The Scrolls (Full Story): Written by Exodus, Original Story by Exodus A small yellow sea vehicle shaped like a cross between a car and plane hastily ploughed on through the harsh waters west of Scion, with a thick blue screen at the front of it where the controls lied, and two wing-like parts at the side that accommodated one person and torpedo systems, the back of the sub’ used a mixture of fans and engines to push the submarine as fast as possible. “Aw man this is so cool!” cheered Ruwin, part time spy, part time Resistor as he was lucky enough to be driving this impressive machine built by the scientists at the secret headquarters. “Just don’t get too excited and go crash this baby.” warned Ross, examining the torpedoes at the Resistors command on the right side of the sub. “Aw come on guys, you know me...” “I think that’s why Ross had to check up on you.” joked Lucia, sitting on the left side and equipping some new weapons built by the Resistor leader Gear and their new ally Salvage. “Ah’m as healthy as an athlete, you on the other hand are questionable fer bein’ here.” replied Ruwin, referring to a battle Lucia fought some time back against a powerful man by the name of Alan, who had almost crushed Lucia by manipulating her metal body. “I’m fine, Gear’s nanobots went inside me, fixed up my inner injuries and pushed out the body parts that had been crushed, I got half a dozen replacements and now I’m itching to go on another mission.” Lucia had got off quite easily compared to her ally and boyfriend Turok, who had been dealt several wounds by an insane bully with a long steel arm, and Kirie, who had a broken arm and leg because of the opponent that she and Lucia fought. Because Turok and Lucia were robots, they could be healed fast, but Gear wasn’t a miracle worker, Kirie would just have to let her injuries heal before she became an active member again, she needed the time off anyway, since she was a little traumatised in what she had to do recently. “But when I referred to Ross checking up on you, I was of course referring to your reckless streak, you’ve got two people along for the ride, and I really don’t want you to rock the boat.” “Guys, Ah’m reckless, but Ah’m not irresponsible, an’ Ah may not look it, but Ah’m an ace pilot an’ a brilliant hacker, quite a list o’ skills, huh?” “I could pilot this thing, and don’t flirt with me. I’m spoken for.” “Didn’t mean anything bah it Cyber Gal, an’ it’d be stupid ta try an’ take Turok’s gal.” Lucia gave off a tired look but her smile couldn’t be seen because of her face mask, and then went back to her preparations. “So Ruwin, you wanna brief us again on what we’re travelling metres under the sea for, we were a little rushed into this.” “Shure, our old friends at the empire have made some discoveries o’ buried ancient treasure on the tiny west island o’ Salcar. An’ you know whut sort o’ junk happened in the old, old days.” “Wars, demons, all sorts of powerful magical stuff.” “Uh huh, so whatever they’re planning on unearthin’, its not gonna be good fer us.” “So why are we underwater, I could just fly over there.” stated Lucia. “Yeah, but this is a three Resistor mission, an’ Ah don’t think you’d get far carrying us ta Salcar if you were bein’ shot at from all angles, security’s tight above water, but we stole the tactical plans an’ there’s one way onto the island wit’ no protection from high tech machinery.” “Well we obviously didn’t take it.” sighed Ross. The others looked through their screens to see two purple empire submarines headed straight for them. These submarines looked more like rockets than subs, four small wings were placed around the middle of them to make a cross shape, and a big wing was mounted onto the end of each. Several blue missiles were displayed around the sub, near the front, and started to rotate down to the cannons mounted at the bottom that started firing them on the one small Resistor sub. “Ross, Lucia. Ah shure hope y’all can deal wit’ this!” yelled Ruwin. “I’ll hit those subs if its the last thing I do!” stated Ross, before realising that the phrasing wasn’t too uplifting. Missiles were fired towards the left, and barely enough of them were used to block off enemy fire to blow up the missiles without damaging the sub, but there was still the right wave. Ruwin nodded in a decision and grinned as he forced the submarine to turn over to one side and curve into a clear area, only one of the missiles clipped the vehicle and shook it violently. “Come on guys, that wus only the first wave!” complained Ruwin. “Great, and here I was thinking I’d keep my lunch intact.” sighed Ross. “Ross, we’ve got a clear shot on the left sub, get ‘em