The Grind

by Dante Doom

  Standing at the shoreline was a gigantic metal monstrosity, armed to the teeth. It had a rocket launcher jutting out of its silvery torso, a chainsaw on its right arm, and a razor sharp pincer on its left arm. Its eyes were round, blue gems that glowed with an otherworldly hue. Hovering above its head was the label Guardian of the Flames in black words.

  “Is black bad?” Timon asked.

  “It’s one step higher than purple,” Fingers replied as the boat pulled up to the shore. “But don’t worry about it—the color just indicates that we’re fighting against a boss.”

  “At least it’s not a raid boss,” Savannah said. “So we’ll be able to fight it no problem.”

  “It’s gonna start hitting us at the moment we get out of the boat,” Fingers advised. “So, get ready to rumble.”

  Timon nodded.

  “What do you want me to do?” Ten-Thirty asked.

  “Fight it with your Rail Gun,” Savannah replied. “Unless you know of any kind of weaknesses that it might have.”

  “According to my calculations, this boss has three stages,” Ten-Thirty replied as it tilted its head. Savannah could hear the whirring and clipping sounds inside of the Machina’s head. “Each stage will increase the range of its attacks, so don’t count on being far enough away to avoid them. Being up close is the best solution.”

  “Copy that; let’s move!” Savannah cheered as she pulled her Energy Shotgun out. She leapt over the side of the boat, onto the red sands of the burning hot beach. As soon as her feet touched the ground, the guardian began to shout in a harsh, metallic voice.

  “You dare approach this sacred ground? You shall be destroyed, interloper!” it cried. Rockets fired out from its chest immediately, crashing towards Savannah and her team. Savannah scrambled to the right, narrowly avoiding the first rocket, but it spun around, looping upwards to come after her again.

  “Ah, crap!” Savannah shouted as she rolled out of the way of the same rocket she’d already dodged, which was following her still. It spun around in mid-air again, moving after her. “Someone shoot the missiles!”

  “I’m on it!” Fingers replied as he fired his revolvers fast as lightning. The bullets arced through the air, tinged with electrical energy. Each bullet struck the eight missiles that were swarming around Savannah’s team, causing them to explode in mid-air one by one. The word Intercepted hovered above where the missiles had been.

  “Nice work!” Savannah shouted as she rushed towards the metal monstrosity. It towered over sixteen feet tall and the chainsaw on its arm was revved up, shrieking with a harsh, wicked screech. The arm slashed downward, but Savannah was faster. She leapt over the arm and began to fire on the glowing yellow joints of the machine’s elbows. The green streaks of her newly upgraded shotgun crashed into the joints, dealing 75 damage. The notation Limb Damaged 225/300 hovered above the guardian’s head.

  “Shoot the limbs if you can! They have separate hit points, but will slow him down in this phase!” Savannah instructed. She glanced at the overall health of the guardian. It read 6,000. That was a large number, and especially if the boss had multiple stages. She wondered if the health would increase with each stage. Nothing sucked more than fighting a boss that gained health each time it was defeated.

  “I’m on it!” Timon said as he fired a few rounds from his Sniper Rifle into the right arm. 100 damage hovered above the limb. Each of his shots consistently hit the enemy’s body now, and Savannah smiled to see it. Timon was starting to get a lot better at the game.

  “Look out!” Ten-Thirty shouted as it leapt in front of Savannah. The guardian’s pincer arm had tried to snap around Savannah, but Ten-Thirty’s arms were out, holding the pincers in place and preventing them from snapping shut around her.

  “Nice save!” Savannah exclaimed as she leapt on top of the guardian’s left arm and began to run up it, blasting at the yellow joint as she ran. The words Your Jumping Skill has Increased by 1 hovered above her head. Each shot dealt more damage until the arm began to creak and spark. She leapt off before the arm broke off.

  Limb disabled hovered above the guardian’s head. Savannah noticed that the guardian’s overall health had dropped from 5,400 down to 3,400 now.

  “Keep focusing on the limbs—they do the most damage when removed!” Savannah shouted as she started shooting again.

