“Sounds like a pretty serious fight, huh?”
Rocky ducked his head beneath a thick branch, hustling through the dense red foliage of the Rosso Woods. “You think they can do it without us?”
The key around Rocky’s neck glowed.
[BAH. THOSE MORTALS ARE NOT EQUIPPED TO DEAL WITH THOSE WRETCHED ANIMALS.]
“You really think they can’t do it alone?”
[NOT UNSCATHED, NO.]
In time, Rocky arrived in the brush outside the clearing where Rakshasa’s body had been parked previously. He stopped in place, scoping out the area rather than charging in right away. The militia had been keeping the mech on lockdown, and Rocky was supposed to be imprisoned, so even in an emergency situation like a kaiju fight, there was no way they’d let him get inside the-
“Mister Roran!” a voice called from a few feet away. “Wow, your timing is immaculate! The mech’s right this way, sir!”
Rocky’s head whipped around to see one of the militia guardsmen waving at him. Stealth was really not his forte….
“Uh, r-right! I’m on my way!” Rocky blurted out, standing up from his crouching position and hobbling through the bushes. Once inside the clearing proper, he noticed a few more nearby militiamen turn their attention towards him, but none of them had any particularly interesting reactions to his presence, which allowed him to stroll right on up to the dormant GODBREAKER’s body.
One of the guards standing by the mech gave him a salute and a smile as he stepped aside to let Rocky board the mech. “Thanks again for your help, sir! Now we can get to the frontlines where we belong!”
Rocky didn’t understand what the hell the guard was talking about, but he fought against his curiosity and simply nodded his head before climbing into the mech.
[EAGER TO DIE, ARE THEY?]
As Rocky plugged the key in and got himself settled into the pilot seat, he gazed out the windshield for a brief moment. “Is this where I parked it last time?”
[HM?]
“I feel like I parked it on the other side of….ah, whatever,” he swiped the air with his hand. “Those guys probably moved it or somethin’.”
The dormant mech kicked back to life, pushing itself off of the floor from its crouched position, towering over the red trees of the Rosso Woods. As Rakshasa took control, he rolled his shoulders and popped his neck, causing a sound not unlike a car crash to explode around the forest.
“So where we goin’ this time?” Rocky asked. “You know of any cool places to check out?”
[I CARE NOT FOR THIS PLANET. ALL I SEEK ARE ANSWERS AS TO WHY I WAS BURIED IN THE DESERT. I’LL NOT WASTE MY TIME WITH ANYTHING ELSE.]
“Oh, right, you’re still hung up on that, huh? Have you heard of this place called ‘Radecross’? I heard it’s got people from all over the world there. Maybe we should go check it out.”
[WHATEVER. ACTIVATE THE LAUNCH, THEN.]
“Hm….what button was that again….?” Rocky mumbled to himself, looking over the console. Growing impatient, Rakshasa began to turn and walk out of the forest, just to occupy himself with something while the gargoyle fiddled with the controls of the mech. All the while he grumbled to himself, angry at the fact that the rocket thrusters the mech could use to launch itself into the sky were unable to be controlled by Rakshasa himself.
In between the random flicking of various switches and the tapping of miscellaneous buttons, Rocky glanced out the windshield just as Rakshasa turned towards the grasslands outside of Redvein. His eyes were immediately captivated by the sight of the kaiju; or, rather, two kaiju.
“Whoa, are those dragons?!”
[BAH. FRAUDS.]
His eyes focused on the shadow dragon, as it cut a much more impressive and intimidating figure. “What’s up with that one?”
[HMPH. SOME KIND OF SHADOW MAGIC PERHAPS.]
“Whoa, magic?! I wanna see magic!”
[BAH! MAGIC IS FOR THOSE UNFIT TO FIGHT. A COWARD’S PLAY.]
Ignoring the rant, Rocky reached out and took hold of the controls, turning the mech back around towards the dragon kaiju, much to Rakshasa’s annoyance. “Let’s go see!”
[WERE YOU NOT PLANNING TO SIMPLY LEAVE, MORTAL? TO FIND SOME NEW PLACE TO BE STUPID IN?]
Rocky was quiet for a moment, until he continued pushing the mech forward. “Yeah, but I guess we could help these people out before we go, right? Shouldn’t take long, right?”
