Castaway Planet

Galactic Calendar 259872/ 2000 [ Sol Year 4387/ Day 154 of 365. Sol standard year]

Days after of Crash landing/ 3

Uninhabited Island / Forest Near the Ocean

Galactic Standard Time / 9020

Jinn ran through the forest, the Giant following him. He smirked, this was what he was able to handle. For the last fifteen minutes, he had been leading this Giant away from the others. He hated that he had to do this, but it was the best thing he could do. While the others dealt with those Beasts, then this one wouldn’t be able to kill them. Isolate, trick, kill, reinforce. The old skills that his teachers taught him and Locke to deal with groups of enemies.

Jinn ran through the forest, the Giant following him. He smirked, this was what he was able to handle. For the last fifteen minutes, he had been leading this Giant away from the others. He hated that he had to do this, but it was the best thing he could do. While the others dealt with those Beasts, then this one wouldn’t be able to kill them. Isolate, trick, kill, reinforce. The old skills that his teachers taught him and Locke to deal with groups of enemies.

All he needed to do was keep moving until he was far enough away to kill this thing. He heard the sound of something flying through the air and sent some of the power into his legs. He activated his ‘dashing’ and was away before something hit the ground where he had been and exploded. “At least that thing is still chasing me.”

Behind him a roar caused him to sigh. He had to think of a way out to kill that thing! It was big, it had a range attack and a devastating fist. All in all, something he did not want to face alone. But the thing was big enough to damage the walls Locke could make. If it had broken into even one of the battle spaces Locke had made, then the others would have died. So that meant that he had to handle it.

“Okay, let's test out something else. If I move this power into my gun, I fired a blast. So let’s see what happens if I do the same with my blade!” Jinn said as he ran. Still moving, he tried to feel the power, the flame. There was the flame and there was the flame in his arms. Slowly he moved it into the flame into his sword, and looked down, smiling. His blade had gained a blue glow and with a grin, he started to think of a plan. As the Giant roared again and he heard the sounds of something flying at him, he reacted.

He used his Dash trick and moved ahead and then to the right when he heard the explosion. Jumping up to a branch five feet up, he saw the dust sent up by the Giant’s thorn missiles and saw it walk through it. With a grin, he jumped to another branch closer, and with a cry, he jumped at the Giant. As he neared the ‘club missile’ arm he roared and slashed.

He felt the plant flesh of the Giant part as his blade sliced through it. As soon as he hit the ground, he dashed away moments before the black blood of the Giant hit the ground. As the ‘club missile’ arm hit the ground the Giant roared. If it felt anger or pain, Jinn didn’t know or care. All he needed to know was that the Giant could bleed. That was enough. If something could bleed, then that thing could die!

As the Giant turned around it seemed to glare right at Jinn who only smirked back. “Come on big guy, one on one! And I’ll use my blade since I took your missile arm!”

Before he could try to slice the Giant’s head off he heard the sounds of more thorn missiles flying at him. With a single moment’s hesitation, Jinn ‘Dashed’ to the side and ‘Dashed ahead again once he ‘landed’. He looked back and saw two explosions where he had been. Before he could react he heard two more roars and felt his heart stop as he looked into the forest.

Walking towards him were two more Giants, both of them had their ‘club missile’ arms pointing at him. “More of them!? How bad did that Tree think the Cavern creature could have been!? Was this even for that thing!?”

Jinn felt his power or flame start to grow hotter and sighed as he shook his head. He could do this, he really could. All he had to do was kill them one by one while keeping them aiming at him. Every trick he had was ready to go and at least…….! Jinn felt his heart stop for a second as he watched the wounded Giant reach down. He could feel fear as the Giant reattach the maimed ‘Missile club’ right back where Jinn had sliced it off.

“Okay, headshots only then!” Jinn said as he aimed at the closest Giant and glared at it. “Let’s try, Aether Shot; Aether Bolt!”

As soon as he pressed the trigger a small bolt of blue energy shot at the Giant. It cored the creature’s head but nothing happened. Jinn could only watch as the wound regenerated as he felt a spark of horror. “ What the Blackhole was this thing made to fight?”

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As the other Destroyers moved to stand with the one that had been sent with the Bearers, it glared at the two-legger. It felt the closest its kind could ever feel to humor as the wound the small thing had dealt to its top. The small creatures usually tried to wound the children of the Birther in their tops. Surely these things knew that the only way to kill anything was to go for their cores. But as long as the core was hidden in the hiding place, the Destroyer would keep killing. And now it would kill this one. This thing that had wounded the Destroyer. This was the strongest two-legger of the group that had attacked it at the place of passage.

The strange sounds were a gesture of anger towards the two-legger that had been there. They must have been out hunting and this one wanted to kill the Destroyer alone. The Destroyer had to deal with this one and keep it away from the Bearers. They were the greater prize after all, and if this one wanted to hunt the Destroyer, let it.

