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[img]https://i.imgur.com/O6MhssR.png[/img]

[b][color=6ecff6]Level 2[/color][/b] - (3/20) EXP 
[b][color=6ecff6]Location:[/color][/b] 1-1, Scrapyard ---> Peach's Castle
[b][color=6ecff6]Word Count:[/color][/b] 1,538

[sub][b][color=6ecff6]Journey to the Castle - Pt 3[/color][/b][/sub][/center]
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Geno decided to stay behind cover while he scouted out the area around him. Even with the immediate ground-level threats having been eliminated, the ferocious birds above were still within the vicinity. While they aren't willing to head onto their ground, the wooden doll still couldn't shake the feeling that they were still watching him in the shadows. He'll still have to move regardless - and soon - but he'll need to figure out the movement of both factions before he can move ahead. Peach's castle was his only form of salvation from the ever-growing battlefield. If he could get inside, he should be able to hide away safely until the rest of the group arrived. The less the enemy knew about his presence, the better. 

Suddenly, his eyes caught multiple objects that were floating randomly around the corpses of his fallen opponents. He took a second to glance over at this strange sphere-like structures. These glowing orbs were multi-colored, while producing a faint trail of rainbow light, and were emitting a low-lying hum which varied in pitch based on their movement. Upon closer examination, he can see faint icons barely peaking over the radiant spheres - showing the same figures that he had fought in battle. He can see mohawk rabbit creatures in a few, alongside several of the aggressive multi-colored birds, and he even sees the spirit of the large robot that he had just shot with the rifle. Geno was intrigued regarding these floating spheres... could they be representing the spirits of these fallen opponents?

[center][url=https://youtu.be/sHvB9OPplNk?t=58s]The Mechanical Monster[/url][/center]

Before he could come to a conclusion however, his concentration would be suddenly shattered by [url=
https://youtu.be/tmpkRVn__fc?t=17s]a loud mechanical blare[/url] that emitted in the distance. At first, this sound didn't concern Geno much, as he'd been hearing all sorts of mechanical clatter all around him, along with the raging rabbits issuing their chattering war cries on the other side. But as soon he was ready to move out, he feels an ominous rumbling groaning beneath his feet. He can feel it vibrate through his wooden joints - with the tiny pebbles jumping around like popcorn underfoot. Geno would soon begin to hear the unmistakable sound of treads coming closer and closer towards his position. This rumbling turned into the ear-splitting sound of mechanical scratching and moaning before the massive vehicle finally appeared over a large heap of rusted mechanical scrap. 

It produced another loud blare as thick black smoke emanated from the exhaust muffler on its top surface.

Geno looked up to observe the gun-blue mechanical monster slowly chugging down the scrap heap and onto the ground below. He immediately identified it to be a tank that was part of the human-bots - judging it by its color and how it was manufactured. Yet it sported a rather confusing design. While it looked much like a traditional tank, it was much more square in design. In addition, it clearly didn't sport a gun-barrel of any kind and seemed rather defenseless. While it may seem rather odd for Geno - a wooden doll in a children's game - to know what a military tank looks like, one good look at his [url=https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vjwYBWmERPc/hqdefault.jpg]arch-nemesis[/url] would answer that question. Was this vehicle some sort of troop transport vessel? There is a hatch on its backside after all - which could mean that it's also piloted. And what hidden arsenal does it sport underneath its cubical-form, let alone if it has any at all? The star warrior continues to watch the tank tread by as it traveled over a ramp onto higher, more luscious, pastures.

[center][url=https://youtu.be/L1RNvvOIHG0?t=5m54s]The Rabbids Strike Back![/url][/center]

But before its treads could get onto the grass ahead, two giant brutish rabbits emerged from a large wall made of metallic rusted junk. These rabbits were much larger than their smaller brethren, being roughly three times their size, already making them on par with some of the smaller human-bot opponents. And what's worse, they carried huge slabs of granite which they used as make-shift battering weapons. They began to take turns in battering the poor tank, which stopped for nothing as the dents on its side became deeper and deeper. One final smash later and the mechanical monster bursted into flames, finally stopping it dead in its tracks. 

