08-27-2016, 02:31 PM
While he had hoped in his cybernetically-augmented heart that the time they spent on the little cliff would be peaceful, Seventeen wasn’t surprised when everything went to hell after a grand total of twenty-five minutes. After concluding his ‘debriefing’ with the ‘ace’ squadron of Koopa Troopers placed under his ‘command,’ the machine-hybrid had wandered back toward the path they’d taken to arrive on the wide cliff.
Along the way, he’d been trying to create a rough layout of the Ashen Steppes, but despite his efforts, there wasn’t much point. So far, everything had been some mixture of steppe, caldera, mountain, and active volcano. Seventeen could only imagine that there final destination would be yet another ‘large, angry mountain spewing lava and random intervals.’
I wonder if they have a cake world? A cake world would be nice…
Something went whooshing over the cyborg’s head, and before he had a chance to spin, there was an earth-shattering explosion that threw him face-first against the ground. By the time he managed to shake away the haze and roll onto his back, the cliff had already been assaulted by a bunch of winged creatures squealing and caw-cawing at the top of their lungs.
Six foot pig-birds?
The cyborg’s hand found the hilt of the Power Sword as he shoved off the ground and rushed to the aide of the astronomers. A quick slash separated the head of one of the monsters but not before it managed to tear apart the neck of a man with a clip of its snout-shaped beak.
As the man and his murderer dropped to the ground, Seventeen glanced around and saw that he was alone. Looking over his neck, he saw that his troupe was watching him with mute expressions on their face. “What are you waiting for? C’mon!” At that, the koopas raced forward to join him, with the oversized Dutch Koopa leading the way—his eyes narrowed as he clenched and unclenched his stout fingers. The reptilian bodybuilder jumped and speared the closest monster out of the air. When the two foes crashed into the ground, Dutch locked the squealing bird-pig into a headlock and broke its neck with a roid-fueled twist of his biceps.
That’s more like it!
Seventeen smiled as he ducked under a frantic swipe of talons and thrust the Power Sword up into the bird-pig’s gut. One lateral motion later, the blade exited above the creature’s right hipbone. The cyborg spun away as the flailing, dying monster tried to fall onto him and tear his throat out with the last of its strength.
Stepping forward, the machine-hybrid threw out a palm and fired a bolt of energy that knocked one of the monster’s from the shoulders of a screaming astronomer. Somewhere near the back of the line, Seventeen caught a glimpse of a scowling Julius. The leader of the group took a step away from his peers as a trio of the birds dropped down, separating the largest of the star-gazers from the herd. The slobbering, clucking monsters started to stalk the bulk astronomer, who merely reacted to the odds with a faint grin in the corner of his chiseled visage.
Julius put his palms together and continued to back up as tiny sparks and flickers of fire started to swarm around fingers. Before his triumvirate of attackers could leap at him, the head astronomer threw out his hands and released a wave of fire-engulfed lightning that swallowed the creatures and reduced them to smoldering heaps of bacon within a matter of moments.
Although the pig-birds had the element of surprise, their attack was quickly routed by the combination of cyborg, reptiles, and magicians. After a tense four minutes of combat, the handful of surviving aerial creatures dove from the cliff in a haphazard attempt to escape the grim-faced wall of warriors. Once the last of the fliers had departed, Julius didn’t skip a beat as he started to bark instructions at his pale-faced followers.
“Take accounts of the fallen. Store what is useful and what can be given to their families. We need to roll. NOW!”
Seventeen didn’t need to relay the instruction down to the Koopa Troopers, who were already moving back to their karts in preparation for departure. While he was a bit miffed they hadn’t waited for his instructions, the cyborg let it go. He was just happy they could actually fight and defend themselves in a combat situation, which meant they weren’t completely useless to him.
Along the way, he’d been trying to create a rough layout of the Ashen Steppes, but despite his efforts, there wasn’t much point. So far, everything had been some mixture of steppe, caldera, mountain, and active volcano. Seventeen could only imagine that there final destination would be yet another ‘large, angry mountain spewing lava and random intervals.’
I wonder if they have a cake world? A cake world would be nice…
Something went whooshing over the cyborg’s head, and before he had a chance to spin, there was an earth-shattering explosion that threw him face-first against the ground. By the time he managed to shake away the haze and roll onto his back, the cliff had already been assaulted by a bunch of winged creatures squealing and caw-cawing at the top of their lungs.
Six foot pig-birds?
The cyborg’s hand found the hilt of the Power Sword as he shoved off the ground and rushed to the aide of the astronomers. A quick slash separated the head of one of the monsters but not before it managed to tear apart the neck of a man with a clip of its snout-shaped beak.
As the man and his murderer dropped to the ground, Seventeen glanced around and saw that he was alone. Looking over his neck, he saw that his troupe was watching him with mute expressions on their face. “What are you waiting for? C’mon!” At that, the koopas raced forward to join him, with the oversized Dutch Koopa leading the way—his eyes narrowed as he clenched and unclenched his stout fingers. The reptilian bodybuilder jumped and speared the closest monster out of the air. When the two foes crashed into the ground, Dutch locked the squealing bird-pig into a headlock and broke its neck with a roid-fueled twist of his biceps.
That’s more like it!
Seventeen smiled as he ducked under a frantic swipe of talons and thrust the Power Sword up into the bird-pig’s gut. One lateral motion later, the blade exited above the creature’s right hipbone. The cyborg spun away as the flailing, dying monster tried to fall onto him and tear his throat out with the last of its strength.
Stepping forward, the machine-hybrid threw out a palm and fired a bolt of energy that knocked one of the monster’s from the shoulders of a screaming astronomer. Somewhere near the back of the line, Seventeen caught a glimpse of a scowling Julius. The leader of the group took a step away from his peers as a trio of the birds dropped down, separating the largest of the star-gazers from the herd. The slobbering, clucking monsters started to stalk the bulk astronomer, who merely reacted to the odds with a faint grin in the corner of his chiseled visage.
Julius put his palms together and continued to back up as tiny sparks and flickers of fire started to swarm around fingers. Before his triumvirate of attackers could leap at him, the head astronomer threw out his hands and released a wave of fire-engulfed lightning that swallowed the creatures and reduced them to smoldering heaps of bacon within a matter of moments.
Although the pig-birds had the element of surprise, their attack was quickly routed by the combination of cyborg, reptiles, and magicians. After a tense four minutes of combat, the handful of surviving aerial creatures dove from the cliff in a haphazard attempt to escape the grim-faced wall of warriors. Once the last of the fliers had departed, Julius didn’t skip a beat as he started to bark instructions at his pale-faced followers.
“Take accounts of the fallen. Store what is useful and what can be given to their families. We need to roll. NOW!”
Seventeen didn’t need to relay the instruction down to the Koopa Troopers, who were already moving back to their karts in preparation for departure. While he was a bit miffed they hadn’t waited for his instructions, the cyborg let it go. He was just happy they could actually fight and defend themselves in a combat situation, which meant they weren’t completely useless to him.
![[Image: 17.jpg]](http://omniverse-rpg.com/images/17.jpg)