Battles Beyond (Book 1: The Fleeing Saga)

🏃‍♀️💨 Run 🏃💨 (15)

In one swipe, the ground was cut. Its rigidity allowed genuine weaponised sharpness. The whip in Ippe's hand dissipated and returned to her as a new form: a wide-ended whip. Ippe did well to sever it. She manifested another whip and the back and forth of the two adversaries intensified.

Cassadon took off after the stranger. The spaces inside banged and rumbled. They struggled to contain them as the stranger kept ahead of Cassadon.

Navigation was simple. There was a flat section where robot arms stood beaten at the sides. The venus flytraps and other weapons mainly came from the ground.

The stranger met the opening to a ventilation chute at his left. He went in, making a few ups and downs while on the run by a War Troupe Commander.

Once he saw hints of light, he pushed himself out the vent to reveal his destination.

This was it-the Defence Force Impound Garage. The stranger hastened down the ramp by sliding down the rails to properly arrive at a line-up of starcraft that, from his perspective, generally looked unfit for flight. The haphazard attachment of weapons, flight boosters, armour pieces and much more gave them a hideous aesthetic.

The workers that were here to make them functional were long gone while tools from long, short, big, small, from the ground and many more were abandoned.

Each starcraft had a metre-long wire placed into them comprised of fibrous strands that kept internal software functions at bay. This was one of the few things left operational.

The specialists in the war room, except for a few, were willing to face the intruders if necessary. DooDao was the only high-ranking being that kept abreast of what was taking place in the Impound Garage. Ees could barely stare at the screen. His eyes were everywhere but where it mattered most.

Cassadon was on the prowl. In her immense desire to capture him, she uprooted a starcraft. This involuntarily tore it to reveal strands jotting outwards to skewer her with hints of electrical current. As it was about to be thrown, noises came from it once senses of perception returned.

"Huh? Where am I?" A poorly painted turquoise boomerang craft defined itself with a high-pitched voice. The six flight boosters, three each at the upper and lower ends, were activated and their flames crisscrossed to the point they almost touched the rear-facing tips of the craft.

This reactivated more sentient starcraft. An explosion of chatter was birthed. Not all had intelligence but those that did were confused, and amid this confusion, they wanted to take to the sky.

The boomerang starcraft broke free from Cassadon and rained penetrative fire. She pulled towards a pilot-based craft as cover. In a few shots, the landing gear, multiple boosters, and a wing were hit.

"Heyyyyy. Why you do that for? It couldn't defend itself." A starcraft comprised of a very thin hull, paper jet-like wings, and a meagre lineup of energy and explosive weapons expressed displeasure at what just happened.

Because of this, retaliatory rounds were pelted throughout the vast facility. Screaming and flying were the actions of some; for others, all weapons were blazing. Regardless of their method, they all sought freedom.

Cassadon remained in relative safety until there came an opportunity to strike.

The stranger zipped past the first platform that had nineteen spots for small to medium ships. A spot was bare, leaving ten on one side and eight on the other.

He was now on the second and final platform after he slid down the rails of another short ramp. There was one massive ship facing the permeable force field which served for crafts to leave and enter. Its size proved difficult to determine its true shape. A sudden series of beeps got the stranger alert. He watched as the starcraft turned around to blast off.

It couldn't leave yet. He hadn't asked him the question he prepared. A sentence shoved by two hands knocked its underbelly to grab its attention.

"Hey, do you know a tall, blue being, another one with orange in her hair and a purple, round lifeform?"

"Sorry, can't help you. Try asking the others." The craft got out immediately after this.

Cassadon felt the opportunity to attack. She left the riddled remains of the long-tailed starcraft to finish the pursuit and capture of Cascachu's latest problem.

The general stared at the piece of hardened cloth between his thumb and middle finger as he breezed through the ramp leading to the garage. The original idea of jumping from the top was not viable. The injuries sustained were severe enough to discourage such an attempt.

The stranger questioned three more starcraft to no success. He had to move on. Next was a grey starcraft with a mild-curved cockpit, a hull that was rectangular at the rear and smaller and more angular at the front with narrow wings with inward ends. This one was of good quality outside of a few punctures and wildly arranged engravings. This was by far the best ship in the Impound Garage in design and durability.

"How do you know my crewmates?" The ship with its feminine voice thought it was strange that someone unknown to her would have known or inquired about them. "And where are they?"

A chunk of dough stuck onto his bag when he started to answer. His hand got some of its sticky residue when he touched it. The dough grew to encompass much of his one-strap bag.

At the same time, Cassadon got close. Ippe got close as well by chucking the hardened cloth like a throwing star, cutting a ship-mounted blaster round. The wind gathered in every revolution was exponential to eventually become a giant wheel of black fibre. To avoid this, the ship attempted to dash through the permeable force field to avoid the end of its artificial life.

With the dough on him growing, the stranger latched onto the craft and ensured the raw strength from his grip kept him there as it flew out the garage.

Around ninety per cent of the destructive cutting wheel went through the permeable membrane. However, Cassadon's copious amounts of white dough prevented its complete exit.

The carbon fibre coating slowed, regressing it to torn cloth and this led to the death of the spinning winds. A straight cut from the second platform to the neat, solid steel perimeter that generated the permeable force field and an overly stretched dough stuck within the top and bottom cuts of the perimeter were its legacy.

Cassadon and Ippe wasted no time getting ships of their own to prolong the battle. Ippe grabbed the boomerang starcraft while Cassadon took the one with the paper jet wings.

The other sentient starcraft followed suit and left the premises like water flowing downstream.

Ees shut off his video feed. He couldn't witness more of this. Some of his subordinates got over their panic to join DooDao in watching the live broadcast.

Not long after, Nem arrived at the Impound Garage. She and her whip, excited to participate in the commotion, only saw an empty room.

She was alone in her desire to fight.

THANK YOU FOR READING IF YOU REACHED THIS FAR. IF YOU LIKE THIS AND OTHER CHAPTERS, FOLLOW, LIKE, SHARE, COMMENT, AND ADD THIS BOOK TO YOUR LIBRARY FOR MORE BATTLES BEYOND. MAKE SURE TO CHECK OUT MY OTHER STORIES AS WELL.