The impact caused quite the rumble. Dust covers the area that has been tarnished to a high degree. The shockwave knocks everyone off of their feet and forces them to impact the ground. A moment goes by and Rika is on her back covered in dirt.
"Rika! Rika! Can you hear me?! Rika!" Joshua
Rika hears Joshua but it comes out as a distorted call.
"Rika! Come on Rika!" Joshua
Joshua carefully picks Rika up and places her over his shoulder. Joshua starts to make his way up. Time goes by and Rika's senses start to come back to her.
"Ugh... My head... J-Joshua. What's the status? Where is everyone?" Rika
"Focus on yourself right now. I'm handling what I'm able to at the moment." Joshua
Joshua makes it to the top and gently sets Rika down a few feet away from the crater.
"Joshua... What happened? I know I saw a meteor. How bad?" Rika
"... It was sudden.... Just after you shouted it... So many.... Look. We can't fully talk right now. Everyone is going to be here pretty soon so just wait here. As soon as you are able you can go and get your coms unit from the Hummer. I'm going back in to help all who I can and-" Joshua
Suddenly. A loud, high-pitched roar sounds off around the area with its origin being from the crater. Both Joshua and Rika turn their head toward the sound, unable to fathom what caused it. Once the sound died out, there was nothing left but silence. Joshua slowly gets up and carefully walks to the edge of the crater. He looks down but is unable to see anything clearly due to the dense dust cloud covering the crater.
"Jo.. Shua." Rika
Joshua simply raises his hand, causing Rika to keep quiet as he looks on. Meanwhile, Cameron and Tyriel monitored the course of the metero storm from the command center.
"The meteor storm looks like it mainly hit the outskirts, but a stray metoer hit the exact spot where the dig sight was!" Cameron
"Was there still no response from Rika?" Tenna via coms.
"Nothing! She must have left it in the hummer again." Cameron
"We need eyes out there!" Tenna
"I already sent out bird's eye mark 4." Tyriel
Bird's eye is a UAV drone that reaches up to 100 miles per hour and was launched toward the outskirts. It zooms in to get a picture perfect view of what is transpiring at the moment.
"There's Rika and Joshua! Rika looks hurt too!" Cameron
"What's Joshua doing?" Tyriel
Joshua looks down but only sees the dust cloud that shrouds the entire crater. As Joshua looks on he catches a glimpse of a shadow but only for a split second because of how fast it moved.
"Something isn't right." Joshua says as he moves toward Rika.
"What? What is it?" Rika
Joshua carefully gets Rika to her feet and supports her as they walk toward the hummer.
"I don't know exactly but I just have one hell of a bad feeling." Joshua
"What kind of feeling Joshua? What did you see?" Rika
"That's just it. All I saw was a shadowy glimpse of something and then the next thing I know it was gone like-" Joshua
The sound of something sharp lodging into the ground catches their attention and they both quickly turn around. A large paw is all that they see but it is enough to send a frightening chill down their spines.
"What the hell is that?!" Cameron asks as they watch the screen.
The creature slowly picks itself up and reveals what familiar species it is.
"Harlequins?!! Here?!" Cameron
"What?!" Tenna
"It came from the meteor! They need help out there!!" Tyriel
The sight of the Harlequin freezes Joshua and Rika in place. It fully picks itself up from the crater and immediately sniffs around the ground. Both Joshua and Rika are unable to move due to the overwhelming fear.
"Hey!" Brent
The Harlequin growls, picks its head up and looks to it's left. It would be the last thing that the Harlequin does as a laser like beam slices its neck clean through. The Harlequin stood still for a brief moment until it's head falls clean off and thuds the ground. It's body hits the ground right after. Joshua and Rika look over to see Charlette's younger brother Brent holding a high condence laser mining tool.
"Whoa. This is definitely not for kids." Brent
"No kidding. Thanks man." Joshua
Just then. A multiple number of loud screams from the workers that were on sight sound off in different directions.
"There's more?!" Rika
"We ain't waiting to see the rest of them! Let's go!" Joshua says leading the group.
They make it to the hummer where Joshua gets Rika in the passenger seat. She immediately grabs her device and notices all the missed calls. Brent gets in the back while Joshua gets on the driver's seat.
"Awe hell! 29 missed calls?! 49 messages?! I really gotta stop leaving this thing in here!" Rika
"Ya think?" Joshua
"Um. Can we go please?" Brent
Rika and Joshua look back to see what Brent currently sees. Another Harlequin picks itself up from the crater and immediately sniffs around. A few more Harlequin picks themselves up and start to sniff around as well. In no time at all did all of their heads lock onto the Hummer.
"Like right now!" Brent
"Right now!" Rika
"I got it I got it!" Joshua
Joshua statts the Hummer and immediately takes off toward Nirvana with a small pack of Harlequin on their tail.
"Where are the mobile suit pilots?!" Cameron
"Been trying them but can't get through!" Tyriel
"They could be busy with getting people to safety but keep trying them! We're gonna need all hands on deck!" Tenna
"Yeah! We need to help those three out pronto!" Cameron
"It's not just those three. A whole meteor storm hit further out. If these Harlequin came from that one rock...." Tyriel
".... Oh no." Cameron
"Focus on getting those three help first then we'll worry about what happens next." Tenna
"Well we better figure something out fast cause that Hummer ain't moving fast enough!" Cameron says noticing the Harlequin gaining on Rika, Joshua and Brent.
"Come on! Someone! Anyone of you! Pick up!" Tyriel
"Guys! What's the situation?!" Ramsey asks through the coms.
"Ramsey! Thank God! Where are you?!" Tyriel
"Just made it to my mobile suit! Thought it might help somehow." Ramsey
"However fast you're moving I need you to pick up the pace! We got a Harlequin problem that needs immediate extermination!" Tyriel
"What?!! On Olympia?! Since when?!" Ramsey
"Since the alarms went off! Hurry! Rika, Joshua and Brent needs help like yesterday!" Tyriel
"Guuuuuyys!! Heeeelp!!" Rika says through the coms.
"Dammit Rika!! Keep your communicator with you at ALL times!" Cameron
"I'm sooorryyy!! Heeelp!!" Rika
Tyriel gets a notice on her console that brings a feeling of some relief.
"Don't worry. Your help just deployed." Tyriel says noticing Ramsey's mobile suit fly by.
The Harlequin quickly close the gap and make it within a few feet from the Hummer.
"Guys! I've been trying to fire this thing since we started this cat and mouse chase but it won't charge up! What's wrong with it?!" Brent
"You grabbed the prototype tool! After one use it takes about 10 minutes to recharge!" Joshua
"Prototype?! Why is there a prototype out here when there are state of the art mining tools here?!" Brent
"Well excuse me for recycling mining tools instead of preparing for random attacks from meteor hitch hiking Harlequins!!" Rika
"Hopefully you learned your lesson!" Brent
"Seriously?!!" Rika
One of the Harlequin suddenly leaps forward after the Hummer with it's jaw wide open.
"Kyaaaaa!!" Rika