This has taken much longer than I had originally expected, and I'm glad. This is already much longer than the first one, and it's not even getting close to being done.
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The super-weapon clanked its way down the hall, Blitukus waiting for it to emerge. Smoke rose from the mouth of the tunnel. Blitukus now faced the one who killed his mother. All those years that went into his childhood, all of those years he was in essence his mothers apprentice in leadership, those years where she was both his closest family and best friend. Those years were torn away, and cast into the past, due to the greed of this very dwarf. A deep sadness, a revival of the feelings when his mother had been assassinated awakened within him. He found himself hyperventilating, his mouth slightly open, a tear running down his cheek. Those years of peace, prosperity, and happiness, had been irrevocably ended. The feeling filled his soul, and he found himself overcome with it. The super-weapon began to emerge from the tunnel. It was all gone forever... thanks to this one dwarf. He yelled out of sadness, but as he yelled, felt his feelings begin to change. A chain reaction began within his soul, his sadness cascading into flames of fury, flames that burned the corruption of the war from his soul, leaving him with clean purpose.
I fight not for power, not for myself, but for the honor and memory of my mother. Long live Fale Siegedriven, in the hearts and minds of those who remember, in my heart and my mind. I will not fail.
Suddenly, the super-weapon, his own armored vehicle, the machines and gadgetry all seemed to become immaterial, as he felt as if the fury within, fueled by an infinite supply, the love for his mother, could burn with tenfold the energy of the full power of both the super-weapon and his armored vehicle combined. This was no longer war, no longer genocide, this was his opportunity to avenge his mothers death. The super-weapon pulled out, the dwarven leader within the main cabin, 4 other dwarves manning stations, 2 on each side. Blitukus looked at the main cannon of the super-weapon, it's awe-inspiring capability to project incredible amounts of energy. Blitukus let out a vengeful laugh, a tear still running down his cheek, and aimed the cannon low. On this day, he promised himself, he would finally achieve the proper means to attempt what was once thought impossible, to break through the barrier of death and dimensions and reach his mother once again. He would rip it out of the dwarfs flaming, charred hands!
Blitukus took in a deep breath, and let it out. The super-weapon began to turn, and the dwarven leaders stare pierced into Blitukus. Blitukus returned a defiant smile with an expression of incinerating fury about to burst forth. This would be the day his vengeance would be finally brought to a close, for better, or for worse. Blitukus laughed under his breath, and aimed at the boilers of the super-weapon.
Today we will also see a spectacular fireworks display!
Blitukus fired his cannon. The magma was splattered in a flash of lightning-like arcs, small bits scattering onto the super-weapon, dealing very little to no damage. Before the magma had even struck, Blitukus drove toward the super-weapon at full speed, firing with his automatic crossbow at the mechanisms holding up the energy generators on the super-weapon. As bolts flew through the air, one bolt was batted out of the way by an arc of energy. The next bolt was cought simultaneously by two large arcs from two silver spheres, the arc jumped from the bolt to the bolt behind it, shrinking in size, following through to the next, shrinking in size further, then a small arc jumping from the last bolt, just fired, to the automatic crossbow. Blitukus didn't know why at first, but he jumped, his arm recoiling from the crossbow, seemingly becoming numb for a second. His hand began to hurt quite sharply. He ignored it, but couldn't ignore the buzzing and escalating hum of the super-weapons main cannon charging, sparks arcing away from the coils on its barrel. Blitukus jerked the armored vehicle to a stop as he saw arcs of energy fly in front of him from the spheres, landing on the ground just short, the energy reaching out to his metal vehicle just outside of the arcs reach. Blitukus turned the vehicle. The arcs from the spheres stopped suddenly. Blitukus felt fear impeding his formerly pure vengeance, and he jammed the regulator forward. The super-weapon fired, the white ray striking the ground, the cannon turning as it fired, the impact point of the ray chasing Blitukus. The ray vanished before it could reach him, although it left a streight line of scorched terrain behind. Blitukus' sense of pure vengeance vanished, the fires tempered by the waters of fear. He couldn't fight with disregard to death as his mother bravely did the day the tyrant fell. If Blitukus died... his mother would be forgotten, and kobolds would be wiped from the surface of this world. He was the best equipped to prevent this among all of the kobolds. He realized, he couldn't simply try to win and survive... he MUST survive... or at least, the super-weapon and the dwarven leader must be destroyed. Blitukus sighed from his nose, and allowed his vehicle to skid to a stop, turning it once again. He fired at the back of the super-weapon with his automatic crossbow as his cannon built steam and