This choice: Aanan and James fight, and actually manage to hold of the mech for a bit. • Go Back...Chapter #18Trapped in a Deadly Waltz (and barely holding on) by: Kilbil   Aanan had absolutely no experience with actually fighting anyone before. Sure, when they were little, he and James would do play fights using pool noodles and the nearest particularly large stick, with George occasionally joining in to chase them around screaming with an even bigger stick, but he'd never actually been in a genuine one-on-one. The most that Aanan could point to was one time when he'd attempted to intervene in a fight that had broken out in the middle of the school campus, only to almost immediately be pushed aside and left as a mere bystander as the brawl eventually mutated into a class-wide free-for-all. (Aanan still had no idea how none of them had managed to get expelled that day. He swore that a couple of kids had pulled out knives at one point!)
All of this was to say that Aanan had absolutely no hope that this was going to go even slightly well. Indeed, the alien, far from taking the offensive, was almost toying with them. Several times, there were points where the mech could have ended things right then and then, but instead simply elected to swing a lazy slash in their general direction, or fire another crescent blast that would just barely missed them. A lunge of one of its pincers straight through their hearts, a quick decoupling of their bodies from their heads; any one of those methods were freely available to the crimson machine, yet
It was almost infuriating, how easily they could have been reduced to nothing but a landscape of severed limbs, how they should be dead ten times over by now. Was it simply having fun, toying with the prey before it went in for the kill? Was this all just part of some sick, twisted game it was playing? What that the whole point all along, picking some random kids to grow to titanic size to show off before it started in earnest with an invasion that mankind had no chance of fighting back against?
He wanted nothing more than to rip that stupid thing's arms off and really show those damn aliens just who they were messing with, but he couldn't do anything other than dodge. Not only was he still down an arm after it had somehow managed to disable any functionality, both he and James were still struggling just to stand with all the extra mass they had gained on top of making sure that they didn't accidentally step on their city or something even worse than that. It was hard to throw a punch or a kick when he was constantly fighting the air just to do simple actions like dodging. It wasn't fair! That stupid robot could swiftly move through the air like it was a dolphin, while they were left flailing around like a bee through amber!
They were as far from ideal as one could get without outright being milestones or worse. But in war, you never came into battle with the ideal conditions, or the ideal soldiers. You just made the best use of the resources that you had, and adapted to the changing circumstances of the battlefield until victory was at hand.
Aanan just... needed to rethink things, that's all. This was kind of like when he and James were in the pool, and they would both play-fight underwater. James had this special technique where he would jump away from him, and then he would throw out a large swipe with his hands wide open like he was bearing claws. It was never anywhere near close to hitting Aanan, but using the displaced water, he would be lightly hit with the residual underwater waves as though James had thrown out an energy blast!
Yeah... Maybe that would work. All he needed was for that Christ-shaped eyesore to stand still for a few seconds, and he could really get to work!
Fortunately, the opportunity would come very soon, as the mech once more reappeared from an invisible rip in spacetime after lightly slashing across James's torso. The normally calm and collected boy was panting up a storm, eyes twitching back and forth for any sign that the malevolent cross would suddenly come in for another preemptive strike. Meanwhile, the mech itself was now hovering in from of Aanan, still as pristine and perfect as when it had first arrived. Right now, both its pincers were wide open, the ends charging with yellow jagged plasma as it slowly approached the Hindu. It looked like the thing had finally gotten cocky enough that it was going to leave itself wide open while it prepared to deal what Aanan could only assume was the finishing blow.
Fine. Aanan didn't mind at all. That just gave him the perfect opportunity to do this.
He took one step back and wound his left arm back as far as he could, twisting his torso in such a manner as to account for the counterbalance of his dead arm against the rest of his body. Then, when he felt like he'd pulled as far as humanly possible, he released, the tension in his shoulder muscles finding sweet release as Aanan swiped forward with an open claw, yelling at the top of his lungs:
"SONIC SLASH!"
