Olguin Saotome...a complex man in a world going to hell. For many years he wandered the world. And for some of those he worked for COR.... Dreaming back..he remembers...
Fearless Leader
The steady drops of water hitting the ground in a constant hail...
The heady smell of the jungle...
The cawing of a rare, and beautiful tropical bird.
Olguin Saotome, at the tender age of fifteen, HATED having to be out in the wilderness!
Wearing camoflague gear, he once again grunted as he rearranged his pack more comfortably.
Shoving aside another branch, he winced as it struck back, hitting him directly in the face.
The young lad looked quite startled as he heard the rustling of some bushes nearby, ducking out of sight he crouched low.
Reaching up, the air briefly shined before seemingly opening up for his questing digits. Drawing a seven foot long staff out, he crouched slightly.
Waiting for his prey to appear.
He growled to himself, slicing through the various foilage with his razor-sharp claws, muttering deeply about the heat and bugs under his scales as he cut his way noisily through the jungle.
The smell of the flaura made his nose itch and the birds annoyed him.
The rain made his thick cload wet and caused it to cling to him wherever it could.
Yuthirin was not happy.
He tore his way through to a clearing and stopped and wondered, not for the first tome, why he was out here. His senses perked at the lingering touch of magical energy in the air, and he began search about cautiously.
A fish?
Olguin's jaw dropped, totally ruining the stoic expression he was working so hard to get.
Oh hell...THAT'S Knight Yuthirin!?
Flashes of the briefing he had received before hand ran rampant through his mind.
He and Knight Yuthirin were to investigate and verify if the rumors about the Inquisition's latest Super Weapon were true.
But still...
A fish?
When had he fallen through the rabbit hole?
"Probably when I joined this organization." He wryly murmured.
Shaking his head, he walked towards Knight Yuthirin, bowing as soon as he was in sight. Opening his mouth, he introduced himself in Japanese.
Silence fell on the clearing.
Oh dear...
Looking suitably chargined, he began again.
"Forgive my terrible manners, my name is Olguin Saotome, Squire rank. I'm to be your partner on this mission."
Yuthirin stared at the boy as he began spouting gibberish.
Then the boy started speaking English.
He twitched.
"My partner...is a boy?" He closed his large eyes and sighed. "Very well. I am Knight Yuthirin of the Deep Ones. We are wasting time here. We had best get moving."
He growled to himself, mentally preparing the rant he was going to send to Dracos when the mission was over.
Oh...this will be just peachy. Olguin mentally groused, still terribly embarrassed about his earlier error.
Tromping along the forest, he kept to his own consul.
-----Half an hour later-----
The sounds of fierce battle reached the duo's ears as they approached the lab proper.
"I hope the forces buy us more time, or this won't go well for us at all." He softly whispered, the faint glow of spiritual energies briefly surrounding his staff as he prepared himself for any attacks.
"You had best hope so. I doubt we could fight pur way in alone." grumbled Yuthirin, flexing his claws, having overheard what the boy had said. "Hopefully we'll at least have some challenge..."
"Yes sir." Olguin mumbled, slowing down enough that he was following his commanding officer by a pace. Eyes darting from side to side cautiously, his own steps lightly touching the forest ground.
He hardly wanted to give their position away now, of all times.
Takahashi would KILL him if he allowed one of the KNIGHTS get hurt!
Yuthirin narrowed his eyes and slid silently through the bushes, peering about to see whether or not there were any guards in the immediate vicinity, then slipping through the bushes and trees, his dark green scales adding to his stealth as he moved toward the facility.
After carefully noting where the COR forces assaulting the main gate were, he smoothly snuck about the perimeter, searching for a way in without alerting the guards to his presence.
Following closely behind, Olguin had his right index finger placed to the side of his right ear, making an occasional sound of agreement or bobbing his head.
"Yes sir...over and out." He quietly whispered, "Lord Yuthirin, our forces are now pulling back, we'd best hurry into the lab now, sir."
Placing his staff off to the side, he knelt down in front of an old, rusty rail on the ground. Grunting in effort, he slowly lifted...and moved it out of the way, leaving the entrance clear to them.
Yuthirin jumped down the hole, claws splayed before him, ready to strike. His feet splashed into the sewer water, and he stared at it before shaking his head and striding forward.
He began speaking, having expected the boy to follow him immediately. "I would like nothing more than to find this supposedly ancient psionically-powered so-called super weapon of these Inquisition fools and get it for Dracos as fast as possible. Come, we must move quickly to avoid detection."
He stumbled after a few steps, then grumbled, "Even their sewers are substandard...I cannot wait to go home." He continued onward, quietly ranting.
Olguin merely stayed quiet, keeping to his own consul as they waded through the water. Inwardly he quietly wondered what exactly the weapon would be.
