Baa-Ram-Ewe!

by Darkonshadows

73. Dogged Dodging.

Author's Note:

Music to find- Rocket Race by Waterflame. Used in several games, notably Strike Force Heroes.

-Elhorn, Eastern Mountains Wulfgar Faction Facility, Evil Core Containment Arena, Shanty-

“Why not?” I asked as Pom be putting a hoof in front of me as the two wolf like machine’s started to slowly approach us and spread out to either side.

“Too well armored, unless you can cut through the metal these things are made of. That’s highly unlikely.” She kept herself between me and them while gulping and frowning, her voice be sounded slightly hoarse. “I can maybe destroy one, but I would need to get in close to weaken it so our attacks will have an effect on it and it will take time before I can do it again.”

“What if we be making them attack each other?” I received a glance from Pom and she nodded.

“That could work, but the issue is actually getting them to collide with one another in a way to do enough damage.” Pom eyes darted between the two machines as she stayed protectively in front of me. “Try to stick close and pay attention to what both of them are doing… and if we can get them close enough to each other, then maybe I can hit them both with the weakening attack I can do. I can’t use it too often, but I can use it in a minute or so. Used it to escape, so I need a little time before I can use it again.”

Pom started moving forward and I stayed by her side and watching as the mechanical growling machines on both sides of us leaned forward. Pom suddenly darted forward and I moved at the pace she set as both the machines landed behind us, but didn’t collide.

“Watch the tails, their mouths fire beams of energy and don’t be anywhere near the rockets if you can help it!” Taking all of Pom’s warnings to heart, she be knowing what she is talking about. We galloped through the center of the arena with the two machines chasing us. “And do what you have to do to stay alive until we can deal with them or find a way out Shanty!”

Pom split off from me drawing one of them away and I kept going forward towards the wall, they both be faster than us on the ground.

The machine behind me leapt as I reached the wall and I darted straight up the wall. In its confusion it slammed face first into the wall and shook the whole room, it lunged its head upwards and snapped its teeth at my rear hooves.

They didn’t be as maneuverable or could be turning very fast though.

I turned around and backed up the wall avoiding its snapping jaws and jumped off onto its back, its head extended upwards and rotated one hundred and eighty degrees to look straight at me with a glare.

It opened its mouth and… right beams of energy from the mouth, Pom did be warning me about that!

I leapt off to the left side of it and a beam soon erupted from its mouth, I quickly moved away from it and it not be moving while firing the beam.

So it needed to stay in place while firing it? That be nice to know. The opposite wall be turning red hot, but it not be melting, I still would not want to be hit by that.

“Is that the best you can do, I bet your mother was a can opener!” I shouted making it turn its head around as it reoriented its body towards me and roared angrily. It lunged and tried to slam its front right paw down on me.

I rolled forward and underneath the machine’s claws. Moving forward and reaching up, I be clamping my front hooves onto its underside followed by my rear hooves to cling to its belly.

It looked around and turned in place, whining curiously and looking about.

I can feel Dodo in the back of my head, he be worried about my current situation and gave me the feeling that he was coming as quickly as he could. I be sending him thought about me being fine, I was currently with Pom after all.

The wolf be looking underneath itself and growling, I give it a weak grin and a slight giggle.

It reared up onto its hind legs and fell forward. I dove out from under it as it belly flopped against the floor. The shockwave sent me rolling along the ground until I stopped on my back.

I could see Pom jumping off the wall only to get bloodlessly knocked higher into the air by the sweep of the other metal monsters tail slamming into her. She was doing mostly alright as she stuck the landing afterward.

Dragging my attention back to the one after me, I quickly rolled onto my hooves and lashed out my left hoof to deflect its sharp edged tail slashing down for me. I went skidding backwards from the impact, but I be successfully avoided being slashed. Now I be knowing why Pom is telling me we shouldn’t attack them, that be hurting my leg even if it didn’t damage my hoof.

I quickly dived to the side to avoid being trampled by the machine, as I did this it skidding into a turning towards me and snapped at me with its head. I started running towards where Pom was avoiding hers with rapid hops and sideways movements.

It not be smart of me to even think of looking back, especially when it be giving chase. I heard something and glanced back and went into a skid flattening my body and side as low to the ground as I could, a large rocket passed over my body and I could feel the heat from the jets at the back end of it as it made me tumbled off to the side.

Getting my hooves under me and managing to gain control of my stride, I continued galloping towards Pom and the other machine.

