Castaway Planet

“HERE WE GO!” Locke called out as he threw his free arm out. The stone wall rose according to his will with no signs before it happened. As that happened, spikes forced the Beasts to move apart, each one alone in a section of the walls.

“Good hunt!” Burt called out as he and Xordig ran towards the middle Beast moments before the wall rose over him.

Locke looked at the Beast caged in with him and Jess. Looking over the body, he saw nothing that could cause problems. Its six legs looked like they were built for stability, so it should be slow. But the fangs, now they looked like they could deal damage.

“So how do you wanna do this?” Jess asked with a grin.

“I wish I had my blades. Now then you’d see something!” Locke said with a grin as he looked at the Beast. “I’ll take the right side, you go left!”

“Got it!” Jess said with a grin.

Locke shot forward, running for all he had. The beast seemed to see him in that eyeless way these things had. It charged at him and swung its right front paw at him. He blocked it with his rock staff as Jessie fired at it. The shots hit the Beast along its left side. But to Locke’s shock, all the blasts from her pistol did was make the Beast angrier.

It tried to lung with its head at Locke but he moved and leapt backwards, flipping in the air. He landed and looked at the Beast as it ran at him. Jess kept firing at it but the shots did nothing. With a single thought, a pillar of rock rose over ten feet into the air under Locke. But when the Beast rammed the pillar it fell onto it, Locke having jumped before the Beast hit. In the air, he saw Jinn fighting the Giant. Jinn suddenly diapered before the Giant staggered as its right leg erupted blood.

Locke passed below his wall and landed on the side. He kicked off the wall and spun his rock staff over his head. As the Beast came out of the rubble of the pillar, not even wounded. As its face ‘looked’ around but Locke was suddenly there, slamming his staff down the Beast. The staff broke and the head looked towards where the attack came from. But then Locke landed and the Beast turned to ‘look’ at him.

“Good luck!” Jinn’s call caused Locke to feel a spark of rage. That was the thing Jinn did when the mission called for him to stay home, or one of the others. Together they had handled the worst monsters and hardest forts. And apart, and with his call they usually came back alive. He wouldn’t lose his friend after all the time that passed. Not after finding him again.

“That’s it! It can sense our movements!” Jess called out as she down the left side of the enclosed firing at the Beast. As it turned towards her Locke slammed his foot down and a large stone pillar rose. The Beast whipped its head towards the pillar and then Locke made it fall away from the Beast.

They watched as the Beast jumped and slammed into the fallen pillar. As it then looked around, it seemed to be searching for them.

Locke looked at the False Plant and felt nothing but anger and a touch of fear. This thing was stupid, and that meant it was new. A new creature that new meant it was just borne. And that meant that this ‘Daughter Tree’ that Burt named could think and comprehend time. And that meant that this battle was more deadly than anyone knew.

As the Beast got to its feet and looked towards them Locke reacted. He created another pillar to the right of it and it roared. But then it turned its attention back to them. With a single thought, the pillars shot stones from their tops that landed all around them.

As the Beast roared again and again, Locke looked at it and suddenly understood. “It can echolocate too!?! What did that think take to make this!?”

“Oh, that’s bad,” Jess said softly sounding faint.

As the Beast looked at them Locke willed with all his might for the earth to respond. A second later, large pillars blocked the False Plant from the two people as they formed a cage wall.

Locke just looked at the Beast as it tried to find them. The only thing his trick had bought them was time and they needed to hit harder. For a second he wondered how Jess’s shots had no effect. He looked at Jess’s weapon and once he showed the model he had a hard time figuring out just what it was. But he paled as he realized what she was armed with. “That’s a security-type blaster. Can it even be set to kill!?”

“I was hoping to knock it out! Then we could have killed it easy!” Jess defended her actions.

All Locke could do was stare at her and then swallow. “It’s a plant! It doesn’t have a nerve system for stun effects to work!”

“Well, I know that now!” Jess exclaimed. While the two argued the Beast roared and tried to get to try to get through the fence. “Listen, can you make me a weapon? I ‘m pretty good at using a lance!”

“Good!” Locke said as he looked at the Beast and snarled. With a thought a spear of rock and a staff formed by them. Locke grabbed the staff before looking at Jess. “Use the spear, I’ll make it show its stomach. It has to be easier than the top! So once you’ve got that target in your sights strike true!”

“Got it!” Jess called out as she grabbed the spear.

Without another word, Locke ran to the right, striking the cage wall as he went. As he thought, the Beast followed after him roaring to ‘see’ him. All he had to do was keep fighting and then make an opening. Then they could go kill the others and then help Jinn! When everything went down, the team had split up. But that wasn’t going to happen now, not ever again!

