Gustav and his army boarded dozens of Speedboats and drove towards the blood-colored fog. He and the others wore helmets connected to oxygen tanks. They tapped the side and could see all the heat readings around them. They readied their guns as they approached the fog.
(Remember, don’t move or make a sound until I give the signal.)
This message was passed to the soldiers' helmets from Gustav. His boat was the first to enter the fog. Once he entered, he could not see or hear anything besides his own breath. He kept his calm and didn’t move a muscle.
Agonizing wails came from all around him, but he didn’t react. Silhouettes started popping up around him. Some were shaped like humans, but most he couldn’t even begin to imagine what they belonged to. The silhouette circled him and soft whispers reached his ears. He couldn’t understand what they were saying but at the same time, he understood. He didn’t know the words but instinctively he understood what was being whispered.
“Where are you going?”
“You don’t belong here.”
“Do you want to die?”
“Turn back.”
Gustav didn’t react or acknowledge what was happening around him. He just kept looking straight ahead. After what felt like forever, he could finally make out something in front of him. It was an island with another island floating above it. The floating island had waterfalls flowing down the one below. There were structures on the lower island like giant statues. The shore was covered in black sand and it was overflowing with vegetation and filled with hills. The scenery on the floating island couldn’t be seen from where he was, but he could make out what seemed like a giant structure of some kind.
(I can feel the madness that’s about to happen on this island.)
Gustav smiled as his boat approached the shores. His ear twitched, and at the same time, his helmet started sending warning alarms. He turned to the droids behind him.
“Alfa, defensive formation! The targets are underwater!”
The droids saluted in unison.
“Roger, General.”
The droid soldiers dove into the water. Gustav sped up the speedboat. Behind him, gigantic tentacles emerged from the water with the droids hanging onto them. They attacked the tentacles by slashing and blowing them up. Gustav looked back and saw Roxanne and the others fighting off the tentacles along with the droids.
“No time to waste on safety huh?”
He pulled the covers off a cannon with 6 barrels. He ignored the boating quickly approaching the shores and aimed at the tentacles.
*BOOM!*
With a thunderclap, Gustav fired the cannon. A tentacle was blown to pieces. He fired the cannon in quick succession, the barrels rotated as it fired. Tentacles were blown apart one after the other. The boat crashed into the shore. Gustav jumped into the air and threw the cannon on the black sand. He landed on the ground. The sand started moving. He pulled two swords from his hips. He pressed a button on the handles and a low hum emitted from the swords.
Gustav walked towards the water. Red claws half his side shot out of the sand and attacked him. Without stopping, Gustav cut through the claws with a swing of his hand. The sand moved again as a crab twice his size emerged. Gustav stared at it and continued walking.
“Move and die. Block the way and die. Defy me and die.”
The crab pounced at him. Gustav leaped at it swinging his swords. He cut it into four with two swings. He landed on the ground and continued towards the water.
“Either way, death was your only option.”
He started walking into the water watching the boats evading the tentacles and coming ashore.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“Roxanne, focus on reaching land! Alfa will protect you!”
“Roger!”
The speedboats sped up and ignored the tentacles. Every time one tried to attack them the droid soldiers would attack it. One after the other they made it to the shore. Seeing that, Gustav shouted another order.
“Alfa, return!”
The droid soldiers started ignoring the tentacles and swam toward the beach. Gustav could see a massive shadow following them.
“Raaaahh!!!”
A gigantic octopus monster emerged from the sea shrieking.
“The first thing we meet here is a fucking Kraken. Nice.”
The Kraken started swallowing some of the droids who couldn’t escape in time.
“Chul, put a couple bullets in its head. I don’t care if it doesn’t kill it, as long as it stalls it long enough for the droids to escape.”
“Yes sir.”
Chul took an 8-foot-long rifle out of his boat. He aimed at the Kraken and fired. Kraken was forced back as a hole opened up in its head. However, it roared and started approaching the island. Chul fired again blowing off one of its eyes. He shattered some fangs and then started aiming for its head. The monster roared furiously as the droids escaped. Once the final droid reached the island, Chul stopped firing.
