Linkle
Level up! LEVEL 3 - (5/30) +3 EXP
Location: Scrapyard – Endzone
Word Count:1698
"Hrgk!" Linkle grunted as the robots gun suddenly spun round and hit her right in the same side the engineer had already shot. She thanked The healing Blazermate had sent her way earlier, even though she wasn't sure whether this would have hurt less without it. She was hurled off the robot along with Blazermate and the gunman, falling on her back onto the bridge.
Not a moment later she felt something round and hard hit her square in the face with enough force to bounce. She opened her eyes into narrow slits and could just barely something round and angry red descending back down on her. Her eyes went wide in sudden panic as she realized that her bomb hand was now empty. Having lost her grip on the explosive when the the robots big gun had knocked the sense out of her she now only had seconds to act before her entire plan literally blew up in her face. A normal person with a functioning sense of their own mortality might cover themselves as best they could, or try to somehow roll away to avoid most of the blast.
Linkle instead thrust herself up and slammed her forehead into the bomb as it came down. It flew away from her, bouncing once down the bridge before detonating with Linkle just out of the blast zone. She sighed with relief. Just a moment later and it would have exploded right on her, but as it was she'd managed to get away with just a bloody nose.
Then a tank shell landed nearby her, the force of the explosion throwing her roughly into the bridges stone safety rail and knocking the breath out of her. Dazed and confused she glanced up to see the robot performing of wildly spinning dance of firey death, blasting away in all directions, and the only thought that managed to float to the top of her mind as she struggled to regain her breath was
"You can't kill me with one of my own moves, that's illegal."Luckily for everyone involved the robots wild attack ceased after a few seconds later. Linkle thought maybe it had run out of ammo again, and as it fell and began to shift into an humanoid form she struggled to stand, pulling herself woozily to her feet using the guardrail. She could see the gunman was in an bad way, and with Blazermate nowhere to be seen on the bridge she was the only thing standing between him and whatever trick this transforming robot had left.
Then she heard the roar, and smiled. She assumed that meant Bowser had finally made it over to the bridges, so you could imagine how confused she was when a strange blue wind formed around the still falling robot and crystallized into ice around him. Then all became clear as Minako's monster bounded over the archway behind it and laied into it with its blade. It's strikes were slow, deliberate, and devastatingly powerful. Linkle could do nothing but watch in awe as it did with seeming ease what Linkle, Blazermate, the gunman, and Zer0 together had failed to do; completely dismantle that robot. That had seemed to be the extent of the terrifying power of the creature, as no sooner had its assault yielded its terrifying result the creature itself began to fade away.
As the robot whined and crumbled into black dust a shutter ran through the archway and it tumbled over onto to engineer, with Tora standing there proudly behind it. He beamed with energy, but Linkle saw his face with from happiness to worry as he saw the state they were in. She didn't blame him. She and the gunman were somehow still moving, but she got the feeling neither of them should be. There was still a throbbing pain in her side from where the gun had slammed her and she only just now noticed that the arm on the side that had taken the explosion was not only charred black like the skin of those taken by Gallem but completely limp, her cloaks on the side hanging around it in simalerly scorched tatters. On the bright side it wasn't in any pain, because she couldn't feel it.
Suddenly a white rabbit landed in their midst, letting out a green pulse of healing energy. Linkle could feel wounds closing up, ribs re-setting, and feeling come back into her arm. She responded by sucking in a long stream of air through clenched teeth and lifted her head skyward, but luckily the following thoroughly unheroic cry of pain was masked by the massive underwater explosion Bowser set off.
Spitting the water from that impromptu rainfall out of her mouth, she gingerly touched her arm and let out small yelp as she got used to it. "Ow ow ow ow." She whispered.
Luckily for her wherever there was injury Blazermate wasn't too far behind. After patching up the incredibly hurt gunman she turned her healing powers on Linkle, finishing up the job that the white rabbit had started and flushing the last of the pain from her arm. Linkle rolled it, making sure that everything was still in working order then pointed both fingers at Blazermate and grinning. "Lifesaver!" She declared as the metabot made her way off to her next patient. "Miracle worker!"
With the cowboy and herself okay Linkle started to walk toward the bridge entrance, to chat with Tora and see if everyone else was all right, when suddenly Minako appeared from behind the side of the bridge. She was messed up too, and Linkle was about to call out to Blazermate that she'd missed somebody when suddenly the girl grabbed her around the collar and pulled Linkle down so they could talk fave to face. It wasn't a strong tug, but the eyes behind it gave it more power than it would have otherwise.
When Tora had seen them all injured and made that worried face it had been a punch in the gut, but the glare Minako was giving her was like being stabbed. It was positively withering.
As Minako launched right into her reprimanded Linkle really couldn't do anything but stand there and take it like a child who'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. She could have responded, but she didn't think telling Minako that not only
had she charged into a legion of archers before, multiple times, but that it had always worked spectacularly up til now would do anything to improve the girls mood.
Minako's gaze softens, though, as she let Linkle go but what came next was arguably a worse punishment than if the girl had decided to hit her.
"No, don't, please stop. Hero's aren't supposed to make people feel like this. I'm the one that's supposed to be worrying over you."She reached out to put her hands on her shoulders or steady her or something, but she couldn't grab her by that arm. So she awkwardly held her arms out, unsure of what to do or how to help. "I..." She stammered. What kind or hero froze up like this?
Well, the answer was simple wasn't it? One that still had a long way to go.
"I..." She started slowly, struggling to come to terms with it. "I'm sorry. I'm just so used to being the only one on the battlefield that can...do things. The only one that can cut through and make progress. It's the only way I've ever fought. I overestimate myself. And," she said' reaching out to gently life Minako's head so she could look her in the eye. "I underestimated you. That robot wasn't just one army. Trust me on this, I've beat whole armies before. That thing was three or four armies." She suddenly smiled, getting a little energy back into her voice. "Which makes you, like, six armies from what I can count. You were incredible!" Her cheer done with, she let her energy fall a bit while still keeping a small smile on her face. "I promise I'll be more careful."
It was weird, but she was starting to calm down and get her confidence back. Linkle took Minako's good arm and threw it over her shoulder, supporting the girl as best she could. "You know, I'm not that good at picking my own battles. Every fight I've been in has always gone better when there was someone around to point me in the right direction. Otherwise I just wind up brute forcing everything. So, would it be all right if I asked for your support? 'Cause you seem a lot smarter than me."
With that she set off, helping Minako walk in the direction that Blazermate had left. On the way she stopped by Tora. "Thanks for coming to my rescue." She said. The image of the little guy covered in wounds flashed in her mind again, and her face hardened briefly before going back to her normal, chipper self. "Sorry. I'll pay you back a hundred times!"
She half carried Minako over to Blazermate, nodding a "good job" to Ratchet and Agoston as she navigated the rubble of the fallen arch to where Blazermate was talking with Geno and the crew gathered round the weird blackened man. What had that little god been up to while he was away? Before she could ask that, though, she spotted the black crater on the shore where the heroic rabbit had been blown up and grimaced.
"Blazer?" She shouted as they approched. "Forgetting somebody?" She let the girl down as they reached the group, laying her down if needed. "I'll be right back." She said. "There's something important I've got to do." Leaving the girl in Blazermate expert care she set off toward the spot where the rabbit had met his end.
She looked around, kneeling on the ground, running her hand through what grass was left or shoving it under the water to feel around. "Come on, rabbit. I know you're around here somewhere. There's no way a hero could have given up and left that quickly. Not when there's still work to do."
