Change of schedule: Post now, edit never.
Enemy
Enemy Part 1: Hell Of Sand
Xzeno smiled. He had finally figured out what was going on. It was some sort of training simulation. It all made sense: He had been fighting his opponents at close range because he was far more deadly over long distance. Now he was given this flat plane of sand to do what he did best: Make things explode. First he had to find something to kill. He was in luck, as soldiers began to rise from the sand. These soldiers were humanoid in the vaguest sense of the word, as they were hideously deformed. Xzeno decided that they looked more like the undead creatures sometimes found at the fringes of Federation space. He decided not to question this and skip to the killing. The first sand monster lunged toward Xzeno, opening its mouth to reveal rows of pointed teeth. Xzeno caught the beast in the chest with a trusty shotgun blast, throwing the monster back, killing it. He quickly ejected the spent shell and slew another beast, aiming for the head this time. He wanted to continue blasting them away, but they were closing in fast. He used his last moments before they were upon him to strap his shotgun to his back and ready his beamsword. One swung a clawed hand at him, which he rewarded by severing the offending limb. The creature stood there looking confused and Xzeno cut him down before he could regain his composure. Xzeno continued hacking away at the monsters, but not without consequence. After nearly three minutes of constant fighting, Xzeno had accumulated any number of bumps and bruises. Nevertheless, he appeared to have exhausted their immediate number. He could see more beasts running towards him, so he decided to buy some more time with his missile launcher. He fired a missile and guided it into the midst of a pack of about five sand monsters. He saw the body parts flying from the point of impact and he smiled as he loaded another rocket. Another sand monster died, but Xzeno realized that this was dreadfully inefficient. He decided that the best course of action was to use an air strike. He prepared the tools required to do so, but he forgot one crucial factor: The sand monsters were approaching from all sides! He franticly fired shotgun blasts at the fresh horde of sand zombies, now thinking less about having fun and more about living. He decided that the shotgun was too large and cumbersome, so he went back to using the beamsword. He knew he could keep the monsters away from him in the short term, but he would need an extremely creative plan to escape. He decided on explosions. The moment he had a few seconds, Xzeno quickly armed an air strike beacon. The up side of arming it then and there was that he wouldn't spend precious seconds targeting. The down side was that he would likely die in the explosion. The only solution to this was to run as fast as his short legs would carry him. He sprinted away, trying to avoid the masses of attacking monsters. He finally escaped the projected area of devastation and disentangled himself from the latest group of hostiles in the usual manner: With his shotgun. He then slowly reloaded his gun as he watched the five missiles from his air strike streaking towards the ground. He loved air strikes. They were so calming. The missiles smashed into the ground, remaining inactive for a few moments, giving him time to appreciate the gosmer blue trails already dissipating in the air. Then came his favorite part: The explosion. It kicked up a wave of sand like Xzeno had never seen before. The blast would have probably striped the skin from Xzeno's bones had he not had his trusty shield. He didn't even blink as the sand buffeted him. That's what napalm strikes lack: Style. He thought. Xzeno figured that was about it for the sand monsters, so he slung his gun over his shoulder and walked toward the horizon, sun at his back.
Enemy Part 2: Sand Traps
"WTF!?" shouted Sasquatch, looking at the jaw-dropping explosion a few hundred yards away. "What was that!?"
"I don't know." said Yeti, "But perhaps we should check it out. It may be important."
"You think?" said Sasquatch sarcastically, already running towards ground zero.
"Aw hell." said Xzeno, seeing the two figures running towards him. It looked like he wasn't quite done after all. The larger monster leaped into the air, flying a full sixty before slamming into the ground with the force of one of Xzeno's bombs. Xzeno hated it when unknown extraterrestrials seemed to out power his weapons of mass destruction. "WTF!?" Sasquatch repeated. Xzeno figured that the onomatopoetic similarities between the letters W-T-F and the beast's battle cry were merely coincidental and the beast could not speak. Xzeno was now used to how things went around these parts and settled on the age-old ranger philosophy of shooting first; asking questions never. He loosed a blast from his shotgun, which succeeded only in making Sasquatch even madder. "HEY!" shouted Sasquatch at the top of his lungs, "That hurt! Now I'm gonna need a new hair cut!" Xzeno was at first taken aback by the shouting monster but he quickly regained his composure.
"A hair cut? You?" Xzeno said to Sasquatch, "Won't that cost like, two thousand dollars?" For reasons Xzeno could not fathom, this angered Sasquatch immensely. He charged at Xzeno, fist wreathed in flames. Xzeno dived out of the way, having been punched enough today already. Sasquatch conjured even more fire, running at Xzeno with an intent to kill. Or at the very least maim. Xzeno fired all three barrels at Sasquatch, doing more significant damage this time. But evidently not significant enough to slow down the hulking monster. Sasquatch picked up Xzeno and slammed him into a sand monster. Xzeno's shield was all but destroyed, not only from the impact, but also from the flames. Acting quickly, Xzeno tossed a frag grenade at Sasquatch, hoping to kill him quickly. Sasquatch caught the weapon mid-flight, causing it explode in his hand. The monster fell back, bleeding visibly. It wasn't dead, but it was a start. Xzeno aimed his shotgun with the aim of finishing off the beast. He fired at Sasquatch's head, but the shot stopped mid-flight. Xzeno looked up to see Yeti, who looked much like a furry version of Xzeno. She was panting heavily from running so far, as her brother had left her behind when he first engaged Xzeno. Nevertheless, she stood there, holding up one hand in a manner that indicated to Xzeno that she had telekinetic control over his bullets. Xzeno aimed the shotgun at her. Before he could even fire, she waved her hand and the shotgun flew out of Xzeno's hands, seemingly of its own accord. This annoyed Xzeno, but what was worse was that the gun had now taken to beating him over the head. Xzeno grabbed the weapon once again, a move Yeti had anticipated. She made the lump of steel fight franticly to escape Xzeno's grip. Xzeno knew his strength could not match her psychic abilities, so he fired a shot the moment he got the gun pointing at Yeti. She immediately stopped concentrating on the weapon and focused on the bullets. She would have surely perished had Sasquatch no jumped up at that exact moment. "WTF, again!?" shouted Sasquatch, holding his newly injured arm. Xzeno preempted Sasquatch's next move and ran. After some moments, Xzeno looked back. Yeti seemed to be tending to Sasquatch's wounds, which suited Xzeno just fine. He could make more use of the time reloading his weapons and letting his shields recharge than they ever could. After all, they couldn't do any thing significant with the time. They couldn't do something that would dramatically change the battle. Something like summoning Overgrowth...