His musings didn't assure him one bit...
Shaking his head in anger, he shook those traitorous thoughts out of his mind.
The mission is first and foremost... With that in mind, his grasp tightened on his weapon. Marching along after his commanding officer, one last stray thought crossed his mind.
It's quiet...too quiet.
--- Moments earlier... ---
"Hey, boss, we've got movement down in Sewer Sector Three." said a tech to the Head Security Supervisor.
"It's probably just feedback from the ship's computer, it's been happening a lot lately. Go ahead and send down a few men, though. Better safe than sorry." said the supervisor.
The tech nodded and radioed the closest security station.
--- Presently... ---
Yuthirin slid silently through the water, slightly annoyed by the comparative noise the boy made as he waded through the ankle-deep murky water. Yuthirin stopped suddenly, and stared into the darkness, his body leaning down into a fight-or-flight stance.
Up ahead, several voices became audible. "...shit, Sarge. I hate these damn sewers. Why do we gotta be down here, anyway?"
"Shut up, Lewis. It's bad enough that is stinks down here, but I don't wanna haveta put up with your bitchin' and moanin', too."
"Blow me Riggs, I-"
"Shut up, both of you! They think there may be something down here, and we gotta make sure of it."
"Err, something, Sarge?" said Lewis, a bit shakily.
Yuthirin quickly grabbed the boy by the arm and dragged him down a side tunnel, crouching low against a pile of rotting refuse as the men passed, their flashlights grazing over him.
"Lewis, you know damn well that ship makes radio signals and stuff like that go funny. It's probably just that, but we still gotta make sure, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so..." said Lewis as they vanished down the sewer corridor, away from the two.
Yuthirin sat up and pulled the boy out of the pile, glaring at him. "Do try to be more attentive in the future." he said, then crawled out of the tunnel and continued back down the main corridor.
Olguin briefly held the glare, but broke it. Shoved down into his soul of ice, the flare of anger he held for himself fizzeled out of existance.
I can't affort to drop the ball, not again. Dammit!
The sounds around Olguin suddenly went dull, his own pace suddenly becoming much more smoother.
Up ahead...a faint light could be seen.
Yuthirin crept along the wall, slipping quickly from shadow to shadow, passing corridor after corridor, and after passing through a larger archway and two imposing stone gargoyles, he finally came to a chamber with four tunnel entrances, side by side. Each entrance was framed by a brick arch, and had a carving of an angel towering over it. The tunnel walls were made of brick, and the four corners of the room were augmented by stone pillars.
"...the hell is this?" muttered Yuthirin.
"Hmm...gothic style of architecture? Seems a bit...odd for a sewer." Olguin quietly murmured to his commanding officer.
Hearing a scuttling noise from behind, Olguin spun around.
Only to see a rat hurry along...
"Now, one of these should lead us to the lab...the problem is which." Extending his rather limited ki sense outwards, he briefly frowned.
"Joy, whatever's above us doesn't lend itself to preserving any sort of energy reading."
Yuthirin pondered for a moment, then began walking down the center-left tunnel, ignoring the elaborate architecture as he crept down the tunnel.
The tunnel was strangely silent as the duo made their way through it, the roof above them occasionally letting out a faint groan, decay slowly wearing it down through the ages.
=Up ahead=
Shades of red made up the hunter's world as it spotted its prey...
It struck in a blur of movement, a tattered cloak flapping off its malnourished form with the sudden movement.
A pitieous squeak heralded the rat's passing from the world...
The hunter hungered for more...
What's this? Something invading ITS domain...
This wouldn't do at all...
Yuthirin slowed, feeling a feral presence ahead of him. He growled low and sank into a crawl, preparing to spring upon any kind of threat to himself or his mission.
Facing screwing up in slightly distaste, Olguin slid into a Tendo branch stance. "Death hangs in the air."
Eyes rapidly flickering around their surroundings, he bit back a curse as he briefly spotted something rapidly coming towards them...
Only to duck into a side tunnel...
"It's playing with us..." He growled out.
No longer even listening to the boy, Yuthirin crept toward the side tunnel, dashing against the opposite wall once he reached the corner, preparing himself for anything.
"Hey! Wha...it's one of them!" Lewis shouted, spinning around to face Yuthirin, machine gun spitting out fire as its ammunition flew towards the Knight.
Time slowed to a crawl as the bullets closed in.
Only to slam into and bounce off a spinning object that briefly flittered in front of his face.
"What the hell...?" Was all Lewis could get out before his head erupted in a shower of blood, the soft splash of his head and body simulateneous hitting the now rust colored water all the sound he'd make from now on.