The Bearers would handle the leftover two-leggers, that was what they were for. They would carry their Sparks far away, and then they would spread. Soon, nothing on this place would not be them! Then the Birther would take all the Strength of this place and rule. It would send the Sparks far, take the Strength of the non-walkers and its line would take other places.

But none of that would happen if the Sparks didn’t spread. And for that to happen, this two-legger needed to die! The two legger’s body would be fed to the Birther so that it could make a strong Protector. With the next Ravager swarm coming soon, that would be the best use of the remains.

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Jinn looked at the three Giants as they moved to stand together. All he could see was this was bad, very bad. the things had him outnumbered, outsized, and out-armed. A barrage of their thorn missiles would keep him back, and he had to get in close to take their heads!

With a roar, Jinn charged. As more thorn missiles flew at him he ‘dashed’ past them and jumped at a tree. Jumping off it as soon as he hit it, he landed on the first Giant’s right shoulder. With a bare second he ‘dashed’ past the creature’s head and cut it off. As he landed from his ‘dash’ he jumped as he felt the Giant’s body start to fall. He spun in the air over his head and felt the blood leave his face at what he saw. Green tendrils shot out of the Giant’s body and pulled it back the ‘neck’, the wound healing in a moment.

As Jinn landed he realized something important. The body grew the tendrils, not the head. That meant that the Giant’s ‘core’ wasn’t in its head. That it had a core was something shocking and just what he needed to know. If he could destroy or sever that core, then the body might die. Not that he had anything better to kill the monsters, better try the old faithful. Tear the enemy apart until he found the core. But he had things to deal with first!

With a roar, he ‘dashed’ away moments before more other thorn missiles hit where he had been. Looking around, he saw the other two Giants were closer. And if one of them had a core not in their head, the others might as well. So the only thing to do was just tear off all their parts.

He landed and looked around, taking in what he had to work with here. The three Giants were slowly coming together, and that was bad. He had no way to split them up, and if he didn’t face them all here then one of them go and help the Beasts. So then once again, he had no choice but to fight in the ground he didn’t choose. But he was getting used to this at least.

With a ‘dash’ he moved to the base of a tree, one of a group surrounding the two new Giants. Jumping up, he saw the Giants slowly turn towards him. With his pistol in his left hand, he made the first move. “Aether Shot; Aether Dart!”

Another bolt of energy shot from his pistol and hit the leftmost Giant above its right knee. He waited for something to happen, but what did shocked him. The wounded Giant fell to the ground, and it was still. For a second Jinn just stared until he heard that sound. With a single movement, Jinn “dashed” through the air. As the thorn missiles destroyed the tree he was on. He aimed at the first Giant. “Aether Shot; Aether Dart!”

This time when the energy dart bored through the Giant’s leg, it fell onto that knee for a second before it got back up. Jinn just scowled as he landed, not liking anything. He 'dashed' down to the ground to escape the range attacks from the other two Giants for killing other one. But instead, he saw the shocking thing of the first Giant attacking the second.

Within moments, the first Giant had reached down and torn off the second Giant’s leg! Al Jinn could do was watch, shocked beyond words.

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As the Destroyer looked at the slain body of their fellow, the first Destroyer scowled. The little two-walker had been able to find the core within the slain one. This one would grow more daring after this. With the weaker Destroyer down, that meant that the body was up for grabs. The other Destroyer had moved to take some of the parts, and the first reacted. Sending its flying thorns at the second, the second fell backwards. The resource the fallen Destroyer was its to plunder first. It wouldn’t let the other one have first choice!

Lumbering over, it grabbed for the range-striking limb as the other Destroyer got up. It crawled over and grabbed for its torn off leg. The first Destroyer took the range limb and put it into its back. As the core sent tendrils to the new limb, it swiftly took control. With a look, it saw the second Destroyer stepping backwards as it absorbed the fallen core. As the second Destroyer stepped forward, the first stepped back. The mental cry from the second one had gotten louder. Already the first felt its ‘mind’ start to be rewritten. With a roar, the first fired its new thorns with the old. Each one hit the second, and the balance it had was disrupted as its close fist arm was blown off.

As the first Destroyer moved closer to the second they suddenly both stopped as they heard a scream. Turning towards it they heard the birth of a Spark. But how!? The little things had been able to block the path of the Bearers?! And they had been able to force one of the Sparks to sprout!?

The first Destroyer took a step towards the Sparks before stopping. It looked down at the second Destroyer and scowled. When it had tried to take control and overwrite the Birther’s orders, it had crossed a line. This one would even take in a Spark and take everything that one had. There was only one thing for it to do.

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Jinn stared in shock as the two Grants fought each other after they had taken parts from the dead one. The first one now had another ‘missile arm’ on the back behind its melee arm. And the other one had grabbed and ‘eaten’ the leg he had cut off. That meant that these things could think or at least reason. And they knew how to get stronger. That one thought made battles with the False Plants that much harder. For a moment he wondered if this thing had evolved here, it would explain why Burt didn’t tell them about it.

