Edit: Zomg TOP of the frontpage! xD You guys rule. Really.

Oho, here art Munkklz (not pasted,) with the thirteenth installment of my oddball fanfic gone awry. School indeed crushes the mind and spirit alike, and what little free time I have had is often consumed by the solace I find in videogames, so I’m terribly sorry this chapter is a ‘lil late. I’ve kinda been horribly busy lately and it makes me sad. T-T Additionally, this chapter is my first real attempt at any formatting whatsoever, and I may actually use bold and italics now, as opposed to just CAPPING everything I want to empathize. Also, look for the Pokémon reference! (cheers Ezzles! xD)

—The Spider and the Hammer—
Breaking away from their awkward huddle, Blast stepped back from the others to stand beside the L-563 floating beside him.
“Well, what’s up first on the agenda? I for one am ready to go bag some boosters, what about you guys?” Blast inquired. Maeve frowned again, plucking idly at one sleeve of her red jumpsuit.
“Well, you kind of trounced my Nak back there,” she said, shifting uneasily and gesturing vaguely over one shoulder, “So MY first priority is to go get him back.” Ryyn stepped forward somewhat, and added;
“Yes, which generally means she’s got to get clearance for that security door, and then go in with a LM-600 or better, so she can lift her mobile out too.” Blast laughed nervously, looking at HIS Lift, and considering how he’d handled that problem not long before. “Additionally, I’ve got to go to the Gunbound Lead hangars to suit up my Armor, and get ready to mobilize.”
“Ah, okay” Blast said, waving a gloved hand nonchalantly, “so where does that leave me?” Ryyn answered again, the confidence in his voice hinting at battles seen and noobs trounced, but he was friendly enough, the magician reasoned.
“Well, you can come with me, and meet my Armor.. or stick around with Maeve, and go see a LM-600 in action.” Blast eyed the two of them again.. well she was kind of cute, but then again (he considered, as she saw him seeing her and bared her teeth) a tour of the Gunbound Battle League might not be bad.
“Uh, I’ll come with you I guess Ryyn.” he said decidedly, “Maeve… uh, Maeve’s mobile might still be mad at me.” And finishing, edged a ways away from the somewhat irritated miss. “Shall we go then?”

Walking under high supporting arches of the gleaming establishment known as the “Gunbound Battle League”, Blast looked out wide doors into multiple training arenas, target rooms, and expansive mobile housing areas.
“This place is huge!” he exclaimed, bouncing along energetically, “Like, Ant Tunnel huge, like Orbis Station huge!”
“Oh, I don’t think I’ve been to either of those places really.” the Lift bubbled, floating along beside him.
“Yeah, it’s big though.” his Kal agreed, matching pace beside them, as they followed Ryyn –a few steps ahead, moving with a predatory gait.
“Ah, here we are.” the man said, turning to push open another large door. “Hangar A4, Armors and Lightnings.” Walking into the dark room, Ryyn flipped a switch on the panel beside the door, setting great overhead lights ablaze. “This is where we keep a portion of our steel-type mobiles, majority of which were engineered the Huboei, with some influences by Adium craftsmen. “Like the Lightning mobiles here, who utilize both the steels favored by the Huboei, and energy fields common to Adium design. Hybrids of sorts.”
“Ah, that’s spiffy,” Blast said, pausing to knock a curled hand on one such stout mech as they walked by, looking somewhat like a blue Kal, but shorter and with a pointier turret. It opened one eye to grumble at him, but promptly thereafter went back to sleep.
“Yes, Lightning mobiles are quite effective when the weather jumps on board to assist them, but certain terrains just don’t comply.. With me,” he said, knocking a fist on his chest, “its heavy metal all the way!”
“I hear ya’ man!” the Kalisddon a piped up happily, a ways back, spinning it’s turret with an energetic whir.
“Heh, well I’ve personally never had the patience to become a Kal pilot, the Armor is more my type.”
“Oh, why’s that?” Lift inquired, floating easily past him.
“Brute force. When it comes down to an endgame slugfest, nothing beats a sturdy Armor type for durability.” Ryyn concurred.
“Ah, fair enough.” the L-563 whirred in an informed tone.
“Oye, this is him.” Rynn said, turning to a heavy red tank-like, nearly identical to the one piloted by Blast’s first opponent. The armor snapped open metallic eyes like a camera shudder, and bounced out of its place against the hangar enclosure wall.
“Ryyn! You ready to go already!?” it chortled happily, thumping the ground as it bounded up and down like an excited puppy.
“My.. hyper little guy isn’t he?” Blast said, eyeing bouncing hunk of metal, which was incidentally bigger than he was.
“Yeah, this Armor was just manufactured two years back, so his personality chip isn’t quite.. erm.. fully mature yet.” Ryyn said, looking rather apologetic.
“Yup! Not like all these ancient models I room with!” the armor chortled, “And I can aim like nobody’s business! Right Ryyn?”
i buddy,” the hardened battle pilot said, patting the ecstatic mobile on a gleaming red noggin. “let’s go shall we? I think it’s about time we get over to the blast pods, Maeve and her Nak should be there sometime soon.”
“Blast pods?” the similarly named magician inquired, “Sounds painful, what might I ask is a blast pod?”
“Long distance one-way supersonic transport.” The Lift rattled off without a hitch, as the five turned to leave the hangar, “You’ll see when we get there.”