The giant rabbits quickly flipped the tank on its side as they hollered in victory while beating their chests. Geno would definitely have to look out for these guys and not get crushed by their massive slabs - less he wanted to become a wooden pancake. With their hollers of victory, they in turn signaled the other regular-sized rabbit grunts to move forward. As the invading squad pressed further into enemy territory, they passed extremely by Geno's hiding spot. The Star Warrior made sure to make himself as quiet as possible as he continued to peak out at the action unfolding. As the rabbits continued to press forward, they soon encountered the enemy robo-army lying in wait for them. One of the mercenary-bots - [url=example.com]a soldier-bot[/url] [url=https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/apps/440/icons/soldier_officer_large.5d410d2d702b1a83d32ecfd8f54dabd124207357.png]wearing a particular-looking hat over it's steel-bolted helmet[/url] - peaked out from a pile of scrap, quickly adjusting his hat as he pointed towards them.

[b][color=778899]"OPEN FIRE, MAGGOTS!"[/color][/b]

Suddenly popping out of their cover, the large robot force made of both mercenary-bots and omnic-bots began to shoot at their bunny opponents. As the regular grunts made a mad dash towards the robots, the smashers surprisingly made a rather logical decision. Instead of running down as living meat shields, they too went for cover amongst the large piles of scrap and brick, and once the firing would temporarily cease they would steadily advance towards the enemy. Geno had to admit that he was somewhat surprised of how competent those brutes were in using basic tactics. However, this intelligent tactic would end once one of the smashers were hit by a stray shot from a sniper-bot a far. Overcome by pure rage, the giant rabbit issued a wrathful roar as it emerged from cover and charged towards the enemy. The robots would quickly retaliate by concentrating their fire on the giant rabbit - but they wouldn't take it down immediately. 

In fact, the more they shot at the smasher, the angrier it got!

Upon reaching the nearest poor omnic, it would utterly crush the bot with his mighty slab, before destroying a stray-soldier bot, followed by demolishing a group of poor bat-wielding bots whilst crushing small omnics underfoot. Only after doing some significant damage did the poor smasher finally give up and died upon immediately collapsing on the ground. Still, even with their dim-wittedness, these units weren't mean't to be taken lightly. The star warrior was still moderately impressed by their utter tenacity in high-stress environments. 

[center][url=https://youtu.be/L1RNvvOIHG0?t=2m51s]Hurry Geno![/url][/center]

Geno would be so preoccupied on the battle raging ahead, he almost didn't hear the sound of mechanical clanking coming from the other side of the pit! He would turn around to see the mech-bot reinforcements racing steam ahead towards the battlefield. It appeared that they used a side route to quickly flank and outmaneuver their enemy. But it appeared that their opponents had anticipated their movement and also set out to intercept their set-course and foil their plans of getting the upper hand! And both forces were converging on the doll's location fast! The star warrior was now in big trouble - now stuck between a rock and a hard place. He had only seconds to decide before they can properly discover him!

Geno quickly looks back at the castle in the distance. From the quick upwards glance, he realizes that the birds had finally gave off the hunt for him. Good riddance. Some of them were already making their way towards Peach's Castle as well, paying no attention to what was going on the ground. This was the perfect opportunity to make his quick getaway. And so, with only a fraction of time to spare, his thrusters sprung into life as he quickly ascended back into the sky. Even if the opposing forces took note of him and began to fire at him, they would simply be too late to stop the star warrior.

Now speeding straight towards the castle, potential salvation from this cursed battlefield was only just a good distance away. The only opposing obstacles blocking Geno's path were the small group of birds that were straight ahead of him. He could perhaps shoot them with his laser beams, but he had a better solution in taking them down quickly yet silently. Crossing his arms together, the doll formed two light disks from his hands before throwing them at the unsuspecting fowl. The disks whirled around in a zig-zag pattern before reaching the flock - slicing through some of them in their passing. Even for the ones who would survive, they would be unaware as the disks came back their direction like boomerangs, hopefully clearing the rest of them as the star warrior made one last push towards the castle. At this rate, he's almost certain that he's going to have to issue a crash landing by breaking through one of its windows...

And his sights would be placed on the highest window of them all... the one perched high on the castle's middle tower.