[TritonX]

“Hey Alice, wait up a second! Have you heard anything about the repair status of our mechs? The Ayakashi have been more active lately. The Death Adder mission logs say more of them are coming out of stasis daily. They may be getting ready to make their final push to take over the Zardelac home world. Of course that means stopping off here to make some more converts,“ said Soren as he chased down Alice.

“That is true, but unfortunately repairs are nowhere near complete. We really tore our Jackel VXs up in that last fight. I just hope that they don’t attack for awhile, otherwise we are going to have to use basic suits. Can you imagine it, Shell 4 soldiers wearing grunt armor? Nykoren would have a fit!” exclaimed Alice.

Just then a loud piercing siren went off causing the both Soren and Alice to wince and cover their ears. It was the Level 1 crisis siren.

“Crap looks like they’re here. Grab a random mech and let’s go, they’ll brief us as we head out,” yelled Soren over the sound of the alarm.

Unfortunately the two were in the base’s gym, the structure farthest away from the launch hangers. Alice and Soren ran as fast as they could, but by the time they got there all that was left was the training units. The training mechs were old single pilot mech models known as Off-road Mark 8s nicknamed “Off the Marks” because of their clunky maneuvering and lack of precise weapon controls. Each of the two got into a unit and started up the communications systems. They then changed their call signs from training to their Shell call signs. Almost immediately they heard Colonel Nykoren’s voice booming over the radio.

“Soren, Alice, what the hell are you doing? The computer says you are piloting Off the Marks? This is no time to joke around. We have never dealt with this level of threat before. The invaders are all Home World Prime Ayakashi. The bastards wiped out Shell 6 and 7 almost immediately. There are seven total, but their behavior is different from normal. They are tearing up the city searching for something in an organized manner rather than just the general chaos and murder we are used to. The weakest one has broken through the backline and seems to be heading for Sector 6 Area 10. You two get into your mechs and hold him off till back up arrives. It will most likely be a squad from Shell 2 since they will be closest,” reported Colonel Nykoren as he summed up the situation.

“We got a problem Colonel. Our suits are still in repairs and Off the Marks are all that’s available. We are standing by for instructions,” said Soren.

“Damn, well we don’t have a choice. If that Ayakashi makes it past Sector 6, he will enter the residential area and at that point the number of casualties will increase dramatically. Hold him as long as you can and we will send back up as soon as it’s available. Now launch those piles of crap and slow down the fucker!” exclaimed Colonel Nykoren.

“Roger that! Shell 4 assault team 8 heading out,” said Alice and Soren in unison.

The two fired up the Off the Marks and hurried to point of interception. All the while they could hear the straining of hydraulics and creaking of metal as the mechs strained under the pressure of being thrown into max throttle.

“This is not good Alice. These suits can barely handle moving at max speed, what will happen when we are in combat? I think the best strategy is for you stay back and snipe while I fight up close. If my suit starts failing, I will try to hold him down long enough for you to get a clean shot,” suggested Soren.

“Sounds good, but don’t go dying on me trying to be a hero,” remarked Alice.

The two soldiers reached the target area which was an old oil refinery on the edge of the industrial district. As they scanned the area, the Ayakashi made his presence known by rupturing multiple large oil containment units behind the two soldiers. The resulting explosion sent shockwaves through the refinery. The air became thick with smoke and flame and the force of the explosion knocked the mechs into a concrete wall. The hydraulics of Alice’s unit was rendered completely useless by the impact. The left arm of Soren’s unit was rendered inactive, but he could still move.

Before Soren could get up, a seven foot tall Ayakashi came sailing through the smoke with a double sided axe raised overhead. The Ayakashi’s axe came down on Soren’s left shoulder as he tried to roll out of the way to dodge. This resulted in a slash that cut through the upper layers of the armor, but didn’t cut clean through. Soren got the mech to its feet and ejected the left arm, exposing his own arm to the smoldering air of burning refinery.

“Alice, are you ok?” bellowed Soren as he drew a vibro blade in his right hand and prepared to fend off the Ayakashi.

“Crap! The controls aren’t responding, but I can still move the arms a bit. Draw him back a little and I can shoot him,” said Alice as she frantically checked the computer diagnostics to see what was still online.

