[GamerShadow]

Chapter 9:

The dust continued to disperse into the soiled air around them. Everything was still at the moment. The tension had been soaring and plummeting over the last few minutes like a roller coaster ride. There was no noise, other than the heavy breathing that resounded from Manti’s mouth. Engler could see Shashakiro with increasing clarity, and he had to confirm that was actually the man of legend before he would actually believe the rumors.

The first thing Engler noticed were the heat waves rising up from Shashakiro’s body. On occasion, they would merge together, and a spark would snap in midair with a small flash. They radiated with power, and Engler knew that Shashakiro was not playing around. He was carrying a satchel, which was filled with arrows of all colors. Engler had guessed this from the red, yellow, and blue arrows nosing out from the mouth of the satchel. The next thing that grabbed Engler’s attention was the clothes. Metallic armor covered the vast majority of Shashakiro’s body, being layered over a black ninja outfit. The chest plate displayed a symbol that everybody in the FFR world recognized.

“The Otaku Oni Dragon,” Engler found himself whispering, “An evil creature of legend that can only be slain by the strongest and purest of warriors. Few have even seen the creature, but to have killed it…” Engler’s eyes thinned into slits, “…you’re BS. There’s no way you could have-”

With those words, Engler spotted something he had not picked up on before. Around Shashakiro’s neck was a jet black fang, tipped with dried blood and venom. And impaled on the fang was an eyeball. The pupil was but a slit, but it still caused Engler to panic on the inside. This was the real deal. “****,” Engler spoke, “you are for real. That doesn’t mean that I am just going to roll up and die though.”

Shashakiro turned his head, looked over at Manti, and spoke gently, “Manti, I think it’s best that you leave. You wouldn’t want to get caught in the middle of this.” He confirmed what he was saying with a nod towards the sky.

At once, Manti picked up on what was happening, and extended his wings. He had trouble getting airborne, but once that obstacle had been overcome, Manti found that he still had enough energy to fly to a nearby country. Without a word, he took off, trying to escape from the seemingly endless dust cloud. After a few seconds, Shashakiro broke the silence.

“Whenever you’re ready, Engler.”

A scorching inferno shot out from Tibs’s mouth, and caught a small group of noobs by surprise. At once, they were incinerated into smoldering piles of ash. Jewpin was busy reflecting projectiles with his Southern Cross, while Guido was returning fire at distant noobs trying to score a lucky shot on the group.

The stone walls created a feeling of security and helped keep much of the action away from the group infiltrating the east wing of the PYP Agency. They traversed the ground floor, occasionally tossing noobs and flamers out of nearby windows for the rest of the TGB Army to deal with. Jewpin was completely occupied; jamming small metal poles into the rock walls. The razor sharp spikes on the ends of the poles allowed this to happen with relative ease, which could only help the group.

Tibs had transformed both of his arms into their dragon state, and was either tossing noobs out of the windows, or slashing enemy heads clear off their shoulders. Either way, fountains of blood littered the battlefield, and the ground floor.

Jewpin seized the chance to check up on his fellow teammates during a brief cease in fighting, and saw noticed what Tibs was doing. “Tibs,” he asked, forcing another pole into the wall, which cracked the rock around the point of impact, “although it’s against what Specforces asked us to do, could you keep as many of the noobs inside the building as possible? Also, can you make sure they spill all of their blood? It would be a great help in completing our flush-out objective.”

Tibs had just thrown another noob out of a nearby window when Jewpin had asked his question. He turned around, and responded. “Sure. Bloody messes I can do just fine.” He grinned, but got no positive response. Suddenly, a hacker made a surprise attack on the unsuspecting Tibs, bearing a blade that could tear through steel as if it was paper. Quickly reacting, Guido shot a molten laser shot at the hacker, which caused it to roll on the ground in pain as its head melted into a pool of lava.

Within ten minutes, the group had reached the end of the second floor of the eastern wing. The path of their destruction was chaotic to the eyes, and was littered with dead bodies, metal poles that Jewpin had slammed into the walls. A river of blood flowed through the hall, and it dropped down the stairwell to the first floor, which was already half a foot deep in enemy blood. Jewpin surveyed the group’s work, and without averting his gaze, he began to talk. “Tibs, Guido, the two of you should get out of the building.”

Guido was confused by this statement. “What do you mean?” He replied, making sure Jewpin knew that there were things he should be explaining.

Jewpin gave a straight answer. “I’m going to destroy the eastern wing of the building. It’s obvious from what we’ve seen that this place is practically a breeding ground for noobs. It’s regrettable, but we have to destroy the building so that they do not reclaim it.”
“Do you think Specforces will even consider such a thing?” Tibs interjected, raising a good point to Jewpin and Guido.

“I’m sure we can talk it into him, Tibs.” Guido reassured, “For now, I think we should get out of here. I can fly you out, so there is no need to go down a floor.”

Tibs nodded, and he allowed Guido to pick him up. The two of them flew out a window that did not have dead noobs hanging from it, and landed softly on the grass, thanks to the jet boots Guido’s mech suit came with. Tibs immediately jumped out of Guido’s grip once they were on the ground, and mumbled, “I have to learn how to transform my shoulder blades into dragon wings.”

