[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/VAS7HTH.png[/img]
[color=6ecff6][h1]Level 1-[/h1][/color]
[color=fff79a]|||||||||| (16/10)[/color] 
[color=f7976a](holding at 10)[/color]
Word Count: [color=fff79a]2218[/color]
[color=fff79a]+3 EXP!!![/color]
Sandswept Sky [/center]

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[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3472Q6kvg0[/youtube][/center]

Now in alert from Raiden's battle cry, the large mechanical beast began swerving in circles in an attempt to throw the cyborg off of his head. Stumbling atop the large orbed creature, Raiden quickly attempted to regain his footing as he swiftly found himself slipping off the metallic head of the large creature. Before he completely fell off, he grabbed onto one of the legs of the front segment. It knew his location now and had to devise a plan to knock Raiden off before he could climb back to the top. It's eye made contact with the nearby fortress and quickly began diving towards it. 

As it got closer, it extended it's legs out towards the cragged surface of the old fortress and began running Raiden along the side of the building creating sparks and ungodly sounds from the man's cybernetic body. He grunted in pain as he held on to the creature, persistent to being on the top in order to damage it more. As it ran along the course of the building, it's red eye scanned the desert sands, looking to see if Raiden had yet fallen off, but never found such results. Even throughout the pain, Raiden held on to the machine tightly as it continued to trash him. As they reached the end of the fortress, the creature let up, now out of track to damage the cyborg against. With this moment he had gained, Raiden threw himself back on the top of the goliath as he suddenly began rapidly piercing the top of the creatures head.

With a frenzied cry, the eye of the first segment began to slowly fade to grey, signaling the near defeat of the front most portion. Unknowing of this information, Raiden continued his stabbing after hearing the pained cry of the creature. As if it were falling off, the cyborg quickly removed his blade from the mechanical head of the monster and successfully pulled off a backwards roll onto the next portion of the creature. From his perspective, the segment he had destroyed plummeted slowly to the Earth. It seemed as though this monster was a linking hybrid of slightly smaller, self acting machines rather than a single acting force, as defeating the head only prompted another to take the helm. If that were the case, he needed to defeat each and every one of the orbs.

[color=ed1c24]Two defeated, seven to go.[/color]

Clenching his blade after making this realization, Raiden now knew his task. The large mechanical menace continued to snake through the sky as it continued to throw the cyborg off, but now that Raiden was able to predict it's movements he could easily hold onto the top of the creature without being whipped across the desert. It now was performing multiple series of barrel rolls, now desperate to get Raiden off of it. Raiden grinned slightly, now seizing this moment to do more collateral damage. In a desperate attempt to get the cyborg off its back, it resorted to rapidly scraping the top of it's head against the rocks once again. Noticing this pattern, Raiden quickly moved out of the way, and now clung to its side. This way, it would only be hurting itself now. The top of it came out scratched and battered in it's desperate attempt to remove Raiden, and after that, he struck again.

Performing a clean slice through the middle of the mechanism, Raiden was able to divide yet another segment of the creature into two. [color=6ecff6]"Bullseye!"[/color] He shouted. With a cry, the destroyed part of the creature sparkled before detaching from the rest of the colony. Same verse same as the first, the segment connected after it lit up with life as it roared into control. The severed portion began throttling to the ground and landed with a clang. Now lost 3 parts of nine, the creature linked into a ring formation, attempting a new strategy. The large being began to slowly spin, picking up speed with each second, understanding Raiden being atop it posed a huge threat to it's survival.

Now spinning faster, Raiden began to slip from the top of the robot. Before he could fall off, he'd wedge his sword in between two of the spinning orbs of the machine, and produce a shock of electricity as he lost his grip from the top. A bloodcurdling whine came from between the orbs as they unlatched from the main body, now falling in six detached orbs. Not exactly the best situation for Raiden, as it gave the machine more attacking freedom, but regardless, stopped the continuous spinning and grinding against rock. He held onto the top of the orb he almost fell from earlier as it collapsed to the ground. As it reached the sand, it rocked Raiden with a big thud as it essentially punched him in his robotic gut. [color=6ecff6]"Arghh!!!"[/color] He exclaimed at the force.

Not getting a moment to recover, the other segments began targeting him with their lasers and energy bubble attacks. While they were slow, it'd be difficult for Raiden to dodge and attack the remaining segment after being busted up by the fall. Regardless, he sucked up his pain as he rolled and trudged off the top of the front orb and nearly grazed the edge of the plethora of attacks. Approaching an orb, he performed a swift chop of the creature, wasting no time in attempting to finish it. Now that he had four down, he now had defeated practically half of the monster. It cried again, but did not ascend, rather it became more frantic with it's attacks, spitting out it's powers as frequently as it possibly could. This gave him a chance to target another segment of the creature.

Sprinting using his electrical conduction, he'd speed up his pace and run to the next orb. It wasn't quite as fast as the Ninja Run he had gained from his augment... but it sufficed for reaching another orb quickly. His blade quickly balanced to cut through the fifth attacking orb before it could muster up a final attack. He was gaining a hand over the creature. He smiled as he spoke to the broken fragment, [color=6ecff6]"You haven't even told me your name. I'll call you MG-C, because you look like a caterpillar."[/color] He knew the robot did not understand, but thought the remark was charming none-the-less. 

