Li awoke to the sound of frantic whispering. He had barely slept for 3 hours and was now being shaken by Ali, who looked panicked.
"Li! Come on bro, get up! Li!"
"Ali, what is it…"
"Li! Look, over there"
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Li made out the figure of something large, apparently eating.
"Nora just spotted it, that's Aoki's Quillvora! Damn it wouldn't you know."
Li gasped, the distinct markings on the downed animal was exactly the same as it looked just last night, except it was now quite stained by deep velvet blood.
The size of the animal began to truly reveal itself. Towering in the night, it was almost as tall as a 3-story building from back home.
It's distinct markings like that of a cheetah but rather than fur, thick armored hide. A thick neck protruded from this quasi-shell, reaching out towards the poor animal on the ground. Imani and Nora had their weapons ready and Ali was ready to pull off the previous trick, but at a smaller scale as consequently, certain components had burned out in the feat.
The beast had abruptly turned towards them, making eye contact with Li who backed up into something slimy and warm. It was a large, dinosaur-like creature, similar to the prehistoric brontosaurus on earth, only far more muscular and covered in feathers that radiated the warm colors. Growling, it gently pushed Li forwards, who tumbled before Imani and Nora. The beast in front of them now began a slow trot, brandishing its bloodied fangs at the newcomer adversary.
"Captain, I think we should go-"
A crack sounded in the air and the tail of the large dinosaur beast behind them swung its tail forward, grazing the large armored yellow beast.
The Guardian squad watched as both creatures lost interest in them and had begun a vicious fight under the stars. Clawing frantically, the yellow beast had lost good ground, until the bronto fell back, slipping on shiny fresh blood, allowing for its enemy to dig into its softer underside.
The beasts tumbled with surprising agility, until they were nearly out of sight. Imani didn't waste a good opportunity to escape.
"Let's move. Now! Put as much distance between us and them."
They all agreed and began running, guns out, keeping low and hoping that the tall dried grass they ran into would provide them enough cover. It was a while before all of them stopped to regather their breath, even Ali, who was in the exosuit, had started sweating heavily. The brush here was far thicker than before.
Moments later, a monstrous roar filled the night, and the Orange flatlands once again came alive. The yellow beast, clearly victorious, charged at the group, lowering its head and swinging towards Li.
"Permission to fire?"
"Granted!"
Li, caught between two large teeth, propped his gun between the palate and the tongue, causing the beast to roar louder, its claws tearing at itself and its attackers below. Li struggled to pull himself out, part of his armor lodged between two sharp teeth.
"The tranquilizer isn't working! I need Grade A!"
"Shit! We're out!"
Ali bounded up, firing round after round of what seemed to be large darts into the next of the beast, before ripping Li out of the beast's grasp.
"Change up ranks, get into strafing formation!"
"Yes captain!"
Nora ran, sliding between the legs of the beast, firing upwards as Imani fired his remaining rockets into the thick hide of the beast, narrowly missing a claw.
"Li! On me, we're aiming for its head! Remember training?"
"No, he doesn't"
The voice was Aoki! He was alive, now flying towards the beast, his signature two glaive martial fighting style evident, bending the air around him, driving the gleaming knives into the neck of the beast.
"AOKI!!!!!!"
With a renewed confidence and burning determination, the team pressed on, but so did the beast. It strangely learned Nora's orchestrated attacks, correctly predicting her slide path and nearly stomped her to death. Imani, while maintaining his distance, was not spared.
The beast moved in an eerie way, first letting Imani's rockets waste on his thick hide, and then deflecting the shrapnel back towards him and Aoki who was normally unpredictable in his fighting ways. Now Aoki and Ali are left.
The gridlocked had forced them, the fastest, to attempt a dangerous vital strafe, possibly the veins at the neck where the skin was most thin.
And then, there was Li. Clinging to Ali's back as he attempted to dizzy the beast, who truly struck fear into the twin hearts of the beast. He wasn't as helpless as the others, and was definitely the most energized of them all.
Occasionally launching a precise shot at the muscle region that contained the vital veins. The beast had seen this fighting style before, in the recesses of the primitive neurons of his brain, and knew that his only chance of survival was by going all out, even though he had already been low on food for the past few weeks.
Priming his acidic glands, and extending his claws even further, he began his final stand, his eyes never leaving Li's.
"Li, I can't, the systems are overheating, we've got to lighten the weight!"
The exo skidded to a halt.mIt was Ali, who was visibly exhausted, his face drenched in sweat. He had been running non-stop, evading all sorts of attacks since the beginning of the fight. Now, he had to rest.
"Ali, get out of the exo; I'll take it."
"Li! You can't, it's overheating. At this rate, we're better off leaving Aoki and Nora to take it on."
"Ali, I've got an idea, trust me. The engines are cooling as we speak"
"FUCK! What are you two doing!? Keep strafing, I'm heading up; it's tiring too!"
"Imani's already getting impatient, just let me!"
Ali shook his head, he was too tired to argue, and surrendered the exo to Li who took control, at first awkwardly.
Li took a few bounds to the side, getting the feel of the suit. It was like one of those parkour games he played on the VR back in China, except the impact on the ground was far greater than he imagined. Running faster than intended, he grasped Imani's cannon in one hand and the rocket system in another.
"Aoki! Distract him, I'm going in for the kill"
At this point, the team could only comply.
"Nora, I need you strafing as much as you can! Imani, take Ali to safety. We're going in hard now!"
Straining the motors, Li launched himself forward, slowing in an arc around the beast. Previously unskilled in sports, Li hoped that his coordination skills would put up; the two large weapons giving him some reassurance.
He could feel the threatened yet plotting gaze trying to handle Aoki, while maintaining his whereabouts.
Arching backwards, the beast let out a violent growl, vomiting towards Lin and Aoki, then running with a last bout of strength towards the worn out Guardians below.
Aoki descended, carving frantically into the legs of the beast. Time was running out, in a matter of seconds, the beast would be directly on top of Ali and Nora. Li sucked in his breath, the heart pounding in his ears, it was now or never.
Summoning the scattered courage within him, he leapt towards the great neck of the beast, Imani's rockets aimed squarely at the location of the veins, the cannon just feet from the eyes. It was strategically this moment that counted, as the beast would still be reeling back from the massive regurgitation.
Boom!
The cannon shell and the rockets both hit their mark, detaching the head. Quite appetizingly, Li flew over as the blood began to spurt, residual bile scorching his skin.
He began to process the height he was at, and the extreme heat he felt on his back, the overheating engine, and not long after, the ground rushing towards him, head on.