[img]https://i.imgur.com/jLHWlFv.png[/img]
[center][color=92278f]Level 8 Sectonia[/color] (holding 2 level up) - (33/80)
[color=6ecff6]Level 1 Raiden[/color] - (42/10)
[b]Location:[/b] Mountain Guardian Train Fight
[b]Word Count:[/b]  [color=fff79a]2429[/color]
[color=fff79a]+8 EXP[/color][/center]

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The grip of Raiden’s hands tightened as the assault against the large creature became fiercer with every second. Holding on to Tharja and Robin with all of his might, his heels began digging into the metal of the train’s deck, making a terrible screeching noise as he grinded against the tipping train. Every passing second, the cyborg felt his grip slipping more and more as everyone continued attacking. Afraid he was about to lose his own grip, he looked backwards over his shoulder to see the counterbalance tipping further and further. Surely the end of their campaign was coming soon. It sure seemed that way at least. [color=6ecff6]“Come on guys!! We got this!!”[/color] He shouted with desperation in his voice.

Sectonia didn’t have too many issues when the train tilted back onto the rails with the big creature retreating due to all the damage it took, only needing to fly up a bit to avoid needing to hold on like the others. She did grab the Scout so he didn’t fall over, and soon the train was back on the move, with the creature soon retaliating with another one of those big spike things that caused so much damage before.

Flying forward with the big thud that the train created with its return to the tracks, Raiden safely returned Tharja and Robin  to the deck of the train as he recovered from his backwards fall. He’d brush off his chest from the tumble as he stood back onto his two feet, recovering his lost footing. [color=6ecff6]“Is everyone alright? Nasty turn that shit took.”[/color] He asked as he scouted the rest of the train. He wasn’t the only one who needed a break. Sure, his body could be as limber as cybernetics could make him, but damn was his age catching up with him.

The Scout, having gotten to his feet, thanked the queen before going off to do his tasks on the train. Seeing the attack being launched, Sectonia pointed up at the attack and said. [color=92278f]”No one will be if that attack hits again. This train can’t take much more of those type of attacks.”[/color] Sectonia said. 

Raiden heard the queen speak from above, looking upwards he nodded in her direction. [color=6ecff6]“You’re not wrong… if those explosive… things, get on the train again…. Well, we’ll be in some deep shit.”[/color] He scratched his metallic chin for a moment, contemplating the best course of action to take. [color=6ecff6]“If I could get up there… Then maybe I would be able to split the pod in half.”[/color] The idea was insane, yet with Raiden’s ability to precisely halve anything that came his way… It was worth a shot. There wasn’t much time. 

[color=6ecff6]“Miss… Whatever your name is.”[/color] He said referring to Sectonia with a glace. [color=6ecff6]“Is there any way you can buy me some time to find a way up?”[/color] His voice had managed to hide his panic in the moment. If they didn’t act fast, that thing was sure to strike the train again and leave scattered living bombs all over again.

[color=92278f]”Queen Sectonia, ruler of…”[/color] Sectonia said to Raiden’s question, beginning her introduction. seeing as they didn’t have much time she stopped herself before she got going. [color=92278f]”... Yes I can. The issue is getting rid of it. ”[/color] she said. Still, the object was going to soon be at its arc, so if Sectonia was to intercept it there wasn’t much time. [color=6ecff6]“Leave that to me, all I need is time.”[/color] Glancing at the cyborg newcomer who, out of everyone, seemed to be born in combat, who needed maybe a bit of beauty treatment, Sectonia began to fly at the falling object, using the power granted by the Chaos Heart to conjure a very strong rainbow shield around herself as she summoned her swords.

[color=6ecff6]“Didn’t know that was possible… Huh.”[/color] Raiden said, shrugging off his confusion about the nature of magic once again. Now that the spiked pod was being dealt with, this gave Raiden time to contemplate how he could get an attack up there. Sure, he could throw his blade like he did against the Hegel… Or he could even attempt to launch himself up there with a running vault… But both plans would more than likely fail with an attempt. If he threw his blade, he could scatter the Bolsepia amongst the ship once more… And if he did perform a stunt to get up there, there’s no possible way he could reach it OR safely return.