Enemy Part 3: The Bigger They Are...
The leviathan thing stepped onto the never ending plane of sand. It let out a haunting call, low and long, that filled Xzeno with a feeling of dread. The creature was so enormous that its foot dwarfed Xzeno. It appeared to be composed of plant-matter. It was by far the largest natural creature Xzeno had ever seen. No, Overgrowth was indeed a creature, but it was far from natural. It looked down at Xzeno red eyes, each larger than windmills*. At once it recognized Xzeno as the object of its murderous intent. It roared and swung a gargantuan fist at Xzeno. Though it moved with great speed, it was so large that it seemed to be moving in slow motion. Xzeno did the only thing he could in such a situation: Run. The great fist did not strike Xzeno directly, and to that he owed his life. He was thrown into the air by the impact however, along with a wave of sand. Xzeno survived the fall, but this was a feat he could manage twice, as his shield was now gone. Xzeno lifted himself up from the sand and fired a rocket at the behemoth. This attack was entirely ineffective. In fact, the trail of smoke led Overgrowth to Xzeno's location. Instead of trying to punch Xzeno again, Overgrowth just raised his mammoth arms, causing tons of sand to fly into the air. At first Xzeno assumed this had something to do with the speed at which Overgrowth raised its arms, which was astonishing. The truth soon became apparent. The sand swirled around Overgrowth's massive body. Overgrowth was controlling it. With another titanic roar, it blasted the sand at Xzeno. I'm going to die. Xzeno thought as the sand came down on top of him. He was completely buried. After the few moments it took Xzeno to realize he was still alive, he started trying to dig himself out. The sand hadn't completely crushed him, so he figured he wasn't to far from the surface. Xzeno hated sand. He was normally quite resilient, but given the choice between sand in the nose and death, he would gladly pick the latter. At last he emerged from his gritty tomb. He looked around. Overgrowth was lumbering towards him. He knew he only had one chance: A napalm strike. He summoned the last of his energies and focused on painting Overgrowth with his trusty binoculars. After what felt like hours of watching Overgrowth stalk towards him, Xzeno at last heard the familiar tone indicating a lock. Moments later, napalm started raining from the sky down on Overgrowth. The moment the flames touched it, the beast began to howl in pain. It tried desperately to wipe the napalm off of its body, but the flaming gel held fast. The flames spread like wildfire over the monster's face on arms, slowly inching downward. It tried to lift up more sand with its strange powers but succeeded only in shifting it slightly. With a final cry of rage and pain, the flaming tower of roots and vines fell towards Xzeno. The moment before the dead titan's body crushed him, it evaporated like a bad dream in morning air. It vanished as quickly as it had arrived, but the devastation it left would likely last far longer.
Enemy Part 4: Flight
Overgrowth was gone, but the napalm remained. It fell down onto the sand, still burning hot. At length, the napalm burnt out. With the death of the flames, Xzeno could see Sasquatch and Yeti standing about five hundred yards away. Xzeno readied his shotgun and approached them. Yeti and Sasquatch did the same, albeit without shotguns. By the time Xzeno's leisurely pace met Sasquatch's quick one, his shield was almost battle-worthy. "I killed your monster." said Xzeno. You may just want to give up now, unless you want to die.â He tried to sound intimidating, but he was very tired.
"OMG, you got Overgrowth!" shouted Sasquatch.
"Yeah, and if you're not careful, your next." said Xzeno, wishing he was taller. In response, Sasquatch punched him in the face. Xzeno flew a good fifteen feet before landing with a dull thump. Before he could get up, Yeti threw a lightning bolt at Xzeno. The electricity was deflected by his shield, so he threw an incendiary grenade at them. Unfortunately, Sasquatch deflected the fire. Xzeno wasn't deterred. He fired a shotgun blast at them. Yeti deflected the lead. There was just no way Xzeno could hurt them! He would need a plan. He decided to try hand-to-hand combat. Of Xzeno's long career, this was not Xzeno's dumbest move, but it was diffenatly in the top ten. Needless to say, Xzeno was laying a good fifteen feet from Sasquatch once again. He needed a plan that was actually good. Soon, a plan presented itself to him. The sand monsters were regrouping. Soon, they rushed the group. Sasquatch ignited his fists, ready for a fight. Yeti began to shoot lightning at the sand monsters. Xzeno just pulled out his beamsword and a proximity mine. He tossed the mine into the midst of the approaching beasts and ran towards the remaining monsters. He had to act quickly. He threw a frag grenade at another group of sand zombies. He hoped to create a path through the monsters. He ran down the now partially clear route, hacking at any beasts along his way. At length, he looked back at Sasquatch. That one was beating back monsters with his flaming fists. Yeti was zapping monsters with great efficiency. Xzeno would only have a few minutes, so he made the most of the. By running.
Hope AG recognizes my apostrophes because I'm too lazy to fix them. I wanted to spend more time editing this, but that's time I don't have.
