(Before I start, the three characters: Fish, Fate and Karate are actually myself (Australiumfish), and two of my friends, Fateshaper (Fate) and Karateninjablader (Karate). The three of us often go on various explorations of the clockworks, and I occasionally, randomly write it like a story. They told me to try writing a proper story about one of our explorations, with a little enhancement, so I figured ill give it a go.)
We all heard about Alpha team going missing in the core. We all heard about no-one else being able to enter it. And then we all heard from HQ that we were to explore the clockworks, picking up minerals as we go to power our systems. Well, it just seems like every day we do the same thing over and over, we get complacent. And that we did. We all did.
I was sent down to Moorcraft Manor again, looking at my shifting map I could see that I was headed towards the Gremlin Factory again. Looks like their attempts to make the Roarmulus twins invincible are continuing. Its like they test them on us, that we think were saving ourselves by destroying them, but theyre really just trying to figure out a way to make them unstoppable. But I couldn't really complain, after all, I did make a fair amount of money every time I went down and halted the Gremlin's progress.
I walked off the same old elevator pad, in my standard, reliable gear, mighty cobalt armour and helmet, Barbarous Thorn Shield and Leviathan blade, with my Gigawatt pulsar in its holster on my right hip and my Ash of Agni held in place on my left, and a Sinister Skelly charm around my neck.
I walked towards that same desk where the Spookat Desk Clerk hovered behind, I could swear the bellhop was trying to talk to me. Its a shame that zombies cant speak.
Desk Clerk: So, off again are we already?
Me: You know it. Gotta make money.
Desk Clerk: You take care now, the gate's changed. You wont find the same creatures down there as last time.
Me: *Lifts my Leviathan blade onto my shoulder* I'm always careful. *Continues to the elevator*
Desk Clerk: *quietly* That's what the last guy said...
I looked at the elevator before me, the coloured symbol telling me that this new area was ice. I never liked ice, I always preferred hot over cold. I didnt want to freeze, and for that I would need a little help, so I tapped a couple of names into the electronic communication device on my wrist, sending a message to them.
A few minutes later the elevator pad in front of the Desk rose up and down, bringing with it two very familiar faces. That is, If I could see their faces behind their armour.
Fateshaper, or Fate for short, wore the Azure guardian set, carrying another Leviathan blade. He had more money that I did, so he could afford it. Not that I hold it against him, of course. Noone of our trio was ever in charge really, and our physical differences were ignored. What mattered was how good we are in combat, and Fate was very good.
Karateninjablader, or Karate for short, wore the hide of an Ash Tail he killed himself, and carried a wise owlite shield and an Avenger. He was always excited to get into fighting, although sometimes in the past he rushed a little too far ahead. Thats how he got that Ash Tail armour of his, so no complaints there.
It was strange, the two of them could carry other weapons without them being visible, as though they werent there, yet I had to hold everything. The two of them always had energy to spare, I guess they found a way to use it to make travelling easier.
I greeted them as they stepped off the pad:
Me: Fate, Karate. Glad to see you could both make it.
Fate: New gate, couldnt resist. Glad to accompany you once more, Fish.
Karate: Lets go kill some stuff already!
*Karate rushes off to the elevator down*
Me: Guess we had better get moving.
Fate: Mmmhmm...
So the three of us, as we have done many times before, gathered on the elevator, and headed down. Almost instantly the cold struck out at me, I had to keep hold of my AoA just to keep myself from freezing. The elevator stopped, and we headed out onto the frozen platform.
Fate: Oh, you upgraded your bomb?
Me: Yeah, finally saved up.
Fate: Good, because im dectecting slimes here.
Me: Ice cubes?
Fate: Looks like it. Karate, go ahead, see if you can find out how many there are.
Karate: *From some distance away* Already done, theres about a dozen ice cubes here, a couple of menders, too.
Me: Ill get my fire going then. Fate, help me shield bump all of the ice cubes into it. Karate, take out the menders.
We charged into the 'room' together, I slide my bomb directly into the centre and it explodes, sending its fiery haze across most of the room. It doesnt take long for Karate to take down the menders, and the melted ice cubes dont take much longer than that.