magma. The arcs of the spheres were unable to reach behind the machine to protect it from Blitukus' fire, but the plating on the rear of the super-weapon caused the bolts to bounce off. That rear section was near to many other large mechanisms, and therefore was likely to contain something vital... Blitukus noticed that despite not having a full charge... the weapon was still turning to aim at him. Blitukus turned and drove to the side. The super-weapon fired, letting loose a red-yellow ray for a fraction of a second that was much less powerful than the grand white ray, but could be fired at a quicker rate. He noticed something else... whenever the main cannon fired, it took the entire dedicated energy supply of the entire super-weapon, including the energy used to deflect projectiles... Blitukus turned and drove ahead of the super-weapon, turning again. It was charging another shot. Blitukus drove with full input, causing the armored vehicle to lunge forward. A white ray blasted over the top of the vehicle, landing behind it. The ray followed, and came to the side, the dwarven leader unable to get a good aim on such a rapidly moving target due to the control delays caused by steam. The dwarven leader yelled in frustration. Just as the ray was about to disappear, Blitukus aimed at the energy generator ahead, and fired at it with his automatic crossbow. Bolts bounced and ricocheted off of the metal, but a bolt lodged itself into the mechanisms driving the rotating mass of magnetite, causing it to shift and grind, sparks shooting out of it for a second. Another bolt lodged itself within the silver coils. The metal bolt allowed for energy to travel across the coil in a manner it was never intended to, causing part of the coil to turn bright red and melt as blue sparks erupted from it, the molten silver splattered by the rotating magnetite below. The damaged section of the energy generator began to smoke, and the rotation of the magnetite slowed, but it didn't stop. As Blitukus passed behind the vehicle, he jammed the reverser backwards, causing his vehicle to spin and skid to a halt as a red-yellow ray of energy fell ahead of him, missing again. The dwarven leader yelled in frustrated fury. The super-weapon began to turn, but Blitukus was still quicker. The rear was left exposed, and even if bronze bolts couldn't penetrate the plating... steel always wins over iron. Blitukus turned to face the rear of the super-weapon, then drove forward at full speed, charging into it. The armored vehicle crashed into the iron plating, smashing through it and crushing pipes that lay behind it. The pipes slowly leaked steam at very high pressure. Those were boiler pipes. One of the pipes had punched through a thin spot on the top of the super-weapon, and now lay exposed... exposed to the spheres. A large arc shot out of one of the silver spheres, hitting the pipes, traveling through the pipes into the armored vehicle. Blitukus felt himself overwhelmed with an odd yet painful sensation, his body torquing as if an unknown force had slammed into it. He felt himself fall limp against the back of his chair, sliding to the side. The overwhelming pain ceased, and he immediately tried to pull out from the super-weapon, but found his body was barely responding to his will. The super-weapon drove forward, leaving the armored vehicle behind. Blitukus felt that something was very, very wrong. He wasn't breathing, and found he couldn't force himself to either. He felt very cold, and his strength was leaving him rapidly. His vision was turning to a faded white. He sensed death was swooping in to take his soul.
What... what the... how can this be? NO! Oh no.....
The super-weapon didn't draw any more distant as it turned, exposing the silver spheres to their target. Another arc flew, striking the armored vehicle. Blitukus, having nearly faded into the white nothingness of eternity after, felt himself being torn back in a different direction. He found himself with only a fraction of a consciousness left. A second later, he felt as if someone had punched him in the chest, his heart jumping into his throat. He was clinging onto that last bit of consciousness, one more chance to cling onto life. Blitukus desperately sensed the state of his body, finding he still wasn't breathing, his pulse erratic, hardly a pulse at all. He directed the entirety of his willpower to forcing the devices of his body to work, forcing every detail of it back into function with sheer concentration. He wouldn't let go of the last thread that held him to the mortal plane, and desperately pulled himself up the thread. He found his throat clear, and drew in a breath, forcing his heart to stabilize. The fuzzy whiteness reversed, and slowly, he found the coldness disappear, and felt comfortably warm instead. The whiteness faded, leaving him seeing the familiar inside of his cabin again. He let his breath out and began to breath normally as he felt his heart returning to a stable rhythm. He looked down, and saw energy burns scorched into his hands and several points on his body. He found he was rather numb in several spots, but he could still move, shakily and with limited force, but it was movement. He had brought himself back. He coughed, shuddered, and managed to laugh.
Not today, death, not today... I promise I will buy you a beer with a shot of gnomeblight when I die, but it's a bit early for that party...