before they fire again!” stated Lucia. Several missiles were directed at the first enemy sub, and caused a big explosion, but the machine came out intact. “Great, they have better armour!” moaned Ross. “That’s where I come in.” stated Lucia, opening the hatch and placing her gun arm inside, “Ruwin, disengage the safety protocols and open the left torpedo tube.” “But then the water’ll come flooding inta the sub!” “Do it.” The empire pilots didn’t see the next move before it was too late, as a big yellow beam burst through the tube of the sub, and tore through their defenses and caused the sub to explode. “Aren’t you glad I came along?...” winked Lucia, holding her valuable new gun upgrades. “You think you could do that again?” asked Ross, “The other one’s charging!” This was true, and the rightmost sub was pushing forward, its armour would surely allow it to walk away from this collision. “No, I can’t.” answered Lucia, “I need a clear shot at the sub to pull that off.” “Then hold on ta your lunches.” grinned Ruwin, “Time ta get reckless!” Without turning around, Ruwin moved the sub lower, close to a trench of hard rocks. “Are you crazy?!” shouted Ross, “Those rocks’ll plough a big hole in the sub!” “That’s whut Ah’m countin’ on...” smiled Ruwin darkly. The other sub was closing in fast, intact on ramming the Resistors and tearing apart their sub, but Ruwin sped up the sub at the last moment, leaving the enemy to uncontrollably crash, they were going too fast to turn back, and an explosion soon ripped through the last of the sea defense... “Ah just made shure it wus theirs! Next stop, West Island...” smiled Ruwin. The three Resistors surfaced, and were soon walking through a small forest, the island was virtually deserted and only empire members would be found here. “Ruwin, don’t you dare try any more of those tricks on the way home...” threatened Lucia. “It worked, didn’t it?” “Guys...” moaned Ross, “Be quiet, and keep cautious...” “Hiyaaa!!!” screamed a female, swinging from the treetops and kicking Ross hard in the face. He skidded back and ploughed his metal hand in the ground to stop himself, “Guess I should listen to my own advice...” “And who might you be?” asked Lucia. “Lieutenant Cammy Ramirez.” answered the red head woman, holding up her red hookshot and retracting the wire and blade, “And you must be the troublesome Resistors.” “So whut if we are?” threatened Ruwin, “You’re gonna believe that terrorist rumour an’ fight us? Take a close look at your employers, whut could they possibly want wit’ old artifacts other than destruction?” “Oh I know all that. You’re not terrorists, but you are my enemies, I know what the empire stands for and that’s why I joined.” “Then there’s no need fer me ta hold back.” stated Ruwin darkly, “Ross, Lucia, get going.” “You sure you can handle this Ruwin?” asked Lucia concerned. “Absolutely.” “Don’t wander too far.” ordered Cammy calmly, “I’ll be hunting you two down soon enough.” Ross and Lucia ran ahead while Ruwin stared Cammy down, “Ah usually hate ta hurt ladies, but you’re no lady.” “Roberto Ruwin...” smiled Cammy, “Formerly known as Wonder, you were quite the mercenary once, I’m going to enjoy this...” With that, Cammy fired off her hookshot, but Ruwin rolled to the side so that the blade ploughed into a tree trunk, he immediately leapt forward for a flying kick but Cammy quickly pressed a button and pulled the device towards the blade, avoiding Ruwin but throwing a knife upwards in the process. Ruwin accounted for Cammy having moved, but not the blade thrown at him, he blocked the knife with his gauntlets, but was distracted, and hit the ground awkwardly and bounced once before landing on his back. He looked up to see Cammy somersaulting down on him and stomping her feet into his stomach, leaping up a little and then throwing her second knife at his face. Ruwin gasped, and threw his legs up and forward to pull his body away from the knife, but Cammy was still above him. Ruwin quickly performed a handstand and caught Cammy’s feet with his own, but saw her smiling as she aimed her hookshot device down on him, Ruwin quickly scrunched his body down, and then stretched out, forcing Cammy to rise a little so he could roll aside. Cammy hadn’t been able to fire in the awkward stance, but did so in mid-air, the blade narrowly missing Ruwin as he picked himself off the floor and then flipped back. Cammy recalled the blade again and pulled out her knives from the ground, but hadn’t watched the blade and rope as she did so, instead assuming it would simply come back to her. It did, but Ruwin had held onto the rope and swung his right leg down on Cammy, smashing her in the