Galactic Calendar 259872/ 2000 [ Sol Year 4387/ Day 154 of 365. Sol standard year]
Days after of Crash landing/ 3
Uninhabited Island /River Mouth near Sea
Galactic Standard Time / 0755
Burt looked around, his hearing skill active. Part of him was shocked that this was even working. The person who taught him had only used it to listen to others, to protect his own from raiders. The very idea to use it this way hadn’t even accrued to them. searching for anything that might tell them that something was there. Finally he heard the sound of a blaster pistol from behind him. As he was about to open his eyes he heard something else, something much closer. He went still and slowly broke apart the sounds, taking apart each one in milliseconds. What he found exactly what he had been after. And to his horror it was the unmistakable sound of water moving, the sound of something leaving the water. And it was from where….! “JINN! MOVE!”
“AETHER COMET!” Jinn bellowed a bare moment later.
As he opened his eyes he saw Jinn jump forward. It carried him towards the center rock ‘bridge’, taking off a bare moment before it would have been too late. As something slammed down hitting the shore line Burt lunged backwards, aiming at it.
Burt looked at the tentacle and saw it was a deep red with a spike at the end. His eyes followed it as it went back into the water. As he looked at it, Burt felt his blood slowly freeze. A large mass was rising from under the water, and it seemed to be rising from some hidden cave. “WATCH OUT!”
As the water exploded Burt jumped back and raised his rifle, ready to fire. He went still as he saw the true horror that was revealed.
The creature was large, at least twenty feet long, and ten tall. It was shaped like an arrow, the blade facing away from them. It had a mass of eight black eyes above a black chitin beak that opened like a cross. All around the top of its ‘face’ were four of the tentacles, each one ending in a spike. Below the mouth were two long lobster-like pincers that had spikes on the back. Thing’s entire arrow body was a deep black, the face was bone white.
“A Depths Kraken? But how?!” Burt breathed in shocked horror. He knew of these things, he had seen this type of creature before. They were one of the alpha species of the depths of the oceans. One of the Great Terrors. And one of them, a young one had come to the island. And now it was looking right at Jinn.
For a bare second, the river was still, all three beings were silent as they watched each other. But then the spell was broken as the creature reared back, its tentacles lashing out as it roared. As the tentacle fell it went for Jinn. But both he and Burt reacted.
Burt fired as Jinn dodged towards the other side of the river staying ahead of the creature’s blows. As Burt’s shot hit one of the creature’s tentacles it screeched as the tip of the spike was blown off. As the creature screeched, black blood poured from the wound. Burt only aimed and fired, hoping to score another hit.
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The hunter roared in pain. The little things had the far strike power! The little things were cheaters. Here it was, waiting for them to come along. It would just eat one of them. Instead of letting it eat one of them, they were fighting back. How was that fair? It went out of its way to grace them with its presence and this was how they paid it back?
It felt the strange feeling grow with its rage. If those things wanted to play hard, then so would it. As the hunter prepared to move it tried to think of just what to use. Should it go all out?
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Jinn aimed his pistol at the river monster and fired moments before it roared. Before the bolt could hit, the creature’s body was covered by a golden glow. All Jinn could do was watch as the bolt he had fired bounced off the energy covering.
“Wait. The power that life gives off. That means that these things can have Skills too?!” Jinn bellowed as he jumped over another tentacle. As another came at him as he was in the air, he spun his body and dodged by a bare inch.
The creature drew its tentacles back and looked right at Jinn. A strange white glow started at the back of its mouth and white smoke came out the sides. Jinn felt fear, every instinct he had was screaming at him to react.
“WATCH OUT! BLAST ENHANCE; FIRE!” Burt bellowed as he fired at the creature. He fired his pistol, and each impact blossomed into a burst of fire. But the creature only let these shots hit as the glow in its mouth died down.
For a moment all he could think of was his own experience with the Power and the Paralyzer Beast. This one was using it like armor, and that was bad if it was like his Aether Comet. Then he went still as a stray thought went through his head.
And he gripped his blade and tried to move the Power, to have it flow over his body. As he willed it to move as he wanted, he thought he saw something. It was in the right corner of his vision, but it was gone in a second. As he looked down at his arms he saw the blue glow around him slowly grow more intense.
As another tentacle came at him he jumped, but this time he was slower. As he saw the tentacle come even closer to him he gritted his teeth. He prepared to take the hit when suddenly it was hit by blasts from the other side. He looked up and saw Sal’go and Xordig at the top of the hill firing down at the monster.
“YOU OKAY JINNY?!” Sal’go called out.
