Advent
Chapter 5: Rescue
Gale, along with Kari and two other Engraved, Leon and Zach had reached the hangar where they found Kiku, a girl whom the moderators had put much attention to. Unfortunately, there wasn't much time left as she was already being transfered to the capital.
"Get the girl in the ship, now!" A guard yelled amidst all the crashing noises ringing back and forth in the hangar. The soldiers were caught off-guard by the Engraved's sudden ambush but quickly regained their footing.
"They're heading to the ship!" Kari alerted before disarming a guard and swinging her firearm straight at his head. Reacting quickly she turned around and shot two more at their legs. There was still another, but a sudden bash from a sword's hilt had knocked him unconsious.
"Stay sharp" Leon said before the sword floated back to his hand like a puppet.
With a thankful nod she replied, "Yeah, thanks for that"
Meanwhile, it'd seemed that the ship had already begun to take off. Seeing this, Gale quickly hopped on a few towering boxes before having enough leverage to leap straight to the ship's roof. In a moment's time his body lit up with swirling red energy that flowed around him like energetic lights.
"Exceed!" He yelled, and the energy suddenly burst through his sword. Even with the ship's reinforced armor, a single cut from the blade wrung it open. From below, Leon used the ship's broken exterior to his advantage. Maximizing his ability, the amethyst-user manipulated many of the downed soldiers' weapons and made them float in mid-air. Pointing them at the ship's rear thrusters he flung all of them at once, battering the ship and rendering it useless.
"Down for the count" Zach grinned as he neared the ship. In a last ditch effort the soldiers exited the aircraft and opened fire. With great speed the silver haired Engraved dashed towards them and grabbed one by his leg, throwing the soldier to another before taking the trooper's gun and propelling it to one more man's head. "Tch...so much for a friggin' warm-up" he said, taking a look at all the unconscious bodies around him.
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There was still one soldier left, however, and it'd seemed the target, Kiku was being held hostage to gun-point.
"Step any closer and you know what'll happen" The brown haired man threatened with a cold voice.
The small girl was in a predicament, but she didn't look quite panicked. The man proceeded to walk away with her, but that silence had been broken by a shot from Kari's gun, hitting his hand and forcing him to drop his firearm.
"I think the situation's changed somewhat" Leon said sarcastically as many floating swords were now pointed directly at the soldier. Kiku ran towards Kari and stayed behind the blond Engraved as the irritated personnel begun to suddenly laugh.
"So that's it? You think you've won?" He said, taking out a vial of dark liquid which he quickly gulped down. He continued laughing, even when his body had started to deteriorate into another form. Dark scales appeared, and he'd grown quite large. Fangs on his teeth and claws on his hands also made their appearance.
"The hell? He looks just like a Keii now!" Zach exclaimed just before the transformed man let out a loud roar. Without waiting, Kari quickly fired a few shots. They clearly hit their target, but the scales on the Keii's skin was solid enough to block them.
"Move!" Leon yelled as the Keii clenched its large fist and smashed it on the ground. Gale attempted to slash at its armored face, but was knocked back by its solid arm. Leon ran straight for the enemy, flinging a wooden box as a distraction as Zach swiftly came up from behind and jumped, knocking it on the back and pushing it before Gale slashed at the monster's chest.
Seeing that an opening had been made, Kari focused her energy on the next shot. Light blue energy started to pile up on the firearm and created a thunderous blast when she fired. The shot was dead-on and sparks flew through the Keii's body.
"Not bad, if I do say so myself" Kari smiled as she hid away her weapon. As Zach went to check the body, he'd noticed something peculiar. It hadn't disappeared yet and was giving off an odd energy that grew with every second - almost as if it was charging up. Eventually it was clear.
"Damn! It's gonna blow!" He shouted although it was too late. With a loud bang the Keii discharged all the energy into an explosion that engulfed the whole area. The fires lasted for a few seconds until it gave away. It was strange though. Gale didn't feel a thing and when he'd slowly opened his eyes he saw that nothing had happened to him. Other than that there was a translucent green field around not only him but the whole group.
"We're...okay?" Kari said just before noticing a new energy presence from the girl beside her, Kiku.
"I-Is everyone alright?" the small brunette girl asked. Fortunately all of them were unharmed by the explosion, and strangely it looked like the girl's doing.
