Destiny- Shimmering Sun

by FrostTheWolf


06- Rumble

        Okay… Back when I was alive, when some random person shouts at you and challenges you to a fight in public, there could only be two possible implications as to what was about to happen. One, you either pissed them off to a certain degree and they actually want to fight you… or two, it just ends up turning into a duel like the shows that were on tv about how disputes were solved through a children’s card game. Of course, that might have been a long time ago, but what was going on right now really made me recall those old memories. And not in a good way.

        Because Indigo right now… was asking me to fight her. Not here though… In the Crucible. Something that I didn’t even know about until a short while ago. Even still, the hunter really looked eager to fight me. However, the real implications began when Lord Thunderlane went on about how fighting in the Crucible builds character, and multiple battles would strengthen my resolve overall… but I was more focused on Indigo in that moment. “You want me to fight you? Surely, there’s more of a reason to it than just that.”

        “Well, I want to prove that you are nothing but a fake… because someone like you cannot seriously last in a full on battle in the crucible,” Indigo grinned. Putting her knife away as I noticed that she had a revolver on her left hip. “Unless of course… you aren’t up for the challenge?”

        “I never said that I was going to say no…” I told her, before folding my arms and asking her a question.

        “Well then… Let’s make things even more interesting,” Indigo told me. “You, me, four other guardians… Rumble. It will be an all out free for all where the goal is to see who comes out on top. I bet you that you will not last in that kind of contest. Because if you lose… well, I’ll make you look like the most pathetic guardian on the Vanguard roster.”

        I waited for a pause… before issuing my reply. “And what happens when you lose?”

        “Pfft… Like I’ll ever lose to a faker like you-.”

        “Ladies, ladies,” We both now heard Lord Thunderlane interject, preventing Indigo from trying to get directly in my face. “I know you two are eager to go at each other's throats, but save that energy for the Crucible. Take some time to prepare yourselves while I round up a few more guardians that will serve as your opponents. Once we have everyone, I will inform you when the match will begin.”

        Yet, all that did was have Indigo smirk at me with a devilish grin before walking off, leaving me with Mac, Twilight, Flash and Lord Thunderlane. Everything was silent for a few moments as I was still trying to process things.

        Only for that silence to be broken by Winona. “Well… that happened.”

        Mac, in response to his ghost, just groaned for a moment, before looking to me. “Sunset, are you sure that this is a good idea… I know that your strong, but-”

        “But what?” I asked, folding my arms as I looked back at him. “I’m not going to stand idly by and have Indigo try to undermine what I’m doing for the Vanguard, Mac.”

        “Ah get that, but the Crucible has a very different set of rules…” He then told her. “For one thing, if she wants you to compete in what I think she wants you too, then no one can be able to help ya out.”

        Hold up… what does he mean by that? I thought that the Crucible was something of a team based thing.

        “Maybe I should help clarify things since I will be overseeing the match later,” I now heard Lord Thunderlane interject, looking directly towards me in the process. “Indigo wants to face you in the Crucible during a free-for-all battle exercise called ‘Rumble’. It’s a free for all duel where the goal is to gain points by taking down as many opponents as possible, but also watch your back for those who want to take you down as well because any other guardian you encounter in a Rumble is your enemy.”

        “So wait… how exactly are you supposed to win then if everyone is gunning for you?” I asked, a bit puzzled.

        “Simple. Survive as much as you can and defeat other guardians. Each time you defeat one, you gain points and different ways of taking down guardians grants you more points,” The crucible handler clarified to me. “Whoever has the most points at the end of a ten minute match will be declared as the winner… yet, I’d advise you be careful when facing her… Bladedancers are really hard to defeat in the Crucible. Especially with the proper equipment.”

        Shortly afterwards, Lord Thunderlane excused himself so that he could be able to make the proper preparations while I noticed Mac talking with Flash Sentry at the other end of the hall, leaving me to talk with Twilight. I did want to make sure I got the chance to talk to her. After all, Mac did mention something on our last mission that I think would be essentially important for this. “Hey Twilight, can I ask you about something real quickly?”