Rakshasa brought his four arms in close, pairing them off to smash their knuckles against one another, though he was slightly annoyed when he felt one of the upper arms felt stiffer than the others; a testament to the lackluster repair job the militiamen had done on the one he’d lost in the previous battle.
[OF COURSE NOT! THESE WRETCHED ANIMALS ARE NOTHING!]
“Oh, and try not to get all mad if they blast off any of your arms again.”
[WATCH YOUR MOUTH!]
* * * *
ULTRA ROCK
* * * *
The two monsters continued to act separately from one another, with the dragon kaiju racing off towards Redvein once more, while the shadow dragon raced around the surrounding landscape, bathing the area in black sludge and smoke.
Atop the Redvein wall, the Militia scrambled to get the railguns targeted at the incoming dragon kaiju, all while the citizens continued to fire bolts.
Aren, on the other hand, was more concerned with Carmine. While it was impossible for him to get a sight on where she was, the explosion that had occured after the shadow dragon split from the kaiju had his worry doing somersaults.
For a brief moment, he considered rushing down to the ground floor and grabbing some kind of vehicle to go out there and search for her, but before he could throw himself into recklessness, a loud blast of sound off in the distance captured the attention of him and every other Redvein citizen on the wall.
The people watched in awe as the red mech arrived on the battlefield once more, leading with a solid punch across the dragon kaiju’s face, steering the monster off course.
“YEAH, TAKE THAT, DRAGON KAIJU!”
“WHOOP ITS ASS!”
“GO, MECH, GO! RIP ITS THROAT OUT FROM ITS ASSHOLE AND SHOVE IT BACK IN ITS MOUTH!”
“Yo, Larry, chill, bro….You’re getting way too worked up over this….”
The dragon kaiju had been caught completely off guard by Rakshasa’s sudden punch, but its wings were able to take it out of range of a follow-up attack immediately after.
The monster flew around in a wide circle before returning back to its main course, although it did come to a stop, staying afloat in the air, face-to-face with Rakshasa.
The GODBREAKER punched all four of his fists together, sending shockwaves through the sky.
[HMPH. THE WRETCHED ANIMAL’S ALREADY WOUNDED.]
Rocky leaned forward to get a closer look, noticing a puncture hole in the dragon kaiju’s flesh. “Oh, yeah, nice. Guess those army guys did okay so far, huh?”
[BAH! NOT GOOD ENOUGH, SO LONG AS THE ANIMAL STILL BREATHES!]
Rakshasa charged in, slipping past the dragon kaiju’s incoming flame breath. He threw a solid uppercut into the kaiju’s stomach, although the beast had had enough sense to propel itself higher, so the punch made less contact than it normally would have.
The dragon kaiju’s tail swiped at Rakshasa from the opposite side, but he was able to divert one of his arms to swat it away while still maintaining his fighting stance and throwing out more punches.
To Rocky’s surprise, Rakshasa did not continue pressing forward to brutalize the kaiju like he had in the previous fight. Instead, the GODBREAKER stepped back, planting his feed steady.
“What’s up, Rak?”
[I’M ENDING IT.]
“That was fast.”
Four red circles of light flowed across Rakshasa’s body, each one passing over one of his arms, until they arrived at his hands, whereupon they stayed put above his palms.
The GODBREAKER converged all four of his hands in front of him, aiming them at the dragon kaiju as the monster began to dive down towards him. A red ball of light formed, crackling with energy.
But just before the ball of light transformed into a beam, the shadow dragon suddenly appeared, throwing itself around the dragon kaiju like a living fabric, instantly combining until they had taken on the appearance of when they first emerged from the ocean.
The shadow dragon kaiju then morphed mid-dive like a slime, stretching outward and creating a massive hole in the center of its body just as Rakshasa’s red beam of energy shot at it, causing the attack to miss completely.
[WHAT THE-?!]
“Whoa!” Rocky said. “Did that thing just shapeshift?! Awesome!”
As soon as the attack had been avoided, the shadow dragon kaiju returned to its regular monstrous shape, slamming into Rakshasa with force. Rocky scrambled for something to hold onto, although he wasn’t particularly successful.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
As the GODBREAKER hit the floor, the shadow dragon split off from the dragon kaiju once more before returning to its solo mission of spewing its strange black substance around the landscape.
[TCH! DIRTY LITTLE SNAKE….!]