Landing with a small plop, a mishapen mass that could only be passed off as humanoid looked up, eyes shining with bloodlust and insanity. A long tongue snaked out from inbetween its lips, revealing wickedly sharp teeth.
Running it along its lips, it closed its eyes in something akin to rapture as it removed the small amounts of blood on them.
Growling deep within its throat, it rapidly rose...
"HEY!"
Only to spin around in place to face the two latest invaders.
"It got Lewis! Kill it!"
Yuthirin was privy to no more as he was pulled away from the scene by Olguin.
"C'mon, let's get the hell outta here!"
A roar of fury shook the sewer, the rapid staccato of machine guns going off answering its challenge...
A moment of silence...
Then a brillant flare of light erupted from within the side tunnel...
Then nothing more...
Yuthirin unhappily ran alongside the boy. "Well, what now? This is a fine mess. Why are we running, anyway?"
"Something seemed very wrong with the...whatever that was." Olguin desperately said, trying to convey the feeling he briefly felt from the beast.
"Didn't you feel it? That overwhelming darkness from within that...thing?"
"Besides, we can't waste our time fighting every single battle, we have more important matters to handle."
Yuthirin nodded. "You are right, we do have more important things to worry about. We must find the weapon, get the information, then report it as quickly as possible."
He continued running, ducking down verious side tunnels, searching for a ladder or vent or some form of entryway into the complex itself.
Deep within the ruins of the tunnel, it quietly rested. All around him lay the remains of the humans who dared attack him.
Bringing an severed arm up to his lips, he viciously bit into it, tearing out chunks of flesh. Drinking the little blood that remained, the warm liquid slowly oozed down his throat, causing him moan in bliss as he almost constant pain in his mind dulling ever so slightly.
Turning towards the direction the two survivors had ran off too, he lightly sniffed.
Yes, those two reeked of power. Unlike these...appetizers.
Looking at the arm in something akin to disgust, he flung it away from its person, where it smashed into the wall.
Getting to its feet with animal grace, it took another sniff. Their minds called to him, tempting him with rich, delicious power. Unable to resist the lure any longer, it began to bound away.
Its prey wouldn't get away so easily!
****
The duo searched for ten minutes, the twisting and turning sewer system seemingly mocking them with its refusal to show them an exit.
Just when Olguin was about to complain, they suddenly felt a blast of relatively strong breeze of wind hit them. Looking down, he noticed that the water was running faster in this section of the tunnel as well.
"What the..?"
Olguin cautiously crept forwards, his cautious proving to be wise when he came to the end of the tunnel.
...and the beginning of a LONG fall.
Looking around the huge pit that the tunnel lead to, he saw that several more tunnels seemingly lead to this 'pit', the water from all the tunnels falling into the inky blackness below.
Sighing at the fact they had wasted their time, Olguin turned around. Only to spot a rusted switch. Next to it was a small sign, pieces of it ragged and worn from the ages it must've been there.
Olguin peered at it closely, squinting his eyes to make out the words.
"Bridge...mechanism...courteous...leave off....not in use."
Yuthirin turned and read the sign as well. He growled, "What are you waiting for, boy?" and pulled the switch and waited for the bridge to appear.
An ominous rumbling filled the sewer, bits and pieces of various debris falling all around them. Moments later the sounds of metal scraping across itself stopped, the rumbling ceasing to be at the same time.
Olguin hissed as solitary pebble conked him on the head, sourly rubbing the sore spot.
"No good. Shall we head back? This is a dead end."
"We retrace our steps. Quickly. Something moved, and it wasn't here. There must be a way into the facility, somewhere near here. Lets go." he hissed, stalking off the way they had come from.
Rounding several corners, he came to a fork in the tunneling; two tunnels he had been down, one lead back to the creature, the other, to the dead end. Choosing the road less traveled by, he darted down the corridor he had not yet been down.
The sounds of rats chittering in the darkness and the steady sounds of water running echoed in their ears as they moved down the heavily shadowed sewerways.
Olguin held his staff above his head as to keep it from being ruined by the water. He briefly scowled at the shadows all around them.
At this rate...
Any further thoughts were promptly crushed when he heard the faint roar of the creature they had previously escaped from.
It was getting closer!
Heart pounding in his chest, the young Squire and the Knight plunged onwards.
And into a pitch black chamber.
"...great." He squinted his eyes in the darkness, and spotted a faint red light blinking on the other side of the chamber.
OOC: *sigh* I hope this comes across well.
Knight Yuthirin was not restricted to the pathetically weak senses his human 'guardian' possessed, though.
The chamber was immense in scope, showing off its designer's flar for drama (and ego) with the four giant pillars at the center of the room. He could faintly see that each pillar was six meters apart.
Oddly enough he could see that marble serpents coiled around each of the pillars.