He didn’t need luck or a daring stunt… What Raiden needed was a plan. A REAL plan… and soon. Looking over at the crew, he remembered that there was another strong armed man who could get him up there faster than any trick or precise throw. [color=6ecff6]“Keep that thing up there! I’m coming up!”[/color] He shouted to Sectonia. There wasn’t much he could do for inspirational words in the heat of battle. 

It wasn’t like Sectonia could do much but hold the colossal object back. Holding her swords in a guard, she eventually met the attack head on, her shield holding, however the attack didn’t just stop, it kept pushing her, as if it was homing in on the train. Just stopping it momentarily wouldn’t be enough to have it miss the train. Sectonia wasn’t too surprised at this fact at this point, but it was a slight hope dashed. Still, she wasn’t sure how long she could hold this thing back.

Raiden quickly jogged to the brass man who acknowledged him at the beginning of their insane train ride. He was hoping that he would agree to Raiden’s crazy idea, but anything was worth a shot if it meant saving the crew extra clean up work with the makeshift explosive creatures. [color=6ecff6]“Listen, I got a plan, but it’s gonna take some brawn.” He spoke up to Big Band. “It’s gonna sound crazy, but I need you to throw me at the pod. If I can get close to it, I can split that thing in two.”[/color]

To the swordsman’s surprise, Band didn’t seem to give the absurd idea a second thought. “You got it, hot shot.” He deployed a giant mechanical arm, all brass tubes and silver cylinders, with its finger plates spread wide. Inside yawned the launch tube, where anyone unfortunate enough to get caught in his classic Take the A-Train grab could typically look forward to getting pile-drived over and over again. A slight adjustment to the inner workings, however, meant that Raiden could skip straight to the part where he got spat out at superfluous speed. The detective scooped Raiden up and pulled back on the slide. As he prepared for launch, Raiden clenched onto his currently readied weapon, ready to fly for the sky. Finally, with his brass knuckle as wound-up as it would get, Band gave the signal. “Let’s drop the beat!”

He launched Raiden as he punched, and like a rocket the swordsman took off. Once he had blasted, he hurled directly towards the pod at deadly impact speeds. As he clutched his sword close to his chest. As he rocketed ballistically closer and closer to the point of interception, he prepared his blade for attack. [color=6ecff6]“Outta the way!!!”[/color] He shouted to Sectonia as he got dangerously close to her.

Sectonia had been maintaining her gird and concentration as Raiden had been making his plans to launch himself up to the incoming missile, and while her shield held for a good while, it was getting close to breaking. It was at this time Sectonia heard Raiden, but seeing as she was too busy keeping this thing from getting past, or through, her, she couldn’t do much but slightly glance at the cyborg.

Being unable to heed his warning, Raiden approached faster than expected. With the queen still in the way, it left very little for him to do. He hated to do this, but he’d have to push off of her for recon. [color=6ecff6]“Sorry in advance!”[/color] He shouted as he grabbed onto the lower half of her body, narrowly dodging her stinger as he placed his feet back on to her body and used her as a living trampoline to get in front of her and closer to the orb. As he clenched his fist tighter around his blade, he slung it into an attacking position. Sectonia wasn’t ready to be treated like that so suddenly, which did break her concentration momentarily as she blushed a bit in embarrassment, giving Raiden a glare as he used her abdomen as a makeshift platform to get up into a cutting position, her shield breaking at the same time as he launched off her.

Now with a temporary boost, Raiden came to a sudden realization. There was no way he was coming back from this safely and without enough time to react, there was no way he’d be able to ask Sectonia for an impromptu pick-me-up. Not to mention considering the fact he used her to spring off towards the rocketing pod, she very well could be more than pissed at him. Consequences for quick thinking.