He looked up, and found he was looking straight into the barrel of the super-weapons main cannon. Despite having lost his sense of touch in both hands, he found he was still able to loosely grasp the levers, just enough to be able to reliably use them. The cannon had charged, the glow gently filling Blitukus' cabin, arcs of energy emanating from the coils directly in front of him. Blitukus slid the reverser forward slowly, and slid the regulator back. His machine accelerated backwards, causing the super-weapons main cannon to unleash its ferocious energies harmlessly into the ground, leaving a molten hole where Blitukus' machine once stood. Blitukus laughed again as the dwarven leader yelled, "WHAAAT?! AAAARGH WHY WON'T THIS DAMN KOBOLD DIEEE?!?!" Blitukus stopped, and watched the super-weapon turn to face him. The dwarven leader seemed to be just about throwing a tantrum, yelling, pounding on his console, throwing every lever around him as far forward as possible. Black smoke poured from the smokestacks, and the energy generators it had aboard rotated faster and faster, the magnetite nearly becoming a blur. The superweapon seemed to shake, its steam pistons making a roaring racket as they passed high above their intended maximum limit. Steam shot out of the pistons, and the blue glow grew swiftly beneath the super-weapon. The damaged energy generator, pushed above its limits, began smoking more, sparks shooting out of the mechanisms. Blitukus turned his vehicle around, and slid the regulator forward, sitting back as the vehicle accelerated toward its top speed toward a solid hill. The blue glow grew to a piercing intensity, the main cannon of the super-weapon also taking on a piercing radiance as much more energy was packed into it than had ever been before, and now Blitukus was driving away... unable to evade in his current position. Blitukus let the armored vehicle plow upwards across the hill. The dwarven leader brought his fist down upon the large red button on his console, yelling as he did so. Just as Blitukus launched off of the top of the hill, the top of the hill was struck by a white ray of energy, coming very near but missing the armored vehicle. The white ray expanded and turned a piercing fiery blue, the entire hilltop glowing yellow with heat. The ray melted through the hilltop, and arced into the distance, passing under the armored vehicle as the armored vehicle flew through the air. The damaged energy generator on the super-weapon shattered, sending large blocks of magnetite flying into the air at high speed, the dwarf maintaining the generator eating an arc of energy that fried all but a smidgen of the dwarfs life away, that smidgen being scalded away by steam. The smoothed and polished crystal glass of the barrel of the main cannon shattering into countless shards, fragmenting the magnetite coils, sending the glowing hot silver wire bending out of its shape. The ray ended, and Blitukus' armored vehicle fell to the ground, slamming down, still intact. Blitukus coughed, and placed one hand over his chest, using his other hand to zero the regulator. The equipment on the super-weapon glew with heat as if it were about to burst into flame. The silver wire feeding into the main cannon glew yellow hot, the wire drooping down lower and lower, finally parting, dropping to the armor plating as molten metal. Bits of crystal glass, magnetite, and silver rained down. Blitukus laughed, but barely had any breath to do so.
That was something truly from another world...
He turned the armored vehicle, and drove out from behind the hill, observing the hole burned through the very top of the hill. The dwarven leader gazed for several seconds, unmoving, overwhelmed by sheer disbelief, then erupted with a yell of fury nearly demonic in scale. The super-weapon, its cannon partially melted, one energy generator blown apart, the adjacent energy generator grinding and billowing black smoke and orange sparks... boiler piping crimped... still crawled its way toward Blitukus, arcs of energy shooting from what remained of its silver spheres. The dwarven leader yelled, "I'll fry you to a crisp and feed you to the dogs!"
The last time I checked it was only a dog-eat-dog world if you made it that way.
Blitukus smiled. The doors to the fortress had been closed, but there was a gatehouse near the wall to the right of it. Blitukus realized that the dwarven leader was sealed within a specially armored cabin, something the dwarven crewmates lacked. Something heavy would be needed to crack the cabin open... Blitukus drove towards the left side of the gate, and stopped there, waiting for the super-weapon to approach. As it drew nearer, Blitukus slowly drove towards the right side of the gate, letting it pursue him at its own slow rate. Arcs of energy left the silver spheres and landed on the metal surface of the gate. Blitukus turned, and drove out, then turned again, and drove towards the gatehouse, crashing into it, toppling it over. There was a clank and a twang. The gate swung open, its drawbridge design falling down upon the side of the super-weapon. Blitukus laughed mockingly.
So that's the infamous Dwarven Smashy Smash..."