Jess gripped the spear in her hands, feeling the weight. It was as hard as the one in her room and a bit lighter. If she ever got home and talked to her dad, she’s gonna have to apologize. All the times she hated her dad teaching her primitive combat, it actually might save her life. As she stayed still, she could only watch as the Beast left her alone to follow Locke. She looked down at her pistol and scowled. She had nothing besides the rock spear that could break when she used it! But what could she have done? The capsule they came down in might have had military hardware, but no good personal arms.

She started to move after Locke, not wanting to leave him alone. She could only watch as he created a cage of four pillars around the Beast. Before she could move in it roared again and this time broke one of the pillars in front of it.

She stared in shock, wondering why it was only doing that now. Nothing about these things made sense, and that was bothering her more than it should. She was ship security on a Cruise Ship, and things changed fast. But this thing was unlike anything that she had ever thought could exist. Even if this thing was from a DNA stealer like the films, what had the source DNA been from?

As she looked at the battle between Beast and Locke, she readied herself. She would only get one chance, and she needed to be ready.

Locke dodges a lunge from the Beast by jumping to the right before moving to slam his staff down. But the Beast landed and pushed off its front legs and flew backwards. This caused Locke to miss his target, and he glared at the Beast as it landed.

Jess looked at the Beast with a spark of fear. The longer it fought, the more it did. It was like…… it was learning as it fought them. That didn’t make sense. How could something…..

“Oh,” Jess said as everything suddenly became clear. She wanted to know how she could have missed this, but the situation was so beyond her training.

“LOCKE! It’s learning its abilities as it fights!” Jess called out as Locke rose on a pillar and jumped as the Beast leaped at him. As he flew through the air he nodded.

“Yeah, I figured that out Jess! Get ready!” Locke called out and Jess went still.

For a second all she could do was look at Locke, then she shook herself. With a hard glare forming she waited. When the Beast leaped at him again, this time Locke sent two pillars of rock thrust at it. They slammed into the Beast and sent it against the stone walls.

Jess charged, her spear pointed right at its heart. She moved fast, her weapon held steady. All she had to do was thrust once and this Beast would die! She reached the pinned Beast and with a cry, she slammed her spear into the Beast. And in a single moment, the spear broke on the Beast’s skin.

All Jess could do for a few moments was stare at her broken weapon, shocked beyond thought. Then Locke tackled her from the side, moments before the Beast broke free and slashed at where she had been.

“Okay, new plan. I’ll try and wear it down. Maybe if I can make it tired then I can kill it,” Locke said as he got back up, and two staffs formed before him.

All Jess could do was nod and reach for one of the staffs before he grabbed both of them. “HEY!”

“Sorry lady, but I can move faster solo,” Locke said and looked at her. “You don’t have the weapons to handle this. Making it tired might work or it might not.”

The sound behind her caused her to turn and see a door her size form through the wall leading back the way they came. “If I die try and go help Jinn. Tell him I fought to the end.”

Before she could say anything he roared and charged. The Beast roared back and ran to meet him. Locke summoned a pillar that sent him skyward and then formed two more that hit its neck. It didn’t even phase the Beast and Locke landed on the thing’s back. It tried to buck him off but Locke used the staffs to hold onto the thing's neck.

“He’s right! I can’t do anything!” Jess said as she was forced to watch Locke fight to his death. This was against everything that she believed in but she had to be realistic. Nothing she had could help. The weapon that helped the camp throwback what attacked them couldn’t even tickle the Beast.

With a roar, the Beast buckled and threw its back against the wall. As she watched, Locke was flung off the Beast and landed behind it. before the Beast could turn around, Locke was already moving, thinking about how to win. He made another pillar rise on the opposite side of the Beast that it ignored until it fell towards it. The Beast jumped ahead and dodged the falling stone before roaring at Locke.

She watched as Locke made a hole that caught the Beast's middle right leg before clenching around it. She figured that he was trying to break it. The Beast reacted by tearing its leg apart to keep moving. As the black blood came down from the Beast, something about this thing made her wonder. Nothing about it made sense at all to her. It didn’t know anything about its abilities, all it had going for it was its body seemed able to tak……. She went still as she thought of something, something that she prayed wasn’t true. But if it was then this was worse than Locke even dreaded it was.

And with his Abilities not working against this thing, what could she do instead? Her weapon was worthless against the Beast! The only way that she could do anything with it was!!! Suddenly she looked down at her pistol, a strange idea going through her mind. There was a way to use it, but then it would be a sacrifice play. But then that idea might not work. “Come on, please let it be there.”

She grabbed her pistol and looked it over, smiling a bitter smile as she saw what she was looking for.

