Black Market Merchant

“Ka-boom!”

The third Plain Strider had plowed into the last of the obstruction blocking the path. Dust, sand, and stone flew in all directions as if a bomb had gone off. The Plain Strider let out a deep bellow of victory and it looked around for their target, Lisa. Lisa, however, was nowhere to be seen.

The path leading up the cliff was only wide enough for a single Plain Strider to move around on unrestricted and there was nowhere for her to hid either. Meaning the only place Lisa could have gone was up the path. Looking that way, the Plain Strider searched the cliffs edge where Jake and the other ERM militia were finishing their retreat. The Plain Strider pawed the ground in anticipation of making a charge at the humans above. That was when a rock, larger than a basketball, smacked the unsuspecting Twisted square between the eyes.

“Up here idiot!” Lisa shouted from even further above.

Confused the Plain Strider looked up into the sky just as Lisa came crashing down onto its face, katana first. Rearing back and bellowing in pain the Plain Strider had been stabbed in the left eye and Lisa was still holding onto her weapon for dear life. Black blood splashed out from the wound making her grip harder to hold while the Plain Strider bucked about.

As the massive Twisted thrashed about it struck the cliffs walls and sent rock shards flying. Worried that the Twisted might try killing her against the wall Lisa prepared to get off the beasts face. Planting both feet on the Twisted’s massive muzzle, Lisa pushed off freeing her blade and the Plain Strider tossed its head towards the other two behind it just as she did.

Bad timing. Lisa was sent soaring towards the next Twisted that had been watching the whole time and it was ready for her!

As she was free falling Lisa saw that she was headed right for the open mouth of the second Plain Strider. This gapping mouth was full of blood stained and yellowed molars that were large enough to crush her entire body in one go. There was no way she could stop herself from her certain demise, but she saw this as an opportunity not as her fate.

With not a moment to lose Lisa twisted whole her body around to swing her katana like a rouge tornado armed with a blade. Using this rotating momentum, she extended the katana’s blade out to its full three meters and the blade struck the Plain Strider long before her body would have. The blackened blade slashed the Twisted’s nose and tore through its inner cheek to not only damage the beast but to slow her speed as well. The cut unfortunately was not deep enough to cause the Twisted any real damage due to the beasts thick hide.

Lisa’s new trajectory sent her tumbling down underneath the Plain Strider’s belly. Though infuriated and in pain the Plain Strider saw where she had gone to. The beast proceeded to try to step on Lisa with its hind legs before jumping back to get a clear view of Lisa.

Lisa in the meantime had landed heavily on her hands and knees before coming to a spinning stop in the sand. She dizzily looked up just as the first of the Plain Striders hind hooves came crashing down at her. Rolling to her right Lisa narrowly avoided being squashed as it had missed her by a hands width. The hoof landed with a powerful thud sending a wave of sand to cascade over her. The sand was blinding, and it covered her face and eyes!

Spitting and wiping at her eyes Lisa was unable to react properly to the second hoof coming for her. Luckily, luck was still on her side, for the Plain Strider had been blindly stomping at her hiding under its belly and the second hoof missed her by a meter. This miss, however, resulted in dowsing Lisa with another wave of sand to undo any progress she had made to regain her visibility.

The muzzle wounded Plain Strider landed with both front hooves on either side of its sand covered quarry. Letting out a heavy breath of confidence from its nostrils the Plain Strider stooped down to take Lisa out with one bite. Lisa had survived many battles before now and she could sense the monsters attack coming, even while blinded. Reacting swiftly to the ominous feeling of death approaching, Lisa stabbed upwards to skewer the already open wound in the Plain Striders muzzle.

Reeling back the Plain Strider furiously bellowed and retorted by swinging its massive horn at her instead. The massive horn was as thick as a powerline pole and able to flatten a building with ease. Lisa cleared one eye just intime to see this dangerous weapon coming right at her head. Reacting fast Lisa raised her sword to block the blow, though stopping it from her seated position was impossible.