—Line of Fire—
The bowstring quivered against its built up tension, and the glowing arrow knocked warmed the hands slightly, but Kytin wasn’t paying attention to details, considering the writhing mass of human in front of him wasn’t the easiest target to make a shot at.
“HEY! Get you’re heads down! I’m trying to get a shot in here!” the hunter bellowed, brushing elbows with the rather disheveled cleric squashed into the hall beside him, she glowed green with healing magic, and was a sizable portion of the reason why her allies front and center were still alive ahead of her. Riella, up front with the two thieves on their side, was doing her best to both block throwing stars from the assassins a step down the hall, and lash out with the yellow tinted Traus she gripped in the other hand. Cross and Shard weren’t doing much better, crossing claws and blades in such close quarters meant a defining lack of elbow room, namely the inability to get a firm swing in.
“Having a bit of trouble here myself hun!” Riella grumbled loudly, forcing her way forward to jab a sword at Achoss, in front, who promptly deflected it aside, the thick blade lodging into the wall beside her, and forcing her to raise the tower shield again to the ping of fling bits of pointy metal death.
Steel blocked steel fairly effectively, but Erik, happily slashing away from the back of the DarkStriders’ ragtag group was the one landing hits. As magic met flesh, the invisible claws raked open nasty cuts in our protagonists’ hides, only to be closed over soon after with a spot of hasty healing. Leul, in back, hissed sofly, tapping the warrior’s shoulder as she dislodged her traus.
“They’ve got a wizard Riella! I don’t know how much longer I can-” she hastily healed the panting Cross up front, “-keep this up!” Imlye on the other hand was having an incrementally easier time a ways down the hall, flashing green only now and then, when her thieves took an occasional nick from claw or blade.
“Get down curse you! I can’t hit anything here!” Kytin cursed, jumping to see over the small crowd. Down the hall another mapler turned the corner to spot the melee, but hastily went back the way he’d came, in a tangled flurry of hat and robes. Riella turned to punch Shard’s shoulder lightly with one metal gloved fist;
“Banditman, make yourself useful and stop that wizard! Take Cross with you, he’s cramping my elbow room!” she said, pointing across the mess at Imlye as she blocked another star from a frustrated CrossSlash. Shard nodded once, and tapped the nearby Cross on a shoulder before disappearing. The younger thief followed his lead, leaving the DarkStriders’ front line glancing about worriedly.
“What’s wrong gentlemen, afraid to leave your magicians alone?” Riella taunted, “I can hold this front line myself. Keep in mind you’re outnumbered!” Achoss and Cerusk blocked one slash, then another, Riella now having full range of movement even in the cramped hallway, distracting the two from what was to happen behind them. They both whirled around at the little shout behind them. Shard and Cross had reappeared down the hall, Cross’ claw locked with a groove of Imlye’s wand, as Shard knocked the wizard down with a kick to the chest.
“Erik! Get up damn yo-” Achoss was knocked down by sharp flying soul energy, as Kytin finally got a shot in.
“Yes! Chalk up one for the Ky man!” he said gleefully as the arrow fizzled out in the assassin’s back and he got up shakily, still bleeding, as their cleric was distracted at the moment. Riella wasn’t to be forgotten either, and when blade met claw again she downed Cerusk with a sharp knee drop to an uncomfortable hit area. The man grunted rolled over to get up, his brother urging him on.
“Out, now! We need more maneuvering room.” Achoss commanded, rapping Cerusk on the shoulder with a free hand as he blocked the advancing warrior with the other. He glanced at the magicians on behind them, then shaking his head once, ran with the other assassin back into their room.
“After them!” Shard insisted, darting after the fleeing thieves, as Imlye forced Cross back and in him moment off balance crouched behind the fallen Erik, them both disappearing in a flash of blue sparks.
“They went through the wall!” Leul said, hurrying forward to the spot they disappeared at. “They’re in the kitchen I think!” she said, knocking on the sturdy oak barrier.
“No time! After the thieves!” Riella said, darting into the DarkStriders’ room just in time to see Shard leap out the open window. Kytin and Leul followed her lead as Cross got up hastily to straggle along as well, diving through the flapping curtains into cold snow and blinding light outside.

