience of a big cat eying some wounded gazelles. “It’s top heavy… go low.”
“You don’t need to tell me twice,” Cloud said with a grin as he launched off the roots toward their foe.