  “Incoming!” Timon cried as the rockets from the chest of the guardian began to fire again. They were moving a little faster this time. Savannah tried to roll out of the way of one, but she was too slow. The rocket crashed against her armor, knocking her to the ground. 100 damage hovered above her head, dropping her new armor down from 750 to 650.

  “Arrrgh,” Savannah grumbled as she climbed back to her feet. The rockets were crashing into all of her team, and even Fingers had taken damage from the attack. “Keep it together, guys!” she called out.

  “Big attack is on its way!” Fingers yelled as he pointed to the words floating above the guardian’s head. The words Charging Ultimate were atop a large, empty bar. The bar was slowly filling with blue energy.

  “I don’t want to see what happens when that thing gets full!” Timon shouted. Savannah nodded at him and activated her Overdrive+ power-up. She had invested a few thousand points into the Overdrive to increase its damage output, and now her weapon was capable of dealing 200% more damage for 30 seconds. The cooldown was too long for it to be useful again for the rest of the fight, however, so it was a tradeoff.

  As she activated the Overdrive+, her gun began to glow with a bright red and orange hue. “Yeah!” she triumphantly cried out as she blasted at the remaining arm of the metal monster. The chainsaw came down to rend her in half, but her damage output was so fast that, by the time the blade got to her, the arm had already fallen off.

  “I’m on it!” Fingers yelled as more rockets poured from the chest of the guardian. The Wild Card activated his Rapid Fire power and fired his revolvers at the missiles as they emerged, blowing them up. Unfortunately, the boss was immune to taking damage from its own rockets, but at least he was having to defend against them.

  “Get the legs and it should be dead!” Savannah shouted. Ten-Thirty was standing right beneath the guardian now, firing its Rail Gun into the weak spots. The legs had significantly higher hit points, almost 1,000 each, but with the concentrated energy from everyone’s attacks, the first leg broke off rather quickly. The guardian’s health dropped to 900 with the loss of its first leg, and it toppled over to the ground, causing a massive shockwave.

  Red sand scattered through the air, creating a thick mist that was almost impossible to see through.

  “Ah, I think that backfired!” Fingers shouted. “I can’t see a damn thing!”

  “Me, either!” Timon said.

  “Target is to the southeast, on compass point 135,” Ten-Thirty informed the group.

  “Use your compass on your UI,” Savannah said as she blindly aimed towards 135. She couldn’t see anything except for red and her mini-map. Fortunately, there was a compass feature on the map and it allowed her to aim her weapon right to where Ten-Thirty had told her to aim. She fired a few blasts and could see the alert 75 damage hover upwards. Her Overdrive+ was no longer active, though, and she was back to dealing normal damage again.

  “In all my life, I have never used this thing!” Fingers said. “Hell, I didn’t even realize it was there.” Savannah could hear the bullets firing from his revolver and the pinging sound of lead hitting metal.

  “I think I’m hitting it!” Timon shouted. Savannah could see the words 100 damage hovering a few feet in front of her. The sand finally began to settle around them then, clearing up enough for Savannah to see that the guardian’s health had reached 0.

  “It’s down! That’s phase one with two to go!” Savannah announced. She checked her inventory and glanced at a few of her grenades. Timon had informed her about their previous trouble with a phoenix, and so she had made the tactical decision to purchase two grenades of every type.
Whatever this guardian was going to transform into, she would have a weapon that could deal some damage to it.

  “It’s not doing anything,” Fingers said as he pointed to the inert guardian. It was true—the metal monster was lying on the ground, unable to move or stand. Its arms and legs were gone, and the glowing energy in its gem eyes was gone.

  “Should we keep hitting it?” Timon asked.

  “No, hold off,” Savannah said. “Is everyone’s health okay?”

  “I didn’t take a lick of damage,” Fingers lied.

  “I saw you get hit,” Timon said.

  “Nope, didn’t happen,” Fingers replied as he crossed his arms.

  “That’s the dumbest thing to be prideful about,” Timon shot back.

  Fingers went to open his mouth, but was interrupted by a loud chu-klunk! The Guardian’s torso began to contort as it folded up into a short, rectangular shape. Treads extended from the bottom of the rectangle, and the head retracted to the inside of the torso. Rockets were jutting out of the front of the tank now, and two Gatling guns popped out of the sides.