—A Special Delivery—
“Ugh.” Grendel exclaimed in resignation as Riella on the other end hastily flipped off her comm, rushing off into another little squabble he was sure. “Kids these days have no attention spans.” He turned to BlastMule, who was happily fiddling with a creakily protesting bookshelf which looked ready to tip over at any moment. “You there, you do deliveries yes?” he said, and the rambunctious lad turned to face him, waving his stars’n’stripes significantly.
“Yeah, for a price. What’d you have in mind old man?”
“Magically enhanced teleport rocks,” Grendel said, going to a nearby chest to draw out a large leather sack, “I need you to get these to the other class leaders. Simple enough?”
“Ugh..” Mule complained, scratching under one arm, “You want me to lug a bag full of rocks all the way to the taxi stop?”
“Precisely.” Grendel said, thrusting the bundle into Mule’s arms and subsequently jingling a significantly smaller pouch. “If you want this that is.”

—Out of the Hallways and into the Town—
As he flew through the open window, that wild grin plastered across his features, Shard stopped to consider for a moment; ‘Why, why is it that we are compelled to kill one another in an endless cycle of blood and hate? Are we not in the end all human?’ but then, as he hit the snow bank and landed in a roll, converting his momentum into a full length snap of the arm that sent his bazlud spinning end over end through the air to lodge itself in the ankle of the fleeing Achoss ahead of him, spurting blood and sending the man sprawling, he concluded; ‘Ah that’s right. Because it freaking RULES!’
Cerusk turned in response to the agonized cry behind him, in time to see his brother crumple to the ground.
“Damn it Shard! This ends now!” the man said, turning as he slid backwards in the snow. He loosed several stars as the advancing bandit dodged and rolled, unarmed as he was, and Achoss struggled to pull the blade out of his ankle, sprawled in muddied slush as he was. Shard reached them then, stooping to pluck his dagger out of the man on the ground, but not before twisting it once, producing a satisfying cry, and tugging it out harshly. Cerusk growled sharply, and the bandit was forced to stumble back a few hasty steps under a rapid volley of flying pointy bits of metal doom.
Shard hopped back to a safe distance as Cerusk bent to pull Achoss to his feet, and Riella arrived beside him with the party.
“You’re still outnumbeeerd!” Riella crooned mockingly as she arrived.