"A peridot-user...and a pretty powerful one at that" Leon mumbled.
Just as the group was about to leave, The receiver on Kari's ear began to function. On the other end, Krowe's voice could be heard. "Kari, you're about to have a lot of company up there. We took care of some of em' but I think it's best if we ditched the party. Suggesting you find a detour route and make it quick"
"Got it" Kari said before facing towards the group.
"I guess this is where we part ways" Leon began, "We'll stay here for a little while. You go on ahead and take Kiku with you"
Gale started, "But what about you-"
"Hey, don't underestimate us" Zach grinned, "I could probably even bash you with my eyes closed"
"Tch...whatever" The raven haired engraved replied with little sense of irritation. There was still something odd about Leon and Zach, especially with the unfamiliar presence that seemed like an Engraved yet not. That fact, however couldn't be prioritized at the moment. Looking for the quickest way out, Gale took notice of the blasted-open hangar exit. There was still another door, but it wasn't certain where it could lead.
"I'm probably thinking the same thing as you" Kari said.
"Then I guess the scenic route's out of the question. We can't just dive off though. We're gonna need something to fly at least"
Still looking around, Kari remembered something important. "Ships like these should have 'glidebikes' in their storage. The drop isn't too high so it should be enough. You can drive a bike, can't you? I saw the sparkplug you had awhile back. The bikes back at Earth didn't look too different.
The sparkplug that Alex had given him. The size was easy enough to be a bike's. "It may not work perfectly with the glidebike, but it should be enough for us to make a quick getaway" the girl finished.
moments later soldiers quickly swarmed in the hangar, only to be greeted by Leon and an impatient Zach.
"Took you bricks long enough" Zach uttered, stretching his arm and cracking his knuckles.
"We're gonna be stalling you for a little while. Hope you don't mind" Leon grinned as he pointed over to the remaining ships behind him. They'd been formerly in good condition until the two had decided to renovate them with fires and smashed parts.
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"Tch...this thing's pretty tough to drive" Gale mumbled as he struggled to manuever the glidebike in his control. Where he came from, 'driftbikes' were more or less the mirror version, but only on the exterior. There were a few added features that made it commanding to the driver.
"There's some Keii on our tail!" Kari alerted. She didn't know how normal people managed to get ahold of them, but getting out of sight was their priority. Upon telling Gale where to go, she opened fire on the flying Keii. It was a bit difficult to aim with the troubling speed, but she managed to take down a few. She aimed for another, but it was already close enough to attack. With a roar it let out a straight shot aimed at the group.
Instead of colliding with the bike, however it merely bounced off a green wall created by Kiku. Releasing it, she allowed Kari to take down the enemy Keii with a charged bullet.
“Gotcha!” the blond engraved remarked as she continued to check her surroundings. They were already nearing the destination, and just in time at that. Without warning, the glidebike suddenly made an abrupt drop before regaining control.
“Not good. Looks like we’re running on fumes here. This thing’s got wheels, right? How do you put them down?” Gale said as he searched for a safe spot to land.
Kari replied, “The lever near the ignition! Pull it down then turn it clockwise!” Two average-sized tires quickly revealed themselves as the group neared the solid ground. Luckily there was a lot of flat space for landing that easily worked to their advantage. The tires hit ground, and it was shaky at first but Gale eventually managed to safely stop the bike after a few seconds.
“Nice work with the landing” Kari said in relief, “Not exactly the proper way – but hey, you drive better than me so I’m not one to talk. Anyway, we’ll be safe for now. You see, this city is called Galroz city but in reality there’s been a lot of political conflict…up to the point where the city ends up being split in two. That being said, they won’t be chasing us all the way to this part, but that doesn’t mean they won’t try any sly moves.
Gale took another look at the damaged glidebike. It was a pretty good experience, at least after he takes away the fact that they were being chased down.
“Don’t worry, mister. We can have it fixed” Kiku smiled as she noticed the boy’s sad expression.
“Huh? Well…I guess we can worry about this later…”
At that, Kari couldn’t help but giggle, “You looked just like a little kid, Gale. I didn’t know you were really into these things”
“Eh? Er…w-whatever. Let’s just get moving. I think we’re drawing a crowd with that little stunt we just pulled” Gale finished, though with a slight redness on his face.