She cast Resta first bringing Cerberus’ systems back on line, and then cast Reverser. Deepfreeze coughed twice and sat up.
“Dying by Grants is far worse than Megid!” He groaned.
The axe tail thumbed down between Cerberus and Deepfreeze, and just missed Crystal. She stared at it cross eyed and breathing heavily.
“Too close!” Deepfreeze said, “Move!”
He grabbed Crystal by the arm and dragged her away. Aphrodite joined Falcon and Sahara as they charged the dragons rear. It swung at Falcon who high jumped over the tail. The tail swung back at Sahara. She ducked and Aphrodite jumped back. The axe put a cut through her uniform just above her belly but didn’t touch the skin. She charged forward again. Ash, Striker, and Amanda attacked the wounded leg. The rangers fired at all sides moving when the dragon spit at them. Crystal charged in and attacked the other front leg. More hunters beamed down and joined the fight. The dragon batted them away like dolls. They came right back. Amanda spotted the white haired HUmar she had run into a few days ago. He ran up beside her, smiled and attacked the leg. The dragon batted them away. They charged in again. The HUmar had a pair of the real Sange and Yasha. Not nearly as impressive as Falcons and not nearly as rare either. Word had obviously gotten out as more hunters joined the fight. The Lazarus Dragon was bleeding heavily. It swung its tail catching a small group by surprise. Deepfreeze gasped at the sight of the hunters falling to the ground, sliced in two. No one he knew but no less upsetting. Falcon jumped on the tail as it swung by and began hacking at it. The dragon finally went down and the hunters moved in for the kill. The dragon stopped breathing, and then it turned into a purple blob. There was a bright flash and it flew up into the air. It formed into a giant eye ball. Ten tentacles grew out of it; each was tipped with a tooth filled mouth. The monster made a strange gurgling sound. One tentacle shot down at a group of hunters. They scattered but one FOnewearl dressed in red was too slow. It landed with a thud encompassing her. There was a crunch and a short scream. It lifted off the ground leaving a small spot of blood. It chewed a couple of times then swallowed. They could see a ball that used to be the force slide down the tentacle. The rangers started shooting. The hunters either switched to guns or techniques and the forces fired every technique they had. The tentacles began attacking, gobbling up hunters faster than they could count.
“We’re getting slaughtered!” Cerberus said.
“And with this many hunters we should be doing a lot more damage than this!” Deepfreeze replied.
One tentacle charged at Falcon. He jumped back and when the tentacle landed, he sliced the tip off. The tentacle snapped back and the creature let out a high pitched scream. Another one landed between Amanda and the white haired HUmar. He attacked it but his Katanas wouldn’t pierce the skin. Amanda dug her Lavis Blades into it and pulled her blades apart slicing the tip off. Deepfreeze looked at his shot then at Bernie’s launcher.
“The enhanced weapons!” Deepfreeze gasped, “Only the enhanced weapons are working!”
“Then we have to get everyone out of here!” Cerberus replied.
Deepfreeze tapped his communicator.
“All hunters, back to the ship!” He cried, “Repeat, all hunters return to the ship. My team form up. Amanda’s team report to my position.”
No one left. They continued to attack the creature. The creature continued to feast.
“Only the enhanced weapons are having an effective.” He yelled, “Techniques are not working either. All hunters regroup on Pioneer Two before it slaughters us all!”
Amanda turned to the white haired HUmar.
“He’s right!” She said, “You should return before the monster eats you!”
He looked at her Lavis Blades and nodded, “Are those enhanced weapons?”
She nodded.
“Very well!” He sighed, “Get it for me!”
“I will!” She smiled.
He turned and ran for the warp. Most of the others began to run as well. Both Bernie and Ash refused to go. Sahara wasn’t leaving either. Falcon turned to her.
“You must leave!” He said.
“I can’t leave you to fight this thing!” Sahara replied.
“You can’t do any good here!” Falcon shook his head, “Take Bernie and Ash with you.”
She nodded and took off for the warp. She grabbed the two men by the arms. They tried to struggle free but her grip was too strong. Falcon turned and headed for Deepfreeze’s position. Crystal ran up behind Deepfreeze and grabbed his arm.
“What are you doing?” He frowned, “Get back to the ship!”
“All right!” She nodded, “Just be careful. I want to see you again.”
She let go and ran as hard as she could. The monster continued to feed on the retreating hunters as well as the few who remained. Deepfreeze’s team regrouped first followed by Amanda’s.
“We need to bring this thing down.” HitmanJ said.
“Right!” Deepfreeze nodded, “The rangers will lay down a suppressing fire. The hunters and Aphrodite will be in charge of those tentacles. Pair up. One ranger with one hunter. Break!”
Deepfreeze took off with Amanda on his heels. Falcon went with Cerberus as they circled around. HitmanJ and Aphrodite went left and Lisa and Striker went right just as a tentacle dropped on their position. Striker stopped and attacked the tentacle, slicing the tip off. Lisa stopped and ran back to him. The last of the hunters made it to the transporter and vanished leaving the creature free to concentrate on Deepfreeze’s people. The rangers fired as the hunters stood guard. A tentacle flew at Deepfreeze. He ran out of the way and Amanda attacked cutting the mouth tip off. Another attacked Cerberus and Falcon severed it. Every time they sliced a mouth off it would retract and then regenerate a new one. The monster seemed to be interested only in the rangers and ignored the hunters. It would attack and they would move, then the hunters would attack. Neither side appeared to be making progress.