Rakshasa pushed himself off of the ground, clenching his fists. However, once again, he showed restraint, calming himself down rather than giving into his instincts to chase after the shadow dragon.
Screams from Redvein caused him to spin around. The dragon kaiju had begun to close the distance, firing off large balls of flames at the walls where the civilians still were.
“Rak!”
[I KNOW!]
The GODBREAKER chased after the dragon kaiju with all of his might. Luckily, he did appear to be faster than the kaiju, managing to reach it just before it could crane its head around and unleash its fire upon the civilians lining the walls.
He reached out and grabbed hold of the end of the dragon kaiju’s tail, yanking it back towards himself with force. As the dragon kaiju was jerked back towards himself, he wrapped his other three arms around the monster’s body before bending over backwards in a massive suplex.
The earth shook. Many of the Redvein citizens fell to their knees from the sudden quake that rocked the ground beneath their feet, and all of them became temporarily blinded as a massive cloud of dust blossomed around the impact zone.
Rakshasa was able to reorient himself first, pushing back up to his feet before smashing two punches into the dragon kaiju’s face. He prepared to go for more, buthe monster suddenly kicked at his knee, stunning him for just long enough to fly away to safety.
“Man, this thing is fast….” Rocky noted.
“HEY! MISTER RORAN!”
Rocky turned around to face the owner of the voice that was calling out to him. Of course, being inside the cockpit, there wasn’t anyone to look at. At least, not until Rakshasa turned his own head to the Redvein wall.
It was a member of the Redvein Militia, waving her arms to call attention towards herself. “MISTER RORAN! CAN YOU HOLD THE MONSTERS DOWN SOMEHOW?”
Rocky nodded. “Sure! I’ll try!”
[SHE CANNOT HEAR YOU, IDIOT.]
“She can’t?” He snapped his fingers. “Ah, right, the speaker system got busted, huh? Then you tell her.”
[SHE CANNOT HEAR ME EITHER, IDIOT!]
Both of them watched as she directed their attention towards one of the massive railguns mounted onto the wall. “WE NEED TO USE THE RAILGUNS TO KILL THE KAIJU!”
[BAH! MY POWER FAR EXCEEDS THESE MORTAL TOYS!]
“Yeah, but you’re not gonna be able to land a shot either,” Rocky responded. “That black slime monster’ll probably swoop in again like before.”
[GRRR….]
Despite Rakshasa’s growl, however, he did appear to have accepted the plan, as he had no further objections. But before he could return to the battlefield, Rocky said, “Hey, give her a thumbs up!”
[WHAT?!]
“Well if she can’t hear us, then you gotta signal that we got the plan.”
[ABSOLUTELY NOT!]
“Rak, just do it. It’s simple.”
The GODBREAKER let out another angry growl before slowly lifting his hand and forming a thumbs up. To Rocky’s delight, hundreds of Redvein civilians lining the wall raised their own hands up, mimicking the gesture.
“Hey, see? Now we’ve got everyone pumped up! We can’t let ‘em down, right Rak?”
[YOU MORTALS ARE RIDICULOUS….]
The dragon kaiju let out another ugly screech as it flew higher into the sky. At the apex of its ascension, it aimed its jaws downward, and unleashed a volley of fireballs.
Rakshasa’s four arms got to work punching out as many of the fireballs as he could, but they were a bit too spread out for him to reach them all. One struck the outer side of the wall, causing many of the civilians to stumble, and another even managed to fall within the city, striking a warehouse
“Crap, we can’t get it when it’s so far away!” Rocky cursed.
[BAH! WHAT IS THIS ‘WE’ NONSENSE?! A GOD IS NEVER HELPLESS, MORTAL!]
Before Rocky could question what he meant, Rakshasa suddenly reached up and grabbed hold of the repaired arm, snapping it right off of his back. In the same motion, he flung it skyward like a lance.
The broken arm pierced right through the dragon kaiju’s throat as it prepared to rain more fireballs down, causing an explosion of flames to erupt within its face.
“Whoa! Nice shot, Rak!”
The dragon kaiju screamed as it plummeted back to the earth, but as it fell, it began to twist its body around to regain flight. Before it could get away, Rakshasa rushed in and grabbed hold of it with his three remaining hands, holding onto its tail, a leg, and a wing.
[YOU MORTALS BETTER FIRE! NOW!]