And that made this even more deadly. If those things changed, then how they fought must have as well. All he needed to do was keep fighting until….. he went still as he looked up and saw more of the thorn missiles flying at him. He ‘dashed’ forward and looked around, trying to find the Giants.

But before he could even move again, one of the Giant’s fists hit him. Flying through the air he prepared another ‘Dash’ without thinking. In an instant he ‘dashed’ up, not in the direction he was facing. As he realized what he had done as the fist went by below him, he grinned as he spun around. He saw the Giant that only had another thorn arm standing there. “Wait, where’s the other one!?”

But before he could think more about this, the Giant fired another volley of thorn missiles at him. He ‘dashed’ to the right, and as the thorns flew past him, he fired at them. The explosion propelled him to the right and he saw he was heading towards a tree. He spun around and hit the tree feet first and ‘dashed’ upwards. Once he came out of it he pushed off and fired at the Giant.

The shots hit all over, but nothing happened. Jinn knew the chance of hitting one of the cores was low, but he had to try. The one thing that he couldn’t see was the other Giant, and that worried him. Could it be going back to where it was borne? Or was it heading back towards the others? Either way, just one of the normal ones was enough to break the walls. But the mutated one? That one had to be able to defeat the others. He had to get back as fast as possible! He looked at the Giant and started to rethink his plans.

If this thing was able to ‘upgrade itself’ the way the other one had. Then was it better to fight this one with a group?

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The Destroyer lost the two legger as it was in the Empty. Its sight was only able to find it when it was on the ground or on the tall things, but it wasn’t worried. Its pointy things could find it in the Empty, and it could almost fire another batch.

The other Destroyer had been quick to fall into line, even two cores didn’t faze the first. Once it was ordered to go and defend the Bearers, it followed orders quickly. Too quickly, it was going to try and take some of the Sparks power for its own. But sometimes, the greater gain needed a gambit. If the other Sparks escaped and one was consumed, then that would be okay. With the First’s new abilities, hunting down the Second wouldn’t be too hard. But since it had two cores it would be a bit faster than the First, but that was, but that was fine. It would get there faster. The downside of two cores was it could ‘feel’ where the other Destroyer was, so it could never hide from the First.

As the two-legger landed on one of the tall things, another volley of points had just finished. The strong two-walker would be its gift to the Birther, that might let it keep surviving!

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As he landed on the side of the tree, Jinn scowled as he tried to think how to handle this. If the other Giant had gone after the others he needed to hurry! This hunt had already taken too long, he had to kill this thing now! But if it had a core, then it had to be in another part of its body. But where could the core be? The head and thorn arm were out, so that left the other arm, the legs, and the chest. If it was the chest then this would be a waste of his time to maim it. But what to do?

“Nothing to it but to work it!” Jinn muttered as he readied himself. He didn’t know what to do, but if he couldn’t kill it he still needed to get away. But if this was a sentient being and not a regenerating plant that would be easy. All he would need to do was…..! He looked at the Giant and his mind went into overdrive. He didn’t know if it was possible, but he didn’t know it wasn’t. This might be possible, and if it did then it opened up a lot of possibilities. No other choice but to try!

He ‘Dashed’ away, thinking to go down at an angle. He ‘landed’ and fired two shots, both at the knees of the Giant. As soon as they hit, they drilled holes into it. as the black blood spurted out, he saw it hit the ground and burn the grass. But as the wounds closed, he kept firing. Within a moment the Giant fired another volley, this time from the arm behind it. Jinn ‘dashed’, this time slicing through the left leg at the thigh, severing it. When he landed he turned around and ‘dashed’, this time slicing through the same leg above the knee. Before the Giant could even react to this, he ‘dashed’ back. Acting quickly, he grabbed the lower part of the limb and ‘dashed’ away, this time brining it with him!

As Jinn ‘landed’ he looked at what he had grabbed and grinned. “Dashing” away three more times he looked back between the trees. He saw the Giant had stumbled and was roaring in anger.

“Over here you scum!” He roared as he fired at it. Without waiting even a moment, the Giant fired both volleys of thorn missiles at him. With a grin, Jinn waited until they were just there before he ‘Dashed’ away. He grinned as he landed, hearing the explosion. He looked at the crater, seeing pieces of the Giant’s lower leg fly away. With a final bow to the Giant as it stumbled towards him, he ‘Dashed’ up twice before ‘flying’ away.

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As the Destroyer lost the two-legger, it roared. It had to have another trick. It must be watching it. But it would show the prey the Destroyer was the Hunter! It started to swing out with its hitting arm, and as its pointy things were regrown, it was ready. A few volleys unit they hit it, that would kill the Two-Legger!