“So even dozens of anti-tank bullets can’t kill right away. I can tell this place is gonna be so unfair.”
Gustav grumbled looking at the Kraken roar in the ocean frustrated from being unable to enter the island.
“Says the guy who easily killed a giant crab.”
Damini knock the crab shell.
“This thing is probably hard as reinforced metal.”
“High-frequency blades can cut through diamonds. It would be a problem if they can’t kill the weakest of monsters here.”
Gustav turned his back from the sea and smiled.
“More importantly, we’ve made it.”
“Yeah, and we almost died even before touching land. This place is gonna be a blast.”
Chul sighed.
“So what now, General?”
Raphael approached Gustav.
“First, we check what we lost, including the droids soldiers. After that, we venture into the island.”
“Yes sir.”
Everyone started checking their equipment. Meanwhile, Gustav turned his attention to the island floating above.
“Now, how are we gonna get up there?”
He grinned and lowered his center of gravity. Air released from the joints of his Powersuit.
*Boom!*
“Wha?!”
Everyone turned around after hearing a thunderous noise. They saw a crater on the beach.
“Where’s Gustav?!”
Damini cried out. Ryder pointed upwards. Everyone looked up. Gustav was flying towards the island like a rocket. He looked around and could see glimpses of the lower island’s landscape. He turned his attention back to the island above.
“As I thought, I’m gonna fall short.”
He started slowing down before falling towards the lower island. He turned his body as he fell. With a boom, sand and dirt flew as he crashed onto the beach.
“Father?!”
“I’m fine.”
Gustav sat up before his children could approach him.
“What the hell, Gustav?!”
Roxanne lifted him to his feet.
“My bad, but I kinda wanted to test how much power this suit can produce when combined with our superhuman abilities.”
He started examining the suit.
“Not even a crack huh? When we get back I gotta give Ashton Myers an extra million.”
He started laughing.
“This isn’t a joke. What if you attracted the island’s residents?”
Raphael frowned at Gustav.
“That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Our aim was to capture as many specimens as possible. If they come to us, that’s even better.”
He walked over to the corpse of the giant crab.
“Before that, we should eat this thing and get stronger. Oh, I wonder if we’ll gain different superpowers if we eat different species? I kinda want to breathe fire.”
“What is this, Kirby?”
Ryder mumbled while gathering the crab meat along with Damini and Chul.
“Alfa, help them out and gather some pieces of the Kraken tentacles floating nearby.”
“Yes sir.”
The droids started gathering pieces of Kraken and crab.
“Alfa is a pretty useful AI for it to control over a hundred droids simultaneously.”
Gina walked up to Gustav.
“If I remember correctly, it has a companion feature that lets it interact like a real human. Why don’t you use it?”
“You were majoring in computing and robotics, right? So I guess you’d be interested in these sorts of things.”
Gustav nodded.
“Alfa, activate companion mode.”
“Affirmative.”
The droids paused for a bit before continuing working except for one that approached Gustav.
“My name is Alfa, it’s great to meet you.”
A female voice came from it.
“Oh, the voice sounds so real.”
Gustav nodded.
“Have fun, Gina. Raphael and Roxanne, come with me.”
Gustav walked away while Gina conversed with Alfa. He, Raphael, and Roxanne spoke under a palm tree.
“When I was in the air I was able to spot buildings on the island.”
“So there are residents. Meaning, we might have to fight them.”
“Not necessarily, Roxanne. They might be able to help us achieve our goal quicker than expected. Of course, if they try to kill us we will reply with necessary force.”
“The reason why you told us before the others?”
Raphael asked.
“You two have better instincts than the others. I want you to look out for any signs of hesitation from them. Unlike us, they returned to normal society, so they might not be able to mindlessly pull the trigger on humans like before. Well, other than Chul. That kid is a maniac.”
“Alright, we’ll be on our guard.”
The two of them saluted Gustav causing him to smile.
“Alright, let’s eat so demon seafood.”
They headed back to regroup. Meanwhile, a pair of eyes shone in the shadows of the jungle beyond the beach.
“Heh.”
Gustav grinned as he walked away.