High above the right wall he could see a giant pipe pumping petrid water into the room.
And directly in front of them...there lay concrete steps leading out of the water and into a narrow tunnel. A faint red light was at the end of the tunnel.
Yuthirin strode forward and crossed the water, climbing the steps with ease, the claws on his feet making small "click-click" noises on the stone steps.
Olguin sighed as he miserably followed in the Knight's wake. He wondered why the hell he was even needed during this mission, seemed more like he was extraneous baggage.
Well, he WOULD prove his worth to the superiors.
No matter what.
***
The sound of its excited breathing filled its ears as he smelt the two down far below. It felt a momentary pang of regret at the fact that they hadn't put up more of a effort to hide themselves, but it was promptly crushed under its terrible hunger.
Its eyes glazed over as the beast rapidly looked from one target to another from its perch high above.
That one shined with Power. But it smelt different from the pup. It took another deep sniff to confirm its suspicions. A madcap grin split the bloodied face of the Hunter as it stepped closer to the pipe's edge.
Yyyyeeeeeessssss....
A faint shard of light appeared in its greyish hand simulateneously with the monster's prolonged moan.
The pain!
The beast viciously grinned as it pulled back into the inky blackness.
Soon...
But first...
It was time for it to awaken his children.
****
The flashing light was a mere portion of a computer console that was lodged deep within a nook in the slime coated walls of the sewer.
Yuthirin walked up to the console and cleared some of the slime off of the screen, his fingers brushing against the surface. As they did, the monitor suddenly came alive, making him start slightly. It provided manues for various ducts, tunnels, and bridges. Touching the menu for the bridges, he brought up the dead-end corridor they had last visited, and activated the bridge.
Once the console indicated that the bridge had completed its extention, he grasped the console with both hands, closed his eyes, and began to chant softly. Moments later, blue arcs of energy began to trail over his body and across the console, which began to smoke and soon caught fire, the monitor winking out and the lights on the console failing. He released the console quickly and turned, striding back down the steps.
"Let's go, boy. Our job here isn't nearly done, I suspect."
"Yes, sir!" Olguin smartly nodded. Inside he widely grinned as he watched what the Knight did, though.
As they walked away he fingered the slightly burnt staff he had leaning on his right shoulder. Unnoticed by all, the weapon faintly glowed in response.
Soon...
***
The screams of panicked tech heads rang in Alexander's sensitive ears as he jolted out of his chair. The door to his office fly open and slam against the wall, he sharply looked up
"What is it!?"
"Project Saisho Heiki Kanojyo has gone out of control!" The wry japanese techician bellowed with tears streaming from his eyes.
The Head of the Science Division's already pale complexion went ghostly white.
He openned his mouth to comment, but it was all for naught.
For SHE had destroyed the chains they had used to shackle her.
Suddenly, she was aware.
Her bonds had been broken by some unknown force, and she was free again.
The rage flew out of nowhere, and from somewhere within her core, she drew up memories of terrible experiments. The status of her vessel came to her almost before she could even think to want it, and she saw the things they had done to what had been her body for countless years.
The rage buffetted her, it drove her near to madness. Reaching out for anything she could find, she took huge amounts of psionic power, and released nearly all of it all at once.
Outside the vessel, a wall of force rippled out from the ship, a solid wall of energy that crushed or burned everything in its path.
It took only moments, but what had been done was brutally effective; the shield around the vessel fell immediately, completely unable to stand up to the sheer force thrown at it, all the scientists in the lab were either small piles of fine ash or very flat puddles of gore. No living thing remained inside the lab. The equipment was smashed flat or melted together, and the walls were covered in scortch marks and pressure fractures. Some parts of the wall fell off completely, leaving large chunks missing. The ceiling dropped large amounts of dust and stone, appearing to sag under its own weight, though not collapsing.
A wave of power spread beyond the lab in all directions, touching everything for over a mile in radius before dissipating, knocking over trees and overturning automobiles.
Looking up from its gruesome task, Redrum's eyes widened in mortal terror.
Such power...
Shrieking in mad glee, it finished tearing up the chunks of flesh from one of the soliders it had killed previously. It slowly grinned as he spotted it.
*****
The two COR operatives had finally done it.
They had entered the base...and it wasn't a pretty sight.
Blood and gore splattered the previously pristine halls of the base, from their viewpoint a security office was clearly within sight, the roof slumping into the office but still holding.
Up ahead there stood a fork in the hallway.
Yuthirin smiled grimly. "Perhaps we'll finally get some action..." He chose the right path and started down it, unheeding of the blood and gore coating the walls.
The sounds of pulpy flesh echoed in the quiet hallway as the duo's steps softly carried them across the cracked grey tiles of the lab.