His blade held vertically, he prepared a charged swing as he took a momentary deep breath. With his blade mode, he was able to swiftly cut clean through the pod before it got too close to the train and caused it to knock off of the rails… God this beast was relentless. Now having executed his attack, Raiden’s blade mode had triggered offline as seemingly time resumed for him in his moment of attack. Releasing the breath he had held in from before the attack, Raiden just as quickly as he chopped through the pod, no began plummeting downwards towards the scorching sands of the desert. There was little time to examine his work on the pod, so he hoped he made enough work out of it to save the crew.

Sectonia, having taken a fair amount of damage, even with her chaos heart shield, from blocking such a large missile for an extended time, saw and felt that Raiden had managed to cut the pod and stop its ability to propel itself and home in on the train by well, chopping it in half. The cyborg couldn’t fly though, but lucky for him Sectonia was below to catch him, desummoning her swords to catch him. However, while he was much smaller than the queen, he was also heavier than her thanks to all his cybernetics. This was something that was made quite apparent as catching him made Sectonia do a bit of an unstable flip before she was able to regain her composure and slowly fly back down to the train, Raiden taking both of her hands to hold. Sectonia, as the pair descended, gave Raiden a glare for what he had done a bit earlier, having fully recomposed herself.

Thanks to the quick rescue from Sectonia, he did not wind up dead on the desert floor. He felt bad having her carry back his steel body, but luckily it wasn’t as heavy as he was back in South America. It was easy to say that cybernetics were not as advanced as they were before 2018. With his newer body he obtained fighting Desperado, Raiden was much lighter and nimble than he was when he fought alongside Snake those many years back, which definitely saved Sectonia at least SOME of the workload of carrying him.

[color=6ecff6]“Thanks for the quick save, Queen Sectonia.”[/color] He nodded in genuine appreciation for her efforts, even trying his best to keep formality. While many of the crew had hopefully dealt with the other Akrids the large sand worm had spit out, he returned his attention back to the queen. [color=6ecff6]“Oh, and sorry for using you like that to get to that pod. Only idea I had besides shoving you outta the way like a dick.”[/color]

Sectonia appreciated Raiden having the proper amount of formality, and while she did understand the situation had to happen as it did to deal with that attack, she still glared at him, but a lot less harshly than the initial glare. If the cyborg had known Sectonia prior, he’d know this glare was what she gave those she was inspecting more than anything. She then said. [color=92278f]”... Good job cutting that attack in half. You're quite strong and will make an excellent minion.”[/color] as she approached the train, a bit tired from having to both block that missile and carry Raiden back down to the ground.

Confused by her general comments after being set down, he looked at the queen with some shock in his expression. [color=6ecff6]“Well, I’ve been a minion before, won’t change anything here I suppose, so long as nothing you're doing breaks my moral code.”[/color] He said, playing along with what she had said. The last thing he needed was an enemy, so for now, he’d play along with her belief of him being under her servitude.

Sectonia nodded at the cyborg, drifting down to take a rest from carrying him. [color=92278f]”Good, good. We will need to find you and the others some rewards when this thing is taken care of.”[/color] Sectonia said, looking at the others dealing with the Red Eye, the team of her, Raiden, and Big Band having taken care of the large threatening attack. [color=92278f]”Further introductions will need to wait until that thing is dead however. Such an ugly beast…”[/color] Sectonia did take a bit of a beating blocking that attack, so she was feeling the damage from this fight even with the slight regeneration her pipe of insight was giving her.

[color=6ecff6]“Probably a good idea. God knows what it’s gonna throw at us next.”[/color] He sighed from exhaustion, if the rest of the crew had managed to get their work in while Raiden carved the pod, then hopefully they’d be that much closer to victory. Keeping his blade close, all Raiden could do now was wait. Sectonia kept an eye on her other minions as well. So far this beast was all brawn or minions, but it could have something else waiting for them as it started to fear its own mortality. 

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