And such went on for quite some time, our trio's teamwork far outmatching the attempt of many creatures to kill even one of us. Slimes, Retrodes, Gremlins, even a few Greavers were all slain as we ventured deeper and deeper down.
Eventually, we came to the clockworks terminal, where Basil stood, ever ready to show us recipes we wanted when we didnt have the money, or recipes we didnt want when we did have the money. Sod's law at its finest.
Basil: Welcome to the terminal!
Karate: Health! *runs over to the healing station*
Fate: You got anything good, Basil?
Basil: Take a look. *shows to Fate*
Fate: Nothing im interested in, what about you, Fish?
Me: *takes a look* No, im saving up to get a polaris, and Basil here, on this depth, wont sell 5* recipes.
Basil: Well, you know where to find me.
Me: Yeah, its just getting to you when you have what we want thats the hard part.
Karate: Hey, its an Arena! *Runs up to the elevator, its screen showing the Arena symbol, behind a red background*
Fate: An Arena, not done one in a while, should be fun.
Me: This is a fire arena, my bomb wont help.
Fate: Its fine, lets go.
So we continue down, into the Arena floor, at last I feel comfortable in the heat of this place, but I can see Karate and Fate are less than happy about the temperature. As normal, we charge forward, taking down the first two battles with barely a scratch. As we come to the third, we each carry a very large mineral on our backs, weighing far less than its look suggests. We head over to the last area, talking about our tactics.
Me: So, I cant firebomb this place too well.
Fate: So we all need to stay together, and help each other out, we cant get cornered here.
Karate: So we just run around clockwise shooting at them?
Me: I like the sound of that.
Fate: Agreed.
We take our positions as the first wave jumps out of the ground, oilers and fire retrodes. As one group falls, more of another type takes their place, and soon the three of us split, caught between trying to prevent getting lit on fire and trying to kill the oilers. The oilers eventually fall, but Fire Knights take their place. I quickly blast my way through to Fate, the two of us shooting down Knights and Retrodes, back to back, inching towards Karate, who is stuck against the corner with two Knights on him. We manage to free him, lesson learned, as we stay together. The last retrode falls, and four alpha Ash Tails rise out of the ground, all looking at Karate with a pure hatred.
Karate: Oh crap. I think I must wearing their brother.
Me: Hah, go and join your new family then! *readies my Leviathan* RAWR! *charges forward and slashes at two of the Ash Tails, throwing them far back, and severely weakening them*
Fate and Karate follow suit, slashing hard into the Ash Tails, and defending against the remaining Knights. The Ash Tails soon fall, with nothing to replace them. We knew what this meant, so we all gathered into a corner, waiting for the last Knights to come to us to die, which they did easily. Suddenly, but not unexpectedly, eight, very angry, fire howlitzers appeared out of the ground. The two closest to us turned to face us, preparing to fire. I held my Skelly charm in my hand, as though putting my life into it's shadow defence.
We spread out, as the Howlitzers fired upon us, more of them turned to us, and soon the number of fiery bullets heading at us was getting hard to avoid. We managed to kill three of them before Karate got hit hard and burst into flames. Fortunately he had a remedy pill and removed the fire before it got him too badly and took our a couple of them, but he was still injured. Fate tried to move behind them, so he could attack safely, but they just followed him and their bullets tore at him. It was a miracle that he survived to kill the last one after I took out the two that shot him.
The spikes retreated into the ground as the gate opened up before us. We made it.
We collected our reward and healed up some more before we prepared for our mission's objective. The Roarmulus twins had to be taken down again, and we were going to do it.
(Im making another post for the factory part, dont know why, just felt like it.)
We descended into the Gremlin's factory, as we had done so many times. The smell of industry filled the air as always.
Me: They never stop trying, do they?
Fate: If they did, we would be out of a job.
Me: Says the guy in Azure. I know you do other missions too.
Fate: So? You do too.
Me: Only when I get bored. That Jelly King is pretty fun to put down. But I prefer the money I make selling catalyzers to people who cant kill the Twins.
Karate: More rockets ahead!
