The kaiju’s roar shook the tunnel, stunning Zeo and Annabelle into paralysis.
Annabelle crumpled to the floor, burying her head beneath her arms. The shrill cries of the kaiju were practically drilling into her skull, but there was nothing she could do to soothe the pain.
Zeo gritted his teeth as the kaiju’s roar began to fade out, and he felt his sense of bodily control return to him. It seemed one of the beast’s abilities was to let out a scream capable of locking its prey in place. Highly effective, even against ultranians.
The instant he was free, his hands shot down to the handles of his blades. He was able to draw them from their scabbards and land two solid slashes against the side of the snout of the kaiju in the same motion, causing the beast to reel backward.
His quick feet altered his direction immediately afterwards, racing over to Annabelle’s side. He didn’t have time to sheathe his blades, so he simply dropped them to the floor in order to scoop her up into his arms.
The kaiju came charging back with another bite, and the only thing that prevented the teeth from sinking into flesh was the last-second dive roll that Zeo opted to take that just barely managed to put enough distance between the two.
This dive also happened to take the two of them out of range of the red flames, shrouding them in total darkness. Taking advantage of this, Zeo scurried off in weird directions before finally angling around and hiding behind a mass of rocks.
He wasn’t able to see in the darkness, but he was banking on the kaiju being unable to as well. When it became clear that that was indeed the case, as the kaiju started to stomp in a completely different direction, Zeo finally felt comfortable enough to let out a breath.
His eyes moved down to Annabelle in his arms. Her face was buried into his chest. She hadn’t said anything, nor had she shrieked in fear either, even though it was obvious she wanted to. He smiled and patted her head, mentally thanking her for holding it in to prevent the kaiju from being able to follow them.
But now they were in a tough spot. They were trapped in the shadows, unable to see anything around them. They had no clue where they were within the pulse tunnels, the kaiju was still very much in the immediate area, and Zeo no longer had his swords with him.
The red flame he had conjured before was still active back where he had left it, so that could serve as some frame of reference. He had dropped his swords around where the edge of the red light met the darkness, but that’s assuming the kaiju hadn’t displaced them as it charged through the cave in pursuit.
He looked back down to Annabelle once more. If he decided to make a break for it and retrieve his blades, he probably wouldn’t be able to take her with him, especially if the kaiju came back. But he didn’t want to leave her in that spot, either. While it was safe for now, the kaiju — or any other monsters lurking in the pulse for the matter — could end up finding her, and if Zeo wasn’t nearby, he wouldn’t be able to protect her.
He couldn’t just send her off running in a different direction to try and find the exit or the others, either. It was too dark to see in the tunnels, and they had no idea where they were within them. And because Annabelle wasn’t an ultranian, she didn’t have access to any Installs to use as a light source. Plus, judging by how terrified she was, she probably didn’t have it in her to begin with.
He wasn’t given much time to think about his next move. The kaiju came back, stomping its way into the cavern, angry snarls echoing around every wall. It must have come back from searching down one of the adjacent tunnels, and was now back in the vicinity of Zeo and Annabelle.
Zeo felt a chill run up his body, a likely sign that the beast was getting close. His instincts told him to sneak away quickly, but he soon realized they were backed into a corner against the rocks and the wall of the tunnel, devoid of any options in escape. He felt Annabelle’s fingers grip tightly onto his shirt. She could sense it, too.
They were trapped.
His heart started to beat quickly as the panic of inability started to wash over him. And, given that he was a Burster — an ultranian whose primary slot was the Heart Slot — that was a bad sign. In just seconds, his heart could start kicking into overdrive, hampering with his breathing. The beats could grow in volume and explode around the room, signalling their location to the kaiju, and it could even start wildly shooting out bursts of his Fire and Lightning installs.
Use the lightning!
That was his only option at this point, but even then it wasn’t a safe one. If he activated the Lightning Install, he’d give himself a means of fighting back against the kaiju, and he might be able to do it quickly enough to land one good shot on the beast. The Fire Install back in the cave would extinguish, but the Lightning one would provide him with some temporary vision; maybe enough to get a lay of the area.
The issue was, of course, that a Lightning attack would scatter around the tunnel, and potentially put Annabelle in danger, and he wasn’t willing to risk that. Plus, if the first attack wasn’t enough to take the kaiju down, what would he do then?
His heart started to skip even faster, and he felt his throat tense up and his eyes widen. The kaiju was a mere few feet away. Time was up.
Annabelle suddenly placed her palm on his chest. Zeo’s eyes shot down to her, meeting her own, even in the darkness.
She could no doubt feel his heart pounding in his chest, and was trying to soothe him. Calm him down.
And….it seemed to work.
Still unable to speak to one another, the best Zeo could manage was a nod of his head and a pat onto hers in thanks.
He gently pushed her aside before bringing his hands toward his chest.
But rather than the powerful, booming voice that rang out when setting an Install, the words that exploded around the tunnels came from an angry, almost bestial voice from further back.
