by Dante Doom
“Are you ready for more?” the voice asked.
“Please,” Savannah said, “I don’t know why you’re doing this.”
“My job is to find the people who are worthy,” the voice replied. “And you have not proven your worth yet. You will not survive the next test. Take the door and go home now.”
“You can tell me to leave as many times as you like,” Savannah shouted, “but it’s not going to work!”
“Very well,” the voice said. The red door slowly melted into the ground, vanishing from sight. “Now you have gotten rid of your only means of escape. How does that make you feel?”
“No different,” Savannah said. That part was true, she didn’t feel any more fear with the door gone; after all, she was committed to seeing this through to the end and didn’t intend to back down.
“We shall see,” the voice replied. The light in the room began to grow brighter again and Savannah was once again forced to close her eyes to protect herself from being blinded. A loud zzzaaaap sound echoed through the room.
She opened her eyes to see that there was a large Machina standing where the door had been. It was much larger than the first one, towering to nearly fifteen feet in height, and both of its arms were Gatling guns. The label Purge Unit #34 hovered above its head in white. White wasn’t so bad, though—that was a pretty weak classification.
“Opening fire,” the Machina said in a deep, metallic voice as it began to unload machine gun fire in Savannah’s direction. She deftly dodged out of the way as the bullets pierced through the air at full speed. She ran in a semi-circle, moving closer to the Purge Unit as it fired without relent. Bullets whizzed past her, but her Speed Boost power-up helped her stay mobile. The boost would only last thirty seconds, but hopefully that would be enough to allow her to get close to the enemy unit.
“You run so valiantly, and so in vain,” the voice taunted. “It is pointless.”
Savannah ignored the voice and continued pressing her assault. She drew closer, firing a few shots from her shotgun. The words Lethal: 100 damage hovered above the Purge Unit as it fell to the ground, dead.
“Ha!” Savannah cheered as she pumped her fist towards the sky.
“You are smart, Savannah,” the voice said. “Why would that kill be so easy?”
“Ah, crap…” Savannah groaned as she realized that that meant there would be a lot more of these guys coming at her. As if on cue, the bright light flashed again and several loud zaps could be heard. Savannah opened her eyes to see that there were eight Purge Unit #34s surrounding her.
“Opening fire,” they all chittered at the exact same time. The whirring of the guns greeted her as bullets sprayed in all directions around her. She was in the center of fire, and there was nowhere to hide. As she ducked and dodged out of the way, a few bullets struck her anyway, dealing 15 damage and dropping her down to 165 points. The damage might have seemed negligible at any other time, but if she was hit by multiple sources at the same time, she would be torn to pieces.
“Crap!” She had to think quickly, or else she would be shredded. She ran towards one unit, firing at it, but the three next to it forced her to divert her path. If she didn’t figure out some way to shield herself, she’d be dead. “Wait! I surrender! Please, bring the door back—I’ll leave!” Savannah shouted out.
“See? Valor only exists in the mind of the fool. You may leave. If you can get to the door alive, that is,” the voice said. The red door appeared about fifty feet away from Savannah.
“I hope this works,” she grunted as she ran through the hellfire of bullets, taking a few more points of damage that dropped her down to 150 points. She swung around the opposite side of the door, pressing her back against it. The bullets thunked against the door, but it deflected all of the bullets, making it the perfect cover. The Machina were forced to change their positions, making it relatively easy for Savannah to take a few shots at them as they moved. The bursts of damage hit the Purge Units in turn, killing three of them.
“You aren’t leaving,” the voice said. “You tricked me.”
“Hey, shouldn’t you be impressed with my cunning?” Savannah asked as she swung around to the other side of the door and the Machinas tried to flank her. Her strategy was working well enough so far.
“Perhaps,” the voice said. “I could remove the door just as easily.”
Savannah popped out from behind her cover and shot down one more unit. “There’s only four left. I think I’ll be okay.”
“Of course,” the voice replied. There was a slight hint of agitation in the being’s words. “Enough,” it said. The remaining four Machina fell to the ground motionless before fading away and leaving Savannah alone.
“Numbers are only one tool in the toolbox,” the voice said after a few minutes of tense silence. Savannah was looking around, waiting for the next attack, but nothing was coming. “I think I will allow you to choose your next challenge.”
“What do you have for me?” Savannah asked, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. How much worse was this going to get?
“You may choose overwhelming force, impossible speed, or incredible fortitude,” the voice replied.
Savannah frowned at her options. Overwhelming force would clearly mean a high damage output, so that was out. She couldn’t take too many more hits before she’d be killed. Perhaps impossible speed would be her best bet. She stalled a little bit in her decision-making process, allowing for her Speed Boost to reset itself.
“You are wasting time,” the voice growled. “What do you want to face?”
Incredible fortitude would be the slow and steady approach, but Savannah didn’t have that great of a damage output. The longer a battle went on for, the more trouble she’d be in. She couldn’t afford to take any hits. Speedsters were more frail most of the time, right?
“I’ll take the impossible speed, please,” Savannah said.
“Please? What a strange way to state a request to someone trying to kill you.”
