Chương 45: The Tumble With The Tundra

Ch. 45: The Tumble With The Tundra Exley stared at the camera, never taking off his sunglasses. He wore a tight pink polo with the collar upturned and he pointed as he overenunciated at the camera.

"We champs work hard, but the Toyota Tundra works harder." A cut in the camera was directed by a big explosion, Once again, Exley spoke, "With a max towing capacity of 12, 000 and a max payload of almost 2 tons, if tech worked in the tar pits, you better believe I would be exploring Tartarus in a Toyota Tundra." Another flashy cut and Exley was now riding down a desert in one of the biggest vehicular behemoths humans had ever made, "But you don't have to be a champ to get a great deal on this beauty.

Make it down to your local Toyota dealer and get started with just 0 down! Get your new Tundra today! Folus suspended Nelo in the air by her shield. The planets clanged around her like a drummer hitting the symbol over and over again. He tossed her down. Her body rolled along the ground as he strode toward her.

"Moxy. Pluckiness. guts," Folus said, "A suitable seasoning for meat. But, like a slow roast being the most succulent, moxy curdling to despair. That is my favorite way to eat an enemy." Snir got back on his feet and walked toward Folus, "You mean to tell me you wish to continue playing with our food? Folus. I am hungry. We are hungry."

"Silence, Snir. My patience for your insolence has run dry."

"You said we only need one." Folus sighed, he saw the eager faces on Oku and Ponzo.

"Base creatures. Look at her! Look at her face! She is undercooked!" He grabbed Penelope's head and dragged her up. He showed her face, anguished but determined.

"I… I know what you're saying about me," said Nelo. She kicked, her feet searching for the shield on the ground.

"She is close to breaking," Said Folus, "Right now her muscles are tense. Her tendons contracted. The feeling of total desperation is the ultimate softening agent. We eat splendid."

"You think you can break me. I know you do. But I won't let you." Nelo's foot caught the spike of her shield. She kicked it, pointing the spiked end directly at Folus and saying, "Gallant Strike!" The pulse shocked her foot but pushed Folus back enough to pull herself free from his clutches. She grabbed her shield and fell on her back, then did a back handspring and used both feet to attack the leonids' face. Her two feet hit him in the face but he grabbed them and tossed her to the side.

"Finish her. Slowly," Folus snarled, "Rake at her body until it affects her soul. She is fragile of spirit, I can sense it." Nelo rolled on the ground before pushing up and landing on her feet. She stuck her shield up. Her back was to the parking lot she'd just come from. The large purple fulcrum was some distance away. How do I get the upper hand? Nelo thought. The three approached her. Snir reached out and clawed her. She used her shield to block. Oku leapt over Snir and batted the shield as well.

Ponzo flipped over both of them, jumped and missile kicked her. She was tossed backward, clearing the steps up to the building and landing on the concrete of the parking lot. The three leonids pranced toward her. Folus close behind. They were all between her and Kayla. In Nelo's mind, healing Kayla was the key. Now she was further from the key than ever. She took more steps backward, hoping the plane of the parking lot would dampen the leonid's main advantage. Their acrobatics.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Instead, it provided a nightmare scenario. The parking lot was further away from the ambient lighting of the building. There were multiple splotches that were covered in fluorescent light, but the majority was blanketed in darkness. As the leonids approached Nelo, she would take steps backward in a feeble attempt to keep her guard up. Unfortunately, she would lose track of them in the darkness.

But they never lost track of her. Their big incandescent eyes were the only things Nelo could see and the monsters never took those eyes off of her. Occasionally, as they stepped through the light of the parking lamps, their form would be revealed. But soon after, they'd be cloaked in darkness. They can see in the dark. That's right… heightened senses. She felt her back stop against something metal. Nelo looked up and saw the giant fulcrum and lever that had a Toyota Tundra as the object to be lifted.

She stepped to the south of the Tundra and reached the rope meant to display the physical phenomenon of leverage. She yanked on the rope until the truck was hoisted in the air. Her champ strength making it relatively easy. Penelope tied the rope. There were three purple bike stands. The kind that were just a tube bent into an arch and buried three feet into the ground. She let the rope go and could hear the straining of the metal as the tube was being pulled from its post.

Nelo held her shield up, the leonids slowing their approach even more.

"Watch the hope drain from her eyes. Watch the realization set in," Folus said with glee. Oku walked into the light of a street lamp. She turned and blasted him with a gallant strike. He dodged out of the way, back into the darkness. Ponzo was next. Not changing his stride, he walked through the white light. She turned to him and blasted him with a Gallant Strike. He leapt over it. Folus laughed. It was a human laugh. He looked up at the source of the torches.

"She believes there's a chance. So long as these torches are here, they give her hope. Let us watch the last fleck of light drain from her face." He snapped his fingers. Ponzo moved first. He leapt from another gallant strike and ripped off the street lamp's cover. It broke and the light disappeared. Nelo took a step a few steps to the left of the fulcrum. She kept her shield high in the air and attacked with another Gallant Strike at Oku. Oku dodged easily, and ran up the pole to shatter another light.

Instead of going straight for her, they circled her again. It coaxed Nelo further out, twisting around to try to keep her eyes on the felines. She flinched as she heard a shatter behind her. Another light gone, the only evidence was the traces of those incandescent eyes. Smash! Another light to her left went out. Another to her right. More to her front. Any time she would see even a glimpse of their eyes she would shoot out a Gallant Strike. Her shots became more wily. They were closing the perimeter around her.

There was less light than ever. As Folus stepped forward into the final street lamp, the last image she saw before entering total darkness was Folus' great big smile.

"No more torches." Folus said. She could not see them but she could sense the four leonids in every direction. They had her surrounded, and could move in at any time. This was what Folus wanted. For the hunt to be so slow, so drawn out, that her resilience would be reduced to nothing. They all readied for a strike. For Folus to give the order. Folus wanted this moment to be etched into the young woman's head for the last few seconds of life. He said it in english.

"Now." They leapt at her. Each with their claws outstretched. Ponzo, Snir, and mostly young and restless Oku were finally going to feast. With their tongues out, they jumped at their prey. Penelope lifted her shield up to the sky once more, pointing that spike in the air and summoned the most useless Ultimate Move in existence.

"Ultimate Move! Shimmering Horn!" A circle of light surrounded her. 6 feet in diameter. It shot a tower of light 60 feet high into the air, passing through the Tundra like magic. The light could not heal, and could not normally do damage. This move was made to simply alert other party members that Nelo was nearby and needed help. But… it was still a beam of light. And in the pitch darkness, the lieonid's eyes were dilated like saucer dishes. Their eyes took the light in like a flashbang.

The passed through the harmless light circle completely blinded and collided head first into each other. In a moment of panicked confusion, they wrestled each other, tearing into their teammates with their claws and bites. Nelo rolled out of the way and threw her shield as hard as she could. It bounced against the rope and unplugged the bike stand that was holding up the Toyota Tundra. The five ton truck came crashing down on all four leonids at once.