War of the Sun: 25

Part 1.25:

“Wrecking the forest in a badass machine!”

“Where chaos and fire feel calm and serene!”

“A more beautiful evening has never been seen!”

“Evening? My watch says morning at 8:15.”

“The clock must be stuck. It’s actually getting late.”

“Hey, I’m the one working! Carry your own weight!”

With the broken city of Sun not too far in the distance, the massive mechanical monstrosity moved slowly forwards, emitting a large burst of fire into the forest with each step. The machine was structured similarly to a drone, with three huge feet and two arms, but this thing was over two stories tall, and it had no apparent head. Inside its center, Akilli was piloting the entire contraption, while Illika strolled aside the thing’s legs outside on the ground. The two maintained their insane dialogue through radio headsets each had equipped over their heads.

As the monstrous machine tumbled forwards, it crashed around the flaming empty trees, crackling flames engulfing all the surrounding area emerging from its arms. Below, Illika walked carefully over all the burning greenery, keeping pace with the robot as Akilli piloted it deeper into the forest.

Akilli spoke in a singsong voice. “We’re heading towards the ship to confirm they are dead.”

“And on our way through the forest, we’re painting it orange and red,” Illika responded, bored. As she stepped over a burning branch, she looked up to see a Ravager, snarling, coming straight for her. She drew a rapier from her side, neatly parrying the furious charge. The Ravager twirled around on the ground, only to catch Illika’s expert sword thrust into its face, which instantly killed it.

“These things keep trying to kill me,” complained Illika.

“They must think that you’re very pretty,” explained Akilli. Illika rolled her eyes, knowing full well that Akilli, by commenting on Illika’s looks, was only complimenting herself.

The robot trudged onwards in the direction of the wrecked ship, torching up the jungle. Out of the maze of trees dashed Cyclone, Vida, Zia, Fletch, Raizor, Friday, and the other Felinus, whose name was Jhuk, as he explained when leading the group towards the massive robot.

“What the hell…” Cyclone stared up in amazement as the twins’ robot took another massive step, lighting up the surrounding forest.

“How dare they desecrate the forest?!” Zia shouted in rage.

The robot suddenly came to a stop. “There are the rebels, and the traitorous son,”
Illika’s voice rang out from beside the robot.

“Let’s torch them up, and let red rivers run,” Akilli finished.

“Oh lord, not the twins again,” Raizor sighed. “Listen up, you two!” he shouted, “Stop wrecking this forest! We’re here to stop you now!”

Illika put up once again her rapier, showing off and twirling it around expertly as she replied, “But stopping us will be quite hard, if you don’t even know how,” completing Raizor’s open rhyme.

Above them, crackling branches fell to the ground beneath, aflame. Akilli, behind a clear glass visor in the center of the robot, pressed forward on the control panel laid out in front of her. The robot raised its forward most leg, heading towards the group of rebels. As it landed its foot, the robot shot out a jet stream of white hot fire downwards, causing the group to split apart as they tried to dodge the fire.

Cyclone dashed forwards at Illika, sword at the ready. He swung recklessly, but she seemed to twirl her blade around her first two fingers, effortlessly parrying the blow. She continued to twirl the blade as she advanced forwards at Cyclone, who barely raised his sword in time to deflect the rapier from slitting his throat. Illika smashed down on Cyclone’s arms, kicking him back down onto the ground as she did so. Before she could make another move, she swung her sword in the air almost randomly- but as the strike fleshed out, the sword made contact with an arrow that Fletch had just fired back from within the jungle, slicing it in two pieces midair.

“What the…” Fletch murmured to himself, drawing another arrow. “How did she know when I was going to fire that arrow?”

Cyclone got up, swinging at the young teenage girl, who raised her rapier, altering the trajectory of the swing just enough to  let the blade rush by her face less than a centimeter away, before following through, cutting Cyclone’s arm with the rapier.
“Gah!” Cyclone shouted in pain, dropping the sword and clutching his arm as he dropped to his knees. Illika grinned an eerily evil grin for a fourteen year old, preparing her rapier for a thrust at Cyclone. However, before she could actually stab, she noticed Vida running at her, as another arrow from Fletch whizzed at her as well. She positioned her rapier within seconds, splitting the arrow down its center and sending each half of it away from each side of her face. She shook her head, getting her auburn hair out of her eyes as Vida approached.

Despite his pain, Cyclone saw Vida approaching and lunged forward for his sword, grabbing it and tossing it back to Vida. Vida reached out a hand to grab the sword, stabbing at Illika as she did so. Illika moved slightly to the left, swinging upwards at Vida as she jumped into the stab. Surprised, Vida turned in midair just in time to block the attack which would have otherwise cut out her stomach. The maneuver was awkward, leaving Vida to tumble down onto the ground as a result. She stumbled to her feet just in time to block a vicious stab from Illika.



As Vida pushed Illika back, a sudden deep moan echoed throughout the forest. A Roamer burst into the scene, moving quite quickly for its size. It dashed forwards, ignoring the chaos on the ground, and rammed its side into the robot.