They struggled to force an electronic door, but managed to move the steel door between their combined strength.
Revealing...
The lighting sparked and would occasionally flicker on and off above them
A faint puddle of blood could be faintly seen oozing through the bottom of one of the twelve doors lining the hall. Further down in the hallway, a darkened chamber lay.
Deep groaning could be heard in the darkness, with the occasional sharp noise of wood cracking.
Yuthirin gazed on the scene ponderously for a moment, then strode to the door with blood flowing from under it and yanked it open.
With a groan of supreme effort, the door finally gave up the ghost, coming off in Yuthirin's clawed hands. The two were greeted to a scene from any sane man's nightmares.
Patches of blood, and less savory materials literally coated the room in a thin sheen. All over the room tables and other assorted electronic equipment litered the ground.
Once in a while, the sound of shifting rubble could be heard, along with the groaning of the ceiling. Over by the far right of the room lay a upturned metal case, its metal lock seemingly broken by the impact.
A gleam of white could be seen within the case.
Yuthirin gently opened the case, making not a sound in case the ceiling really was going to collapse on him.
Sheets of documents greeted Yuthirin's eyes as he opened the case, many of them apparently progress reports and the like.
A faint jingle could be heard from the bottom of the case.
Yuthirin began handing papers ofer to Olguin as he glanced at them, working his way down to the jingling...thing.
Olguin's eyes darted through the text, but the constant flood of documents kept him from getting any good amount of information.
Just as Yuthirin had cleared out the chest, he was greeted with the sight of a gleaming silver card.
Its metallic surface was smooth and cold to the touch. Along its left side was a barcode, and the upper right held the small sign for Alpha.
That's when the roars began.
Yuthirin swiped up the card and slipped it into the small bladder-pouch on his belt.
As the roars began, he dashed out of the room, heading past the various doors and down the hall toward the darkened chamber at its end.
The chamber lit up in faint silver light as he entered, the soft glow touching everything, yet having no discernable source. The true source of the light was in his mind, and he saw clearly what had once been a robotics laboratory. The various arms and components lay inert, the power too low to sustain them. A door to his left stood open a crack, the top hinge bent completely out of its place.
Compelled by the roaring, he dodged between the robotics equipment, pushing pieces out of his way, then pulling open the door and dashing into another hallway, pulling his 'guardian' along behind him.
Olguin decided to drop the documents in their mad dash away from that...thing. Moving out of Yuthirin's grip, he kept low as he followed behind, already drawing his staff in preparation for battle.
Just peachy, all they needed now was...
Feeling a prickling force rocket towards them, he couldn't tell what it was, but it was...
"Get down!"
Tackling his ward down, he saw as a bolt of red light streaked high above them, slamming into and through a wall.
His eyes narrowed as he saw more of those damnable things appear in the gloom behind them as he forced the two of them up and away from that monster.
Yuthirin leapt up and spun about, cupping his hands above his head as power flowed through his body. He brought his hands down before him and shouted,
"IDIYEAH!" A long, thick, jagged spear of ice flew from his hands and back the way they had come, almost too fast to see.
He spun about again and lifted the boy to his feet and dashed off toward the end of the hall.
At the end of the hall there were two doors, one to the left and one to the right, one which looked as though someting large had tried to force its way through. He chose the right door, which was still intact, and ran through another poorly-lit and bloody laboratory.
As he forced a set of warped sliding doors open, he glanced up at a map set into the wall. From what he could tell, he was nearing the facility where the weapon was said to be held.
"Go! I'll try and take this jackass away from you!" Olguin yelled, pushing Yuthirin towards the exit on the other side of the room.
"Whatever this thing is, it'll be hunting us down for the rest of the mission, and may even wind up costing us our lives if we don't fight!"
The shattering of a wall and a bloodcurdling roar finished Olguin's end of the discussion.
Yuthirin turned, ignoring the boys words, and held his right hand before him, chanting softly, but quickly. A small flame began flickering in the air above his hand as the creature began to tear its way into the room.
"Shubc!" The flame grew and twisted, beginning to whirl.
"SHUBC!" The flame spun faster, into a ball, growing in size to that of a basketball.
"SHUBC!" The ball of fire whirled and churned above his hand, seeming almost alive. As the creature avdanced upon them, he threw the fireball from his side, up to the ceiling, where it exploded, wreathing the entire area around the beast in flames.
The ceiling, already weakened, groaned and collapsed on top of the beast, tons of stone and metal cascading down upon it.
The humanoid monstrosity bellowed in pain as the roof crumpled on top of him.
But didn't let that stop him from returning the favor.
With a howl of agony, a storm of crimson shards of light appeared in front of its form.
Moments later they tore through the air in their haste to arrive at the duo.
