Written by: Epicstu Wyyvernwriter

A bi-peddle reptile crept silently through a dense forest of trees that were each easily a hundred feet thick. Her faded black hide seemed to move like the reflection of water over her well-toned body and under the scales and spikes on her back, head, tail, and limbs. Her three-toed feet stepped over the roots of the trees with such subtly that even the smallest of twigs took her weight with ease. The apex predator’s eyes scanned the area as she tasted the very air around her for the God Wyyvern she was hunting. She turned her head to the sound of bullets, explosions, and mic chatter three klicks north of her position. She had to focus, her priority was the God Wyyvern, and she had no time for such distractions. “Daddy, I’m out of ammunition, and the Mountain has reached the city.” Her telepathy allowed the chatter to echo in her mind. “No Madoline! Get out of there!” She stopped the call to protect overwhelming her better judgment. “We aren’t gonna make it.” Annoyed that she had to divert from her task, the Apex grunted and decided it may not be such a bad idea to stop for a quick bite.

*        *

20 minutes earlier…

In a Military dreadnought just above the planet’s atmosphere, General Gabri Tol barked orders to his men. “Alright, men! Listen up! This will not be a seek and destroy mission,” he began. “This is a seek and stop mission. The priority is exactly one-thousand klicks away Mountain class Titan’s position and closing. The city of Huul Drai and her citizens get closer and closer to death with every step that  Mountain takes. Steps that Huul Drai will never feel or hear because those big ass trees down there have roots and those roots are muffling and halting the earthquake level events that Mountain is making. Now do your jobs! Get out there and stop that thing!”

“Oorah!” shouted Reg Cor, a Command Master Chief of the United Universe’s Peoples’ Government. The UUPG was founded as a united belief that all life is worth preserving. Reg piloted a heavily armed and extremely maneuverable dropship capable of holding the entire squad if necessary. “You heard him, drop in and slam on the breaks. Everybody check in.”

“Commander Taz, ready for another smooth ride,” hotshot Taz Esque was the first to respond as he revved the engine of his Assault Bike, a closed-cockpit bike with huge wheels and a lot of tactical weaponry.

“Waiting to die,” replied Francis Utili with fear and depression masked behind his sarcasm. His armor plugged into his nervous system could heal and cure him of anything accept Death. “My only gun is loaded and the safety is off.”

“Francis, lighten up. As long as I’m still breathin you’re gonna be waitin a long time to die, Babe,” Jessy Dryvv replied to her husband Francis Utili and her Master Chief. Running her jetpack through its system’s check, she loaded her weaponry and counted her Drop Healths. “I’ve only got ten DH grenades.”

“More than enough,” Clover Danil reassured Jessy as he started up his Mobile Fortress, a moving structure designed to provide cover and a foothold where there would be none. The thrusters primed, “the floating castle is ready for drop.”

“Betty’s been locked and loaded,” Madoline Cor, Reg’s daughter replied excitedly and with confidence. She piloted Betty, a Breaker Class Tank designed for speed and mobility. Its rail-gun could fire anything with enough force to put a hole through a mountain.

“Big Bird’s ready to fly,” Trella Solir, pilot of the dropship that carried Betty, chuckled in reply. “Don’t worry, Master Chief, I’ll take good care of our daughter out there.

“See that you do,” Reg started up his fighter. “Alright men, three. Two. One. Drop!” The floor opened up beneath them, and they dropped into planet Vinn’s atmosphere and gravitational pull.

Using her jetpack, Jessy Dryvv bolted down to the surface pulled her sniper rifle and fired a tracking bullet at the Mountain class Titan, “target marked.”

“We see it,” Reg responded. “I want the Fortress in front of that thing five minutes ago. Esque, Utili, you’re with me. Everyone else, you know what to do!”

“Uh, Chief,” said Jessy with concern.

“What is it Dryvv? We not clear?” Reg asked.

“It’s not alone Chief,” Jessy’s response came through the coms channel just as the rest of the squad broke through the clouds above the planet. As they fell, they saw them. Three other Titans.

“Confirmed,” Reg responded. “Give me classifications.”

“One Hurricane class Storm Titan and two Leviathan class Titans,” replied Jessy. “One water and the other lava.”

“Where there are Leviathans there will always be a Tsunami class,” Francis added.

“Damn it!” Reg snapped. “Trella, drop Madoline off and go warn the Dreadnaught before it’s too late.”