As expected, the attack did not go anywhere near near the approached mech, who was still several (relative) feet from where Aanan was. However, that didn't matter; the displaced air that resulted from the swipe came roaring out as a cataclysmic storm of violent whirlwinds. The floating cross was hit with the full brunt of the raging cyclones, unable to keep itself steady as it was blown away for a several dozen miles before crashing down in a massive column of dirt and debris in the distance. Immediately, both James and Aanan rushed in front of their city, using their feet as impenetrable walls against the resulting shockwave. Both of the boys braced themselves for as long as they could against the onslaught, teeth grit and gaze hardened as they stared straight ahead at the site of impact, waiting for whatever would come next.
When the debris finally started to clear, when the shockwave finally ceased pounding at their bodies and no signs of the strange, slender mech came, only then did the two start to relax. Only then did Aanan and James looked at each other, their eyes shimmering with a mix of disbelief and relief as the found themselves involuntarily laughing, grinning ear to ear at what they had just done.
"James!" Aanan excitedly announced. "I did it! I got a hit in! I really got a hit in!"
"Hell yeah!" James whooped, holding out a hand to high-five with. Aanan was about to reply in earnest, but then, remembering how they could now crush their city with just one foot, opted instead to lightly touch it with his own palm as to not risk any accidental shockwaves. "I love the name, too! You come up with that on the spot?"
"Yeah. Kinda plain, I know, but it wasn't like I could think of a better one in the moment."
"Don't worry about it." James put a hand on Aanan's shoulder in assurance. "All that matters is that it worked."
"Does that mean we win?" the blond Hindu tentatively asked, hope creeping its way into his voice for the first time in what felt like ages. "Is this over?"
Unfortunately, the grim shadow over James' face as he let the Hindu go told Aanan everything he needed. "...I don't know." James held his chin in contemplation. "That thing wasn't taking us seriously at all for most of the fight. The fact that we got lucky once doesn't mean that it's down for the count.
"If anything, that means that it's likely going to start fighting us for real now, and I don't know about you, but I didn't see anything that could damage that red eyesore."
"We know that stupid floating cross-thing isn't aerodynamic!" Aanan countered. "I don't know how or why given that flying is half its whole shtick, but it wasn't able to hold steady when I threw out my 'Sonic Slash'."
"Actually, I think it's shtick is being able to cut things real good."
"My point is, we have an advantage over this thing!" Aanan gestured his working arm towards where the mech was last sent hurtling. "We just have to keep on attacking it like that until we have it on the ropes!
James frowned. "Maybe that can ruffle it a bit, but I don't see how that'll lead to any lasting damage."
"Well..." Aanan was about to concede James's point, but then a lightbulb suddenly lit up over his head. "We can throw stuff at it!"
"...throw stuff at it."
"Yeah, mountaintops, chunks of land, stuff like that! If we throw them at that thing while its stunned, we can get some actual damage in, and we give ourselves a long-distance option! We're humans, throwing stuff is the reason we made it up the food chain to begin with, so let's use it!"
"...I'm down with that. I have a pretty good throwing arm."
"And I'm the star pitcher of the Leaping Leopards baseball team!"
"You are?"
"...no. But I've been practicing to try out!"
"That's good enough."
As their strategy was laid out, a light, fluttery feeling began to swell in both of their chests. For the first time, they felt like they could make a difference. That they could actually fight back against the alien menace that was accosting them and win. That they could be heroes.
"Alright. Let's show these alien jerks what it really means to mess with humanity!" Aanan declared.
"Right behind you!"
With resolution in their hearts, the two boys marched off towards where the red cross was last seen heading off, ready to meet their destiny. Somehow, in spite of the odds, they had managed to land a blow on the gigantic eldritch menace and send it hurtling back. Unfortunately, it meant that the mech was now going to show no mercy against them, pulling every stop and trick to make sure that they were both dead. Now, though, they had a better understanding of what they were up against and had the means to fight back. The battle was only just beginning, and no matter what, both Aanan and James were determined to fight until the bitter end. In the name of humanity, they would fend off the invaders until they were running with their tails behind them.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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