Rage of the Rathalos (Saga)

[Proto Man]

The boy and his chocobo were no winged horse riders. As a result, they progressively fell further behind, and Proto Man had no desire to tire out his friend by making her work faster. Even so, he managed to trail the two armored women as they dragon started its descent on the other side of the mountain. Up ahead, the wizard had passed the android as well, although his rider returned about twenty seconds later, minus the aforementioned mage.

“Let’s get going, Salsa,” Proto Man whispered as the chocobo nodded and zipped over to the part of the mountainside where the others had vanished. As the pair drew closer, the android noticed the sheer cliff wall that led down a few hundred feet. Despite a wide-eyed look on her face, Salsa gradually dropped down to the bottom of the wide ravine. Once they were about halfway down the drop, Proto Man was able to see into a giant cavern.

“Two dragons,” the android muttered as he watched the second of the winged beasts lumber into view. Inside the cave, he noticed Samus and the armored woman already standing with weapons at the ready. A few yards behind them, the wizard was jogging to catch up, although his shouts were lost on Proto Man as the preteen robot dropped down to the ground. “Wait with the armored soldiers,” he commanded as the bird gave him a nod and started to ascend up out of the ravine.

Proto Man made it to the three just in time for them to get attacked by the pair of dragons. The first--the original of the pair--kicked up off the ground and released another burst of fire. Although the blast succeeded in scattering its foes, it was obvious that the attack lacked a little of its early gusto. Nevertheless, none of the assembled Primes felt like trying to soak up a huge sphere of fire, so they broke apart and dove for cover.

The preteen android found himself literally throwing his body as hard as he could to the left. Fortunately, he was acrobatic enough that he was able to somewhat gracefully land in a crouched position. A few feet behind him, the wizard had a little less luck, and he hit the floor of the cave with a thud.

“I hope you have a real solid plan, Kid, because I don’t think gymnastics is going to win the day here,” he yelled, a faint smile revealing that the lighthearted spin to the remark.

“The name is Blues, and the plan is we shoot them until they give up. We have the advantage in numbers, at least.”

Silence. The man blinked. After another pregnant pause, he blinked again. “Well... I’m Harry, and if that’s all you got, I’d much rather go over with those two,” he gestured with a thumb to where Samus and the mystery woman were trying to fight the Rathalos. From the looks of it, their strategy was likewise in a nascent stage.

Proto Man turned to look at the other dragon, which was lumbering toward them on its feet. Although it shared the same physiology as the Rathalos, it was stockier and dotted with numerous spiked barbs. Rather than red accents, this terrestrial dragon had patches of faded green. As he stared at the creature, Proto Man’s system scanned it, providing an overlay of information it could glean from surface analysis. “This one’s more prone to fighting on the ground. All those barbs are poisonous.”

“How do you know that?” Harry asked as he drew a smaller staff and tightened his hands around it. Proto Man recognized the device as the same one the wizard had used to channel a fire spell earlier in the fight.

“I’m a robot,” the preteen shot back as the second dragon closed the gap between them with a lunge. The pair fell back only to watch in horror as the beast quickly reared onto its giant hind legs and lashed out at them with its tail. Proto Man did the only thing that made sense and jumped up, hoping he could clear the path of the barbed appendage with the help of his augmented shins.

Harry, however, lacked the hydraulic boosts in his legs that allowed the preteen to jump upwards of sixty feet. Falling back on what he knew best, the wizard threw up an arm and willed a shield into existence. The shimmering disc flashed into being in just enough time to absorb the impact. Although he managed to prevent one of the many barbs from impaling his face, the force of the impact was still enough to throw the wizard from his feet. Harry hit the ground hard a few yards back and let out an audible groan as Proto Man landed next to him.

“Are you okay?” The robot asked as he knelt down and helped the man up off the ground. As the wizard regained his bearings, Proto Man took a moment to look to see that Samus and the dragon hunter were being backed up toward a large body of water. The Rathalos, while still hovering in the air, was lashing out with its teeth and tail, rather than the balls of fire that had marked the initial skirmish in the village.

“We need a plan, Kid,” Harry shouted. This time, however, the man didn’t want to have to retreat, and he found his engraved rod a little quicker. “Fuego!” A stream of fire spurt forth from the wooden small staff, striking the green dragon in the face as it was barreling down on them. With a furious roar, the creature reared up onto its hind limbs in an attempt to get the fire out of its face.

As Harry lowered his rod, he looked over to see that the boy’s arm cannon was outstretched, and more than that, the barrel was overflowing with white energy. With a smile on his face, Proto Man fired the charged blast, which hummed through the air before slamming into the dragon’s exposed abdomen. Whether it was the impact of simply being knocked off balance by the combination of attacks, the dragon tipped backwards and slammed down onto its back.

Any joy that might have been felt by the wizard or his preteen ally faded away with the creature quickly righted itself and set it sights back on the pair of Primes. The dragon had some fresh scorch marks on its facial features, but other than that, there was no sign of any lasting damage. “This is going to be a while,” Proto Man whispered as he started to charge another blast. “I hope you didn’t make any afternoon plans.”

With his rod still at the ready, Harry glanced down at the robot in red plate mail and chuckled. “When in Rome…”