Team Battle: EC Vs. Guardians!

[unlistedgabriel]

Gabe was walking in front of the others, along side these beings who were seemingly passive. He liked the way they looked - friendly and furry with bright colours. He didn't understand them, he barely got along with his own language finding it easier to grunt and make hand gestures. This also seemed to work well with the beings.
Whiteoak was also having luck with talking to them using some device. As he looked round towards X-Static to see where he was shadows loomed from above.

Giant winged beasts were stalking down on them all - the beings seemed petrified and ran for cover. They knew this foe.

Gabe 's shield ignited to life mid run; its "living" metal forming its shape from his wrist. He was going to intercept one of the creatures before it landed its claws on a team mate. The closest to him was Whiteoak.

He didn't have time to draw his axe so instead he just buffeted the claws with the shield, just in time before they made contact. But un be known to Gabe's one track mind - another of these creatures caught him on his other arm. He howled in pain and the green tattoo's pulsed violently.

Because he was hurt he didn't like the idea of being away from the ground. The earth was his friend, simple, strong. He had wings but he would be at a disadvantage in the air against such a number of enemies.

He drew the axe with his now painful arm and swung at the leg of one of them - cleaving its foot off.

Now it howled in pain.

[Shine]

As the "flying death" thing descended towards him, Whiteoak raised his right, prosthetic, hand and began to shoot out one of the large metallic twine nets, but the attacking flyer was too close to be fully ensnared. As the talons grasped him, Whiteoak was startled to find just how strong they were. One of his armor plates cracked slightly and the pressure was intense. He felt something in his shoulder snap

The netting did, however, make it difficult for the beast to fly, as it was thoroughly snagged about one of the wings. It faltered mid air, and dropped earthward. The butt end of Whiteoak's staff struck the ground first, and as the "flying death" creature continued crashing to the ground, the bladed upper tip impaled the monster, piercing several vital inner organs.

It collapsed to the ground wheeze screeching its last breaths. Whiteoak lay pressed and trapped under its immense weight, injured left shoulder and all, the beast’s blood soaking him.

[GBE]

X-Static at first was very startled by the winged creatures. They looked frighteningly familiar, but, when he realised his mind was not being inspected or taunted, and the fact these creatures had feathers, he relaxed a little bit. Not moving from his position, he unleashes a half oval of electricity, almost shield like upwards from his person.

In seconds, the creature finds itself being completely fried, every part of it moving involuntarily. Its eyes and mouth smoke slightyly as the high charge burns its internal organs. It collapses metres from X-Static, juddering occasionally, bleeding from the ears, and partially steaming from its bare skin, where feathers had either been matted together or just fallen off.

X-Static looks at Whiteoak, pinned beneath one of them, now covered in blood. Walking over to him, he uses what there is of his strength and heaves the reature of the staff, using all of his leg strength, and lets it fall to one side. He then turns and looks at Whiteoak again, "Careful friend, they may feed you to their young."

[unlistedgabriel]

The beings were gesturing towards the dome, pointing feverishly so as to convey where they wanted to go. Despite Gabes rage - he managed to take the hint and ushered the others that way in an attempt to run. He put his axe away and scooped the injured whiteoak up in one arm; whincing from his wound - hed fix it later.
At full run heading towards the dome following these small people.

The flying beasts were circling down for another attack, 3 of them heading in for the kill; claws out stretched.

Gabe saw the door. He saw the winged beasts. He saw himself running.
He saw whiteoak in his huge arms; he looked tiny in comparison. He saw X- static in front of him.

Nearly there. So close; both the door, and the beasts. Running, always running. Getting closer.

The beings had already gone inside and were ready to close the door. X- static was in, Gabe threw himself (and whiteoak) through the gap and the door slammed home behind him.

He sat there huffing and weezing, his muscles slowly rising, and slowly falling. He closed his eyes and rested for a moment.