        “If it’s about advice regarding the Crucible, then I can’t help you,” Twilight immediately told me straight out the gate. “Thunderlane doesn’t want Flash, Rainbow or I to be trying to give you any sort of help or items that would cause the match to be unfair to other guardians-”

        “Sure… but that was not what I was wanting to ask you,” I sighed, before placing my left arm on my hip and extending my right hand. Letting some of my light take form into a small flame before looking back at her. “On my last mission, Mac pulled off something that he called a ‘Super’ ability… and it was something that he said varies by class… Could it be possible for you to teach me how to use that?”

        “Oh that? That… might actually be simple,” She replied back, her tone changing now. “Sunsingers like yourself have the super ability called ‘Radiance’, which can serve a few purposes depending on how you use it and when you do… Do you remember all the way back to the friendship games? When you had to face… well…”

        Oh right… Midnight Sparkle… God, it’s been so long that I almost forgot about that. Though, I’m a little confused as to how that ties into this conversation right now. “Yeah, I still remember that… though, how does-”

        “Well, how you used your magic back then to face me is kind of similar to how a Sunsinger uses their Radiance,” She explained, before grabbing a datapad and pulling up what looked like a video of a Sunsinger fighting some fallen. But at one moment in the battle, the Sunsinger released a massive amount of its power as what looked like small wings of fire were seen behind it. “When a Sunsinger goes into this state, their grenades and other abilities are powered up and the cooldown time in order to use them is reduced. And there are more things that a super can do than just their super with the right training.”

        “Oh really? How so?” I asked for inquiry as Twilight changed what was on the data pad again.

        “For a guardian, there are four standard abilities that are seen in each subclass whether you are a Warlock, Titan or Hunter,” She explained, holding up four fingers and counting them off for me. “First, there’s your grenades. Second, there’s your movement skill, whether it’s gliding in the air for a warlock, lifting yourself up in place like a titan or just jumping more than once as a hunter. Third is your super… and the forth one is your melee. When someone gets too close for comfort and you don’t have time to use your grenades.”

        That was followed by Twilight projecting a demonstration on the screen. Three warlocks were shown and each one of them threw out what looked like a similar kind of grenade. Yet, each one of them did something different upon detonation. The first one created a small vortex upon detonation, the second one split off and scattered into smaller grenades that explode on contact, and the third one split into a pair of seeking bolts that blew up an opponent once they made contact.

        Of course, it was after seeing this did Twilight begin to explain what I was seeing. “But for each of those four abilities, there are three modifiers to them that you unlock through experience and by participating in more battles, whether it’s vanguard operations or through the Crucible.”

        That… was a bit confusing to understand at first, but I think I was able to understand everything. “So I… have all four of those abilities, but only the first modifier for them?”

        “Well, yes, but it’s more than just active abilities that a guardian has. Though, you probably only need to understand those four basic abilities for right now,” The warlock explained to me. “We can discuss about the others after your match.”


        Okay, so when I originally heard Lord Thunderlane excuse himself earlier to make preparations, I thought that the wait time would end up being a lot longer that what I thought it turned out to be. What I believed was to be a twenty minute wait… turned into a five minute one. And when I was informed about it, he even went as far as to make sure to choose an arena that was on Earth and not somewhere that was off world.

        Of course, it was as things were about ready for us to compete that I received a message on my Ghost from the crucible handler as he began to explain more about the rules of the exercise that was going on in the Crucible… as well as tell us where we were going. The rumble match I was going to participate in was in a section of the Cosmodrome called ‘The Rusted Lands’. Which looked like it had been once previously been inhabited by both the fallen and the hive. Not to mention that it also contained a short list of those who would be participating in the match.

        I couldn’t catch all the names, but to summarize, one was an awoken warlock who I previously bumped into at the tower on accident, another one was a titan who’s first name was ‘Copper’, there was a Hunter who was known as Emerald Edge and lastly, another titan that was known as Noble Arms. So in total, there were two Warlocks, Two hunters, and Two titans that were all taking part in this match.