“You’re trying to prove my worth, right? A polite person should be worthy!” Savanah joked. There was no immediate reply from the voice.
“I do not understand,” the voice said after a moment of silence. “Was that an attempt at humor?”
“Yeah,”
“Well, it was a weak attempt. Now, face your opponent!”
Out from the ground, a tall, thin android emerged. It had the body of a normal human, except for the fact that its torso was entirely white. Both arms, however, were covered in red energy. It looked directly at Savannah. The label Purge Unit #33 hovered above its head in red.
“Red? Really? I was hoping this would be easier than that.”
“Target acquired,” it said. It charged at full speed towards Savannah then, moving much faster than she could react. The speed was impossible for her to follow.
“Ah, damn it,” she groaned as she realized the magnitude of her mistake. This wasn’t going to end particularly well, and she knew it.
The android slammed into her, throwing her backwards quite a ways. As she sailed through the air, though, it kept up with her, running even faster. A trail of red energy was following behind it. Savannah hit the ground hard and the words 25 damage hovered above her head. The good news was that it seemed that this encounter was scaled to her character, so she wouldn’t be one-shotted, but the bad news was that, despite the scaling, this was an insanely hard encounter.
She rolled over and tried to get to her feet, but she was too slow. The unit #33 plowed into her again, throwing her backwards. She managed to tuck and roll this time, however, and her acrobatics skill mitigated any damage. The words Your Jumping Skill has Increased by 1 hovered above her head. She rolled with the momentum and stood up. The bright red streak was coming at her, so she fired a blast at #33, which it easily dodged. The words Dodge Bonus hovered above its head. She fired again and again, but #33 moved its entire body left and right, never once breaking from its charge.
“Com
e on!” Savannah yelled as the android rushed her, throwing its fist right into her face. The blow was intense, and she heard cracking sounds in her jaw. The words 50 damage hovered above her head. She staggered back and took note that she only had 75 points left. The android swung at her again, but without the momentum of running quickly it was considerably slower.
Savannah ducked out of the way and shoved #33 down, and the word, Shoved hovered above it. She had rarely made unarmed attacks, but her shooting strategy wasn’t working too well. She kept moving away from the android, shooting, but by the time she managed to get a shot off, it was running at her again.
“Come on!” she cried out as she leapt to the right, narrowly avoiding its charge attack. The android was moving so fast that, by the time she’d jumped, it had almost reached her. If she had hesitated for a split second more, she would have been toast.
“You are doing so well against this purge unit,” the voice said. “I believe that was sarcasm. Now, that was effective humor.”
“Oh yeah, I’m in stitches,” Savannah replied as she wiped some blood from her mouth. Her head was reeling and she was growing dizzy as she tried to keep up with her foe’s movements. It was zig-zagging now, toying with her.
“Dammit!” she shouted as she tried to trace #33 with her gun. Instead of firing where it was, she tried to fire where it would be next, but her plan didn’t work. It was still way too fast. Suddenly, #33 began running circles around her, creating a whirlwind of some sort.
“Why did I do this to myself?” she moaned as she remembered her option of choosing a character with high fortitude. She pulled open her inventory and checked for something that could help. The sticky grenades from the store would be handy, if she timed it right. She only had three, however.
The whirlwind began to take on life as the speedster rushed away from her. The wind had a name about it now: Death Spiral.
“A mini-boss?” Savannah asked as she fired at the tornado with her shotgun. Sure enough, the blast did some damage to the whirlwind, dealing 100 damage. It had only 300 points, so a few more shots would finish it off. However, before she was able to shoot it down, the whirlwind lunged forward, sweeping her up in its wind.
“Ahhhh!” she cried as she began to spin in a circle. Debris began to strike her then, and her health slowly began to decrease. Within the first few seconds, she had already dropped down to 56 hit points. She fired another shot from her shotgun, but the energy got caught up in the whirlwind. How the hell was she supposed to escape?
Escape! Of course! She had completely forgotten that she had the Status Clear ability. Activating it, she was immediately thrown clear of the tornado. As she flew through the air, she fired a few more shots and destroyed it.
“Not bad,” the voice said. “I see that your health is getting a little low, though. Would you like to leave?”
Savannah could see the red door appear in her peripheral vision. She shook her head and instead pulled out the vial of healing he’s bought. She took a swig and watched her health jump back up to 100.
“I’m fine, thanks,” she replied. She bent low and scanned around, looking for the fast purge unit. She took two grenades in her hands and readied them. She only had three chances. An enemy this fast would probably be a glass cannon—high damage output, but incredibly low hit points. All she had to do was hit it once, and then it’d be stuck.
She saw the red streak move right past her and she readied her attack. The wind blew violently as it ran by and she threw the grenade as hard as she could, ahead of where it was moving. Much to her agitation and dismay, though, the android changed directions immediately and ping-ponged back towards her.
Savannah grabbed her shotgun and fired as the figure charged at her. The sticky grenade in the background detonated, firing webbing everywhere around it, but missing its target completely. The webs faded away—they weren’t useful if they missed.