“Fortress is in the path of the Mountain, three klicks,” said Clover as he activated the giant saws on the rear of the fortress to cut a path behind him. The literal living Mountain was not made of stone, rock, or metal, but rather of the Elements that made them up. It stepped forward with a split base, and its mouth could swallow an entire city. “Engaging Barrier,” he activated an energy shield that covered the front of the Fortress and shot up to match the height of the Mountain walking towards him, thirty thousand feet. “Braced for Impact,” Clover was just in time for the Mountain to reach him. Unphased, it kept moving forward, pushing the Fortress slowly towards Huul Drai now only seventy klicks away.

“Madoline, get down there and help Clover,” Reg ordered. “Esque, we got some Leviathans to kill.”

“Throw her in reverse, Clover, and your middle front and rear hatches,” Madoline requested.

Clover did as she asked, “ready when you are.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing kiddo,” Trella said to Madoline.

“Just drop me facing Clover, Mom,” Madoline replied. Driving through the front hatch she stopped inside, “Attention citizens of Huul Drai, there is a Mountain class Titan walking towards you,” they could not hear her, but she knew that. With Betty’s electromagnetic reload system she loaded the saws on the back of the Fortress and kept them spinning as they continued to cut through the one hundred foot thick trees behind them with ease. The saws shot forward along with a blast from Betty that obliterated the trees behind them. The saws only stopped when they hit the wall of the city. “Just thought you’d want to know.” She could hear the sirens go off as Hull Drai suddenly became aware of the threat. “Why did we not warn them ourselves? Whatever, the path is clear.” She backed out of Fortress’s front, “close it!” she rotated Betty one hundred eighty degrees, “throw it in neutral!” she used the recoil from Betty’s gun to back herself into the Fortress as she fired one explosive slug at a time in succession at the Mountain, “I’m driving!” She backed them towards the city.

“Fifty klicks!” Clover shouted the distance between the Mountain and Huul Drai.

“You Leviathans are marked,” said Jessy. “I can’t mark the Hurricane.”

“You and Francis take care of the Hurricane,” Reg replied. “Taz, We need to get them to run into each other.”

“On it!” Taz was already airborne, in the middle of performing an epic trick that no one saw, but he didn’t care. He activated the all liquid terrain propulsion system and with flashy skill skid along the backs of the two leviathans jumping back and forth between them. They were like massive flying rivers compared to his Assault Bike. Trying to get him off they shot at each other, breathing molten lava and beams of water in high-velocity bursts. Taz dodged their fire performing tricks between them as a thick steam began to brew around them. “Uh, it’s getting hard to see here, Chief,” Taz nervously chuckled. “The steam is masking their signatures on my radar, “I’m backing out.”

“Well then move your ass,” Reg responded as he used his ships thrusters to dissipate the steam, but the Titan’s were now gone.

Taz opened his bike’s cockpit, smoothly dismounted his bake as he parked it with a one hundred eighty degree turn, and pulled the sunglasses off his perfect face “Where’d they go?” From out of nowhere the water Leviathan hit Taz. Just a few klicks away Francis, anchored to the ground by his armored suit, had the Hurricane boxed in using energy shields projected from his BFG while Jessy kept him alive. Jessy, ever vigilant, noticed Taz’s vitals drop and immediately turned and fired a Health Shot at Taz. “I’m up! Wow, that’s strong shit,” Taz shot up immediately as his body became fully healed.

“That was too close, Taz, you were almost de…” said Jessy, then she saw, “Lava is coming! Taz! get to your bike!”

Taz turned and saw the lava Leviathan rushing at him, its gaping maw open for him. Taz put his sunglasses back on and ran to his bike, making it just as the lava Leviathan came down upon him. Taz sped off as it tunneled into the ground where he had been, “that was too close,” Taz admitted to Jessy being right with a light laugh. Like a geyser of lava, the Leviathan returned to the surface through Taz’s Assualt Bike which immediately slowed to a complete shutdown.

“Taz!” Jessy shouted.

Francis Looked at the living Hurricane in front of him and looked at his wife, “you know I’m your husband, right?”

“Shut up, muffin,” Jessy replied. “You’re fine.”

“I’m okay,” Taz finally responded. “but my bike is toast. So am I with one more hit.” The water Leviathan then ate Taz’s bike with him in it. “There is water leaking in here, what’s going on?” He could not see without his bike’s heads-up display.