“Let’s climb the Roamer!” Jhuk pointed out. Queen Zia Star nodded, scrambling after the Roamer as it stepped back from the recoil of the strike against Akilli’s robot. Jhuk followed suit, as well as Raizor. “What are you, crazy? You have no idea how to climb a Roamer; you haven’t played with them your whole life!” Zia shouted back at Raizor.
“It can’t be that hard,” he shrugged. “And there’s no time like the present to learn!”
Zia reached the Roamer first, being the fastest, and jump up several feet, reaching her hand up and catching a fistful of the shrubbery that grew on top of the Roamer’s shell. She pulled up, clambering up the shell until she got to a section that was hunched enough to manage to stand on top of. Jhuk followed suit, and Raizor lunged out as well.
Surprisingly, he jumped further than he thought he could, making it quite easy for him to clutch the Roamer’s back. I wish I had the Nytemare suit right about now, he thought to himself, before taking another moment, distracted. Oh no, what’s Mya thinking right now? He shook his head as he pulled himself to his feet on the Roamer’s back, next to Zia and Jhuk. As soon as we get back into the city, I’ll try contacting her. But for now, I have to focus my attention here.

“Oh look, the overgrown turtle has ticks,” Akilli laughed gleefully from inside the robot, as she shook her head and repositioned the robot. The Roamer let out another angry moan, shaking its shell and nearly throwing Zia, Jhuk, and Raizor off of it. As it finished its moan, the Roamer stumbled forwards once more, rushing towards the robot. However, this time, Akilli knew it was coming.

Akilli had paused in her speech, expecting Illika to finish her rhyme, but looking down, she saw that Illika was busy disarming Vida and throwing her onto the ground next to Cyclone, taking more fire from Fletch at the same time. Akilli shook her head, “Fine, I’ll rhyme with myself. I’ll light you up on fire like the bushes and sticks!” she shouted, engaging the flames. The burst of fire emerged from the robot’s arms, striking the Roamer in the center of its chest and causing it to cry out in pain. The back of the shell caught fire, but the Roamer continued forwards- at this point mainly because it had too much momentum to stop.

Tumbling into the side of the robot, the Roamer cried out as flames continued to roast its body. Zia, Jhuk, and Raizor all dashed forwards as the Roamer slid down the robot’s side, defeated, jumping off of the shell and towards the glass at Akilli.

Raizor drew back his newly empowered fist, smashing the glass inwards as the trio entered the robot, forcing Akilli to step back from the controls. She gave a slight frown, before kneeling down to the ground.

Jhuk grinned, dashing forward with his spear, ignoring Raizor’s cry of, “Wait! Don’t rush her!”

Akilli looked up out of the corner of her eye at the approaching Felinus, clutching two pieces of broken glass in each of her hands. As Jhuk reached her, Akilli stood back up, jamming the two sharp glass shards into Jhuk’s chest. He coughed up splattered blood as Akilli tossed him down to the ground, further jamming the shards into his body.

“Dangit,” Raizor shook his head. Zia, on the other hand, grabbed her wooden blade and rushed right at Akilli.



Illika stared down at Cyclone and Vida, each one wounded, but again swinging her rapier randomly behind her. Another shattered arrow dropped to the ground. “You can’t keep shooting arrows at me, guy! You’ll run out at some point, and then your friends will die!”
Illika looked around, seeing Friday watching the great burning Roamer fall to the ground. Illika readied her rapier and headed towards Friday. “Hey, arrow man, I’m going to kill this girl too! Stop me if you can, and after you can’t, I’ll be coming for you!” she shouted out.

Friday, hearing Illika, acted otherwise and spoke quietly into the radio to Fletch. “As soon as you get the shot, take it. Get ready.”

Fletch, hidden in the undergrowth of the still burning forest, drew another arrow. “Got it.”

When Illika was just a few feet away from Friday, the Roamer let out a soft, moan, even as its body was consumed by flame, and it closed its soft eyes, letting its final hum strongly echo out its tune throughout the forest. The pain of hearing the creature die caused everyone in the battle to pause, even if just for an instant, as the creature’s dying sounds reverberated throughout their bodies and resonated with their hearts.
Fletch took his shot. Illika, having only paused for a moment, saw the arrow coming out of the corner of her eye, but it was enough. She raised her sword in a blind attempt to block the arrow, but instead of cutting the arrow, the rapier swished through clean air, letting the arrow continue along, cutting a deep gash in her right hand as it flew by.
Friday turned around, throwing a punch as Illika dropped her rapier in pain, blood dripping from her hand. Finally, Friday thought as she turned, someone who is actually a little bit shorter than I am.

Illika raised her left hand, passing Friday’s punch out of the way, and then shifted her stance into a side kick. Friday crossed her arms, blocking the kick, and then grabbed Illika’s foot, twisting it sharply. To prevent her foot breaking, Illika jumped up, allowing her entire body to spin. She yanked her foot back, breaking Friday’s grip, and landed smoothly. Twirling around into a hooked punch, Illika swung at her, but Friday brought both of her arms down, stopping Illika’s arm completely. Friday rotated her body, slamming Illika’s head with two consecutive backhanded strikes.