        And five more things to watch out for to the point that I might drive myself insane with being overly cautious. Fantastic.

        “Arriving at the Rusted Lands…” Ghost told me, just as I was landing around what looked like the edge of the battlefield. “I’ll let Thunderlane take over from here.

        “Wait, I thought he watches over the battles…”

        “He also commentates. Just… don’t worry about it.” That… is going to be tricky. Because concentration does not normally involve someone shouting in your ear through the course of ten minutes.

        “Okay… anything else I should know? Like how do they keep track of score?” I asked him.

        “Just pay attention to the bottom right corner of your helmet-” Ghost told me, just before his voice was blocked out by the sound of the crucible handler speaking up.

        “Rumble.” Was the first thing I heard, before I noticed the timer on the bottom right of my vision begin to tick down. “The enemy is everywhere… Leave none standing!

        And like that, I was off to the races, making sure I was careful of my surroundings and checking my radar. My current loadout consisted of the Auto Rifle I was using, my shotgun for in case anyone got too close to me and my rocket launcher. Though, right now I was just holding onto my primary weapon and making sure that I wasn’t going to end up getting flanked by someone hiding in a corner.

        However, just a few seconds into the match, my bottom left corner pointed out that Indigo herself had already taken down one of the other guardians and was now leading. “They’ve taken the lead. You can turn this tide!

        My mind was now focused on trying to get more of the points needed to catch up. Luckily, to my right, I could see two other guardians fighting each other. The titan named Copper and the Hunter, Emerald Edge. I wanted to try and find a way to take down both of them, but the Hunter already took down the titan by throwing what looked like a set of bouncing grenades. Causing me to back up so that I don’t get hit before opening fire to take her down.

        Indigo though… was still in the lead. And the more that I tried to find opponents to take down and gain points, the more that she was defeating other guardians and getting a higher lead. It was almost like that for the first minute or so of the match, where she had taken the lead and I was in second place. Though, as I was beginning to learn early on in the match… Scoring points is one thing, but how you defeat an opponent can add extra points to your score. It was possibly the reason why Indigo had jumped high enough on the scoreboard right-.

        FWOOSH!!

        Oh crap, something’s behind me! “There you are!!” Oh no… not now.

        As I turned around, I had seconds to react as Indigo tried to stab me with one of her knives. Barely missing me as I tried hitting her with a palm of solar energy to create some distance before opening fire. Yet, just as two of my shots hit her… she threw a grenade that bounced off the surface and sent lightning everywhere. Causing me to duck for cover.

        Of course, being reckless as she was, Indigo went charging after me. And it was just as I turned the corner that I switched to my shotgun. So, when she turned the corner, it was right in close range of my weapon and all I had to do was pull the trigger.

        “Son of a-!”

        BANG!!

        Upon shooting her and taking her down, my score got boosted up to where it was only a few points short of where Indigo was too. But it was also that I noticed something… after getting the points for taking her down, it also mentioned that I was on some kind of… streak? I remembered taking down another guardian earlier… so are they keeping track of my kill count-?

        Oww! Who just-? Nevermind that, I need to run. Now! This is the worst time to forget that there were four other Guardians trying to go after me right now-.

        BANG!


Guardian Down… Respawning in 3… 2… 1…


        Only a few seconds after getting shot down, I felt myself land right back on my feet again. Back into the hectic fray that was the match as I found myself coming across another small firefight breaking out between another pair of guardians. Peeking through a hole in a brick wall to take aim at the warlock that just took down a titan. I fired a few rounds before he tried to fight back, leading me to jump out from behind cover and throw a grenade. One that had just recently been recharged as they exploded in a plume of flames.

        After that short clash though, my radar began to flare red of someone behind me and closing in fast. I turned around, just as a shot from a hand cannon grazed my helmet and looked directly at the second hunter that was in this fight Emerald Edge. I looked back at her, waiting for a chance to fire… and that happened when she found herself having to reload at the worst possible time. Providing me the chance to take her down.

        “Double Down. Gained the lead!