***
Olguin grimaced at the power that thing had so casually used.
And the fact that this certain manifestation of power was heading their way.
Fast.
Oh well...
As he dashed in front of Yuthirin, he noted the irony. He had wanted to prove himself.
But it seemed it was time to pay the price.
Knight Yuthirin would get to the Weapon.
While he...
Best not to think about that.
Spinning his staff before him like a shield, he began to call the familiar dark power he had always channeled. The smell of ozone filled the air as the air in front of Olguin and Yuthirin solidfied into a wall of glowing light.
Moments later, the shards of crimson light slammed into the barrier, shoving Olguin back six inches as the storm of powerful psionic attacks connected with the willpower of a determined individual.
One who wouldn't ever let anything harm his ward.
He felt the staff underneath his hands heat up beyond all expectations before a blinding flare of light threw him away from Yuthirin.
Landing in a heap far away from the Knight.
In a quiet heap.
***
Damn the child!
Damn him to heeeeeeeelllllll!
The beast roared its indignation at the boy before turning its attention to Yuthirin.
Its eyes glowed a dull red as it prepared to finish the Powerful One off.
The corners of Yuthirin's wide mouth curled upward in a cruel smile. He watched as a large chunk of stone fell from the ceiling above and before the creature, smashing down and then through the floor. The floor groaned loudly under the weight of the many tons of poorly-balanced rock in one place, then a large area of the floor collapsed into the sewers below, ending with a massive crash, a huge splash, and a loud roar of rage and pain. He hoisted the boy up and over his shoulder, forcing the doors open and striding through them.
He felt his respect for the boy growing a bit. That shield was quite impressive...I must learn how he managed that. He's so young, for a human.
He checked the boy over, and decided that he was just exhausted. He set the boy on his back and pulled a flask from his belt, uncorking it and pouring a small amount of the viscous, foul-smelling green fluid into the boys mouth, rubbing his throat so he would swallow.
Olguin slowly swallowed the fluid, coughing raggedly as he slowly returned to the world of the living. His eyes immediately began to dart over their surroundings before coming to rest on Yuthirin's face.
He immediately relaxed as he spotted no more signs of the monster, but that expression turned into one of disappointment when he saw the remains of his staff.
"where's the monster?" He weakly asked, hands weakly grasping at the ground in preparation of returning him back to his feet.
"Not dead. Most likely incapacitated for the moment. Can you walk? Good." He hoisted Olguin to his feet and looked around. They were inside a hallway lined with steel doors with large glass windows in them. The double doors at the far end were completely covered in blood.
He smirked to himself. The path I travel is paved with blood.
He walked down the hall and, upon reaching the doors, attempted to pry them open.
As he failed to do this, he moved to break the glass open when he noticed a light flashing on a panel to the right of the doors. Chuckling to himself, he pulled the card out of the bladder at his side and slid it into the slot on the panel. The panel bleeped three times, then spat the card back out, the doors opening with the hiss of hydraulics.
Olguin took a moment to look down at his focus staff, igniting the small bit of the oak staff that had survived the barrier with a small spark of chi.
Thank you for helping me, partner.
He turned back and followed after Yuthirin, the staff's remains quickly being incinerated in the fire's wake. As soon as he arrived, he quietly asked.
"We should hurry, that thing will probably recover soon enough, judging by the amount of power I felt coming off that thing during our 'battle'."
Yuthirin strode through the doors, revealing a second room, small, with a desk before another glass door and two murder holes on each of the walls, mangled barrels of rifles pointing through them. He stepped over a corpse that lay right before the doorway and looked around.
"If it does, we will kill it."
He noticed another blinking panel next to the steel door and a scotrched body behind the desk, only partially splatteed across the chair and wall. He searched the corpse and came up with another steel card, then inserted it into the slot.
The slot made a gargling noise and the door opened halfway, revealing it to be more than a foot thick, solid steel.
Yuthirin frowned at the door and at the now-sparking panel and squeezed through the passage.
Olguin softly sighed as he easily slid past the door, and into the room beyond. Walking up besides Yuthirin, he softly continued.
"Do you think it was that thing that caused all of this death?"
Yuthirin glanced at him. "Look at how it's been done. No, this wasn't done by that thing. It's simply not strong enough. Besides the fact, look at the doors we've come through. Do you really think it would be courteous enough to close them behind itself?"
He looked around and saw another room like the last, though everything seemed to be made of glass, and quite a bit less 'secure.' There was a card table, partially charred, and a few lumps of ash that had been wooden stools.
W set of doors made completely of glass, most of it covered in blood, stood at the end of the room. Another panel sat to its right, dark and silent. Through the clean parts, a large, long, white object could be seen. There was half of a metal security card on the table, the other half having melted and formed a pool around it.