—The Girl in the Red Bandanna—
The building sparkled brightly on the north side of Metropolis, a low, far reaching construction with several cannon like tubes protruding in all directions, thirty at least from what Blast saw.
“What is this place Ryyn?” he exclaimed to the man ahead of them, leading the the mage and duo of bots not far behind.
“Long distance rapid transit. We just call them blast pods.” he answered, and BlastMage ducked as a gleaming sphere twice his height quite literally blasted out of one of the cannons with a thunderous soundwave, flying far over their heads and off across the horizon.
“Are you kidding me!? You want me to climb in one of THOSE!?” he said, turning wide eyed to demand of the mobiles beside him.
The protesting Blast and his entourage met up with Maeve in the wide loading rooms inside, she striding irately across the wide space with the newly rescued (and sulking) NakMachine.
“Eheh.. and how might you be Maeve?” Blast said, smoothing the hair at the back of his neck nervously. She frowned at him, and the mobiles snorted at one another, and the mage laid a hand on his harness, keeping the robot well out of biting range of their recent adversary.
“Fine, now are you all ready to go?” Another pod a ways off to their right, sitting in a open top loading tube roared, and then blasted up a connecting chute and out of the building, making Blast jump again.
“Well yeah, about that.. isn’t there a teleport orb or something for this? Perhaps a nice… safe… stationary scroll mebbe?” The girl rolled her eyes, and took him by the wrist.
“First time in a blast pod, eh?”
“Yes.” he responded, torn, he didn’t want to be so impolite as to break her grip and run, but on the same note it would be really great if he didn’t have to get in the doomage ‘asplodie pod. “Is there a slower introductory course perhaps?” he said as the group behind them followed to the wall, two additional pods there, sitting with a fourth of the metal shell slid back to reveal a couple of raised seats and a sizable cargo area below.
“Oh, don’t be a baby, it’ll be fine.” she said, shoving him into the seat ahead of her, and plopping down beside him as her Nak scurried into place below her. “Though I suggest you fasten that.” Maeve added, buckling her own seatbelt. (And by that I mean sizeable-double-shoulder-harness.) Looking for any excuse to delay their departure, Blast looked back out to the others;
“What about my mobile, he’s coming with us isn’t he? Kal!!”
“No space,” she answered dismissively, adjusting the ever prominent bandanna, “Naks and Kals are both heavyweights, your Kal will be going with Ryyn and Armor, because the Armor is lighter.”
“Uhh..” he stammered, “Lift! What about you Lift? Who are you going with?”
“Ion teleportation drive Blast, I’ll meet you there!” it chortled happily, disappearing in a shower of blue sparks just before the pod slammed shut and pressurized with a hiss of air.
“Oh. Lucky you.” Blast grumbled, though it occurred to him then that Maeve wasn’t more than a pace or two away. “So, uh.. how fast does this thing go exactly?” he jittered nervously, attempting to make small talk –nervous partially for the attractive female beside him, and partially for the fact that he was sitting inside an explodey doomball. (He wasn’t sure which made him more nervous, but the ominous rumbling and sound of energy build didn’t help either way. Then again, neither did that tight jumpsuit.)
“Blast, we’re headed to the Nirvana Fire Ranges, and we’re going to be in here for less than five minutes. How fast do you think?” He turned slightly green in response, but painfully regained his suave composure and looked up at her again;
“I’m scared, hold me?” he asked hopefully.
“Nice try, but no.” though she did lay a hand over his stiff fingers, one twitching agately.
“It wasn’t even a nice try, mediocre at best.” the Nak grumbled below them, he’d forgotten it was there.
“Hey! I didn’t even as-” and then the world exploded, and our protagonist went screaming over the oddly colored terrain of Londe.