face and making her fall back. “Ugh... You’re every bit as good as I expected, no one’s been able to hit me like that in a long time. You’ll go to your grave with that honour, because I’ve killed everyone that’s ever hit me like that!” Cammy fired her hookshot again, and Ruwin easily leapt over it, but this was a trick, Cammy immediately threw her two knives at Ruwin, and before he knew it, his shoulder pads were nailed to a tree trunk, and Cammy walked calmly towards him, recalling her blade and aiming the device directly at him. “Its been fun, maybe if we met under different circumstances, we could have had something special...” Two shots were fired, one was the hookshot, the second was a thick net that hit Cammy from behind and forced her into the tree trunk, Ruwin had barely been able to lift up his legs and torso to avoid Cammy’s final shot, and then pulled out the knives and leapt down to greet Lucia. “Thanks Cyber Gal.” he smiled, before leaping towards Cammy who was trying to escape the net, “Maybe we Could have had somethin’, if you weren’t such a goddamn psycho!” With that, he punched her hard in the head, knocking her out. “Ross assured me he could handle things, and I couldn’t let you face her alone, I was in hiding until you got your butt kicked, I didn’t want to cramp your style unless I had to.” “Hey, Ah coulda handled it alone...” frowned Ruwin, “You mind watchin’ her? Ah’d like ta achieve something in this mission rather than a joint victory over one warrior...” Meanwhile, Ross had done well in sneaking around the newer models of robot troopers, those that had spotted him were dealt with quickly and quietly, and now Ross had entered the ancient ruins of a castle and planted the bombs that Ruwin had given him onto the huge drill in the centre of the structure. “Phew...” sighed Ross, “Dagger should be here instead of me, he’s the quiet one. All I have to do is sneak out of here and detonate these babies, and then I can look forward to a harsh trip back home...” Ross stepped forward and slipped on a stone, he managed to land on his feet, but the stone tumbled down an old broken stone staircase and crumbled, yet, no one was alerted. “Phew...” sighed Ross again, “It was a lot of work not to be noticed, I’d hate for that to be-” “Yeehaw!!!” screamed Ruwin’s distant voice, Ross slapped his real hand against his face in disbelief and anger. Just outside, Ruwin was flipping out of the way of small cyclone blasts, fired by the Tempest Troopers chasing him. “Trah harder!” taunted Ruwin, before a huge fiery wave blasted through the troops, and Ruwin had to leap up high to avoid it. “Guess ya listened...” he added. The troopers had been melted, and the source stood behind them, a large gold plated robot with silver limbs, two cannons instead of hands, treadmills instead of feet, and black eyes with red pupils, and a long trunk-like cannon that had fired the flame wave. It looked a little like a humanoid elephant, minus the ears and tusks, and it looked as strong and defensive as a tank. “Blastnossle!” screamed Morn as he hurried over, “What was the point in that?! You didn’t even hit him!” “Uh...” spoke the robot in a low moronic voice, “I wus tryin’ to ‘it ‘im, but ‘e wus too fast.” “I wish I had more time to give you a more intelligent mind...” groaned Morn, “But still, I want you to fire on that guy until you destroy him! Do you understand me?” “Sure I do. I shall fire on ‘im until ‘e is destroyed.” With that, the treads started moving, and the robot rolled towards Ruwin, sending explosive shells flying into the area. Ruwin charged into the ruins, right into Ross, and causing them to take a small fall off the broken stairway. “Agh... Ruwin, why’d you come here? I was doing fine without you.” “Either way, Ah think you’re gonna need mah help.” Blastnossle rolled into the area and started shooting. “Ruwin! I set up the bombs already, if they go off with us this close to them...” The two ducked down as a shell exploded close by. “Ross, jus’ concentrate on gettin’ outta here, that robot’s not too smart so he should only come after me, Ah’ll take a different route outta here, away from the bombs.” The two nodded, and Ross stretched his metal arm to grip the stairway and climb up, while Ruwin climbed, flipped and leapt up several piles of rubble, broken pillars and ruined walls, and while Blastnossle was firing shells towards him but not quite hitting its target. Ross dashed behind Blastnossle, but saw him take a shot just above Ruwin, which caused a lot of rubble to crash down on him. Ross sighed, and pushed Blastnossle forward, his enhanced bones and strong arm helping him as Blastnossle was close to