Gunsmoke

by Wanderer D

Chapter 32: Rise

Can you feel it?

Something stirred. It wasn't a body, however. She knew that.

So what was it?

Rhythm. Beating around her. Shaking the world. Strumming the darkness. Giving voice to the silence.

Movement. A sense of... of what? Weightlessness when there was no weight?

"She's here!"

Humidity. Warmth. The sounds of... of... nature? What was it?

"Well, get started. We'll make sure she's protected."

Water. It was water rushing. Falling. It had a name.

"Se dice facil! I don't think the creature knows where we are exactly, so don't draw too much attention!"

A waterfall. Urgency. Worry.

"Scratch that! It just did a turn. I think it felt Mirage arrive!"

Fear. A name. So familiar. Not her name. And yet...

"This is going to light up the jungle like a second sun."

Not a sun. Something to do with it... not dawn or twilight...

"It senses it!"

Light and warmth. Air. Earth.

"It's working! But it's going really slow!"

Concern. Love. Fear. So much fear.

"You'll have to leave it to do its work.

No... loneliness was not welcome again. Not alone again...

The creature dodged.

While it wasn't impossible for players or monsters to dodge bullets in GGO, this took everyone by surprise. Unlike a real gunfight, the game would allow players to see "prediction lines" once certain criteria was met. Those prediction lines allowed them to move before the shot was fired, therefore extending gameplay time and giving everyone a chance to survive.

The problem was that the creature dodged after the shot was made by a sniper rifle before the criteria for its prediction line appearing at a speed that shouldn't be possible for a monster to react to.

It moved fast, dodging most of the following shots by the surrounding gamers, and just as it slid to a stop in front of Coyote and Rock, raising its claws and opening its maw to destroy them, Wallflower seemed to materialize out of thin air right next to it, her Alloy Cannon pressing against its skull for a second before it was blown to pieces.

As the creature's body shook from the impact, Wallflower jumped out of the way, allowing Rock and Coyote to take the chance to empty their magazines on its body while retreating.

"I get the feeling that this creature doesn't know how to play," Surgeon whispered over the radio.

"I don't know if it needs to," Butcher replied. "It's already reforming. We gave it all we got back in the jungle and it still managed to kill Surial and Ripp3r. Damn thing won't stay down!"

A loud shot prefaced the creature's knee exploding in a splash of blood and bone fragments, courtesy of Sukiru's anti materiel rifle, while Nightmare Moon's second shot smashed onto its shoulder, spinning it in place... but the creature's lower head, half reformed already seemed to smile in her direction.

"Don't stop firing!" she shouted. "That thing has magical immunities!"

Explosions and salvo wiped out the area where the creature had been standing mere seconds before, drowning the sound of the challenging roars coming from all players as they gave their all trying to bring the creature down.

The lake shook with each explosion; pieces of rock and vegetation flew out as anything within the fallout area was decimated as thoroughly as the game would permit.

Rock took shot after shot at where the creature had been standing last, withstanding the buffeting with his riot-shield, and as immovable as his namesake, so it came as a shock to him when a black, shadowy figure emerged from the fire, fully formed and apparently ignoring the damage they were all raining on it.

Grinning widely, showing almost green-glowing fangs, the creature's claws ripped through his shield as if it was just for decoration, and through his arm, disintegrating it from the elbow down.

"Hijo de p—" Coyote shouted in horror, jumping back, eyes wide as the follow up bite from the creature ripped Rock's head off in a shower of pixels. He fell back on his butt, staring with horror as the creature roared and turned slightly to him, drooling ethereal shadows that dissipated into the air around its mouth.

"Another one bites the dust..." the creature's voice was thick with amusement as it lounged forward.

Nightmare Moon cursed, aiming as fast as she could and releasing a bullet straight at the monster's head. "Coyote!"

Coyote didn't have time to react.

Moon's shot seemed to fly through the monster as if it wasn't even there, blowing a chunk off of the tree behind it just as its claw smashed straight through his armor and chest, emerging through his back like something out of a horror movie.

"Anything to say?" the creature asked, lifting him up to stare at the dying player with its disturbing grin.

Coyote coughed and shook his head, raising his fist up in front of the creature with a painful smile, then opening his hand to reveal several pins.

"Boom, you sonnuva—"

The fireball hadn't even died down when the creature had emerged from the fire, already regenerating the edges of its frame.