Though the Redvein Militia members could not hear Rakshasa’s words, they did carry out his decree, aiming two of the nearest railguns at the squirming dragon kaiju.
Red blasts lit up the sky above the city as the railguns fired upon the dragon kaiju. Rakshasa barely had enough time to release his hold on the monster and stumble away before the guns struck.
The monster died almost instantly, exploding like crimson fireworks and painting the nearby landscape scarlet. The people of Redvein cheered, enjoying their front row seats to the show.
“Hey, it worked!” Rocky said. “Nice j-!”
[GAH!]
The shadow dragon had managed to sneak up on the GODBREAKER in the aftermath of the railgun blasts, spreading its amorphous black body around the shining red mech.
Inside the cockpit, holes burst open in the walls, and as Rocky turned to observe them, black ooze began to seep into the interior, quickly spreading around like smoke.
“Rak?! What’s goin’ on?!”
[WRETCHED MONSTER….! GRAH!]
Rakshasa tried to fight back against the shadow dragon by throwing a few punches, but the sludge quickly wrapped itself around his arms, locking them in place. Soon afterwards, all three of them were encased in blackness, and he found himself entirely unable to feel them at all.
* * * *
ULTRA ROCK
* * * *
Back at the Redvein walls, the militiamen began to aim the next of the railguns at the shadow dragon, until the woman who had given the instructions to Rocky and Rakshasa rushed closer towards the gun, waving her arms. “Wait! Wait! Mister Roran is stuck! He won’t be able to avoid the shot!”
As the people of Redvein watched over the final moments of the battle, uncertain of the red mech’s ability to fight off the shadow dragon, Aren’s eyes were caught by something in the distance. “C-Carmine!”
Though it was difficult for many of the Redvein citizens to see that far away, Aren’s cry was true. Captain Carmine was racing towards the battle between the giants on her hoverbike, which, although sputtering smoke, was still able to reach top speeds.
Half of Carmine’s face was covered in blood, and there were numerous scrapes along her arms, but she didn’t appear to pay any mind to them at all. She kept her eyes locked on the shadow dragon, jaw clenched tight.
As she began to approach, she raised her hands up to her forehead.
SUPERCHARGE!
And then she brought them down to her chest.
FIRE!
When she was within optimal range, she activated the flight function on her hoverbike as sharply as she could, sending the vehicle into lift-off at a sharp angle. It soared into the sky, climbing dozens of feet in escalation. At the same time, the bike, as well as her entire body, became engulfed in an aura of scorching red flames.
Captain Carmine came hurtling into the battle like a meteor.
The flaming ball struck the shadow kaiju dead-center, unleashing a massive explosion. The monster howled in agony as its black sludge-like body immediately began to shrivel up.
The impact of the collision sent Rakshasa falling over backwards onto the landscape, shaking the ground once more. However, he appeared to be okay, and not only that, the shadow dragon was no longer on him, and he’d regained control over his arms.
Inside the cockpit, Rocky climbed up to his feet. “What the….? What happened?”
[HM….]
Rocky stared out the windshield though it was difficult to see with all of the bright red flames and black smoke. He initially assumed that it must have been another one of the railgun shots, until he noticed an ultranian on the ground in the midst of all the flames.
“Rak! Open up!”
[WHA-?! OPEN WHAT?!]
Knowing there was no time for an explanation, Rocky charged at the windshield and slammed his shoulder into it, shattering the glass and sending himself flying out of Rakshasa’s head and onto the ground below.
[GRAH! WHAT IN THE BLAZING HELLS ARE YOU DOING?!]
Rocky hurried over to the burning body. He still hadn’t had much time to recharge, but he would have to try it regardless, and he’d have to pray it would be enough.
The gargoyle locked himself in place, unleashing a blast of water from between his jaws.
He remained still as the blue water pierced through the bubble of red flames, focusing it on the ultranian body as best he could.
The geyser died down within a few seconds, but it appeared to be long enough, allowing him to rush in and take hold of Captain Carmine’s body, dragging her away from the rest of the fire.
* * * *
ULTRA ROCK
* * * *
With the two dragon kaiju defeated, the battle ended, and the entire city of Redvein erupted in celebration.
Just a few short hours after his imprisonment, Rocky found himself being paraded around the city as a hero, being showered with praise, thanks, gifts, and even a few phone numbers. Though the gargoyle had planned to leave the city immediately following his escape from jail, he ended up staying for two whole extra days, having the time of his life.