immovable for a normal person, because of his treads, he couldn’t stop himself easily, and tumbled down the gap in the stairway, and couldn’t pick himself up because he landed on his back. “Ruwin!” shouted Ross concerned, but Ruwin tapped him on the shoulder from behind and then grinned. Ross groaned, “I was concerned about you, looks like I needn’t have bothered.” “Yeah, yeah, ya wanna blow this joint, literally?” he smiled. “Let’s go.” “You’re going nowhere!” shouted Morn, running past Ross and snatching the detonator. “Hey!” shouted Ross, shooting his metal arm forward to grab Morn, but he held out the detonator at the last moment so that Ross grabbed it but put pressure on it, destroying the delicate device. “I will not allow you to blow up these ruins. I’ve still got artifacts to find! Blastnossle! Where are you?!” “I see the guy. I must fire until ‘e is destroyed...” muttered Blastnossle, still stuck on a hill of rocks but able to fire up to the top of the stairway. “Wait! No!” screamed Morn, as several shells were fired upwards, one of which hitting the stairway and making it fall, along with Morn. Ross and Ruwin stepped back, it was dangerous to be here, but to complete their mission and foil Morn’s scheme, they had to manually detonate the bombs. “Ah’ve got an idea...” spoke Ruwin seriously. “That guy is still there...” muttered Blastnossle shortly after, he was covered in rubble, but still able to aim, he could see Ruwin up on the drill, hanging onto something, “I will fire until ‘e is destroyed...” “Wait! Stop!” screamed Morn, having just dug himself out of the collapsed stairway and pillar. One shell flew towards the bomb covered drill, and Ruwin moved, using Ross’ long stretched out metal arm to slide down to safe ground before they both leapt out of the castle as the shell’s explosive range set off a chain reaction of bombs, and caused the whole castle to come crashing down. “That was some good teamwork Ruwin.” congratulated Ross. “Yeah yeah, Ah wanted a solo victory...” sighed Ruwin, before grinning back at him. The two were shaken by a deep rumbling, before a deep crack crawled along the centre of the empire camp, and lava burst through. “Uh oh, we jus’ set off the trigger ta this island’s destruction, let’s split!” “But what about the empire?” “Morn’s shurely finished, an’ Ah immobilized Cammy, we’ll take her back in the sub.” “Okay...” Before Ruwin and Ross could return, the rumbling had surprised Lucia, causing her to fall over before she could use her rocket packs to hover. Cammy seized the opportunity, and reached out for her knives and cut the net apart, grabbed her device, and fired it upwards before lifting herself into the treetops. “Robo-girl, tell Ruwin that I owe him a rematch!” she shouted before disappearing. The guys arrived shortly after. “Cammy got away!” shouted Lucia. “No time to go after her, back to the sub!” shouted Ross, “I can’t believe I’m happy to be going for another ride in that old rust bucket...” Back in the collapsed ruins, rubble and rocks rose and fell over as Blastnossle stood up, with Morn having been sheltered under him. “You might be stupid, but I made the right move in giving you your defensive armour.” “Thanks Boss.” “Go now and prepare the boat!” ordered Morn, and the dopey machine trundled off, while Cammy hurried to him. “Sir, I’m sorry that I failed in my duty to ward off those Resistors, they interfered just as I was about to kill Ruwin and-” “Grovel later! We have to leave this place... We’ve already got what we came here for, so Iyaxxl will be pleased...” said Morn, before he noticed a large emerald that had been unearthed by the destruction of the castle. He touched it, and pulled his hand away from it due to the searing heat it gave off. Cammy noticed, and tore off a piece of Lucia’s net from her clothing, wrapped up the hot jewel, and tied a small knot so it could be carried. “Good work. Let’s go.” The island was overrun by lava bursts before long, and the whole island collapsed and sunk beneath the ocean. The Resistors escaped in their submarine, and Ruwin even piloted it carefully for once, while Morn, Cammy and Blastnossle left on their boat. Unknown to the Resistors though, their mission had been a failure, the scrolls that Morn had dug up before their arrival would be put to immediate use, the only thing they succeeded in, was preventing Morn from finding further treasures deep in the old castle. In short, both parties left with a small victory, but it was the empire that came out of this with a useful prize... End?... Back to “Deadly Newcomers”: Part 2 Click to read the next story: "Fears” Back to “Demons and Disasters” Back to the Library