Colossus By Choice: Book 1 Verse 3

3001 P.G.E. (Post-Godzilla Era)

[Universal Date: Day 117]
[Planet: Pyrestar]
[Capital: Silver Sun City]
[Location: City wall limits]

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At the very edge of the outskirts of Silver Sun City, a travelling band of Oxbul blacksmiths has set up shop right next to the walls that separate civilization from the untamed Monster-filled wilds. The group's leader has decided to rest at this location for the night before they move out to cross the wild area to the next closest village. While they're staying, the burly, rude, and very tight-knit group of blacksmiths make good use of their free time to provide forging and maintenance services to the city scouts stationed atop the walls.

One of their members is currently bargaining with a potential customer from the city scouts.

The Draconi captain places his standard-issue assigned caster on the blacksmith's display table for inspection. For several minutes straight, the Oxbul smithy looks over the weapon with extreme care and precision, making sure to take in every single detail of every part; she's very gentle in handling it as she holds it up to examine it. She uses her magnifying goggles to peer in deep at the internal firing mechanisms, prods the ammunition feed with a pick, and other seemingly redundant time-wasting actions; Oxbuls are normally known for being quite blunt and to the point when it comes to most matters aside from tinkering with equipment.

The city scout captain starts to get very impatient.


(City Scout Cpt.): So what's wrong with--

(Yun-Tao): Shut up.

(City Scout Cpt.): How rude! I'm a captain of the City Scouts! I came here for earnest--

(Yun-Tao): Done.


Yun-Tao places the captain's caster back down onto the table and lifts up her goggles; her eyes are left entirely pristine compared to the rest of her face and body being covered in soot and ash. She doesn't look amused a all; she seems quite annoyed at the Draconi's impatience at her in-depth inspection.


(City Scout Cpt.): Okay then.... So what--

(Yun-Tao): Your Pyrestar Casting Y94 Electro Rail Caster is utter garbage.

(City Scout Cpt.): That's a bit harsh. I mean, this is provided directly by Silver Sun City's best--

(Yun-Tao): The ammunition feed is prone to jamming during sustained fire due to poor machining of the loading chamber. Said loading chamber hasn't been oiled in over 200 days and will reduce loading speed. The electromagnetic launching rails need full replacement lest they explode the next time you try and fully charge the caster. The grip's bolting is liable to pop off at the slightest bit of physical trauma. And finally.... it's just plain ugly.


The city scout captain is left dumbfounded by the sheer list of mechanical issues that the Oxbul blacksmith found in her inspection. He's not even angry or annoyed; he's simply astonished that she found so many things wrong with what he assumed to be a perfectly fine weapon that was provided to him. The captain puts both hands down onto the table and looks down at his caster, unsure of what to make of it all. While he's contemplating what to do, Yun-Tao simply waits; she's now the one tapping her finger on the table with impatience.


(Yun-Tao): 1500.

(City Scout Cpt.): Huh? What?

(Yun-Tao): 1500 to replace all the faulty parts and perform desperately needed maintenance.

(City Scout Cpt.): 1500ct? That's absurd!

(Yun-Tao): It's either we fix it up for you, or you risk that thing exploding the next time you get into a serious firefight. And that one can cost you your life, which I think is worth just a teensy bit more than 1500ct.

(City Scout Cpt.): Ah, forget this! The watchtower techs can fix it up just as good for 800!


The city scout captain storms off and flies up to his watchtower post. As he flies off, Yun-Tao gets back to cleaning her equipment and checking on the forge; she dims the forge and covers up all the weapons and armour with a sheet. With her work done for the day, she takes off her work mitts and apron and gets ready to turn in for the evening. Before she can go into her tent, she's given a quick slap into the back of her cranial bone plate, prompting her to turn around; she turns around and sees a much larger Oxbul blacksmith behind her with twisted horns jutting upward and out from the back of his bone plating.

The 2 of them smile at one another before then roaring upwards; the 2 large, upright, and very hairy bovines proceed to headbutt each other hard. Both of them then lock hands with one another and hold their heads together for several seconds before pulling their heads away to look into each other's eyes.


(Yun-Tao): Geng, you're already finished?

(Geng-Tao): Indeed, my love. Managed to get some city scout privates to let me fix up their armour. Much more liable to listen to a gruff old Oxbul like me.