        Wait, what? I’m leading now? How… Oh wait, now I see it. I’m two kills ahead of Indigo and… you know what, I’m going to focus less on the details and more on the match right now. Besides, we’re two minutes in and right now, we’re all going at each other's throats in order to see who will win. I need to not think about the small details and focus more on the battle right now. Especially since I could see on the scorecard that Indigo was trying to make a comeback.

        Running through the empty ruins and into a tunnel, I found an ammo box that was able to replenish some of the ammo I already used. Shortly before that Copper Titan tried to blast me with a fusion rifle around the same time I used my Auto Rifle to shoot him directly in the head. Taking him down before even getting a second shot off. But… despite this…

        “Lost the lead.

        I looked back at the score tracker on the right hand side, seeing that Indigo had jumped back up and was ahead of me by one kill. But then, as it was now three minutes into the match, I heard something else.

        “Heavy Ammo Inbound.

        With that, I now noticed a purple marker on my scanner and began to head towards it. There was also a timer on that marker as well, showing that something was coming to that location within ten seconds. And right away, I could tell that some of the other guardians were fighting over what was there. Hmm… this is something I can use to my advantage.

        Of course, everyone else was really overdoing themselves. The warlock from before unleashed some kind of huge void blast that took down one of the titans, but then Indigo charged into the fray. Lighting churning around her as she was slashing some other guardians to pieces… before turning her attention to me. “Payback time!!”

        Of course, around that time was when I got a notification on my visor. One that said ‘Supercharge ready’. In an instant, I activated it as my whole body became wrapped around a set of warm cleansing fire as I backed up from Indigo and threw one of my grenades. Something she did not see in her rush to get to me as her blade struck the grenade. Causing it to detonate and throw her into a wall.

        “Heavy Ammo available.

        The crate for the heavy ammo soon arrived and thankfully, I was able to acquire it before any other guardians happened to show up. My ammo count for my Rocket Launcher was now at two shots, one in the magazine and one in reserve. But I decided to not use the ammunition immediately and instead wait for the right moment to use it effectively.

        One perfect opportunity came close to the six minute mark. Where there were three guardians in the same area as I was jumping off of a ledge from a building and floating over them. Bringing out my rocket launcher, I fired off a shot that took down two of the guardians in the vicinity and then ignited the third one into flames with my Scorch attack.

        “Yes! Three down! Gained the Lead!

        Geez… and I thought that handlers of something like this were not supposed to pick favorites. Either that or he’s just really passionate.

        Still, we were nowhere close to being done and there was still time for Indigo to try and take my spot again. Meaning that this time, I had to do everything that I could to stay in the lead. Aiming my shots carefully and having to make sure that I don’t accidentally use up any of my abilities without having them hit anyone (Like throwing a grenade around a corner, only for no one to be there).

        Of course, one of the thing that did not make this easy was that both of the Hunters, Indigo and Emerald, were the ones using Sniper Rifles in their secondary slot. And Emerald was the one that shot me down the last time before I respawned. So now, I was being extra careful of those who can easily snipe me while hiding behind cover while fighting off those who attempted to get me at close range.

        “Five minutes remaining…

        Alright. Halfway through… now to survive through the remaining amount of time left-

        BANG! Aw crap, not this again! Why is it when I am getting a chance to catch of breath that a sniper tries to pin me down. Thankfully, my shield took most of the hit, but if I take another one of those shots again, then we’re going to have problems.

        Yet… from my position, I was able to look at the cracked reflection on a window and see who was the sniper. And just as I thought, it was Indigo. She must’ve gotten up to a higher perch in order to have a clear line of sight over the field. But she must be looking for all other potential targets as well if she was wanting to get her score up.

        And just as it so happens… I still had one more rocket left. As for Indigo, her attention was turned less towards me and towards another guardian on a different point of the map. Allowing for me to get a clear shot at her before she realizes what I am doing. Now… if only I can just aim this correctly and-

        FWOOSH! BOOM!!