With a cackling, almost maniacal chuckle, the wolf-monster rushed towards Wallflower, who was joining The Lion at that moment.

The laser, plasma and elemental minigun ripped through the creature's legs, splashing shadow-like miasma behind it as it forced itself to move forth, regenerating its appendages almost as quickly as they were being blown apart.

That, however, was enough for Wallflower to change directions, circling the creature to the right, while Striker ran from behind the Lion and around the left, splashing into the lake up to his waist before shooting his shotgun at point blank on the monster's chest, making it stagger back and even retreat a couple of steps between the barrage of rays, the punching power of the shotgun and the powerful shots from Wallflower's unique weapon.

Seeing this, they kept shooting, but although the had managed to halt its movement, it was clearly not enough, and the moment that the Lion's minigun stopped, they were most likely dead.

The creature hesitated, ceasing its movements towards the fighters, and ignoring the continuing damage and it being pushed back in order to look up in clear confusion.

The sky had lit up with an effect akin to the aurora borealis. Waves of multicolored light shimmered above them all, and even through the rain of bullets, lasers and explosions, the fighters were able to hear something…

"What the hell is that?" Butcher asked. "Is that singing?"

Luna's eyes were wide. "It's the Rainbooms, but why—watch out!"

Lion's minigun had finally overheated and had stopped automatically.

As distracted by the music and lights as the creature was, the moment it felt the barrage cease, it shot forward like a bullet, ignoring the two close fighters and clearly intent on destroying the heavy weapon user.

Lion scrambled back, desperately changing the configuration, but it was too late. Claws rushed down in a vicious double-swipe, ready to turn him into mincemeat.

But something happened that no one was expecting.

The claws bounced back from a chromatic shield that had formed around Lion for just a second, making the creature's arms bounce back with as much force as it had applied, making it raise its arms almost comically as its red and green eyes widened.

Lion took the chance to jump back as much as he could (which was considerable, given his in-game strength), crouch down and shower the undefended belly of the creature with bullets, making it howl in surprise and more importantly, pain.

"We're doing damage!" Surgeon shouted into the radio. "Wallflower, Striker… keep hitting it hard! Thunderbird is almost here and will support you! Sukiru, Moon, are you ready to take your shots?"

"They won't work!" Sukiru replied.

"She's right," Moon added. "Our shots go through it and it regenerates so fast they're almost pointless!"

"Well, don't you have explosive rounds?" Butcher asked, jumping into the radio conversation.

"Yessir!"

"I do!"

"Well then," Surgeon asked. "What are you waiting for? Blow it's damned head off!"

In the combat zone, the creature roared and swiped at the close combatants, but its claws bounced from similar shields each time.

"What is happening?!" The creature growled. "How are you able to generate those shields! They're not part of the game system!"

"I don't know," Wallflower remarked, smashing its face with the butt of her weapon as she reloaded it. "But you can be damn sure we'll make the most of it!"

"Incoming!" Moon shouted on the radio.

Striker and Wallflower jumped back just as two powerful shots rang across the valley.

Two holes, one on the shoulder, the other above the stomach appeared on the creature, bigger than the bullets from the minigun for just a second before both exploded, making the water around the creature splash all over.

Earlier

The crowd gasped in horror when all of Coyote's explosives went off, enveloping him and the creature in flames.

While the crowd was entranced by the battle on the giant screen, the Rainbooms and company huddled together.

"This is not good," Aria stated. "They're dropping like flies."

"There's nothing we can do though," Twilight lamented, sitting down on a chair. "We can't access our accounts and join the battle, and going in ourselves would be suicide."

Rarity crossed her arms and rubbed her elbow, looking at the screen with a grimace. "I just feel awful that we can't do anything for them, darling. You do remember that they all came to this world and saved us..."

Fluttershy and Pinkie nodded.

"Yes, it was very intense and dangerous!" Fluttershy added. "If Mr. Surgeon hadn't saved Sunset at that moment, I don't think any of us would be here."

"Well, Ah think it's just a damn shame that they don't have a way to fight magic," Applejack pointed out. "Seems to me that they had things under control until that thing started cheatin'."

"There's simply no weapons or stats for that," Sonata added. "When Avalon announced that monster that appeared over Glocken... I could feel it, even in-game. The magic stat just made our weapons useless."