Guido dashed over towards Specforces, shooting at any remaining noob archers that were still fighting. He braced his feet into the ground, and activated his reverse movement thrusters in order to stop his own momentum. Behind him were two pathways that were dug into the ground. Two piles of dirt sat on Guido’s feet. Ignoring this, Guido told Specforces about what Jewpin was planning on doing.

Surprisingly, Specforces did not erupt in anger as Tibs had though he would. Instead, he calmly responded, “Very well then. Just make sure he leaves the central part of the building intact. We don’t want to blow that up just yet.”

Guido created a Private thought with the conversation he just had with Specforces, and sent it to Jewpin, closing his eyes in order to do so. Within seconds, he received a reply. It read, “Got it.”

“Short and to the point as usual.” Guido thought to himself, “I wonder how the other group is doing?”

The western wing was faring just as well as the eastern wing had. Dead bodies and pools of blood lay scattered on the stone tile floor. Some noobs appeared to be suspended in midair, but that was simply from GamerShadow stabbing a hole in their heads, and then smashing them into the wall. The group assigned to the western wing fought brutally. They broke limbs, tore off heads, and sterilized many of the noobs that proved to be aggravatingly dodgy with a quick knee to the balls. It’s not like they’ll ever need them, Tokzic had said.

The western wing was only one floor, in comparison to the eastern wing’s two floors, and did not have windows. This was because the Newbie country was less than half a mile away, and the PYP Agency did not want their western wing to be so easily captured, especially when it was the side that faced the border. However, that one floor was much wider in comparison to the eastern wing. The walls were also more fortified and thicker, which gave possible attackers another reason to reconsider.

The group smashed the head of the last noob resisting their assualt into pieces, and Tokzic prepared to flush out the western wing. “Guys,” He started, “You might want to get behind me, or to higher ground, because I am going to fill the entire floor with toxic liquid.”

“We’ll stay,” GamerShadow replied, “you never know when noobs will try to ambush you.”

Cbr nodded in agreement. “GS is right. I’ll stay with you so you don’t have to worry about noobs. I still think my shades are cooler than yours though.” He added teasingly.

Tokzic had begun to create the toxic liquid. He knew that it was going to take a majority of his power to accomplish such a feat as filling an entire floor with the poisonous, acidic liquid he was currently forging. However, he was still able to talk while focusing on his job. “Cbr,” he answered to the half-hearted attack on his awesome shades, “Everybody knows that my shades are so much more badass than yours, right GS?”

“I will not answer,” GamerShadow tried to stay neutral on the matter for as long as possible as he shook his head left and right, “settle this dispute amongst yourselves. I will not have any part in this. I don’t even wear shades.” He added.

“Whatever,” Cbr commented, “We don’t need a third party to decide for us. I mean, if it came down to it, I could take Tokzic in a fight. His shades just suck that badly.”

Tokzic had already filled a quarter of the floor in front of him with the toxic material when he heard Cbr’s rather foolish claim. His nostrils flared, and he increased his output out of anger. “Is that so?” Tokzic raised his voice, “You really think you could beat me in a fight? Come on. All you do is stare at people. You probably get slapped by hot chicks, and ugly ones everyday of your life because of that. No girlfriends, all because of your pathetic power.”

Cbr took that statement personally, and started yelling at Tokzic. “Really!? You make that ignorant claim without any proof. And any half-wit from my land could beat the **** out of you without even trying. Goes to show who is really the stronger one of us two.”

Tokzic stopped crafting the toxic material, and turned around. “Well then,” he spoke quietly and dangerously, “let’s see if you have the strength to back those words up. You and me. Right here, right now.”

“That’s enough, you two.” GamerShadow interrupted, but neither of the two shade-wearers listened to him. They simply stared each other down, waiting for somebody to make the first move. The toxic material had begun to duplicate itself as a result of some weird phenomenon, and was about to cover the entire floor. GamerShadow had to jump up onto the wall, and transform most of his legs into shadows in order to not fall in and be killed. Cbr and Tokzic simply stood still. The toxic liquid had not consumed the fighters. Instead, it had left a circle wide enough for Tokzic and Cbr to fight in.

GamerShadow began to worry as the liquid continued its climb upward. He knew he had to do something quick, or else he would be killed, along with the countless noobs who had been eaten by the acidic material. Just as Cbr and Tokzic began fighting, GamerShadow made a swift decision right then and there. He lunged down into the circle, grabbing them both by the face. He hastily transformed into a shadow, and along with him came Tokzic and Cbr. He disappeared into the ground just as the toxic material filled the entire room, and the empty circle disappeared.

Just outside the PYP Agency and the TGB Army circle, GS, Tokzic, and Cbr reappeared. The three of them gasped for breath, clutching their throats almost as if they were choking. Naturally, GS was the first to recover, as he had been in his shadow state countless times before. Cbr and Tokzic recovered at the same time afterwards, and immediately began fighting. It wasn’t long before Specforces heard the noises emitting from about fifty feet away from his position in the circle. Immediately, he turned around, and yelled with a volume that could have blown out a megaphone.

“WHO DARES BRING DISSENSION AMONG MY RANKS!?”