KWR: Escape

Venus: Kira

   Tame glanced over at the chase and whistled. “Wow, I gotta say Kira, I didn’t see that coming.” She crouched low and put her hands up. “So come on, surprise me again.” She tilted her head to Shoji, “Try and take him from me.”

Sweat dripped down Kira’s hood. Her powers were still new to her, and she was tiring fast. She’s too strong, I can’t take her on like this. She looked frantically from Shoji to Tame.

“Kira watch out!” Yb cried. He kicked her legs out from under her as a black tendril lashed out overhead.

It slid back to Qu’Tashi and reformed back into his arm. His face was twisted in pain, but his eyes burned with rage. “I would prefer if you would just die instead.” His arm melted into black ooze and shot out at them.

“Kira!” Shoji leapt out in front of them, and the tendril stopped just short of piercing his chest.

Shoji grinned as the tendril slid back. “Looks like you need me alive? That’s good to know.”

Then Tame stepped forward and smashed her armored fist into his jaw. Shoji hit the ground like a bag of rocks.  

He rolled to face Kira and spat out a wad of blood. “Get out of here,” he said weakly, “Just go…”

Kira’s hood tightened, but she grabbed Yb and rolled off of the platform, plummeting  toward the venusian surface 500 km below.

Yb screamed in terror as they fell past the still bound Osthelek. Kira was falling silently behind him. Suddenly Strider flew up underneath and caught them gently in its hand before placing them into the cockpit.

Kira quickly strapped herself into the pilot seat. [Strap yourself in, we are leaving!] She eased back on the controls to leave, when suddenly the mecha stopped short. They looked down, and saw Osthelek’s fingers wrapped around Strider’s torso.

The beast held Strider in his hand like a doll. Qu’Tashi’s laughter boomed from the station, “Very impressive Ms. Takala, I must admit you caught me off guard.” His laugh cut off suddenly, and when he spoke again it was ice cold. “But you can’t imagine that I’ll just let you go. Osthalek, kill them.”

Osthalek looked from Qu’Tashi back down to Strider in its hand. It took hold of the mecha’s legs, and started to pull. The mecha strained, but Kira couldn’t match the elder god’s power.

Just as she felt the metal begin to give way, Osthelek let them go and bellowed in pain. Kira looked up to see Qu’Ry clawing at Osthalek’s eyes before she dived down and grabbed onto the crippled mecha. As the station grew smaller and smaller in the distance, Kira finally began to relax. She looked over her shoulder at the Yb and said, [We’ll get him back, Yb. I promise.] She turned back quickly as tears started sliding down her face.
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Qu’Tashi watched them fly away silently. Tame approached cautiously from his side and said, “Should we go after them? My dragon and I can outrun them.”

“Haven’t you failed me enough recently?” Qu’Tashi snapped, “You underestimated the savant, and now she has escaped with the time walker.” His face twisted into a vicious snarl

She shrank back, and knelt down. “Please, my lord, forgive me.”

He pulled the knife out of his shoulder and threw it into the ground in front of her.  With a wave of his hand, the wound closed.  Qu'Tashi paused, and let out a long sigh. “I’m sorry, child, you couldn’t have known she was a savant, even I thought they were all dead.” He shot a quick glare at Jorath, who had reappeared behind him. “There is no reason to pursue them now,” his voice slipped back into a snarl, “though I am sure they will be a hindrance later.” He closed his eyes and took a moment to collect himself.

     “For now, however, we have far grander plans.” He clenched his fist and raised it up, and on cue Osthalek floated up into the chamber. “Prepare the ships, we’re going to Earth. We don’t want to miss the battle.” He closed his eyes and sighed contentedly. “All of the pieces are gathering for one final Battle Royale.” He glanced down at Shoji and grinned, “Are you ready to see your heroes die?”

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Finally here's the last part of this segment! originally this was going to be one long chapter, but the author and I added a lot of extra bits and revisions, and it got so long that we decided to split it into 3 shorter chapters instead.  Seeing as I got to draw 3 pictures that I'm very satisfied with, I can't complain. enjoy!