When it did come time for him and Rakshasa to finally leave, he was gifted a hoverbike from the Redvein Militia, not only to take to the Rosso Woods in order to reunite with his mech, but also to keep for as long as he wanted.
Rakshasa, of course, brought up the fact that he didn’t need a hoverbike if he was going to be riding around in a giant mech, but Rocky insisted, stating that he now wanted to try performing the stunt that Carmine had in the final battle sometime.
Rakshasa then noted that he wasn’t going to carry the hoverbike, seeing it as a worthless piece of junk, but Rocky was determined to find some way to shove it into the cockpit of the mech. Rakshasa argued that it would be stupid and impossible, but Rocky was going to try anyway.
Before the pair could hop on the bike and depart, however, a voice called out. “Mister Roran.”
Rocky turned to face the voice, which belonged to Captain Carmine. She was temporarily confined to a wheelchair (pushed by Aren) and wrapped in slings and bandages, but ultimately appeared to be okay. Hell, there was a doctor in town who had offered to use her Rejuvenate Install on the captain to give her a full recovery, but Carmine insisted on healing naturally, choosing to live with the consequences for her supposed failure to protect the city from the dragon kaiju as long as she needed to.
“I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve thanked you for your service to Redvein,” the captain said, her voice hoarse. “But you can have yet another: Thank you.”
Rocky shrugged. “Hey, this time it wasn’t just us. You guys saved the city, too, ya know.”
“That’s what I told her!” Aren said with a hearty laugh. “But she won’t take credit for it!”
“Furthermore,” Carmine continued, ignoring her fiancé. “I want to apologize for imprisoning you. That is not an acceptable way to treat a hero like yourself.”
The gargoyle held his hands up. “Oh, nah, you don’t gotta apologize for that! I broke your rule, so I had to be punished for it. I deserved it.”
[IS YOUR BRAIN FINALLY FUNCTIONING PROPERLY?]
Carmine nodded her head, falling into silence as Rocky climbed aboard the hoverbike. However, just before he could leave, she spoke up once more, “Mister Roran. I do have one question for you.”
“Hm? What’s up?”
“How exactly did you escape your cell?”
Rocky shrugged his shoulders once again. “I used a key and just walked out. All the guards were gone, so I didn’t have any trouble with that.”
Carmine’s brow furrowed. “I see….Thank you.”
Rocky waved goodbye once more, then took off towards the Rosso Woods.
As Aren turned Carmine’s wheelchair around to return home, the captain brought her fingers up to her chin. Her mind replayed the security camera feed she’d watched of Rocky’s prison escape. There had been no signs of anyone in the building, as Rocky had said. There were no guards on duty, and no civilians had entered the prison either. There had been no activity within or outside of Rocky’s cell, either, and she couldn’t see the key either.
In fact, none of the keys had left their designated areas or personnel, and going over the records, none of them had been used to open the cell door. Some other key had been used on it, and that key had seemingly vanished the instant Rocky had made use of it.
One of her soldiers theorized that perhaps Rocky had some kind of ability to conjure up the key himself to break free, but Carmine didn’t think that to be the case. As heroic as he had been, Rocky certainly wasn’t exactly the most crafty individual, and the security footage revealed that he had in fact simply been “gifted” the key from an outside source.
What the hell was going on….?
* * * *
ULTRA ROCK
* * * *
“So where to, Rak?” Rocky asked as he clapped his hands together after having successfully stuffed the hoverbike into the cockpit. It gave him almost no room to move around inside, but his pride at having proven Rakshasa wrong more than made up for it.
[YOU MENTIONED AN AREA CALLED ‘RADECROSS’, DID YOU NOT?]
“Sounds good! Lead the way!”
[I DO NOT KNOW WHERE IT IS, YOU BUMBLING OAF.]
“Eh, whatever! If we get there, cool, if not, who cares? We’ll have fun wherever we go.”
[DO NOT FORGET, WE ARE SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS AS TO WHY I WAS BURIED IN THE DESERT. I CARE NOT FOR YOUR LIFE OF VAGRANCY.]
Ignoring the GODBREAKER, Rocky flipped the necessary switches to activate the mech’s launching system, and the red robot blasted high into the sky, on towards the next adventure.
[https://i.imgur.com/Fh44C69.png]