[Panther385]

"Urgh, I get enough of that from Kiri, but thanks anyway Furnace."

The alchemist's stomach lurched when she remembered the last time she'd been forced to ride a dragon. Rai wouldn't say it, but she had a mild phobia for heights. That, and she really didn't trust a giant, skin-flapping lizard.

She preferred machines over animals.

Speaking of animals...

Rai's eyes caught the shadow of a creature flying overhead. She couldn't make much from the height it was flying at, so she dismissed it.

"I can scout ahead with HollowEyes," She commented, glancing at said Parasitian. "In case you encounter anything involving technology... Or buttons. Your 'hands' don't look very dexterous to me."

[3kul]

"That's because they aren't." HollowEyes said in a matter-of-fact tone - he had been meaning to try and sort out a way to make his arms a little more practical for non-combat purposes, but since he'd been promoted to Elite status he'd been busier than ever and couldn't get the time (well, that wasn't entirely true, but this was the excuse that he gave himself).

"Scouting ahead with Rai sounds good to me, even if my arms were a bit more dexterous I'm not very knowledgable with machinery."

~Hollao, the charm is ready.~ ~Thanks Aoiame.~ HollowEyes hadn't mentioned the charm that he'd wanted, but Ayame had known just the same. The Baba Gungas girl was usually perfect in her mental synchronization with HollowEyes, and this time was no different to any other. If Parasitians could be called masters of the physical form, the Baba Gungas would definately be masters of the mental form. Though neither of them truly realized it, they couldn't hope for a better partnership.

~Charm of the Proud Burning Basan...~

Four leaves extended in front of HollowEyes, displaying the large charm to the rest of his team. "This charm will give me a form a bit more suited to scouting. Don't be alarmed by what happens next, I don't really know what to expect myself." That was all he cared to elaborate on before applying the charm over his horn and forehead. The activation of the charm was totally different to any other charm that HollowEyes possessed. The moment in stuck to him, pale blue flames washed over him, and his body glowed to the point that a clear form couldn't be made out.

When the flames died down, HollowEyes appeared, though his appearance was now quite different - it was as if he'd been reborn. His neck had extended much like a crane's neck would, his horn had sprouted a beak at the base, his arm blades had been replaced with a featherly cloak, and his feet were dominated by a set of vicious-looking metal talons each. "Sha..." As the Parasitian exhaled, the same blue flames that had covered his body a few seconds ago were released from his mouth. They didn't appear to be harming him though, and he didn't seem to mind it.

"This is certainly a strange change..." ~Are you sure that this is right Aoiame?~ HollowEyes was almost certain that there'd been some kind of mistake, as he currently looked nothing like a bird; he didn't even have wings. ~Without a doubt, though the effects on you seem a little different. Don't worry Hollao, you'll still have all the abilities that I told you about earlier.~ Ayame's words set HollowEyes' mind at ease, it was comforting to know that nothing had gone wrong with the new charm at such an important time.

"Alright then, I'm ready to go whenever you are Rai."

[Goron40]

Goron sat at the snack bar, watching the fight on the large TV that was behind the large pinnaple that was tending the store.

"Excuse me, could you move? Your leaves are in the way of the TV," Goron commented to the fruit. Oddly enough, it complied, and shuffled to the side. Goron took another bite out of his "Grease block on a stick." They just didn't make this stuff like they used to.

The Guardians seemed to be doing all right so far... but something was wrong. Ice Wave was missing. Goron hurried down the hall of the Olympic Complex to the Guardians' "bench," where their team was managed. Various Guardians lounged about, watching the fight, and conversing. Off to the side, a penguin juggled four flounders.

Goron stood before the manager's computer and went to check Ice Wave's status.

"Damn. Exactly as I suspected."