Jinn felt a rush of hope. The others had all survived after all! they were here! And with help, they would be able to handle this monster of a creature!
“Yeah, Sal! You and the big guy keep firing from there! We’ve got this thing!” Jinn said with a grin. As he pointed his blade in sword form at the monster, he felt his blood pumping faster. “Come beast, meet our blades!”
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“What he said!” Burt bellowed as he kept firing at the creature. It raised another tentacle and moments later the spike was blown off. “The shield can’t cover dead things! It uses the body to move! Keep firing, the shield has to have a limit!”
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“Sure. But who’s he?” Xordig muttered under his breath. He kept firing at the tentacles and claws, the golden glow blocking most shots. He hadn’t seen anything like this before, and he was getting worried. The creatures that had attacked the capsule were a lot smaller. And this thing had tentacles and savage claws. If that thing got a hold of Jinn, he was dead. No matter what he thought about him, Jinn deserved to live.
“No clue brother! And what’s he wearing and that blaster? I got me one of my bad feelings my friend!” Sal’go said as he fired at the monster.
“Best to kill that thing first. We can ask questions later!” Xordig snarled as he fired another bolt and then a boulder flew over their heads and hit the
“Locke?! What are you doing here?!” Xordig asked in shock. He turned as he heard a snicker and swallowed. Behind him was a tall teen with gray-collared hair. He had blue eyes and a savage-looking grin. He was dressed in a basic black sleeveless shirt and green pants. Hard-looking black boots were on his feet and he had a rifle slung over his shoulder.
“What, you think the chief didn’t hear the shoots? He sent me to back you up,” Locke said
Xordig only looked a one of his headaches. The teen was someone who had made it his mission to bother Xordig when he was on duty. He had seen the human looking at a few books about Human Supremacy once or twice. His temper had almost gone off when the human had asked where to find more books when Xordig had been in the library. The little fool didn’t even think about asking him that, what with how his people felt about Supremacy. And the scum had to know, the lessons were taught during primary education for the Stars sake! But he won the Spirit’s Touch contest and he was a VIP, so Xordig stayed quiet. And when he showed the abilities he had, Xordig’s headache only grew. “Shouldn’t you stay back? Or watch the forging groups?”
“Nah! The Lady’s got it! Now what do we have here? Oh. I did not expect the seafood. And who fighting it…… Jinn?” Locke said with a shocked tone.
Xordig felt his hearts stop at that tone. It was shock, fear, and hope all wrapped into one. “You know him!?”
“Yeah, we grew up in the same barracks! I thought he was dead! Wait…. Is that a crew jumpsuit?!” Locke asked in shock.
“Yeah, old Jinny’s one of us! Hates the upper floors and usually works the shifts in the transit levels. Great fighter!” Sal’go said as he aimed his rifle and fired again. This time the golden covering of the monster rippled a little before it went under. As the tentacles kept attacking Jinn, he dodged them as he moved towards the opposite shore.
Xordig stared at Locke, shocked beyond words as his mouth dropped open. The term ‘Barracks’ opened up all kinds of things. He had a stray thought and if it was true then he was wrong about both of them.
“Stay back and keep firing at that thing! The river flows out, so don’t block it off! Keep moving and get ready to raise a wall if you have to if it's got range attacks! And Sal, move that way towards the ocean” Xordig barked. He ran away from the ocean, firing as he ran.
“Hey! I can see someone firing at the creature from the other side!” Sara said with a smile.
Behind her Al kept firing, power of his new skill holding the line against the False Plants. He forced down a grin, happy that things were going their way. When he had turned around for a split second and seen the horror of the monster, he had been struck dumb. It was only when he heard a screech from bellow that he turned. When his focus was on the river, the False Plants had gotten closer. So when his friend had to fight for his life, he had to watch their backs.
As another of the False Plants was frozen and destroyed, Al tried to think. The things had to have a reason to go this far, but what? The very idea that they could think of was briefly thought of. But unless the tree had a way to use an organic brain as a computer somehow……. Al fired again and then sighed. “My luck there is something that can do that here. But what does it want from us?”
For a single moment, he wondered how the False Plants were created, their shapes. Then a dark idea came into his mind and he paled. Then his face went red and he gritted his teeth. Wordlessly he just fired at an Insectoid False Plant. As it was destroyed, he kept firing. “Oh, I’m gonna find a way to kill you! Once I get that ship working, it’s weed-wracking time!”
As another one fell, Al just scanned the forest.
“Hey! It’s back up!” Sara said with surprise.
Al wanted to turn, but he had to trust that Jinn could handle that thing. For now, he had to watch their back. As two more of the insectoid False Plants came towards them, Al fired again. “We might have to escape ourselves, Sara. They just keep coming!”