        “Fantastic work!” Was what I heard Thunderlane declare out loud as the rocket made impact with the hunter and sent her falling off of the pillar she was camping out at. Even though it felt good to not have her try to pick me off, the downside was that I did not have any rockets left. That and I still needed to make sure that no one else-

        SHANK!


Guardian Down… Respawning in 3… 2… 1…


        Okay, who the hell just decides to throw a knife into the back of my head?! I mean… seriously?! Nevermind that… Come on, I need to refocus.

        Upon respawning again, I found a special ammo box and cracked it open. Restocking on my ammo again and making sure both of my weapons had enough ammo in each one. Because I had a feeling that the less time there was in the match, the fiercer that the battles were going to be. We only had like… closer to three minutes left I think. And another Heavy Ammo crate was on the way.

        Only question now though… was where can I find it? The marker for it was not showing up for it like the last one. Only leading me to think that I was nowhere near where the drop point would be for it. My mind was beginning to race. Especially since the thought of Indigo getting her hands on it was not something that I wanted to think of right now.

        And unfortunately… I was not able to get it this time. Instead, the Titan named Noble Arms got it for his machine gun and was beginning to tear through the other guardians like paper. Until a rocket came flying towards him and blew him up, leading me to turn around and had me look back at the one thing that I did not want to see.

        Indigo… with a rocket launcher aimed directly at me. And she just squeezed the trigger. “Got you now!”

        “Crap-!” I cursed, getting caught in the blast from the rocket launcher and being thrown back a few feet. Honestly, I was surprised that a rocket blast like that did not kill me. Though, I should probably be a bit more focused on Indigo-

        BANG!

        Without warning, Indigo was blindsided. Attacked by the other Warlock that was in this fight as my super was fully charged again. Using the scuffle between both of them to my advantage, I activated Radiance again and threw a grenade in between the two of them. Catching both of them in the explosion as the warlock fell down and was caught in my grenade. As for Indigo, I smacked her straight in the face with my Scorch ability and had her disintegrate. It was a close call, but I was glad for the timing there.

        “One minute remaining…

        Alright. We’re in the endgame now. And I’m still in the lead… No time to slack off though. I’m just only ahead by a few points and Indigo could try to catch up at any moment. Watching my radar, I continued to move around and find a way to further increase my score, but also try to remain out of sight so I don’t get picked off by anyone else, whether it’s by a guardian with a scout rifle or one with a sniper rifle. Which seemed like a good plan in theory.

"Thirty seconds!"

        That was, until I began to hear electricity crackle and watch as Indigo herself was going on a rampage while her Super was active. Making short work of both titans and the other Warlock… before turning her gaze to me. “I… will not… LOSE TO YOU!!!”

        “Ten seconds!!

        Immediately, I jumped over to my left to dodge an incoming attack while trying to back up. Getting my shotgun out as I tried to blast her at close range. However, she was too quick and dodged my attacks with ease, getting to the point where her blade was just mere inches to my neck.

        But then… I heard something else as the time for the match ran out. “Hard fought victory, guardian. You deserve it.


Tower (Shortly afterwards…)

        “That… was amazing, Sunset!” I heard Twilight tell me as I came back to the Hall of Guardians shortly after my Crucible Match was over. Twilight, Flash and Mac were the only ones there waiting for me to return, but it was the voidwalker who took the chance to speak up and congratulate me on my success. “Are you sure that was supposed to be your first match? Because you looked like a veteran of the Crucible out there.”

        “I’m sure that was my first time, Twilight… and I felt like I was going crazy given how everyone else in that match was also trying to kill me.” I sighed. “That and when I was taken down… twice.”

        “Yeah, that did come from out of nowhere,” Twilight told me. “The first time around, the titan called Noble Arms used a scout rifle to take you down then. While the second time was when the Hunter named Emerald Edge threw a knife at you.”

        “They can actually do that?” I asked, a little puzzled by what she said.