Ice Wave was out cold. Goron had his suspicions why: maybe the low Oxygen got to him, maybe it was too warm near the sun for him, or maybe he shouldn't have eaten all those mutant chicken skins from Uncle Asriel's "Secret Stash." Whatever the cause, it required a substitution. Goron typed the beginning of the command into the computer, then turned around to see who would make an appropriate sub.

Alakin seemed fine at first glance, but further inspection revealed that he was high on helium from SFOT's balloons. Kiba was there, but appeared to be in some kind of trance. The inch of drool that everyone was sloshing around in gave it away. Kaedra was gawking at the amount of saliva that Kiba could produce, and everyone else seemed to either have fallen asleep or left.

"You should all be ashamed of yourselves!" Goron grumbled at them, "... especially you!" Goron pointed at Tala, who was apparently hitting on the juggling penguin.

Mumbling something incoherent, Goron entered his own name into the computer and stepped into the transporter. There was a quick flash of light, and he vanished.

----

"ATTENTION ALL COMPETITORS! There has been a subsitution for the Guardians Team. Ice Wave is being replaced by Goron40. That is all."

The voice echoed throughout the entire arena, and Ice Wave vanished, still in his comatose state. At the same moment, Goron appeared in his place. Not too far away, the rest of the team was recovering from their short brawl.

Too lazy to be bothered with walking, Goron vanished into the shadow of the seemingly unmoving transport. He reappeared shortly after, in the midst of the group.

"You can stop worrying, this match is as good as over." Goron said with a stupid grin. "Now! FORWARD!" Goron yelled as he began sprinting in the wrong direction.

Many today think that the Guardians may have faired better with Ice Wave's corpse.

[Shine]

As Gabe relaxed, Whiteoak wiggled out from his arm and dropped to the floor. He hurt in more places than he knew he had. He suspected he had a broken collar-bone, some of his "unbreakable" armor had cracked, he had left his staff impaled in the "flying death" beast, and he had blood all over him. EEeeyyyeoeoeouuu

Fortunately, he had other staffs in his compressed molecular storage armory in the handheld device.

He went over to the inhabitant creatures and began to engage them in conversation, using the universal translator. Before long he had gotten enough input sampling that the device was beginning to be more accurate.

After several minutes, and only being briefly interrupted by the arrival of Goron, he returned to the Olympians group with some useful information.

"Listen up folks! Obviously the energy dome is designed to keep the Kashiras (that’s what they call the flying things,) from devouring all of the Grawgnu (that’s what they call themselves, it roughly translates as "intelligent upright beings".) Unfortunately, their power source has been damaged by the solar situation and could soon fail. I am hoping that I can fix their circuitry and provide some basic shielding, Goron, your technology may come in handy there, you may be better at that than I am. That should stabilize the dome.
More importantly, they also have a teleporter that can go to a "planet" that seems to match the description of the next asteroid we are supposed to go to. However, at the normal energy output, which we are not at, it takes three weeks to charge up their battery units for the burst needed to make the jump. I don't think that we have three weeks, and that’s after the repairs are made.
I need about twenty minutes more or less, to heal up this fricking collarbone, and then I can set to work of the generator. That seems to me to be the best approach to take at the moment, unless any of you guys have a better idea…?”

[GBE]

X-Static, known for his usual silences and occasional small comments had spent time in part of the dome all by his self. Shortly after Whiteoak had made his statement, he returned to the group. "We jump to the next asteroid."

Much rather than leave a statement open to misiterpretation and confusion, he explains himself in more detail, "They know of a place, the Clite Grounds as they are called, where they can see the next asteroid. It is the closet location from which to jump. We have oxygen suits that will allow us to breathe for those few minutes in space."

He begins to walk towards the exit from the dome, "While you heal yourself Whiteoak, Goron should focus on a way to provide an energy charger for the dome, with your assistance if you are able. Gabe, would you join me in retrieving our oxygen suits from the shuttle?"

[Goron40]

"Very well... Whiteoak, I should be fine, focus on healing yourself."