(Yun-Tao): You're not that old, honey. Certainly still young enough to give this gal some calves.


Yun and Geng-Tao press their cranial plating together and rub them gently; they growl softly to one another for a few seconds. The husband-wife pair is interrupted by sudden shouting from above, prompting them to run out into the open to look up at the top of the walls. They see a Draconi city scout flying above and shouting about artillery; they then see crimson lights in the sky raining down all over the wall, the artillery in question. The 2 lovers look at one another and nod before then grabbing weapons from the barrels at their workstations.

The pair is soon joined by the rest of the travelling group of Oxbuls; they all had the same idea as Yun-Tao and her husband and are brandishing their weapons. The first salvos of artillery hit the tops of the walls, causing debris to come crashing down; the Oxbul blacksmiths remain resolute and almost seem eager at the opportunity to fight an invading enemy force.

The city scout captain from earlier flies down in front of the group and puts out his hand to stop them.


(City Scout Cpt.): Hold it! This is a city matter! We won't have civilians getting caught in the crossfire!

(Geng-Tao): Until the military gets here, you need all the help you can get Draconi! Ain't no better fighters than the horde!


The entire group of Oxbuls howls and yells together as a show of their eagerness for battle.

The city scout captain grumbles a bit, but he ultimately relents and flies off to join the rest of his unit in defending the walls. Shortly after he leaves, cracks in the lower portions of the wall start forming; some pieces are blasted out entirely soon after, a clear sign of whoever is attacking the walls going directly through the bottom. As the invading enemy force continues to slowly break through the walls, the Oxbul blacksmiths give a unanimous battle cry and charges in as a single brutal horde.

The unknown enemy force creates a large hole in one of the sections of the wall, allowing them to pour through unimpeded. These armoured foes charge straight toward the Oxbul horde, engaging in a brutal battle with the clashing of swords against hammers, steel against steel, crimson energy bolts against flame belch. Despite their barbaric and crude fighting style, the horde proves to be an equal match to the numerically superior enemy force due to their brutal efficiency, immense physical strength, and sheer tenacity and aggressiveness.

Geng and Yun-Tao fight back to back, tag-teaming the enemy to deadly effect. When Yun ducks underneath an assailant's sword swing, Geng blows them away with his spread caster; when Geng sidesteps to evade an energy bolt, Yun knocks the shooter away with her mighty war-hammer. Together, the 2 of them are unstoppable.

Before they can maintain this momentum, though, a massive armoured soldier that dwarfs all of the youngling-sized troops and even most of the Oxbuls comes crashing down on top of Geng-Tao and pins him down beneath his huge ape-like foot. Yun attempts to swing her war-hammer into the unknown assailant's head, but he stops it with a single hand; he then gives her a strong uppercut with his other hand, knocking her away. Yun-Tao is quick to get back to her feet and runs back to try and help her husband, but she barely manages to stop herself when she sees that Geng has pulled out a grenade and primed it to detonate.


(Geng-Tao): Stay away from my wife, you damn dirty ape!


Just before the grenade explodes, the unknown assailant gives a solid punch into the back of Geng-Tao's head to bury him in the ground before then diving away; the handheld bomb detonates right as he does so, exploding into a massive cloud of blue energy that knocks Yun-Tao away.

Although the blast-wave was immense, Yun-Tao is still alive and breathing. As she slowly gets up to her feet, she sees the fallen bodies of her brothers and sisters in forge and those of the unknown invading enemy force. Before she can fully grasp what's going on, she hears several casters being activated and pointed at her back; she sees the enormous armoured soldier from before dropping off a wingless Draconi city scout and an elderly Radent at some crates; they're both tied up and unconscious. The large man walks up to Yun-Tao, who is still being held up by his underlings.

The unknown assailant whistles to the smaller soldiers under his command, prompting them to fire electro-stun rounds directly into Yun-Tao's back. The immense amount of electricity, combined with her weakened state, forces her onto her hands and knees, though she's still conscious and resisting the shock damage; she manages to look up at her husband's killer, though she can't open her mouth to speak.


(Unknown Assailant): Another good one to spread word about us. Welcome to the reclamation.


The enormous armoured superior stomps down on Yun-Tao's face, finally knocking her out.