“Hold on Taz!” Reg shouted, “I’ll get you out of there.” He put full power to his ship’s thrust towards Taz, planning to dive through the Leviathan and pull the entire bike out. He had to divert course and change his plan when the lava Leviathan came for him.

“My bike is half filled with water,” Taz interrupted. “Or is it half empty?”

Even with the fastest model in the fleet, the lava Leviathan still gained on Reg roaring viciously. “Chill out,” Reg said as he dropped a Flash Freeze Bomb. The lava Leviathan froze immediately. Then the ice began to melt, and the lava Leviathan exploded forcing Reg to crash land. “Madoline, did you stop the Mountain?”

“Daddy, I’m out of ammunition,” Madoline responded, “and the Mountain has reached the city.”

“No Madoline! Get out of there!” Reg shouted

“We aren’t gonna make it,” Clover interrupted.

“Am I really the only one doing well?” Francis interrupted.

“Shut up Muffin!” Jessy replied. “I’m coming Mad!” Mad was Jessy’s nickname for Madoline.

“Looks like we all go out together,” said Madoline as the Mountain’s first step on the city came closer and closer.

Gargling could be heard from Taz’s channel then, suddenly, “The water’s going down,” Taz coughed.

“Reg crawled from his downed ship, “what the, is anyone else seeing this”

The Apex drank the water Leviathan off of Taz’s bike and jumped, landing in the eye of the Storm Titan and became a cold churning pool of water within it. As the Titan began to dissipate, she absorbed it into herself before rushing after the lava Leviathan. Francis disarmed his BFG, “that’s it. I’m done drinking.” With the elemental power of the Storm Titan, she had just consumed the Apex created a strong wind funnel that pulled the lava Leviathan into her mouth, and she ate it. Though a liquid, she bit into the Leviathan as though it were flesh and blood. Then she belched out a stationary, ever growing, sphere of lava as she turned to Reg who was helping Taz out of his bike.

“Come on, we gotta…” Reg was interrupted by the sphere which shot forth as a beam and turned the Mountain class Titan to dust just before it would have crushed Madoline, Clover, and the city of Huul Drai.

Taz took his sunglasses off as the creature standing before him roar so loud, “I bet the entire planet heard that” Taz commented as he held his ears.

“Don’t move a muscle,” Reg advised as he put himself between Taz and the reptile. Then it suddenly turned and started walking away. Reg looked down and saw, in the best penmanship he had ever seen, Your Welcome, carved into the ground.

“That things handwriting is better than your mother’s” Taz commented with a raised eyebrow of slight disbelief as he put his sunglasses back on.

Reg’s coms suddenly lit up, “Commander Master Chief Cor. Come in Cor, do you read?” Shouted Trella from the Dreadnaught.

“This is Cor, I read you. Go ahead,” Reg responded.

“The Tsunamis are here,” Trella replied. “We need you to return immediately. They must be stopped before they submerge the planet.”

Reg looked down again, but the words had changed to, Get me up there. “Madoline, report,” ordered Reg.

“Betty and the Fortress are in peak condition, and the city is undamaged,” Madoline replied, then she muttered under her breath, “except for the saw blades I launched at there wall.”

“Listen up! Taz’s bike and my ship are toast,” Reg addressed his entire squad. “A water Tsunami and a lava Tsunami are heading for the planet now. Everyone one the Fortress, our job is not done yet.”

“How are we gonna stop two Tsunami’s the size of suns from reaching the planet?” Francis brought about a very good point.

Reg looked at the Apex, “We appear to have a volunteer.”

“That thing?” Taz protested.

“The people we just saved have three legs, seven arms, and four heads. Your problem is with having to work with this?” Clover asked pointing at the Apex.

“Well, when you put it like that, it makes me sound like an asshole,” Taz replied.

“You are an asshole,” Clover replied as he started up the thrusters needed to break atmosphere.

“Stow the fear, ladies! We are clearly on the same side here,” Reg ordered, “besides, I’m pretty sure we aren’t on her menu.”

“I think she’s cute!” Madoline was already climbing all over the Apex. She crawled onto her head and looked into her eye with a smile, “you just want to help, don’t ya?” Madoline fell to the floor with a thud after the Apex grunted and shrugged her off. “Alright,” she scratched her head and returned to her feet. “Then what do you want?” she asked the Apex and the Apex looked at her almost as if she had an answer for her.