GadielMay 6, 4:26 pm, Queanbeyan, Australia
Gadiel didn"t waste any time. He slammed his hands onto the floor, and created a large platform of ice. The monsters attacking suddenly hit a literal ice pillar, while Gadiel and Medina rose swiftly atop it.
"I got the flying ones!" Medina yelled, c.o.c.king her gun. Gadiel had no choice but to leave them to her as he concentrated on keeping the ice cold enough to sustain them. Sweat broke out across his forehead from the strain; he had never done something like this before.
He kept his head down, concentrating on his work as gunfire and monster screams all blended into a cacophony around him. He was still among the chaos; silent among the sound, a bastion of concentration.
Cold.
Ice cold.
"Jump!" yelled Tarik.
Immediately, Gadiel leaped forward, not even questioning the order. Quickly, he noted that he was now on the second floor, and that Tarik was in front of him. He felt something hot just graze past his face.
BOOOM!
As Gadiel landed on the floor beside Tarik, he turned to find a weirdly pterodactyl-like monster falling, burnt to a crisp.
"You can make your fire explode on command now?" he asked Tarik, surprised.
"Only sometimes," grinned Tarik. "There"s kind of a knack to-"
"Enough chit chat, we gotta move!" snapped Medina, pointing the gun at Gadiel. Before he could say anything, she shot.
Right past him, between the eyes of a goat-headed, monkey monster. The monster fell.
"There"s too many of them, we gotta move," she said, reloading her gun swiftly. Her movements were smooth and practised, like some movie star in an action flick. Gadiel blinked in surprise; this was the same nervous girl who was gus.h.i.+ng about her OTP yesterday?
"Come on!"
Tarik and Gadiel snapped out of their moment of surprise, and followed Medina who was already moving past the tables.
"You sure this is your first time in a Monster Nest?" asked Tarik, jogging up beside her.
"In person, yes," she said. She held her gun with both hands, keeping it down just like the professionals. Well, like the professionals in movies anyway.
"But like I said, I"ve seen Monster Nests before," she went on, still walking. A monster suddenly turned the corner.
BANG!
A small hole appeared between the monster"s eyes, and it fell.
"And the shooting?" Gadiel asked.
"My dad owns a farm," Medina explained. "In Tasmania. We used to hunt for our food every summer."
Gadiel wanted to say something about how a hunting rifle wasn"t the same as a handgun, but then again, he wasn"t the one who was shooting a hole in monster"s heads at range.
Besides, he didn"t have the time to make quips. Monster from all around had been attracted to the noise, and were blocking their way to the Target.
"Move!"
"On your left, Gadiel!"
"Duck!"
The trio worked together, trying to clear a way through the slowly increasing influx of monsters. Gadiel and Tarik were already quite in sync, but it was taking a little time to incorporate Medina.
"Mine!" Gadiel yelled, throwing a spear at a monster that appeared far in front of them. At the same time, Medina shot the same monster.
"Leave the ranged ones up to me and Tarik," yelled Medina, lining up another shot. "You can take care of the close ones!"
Gadiel nodded; it was easier to fight with his ice powers at close range.
"My range is longer," Medina went on, speaking to Tarik as she shot another monster. "I"ll try getting the far ones, you take care of the ones too far for Gadiel to reach!"
With this formation in mind, the trio started mowing down the monsters. Now that their roles were sorted by range, the three of them got a lot more efficient at attacking monsters. Most of the monsters were already weakened by bullets or fire or both by the time they reached Gadiel, and if they weren"t they were in his ideal range.
It wasn"t all easy, however. Monsters didn"t just appear in the direction they were moving; sometimes they jumped out from the sides or behind. For those monsters, it was mostly up to Gadiel and Tarik to cover, as Medina had her hands full trying to thin out the back line with her range.
After a while, Gadiel began to notice that they were slowing down. With more monster"s coming from all sides, it was getting harder to move forward.
"Medina," he said softly as he sliced the head off a monster.