Me: I'll go first, ill call clear when I turn them off.
As usual, I took it upon myself to do the 'difficult' parts, like turning the rockets off. I always found that rather easy and enjoyable, but then again, I liked the fire arena too. I ran up to the switch, dodging rockets as I went, turning them off. I called 'Clear!' and the two ran up to meet me. We continued onward through the factory, with dangerous but brief fights with Gremlins, Scuttlebots, Retrodes and Mecha Knights. It didnt seem like too long before we were facing the elevator to the Twins once again.
We stood outside the obvious ambush/bossfight area of the Twins, preparing, healing up again.
Me: So, I'm on switches again?
Karate: You know it! Ill kill the bots and try to get you blown up again!
Me: Karate, that last time you tried to blow me up with their rockets, you 'accidentally' got that poor new guy knocked off his feet.
Karate: That was pretty fun though, right?
Fate: Karate, we have a job to do, lets try to get this done quickly. Ill shield you, Fish.
Me: Ok, lets go kill them again!
We walk onto the large button that activates the Twins, and the floodlights flick on, temporarily blinding us once more. The Roarmulus Twins rise up out of the sides as always, roaring in defiance at our presence.
Fate: Kill them!
Me: RAWR!!!
Karate: Meow!
The fight starts normally, we clear out some space for us to work, and I quickly get rockets to fly to where I want them. Practice after practice has led to perfect timing, and rockets slam again and again into both twins, the three of us using the opening to slash violently at them. It is not long before the damage starts to show clearly. The fight goes along as normal before something very rare happens. Both twins move to the north side, a green light starting to appear from their mouths.
Me: Double laser!!! Shields up!
The three of us stand side by side, our shields covering us completely, as we try to navigate past the unavoidable beams. As I touch the first, I know something is different. The beams seem stronger, somehow. I withdraw my shield and try to jump through the lasers. The damage is severe, but I make it out. Fate and Karate, trying to get past normally, were far worse off. Their shields were broken and their armour scarred by the pure energy.
Karate: Fish, quickly, we need to finish this! *turns to fight off a scuttlebot*
I run over to the north-east switch, following the rockets' path carefully. I pick my moment and a dozen rockets fly past and into the twins. With both weakened, the three of us unload what we can do into one of them, but its shields restore just a little too early.
Me: ****!
Almost as a counter attack, the twins move to opposite ends, and charge up again.
Me: Son of a- follow me exactly!
I lead Fate and Karate to a point where I can shoot the switch to keep the lasers off us as we walk, but the shot is mis-timed slightly, and a laser beam dashes across the three of us for a moment, but that's all it took. Neither Fate nor Karate could go any further, and fell to the floor in agony. I was barely any better. Just about able to walk
Fate: Fish... One more... Left twin...
I look up at the right twin, watching as a rocket from it fly past my head. I quickly take aim at the switch. A little mis-timing and I could be knocked down easily from another laser, or even a rocket, but I had to try. I fire, and watch as my bullet slams into the switch, letting the rocket free to hit the left twin, which knocks its shield out. I slowly force myself over to it, and thrust my blade deep into its head. Both twins roar in defeat, falling back to the depths from which they came. I returned to my friend's sides instantly, doing my best to help them back on their feet.
Fate: You did it, you actually did it!
Karate: For a second there I thought we weren't going to make it.
Fate: Good thing we have you, Fish. We can always rely on you to not die on us.
Me: I'm the Survivor type, its what I do.
So the three of us managed to make it to Emberlight, to rest for a little longer, before we would return to Haven, ready to be sent on our next mission, in our everlasting desire to reach the top, so that we can have a chance at being sent in after Alpha squad. All we can hope is that the Twins don't learn how to do nothing but Double Lasers, because if that happened, we may never get off this planet alive...
(And that's that! I hope I did ok, I'm not too used to writing stories like this, but feel free to say what you thought of it, good or bad, I don't mind. Also, if any Gremlins are reading this, please don't get any ideas on the Twins. They're fine as they are, seriously.)
(Anyway, suffering from a double laser twice in one boss fight did actually happen to me once, my health was really low, too.)