—Who’s Blasting Off?—
Riella blocked, dodged back, parried, forced her opponent back in turn.
“Not so tough one on one are ya’ boys?” Riella taunted, Cerusk working up a sweat holding her off.
“I’m sorry if..” he panted, “I specialize in long range.” Shard and Cross were keeping Achoss busy nearby, the assassin barely keeping a full pelt with a hasty block here and there, and a whole lot of backwards stumbling. Off behind them, Kytin sat on a brightly colored folding chair he’d planted in the snow, idly picking at the corner of one glove and staring off into space. (“Not like I’ll get a shot in at this rate.” he’d tell you.) Leul stood behind him, flicking her wand on occasion to heal the others. Suddenly, Shard got a shot in under the claw, stabbing a shallow jab between the armor plates. Achoss, already weak on only one stable leg, crumpled instantly, falling on his back in the snow, to wince reproachfully. He didn’t have much time to nurse the wounded tendon though, disappearing to the ethers in response to a pair of kumbis attempting to rip through his skull. Cerusk, seeing this, and now having three maplers converging on him, disappeared as well.
“Back to back, guard your heads!” Shard demanded, falling in behind Riella, as Kytin stood up, taking a few idle steps toward them.
“Star barrage hadoken!” a pair of harsh voices intoned;
Dropping out of thin air above them, the duo dropped on an unsuspecting party, claws whirring and stars raining, glowing hot with accelerated energies. Landing between the three, despite efforts to cluster close together, and blasted them apart, sprawled in opposite directions. Smug, the two readied more stars, but weren’t looking in quite the right direction. Chuckling to himself, Kytin finished screwing the explosive capsule onto an arrow, and drew it back across his bow.
“BULLSEYE!” the arrowbomb sailed across the short distance in hardly any time at all, and certainly not enough time for the sins to react, the blast throwing them (lightened by the effects of haste) off over the horizon.
“We’ll get you yet!” Achoss said, his voice trailing off as he cleared the rooftops.
“Argh!” Cerusk contributed.
The others, just out of range, stood up, shaking themselves sorely.
“Daaaaaamn.” CrossSlash said, shielding his eyes from the sun to look off after them. “I swear I saw a star flash, they must’ve flown over the Ice Valley at least!”

—Night on the Ice Fields—
“Odd,” BlastMule thought as he dropped down the narrow passage, “I wonder why the Dark Lord lives in a toilet anyway? It can’t smell too great.” Wrinkling his nose as he landed, the mule scrambled over the ropes of a nearby boxing ring to approach a dark figure affixed to the ceiling like some kind of ghastly chandelier. “Delivery for the Dark Lord of Kerningcity?” he said, pulling a glowing stone from the bag hefted on one shoulder.
“Yes.” the recipient answered darkly, spreading glowing red wings. “Grendel told me to expect you again. You’re to accompany me as well.”
“Accompany, to where? I’m a free spirit darkey buddy.”
“Oh, you’ll see, and you don’t want to miss this one.” The Dark Lord released his hold on the ceiling beam, and flipped forward to land on his feet, then spread an arm to cover the mule’s shoulders. “Come, let us talk.”

Meanwhile, in unnamed Darkstrider cronie one’s camp, set up on the cold plains near the Nath Ice Fields, five extra attendees slipped in under the cover of night to listen in on the meeting at hand.
“Tell me men, why are we here!” he shouted harshly to the torchlit crowds around him, squeezed into a small clearing amongst the tents and cookfires.
“The same reason we’re always here!” One lone guildsman shouted.
“To try and take over the world!” Another piped up in the most insane of tones.
“EXACTLY!”, unnamed Darkstrider cronie one commended, “Now, armor on, scrolls up, and tele out! Let’s get this thing started!” His call was met with cheers all around, save one small gaggle of adventurers who pulled out somewhat different (and less expensive to boot) scrolls. Tucking the elegant fairy wand back into her moonlight robes, Leul whispered to the blue-clad theif beside her.
“I hope this works.”
“Sure it will.” said a warrior who sheathed her traus across from the cleric, and as the crowd around them began to disappear, they opened their scrolls and let the magic take them.

—End of Pt13—