With five segments decimated and four remaining, the machine took to the sky again and were able to ascend without Raiden climbing atop. While there was still half of the problem to take care of, Raiden knew the patterns MG-C exhibited from his observations of it attacking. It rose an instantly began snaking dropping orbs and firing laser simultaneously now. The attacks were quicker paced, but were less in quantity. Raiden could finish this, all he had to do was get the robot down again. He didn't think his tricks from last time would work a second time, the robot had become wiser than that, so how...

Well, it had been a while since he had resorted to his marksmanship, but in this case, Raiden's pistol may have been the only answer. Dropping the blade into it's sheath, Raiden equipped his [url=https://metalgear.fandom.com/wiki/SOCOM]SOCOM[/url] into his hand and began simply firing shots. Having to roll out of the way from oncoming balls of energy, his accuracy shook as he aimed once again for the eye of MG-C. The shots landed, but did not have as much impact as the blade-throw Raiden executed earlier, but he knew throwing his blade would only result in vaporized metal this time. The creature became angered in Raiden's attempts to bring it down again, now preparing to make a dive to the man.

While it was never initially in his plan, this came as a moment of opportunity for Raiden. As the mechanical being charged it's body towards the cyborg, he drew his blade to balance it back into his hand. He had pissed it off enough to prompt an unorthodox attack. As the two came nearly face to face, Raiden performed a series of cuts onto the face of MG-C, turning many of the leading portion into scraps of what it used to be. Surprised he still had the skills he showcased after the events of World Marshal, he wondered if he had sat dormant for no purpose for those many weeks. 

Raiden was pulled back into reality as the machine angrily collided directly into Raiden. He had destroyed six of the nine segments. He stood up to quickly get back into action, performing a clean vertical strike back through the middle of yet another segment. Able to bounce back, he successfully destroyed an eighth part in the same attack. He was getting better, faster. After becoming more accustomed to his blade after so long once again, he watched as the last and final piece of MG-C rose back to the sky. It seemed as though losing all other of it's segments was unprecedented. It began rapidly moving across the sky as it fired at Raiden rapidly. Smiling, he threw another EMP and his blade at the same time. It didn't have any time to choose, but nor could it attack both at once.

This was it. Raiden had beat the beast. 

MG-C would fire a laser at the EMP, afraid more of it than the blade, which quickly got caught in the socket of the eye once again. There was nothing it could do. The metal beast fell to the earth for a final time, as Raiden slowly walked up to it to remove the blade from it. He sighed as he spoke to the creature, despite it not able to understand him, [color=6ecff6]"You put up a good fight. Hopefully somewhere in that metallic skull you understand that I won because justice prevails."[/color] He'd quickly execute another cut through the middle of the final segment of the machine. He had won and managed to protect future travelers. Nodding, he'd begin walking back towards the buggy he had left idle.

Climbing atop the vehicle, he looked back at the metallic carnage that had sprawled across the sands of the ruined fortress. He'd quickly fire up the buggy as he gave a final remark.[color=6ecff6]"I'm sure somebody will clean this up later."[/color] His visor stayed closed as he began traversing the terrain once again, leaving the wreckage he and MG-C had created.

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During the middle of Raiden's journey back to the little town he had resided in temporarily, something was seen in his line of sight. From the hills of the mountain, a large... creature had slowly began tumbling and falling down the length of the mountain. He wasn't certain, but he thought he saw sparkling and attempts of shoving the beast out of the way of the town. There was more trouble. Despite his injuries and the conflict he had faced fighting MG-C, he needed to make himself useful in the next fight that had presented himself. He sped the buggy up to the max speed he could maintain, as he sped towards the next scene. [color=6ecff6]"Shit."[/color] He exclaimed.

He had an idea of who he would meet at the town now, as connecting the dots between the falling creature and the individuals who hiked up the mountain was not that hard. Surely it had to be them, otherwise such a big threat wouldn't be at the base of the mountain.

...

It took a few minutes for Raiden to arrive at the buggy rental station, where he quickly hopped off the vehicle after shoddily parking it. There was no time for detours or errors. He needed to locate the group who were attacking the snake-like creature. He made it to the center of town using his lightning sprint in an attempt to find where they were going... After scouting for a few moments, he saw many prominent figures he had seen previously scrambling back towards the train that had delivered them hear in the first place? Were they planning on fleeing? Or rather, had the beast truly been defeated? No... There was haste in their step, worry in their demeanor. They fled to the train as a means of attack or defense, and Raiden had decided then and there he would include himself in their ordeal whether they wanted him to or not.

His pace was just as hurried as theirs was now, attempting to catch up before any of the group left him behind from their ordeal. He was a few minutes behind their preparation as they began piling on the train. As if he were a part of the group, he followed, hopping on the train as well, ignoring the fact he was not with them prior. There was very little time for introductions as an imminent threat made itself present. He would not allow for many questions. [color=6ecff6]"I'm here to help with the battle, anything you guys need, I will try to provide."[/color] He put his hand up in an introductory way. [color=6ecff6]"I'm sorry for not meeting with you guys earlier."[/color] There was sincerity in his voice as he met the group. Was he prepared for this conflict he had thrown himself into? Probably not, but he was going to try his damn best to battle with this interesting cast of fighters.

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