Soren drew his Luger P08 in his left hand, fired at the Ayakashi, and began to run away from Alice. The Ayakashi blocked the shots with his axe and ran towards the concrete wall, jumped up, and kicked off of it propelling him toward Soren. Soren turned just in time to block the Ayakashi’s downward swipe. The force of the blow, and the fact that Soren was of balance, knocked Soren to the floor and sent the sword flying out of his hand in the opposite direction. Before the Ayakashi could take advantage of the situation, Alice was able to get a shot off with her sniper rifle. The shot hit the Ayakashi in right shoulder causing him to howl. The Ayakashi in anger turned his attention to Alice.

“Too bad for you Meat! If you had just stayed down and stayed quiet I might have let you live,” snarled the Ayakashi as he walked over to Alice.

“Die you filthy beast!” exclaimed Alice as she took another shot which pierced the Ayakashi’s lower abdominal area.

The Ayakashi cackled, “Do you think your pathetic weapons can hurt me? Look I am already healing Meat.”

By the time the Ayakashi walked over to Alice, his wounds had healed. He smacked the gun out of Alice’s grip with the back of his hand. He then grabbed the helmet of Alice’s mech and lifted her off the ground and began to tear off the armor piece by piece to get to the pilot within. Soren, in the meantime, was struggling to get his mech operational. The hydraulics were completely destroyed when he was knocked to the ground. He struggled frantically to get anything to work as he heard Alice screaming for help. Finally, he was able to get the armor ejection system to work ,burst forth from mech, and charged the Ayakashi who had already stripped Alice’s mech’s arms and legs off, living Alice’s limbs exposed.

Soren drew his daggers and rushed the Ayakashi stabbing the beast in the back. The Ayakashi howled, and flung Alice aside so he could deal with Soren. The Ayakashi swung his axe at Soren. Soren managed to dodge the blow and the Ayakashi’s axe, whose blade sunk deep in to the ground. Soren used the axe’s haft as a step and jumped into the air slicing the Ayakashi in right cheek. The Ayakashi freed his axe from the earth and swung at Soren who was still in the air. Luckily, the haft of the axe hit Soren and not the blade. However, the force of the axe haft hitting his left arm shattered it into pieces and Soren was sent flying into the concrete wall so hard that it nearly knocked him unconscious.

“I have no choice. Alice is hurt and reinforcements aren’t coming. I have been practicing this technique for a while, but a Home World Prime Ayakashi is more powerful than anything I could imagine. I’ll have to seal myself in with him so that the power of the barrier is stronger,” said Soren to himself as he raised his hand to point at the Ayakashi.

“What’s the matter Meat? Are you afraid? Beg for your life and I might spare you,” said the Ayakashi.

“Hoi, Joso, Ketsu!,” exclaimed Soren as a green translucent barrier appeared around him and the Ayakashi.

“This technique is an Ayakashi technique,” remarked the Ayakashi in amazement. “To bad it is too weak to hold me.”

“Soren what are you doing? If you collapse the barrier with you inside, you’ll be destroyed too,” cried Alice.

“I have no choice. Goodbye Alice, just so you know… though I never said anything…I love you. Metsu!” exclaimed Soren.

Metsu was Soren’s newest technique. Not only did it destroy everything it within it, but it blew the leftover pieces into another dimension so that the entities within the barrier could not regenerate. However, as Soren activated the technique, the Ayakashi punctured a hole in the barrier. As the barrier collapsed, the force blew Soren and the Ayakashi through the hole which due to the properties of the barrier became a wormhole flinging them through time and space.

Soren felt himself being flung through what felt like a tube and could see nothing but a blur of black and white. The next thing he knew, Soren saw a bright light and was flung into a poorly constructed shack. The shack broke on impact further injuring Soren. He now had a broken arm, a bruised back, and deep gash above his left eye. It bled so profusely that the blood ran into his eyes and obscured his vision. Soren could hear the howls of the Ayakashi nearby.

“Hahaha…a new world for me to conquer for the God Mother Zlyphila! Let this new world know the terror of the Ayakashi!” exclaimed the Ayakashi as he began to tear down shacks with a swing of his axe.

Soren’s head felt fuzzy. All he knew is that his was in what seemed to be a poor town. He knew he had to stop the Ayakashi. He slowly got to his feet, drew a dagger in his right hand, and hobbled over to where he believed he heard the voice come from.

“I don’t have much strength left, but I have to stop him,” said Soren.