  “Great, it’s some kind of tank?” Savannah groaned as the tank’s guns began to spin, firing a barrage of energy blasts at the team. She rolled out of the way. Your Dodge Rank Has Increased by 1 hovered above her as several bolts missed her. She grinned a little at that. It had been a while since her dodge skill had increased at all, so this was a pleasant surprise.

  “Ahhh!” Timon yelled as he took a beating from the guns. He was moving too slowly, and several dozen shots hit him for 88 damage. His health had dropped from 900 to 812.

  “Try dodging!” Fingers taunted him as he effortlessly dodged the barrage without moving from his spot right in front of the tank. He began to return fire then, but the word Deflected taunted him from above the tank as the bullets bounced off.

  “My shotgun’s no good,” Savannah said as she rushed to the side of the tank, getting outside of its line of fire. She blasted a few times, but the word Deflected showed again and again as the bolts of energy bounced away. This was getting a little frustrating.

  “My calculations indicate that this boss stage is only vulnerable during its power-attack,” Ten-Thirty said as it fired several rails into the side of the tank, but to no avail.

  “Great,” Savannah grumbled. “So we just have to stay out of the way until its vulnerability is exposed.”

  The tank fired more rockets at Timon, but he was able to dodge out of the way this time. Once all of the rockets had fired from the tank, a purple energy began to collect around the top of the tank. The word Deploying hovered above it as a trap door opened up and the head of the guardian emerged. Its gem eyes were glowing bright purple.

  “Shoot the head!” Savannah shouted as she pulled out her Energy Rifle and began to blast at it. The streaks of yellow energy struck the side of the guardian and 150 damage hovered above it. Its health dropped down from 2,500 to 2,350.

  “Jump!” Fingers yelled as a thick beam of purple energy pulsed out of the guardian’s eyes. The guardian rotated its head, cutting the energy across the battlefield. Fingers tried to leap out of the way, but the beam was far too wide. “Ahhhh!” he cried as the words 350 damage hovered above his head, dropping him down to 150 hit points.

  “Whoa!” Savannah yelled as she ran to the right to avoid being hit. The beam was right behind her, and she could feel the heat against her back.

  “Get closer,” Ten-Thirty instructed as it ran and climbed atop the side of the tank. The android was firing its Rail Gun into the head of the guardian, dealing 100 damage with each hit. Savannah and Timon followed Ten-Thirty’s instructions and ran towards the steel frame of the boss. Savannah grabbed onto the side, narrowly avoiding the beam. The guardian wasn’t able to move its head downwards enough to hit her at this angle.

  “Shoot it while it’s still up!” Savannah yelled as she leaned up and began to fire on the head of the guardian with her shotgun. Being so close to the head boosted the damage significantly, and the words 500 Damage Critical Hit hovered above the guardian’s head.

  Timon was also shooting and, in less than ten seconds of sustained blasting, the health bar of the guardian went down to 0.

  “I think it’s gonna blow!” Timon yelled as the tank began to pop and sizzle. Flames were bursting out of the sides of it, and Savannah could hear the rattling on the inside.

  “Get to cover!” Savannah yelled as she ran from the inert guardian. Fingers was still on the ground, apparently stunned from the attack. She ran to him and scooped the Wild Card up, throwing him onto her back as she ran.

  Timon and Ten-Thirty ran in the opposite direction. No one was sure of how far to go, but as Savannah ran, she heard the deafening explosion of the guardian behind her. Another shockwave of red sand clouded the area and, for a few minutes, she was unable to see anything in front of her.

  “Did we kill it?” Fingers asked, recovering from his stunned status. “Ugh, that was terrible.”

  “We have one stage left to go,” Savannah said as she dropped Fingers on the ground. “Good thing you didn’t get hit, right?”

  “Hah, hah,” Fingers said. “I think I’m going to need to sit this one out, though—one more serious hit and I’m a goner. It was hard to sneak into this game, you know. I don’t intend to go back to the real world, even if it’s for a few hours while I figure out how to get back in.”

  “Don’t worry, we’ll be fine,” Savannah said. “Hang back and let me draw the Aggro.”

  “Good,” Fingers said as he dusted himself off.