"I know," she growled back, eyeing up her next shot. "Let me think."
"ROOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAA"
Gadiel stabbed an ice knife straight through the monster"s throat to shut it up. As its eyes clouded over, Gadiel"s eyes were already on the next monster.
Fighting was easy. By the time monsters came to him, he already knew how they moved and dodged, what areas of themselves they protected. It was easy to make the monster move how he wanted them to, feinting attacks and hitting them where it really hurt. It was easy to be calm in all the movement, to watch everything and act when needed.
It was easy to find weakness. It was easy to exploit it. There were so many monsters around, so many weaknesses to push, to use.
It was easy, so easy.
Gadiel felt a wild grin start to spread on his face as he sliced through another throat.
And another. And another.
Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
"Gadiel!" yelled Tarik.
Immediately, Gadiel"s smile disappeared. He blinked, ducked under the bear paw coming at him, then started weaving his way out of the horde of monsters he had somehow made his way into.
He glanced back, and saw Tarik and Medina fighting by themselves, holding off a sudden influx on monsters coming from behind them. He and Tarik"s eyes met momentarily.
They knew what to do.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
With a roar, Tarik raised a wall of fire, burning all the monsters behind him. At the same time, Gadiel closed his eyes, and felt the coldness inside explode outwards, freezing everything.
It was over in an instant. The ambient noise of monsters moving and growling all disappeared, leaving only the sound of Gadiel the lights flickering. He could feel the cold expanding, his energy slowly sapping along with it.
With a sigh, he felt his energy run out, and the cold stopped moving. He fell to his knees, out of breath. A cold sweat broke out across his back as he noted how his arms were slick with blue blood.
He had fallen in again, just a bit. It Tarik hadn"t called him back…
Tarik.
His arms were jelly, and his legs worse, but Gadiel forced himself to get up. He looked up to see Tarik in a similar position to how he was before, panting on the ground.
"Tarik," he gasped, walking unsteadily towards him.
Tarik opened his eyes, and looked up at Gadiel. He grinned.
"I learned that one from you," he said, struggling to get up. Gadiel scoffed, and held out a hand.
"You"ve got a lot to learn, gra.s.shopper," Gadiel joked.
"It"s great you guys are having fun, but they"re regrouping," said Medina, eyes still on the monsters. "We gotta move."
As much as Gadiel hated to admit it, she was right. They needed to use this momentary lull in being attacked to make some progress. He helped Tarik to his feet, and limped towards their destination.
It wasn"t that far now. They were about a hundred meters from the corner, around which the Target was supposed to be, according to both Medina and the sign. Medina rushed a little ahead, looking back every now and then, worried.
"Are either of you hurt?" she asked.
"I"m fine," Tarik panted. "Just...tired."
Gadiel mirrored his statement as he helped Tarik limp closer to their destination.
"You were basically in the muck with the monsters there," Medina pressed. "You sure you didn"t get hit at all?"
"I mean, aside from a couple scatches-"
"Show me."
Medina"s demand was as sudden as her change into someone competent. Gadiel didn"t even protest, he simply showed her the cuts down his arm.
She holstered her gun, looked around for a moment, then gently took Gadiel"s arm. She closed her eyes, holding his arm like some sort of precious metal being offered up to a sun G.o.d.
"What are you..." Gadiel"s words trailed off as Medina"s hands began to glow red.
The glow slowly spread to Gadiel"s arm, then up his shoulder and spreading into his body. It felt warm, like a motherly hug, spreading slowly up his arm.
They stood like that for what felt like ages, Gadiel basking in the light. Soon, the warmth dimmed along with the light. Once it was gone, Gadiel opened his eyes to see his arm completely free of blemishes. Well, aside from the monster blood.
"What the..." Gadiel"s eyes grew wide.
"You"re a healer!" Tarik exclaimed, forgetting to be tired for a moment.
"I can restore stamina too, but only if you have some external injury," said Medina. "Sorry Tarik, looks like Gadiel"s the only one getting benefits this time."