Pom looked towards us, her eyes went wide and she hastily sprung backwards while covered her face with her legs, her machine lunged at her and was caught in the side by the large rocket in the air and got blasted sideways into the still hot wall.

It be getting up within seconds of the explosion, there was barely even being the tiniest hints of a scratch on it. These things really are that tough to damage!

I continued running straight for a terrified looking Pom and jerked my head slightly upwards, she gained some focus nodded and started galloping towards me tilting her head downwards.

We be making a plan silently and it will be working, but how well? The machine that was targeting started giving chase, a glance showed the one behind me was going to be on me in a second or two.

As we got close to one another I leapt with my hooves held forward for Pom, her left flank hit the floor sliding as her front hooves grabbed onto mine and she flung them upwards.

Pom be forcing me into a wild windmill, I kicked my rear legs together to speed up my rotation and landed on the back of the machine as it was in mid-air.

I ran along its spine and leapt for its tail as it slammed into the other machine, I grabbed onto the tail that whipped about as the two machine’s slammed into the floor. I let go of the tail and went flying right onto the wall with all four hooves.

I looked to see that Pom had managed to slide underneath the other one I turned and waved to her, she was breathing heavily and waved back before pointing frantically at the machines.

The one that was after her suddenly turned and fired a large rocket, I started running along the wall and the rocket be exploding behind me almost knocking me off the wall.

As the machine that had been chasing Pom fire another rocket at me, I glanced at the other machine.

It be charging and firing a beam at the wall a fair distance away.

Neither Pom nor I were anywhere near there. Why was it doing that?

I be stumbling and nearly losing my grip of the wall as the next rocket struck below me, I started to run fast as the machine fired rocket after rocket behind and below me me. The explosions be hurting my ears and this be rattling me, I think I know what the other one be doing now.

I was running along the wall towards an entire vertical section that was growing white hot to the touch and the air was getting hotter around as the beam continued to focus on the wall, I can’t turn around or go down or else without being blasted.

Three more large rockets impacted the wall behind me as I kept running, doing moderate amounts of damage to it.

Pom please do something soon!

I was almost to the section of the wall that would burn my hooves off if I touched it, when an indistinct white blur thankfully intercepted me.

Having gone straight through an explosion Pom grabbed me with her right leg as she passed by.

She ran up the wall while carrying me, avoiding another powerful rocket explosion and then kicked off while holding onto me tightly. There was a grim look on her face as she stared down the two machines as we fell, the rocket firing one was running towards where we were falling with its mouth wide open and the one firing the beam slowly stopped.

The wolf machine leapt up and tried to snap us out of the air and Pom’s body seemed to inflate as we launched upwards for a few seconds. Pom shoved me onto her back as she landed on the machines back with her three hooves and ran forward a few steps while glancing back at the head of the machine.

The machine turned its head towards us and opened its mouth to begin charging.

When it fired, Pom leapt in the opposite direction and whipped me around to throw me towards the center of the room. I rolled on the ground and started running as rockets rained down first upon Pom and then me.

I be seeing that Pom be getting clear of the rocket sent her way only to trip and flop onto her back.

The machine that fired the laser turned towards me as the other one charged forward and tried to plant its right paw on Pom, she rolled to the side paw and was up and moving in a panic stricken manner, I had to look away to start running from the one charging straight for me.

As the machine behind me prepared to lunge by crouching down and skidding along the dirt, I skid to a total stop and waited as it shot overhead. It turned its head to the left and whipped its tail at me, I slapped at it with my hoof and then grappled onto it with my left hoof.

It flicked its tail back and forth trying to throw me off, I release my hold on its tail and was launched back towards the center of the room again where I twisted into a roll to bleed off my momentum safely.

I turned to see Pom join me in the center looking at the machine that had been chasing her stop and backed up towards the wall while opening its mouth for a beam attack.

What was it… danger, the answer was always danger when evil cores did something odd! I looked to the other one that had been chasing me, it was also opening its mouth.

I quickly grabbed Pom’s hoof and ran off to the side wondering why they would be aiming at each other, I think the answer would be being pretty bad.

Two beams ripped from their mouths and met at the center of the arena where we were a second ago, a ball of energy started growing behind us and we quickened our pace only for Pom to yelp and started getting dragged backwards towards the growing sun in the room.

I lunged back and grabbed her right hoof with my left and plant my right against the floor to stop her from sliding into that thing. This be straining all my muscles quite a bit.