Sara spared a look as Al shot another False Plant. “What are they after!? Why can’t they just leave us alone!?”
Al stayed silent, only keeping firing. If he said what he thought the mind behind the False Plants were after, he didn’t know how Sara would react. For now, he had to stay silent and keep firing as he held on as long as he could. And the only way they could escape was if the river monster died.
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As Jinn landed on the shore of the river, he kept his eyes on the tentacles. As Burt and Sal’go fired from opposite sides, the body stayed underwater.
For a second he wondered what to do, how could they bring the beast back to the surface. But then a boulder flew through the air and hit the center of the tentacles, sinking with a loud splash. He looked up and saw Locke across from him. For a minute, Jinn stayed still. He hadn’t seen his friend in a long time. But for him to be here, now, shocked Jinn. His friends, they might have run when he exposed everything! If Locke was with the Sal’go he had to have been in the VIP areas, the ones Jinn stayed away from. That meant that with the size of the Spirit there might be others from home here. Then he shook himself back to the now and moved to dodge another tentacle strike. He had to handle this thing first, and then think of who might be here.
As the monster rose from the water, a blast from Burt caused another ripple on its gold covering. This time it opened its mouth, and again the light gathered at the back as white steam issued forth.
“Fire everything!” Jinn bellowed as he fired again. But this time the golden covering let the light keep building no matter how long they fired at it. Finally, it turned towards the opposite shore and fired a beam of energy with a roar. Jinn felt his heart stop as he realized Locke was right in the center of where the beam would hit.
But Locke saw this and in a momentum he was flying to the left, a shaft of earth having pushed him aside. But the beam passed through the top of the hill, creating a melted half-circle.
As Locke neared the ground he rolled into a ball and as he hit the ground he went deeper, disappearing from sight.
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Within the stone circle, a tall being got out of the escape capsule. This being was male and was basically a humanoid red-furred baboon with normal-sized limbs. His head had a small muzzle and two pure black eyes. He was wearing a Spirit of Adventure jumpsuit with the rank of crew chief on it. By the coloring he was a member of the engineering section.
He smiled, barring his teeth as he did so while looking at the walls. The fact that the kid was able to make these to protect everyone was something else. All they needed to do was handle the next few days until they could get in touch with the ship or the others.
He wasn’t that sure about where they had landed, but it had to be in range of the trade lanes. This was probably just an exo-world with a Ruin cloaking it. When they got back to civilization they’d be able to get paid a little shush money from the Federation. It wouldn't be enough for some people and stories would be born but none would come from him. And the company might not fire them after all. If only he could figure out what had happened to them.
But just as he was about to move towards the wall a roar came from the left. Turning he saw a beam pierce the hill as a round beam of energy erupted out of it. As the beam flew overhead he paled and then growled before he reacted. “Jessie! Take three people and go there! That’s where I sent the patrol!”
“GOT IT BOSS! YOU THREE, WITH ME!” A female voice roared out.
Boss looked at the hill and frowned. He was half sure what he was sending his people into. But if that attack had been aimed at the capsule, they needed to stop it now.
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As Burt kept firing he thought for a moment that the explosions were getting to the Depths Kraken. But then all it did was sink back into the depths of the river mouth. “NO!”
“Why did it go down again!?” Jinn snarled as he landed by Burt.
Burt looked at it and tried to think. Then it hit him, and it was so obvious. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen it before, he knew what that thing was!
“It’s one of those predators of the deep ocean. I can’t believe I didn’t see it. It can’t breathe air. It has to take a ‘breath’ before rising. That attack blast. It burns the water when it builds up the blast. It makes sense,” Burt whispered.
Jinn only looked at him and then at the tentacles in anger.
Burt only looked at the river, trying to think. There had to be a way that they could win here. There had to be. Depth Krakens were monsters of the deep ocean, and they were at a river. Then he went still and then his eyes went to the other side. Everything made sense and he could almost laugh out loud. “That’s it, that’s it! I gotta a plan Jinn. But ya gotta get to that Geo-Mancer!”
“Locke!? What can he do?!” Jinn asked and Burt looked at Jinn and grinned.
“He can help us kill that thing! Once he gets under, have him try and raise the earth under the Kraken!” Burt said and grinned. “But not too much, just enough to keep that thing up when it fires again!”
Jinn looked at the tentacles and then towards the other side of the river. And then a grin formed on his face and he laughed. “Perfect! Use its tactics against it! And that’s something Locke will love to do that!”
“Tell him to wait until the Kraken goes back up again! That’s when he has to act!” Burt said as he kept firing.