"What if I hurt myse-"
"No time!" said Medina, raising her gun.
BANG!
Gadiel hadn"t even seen her unholster it. By the time he turned his head, the monster behind him was already on the floor, dead.
"We need to-"
"-move, got it."
"SKRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"
The trio turned once more, only to find a large boar monster flying at them. After shooting it twice, and skewering it with an ice spear, the monster fell to the floor with a splat.
"RUN!"
Gadiel picked Tarik up like a D*sney Princess and ran. Tarik seemed surprised, but Gadiel didn"t care. It was the fastest way.
They ran down and turned the corner, to see the iconic red Target sign above an empty, yet lit store.
And a whole h.o.a.rd of monsters right in front of it.
"ROOOOOOOOOOOAAA"
"AAAWOOOOOOOOOOOOO-"
"YYYIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-"
As soon as they saw the trio, they all ran towards them.
"Toss me into them!" yelled Tarik.
"What?"
"DO IT!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
With a yell Gadiel threw Tarik over the monsters.
"Behind!" yelled Medina.
Gadiel turned, only to find yet another h.o.a.rd of monsters coming from three different directions. They were trapped.
"We need to ge-"
"I GOT THIS!"
Gadiel breathed in as much air as he could. He watched as the monsters all seemed to slow down.
Cold.
Ice cold.
…
It was okay.
Tarik was here.
Gadiel slammed his hands on the floor. An ice wall, a least a meter thick sprang up in front of Gadiel, creating a barrier between the trio and the monsters behind them. A few unlucky monsters got frozen inside the wall. He made it go as high as it could, up to the ceiling, completely blocking them off.
BOOOM!
He turned, just in time to see an explosion blossom out from Tarik, slamming him into the ice wall he just created. The sheer heat and force of the fire pinned him there, unable to move.
Tarik screamed wordlessly, his voice a high pitched shriek of pain. Tear ran down his face as he stood there, suspended it the air, propelled up by the force of his own blast. Heat blasted from him, wave after wave, melting anything in its path.
"TARIK!" Gadiel yelled. "TARIK!"
But he couldn"t hear him. Gadiel could see it, his voice wasn"t reaching him.
He needed to get closer.
Gadiel grit his teeth, and steeled himself. He breathed in the burning air, frying his lungs, and grit his teeth and he focused the cold around himself.
He took a step.
Then another.
And another.
He didn"t know how long it took to finally get to Tarik. But suddenly, he was at his feet.
Gadiel looked up. Tarik was still screaming, tears streaming down his face. His eyes glowed orange, his hair and back on fire.
Slowly, Gadiel reached up and took Tarik"s hand.
Tarik instinctively looked down, but as soon as he saw who it was, his expression softened.
"You can"t burn me," Gadiel croaked. His lips and throat were dry as a desert. "I"m too cool for that."
Tarik blinked, and Gadiel could see the conflict in his eyes as he struggled against his instinct to immediately groan at his stupid joke. Slowly, Gadiel pulled Tarik down into a hug. The fire dimmed a little, getting just a little more bearable.
"Is this how I look when I"m...cold?" Gadiel asked. "No wonder you didn"t want me to fight monsters."
He felt Tarik"s grip tighten around his broad back.
"I"m here..." he whispered. "I"m here, Tarik."
The fire died down, until it was just the two of them. At some point, Gadiel noticed that Tarik had gone limp.
"Shhhh," said Gadiel, laying down the unconscious Tarik. He smile warmly at Tarik"s unguarded, sleeping face. He had never seen him like this before. He looked...small. Cute.
And incredibly sad.
As Gadiel stood up, he looked around. The entire area had turned black, except for the entrance to the Target. As he looked around, he found Medina, knocked out near what remained of the ice wall.
But as he walked towards her, a sudden wave of dizziness. .h.i.t him. Wobbling on his feet, he tried to regain his balance, but the fog in his brain was too much. He fell over, darkness overtaking him.