Steampunk CTs

As civilians began to rush out of the park in mass panic, Enyeto drove Arno’s face to the floor and ran along the ground, uprooting and destroying every panel with Arno’s body. He must have an internal stemata. I can’t possibly imagine any other way he would be able to give Arno a run for his money like this.

“Arno seems very stubborn in his ways but you seem different to me. You understand where I’m coming from, don’t you? I mean, look at the leaps and bounds you have to go through to simply be treated like a human!”

“If I'm being completely honest, you have a point. It irks me to see some people put in half the work and reap twice the rewards. Simply being born with different circumstances doesn’t come close to the injustices I’ve seen.”

“Then join my side—”

“But! I would never go so far as to hurt innocent people for my goal. If I went that far into the deep end, my partner would scold me and bring me right back to my senses!” I said with a confident smile.

“Then they’ve done well to assimilate you. Have fun playing as the Holian’s pet! Maybe if you do enough tricks in the next couple of years, they’ll give you those treats you’re vying for!” He said with visceral rage, but a contradictory smile.

He slammed the edge of his staff to the floor and a wave of dark figures jumped over the vendors of each aisle adjacent to the one we were in. The closer they descended onto me, the clearer their undead appearances became. Their bodies were nothing but bone and hanging flesh. Some fragments of their bodies were broken off and others were rearranged to make up for their lack of body parts. One thing above all other parts of their appearance that I could never erase from my mind were the piercing red eyes that shone from the depths of their skull’s eye sockets.

In this scenario, I’m screwed. Danny knows it and that’s why he’s just watching with a twisted smile on his face. As things are, these skeletons are going to descend on me and maul me alive. Not a single one of my shots will be enough to take all of these things down. There’s nothing in my power I can do. That’s why I’ll make a split-second gamble and hope he’ll pick up on it.

I snapped over to Arno to witness him barely holding on in his fight against Enyeto. I equipped a cryo-shot and shot it at Enyeto’s head, freezing the entire thing instantaneously. I know it won’t be frozen for long. He’s strong enough to break out of it in seconds. It’s those couple of seconds I’m banking on.

“Blazing Soul…”

Like a bullet, Arno shot past Enyeto, grabbed me, and flew right past Danny, dropping me off right before the wave of skeletal armies had the chance to descend on me.

“Great Bullet!”

My gamble paid off. I pretty much hoped that if I hit that shot on Enyeto, Arno would be reminded of my position in the fight and not only check my position, but act on the severity of my situation as soon as possible. Thankfully, he met my expectations. But “Great Bullet?” If he has to shout out attack names, we gotta work on the naming scheme. I won’t bother him about it now since he looks like he’s on death’s door already.

Danny walked past the crowd of skeletons and over to Enyeto, who was preparing to attack again, but he stopped him in his tracks.

“That’s enough fun for now. Perhaps they’ll change their minds when they witness the fruits of our labor.” Instead of moving over to one of the two entrances, he walked over to the lake and slammed his staff on the ground once more. When he did, the lake began to foam and produce bubbles as countless bones began to surface and create a bridge into the horizon. “There, we’ll awaken the ones who have rested the longest. They’ll cast their fury and judgment on the Holian people!”

As they stepped onto the bridge of bones, they walked off into the distance and out of eyesight. Once they were gone, Arno almost collapsed onto the floor, but I caught him. As I held onto him, I noticed his breathing was rapid and he was losing a lot of blood.

“They…really hate the Holians, don’t they?” Arno said between harsh breaths.

“Yeah…”

Arno wasn’t even worried about the fact that he got thrashed beyond reason. He was just trying to understand the enemy. It’s very noble of him, but it doesn’t change what we have to do. We have to kill him. But before that…

“Arno…can you still fight?” I said as I looked at the crowd of undead slowly making their way toward us.

“Barely. I can probably take on the things here, but I’ll need to rest after a bit.”

Arno took a step toward the army and began to wind his leg back.

“Blazing Soul…”

He then did a sweeping kick that either blew back or sent the enemies in front of us flying.

“Warhammer!”

