Colossus By Choice: Book 1 Verse 2

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

[Universal Date: Day 117]
[Planet: Pyrestar]
[Capital: Silver Sun City]
[Location: Beyond capital outskirts]

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Out in the wilderness beyond, several small figures sneak through the tall grass plains where herds of Aptonoth and Kelbi graze. They're small even compared to the horned peg-legged herbivores and absolutely dwarfed by the reptilian spike-tails. However, these shadowy figures make up for their size with great speed and stealthiness; not a single member of the herd takes notice of the trio as they duck and weave over and underneath the Monsters with grace and ease.

The trio soon comes upon what they were looking for: a large open patch of ground containing all the egg clutches of the Aptonoth herd.

The lead figure pulls off his hood, revealing himself to be a rodent-like member of the Radent species. He seems to be quite old for his people, as all of the fur on his droopy rat face and exposed hands and feet is greying. He's overcome with a big toothy smile as he looks at the vast expanse of Aptonoth eggs. The other 2 figures that were following his lead land behind him and take off their hoods, revealing themselves to be younger female Radents. Both of them have light brown fur, though one of them has grey stripes running down her nose to signify she's starting to get older like their leader.


(Skrill): Good, we weren't detected by the herd. The eggs with the best scents have the best genes, which means the best prices on the black market.


The youngest member of the smuggler trio crouch-walks right next to Skrill and puts her hand on his shoulder as she looks over the Aptonoth nests.


(Emni): Master, which scents should we pursue specifically?

(Skrill): Anything above moderate grade. Fit them into your pockets as best as you can. If you find yourself getting full up, dump the lowest scented eggs and make your way to the secret entrance in the city wall.

(Emni): Okay, master. I'm on it.


The young apprentice sets out sniffing all the eggs. She turns her nose away from most of them, but a few them catch her attention; she promptly picks these ones up and stores into her dimensional backpack; the other 2 smugglers get to work soon after. While Skrill eagerly sifts through Aptonoth eggs and stores the best ones into the pocket-dimension of his backpack, the other member of the trio is a bit slower; she's constantly looking up from raiding nests to stare at their aged leader, slowing down her overall progress. This rate of progress is noticeable enough that both Skrill and Emni stop what they're doing and crouch-walk over to their team member.


(Skrill): Beeba, what's the matter? You've been preoccupied a lot on our runs lately. We're a team, so you can tell us what's wrong.


Beeba stands up, prompting Skrill and Emni to drag her back to the ground so as to not alert the Aptonoth herd. Luckily, the grazing herbivores haven't taken notice of them yet, though Beeba doesn't seem perturbed at all at having almost given away their position; she seems to be completely spacing out. This prompts the elderly Radent to shake her wildly, finally getting her attention.


(Skrill): Beeba, please.... What is it?

(Beeba): Don't you ever get tired of it all?

(Emni): What?

(Beeba): We could use our talents for so much more, to help dispel stereotypes that the other species have about us Radents being nothing more than thieves. And yet here we are, a bunch of thieves proving their biases.

(Skrill): What's gotten into you? We've been smuggling for over 10 years now with you happily following me, and you're just now getting doubts? I don't buy it. Something happened on one of our recent runs.


Beeba looks away from her teammates with a look of shame, wiping away the skepticism on the others' faces; they're replaced by looks of worry. Skrill and Emni move in closer and try to physically comfort her, but she shies away from their embrace and turns her back on them; the elder and youngling Radents look at each other with confusion at this turn of character from their fellow smuggler. Beeba stands up once more and begins walking away, prompting Skrill and Emni to quickly crouch-walk after her in order to not give away their position.

Before they can reach her, a loud screeching roar from above catches everyone's attention.

From the sky, a massive red winged beast comes diving down towards the Aptonoth herd, sending them into a stampeding panic. The herd scatters together into the direction of the smugglers, trampling on some their own eggs; thankfully, the trio were left unharmed in the confusion. Unfortunately for the Radent smugglers, something much more dangerous than stampeding herbivorous Monsters has arrived on the scene. In front of the group is a struggling sub-adult Aptonoth that's being pinned down by the the talons of a Rathalos. The young Monster's resistance was already futile, but the red-shelled Flying Wyvern takes no chances; he puts his jaws around the Aptonoth's head and gives one mighty tug, snapping its neck instantly.

The Rathalos releases his grip on his prey's neck and prepares to feast on its side, but he suddenly takes notice of the 3 smugglers trying to sneak away from the scene. The red wyvern takes a few sniffs and snarls upon finding their scent not to his liking. Despite their sheer size difference, the scent of the Aptonoth eggs on them marks them as potential predators. Rathalos immediately becomes aggressive and roars at them in order to assert his dominance and claim to his meal.


(Skrill): GO! I'LL DRAW HIM AWAY SO THAT YOU 2 CAN GET AWAY WITH THE HAUL!

(Emni): But master! What about--

(Skrill): JUST GO! I'LL CATCH UP!


Emni tries to stay with her master, but Beeba quickly pulls her away from the scuffle. Once the 2 of them are clear, Skrill makes a dash for the walls lining Silver Sun City's outskirts. The Rathalos is quick to follow, running across the tall grass and launching fireballs from his mouth sporadically; Skrill manages to dodge every shot, though they get closer to him with every blast. Just as the old man finally starts tiring out somewhat, the red-shelled Flying Wyvern belches out a final fireball that explodes behind him, sending him flying away; he slams right into the outskirt walls and slumps down next to it.

The elderly Radent smuggler is left quite weak from impact and can only manage to open one eye and look up at the approaching apex predator. Rathalos lumbers up to the wall and looks down at his downed quarry; he utters a low growl and starts to emit flames from the sides of his mouth. Before he can finish off the tiny nuisance, noises off in the distance behind him get his attention. As he looks behind him, the Rathalos becomes overcome with uncharacteristic fear and immediately takes flight, leaving Skrill gravely wounded but alive at the foot of the city walls.

Skrill tries to get up to his feet, but he collapses due to his injuries.

As he slumps onto the wall behind him, he looks out at the expanse of wilderness in front of him and sees several crimson lights shooting out of the trees. These crimson lights fly up for several hundred metres before then arcing down and splitting apart into several smaller lights. He looks to his left and up where these crimson lights are predicted to fall on.

The red lights crash down on the city walls with immense explosive force, easily taking parts off the top of the wall and cracking the rest. These cluster munitions continue to rain down on parts of the wall, destroying even more of the infrastructure. While Skrill continues to sit in place, unable to move due to how much his wounds have weakened him, he can hear the sounds of shouting from behind the wall. The shouting appears to be from Oxbul blacksmiths who had set up shop next to the opposite side of the wall to service the city scouts' equipment.

The aged smuggler hears some heavy footsteps coming toward him, prompting him to look forward and upward once more. An extremely large humanoid garbed in heavy olive-green armour places his ape-like foot down in front of Skrill.


(Skrill): You know.... I'm not much good to you in my condition right now. Better off killing me or leaving me.

(Unknown Assailant): Not just yet. You'll be perfect to spread word about us.


Skrill blacks out just as the large man reaches down to grab him.