“Oh, you might give me a run for my money,” Illika giggled, wiping her face with her non bleeding hand. “This should be fun- let’s go, honey!” She twirled around, swinging her foot high in a spinning roundhouse kick, slamming Friday in the center of her body and knocking her to the ground. Friday stumbled to her feet, her face red with embarrassment. “Don’t do any more high kicks,” she murmured. Illika shrugged. “Hey, if you think I’m cute, just say so! If you never ask, then you’ll never know!” Illika smiled, winking at Friday as she stammered, “Well, I- I mean- I-” Illika rushed at Friday, who barely ducked in time to avoid the girl’s rash punch.

“Yeah, I don’t date people who try to kill me,” Friday shook her head.

Illika turned around, winking at her. “Hey, I think you’re hot. I’d give it a shot.”

“Stop flirting with me!” Friday shouted, embarrassed, turning around to attack Illika again.



“YOU KILLED A ROAMER!!!” Zia Star shouted in rage. Akilli, surprised, slid backwards among the twinkling shards of glass scattered around the entire operation area of the robot. Grabbing two more, the girl sent the shards twirling through the air towards Zia, who halted and ducked, letting the shards of glass fly through the air over her head, and out of the robot. As Zia dodged her attack, Akilli took the blue scarf off from around her neck, twirling it along the ground. Zia stumbled back to her feet, and took no time before rushing towards Akilli again. Raizor dashed forward, with speed he didn’t know he had- just what was that purple element?- as Akilli swung the scarf forwards, sending a ton of glass shards straight towards Zia, who closed her eyes as the glass daggers approached.

A sickening thunk echoed throughout the chamber as about thirty shards entered Raizor’s
body in various places. He had dashed in front of Zia, arms raised to cover his face. He sunk down to his knees, drawing even more blood, but kept eye contact with Akilli.
“You saved her, you traitor,” Akilli shook her head. “And big sis would have wanted to finally meet you…Why do you betray us?! Why?!”

Raizor smirked, standing back up on his feet. Despite the shards inside of his body, Raizor stepped forwards, energy swirling around him. The cuts, while painful at first, did surprisingly little damage. “So that it’d be you to die,” he coughed out, completing her rhyme.

Akilli’s eyes lit up in excitement as Raizor finished her rhyme. Her eyes stayed open as Zia, who had used Raizor’s distraction to nimbly jump over both of them, jammed a long shard of glass through Akilli’s back. She screamed in pain, turning around to face Zia. Akilli collapsed to her knees, still gasping for words, reaching out to Zia, who stood tall as Akilli slid down to the floor of the robot. As she lay on her side, blood dripping down her dress and staining her winter coat, she reached out to the headset resting on the ground. Zia made a move as if to stop her, but Raizor put out his hand. “Let her do this,” he said sadly. “I don’t feel good about letting a fourteen year old girl die, no matter what she did while she was alive.”

Akilli turned on the radio headset, letting it rest without having the energy to actually put it on.

“Hey, Illika, we need to speak,” she said.

On the ground below, Friday pulled herself to her feet, sides aching from Illika’s countless blows, watching Illika step back from the fight and listen to the voice in her headset.

“Akilli? Hold on a sec, I’m feeling a bit weak,” Illika said, panting from the heat of both the battle and the fire.

“No time to wait, Illika. I made a mistake.”

“An error? What mistake did you make?”

“You were a very fun partner, Illika. I’ll miss you.”

“Wait,” Illika whispered, eyes going wide. “Akilli. Tell me. What did you do?”

“I’m dying, sis. I can see my vision fading into sweet white,” Akilli whispered faintly, blood pooling up at her side.

“Don’t do this! You can live, you will live. Right? Right?” Illika screamed out in anguish, tears streaming down the sides of her face.

Akilli’s grasp of the headset relaxed as she rolled over on top of her back, staring up out of the shattered glass and into the sky.

“Akilli? Don’t leave me here alone to cry!” Illika’s desperate voice echoed into her ear from below.

“Goodb...” Akilli stammered, her voice trailing off. “Good… good… g… Goodbye…” she pushed the words painfully out, her voice quieter with each attempt to acknowledge Illika’s last words spoken to her. She was saying a final goodbye to the girl she had known all her life. It was the least that she could do to dissolve the tension of her last unfulfilled rhyme into a final resolution.

On the scorched leafy ground below, Illika cried out in intense pain, screaming at the top of her lungs, until she could scream no more, at which point she crumpled to the ground on her knees, eyes wide and wet, crying until she could cry no more, having run out of tears, at which point she fell forwards face first, so ghostly pale that Friday thought, for a second, that she had died.

“My god,” whispered Friday, nearly crying herself. “What did we just do?”

The fires raged onwards as the sun began to set, allowing the fire to appear as though it had left the atmosphere to burn continuously in the sky.