“OW. OW. OW! WHAT THE FRICK THAT HURT! Artillery complained as he stood up and looked at his left arm; lodged in his bicep was a Cordak shell that hadn’t exploded upon impact.
“HOW DID YOU EVEN MANAGE THAT! “ he started fiddling around with his shoulder and dislodged the pins that kept it in, then twisted his arm backward till it unlocked. “Watch this.” Artillery pulled his arm out of his sleeve and threw it at her.
Hahli slapped the arm away and continued marching forward.
“Well, frick.” Artillery whispered as he shifted all his weight to his one leg.
“Cowabunga, it is!” He reached out to his arm and started moving it toward her; when it was close enough to her head, he executed THE BRIGHT SLAP.
It distracted her for about 3 seconds as she looked around, trying to find out the source of the attack.
Artillery then launched the faulty projectile from his arm into her back, knocking her over. He then ran over to her and started kicking her in the head as he picked his arm back up and re-attached it. “ENOUGH!” Hahli screamed as she sliced at his leg, knocking him off balance.
“Hey, watch it!” Artillery mumbled as he stood up and immediately got knocked back down. “NOT COOL, I WAS TAUNTING!” Artillery complained as Hahli aimed her blaster at his chest.
Artillery kicked the firearm out of her hand and cut it in half with A laser mid-air. Hahli started throwing punches at Artillery’s abdomen, three of which landed. “Woah, calm down there, Freddy Krueger.” Artillery taunted as he blocked an attack with his blade; he then proceeded to grab her arm and began elbowing her in the face before promptly slamming her onto the ground.
“I was going to say some cheesy one-liner, but-“Hahli cut off Artillery as a bubble of water started forming around the Toa of light’s neck. “REALLY? HOW CLICHE. I MEAN WHY DOES EVERY SINGLE TOA OF WATER DO THIS-“ he said before the bubble fully formed and reduced his voice to a gurgle.
Hahli picked herself off the ground and retrieved one of the Skakdi soldier’s weapons, and started walking towards Artillery; he didn’t show any signs of panic, nor did he struggle to breathe; in fact, he looked completely calm.
“oH, YoU’re aPProAchINg mE!” He gurgled as he spread his arms.
“ IS with this execute in the name of Irnakk. Hahli said as she raised the blade, preparing to kill him. “ DIE KNOWING ONLY A FRACTION OF HIS POWER!” She sliced, but there was a bright flash that caused her to stumble forward.
“What!?” She said as she looked around, trying to find her target.
“Yoo-hoo!” Artillery called “OVER HERE!”
“How?” She asked as she stumbled around, trying to find her footing in the sand; Wait, sand-
“OH, FRICK!” Artillery cried out, realizing where they were, The beach and beaches meant water, and she’s a toa of water.
Artillery tried to dodge the oncoming attack he knew was coming but found it increasingly difficult seeing Hahli had now completely submerged his feet in the wet sand.
“OH, COME ON! DO YOU FRICKING KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO CLEAN SAND OUTTA MY JOINTS!”
Hahli raised her arms, commanding the wet sand to move according to her will, and then formed a giant hand of water to crush Artillery.
“H2-OH COME THE FRICK ON!” Artillery shouted as he fiddled with his
Ankles, he had managed to get one foot disconnected before the fist hit him, but it was already too close to him; he didn’t have the luxury of being able to disconnect the other one. “Oh, great.” Artillery said, dread filling his voice as he took his sword and- “I’m WEARING BOOTS! he realized. “I’m so fricking stupid.” Artillery mumbled to himself as he pulled both of his legs out. By the time the fist made contact with the ground, Artillery had just managed to roll out of the way. When Hahli had realized what had just transpired, Her enemy had seemed to disappear completely.
Nuparu had seen many things, but this, this was on a whole other level of strange. First was the target being able to sense his presence, then it was how calmly he acted knowing he had someone trailing him, saying things like: “so how bout this weather? It’s a little too humid for my taste.” And “the name’s Artillery nice to meet you.” Then there was him detaching his arm. How had he done that? Nuparu’s thought he heard the target shouting; he quickly turned his attention towards the fight happening below. Artillery began to Maneuver behind Hahli and attempted to execute a kick, but he lost his balance; Hahli caught his leg and threw him; this wouldn’t have been a problem if Artillery hadn’t grabbed her wings on the way down, and, in turn, threw her. Hahli, with a loud “CRACK,” made contact with one of the canyon walls then went limp.
“How did you not see that coming? Why didn’t you use you mask power?”
Artillery shouted as he stood up. Hahli did not respond. He moved closer and could hear breathing faintly. “ thank the Great Spirit. You’re still alive!” He Said as he turned to look in Nuparu’s direction.
“Now would be a good time to show yourself, Rogers!” He said as retrieved his boots. “Aaaaaannnd explosion.” He said. As he pointed at the wall to his right, a massive blast blew a chunk out of it.
“ And cue the Pleasant crew.” He announced as he snapped his fingers, turning towards the canyon entrance.
Yttirum and Neriex came out of the tunnel in a full-on sprint.
“What happened here?” Yttirum asked as he ran up to Artillery and took a moment to survey the damage to the Canyon; he then spotted Hahli. “DID YOU KILL-“ he said as he grabbed Artillery’s collar.
“KILL HER, YOU WISH! She’s just merely stunned.” He responded, pushing Yttirum away.
Neriex was hobbling over slowly, she was injured, and the adrenaline rush she was obviously on seconds before had worn off. “Guys, we’ve got bigger problems. And I assume you’re the reason there are all these charred Skakdi skulls?”
“Yep.” Artillery answered.
“I’m impressed also kinda disturbed, but impressed.”
“How many did you pick up?” Artillery asked.
“What?” Yttirum questioned.
“Enemies.” Neriex clarified as she punched Yttirum’s arm.
“Three.” He responded.
“So kongu, Hewki and Jaller?”
“No. We lost Tax.”
“ NOT TOAX,” Artillery shouted, “HE GAVE US THE BEST STRATEGIC ADVANTAGE!” Artillery diverted his attention towards the tunnel. “speaking of which.”
Three figures emerged from the opening. From left to right were: Kongu, Taox, and Jaller.
“Ayayaya!” Artillery took a quick headcount.” Four against four.”
“Four? there’s only three of us, and there’s five of them.” She corrected
“I’m so awesome that I count as two people. Also, Hahli should be out for a while.”
“What?” Yttirum said, turning to look at him.
What transpired was about twelve seconds of silence, proof that Artillery’s joke had fallen flat.
“IM JOKING! Let’s see.” Artillery clarified as he turned his attention to a rectangular device that he pulled out of his pocket and began pressing it. “Track no.145: Ride.
Artillery donned a pair of goggles then ran forward, shouting. “LET US PROCEED TO MAKE SOME POOR DECISIONS!”
To be continued.