In a rush of wind, everything in front of us was swept up like a hurricane. As soon as Arno did that, he dropped to the floor to take a seat.

Arno’s pretty much out of commission. I’ll have to continue on without him. For now, I’ll just direct him to escort the civilians. While I warn the others about the threat. If we work hard enough, we may be able to dispatch Danny before he accomplishes his objective.

“Calling all units! A terrorist attack is underway! They have a group that’s supposedly already infiltrated the premises! Find and dispatch them immediately!”

It didn't take very long for the calls from the rest of the group to come in.

“I haven’t seen any of these other group members yet. What do they look like?” Jack asked.

“They have red hair. One has an external stemata in the shape of a scepter and the other is built like a damn fridge!”

Silence took over the channel before Jack spoke up again. “I will be handling the one with the scepter. I know where he plans to go.”

“H-huh?!”

“Anna here. Gollie and I are dealing with a…giant undead gorilla. We’re not gonna be able to help for a while.”

…what? What’s happening right now?

“Can I get some help pleaaaaaaaaaase?! I’m getting attacked by two people!” I heard the sound of Rono’s quickened breath as he begged for help in the communications channel.

“Get Derris to help you! We have partners for a reason! Find him and handle the issue together!”

“Okay~” Rono sounded like he was on the verge of tears, but I wasn’t having any of it. I need to think about where the hell Jack was going. To begin, Let’s consider what’s over at that side of the lake. If I take into account the layout of the map, It’s just where both Triana land and Holia land end. What would be there that Danny would want?

That’s when I remembered what exactly Danny said about his destination…

There, we’ll awaken the ones who have rested the longest. They’ll cast their fury and judgment on the Holian people!

The ones who have rested the longest…If you consider how he is so certain that this is Rosarian land as well as what Instructor Matthews mentioned, it has to be them! The Rosarian council of six! The group of chiefs that governed the Rosarian people! The papers say they died in a horrific accident years ago though…

I shook my head as I remembered. That scepter could easily revive them. But I guess revive is a bit of a strong word to use. They’re more like zombies…

“Everyone, listen up!” I made another call into my earpiece. “Win the fights you’re engaged in as quickly as possible! When you do, meet at the hall of the rosarian council! There, we’ll secure our victory against the terrorist organization known as ‘The New Dawn!’”

I didn’t hear any responses. I could only hope that my voice reached out to them while they were fighting.

After my callout, I looked over to Arno and pointed at him. “You need to stay here and make sure everyone’s safe. I’ll go on ahead to help everyone else.”

“But…I can still fight—”

“No…you can’t. Don’t be mistaken, Arno. Assuring the safety of the people is just as important as stopping the big bad guy.”

There’s that and another fact, but I can’t acknowledge it here of all times. I simply turned around and began to walk off to the Holia land entrance. It didn’t even take ten steps for me to realize Arno was following me.

“Arno…please.”

“What’s the problem, Ori?! He just caught me off guard! When I see him again, I’ll be ready—”

“Arno!...you can’t win…there are just some fights that can’t be won with strength alone…the rest of the group can take it from here…” I stepped forward a couple steps and as soon as I heard Arno take another step, I turned around and used my cryo-shots to freeze him in place.

“Arno…” I couldn’t help myself. I didn’t want a repeat of zone two. We’re all alone. There won’t be some masked man to save us and Terrance definitely won’t show up this time.

“Please…I don’t want to lose you…” I turned around and kept walking. My stemata obviously couldn’t stop him, but surely enough with that action he got my message. Arno didn’t pursue me any longer after that.

Once I was out of the park entrance, I began my moonlit jog towards Holia land, the section of the amusement park themed after the country. Pretty self-centered of them to make their represented part twice as big as any other section, but I’m too busy to judge them at the moment. Right now, I have to make it over to Anna and Gollie and help out as much as possible so we can move on to the hall. Before I get to Holia land though, I have to go through a forest. Right between each park, there’s a forest that’s treated as a transition zone. It’s meant to make the park seem more “immersive and seamless,” but It’s acting as more of an obstacle in my way right now.

Feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewsh

I vaguely heard a small sound. Like something traveling through the air right towards me. I managed to roll out of the way just in time and hide behind a tree. I should’ve known. These people were keeping an eye on us the entire time. They probably snuck in with the civilians and waited for a signal to begin their assault. It’s exactly the reason why everyone magically got their hands tied as soon as Danny revealed himself. This person that’s targeting me…He’s probably got a sniper as well. As much as I would love to have fun with this person, I need to dispatch them and move on as quickly as possible.

“Sorry, but I’m on a tight schedule.” I muttered before I began to tap my gun, quickly concocting a plan to finish this fight as soon as possible.

Anna

Once I made the call to Ori, both Gollie and I stared at the monstrosity that rose from the ground. It shook off the debris restricting its movement, making a cloud wash of the entire area. Although we could barely see it, one feature stood out more than anything: its piercing red glare and how it was locked onto the park entrance. As it slowly took one step after another, Gollie was the first to move after being suspended in awe with me.

“I’ll take care of it with my stemata! You have to evacuate everyone!”

“R-right!” Although my heart was racing and I didn’t feel ready, I still got moving for the sake of the civilians that were still out there.

Right before we went our separate ways, I witnessed Gollie using his stemata for the second time. Because he was wearing his uniform, he had to wear it underneath it, but it wasn’t going to get in the way. When he activated it, every part of his body grew to titanic levels. Before I knew it, he was roughly the same size and began to attempt to grapple the monster. He’s already living up to his end of the deal, so I have to live up to mine. He knew I don’t like to use my stemata, so he decided to take care of the beast all by himself. I’m sorry you feel like you have to work around me, Gollie. I’ll make it up to you!

“Are you okay?”

I went around helping as many people as I possibly could and evacuating them to the nearby emergency shelter in Holia land, starting with the children. Most of the kids were on the mini train that ran through Holia land. It was both supposed to simulate the train that ran through the country and be an attraction for the children. For all them to experience something like this at such a young age…the person who did this is terrible!

While Gollie went toe to toe with the monster gorilla, it took me a handful of trips to bring everyone I could find from the main attractions into the emergency shelter. It’s a good thing that each section of the park has one. Otherwise, I’d have to escort everyone myself.

“Right this way, everyone! You’ll be safe here!” I stood in the doorway and directed everyone to safety.

The emergency shelter was a bunker the size of a gymnasium. It had walls of concrete, restrooms and packaged food in case the civilians had to stay for longer than expected. It’s sad when you think that even in places that are supposed to give people pure joy, they have to take precautions like this to ensure their safety. At least the folks here did their best to make sure the place wasn’t as dreary by putting arcade games here.

“This group wants to take one thing away from you and that’s your peace of mind! But don’t worry, everyone!” I saluted the crowd of people with complete confidence. “Us CTs will get rid of the terrorists and their unreasonable demands!”

“Are they really in the wrong though?”

The crowd dispersed to make space for the source of the voice that spoke in defiance of me. When they did, I saw the slender profile of the individual. He wore a black hoodie with purple accents and black joggers with white sneakers. Because his hoodie was up, I couldn’t see his face. He even stood with a standoffish demeanor with his hands in his pockets. I’m certain of it. This man is definitely one of the terrorists. He’s probably hiding his red hair because he knows that the information was relayed to me already. But the real question is…how do I deal with him? I can barely control my stemata…

“If I had to use an analogy, this country is like a pot and this group is the water inside of it. The more heat you apply to the pot, the more it’s going to boil. All of you people…you’re the ones that turned up the heat and now you’re surprised everything’s boiling over…” The unknown figure took off his hood and revealed his identity.

When he revealed who he was, my jaw dropped. My eyes didn’t want to believe who the man was that was standing in front of me. His coarse, purple hair. His dark skin tone. Although he had a new scar on his right eye that an eyepatch was attempting to cover, I could still make out exactly who it was.

“Jabari…” I called out the name of that friend I lost oh so long ago and he responded.

“It’s been awhile, Annabelle.”