“Get yer ass over here! I’m payin’ you back double for that hit!”
Though he was unable to see it in the darkness, Zeo was able to tell that the kaiju’s attention was captured, taken away from the direction of himself and Annabelle, and instead back to the cavern toward Tyger’s roaring voice.
Seizing the opportunity, Zeo formed an invisible ball shape over his chest with his hands.
LIGHTNING!
The tunnel lit up green as Zeo aimed his hands forward in the direction of the kaiju. Two massive bolts of radiant green electricity shot out from his arms and along his fingers, arcing their way directly into the face of the kaiju.
The beast let out a horrendous shriek, stumbling backward and thrashing its head around from the pain. It began to move away from where Zeo and Annabelle had been hiding, retreating instead to the more open cavern.
Zeo looked back over to Annabelle. “Just wait here, okay? I’ll come back for you when it’s clear.”
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The elven girl nodded. “G-good luck, Zeo!”
Off in the distance, Tyger’s voice rang out once more. “Ah, hell, who shut off the light?!”
With the Lightning Install now active rather than the Fire one, there was no red flame. Tyger was blind, too, and wouldn’t be able to help fight off the kaiju.
Zeo threw out two more lightning bolts down the tunnel. Neither one of them struck the kaiju, but that wasn’t his intention anyway. He aimed them high and at an angle, allowing them to light up the tunnel as they sailed across, and for a brief few moments as they exploded upon making contact with the ceiling.
In those flashes of visibility, Zeo was able to spot his swords on the ground, and was also able to see roughly where both Tyger and the kaiju were positioned.
Zeo crouched down low, tapping his first two fingers against the sides of his boots.
« ART! »
〚 RIDE THE LIGHTNING! 〛
In a bright flash of green light, Zeo shot across the tunnel as quickly as the bolts he had been firing did. His hands jutted out and scooped up his swords as he sailed across them and directly past the kaiju.
In the blink of an eye, Zeo had managed to cross a considerable distance, placing himself right beside Tyger. Sheathing his swords, he brought his hands up to his chest once more.
FIRE!
The glowing red fireball reappeared, floating up into the sky so as to maximize its efficiency at lighting up the cavern.
A second later, Tyger jumped in place, head swiveling around in all directions. “Whoa, did I black out or somethin’? The hell’d you come from?”
Zeo smiled, redrawing his blades once more. “Nah, I’m just that quick. Try to keep up, yeah?”
The kaiju stepped into the bubble of red light, launching its face directly at the two. Zeo was easily able to dash to the side to avoid the attack. As he circled around the side of the beast’s head, he noticed that its left eye had been wounded and was being kept shut. From the singed fur around it, as well as the large cut across it, it must have come from one of his early lightning bolt shots.
Admiring his handiwork, Zeo smirked, twisting one of his swords around as he swung wide, opening a cut across the kaiju’s front leg. His second swing came in from the opposite direction, cutting a nice, solid “X” across the kaiju’s flesh.
The beast quickly whirled around, whipping out with its hind legs and tail. Zeo managed to leap and twist above it to avoid the attack, but Tyger didn’t have the mobility to pull that off.
Instead, Tyger caught hold of the tail in his arms, stopping the beast in its tracks. “Gotcha ya little shit….!”
With a grunt of exertion, Tyger spun around, keeping his vice-like grip on the kaiju’s tail. He swung the beast around in a wide circle, slamming it up against the rock wall.
The entire cavern rumbled, and rocks and dust fell down from the ceiling. The kaiju screamed aloud as it squirmed on the ground trying to regain its footing.
Zeo took a quick step to the side, and a half-second later, a large rock struck the spot he had been standing, exploding into pieces. “Whoa, easy! Don’t break the room while we’re still in it!”
The kaiju flipped back onto its feet and let out a venomous scream. Both Tyger and Zeo felt their muscles freeze in place, rendering them immobile.
“What the-?!” Tyger hissed through gritted teeth.
The massive beast followed up the paralyzing howl with yet another wide-angle tail sweep. This time, the attack landed, striking both Tyger and Zeo head-on, sending the two of them hurtling backward.
The pair hit the hard ground and skidded along it, conjuring up clouds of dust along the way.
Tyger slammed his fist into the ground before pushing himself up. “Man I’m gettin’ sick of bein’ thrown around like a goddamn ball!”
“Lightning seemed to work really well on it,” said Zeo. “But if I switch to my Lightning Install, the Fire’s gonna go out and we won’t be able to see.”
The kaiju opened its jaws, and once again, it began to build up a glowing orb of yellow light within its throat.
“What is that stuff, anyway?” Zeo asked, ready to spring out of the line of fire.
Tyger spat onto the ground. “No idea, but it hurts like hell. I ain’t gettin’ hit with it again.”
The beast spat the orb of yellow light across the cavern, but it was easily avoided by both Zeo and Tyger as they spit into two different directions. The kaiju pounced in Tyger’s direction next, deducing that he was the slower target.