Goron left the group and moved a short distance away. The dome seemed to be growing steadily dimmer as Goron watched it, like a candle in the breeze. Except the candle was their life support and the breeze were deadly solar flares.

Despite the fact that he made use of technology, Goron was no engineer. His attempts to keep the life support active were going to be better than the rest of the team most likely, but there was still the chance that he could kill them all.

"Right then... no pressure."

Goron picked up a small stone with a sharp edge, and began to disassemble his console, using the rock as a screwdriver. He pulled out the main energy/particle accelerator cannon, which, depending on the chips installed, fired different projectiles. Out came the EMP cannon and the shield generator.

He flipped around the wires on the EMP, disabling its destructive ability, and causing it to become a power amplifier instead. The shield generator was rerouted to the energy/particle cannon, and the cannon itself rotated 90 degrees upward, and taped to the side of the console with duct tape (never leave home without it). Then Goron reassembled his console and set the EMP and shield generator to run concurrently. He stood up and returned to group.

"Alright, while the logical thing to do is to test this thing over there, I just wanted you all to know that the failure of my homemade dome amplifier will result in the death of us all," Goron smiled and activated the EMP.

A beam of energy blasted straight up and collided with the dome, but did not break it. Instead, the dome ceased fading and began regaining its strength.

"Oh excellent. We're not dead," Goron breathed, "Now, with all the modifications I've made to this thing, all of my console-based systems are going to be offline, with the exception of Allissa, she has her own power supply. What that means is my arsenal has been quite reduced. I now have access only to my Carbine, sword, grenades, and shuriken.

This device SHOULD maintain the shields, but no guarantees. Also it WILL run out of power should we stay on a single dome too long, so we should continue moving."

[unlistedgabriel]

As Gabe opened his eyes he was staring straight up at something he could only be stunned by, the colours were astounding to him. He relaxed himself, barely registering Whiteoak wriggling out of his arm or the blood now flowing from his arm (which was slowly sealing itself up as he laid there).

It was unusual for him to be affected in this way, he was emotionless apart from his bouts of rage and his general grumpiness but he felt stunned and was smiling slightly.

The voice of X-static brought him to his senses though, he hadn't been listening to their conversation up till now but this was directed at him.

X-static: "Gabe, would you join me in retrieving our oxygen suits from the shuttle?"

Gabe shook himself off, returning to his stolid appearance and got up off the ground. His shield had returned to its place as his bracer and his axe was lying on the ground. Gabe bent down picking it up and dusting off the few bits of blood and flesh that were attached, then polished it with his elbow and placed it on his belt.
He turned to X-static and nodded his agreement, following the dark strangers lead.

[GBE]

Pleased Gabe was about to accompany him, in the Grawgnu's native language, he instructs them to open the dome door to let them out, they try to argue but without breaking his stride he re-assures them that everything is going to be fine, and that they will come back very quickly. They still don't understand how he knows their terminology and words that they thought would only be understood by themselves, but its something X-Static hadn't let on just yet in case they re-acted badly to him.

Finally leaving the dome, he looks around warily, there are none of the creatures attempting to ambush him, but straight ahead, the wing beasts, the Kashiras are feasting upon their dead in a cannibalistic way. Any food to help them survive apparently will not go to waste. They look up and see him, X-Static's eyes flicker blue with electricity as he walks slowly towards them, they shriek and flap their wings. All in all, there are five of them, however, one of them, with slightly brighter colours than the other unleashes a piercing screech that echoes back from the trees, X-Static powers up a bolt of electricity and launches it at the creature from his hand as he begins to run, frying the birds face instantaneously, and causing the others to jump back in surprise.

"Run Gabe! For the others will come, and they number in many. There may be bigger versions who hear the call, and, other strange predators may come...." He can see the shuttle only a minutes run away, he could launch himself over there, but he will not leave Gabe behind...