Lisa was struck by the horn like a golf ball hit by a club. She was sent tumbling uphill with no control over the situation at all. Everyone watching from above were sure that the blow would have killed Lisa on the spot, but Lisa was a Cyborg Soldier not a normal human.

Lisa came rolling to a stop and she let out a gasp for breath. The blow was like getting hit by a truck head on. The world jostled before her eyes, and she could barely make out the new dire situation she had landed in. Lisa had come to a stop right in front of the first Plain Strider she stabbed in the eye!

The enraged beast spotted her with its good eye, and it roared at her while raised a hoof to flatten her for revenge. Lisa too was still blinded in one eye from the sand, so it was an even fight now. She tossed her hands above her head just before kicking upwards at the same to time to lift her body off the ground and stand upright. It was then she realized that her katana had been knocked from her hand!

She had no time to look for it and she jumped back to dodge the Plain Striders stomping attack. This time she made sure to cover her eyes from the wave of sand that followed the impact. However, the half blinded Twisted was not finished yet. It followed through with its stomp and turned it into a kick. Lisa braced herself for impact and caught the blow with her hands, though the difference in weight was clear and she was sent flying once again. This time she was sent over the paths edge to bounce down the stacked rocks and onto the scrublands below!

Lisa had more control over this landing as she had blocked the brunt of the kick and she was able to land sliding to a stop on her feet. This had now put her into a new situation, Lisa had landed right in the middle of the Night Hounds and Logos Cutters preparing to swarm the cliff’s path. Reaching into her pants pocket Lisa grabbed the last weapon she had on her, a standard issue military combat knife.

There was an odd moment of silence as the Twisted around her were too surprised by her sudden appearance to attack right away. This gave Lisa a chance to better grasp her surroundings. She saw that the immediate area was completely flat and covered by a dense cloud of dust. There was so much dust that it blocked any sight of her from those on the cliff.

“Perfect, just perfect.” Lisa muttered as she glanced around her at the gawking Twisted.

One of the Night Hounds let out a shriek and charged at her. Lisa spun around and planted her combat knife right into the elongated head of the Night Hound and then punched the dead creature off her weapon and into the hoard of monsters. This resulted in enraging the other Twisted and they all started to rush her in unison.

Lisa smiled. “Well, I was going to save this for later, but no one is watching me right now. Advanced Armament: Stage Two!”

…

Nathan saw Lisa get punted off the path and sink into the swirling dust below and he felt his heart sink. Though it looked like she might still be alive there was nothing now standing between them and the three Plain Striders and the rest of the hoard coming up from behind them. Feeling frustrated he chucked the rock in his hands down at the rising hoard.

“Don’t stop now!” Nathan yelled to the civilians by him. “This fight is far from over! We can still stop them.” Then softly he spoke to himself so that no one would overhear him. “At least I hope we can find a miracle to save us.”

“Zzzz- boom!”

The sound of a rocket whizzed overhead, and it struck the path in a blaze of fire sending a dozen Twisted flying in all directions.

“What was that?!” Nathan shouted.

Looking further down the cliff from them Nathan spotted an amazing sight. There was a tall Hunters Class Military Mech (HCMM) jogging their way. The HCMM was over 5 meters tall, with a black colored base tone with three big white stripes running vertically along its chest and back. The Mech belonged to none other than Tammy!

Nathan and many of the other humans atop the cliff watched with amazement as the big mech continued to run their way and it shot another rocket from a four holed launcher cannon mounted on its shoulder. This time the rocket was aiming for the lowest of the Plain Striders.

The rocket struck the Twisted right on its hind flank leaving behind a deep scalded wound. The blast also caused the Plain Strider to step off the path and start sliding over the edge. The Plain Strider struggled to pull itself back onto the path, but a third rocket ensure that it was knocked off for good.

By now the HCMM was nearly upon the townspeople. The big black Mech stopped running and raised a hand to give a friendly wave. Then a woman’s electronic voice rang out from the Mech.

“Hellooooo everyone! The Party Badger from the Hunters Clan has come to save the day!”contemporary romance

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