Once again, the brilliant green energy of Savannah’s shotgun missed the android as it weaved back and forth. It charged forward, thrusting both hands out, hitting her in the chest hard. She could hear her bones crack as she flew backwards. The words 30 damage hovered above her, dropping her down to having just a dangerous 70 hit points left.
“I’ve got to figure this out,” Savannah said as she watched #33 run around in a zig-zag again. It appeared to move in some kind of pattern, but she couldn’t time it right. She waited for it to do another charge attack, thinking to throw a grenade right into the android as it ran at her. She cocked the grenade in her hand and waited.
Unit #33 stood nearly one hundred feet away now, seeming to smirk at her. Out of all of the Purge Units that she had fought, this one felt as if it had the most in terms of personality. It was toying with her, she knew. But why? Perhaps it was at the direction of the mysterious voice, or maybe it was programmed to act like this. She didn’t know, but it was strange. If this Android had been going full force, it would have demolished her already, she could swear. Maybe the reset had done some damage to the central system?
As Unit #33 ran straight towards her, she waited a few beats and then threw the grenade straight forward. This strategy failed miserably, however, because even though she aimed at the ground instead of it, the android changed directions instantly, running backward instead of forward. By the time the grenade crashed against the ground, the android was back in its original position, one hundred feet away.
“That was impossible,” Savannah groaned. She could see that the android was preparing for another run, too. The word Charging hovered above it head.
“I doubt you will survive that,” the voice whispered. “Best to give up now.”
“You sure seem to talk a lot,” Savannah replied. She took a deep breath and readied herself. She had a plan. It was a terrible plan and might end in her death, but it was something, and she was almost out of options. She pulled the last sticky grenade from her pocket and took a deep breath. She twisted the grenade, priming it for detonation on impact. “Only one shot,” she whispered.
The charging bar above the android’s head reached full and a bolt of red lightning struck it right on the head. Damage Boost 100% hovered above the speedster’s form.
Savannah activated her Overdrive and Adrenaline powers at the exact same time. It was now or never. The android charged at her with full speed, streaks of red lightning crackling at its feet as it ran. Savannah held the grenade tightly in one hand and her shotgun in the other. She took a deep breath, and waited. The extra speed boost made it a little easier for her to see #33 move, but she didn’t need to follow its motion. She knew exactly what to do.
Right as the unit #33 reached her, she threw the grenade at her own feet, causing the webbing to burst around both her and the android. The words You are Entangled hovered above them both. All of the android’s momentum was stalled, and it ceased trying to run immediately and began to twist and squirm, but the robot was unable to break free.
Savannah activated her Status Clear power and the webbing melted away from her, freeing her own body. With a smirk of her own, she shoved her shotgun against the paralyzed android, blasting it to pieces. The words Lethal Blow hovered above its head as it fell apart.
“Yeah!” Savannah cheered as she raised her shotgun high in the air. Her fingers were trembling and she was breathing incredibly hard, but she had done it. She had defeated an impossible challenge. “How do you like me now?” she shouted out to the voice.
“You gloat? I could summon an entire horde to annihilate you,” the voice replied.
Savannah chuckled. She could hear the agitation in its voice. “Yeah, but what would that accomplish? Come on, I beat three challenges already—I’m getting bored.”
“Bored?”
“Yeah! I’ve already proven to you that I can win anything you send against me,” she bluffed. Her health was critically low, and perhaps taunting the voice was a bad idea, but maybe she could speed things up if she did.
“I understand,” the voice
replied. “You think that you can show me your courage. Very well, you have proven your martial arts skills are sufficient. Maybe we should move on to something else. Or perhaps I should simply flood this room with a hundred copies of the Purge Unit #33. Would that keep you entertained?”
Savannah grimaced, but she kept her composure. This was something of a battle of wills, she realized, and she couldn’t afford to show weakness.
“Hey, you’re the one controlling the agenda,” she replied. “It’s up to you how we do things.”
There was pure silence for a moment. The light in the center began to flicker then, and suddenly the room was plunged into total darkness.
Savanah held her shotgun up while simultaneously activating her wrist light; only the light, for some reason, wasn’t functioning.
“We can do this all day, but I will overcome this!” Savannah shouted into the darkness.
“Day… ah, yes, how you measure the passage of time,” the voice replied. “The earth rotates around the sun, marking time. What is a day in a world where there is no sun, however? A day is nothing.”
“Uh, okay?” Savannah replied. She wasn’t particularly sure how to reply to that.
“Let us change up our methods, shall we?” the voice continued. “Answer me a simple question and then we will move onto a puzzle.”
“Ask away,” Savannah said as she glanced at the remaining healing potion in her inventory. Thanks to Hem and Timon sharing their points with her, she’d been able to purchase two in addition to the rest of the items she had bought. Fingers had provided her with a few sticky grenades and two frags, but she was saving them for dire situations.
“I asked earlier why are you here, so let me ask this: what will happen if you succeed?”
“In turning off the defenses?”
“Yes. Tell me what happens after that.”
Savannah found herself looking upwards as she addressed the voice, despite the fact that she was still in utter darkness. “Listen, I don’t really know. I don’t know what will happen in Verre, but I do know that it will be a lot better than the alternative. If everyone in the city is killed, it’ll all be over for us.”