[Swix]

"Suit yourselves"

The Dark Fire Dragon said, pulling his huge head back up. His horns almost seemed to gleam in the light of the close sun, their creamy coloured hue contrasting greatly with the black of the scales on his head.

His fiery red eyes watched the Parasitians change into a fiery, feathered creature with mild interest. HollowEyes vaguely resembled the birds he'd sometimes seen on his flights out. He also remembered that some tasted good and others he'd rather avoid, especially that one that had made him throw up for a whole day afterwards. That was definitely something he'd never touch again.

The dragon then turned back towards the only member that had yet to answer, although he didn't lower his head this time.

"And what of you, hunter? Will you ride, or can you change and fly?"

[Panther385]

Rai raised an eyebrow as HollowEyes changed into the pheonix-esque creature; firey breath and all.

She'd have to ask him about those charms later.

"Alright, pardon a few moments and I'll be ready."

The alchemist hurried off into the ship, disappearing for several long minutes. When she did return, her arms were laden with all manners of tubes, wires, and metal.

And, surprisingly, an old space suit.

She simply dropped them on the ground and set to work- organizing a few things and examining the suit. The helmet was slightly cracked, and the insulation fabric was torn, but that could have been easily mended.

After her routine, she set it, along with various objects, in front of her, where she clapped her hands in a position that resembled prayer.

A flash of blue alchemic light, and the scraps had taken on a substantially different shape.

In place, there was a tank-like object, resembling a scuba diving kit. Small twin tanks with a tube extending from the back.

She grabbed one of its straps and swung it over to her back, like a hiker's backpack.

"It's not that heavy, so you won't have to wait up for me. Just in case we end up going into orbit." Rai winked and the last comment and grinned. "A suit is easily made from components already found on these asteroids, so one can be constructed at a moment's notice so I don't explode into itty bitty pieces from space's pressure."

That being said, she prepared another transmutation. This time, a brownish goop rose from the ground and covered her in a skin-like structure. She stuffed the tube of oxygen into her mouth before a slightly cloudy glass globe covered her head entirely.

Though it was slightly muffled, one could here her say:

"Alright, lead the way, HollowEyes."

[Shine]

Whiteoak stepped off to the side a bit, and found a bench where he could sit. Looking around he saw that they were in some kind of a park? or garden? There were beautiful plants, and statuary, and topiary. To one side was a small pool with tables and chairs surrounding it, and on the side where Whiteoak was, were clusters of chairs and benches seemly for groups to gather. In the middle stood the tall pileings for the energy dome generators, where Goron was working. Beyond all of that were three very small buildings. And all of this was in the "bio-dome" surrounded by the energy dome. This looked much too technologically advanced for the way that the Grawgnu appeared.

Whiteoak couldn't take the time to reflect on the significance of this observation just now. He calmed himself, and relaxed into a healing trance. The collarbone fracture healed much more quickly than he had anticipated, giving him time to replace the broken armor sections, and sew up the ripped hem. He untied his top-knot, ran a comb through his hair to un-stick the blood caked sections and retied the top-knot in his bright red hair, which is typical of males of his species. He felt like his old self again. Several more Grawgnu emerged from one of the little box-like buildings, too many to have been in that building, or so it seemed. Reaching out with his empathic consciousness, Whiteoak began to perceive a great many consciousnesses coming from below the ground.

NOW it was making sense, most of their culture lived below ground. That was how they were able to move from place to place without being constantly attacked by the Kashiras, there must be connecting tunnels.

Moving over to where Goron had just completed the repairs to the energy dome, he said:

"Hey Goron, good work, I certainly am glad we didn't all just die there. Should we get them to take us over to the Clite Grounds next? We need to figure out a way to modify the energy inputs to their teleporter. I want to see if we can't rig up something so the X-dude can power charge their batteries without totally frying their system. Unless I miss my guess, we are going to have to get there through their tunnel system, and for that, we are going to need a guide. Shall we give it a go?"