  The red sand settled again and Savannah could see that there was a heap of junk on the ground where the guardian had been. She watched the pile for a moment, waiting to see the final stage. Timon waved to her from the other side of the map; he and Ten-Thirty were almost three hundred feet away.

  Savannah waved back and then turned her focus to the pile of junk. It was beginning to rattle and, within a few seconds, the head of the guardian emerged again. It was flying now, propelled by a rocket strapped to where its neck had been.

  “It’s a flying head?” Savannah watched it hover in the air, gems glowing with red energy.

  “That is ridiculous on every level,” Fingers said.

  Savannah chuckled. “Well, we should have things covered.”

  “Don’t let how dumb it looks fool you,” Fingers replied. “I’m willing to bet that thing packs a real wallop.”

  “Here’s hoping the Fingers method of dodging works,” Savannah said as she rushed closer to the fight. An end stage like this meant it was going to be moving too fast to hit from afar. The shotgun had a spread, so it would be her best bet if she wanted to hit it.

  Timon was already firing on the guardian, but its small frame and fast-moving jet prevented him from being able to hit it. The gems pulsed as it fired out a rapid series of energy blasts that soared through the air. The blasts were shaped like small orbs of red energy, and they pulsed and shifted, moving out in a diamond shaped pattern.

  “Look out!” Savannah shouted as she opened fire on the guardian in vain, missing each shot as the head easily swooped out of the way. The red orbs hovered above Timon for a moment before surging towards him with lightning speed. In the blink of an eye, Savannah was standing in Timon’s place.

  “Ah, damn it,” Savannah groaned as she tried to dodge out of the way of the attack. The red orbs crashed into the ground around her, exploding one by one, each with a small radius of blast damage. She was able to dodge the orbs themselves, but the splash damage kept hitting her for 5 points of damage. Overall, she took 30 points, dropping her down to 570 health left.

  “I can’t seem to hit it,” Ten-Thirty said as it fired more blasts from its Rail Gun at the small moving target.

  “That head is ridiculously fast,” Savannah said as she pulled out her Rocket Launcher. Perhaps if she used the mini-rockets, a few of them would hit the guardian where it hurt. Fortunately, the guardian’s hit points were only 2,500, which
wouldn’t make for too difficult of a fight as long as the guardian didn’t change through any more stages.

  Loading 5/30 hovered above Savannah’s gun as she heard the cha-chack of each rocket sliding into its silo. Timon was scrambling now, shooting at the head in vain. Every few seconds, the head would fire out another diamond pattern of energy bolts, but Timon was getting faster on his feet and able to get clear of the attacks before the splash damage or the orbs could hit him.

  “Almost there,” Savannah said as her gun reached 22/30. She wished that Fingers wasn’t so low on health. His gunplay was fast enough to hit the damn thing, but if he took another direct hit from something, he could potentially die. With the time dilation, it would be a very long time before she and her team would see Fingers again if that happened.

  “I need you to distract it,” Savannah said to Ten-Thirty as her gun began to vibrate, buzzing excitedly with the full silo of missiles. “Run underneath it and try to draw Aggro.”

  “Copy that,” Ten-Thirty said as it turned to run underneath the head. It fired upwards a few times and one rail finally hit the guardian’s head. 50 damage hovered above and it immediately turned its focus onto the Machina. It began to blast out short beams of energy from its eyes, but Ten-Thirty was fast enough to dodge the attacks without much of a problem.

  The guardian had begun to slow down considerably now that it had a target in very close proximity to it. It hovered for a few seconds at a time, forced to stop flying each time it wanted to fire a beam out of its eyes. Savannah took the opportunity to unload her rocket payload at the head. Thirty little rockets came soaring out of her gun’s barrel.

  Fifteen rockets hit the side of the guardian’s metallic skull, dealing 450 damage as a brilliant explosion overtook it. With help from Timon’s accurate sniper shots, the health of the guardian dropped down to 1,500.

  “Nice work, keep it up!” Savannah said as she began to reload her Rocket Launcher again. She glanced at her Overdrive+ timer and noticed that the cooldown had dropped considerably. It only had 10s hovering above it. Had the battle been that long? She grinned fiendishly as she readied her weapon. With the use of this skill card, she’d be able to kill the guardian in a single blow if she used the right strategy.