"Hey..." Rainbow Dash spoke up suddenly. "What if... what if they didn't have to fight with such a big handicap?"

The girls, Principal, Princess and the sirens all looked at Rainbow Dash in confusion.

"What do you mean, Rainbow Dash?" Princess Celestia asked.

"What I mean is... how about we pony up... and use Twilight, Luna and the Sirens here to transfer our magic to them?" Rainbow Dash explained. "Wouldn't that even things up a little?"

When she was met with silence and stares, she fidgeted self-consciously. "What?"

"We just never thought you'd think about something like this on your own," Aria stated bluntly when she noticed everyone else hesitating.

Rainbow Dash's face went red when she saw the others nodding sagely. "I'm not dumb!"

Principal Celestia's hand on her shoulder stopped her from ranting further. "We never thought that, Rainbow Dash. I'm very proud that you stopped to think about things and figured out a way we could help despite the urgency of the situation."

"Um... thanks? I guess?"

"But how are we going to do that exactly?" Applejack asked. "It's not as if we can simply send the magic by itself."

Rainbow Dash smiled and grabbed her guitar. "Twilight, make sure that you're ready to open a portal. Princess—"

"I understand your plan, Rainbow Dash," Luna said with a smile. "Let's show that monster what we're capable of."

Lion's minigun slowed down to a stop, glowing red and smoking a little. Wallflower, Striker and Thunderbird—who had just arrived—were ready to act.

The cascade of water finally settled and there was no sign of the creature but a twisted claw sticking out of the slowly swaying water.

The combatants gave each other uncertain looks.

"Stay away," Surgeon ordered. "It hasn't pixelated. It's not dead."

As if his words had indicated the start of a reaction, the clawed, shadowy hand clenched into a fist and the water exploded once more as the creature reformed, faster than ever before. But it didn't move, simply glaring at the gunslingers around it, seeming to breathe hard.

"Enough!" it growled as the shadow miasma around it slowly expanded, along with its body growing until it was doubled in size. The werewolf-like creature bent forward, howling as its back seemed to rip and two shadowy, dragon-like wings, dripping tar-like liquid that sizzled whenever it touched anything emerged from it.

The creature stood straight again, roaring into the sky and opening its arms to the sides as its claws grew much longer and sharper-looking.

"No more games!"

With a mighty leap, the creature shot forward, one claw descending on the Lion with unprecedented force and speed.

The heavy fighter braced himself, managing to lift his minigun up to attempt a block. For a split second, the chromatic shield appeared, but it burst into pieces under the strength of the creature's sweep. It sliced through the minigun and through Lion's armor as if they weren't even there, and Lion barely managed to survive as a big piece of his chest exploded into pixels.

If the barrier and minigun hadn't been on the way as he jumped back, there was no doubt he would have been turned to shreds.

A hole appeared on the back of the creature, and then exploded, making its body ripple with the forces going through it, but this time it didn't seem to affect it, other than making it turn in a fury to look at Nightmare Moon, who had just made the shot.

"Die!"

Nightmare Moon watched the horrifying monster take off and fly towards her at an incredible speed. There was nowhere to go for her from her niche. The shields that had magically appeared around them were apparently not enough to stop the creature.

This was it.

Claws flew down as the shouts from the others reached her from the radio, but Nightmare Moon couldn't move. The creature's eyes were mesmerizing, full of hate… completely inhuman.

It was then that a blast of fire exploded right in front of the shadow creature, sending its massive frame skidding on the lake until it crashed against one of the large rocks on the shore, making it sizzle with its wings' acidic drippings.

The world seemed to slow down as a figure emerged from right under Nightmare Moon.

The curtain of the waterfall sizzled and dissipated as it walked through, flaming wings too hot for the water to even affect them. A fiery, sharp horn glowed with fire and light on the figure's forehead and two red pony ears emerged from her red and yellow hair.

Nightmare Moon's heart stopped for a short second as her eyes watered up. "It's you…" she whispered.

"You're not laying a claw on any of my friends," Desert Mirage growled at the creature. Two flaming guns materialized and cooled down into metal within her grasp. "I'm going to feed you these bullets… and make sure you and your experiments never endanger any more lives!"

She pointed her gun straight at the monster.

"Do you hear me?!" She asked, eyes blazing with anger and power. "This stops here and now, Sombra!"