“We can’t keep this up forever!” Amanda gasping, “I’m getting pretty tired!”
“Me too!” Deepfreeze replied wiping the sweat from his brow.
One just missed HitmanJ by inches. His fatigue was definitely affecting his reaction time. Another tentacle flew at Deepfreeze. This time he was too slow. Instead of eating him, it hit him sending him flying across the field and away from his hunter protection. Sato made a sound like a bell ding.
“Photon blast!” Deepfreeze smiled gasping deeply.
Another tentacle hit Cerberus the same way. Then HitmanJ and Lisa. The impact caused all their Mags to charge. The creature then turned to the hunters. Three tentacles swung at Falcon. He jumped and dodged each one. A fourth one hit him from behind and sent him flying. Another one swung at Aphrodite. She grabbed on as it impacted her. It lifter her off the ground. She screamed as she rose up in the air. The creature tried to shake her loose. She could feel her grip slipping. Finally it flicked her across the field and landed on Striker. They tumbled a couple of times before they stopped, ending with her lying on his back. She slowly climbed off of him.
“You’re a lot harder than you look!” He groaned.
“Hitman!” She gasped and looked around, “Where is he?”
“Don’t know!” Striker replied, “I see Lisa’s shots though. Come on, she might know!”
The pair took off at full run. Slashing at any attacking tentacle. As they got closer to Lisa they could see shots from a mechgun and a shot gun.
“Go!” Striker waved.
Aphrodite nodded and broke away from him. The creature swung at her knocking her down. Bhima chimed. It tried to eat her but she rolled out of the way then swung her wand, slicing the mouth off. She hopped to her feet and ran. Amanda went for another one but didn’t see the attack from the side. It sent her sailing into a tree. Her back hit the trunk. She gasped as the air rushed out of her lungs then fell to the ground. Her Mag chimed indicating a full charge. Striker came flying behind her. He hit the tree and fell on top of her. He rolled off of her back and sat up trying to recover. His Mag chimed too. Falcon attacked two more then dodged three before one finally hit him. It pounded him into the ground. It dropped on him with its mouth open. He stuck up his katana’s and sliced the mouth in half just as it tried to chomp him. It snapped back and roared before healing. The rangers continued to fire doing only minor damage.
“Do you think the photon blasts would have any effect?” Deepfreeze asked Cerberus.
“I doubt it!” Cerberus shook his head, “Unless we channel the energy through our weapons.”
“That might burn them out!” Deepfreeze yelled over the noise.
“Most likely!” Cerberus nodded, “But it’s the only way to transfer the photon energy to the higher frequency!”
“If we chain them, they might have enough energy!” Deepfreeze said then tapped his com button, “Anyone with a photon blast converges on my position!”
To his surprise, everyone responded. Falcon and Striker fended off the tentacles as Deepfreeze explained what they were going to do. Everyone placed their Mags on their weapon and lined up side by side. The creature didn’t attack. It appeared to be watching them. They aimed their weapons at him then discharged their blasts one by one. The ancient symbol appeared first under Deepfreeze then went down the line. When the last appeared a giant light ray shot from each person. The eye went wide as the light wave washed over it, disintegrating every molecule. When the dust settled there was nothing left of the monster. Deepfreeze picked up Sato and dropped his smoking shot gun. The blast had not only burned out their weapons it partially melted them. He stroked Sato softly. Sato began to purr.
“Good job, buddy!” He said softly.
“Thanks!” Cerberus replied.
Deepfreeze looked up at him and frowned. Cerberus smiled and shrugged.
“Oh ya!” Striker cheered, “No one messes with us!”
Aphrodite grabbed HitmanJ and pulled his mask off.
“We won!” She cheered and kissed him.
Falcon just stared at his melted swords. Amanda stopped and looked at him.
“What’s wrong big guy?” She asked.
“These were the most powerful weapons I shall ever possess.” He muttered, “Their not even worth scrap!”
He let them drop to the ground and walked away.
“I’m sorry!” Amanda said softly.
She knew how much they had meant to him. He loved powerful weapons and those were a dream come true. She actually felt bad for him. Lisa was heading back to the transporter too. She was holding Pushan tightly and looked very sad. HitmanJ and Aphrodite turned and followed Deepfreeze and Cerberus. Amanda stood for a moment and watched her friends. She put her hands on her hips and smiled. These were good people who had been through a lot. She was lucky to have met them all. Striker walked up beside her and put his arm around her shoulders.
“Looks like it’s just you and me sweetheart!” He smiled.
“Remove your arm before I rip it off!” She growled.
He pulled it away and looked around at the blood stained field.
“I wonder if this is what the Dark Falz battle looked like when it was over.” He said softly.
“If it was, then I understand why some of the hunters ended up traumatized!” She replied.
“Come on!” He nodded, “At least let me buy you a drink!”
She thought for a moment then nodded, “All right, but don’t read anything into this. I’m only going for the free drink. Even though you really bug me, you’re still my friend.”
She headed off to the transporter. Striker tugged his shirt down and smirked.
“Yep!” He sniffed, “She wants me!”
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Freeze on 2006-10-06 20:03 ]</font>
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