"Oh...great."
"Well...the card is bust this time around. We may as well make our own path through this lab, eh?" Olguin viciously grinned as he dashed up to the twin sets of glass doors.
"Ha!" Lashing out with a boot encased foot, he smashed it in and through the left door, destroying it completely.
"Kiyah!" Pulling his foot out of the glass door, he spun around, and lashed out with a fist. Moments later, the right door was completely destroyed.
Dropping his fist, Olguin looked at Yuthirin.
"Where to now?" For a moment, Yuthirin could've sworn that he saw the boy's fist glow a dull amethyst.
Yuthirin pointed quietly into the next room, where small robots could be seen crawling over the massive expanse of the Super Weapon's bulk, reattaching cables here, welding armor plates into place there, and other various repair work.
The little robots paid them no heed, working quickly and efficiently.
Olguin blinked a few times, rubbing his eyes before looking at the Super Weapon, then rubbing his eyes again.
"Oh..."
Well...he sure felt stupid now.
Shrugging, he started heading to the ship. Mindful of the fact that it was possible the thing that wiped out the crew.
***
Damn them!
He'd slowly flay them bit by bit!
He would have his vengenance.
Oh yes he would.
He strained his body to its limits, howling in agony as he felt nerves and tendons stretch to their limits, and promptly rip themselves apart.
The rubble shifted slightly.
That's when a dull red glow began to flicker in the depths of the sewers.
Yuthirin walked forward into the room, gazing at the furuiosly working robots for a moment, then started toward the vessel, keeping his compatriot in tow.
Walking up to she ship and ignoring the buzzing, whirring, and clicking of the robots for a moment, he studied a lens that had been following their movement for a moment, then becan searching for a hatch of some sort.
After a bit of searching, he came across the gangway, partially pulled shut. A good-sized 5-foot tall opening remained, about 45 feet up. Yuthirin stared at it for a moment, then grinned toothily to himself.
"Can you jump, kid?"
"I can, but 30 feet at my best. And without..." The loud thud of his backpack landing on the metal walkway echoed through the hangar. "This."
"Got a plan?"
Yuthirin nodded his large, scaled, frog-like head. "Indeed, I do." He cupped his hands together and set them out before himself. "Step on, I'll give you a leg up, then follow."
"Alright." Stepping onto Yuthirin's hands, Olguin began to draw his bioenergy to increase his physical attributes. Muscles tensed as they filled with sweet, sweet power.
Shaking his head to clear it of the heady fog that had descended on his mind, he smartly started. "Ready."
Yuthirin grinned and said, "Jump!"
The muscles beneath the scales of his arms and back bunched, and he heaved the boy upwards with all of his strength.
With a loud kiai, Olguin's legs flexed in time to Yuthirin's toss, causing his body to blast towards the open hatch. That's when he considered...their was a good long drop if he missed!
Can anyone say...Olguin-splat?
His eyes narrowed as the winds rushed around him as he sped through the air, moving ever closer to the opening.
Moments later, his view of the hangar was rapidly replaced with the dully red lit hallways of the ship. And a wall.
We mustn't forget the wall.
Which his face was rapidly approaching!
Desperately lashing out with his arms and legs, he latched onto the wall, flexing as the world turned topsy turvy again. He let out a silent cheer of glee as he rebounded off, spinning towards a landing on the ground.
He grimaced as he slammed into the ceiling of the hallway with a loud, meaty thud. Feeling himself falling, he let out a sqawk of indignation when he crash landed on the floor of the hallway on his rear.
Groaning at this latest disaster, he shakily stood up after checking to see if his nose had broken during his up close and personal introduction to the ceiling.
Finding nothing wrong, he staggered over to the open hatch.
"H-hey, what do you want me to do now!?" He called out to the Knight he was escorting.
Yuthirin squatted down, bunched his legs up, and SPRANG upward, careening across the room, bouncing off the wall, and landing himself standing next to Olguin.
"Well...for starters, you could get your head on straight."
Olguin squeaked in surprise when he heard Yuthirin's voice next to him. Skittering backwards, he slammed into another the wall right next to the open hatch.
"Argh...I think I do, at that." He softly muttered. Rubbing his temples, he sighed.
"Where do you think the bridge may be?" He asked, looking up at Yuthirin curiously.
"Most likely in the front of the ship. Let's go. I have a feeling that beast is still after us. The sooner we get back to Headquarters, the better." He turned and began walking.
"Makes sense, I guess." Olguin started following after Yuthirin.
***
With a roar of maddened rage, the debris that had been holding down the hunter erupted! Giant chunks of rock and steel smashed up against the walls of the sewers around it at terminal velocity.