I heaved her forward and away from the growing orb of death that was starting to suck in the surrounding dirt. She clamped onto the floor and gave me a tug, I release my grip on the floor and she swung me forward.

I clamped my rear hooves and pivoted her forward again, only to find myself stumbling as we were both suddenly free of the suction field, but the ball of energy still be growing ever bigger.

Pom lifted me up onto her back, I quickly got my hooves around her neck as she inhaled deeply. Was she going to use that Dancing Flame thing with me on her?!

The next thing I be knowing the world is a blur as several pillars of energy randomly erupted from the orb all over the arena. Some of them even almost hit us and I was feeling both dizzy and sick from how fast Pom was moving us around up, down, left, right and zigzagging further up the wall towards the ceiling.

The searing heat from the beams were even worse and almost unbearable then the sudden changes in direction, when we finally stopped we were on the ceiling and there were hundreds of scorch marks around the room.

The small sun the two machines were creating was now randomly spraying energy all over the room in bursts, Pom clambered up the wall breathing heavily with a wide eyed look in her eyes as she ran up along the ceiling and then exhaled sharply to leap to the left as a pillar of raw energy scorched the wall next to us.

Pom looked to me gasping for air and was sweating badly, I looked to her and a whimper I didn’t mean to be making escaped my lips. She grimaced and her eyes darted to the beams of energy coming out the sphere of death, I held onto her tighter and shivered.

We didn’t have to dodge another one as the sun slowly shrunk and dissipated.

The two machines stopped firing their beams to look up to us and each raised a wing with a large rocket on each prepping to be fired.

Pom shook me to gain my attention, she pulled out a small rocket motioned at it going into her mouth while inhaling and then clutched it between her teeth sideways while tilted her head towards the two mangy mutts on the ground. She then be pulling out another one from her belly.

Nodding and opening my mouth, Pom put it between my teeth and I clamped down on the rocket. She gave me a worried glance and then pushed us both off the ceiling. We fell down as two rockets arced up and exploded.

Pom inflated the fluff at the top of her head and we bobbed for a second before setting hoof on the floor, she let me off her back and we both glared at the machines.

We can’t be letting them cool down to do whatever that was again!

Even if it means we be carrying explosives in our mouths to toss into theirs when they charge up.

Hey now, if they always be doing that thing when we get on their backs…

I looked to Pom and motioned to my mouth and patted my back with my right hoof, she nodded in understanding.

If they cool down enough to charge up a beam, what would happen if all that energy be exploding in their heads?

I looked to the machine with the right wing and started running towards it as it ran towards me, it seemed confused as the other one likely was when Pom started heading right for it.

I stopped and hopped over a swipe of its right paw and lunged forward to clamp onto its chin, its glowing red eyes glared down towards me.

It tried to slam its chin into the ground, I heaved myself upwards to grab the top of the nose as it did so. It tried to bite me with its mouth.

I flexed my rear half upwards almost being bitten in half, I did this until I somersaulted forward to be standing on its nose. I glared right back at it as it slapped its left blue claws down on its nose where I was.

Leaping straight up, I landed on its menacing machine’s left paw. Its right paw swiped around along its nose, I crouched down and jumped over the paw and my front hooves narrowly managed to cling to the outer edge of its left ear to use my momentum to swing myself around and onto its back.

Its head lifted up and rotated to stare at me, I just stood there smirking at it and that made it growl.

I glanced in the direction of the other machine with the left wing as it spun in circles and bucked wildly trying to throw Pom off of it. My machine started to do the same and held fast, I was getting really drained from all of this clinging.

The machine quickly raised up onto its hind legs and fell backwards, I quickly crawled around to its belly as it slammed to the ground back first.

It brought both its front paws down trying to crush me. I moved towards the rear legs that tried to kicked me, but couldn’t dislodge or reach me as I moved back towards the front.

The machine rolled over forcing me to quickly clamber along its body back onto its back, where its head rotated once more and its mouth opened to start building up energy.

I quickly spat the rocket Pom gave me into my right hoof and hurled it into the glowing mouth, I be crouching down and covering my head with one hoof and clinging as hard as I could with my others.

The explosion rocked the entire machine making it stumbled into the center of the arena and fall down with a smoking mouth, the only damage that seemed to do was destroying all its teeth and hopefully its ability to fire beams.