There was a roar, and the deep hiss of large steam engines. The gate bulged, and was ripped off its hinges, reduced to its metal components, a somewhat more damaged super-weapon still running and moving.
... bridge...?
The dwarven leader yelled, turning the damaged machine to face Blitukus. The dwarven leader let out a nearly insane laugh, charging the main cannon again, despite its mangled state. The dwarfs laughter slowed, and stopped, the dwarfs expression turning rapidly turning to one of regret. Arcs of energy arced from the broken, mangled coils, clashing with the arcs from the silver spheres. The energy generators buzzed and groaned, arcs jumping along their coils as energy was forced in directions it had never been intended to go in. The boilers creaked and tapped... the pipes at the rear still crushed and crimped. A rivet shot out of a boiler, steam escaping at extreme pressure. The adjacent boiler soon did the same. The dwarven leader spoke to himself, "Oh... erm... Shutdown!.... Shut-Down... SHUTDOWN!" The dwarven leader pulled levers to no avail as the blue glow beneath the super-weapon illuminated steam shooting out beneath it, illuminated further by the occasional arc of energy coming out of the bottom of the machine where no arcs used to emanate. Blitukus pulled back on the regulator, rapidly backing away from the super-weapon. The dwarven leader continued, "It's... it's not shutting down?!" The dwarven leader let out a laugh that was loaded with a mixture of insanity and piercing, overwhelming fear. Blitukus backed away at full speed.
I think I finally get what Dracha meant about being smart but not being wise. Also, what they say about dwarves throwing tantrums hurting themselves more than anyone else... also true.
The dwarven leader spoke, "Oh... oh dear Armok no... NO! FFUUUU-" Blitukus watched. For a thousandth of a second... the metal of the vast boilers seemed to peel away like paper, the steam within emerging like a splash of liquid, energy shooting out in all directions, fanning out like branches on a large tree. A bright white light emanated from the center of the super-weapon as the beautiful yet ferocious combination of steam and raw energy unleashed its fury for the last time. The resulting explosion sent a shockwave roaring across the land.
BOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!
The shockwave hit the armored vehicle, pushing the front of it into the air. Steam rushed by at amazing speed, and obscured the sky. Iron and magnetite were catapulted far into the sky. Where the super-weapon once stood rose a vast, intense ball of steam and flame, the sheer heat of it causing cooler air to sweep in below it as the plume rose, forming a churning mushroom cloud. Blitukus sat speechless for a moment as all around iron and silver rained from the sky, the plume of steam and smoke darkening the immediate landscape as it drifted in front of the sun. Blitukus chuckled, then laughed. He grinned, whistling and clapping the best he could in his state.
I just LOVE a good fireworks show!
Blitukus let his breath out with a smile. There was nothing but twisted wreckage where the super-weapon once ominously stood. Still, the dwarven leader sat within an insulated capsule, heavily armored. The charred head of a dwarf fell from the sky and landed on the ground in front of the armored vehicle, and it was not that of the dwarven leader.
A nice thick capsule... unlike what he had provided for his 'friends'.
Whether the dwarf could've survived despite the armor in such a grand explosion was debatable. One could also debate whether the dwarven leader was still in one piece or not. It was likely the dwarven leader was dead, and it was guaranteed he was at least in no condition to fight back. Blitukus looked around, and spotted a hole in the corner of the wall. The thick, armored cabin had passed through the corner of the wall, and smashed into the wall adjacent to it, stopping there. Blitukus drove up to the cabin. The cabin was mangled... but it seemed it was designed to absorb the energy of the blow, as if the designer were expecting an enormous blow to fall upon the cabin. Blitukus noticed slight motion. There the dwarven leader was unconscious and pinned by twisted metal, blood dripping out of his mouth, but still alive. Blitukus pondered how the dwarven leader could've possibly survived such an enormous explosion. Likely the structure behind the cabin was designed to crumple, absorbing the force of the explosion for the cabin. Indeed, it was if the super-weapon was designed to preserve the dwarven leader at the expense of the rest of the crew. Luck was very clever, but had not switched sides. The dwarven leader held the combination to the safe and held other secrets of technology. The dwarven leader was still the one who killed Blitukus' mother. Blitukus wanted vengeance, and he wanted the combination to the safe. Luckily for Blitukus, unluckily for the dwarven leader, the dwarven leader was still alive, pinned down in a convenient location. Blitukus grinned menacingly.
This is going to be fun!
[ November 13, 2007: Message edited by: AlanL ]
Author
Topic: A Kobold's Quest II (Read 76132 times)