“Hold on Locke, just hold on for a minute,” She said as she started to fiddle with the pistol, hoping her plan would work.

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The Bearer had been fighting two of the two walkers for so long. It could feel its cargo slowly move along the cycle. It had to get far enough away from its birther that this one would be allowed to live. It knew the way of its kind, those that were too close to each other would kill each other to have food to eat. And with the short distance and the strength it felt there, its spark would be devoured.

And it had been borne for one reason alone, to bring the spark far away. Passages under the ground would carry it to the corners of the land. There the spark would grow slowly, gathering its ladder and sending out its drones. Slowly it would spread until it met the birther. Then a great battle would be fought, and the victor would claim the lesser.

But unless it got out of this strange place covered by stone it would fail! As it lived longer and drew closer to the end, it learned more about itself. Its scream cry could let it see around it. Its eyeless sight only worked until it reached a wall but the scream went beyond it. it could sense the prey on the ground itself, but that had grown lesser as it lost a leg.

But its hide was too strong for the two legs and the random earth to kill it. All it had to do was stand and fight and then escape from this place. this strange trick by the birther would fail, and it would run far.

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Locke used his ability to dodge another blow by having a pillar push him to the side. He smirked as he stared at the Beast. This was going poorly for him, even after the Beast had lost a leg. Surprisingly, it hadn’t even slowed it down. The thing was still moving, and that made him a little worried. It was like this thing was built to fight and hunt. But then why was it even here? If this DNA taker was able to send these alone against this place, it had to be able to think and realize time. And that meant it had to have a plan. But what was it?! And did that make this thing worse to easier?

“Locke!” Jess called out suddenly. “Get its mouth open, and keep it open!”

Locke blinked, trying to figure out what her plan was. Nothing about that made sense but he had long ago learned to trust his teammates. So without a word, he roared and charged at the Beast. He dodged its front paws and lunged to the right, throwing a stab at the damaged leg. It did no damage at all, but then he hadn’t expected it to. All it needed was to get this thing to hunt for him. As the Beast roared again, this time Locke reacted. With his last bit of willpower, he reacted. He formed two pillars that went up into the Beast’s mouth holding it open, and then others that kept it in place.

He looked back and saw Jess running toward the beast, her pistol in her hands. He watched in shock as she threw her pistol down the Beast’s throat. Then she turned and tackled him, both of them flying towards the wall.

“Cover us, now!” Jess called out with a scared tone.

Without a word, Locke reacted. He willed a pyramid of stone to form around them, and moments later they heard an explosion. He stared at her, shocked. By her actions, he knew she had caused the explosion. But how, that he couldn’t figure out. “What did you do!?”

<>------------------------------------------------<>------------------------------------------------<>

Jess only chuckled before going still. There in her right vision was text, text that she had heard about.

Aether Template Acquired/ Striker Operative

First Skill; Battle Enhance; Flame

“Hey, when you gained your abilities, did you see something in your vision?” Jess asked.

“Yeah. I did. You?” Locke asked as he looked at her. She shrugged and looked up.

“I’m a Strike Operative. Weird. And my skill. It’s Battle Enhance; Flame!” Jess said and then a crimson energy field engulfed her arms and legs. The Flames weren’t burning she felt at peace as she saw them. But something about them was making her feel stronger like she could do anything now. But then she thought about her revelation and swallowed. “Open up.”

“What? We need to……” Locke began only for Jess to look at him.

“Open this place up. That thing has to be dead! And I need to check on something,” Jess said as she looked towards where the Beast had been.

Locke stayed silent, and with a mere thought, the pyramid opened. The Beast had lost all its body to the middle legs and fallen to the ground. From where they were a small hard surface was visible in the middle of the Beast’s body. Whatever it was reflected off the light, sparkling in the sun.

“We did it! One more dead creature! Give me a second, I’ll open a door to the native and the guard. Then we can save the others….. what are you doing?” Locke asked

Jess didn’t answer, just walking towards the dead Beast, Locke following behind. Once they reached it Jess put her hand on the Beast and tore it open.

“Nova! What are you looking for…… what’s that?” Locke asked in shock. The hard thing they saw dropped from the Beast’s body. It was at least a foot around and seemed to be oval-shaped. As they watched a small green sprout burst from the top.

Without a word, Jess grabbed it and pulled the plant out of the seed. What was pulled out was a mass of organic material with a single eye that glared at them. With both her arms she grabbed the mass and pulled it apart.

Locke meanwhile only looked at it and paled in fear. He had understood what it was as Jess destroyed it. Feeling faint he looked at the walls and swallowed. “We need to help them, now!”

“Then get those walls down!” Jess said as she looked at the mass in her hands before she dropped the parts.