The machine was rocked as the other one slammed into, Pom quickly uncurled from being a mass of white rubbery flan and leapt off of the machine wolf she was on.

Pom motioned for me to do the same as she ran around to being in front of both of them, I quickly hopped off and ran behind her as she inhaled.

What followed was her unleashed a cylinder of raw force from her mouth to the sound of a prolonged bark that ended in a yip.

When that yip sounded the armor ripped, rippled, crunched and sundered across both machines and they both writhed in agony on the floor.

A second later all the crumpled rockets in both their wings blew up in a series of explosions that Pom be shielding me from by covering me with her body.

Pom whined a bit and it was kind of hard to hear over the noise, I be hoping to not lose my hearing from all this and wish to survive. After the smoke cleared, Pom pulled away from me clutching at her throat with tears in her eyes, she even started coughed a bit.

We could see that the two wolf machines were still standing and they be looking very angry now, also badly damaged too by whatever Pom just did. I be liking the new move, but it being pretty harmful to Pom’s health.

They both stood up, moved away from each other and towards us growling. No longer having rockets on their still somewhat intact wings and no beams to fire from their mouths… we almost be evening the playing field between us to close range.

Then the Yellow Dog, Can’t Lander Car Tinkle spoke up from his booth above us.

-Carbuncle-

“So that’s what caused all that metal fatigue throughout the center of Orthros Omega’s body that led to it splitting in two. My prize is far more dangerous than I thought… now I really want her back in her cell, so delectably powerful!” The two were impressive to watch, but my Orthros Omega wasn’t done yet. “Orthros Omega kill the goat and capture my prize alive!”

-Shanty-

Whatever he be saying, that not be sounding too good. Pom stopped clutching her throat and stared down the two wolves as she took to standing in front of me and dragging a hoof on the ground.

She glanced at me, Cow Kenpo now, so use strong attacks?

She did just be ruining their armor. I stood up and joined her dragging my hoof along the ground and stared down the machines.

They be charging for us and I be charging for the one with the deformed left wing and Pom was heading for towards the right one.

I leapt up and brought my hooves around into a flying hammer blow that sent bits of metal flying off the machine’s nose and I managed to stagger it.

Only to be lightly slashed up my right thigh by its tail, I grunt as it the tail whipped around to come at me from my left. I moved into the swing and lashed my right hoof upwards cutting off a large portion of its jagged tail in an arcing flash.

Hopping back twice, I charged forward and started doing flips into a cartwheel and then a heaving hoof spring and…

“Cutlass!” I launched a powerful double hoof axe kick to its forehead shattering the armor around its head, I kicked off and saw that I revealed its sparking unarmored ugly face underneath.

It swiped its left paw at me and my vision went red with pain as I bounced off the ground twice. Pom was by my side in a second and helped me sit up and then looked fearful as the two machines approached.

The second one was missing armor along its legs and belly, the damage looked to have been caused by… claws?

They be approaching us and looking at me hungrily, Pom stood in front of them defiantly.

-Carbuncle-

“Separate them and kill the useless waste of space and disable my prize.” As soon as I said this, the entire room was filled with a bright pink flash as something pulsed from above. Both my machines froze with their backs to me, the two on the floor looked at the machines with a curious glances and then they glanced at each other. What were they suddenly smiling about?! “What are you waiting for, I order you to complete your objectives!”

Slowly the two machines turned around to face me, the color in their eyes were a bright cyan blue.

“Sorry, but I don’t think there’s any evil left in your machines to follow those orders.” Orthros Right started charging towards the gate leading to the warehouse.

“How!?” I didn’t even know such a thing was even possible.

-Shanty-

“Ugh... headache… Smolder keep pumping me with love and carry my body to the vents above the warehouse and burn us through once... rampaging...” The other wolf machine stated in Ocellus’s voice while looking to us before charging for the door and started to shred it alongside the other wolf machine that had already physically torn halfway through to the warehouse. “P-P-Pom, Sh-sh-anty, stay b-behind the machines! Ugh... I don’t honestly know how long I can... keep this up… hurry.”

Comments

[Herald of Opera]

Music to find- Rocket Race by Waterflame. Used in several games, notably Strike Force Heroes.

*two seconds of Google later*

[Shadowshame]

You know with how Pom can use her wool I had a thought: what if Pom could do the charged spin dash that sonic does by using her wool to basically be a slingshot, like you know the kind of toy car that you pull backwards and when you let go it speeds off