Ch. 16 Rescue in the Ruins

[Silver Stryker]

It was a little ways out of sight, but Rioku saw Andraia's ordeal. Slight damage to the back, she was still fine. Deep down, he failed to feel sorry for her though. That was exactly what he took point for; to absorb all direct attacks. "Yo, you okay uh..Andrii....Andryer,Andrea-- Lady? Hey, make sure we all give ourselves several meters apart if we don't wanna travel as a pack anymore. We'll be able to deal with ambushes more effectively! Right Vector?"

"Eyes front, kid, more scrap metal." Vector responded, grey tone and all, as more of those pesky bee-drones invaded. There were a lot more this time, and Rioku's meager potshots weren't as effective. Vector didn't even bother drawing his sidearms. A fierce snag from the air, and a squeeze obliterated a drone. A calm, but stern straight-punch saw the end to another. A carefully executed roundhouse kick for one more. They failed to remove Vector from his spot. In stark contrast, Rioku took on the brunt of the swarm. Starting off with a dodge-roll and then a slide-tackle, Rioku's entrance to the fight gave him a low silhouette for the enemy to target, thereby having the early bees buzz right over him. As he quickly came to a halt, one stomp pounded into the earth and Rioku leapt into the air. The bees were abundant and it seemed an arduous task to target a specific enemy. Luckily for Rioku, there seemed to be so many, that targeting wasn't even required.

Stepping off one bee, and another, Rioku slung his rifle over his back and drew his sword. Rioku was new to the world, and never had the time for training in the ways of swordsmanship. Such was clearly evident as the boy hastily swung at all bees he deemed was in his reach. A miss, another miss, one more miss, and another. And with a sharp metal "twang!" for the ears, Rioku's blade finally connected with a bee. The swing of the blade was rough and had no focus, thus creating a giant gash in it and batting it away more than anything. A sudden front flip by Rioku inadvertently allowed him to axe-kick a bee before he came down to earth.

Raven's words echoed through Vector's mind for a second, "...Or maybe even one of those queen bee things I've heard about, now wouldn't that be fun?" and he looked up to the dense greenery above. "Of course. It'd only make sense to deploy drones whilst in hiding. Kid! Get rid of these trees!" Vector snapped as he punched down another bee. "But that's!....So immoral!" The boy whined. "Fine, guess I'll just blow the whole damn forest up and--"

"Wait, wait, wait! Alright I'll do something, hold on!" Rioku shouted at the top of his lungs over the increasing pitch of Vector's cannon's charge up whine. "Dammit, so much for preservation!! UGH, SONIIIIIC...." Rioku roared as he cocked a fist back. High-pressured steam escaped from various inconspicuous ports on his body, his fist gleaming a bright ominous red light. "FIRESTOOOOOOORM!!!" Rioku's fist slammed into the ground. A mild earthquake shook the land and dark clouds formed in a perfect circle where the group was. Fireballs began raining from the sky, burning away foliage as the impacted wherever they pleased. And sure enough, bigger, more prominent bees revealed themselves, now that there was nowhere to hide. Vector drew a pistol and aimed--pistol-whipped an annoying bee real fast, aimed, then offed one of the queens. There were several. How peculiar...

"Off the queens. They intended to keep us busy here for reinforcements." Vector spoke calmly as he holstered his weapon. A chain of summersaults, a couple of pivots, and some juking maneuvers quickly navigated Rioku from the fray. He readied his weapon, and took apart another queen. His rounds severely pelted the enemy before it had enough and crashed to the ground in a blaze of fire. Meanwhile, fireballs still rained down. A few bees managed to get caught up in its effect, but sonic firestorm largely remained ineffective as an attack here. It didn't matter, it served its purpose well here. The lack of dense foliage gave a clear view for several yards. "Those fireballs will hit anything, watch out, guys!" Rioku warned to his allies.

Vector got what he wanted. But his mind was onto more pressing matters. "There are far too many enemies here. The enemy had already controlled this forest. We're not going to find those troops at that hill." Vector spoke. Rioku glanced his way before drawing his attention back to the bees, hopping backwards to gain some distance and spraying his weapon rather unskillfully. It was clear he had given up on precision shots. "We have to hope! And we gotta look anyway! It's worth a try, so we can't give up!" Rioku responded. "Shut up and let me finish, kid. I doubt we'll find the troops up there, That's probably an enemy forward operating base that blonde boy found up there. But I can almost guarantee that we'll find that field jammer over there. We find it, smash it, and screening the damn forest for a few shitty joes won't be necessary. Got it?" Vector finished, his last question blaring out towards everyone in general.