Hunched in the center of a three meter deep crater, the beast was shrouded by a blood red aura.
Another roar heralded the beast's return to the game. Bunching its legs underneath it, the beast howled as it rocketed upwards.
Softly landing on the ground floor, it began to dash after its prey.
It wouldn't be denied!
Yuthirin nodded and pointed at the small black dots that lined the wall, smirking. "I think the ship is watching us." He frowned after a moment. "This whole situation gives me the dreads. The sooner this is over with, the better." he repeated to himself. They walked down the corridor, lenses behind the dots following their movement. After a bit, they came to a steel lift.
Olguin's body was tense throughout the entire trip. Eyes darting from one of the dots to the other, he shivered.
This was the thing that had destroyed the lab, right? Why hadn't it tried to kill them yet, then.
Looking at the lift, he sighed.
"Going up?" Walking onto the lift, he waited for Yuthirin to get on.
Yuthirin stepped onto the platform and tapped the small, softly-glowing arrow on the wall, causing the lift to raise them upward.
After a few dry moments, they arrived at the bridge, various consoles working by themselves quietly. Repair robots skittered here and there, putting finishing touches on a few dark consoles.
No one else was on the bridge.
"Pleasant place. Let's get this thing out of here." muttered Yuthirin.
Olguin looked at the robots nervously. Walking into the bridge, he made sure to move out of their paths at all times.
"Well...this is your show, now." Lightly shrugging, he quietly sighed. "I'll see if there's anything we need to secure before we move it."
Yuthirin nodded. "Good idea. I'll see if I can't figure out how to get this thing running."
He looked around, and after a little bit, noticed the captain's chair and sat in it, fiddling with the controls.
"Any luck?"
"Hmm...a lot of the hatches along the hull are open. Seems whatever happened drained this thing completely dry of power." Olguin called back, looking at a console on the right wall.
Yuthirin looked up from the controls. "You mean this thing can't go anywhere? Great." he growled, leaning on one of the chair's armrests. He thought for a moment, then idly channeled a bit of psychic power into the system before him.
Each console still active immediately displayed red banded error messages and incompatability errors.
"Hmm...Hey, kid, take a look at this."
Olguin looked up from where he had been trying to figure out what was wrong with one of the repair robots. Blinking, he rose to his feet and dusting himself off.
"What is it, sir?" He finally asked when he had walked up to Knight Yuthirin.
Yuthirin got up and motioned to the chair. "My psionic power isn't working on this thing." He growled. "Get in there and give it a shot."
Olguin turned disbelieving eyes towards Yuthirin, but did as he was told. Walking up to the chair, he plopped himself on it.
"But...I don't have psionic power." He mumbled, looking around in confusion.
"Fish guts, boy. You can manipulate your life force, correct?"
Olguin nodded, pride clear on his face as he answered.
"Yes sir, I trained under the best to learn that ability."
"Good. That should have strengthened some kind of psionic ability. Try using a small amount of it to jumpstart this ship."
Olguin blinked a few times at Yuthirin's words, but did as he said. "How is...this?"
Reaching out with his senses, he boggled as he felt...something behind all this. He tentatively reached out towards it, and began to feed the system a steady stream of his own life force.
System consoles flickered to life, lights grew brighter, and the little robots started moving faster as Olguin fed the ship the energy it needed. Consoles ran through diagnostic checks and tallied various repair jobs before their eyes, thousands of tasks scrolling across the screens.
One screen flashed big, bold, red letters. "CORE POWER -- INSUFFICIENT"
Yuthirin walked around, checking the various readouts before discovering this message.
"See if you can feed it some more, boy. Whatever you're doing, you're doing it right."
The whole ship suddenly shook, a loud roar echoing through the silence that followed.
"Dammit! That bastard's back!" Olguin cursed, "I can't go out there, and feed the ship the energy it needs at once."
He grumbled, chenching his fist. "By ancient Mu, this creature is irritating. Very well. Do you think that you can get this vessel working quickly? I may need your assistance while facing the beast."
"I'm...not sure." Olguin winced as the ship shook again. "But whatever we do, we have to do it before that thing causes the ship to crash down on our heads!"
He frowned. "Do your best, boy. Join me once you're finished. I'm going to keep the beast busy for you." He clapped Olguin on the shoulder, then turned and ran out of the control room, dashing down the halls, over the lift area and rocketing out the hatch, his eyes searching for the creature.
The beast that had plagued them for all this time suddenly looked up from where it had been pummeling the hull of the ship with its power.
It looked...much different than it had before. While the original had been best described as 'lanky', this was a towering, powerful beast of a man.
Bulging red veins pulsed all along its body as its roared in fury at Yuthirin, a wave of crimson power surging forth to strike at him.