[center][h3][color=tan]Courier 6[/color][/h3]
[b]Level 6[/b] - (13/60) EXP (+3)
[b]Location:[/b] Ancestral Farmstead
[b]Word Count:[/b]1328
Courier Stress: 15[/center]

[color=tan]”Course I c’n use them,”[/color] the Courier answered Kamek in regards to the green herb and other items the koopa had brought back from the Dead Zone. He took them up, adding in, [color=tan]”Long as they come from the land or a livin’ critter, I c’n make use of ’em. Sometimes I c’n combine ‘em together t’get the effects from both in a single dose, but amplified. Sometimes I c’n make somethin’ entirely different. Just gotta take a moment to look’em over an’ see what I’m workin’ with… But it looks like I won’t have that chance now.”[/color] 

Everyone was heading out, urged by Bowser himself. The Courier shrugged. He would have frankly preferred they head out in the morning after some rest. It would have given him a chance to make some new chems, and even build that robot he was planning on. But if everyone was in a hurry to get battered and bruised without the proper preparation, well, what could he do about it? Even if they lost more of their number to this enemy, he wouldn’t die. He was a survivor, he’d make sure of it. The Courier holstered up, packed away his new items, and looked up… [i]That stupid wiggler hat[/i] with a twitch of embarrassment in his eyes, then put it on (stashing his rawhide cowboy hat away in his bag).

[color=tan]”Looks like I c’n be running support in this upcomin’ battle,”[/color] he announced to nobody in particular but loud enough for everyone to hear. [color=tan]”Since this hat’ll let me share my chems with you all without actually usin’ ‘em up on ya. Heh. Like a neat little package I’ll be deliverin’ ta y’all.”[/color] And with that everyone was loading up, either in their own karts or in the big monster truck. The Courier of course preferred his own transportation. He whistled and his trusted chocobo mount came.

[color=tan]”Good boy, Drumstick. Er, or is it girl?”[/color] He took a moment to look under the giant bird’s legs. [color=tan]”Girl. Good girl. Looks like we’re off.”[/color]

[hr]

The journey was invigorating for the Courier. Feeling the rush of air as Drumstick charged across the landscape, blowing through his hair. He gazed upon the new places he hadn’t yet explored, marveling at it all. So much back home was dead, or mutated, or both. The Land of Adventure was a breathtaking land indeed. He couldn’t wait to map out the whole area on his pip-boy. But it wouldn’t last and he started to pick out on something that wasn’t… Just wasn’t right. The land soon became desaturated, and strange crystals that he just [i]knew[/i] didn’t belong started popping up. If there was anything the Courier recognized it was tainted land. But tainted by what?

Eventually everyone had to abandon their vehicles in order to proceed quietly, which left the Courier in a bit of an advantage since his bird could move around without making the noise of an engine. Together they kept up stride with the others, the Courier pulling out his Ratslayer rifle… Just in case. Then they saw it, their target. A monstrous beast, bigger even than the one he and the Ace Cadet had to abandon earlier! Bulkier, stronger looking, more fiersome! It seemed they had the drop on it until…

[i]SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE![/I] 

The Courier’s eyes locked onto the Thing From the Stars and he froze. His chocobo froze. Something invaded his body like a virulent poison, paralyzing him in place: otherworldly fear. No, [i]terror.[/i] Others acted far more quickly than he did, somehow shaking off the fear while he sat on Drumstick unable to engage the monsters before them. Even as he was left alone at the bottom of the hill it was as though nothing else existed but that horrifying abomination. The Courier heard his companions as though from across a great chasm, their voices barely echoing in the back of his mind. Finally his attention was demanded, breaking him out of the stupor.

One of the farmhands, tainted and corrupted by otherworldly powers, had crept up on the Courier and swung a shovel at him. The impact thrust his mind back into the present, back into focus, and thankfully did not hurt much as it failed to break through both his duster’s armor and his sub-dermal armor (even if it would leave a bruise). [color=tan]”Piss off!”[/color] he said dismissively, spurring Drumstick into a full gallop and leaving the crazed farmhand behind.

Fucking aliens. He [i]hated[/i] aliens. But it wasn’t the bigger, more immediate threat right now. There were plenty of them ganging up on that smaller target. The Courier would focus his attention on the big monster in front of him. He missed the advice the Cadet had given, about attacking the legs to knock it down or how its slime was explosive, so he had only his intuition and observations to go from, which admittedly were pretty good.

As Drumstick charged forward, The Courier activated VATS. Time slowed to a complete stop, allowing him to measure up his enemy. It seemed everyone who wasn’t Bowser was keeping their distance, and judging from the koopa king’s current state that was a damn good idea. He checked the chances of hitting various parts of the monster’s body with VATS, all of which were a very high percentage due to its sheer size, but he didn’t want to waste his stamina by queuing up automatic attacks. Instead he had a different plan.

[i]GRX Implant operational.[/i]

Oh HELL yeah! The implant fed into the Courier’s brain the details: it had come back online and had its full storage of 5 doses of turbo ready to go. Now he could show his hombres what he could [i]really[/i] do! As Drumstick approached the monster, the Courier jumped off from the bird’s back (which then stopped its trot). In midair the Courier called upon his first striker, the lakelurk, to appear directly beneath his feet. He used it as a platform to jump further forward and up, then dismissed it back into the ether from which it came. He still wasn’t high enough, or close enough, and so at the apex of this jump the Courier called upon his second striker, Bastion (who had recovered from the last battle after hours of rest), using the omnic as another jumping platform! Now the Courier was flipping directly overhead to the brachydios, Ratslayer in hand. [i]Implant GRX: activate![/i]

Time slowed to a crawl, but this was different from VATS. This wasn’t just the Courier’s awareness moving at intense speed. He was still moving at the same rate from his own perspective, while to everyone else he’d appear to be a blur! The hulking monster below him, now nearly eye to eye, couldn’t hope to swing its large, cumbersome arm fast enough to swat him from the air. He lifted his Ratslayer, his rifle with high critical hit rate, and unloaded every shot in its 8 round clip directly at the brachydios’ face. 

The Courier landed on the ground behind the Brachydios with a tumble, failing to stick the landing and rolling along the ground as time managed to catch up to him. [i]4 doses left. GRX refill in 24 hours.[/i] The implant communicated into his brain. [color=tan]”Great, we’ll see if I need’em before then.”[/color]

The Courier scrambled back to his feet to run away, unwilling to see how well the brachydios took those shots to the face, but that still left Bastion who was not dismissed the same as the lakelurk. The omnic robot wasted no time shifting into tank mode and began unloading everything it had into the monster, having started this process even as soon as the Courier had used him as a springboard.