Day 1 Evening

[Belle]

Guardian Fight Post

Even by her universe-warped standards, things were getting weird.

Belle barely had time to register the fact that her friend had donned a suit of armor - one curiously similar to that of his robot friend - before the immense creature was upon them once more.

The giant raised its gnarled fist and brought it down towards them. Belle, Ruby, and Weiss scattered, shockwaves rocking the ground beneath them. The force of the impact sent a solid wall of air rippling outward, blowing Belle off her feet and sending her sprawling. Dazed, she pushed herself onto her hands and knees, opening her eyes. The giant's shadow loomed.

Too late to get up. Too late to run.

There it was again: the old fear. But she'd made a promise. As the golem wound up for another strike, Belle fumbled for her crowbar. When the giant brought its hand down, palm open as if to squash an annoying insect, she slammed the tool's flat end against the cave floor, bracing the long tip upward.

The pink tip buried itself into the giant's scarred palm. For a brief, horrible microsecond, Belle thought it might just continue unabated. The thing had a giant pillar shoved through its chest, after all. It might not even feel pain.

Even so, it recoiled. A sound, a howl like two stone slabs grinding against each other, broke from the hood-like cavity where its face should have been. Its hand retreated, the pink metal lodged deep inside it.

"Hey, ugly!"

Propelled by the brilliant flare of rockets in the soles of his boots, Armored Mickey's fist slammed into the creature's 'neck.' Again then air boomed as the giant listed, rocking onto one foot as it reeled.

Hovering high above the ground, Mickey crossed his arms and waved a finger, tut-tutting with a smirk. "Didn't your mama ever teach you it's not nice to pick on girls?"

Belle stared. Mickey...?

But the aggressive hero was already back on the attack, weaving through the air like a bottlerocket gone berserk. His attacks blistered out, peppering the giant's flesh.

She'd never seen anything like it. Was this how strong Primes were?

"Going to sit there all day?" Weiss demanded.

The two girls had moved near her, and the dark-haired one, Weiss' friend, extended a hand. Belle took it, pulling herself to her feet. They turned their eyes to the display.

"Should we ... help?" Belle hazarded. Honestly, Armored Mickey seemed to have things under control...

Weiss made an irritated noise in the back of her throat. "I don't know about you, but I'm not in the habit of letting someone else do my fighting for me."

"Me either!" Ruby chimed, lifting her blade upward. If she had not seen what she had just seen, Belle would have been shocked the girl could lift the slab of metal that was as big as she was.

An explosion made her duck for cover. "How?" Belle shouted, her ears ringing.

"The legs," Weiss said. "With all that extra weight it's carrying, if we knock it over..."

Belle gritted her teeth. These primes were crazy.

Something red blurred past her, bouncing and skipping across the cave floor. Mickey came to an abrupt stop against the wall, head lolling.

The two hunters slid into their combat stances as the lumbering, enormous steps of the giant shambled closer. Belle gawped, then caught the glare from the white-haired huntress and adopted her own imitation.

"You better carry your weight," Weiss said.

Belle nodded. It was all she could do.

"Ready?" They tensed. "Go!"