        “If they are a Gunslinger, they can. If you’re a bladedancer like Indigo, you keep your blade next to you at all times because it’s part of your survival kit,” Ghost said, while turning to look towards the entrance to the hall, causing me to turn around too. “Speaking of which…”

        Right… the wager. I almost forgot about that. Because personally, I would’ve thought that Indigo would go out of her way to try and undermine my win. Especially since she specifically told me earlier that she wouldn’t lose to someone like me. But as I watched her enter the room, the hunter looked to have a rather… defiant look on her face. Something that makes it look like she thought of this as just a minor setback.

        In fact, she didn’t look to really be affected by what happened, even though losing seemed to be a bit of a big dent on her pride. But yet, there was still one thing that seemed to be on her mind as she let out a deep breath. “Well… I almost had you at the end… but a loss is a loss…” She groaned, holding her head down. Almost as if she was too embarrassed by her defeat. “Do what you want…”

        “Uh… excuse me?” I asked her, now confused by what she was telling me. “If this is part of the whole ‘prediction’ that you were making earlier… then you never exactly told me what would happen if you lost.”

        That… had Indigo a bit surprised, before facepalming herself. “It was supposed to go both ways… meaning that if I lost, you would do whatever you want to humiliate me.”

        All I could do was laugh for a moment before looking back at her. “Humiliate you? Why would I do something like that? Besides, isn’t me surviving in the Crucible enough proof that I can be seen as an actual guardian by you?” The bladedancer herself was silent as I looked back at her.

        The next thing that I said though… caught everyone’s attention. Including Mac, who was just entering the room after talking with Flash. “If anything… I would like for you to join our fireteam instead of embarrass you.”

        “What-?”

        “Sunset, are you serious?” Mac now spoke up, a little surprised by that.

        “Why not? I think from seeing her fight, those skills will prove rather useful in the field, especially with how unpredictable she can be,” I assured him, before looking back to Indigo. “So… what do you say?”

        It took Indigo a little bit in order to think it over, shortly before giving a response. “Eh… okay I guess. I mean, I like the Crucible… but with all the matches that I have been participating in, it’s been getting kind of repetitive.”

        “Repetitive!!?!” We all heard Thunderlane shout from the area closest to the hall of guardians as Twilight looked back at all of us.

        “That… probably isn’t quite the best choice of words to say around him…” The warlock told us. “Though, with the three of you being a full fireteam now, we need to give you a name. That way your team can be able to be deployed on Strike Missions.”

        “Strike missions?” I asked, shortly before Ghost soon appeared next to me.

        “They are assignments that are normally assigned to full fireteams and take on the most strongest of tasks that the city needs to do. For example, raiding a Fallen stronghold.”

        “Exactly. So, what would like to name it Sunset?” She asked, before looking to me. And then… only one possible name emerged in my head.

        “Harmony… We’ll be Fireteam Harmony.” It took Twilight a few minutes to move her finger on the datapad she was using, before she looked back at me after pressing a few buttons. Just as I noticed Flash enter the room.

        “Congratulations. Fireteam Harmony is on the roster now-”

        “And at the right possible time,” We all heard Flash speak up, before looking towards us. “I just got an unsettling report from some of Rainbow’s scouts about Fallen activity in the Cosmodrome. They’ve located the lair of the House of Devils, which is in the ruins of an old colony ship as well as the High Servitor that they call their god. What’s more unsettling though… is that they found the place because the fallen were transporting civilians that they have kidnapped from the city.”

        “Why would they kidnap civilians? That doesn’t sound like the fallen-” Indigo asked, before realizing something. “No… you don’t mean…”

        All Flash did was nod in that instance, causing me to look at our new fireteam member with a puzzled look on my face. “What? What’s wrong?”

        Indigo then turned back towards both Mac and I now as she continued to speak. “If they kidnapped civilians, that means that those fallen are going to try and sacrifice them to their machine god. Meaning… that if we are going to do this, then we need to hurry and stop them before any of those civilians become potential victims.”

        “Indigo’s right… and that’s why I think you three are the best for this,” Flash told us as he looked back at us. “Fireteam Harmony, your mission is simple… Infiltrate the Devil’s lair, find this machine god and send it screaming back to hell. Now get out there!”