It landed right on top of him, boxing him in. However, he wasn’t going to let himself become food without a fight. He threw a heavy uppercut right into the kaiju’s chest, causing the beast to hack up a wad of saliva and blood onto the ground.
Taking advantage of the kaiju’s stunned state, Zeo came flying in, landing atop the beast’s back. He slashed once, twice, thrice, racing along the monster’s spine towards its head. However, before he could make it there, the beast swiped at Tyger and twisted its body, forcing Zeo to dismount.
The kaiju’s massive paw pushed Tyger all the way to the rock wall, squeezing him against it. Gritting his teeth, Tyger threw a knee up into the paw, then swung down on it with both of his fists clenched together.
The power in his strikes was enough to force the kaiju’s paw away. As the monster swiveled around, it caught Tyger with its back foot, dazing him.
Zeo charged towards it, landing a nice solid slash across the monster’s right cheek, but a sudden charging bite ended his assault there as the beast managed to take hold of one of Zeo’s blades.
He was able to parry the fangs of a follow-up chomp, but had to quickly dive away and remove himself from the fight before he was overwhelmed.
As he put some distance between himself and the kaiju, he wiped a thick layer of sweat from his forehead. I need the lightning!
Across the room, Tyger ducked beneath the incoming tail swing, jogging off to the side. The kaiju swiped at him with its paw, just barely managing to open a cut across his chest and shoulder.
Hissing to himself, Tyger backed away. Noticing Zeo off in the distance in the corner of his eye, Tyger yelled out, “Get that lightning shit of yers ready!”
Zeo’s eyebrows went up. “Huh? You sure? What about the fire?”
“To hell with it! I’ll hold him still! Just be ready!”
Tyger stared down the kaiju as it peeled its jaws apart. The golden orb began to coalesce in its throat, signalling for Tyger it was go-time. “Gotta hold down another big-ass enemy, huh? What am I, a goddamn bear trap?” he growled to himself.
He pounded his knuckles together over his stomach, eliciting a roar from within:
METAL!
He took off running in the direction of the kaiju, although his movement speed was a lot slower than it had been before. Each step came with a heavy BOOM against the ground, opening up cracks in the floor.
The kaiju launched its yellow orb. It was an easy shot, given that its target was approaching it head-on.
Zeo’s eyes went wide as he noticed Tyger wasn’t making any attempt to dodge the attack, not that he would have been able to anyway given how close he was to the kaiju. “Tyger! What’re you-?!”
Tyger gritted his teeth. This was gonna sting.
The yellow orb exploded as it made contact with him head-on, but it didn’t slow him down. In fact, his continued charge forward seemed to have caught the kaiju off-guard as well.
Tyger slammed his fist directly into the surprised monster’s snout, cracking its jaw and dislodging several of its teeth. He then grabbed hold of the beast’s leg, wrapping his arms tightly around them.
The kaiju screamed as it tried to pry itself away, but its leg was stuck in place, like a heavy metal weight was trapping it.
“Zeo! Hurry the hell up!” Tyger roared.
LIGHTNING!
As soon as the Install was activated, the glowing red flame above died out, drenching the cave in darkness, save for the glow of green electricity encircling Zeo’s hands.
Zeo brought both palms together, allowing the electric sparks to converge together. He then held his arms outward, and fired the shot.
A massive emerald bolt of lightning raced out from his hands and pierced right through the screaming kaiju’s screaming jaws, blasting a hole directly through its skull.
The beast’s scream died out instantly, and its limp body fell to the floor with a heavy THUD!
Tyger and Zeo both took a few moments in the darkness to gather themselves, chests heaving.
FIRE!
Zeo lit up another flame, bathing the cave in its red glow. The kaiju was definitely dead, sprawled out on the floor, its head lying in a pool of blood.
“Damn,” Tyger muttered at the sight. “Nice shot.”
“Zeo! Are you okay?!”
Annabelle’s voice rang out from the far end of the cave, followed by her hurried footsteps. She raced into the cave, entering the red field of light.
Zeo winced as the elven girl ran right into his chest, throwing her arms around him. “Yeah, I’m fine, Annabelle. What about you?”
“I’m okay….th-thanks to you….”
With a smile, Zeo’s eyes began to scan around the ground for his missing sword. Annabelle spotted it first, jogging over to it and picking it up. “Thanks, Annabelle.”
She positioned herself on his side, allowing him to throw an arm around her shoulder. “Here, y-you can lean on me….”
“Thanks,” Zeo said.
Blushing, Annabelle responded with, “No, thank you for saving me from that monster!”
Smiling, Zeo nodded his head. “Any time. Now let’s get outta here, yeah?”
As the two slowly made their way towards one of the nearby tunnels, Annabelle began to excitedly compliment Zeo on what an awesome job he did, bravely standing up to the kaiju, battling it head-on, and slaying it. “You were so cool! You took down a giant monster! You really are a hero!”
Once the other two had left the area, taking the red flame with them, Tyger held his arms out wide. “What the hell?”