Gargantuan Beastie's Story

Dalgarei

A wild sector of harsh rocks, sandy dunes. Spotted with the every now and again Oasis.

The portal really did whisk the two strangers, one invisible to the other, somewhere new. As the whispering faded, and the color began to bleed back into their world, Niira's heart sunk. She knew exactly where they were, and it was exactly where they shouldn't be. They had teleported into the middle of a Gargantuan battle, with a crowd of thousands, including shady figures like assassins.

"AAAAAGH!"

Niira went to dive out of the way, tripped over seemingly nothing, and landed flat on her face. The earth shook as not a milisecond later, a gargantuan slammed to the sand not a meter from her head. Ears ringing, heart skipping, she tried to stand up and orientate herself but was taken down by the quaking ground. This was bad.

Spider-like, the Gargantua began to rise, it's massive limbs landing it's clawed feet any which where got it up.

This was worse.

Her eyes scanned around to the various beings did battle. Ones she had never seen before...and ones she was sure wouldn't ever see her. Koishi's eyes were wide in interest, grinning blissfully at everything around her as she reached to Niira after she had dove out of the way, trying to help her up. "Matte matte, get up get up!" Her eyes briefly looked away from the sights around her to look for the helmet.

She was completely unaware of the fighting going around her or the Gargantua as it rose. After all, it couldn't see her!...or, so she assumed. Though she completely forgot, the same 'invisibility' didn't apply to Niira. "We've gotta find your helmet so you can see!"

Niira was aware of a presence tugging at her, seemingly up, so she followed along. Nothing made sense anymore, except figuring out how to stay alive in this mess. Then, maybe, perhaps, if she was lucky, answers.

Helmet! Niira looked wildly about. It couldn't have rolled so far, right? The current champion on the stage had by this time noticed the disturbance to the match, and was yelling obscenities as he tried to guide the Gargantua away.

Koishi's attention drifted to and fro from the various things around them to the actual goal they were looking to accomplish: getting Niira's helmet. Just from the corner of her eye, Koishi caught a glimpse of something rolling about the ground, having just caused some poor fool in this endless battle to trip and fall - leaving an opening for their attackers.

Grinning wide, she began walking in its direction. "Yatta! Found the helmet, and all without an explosion or someone losing their actual head!" Her comment, though it could have been directed towards Niira, was more just out in the open...it was more-so there so she could narrate what she was doing. Letting go of Niira's hand to grab the helmet and hand it to her. Of course, there was more to be done beyond finding the helmet. This was just the first step of many...

The helmet floated towards her, which was odd, but the whole scenario was odd, and it was beyond the time to be questioning matters. She quickly shoved her head into the thing. Woah! What?

It was odd - it seemed Niira could only see the one she'd met back at the mysterious smudge with her helmet on. Another puzzle for another minute. The current champion in the ring was floored, doing his best (which was not very well at all) to fend off the Gargantua which had gained the upper hand.

"We should getehellouttahere!" Niira screeched, dodging a big obsidian limb that came swinging in their general direction as the Hunt raged on. From high above, members of the royal court were watching the strange proceedings down below. Who the hell was that down there, interrupting the match?

"Kid's fast," Mungus DeSeiro, veteran of the Hunt, remarked to a woman clad in mauve silks to his right. She sniffed the air, unimpressed. Mungus crossed his arms and made himself more comfortable. Who gave a crap what noble house she was from, this was the worst date ever.

Koishi smiled wide once she knew Niira could see her once more! Which was good for many reasons, especially for the sake of communication. Though, once Niira screeched out, her own 'sixth sense' if you will made her shift out of the way, dodging as well...! Due to the surprise of needing to dodge, she was floating in the air now about a foot above the floor.

"Weeeeeell...how ruuuude!"

She pouted, and then looked towards Niira. "Yeah...let's get out before one of us gets hurt!" Koishi, in talking to her, was completely unaware of the nobles up above, and even if she was aware she didn't really know them.

"Agreed!" Niira dove after her new companion and fellow partner in survival, who was floating? How was she doing that? No time for questions! Niira ran at Koishi, fully intending to grab hands and book it for the nearest exit.

An inhuman roar shook the arena as the current champion of the stage landed a critical hit.

It was the third day of The Hunt and the stands were packed to the brim. The turnout was larger than usual this year, mostly due to the fact that the Gargantua were extra aggressive as of late. They had been seen nigh rabid, scampering across the countryside, and were particularly hard to catch. With danger came intrigue; the masses flocked. It was going to be a good show.


The ground shook as the arena lost it's mind, all eyes to the center, waiting for the Champion C.H.A.R. to appear. Behind a giant grate at one far end, a Gargantua could be heard scratching. The Gargantua was named Quadman and it was 40 feet tall. Quadman was ready to get out of his holding pen and give payment to those who put him there, or perish in his attempts.

Mortars in the distance fired 3 smoke mortars at the battlefield. The battlefield filled with smoke. A hush fell over the crowd, the deafening silence near unbearable. This continued for 6 minutes

Then, a helicopter zoomed overhead and dropped C.H.A.R. onto the battlefield. It's legs unfolded and his systems powered up. It looked different. Instead of the usual beige desert military look, C.H.A.R. was all black with a jolly roger flag under the 'cockpit', which looked like a bib. A badass bib.

The 12 large speakers coming from his back, spaced apart as not to impede the Trophy System, were blasting 'Manuel - Gas Gas Gas' on full blast. Sure, it was Eurobeat, but it had a sick guitar bit at the beginning.

"Foul Beast! I sentence you to death"

"Prepare to be..."

C.H.A.R. said as it cocked its weapons,

"C.H.A.R.-broiled"

The grate slowly opened. As it did, the muscular legs of the Gargantua fought to drag the rest of it through. It looked like a black deformed spider, spasming to free itself, until the grate opened far enough for the traction it gained in it's efforts to rip it into the Gargantuan Stage.

There he stood, in all his glory. Fourty feet from foot to shoulder, a pulsing orange core beneath the exoskeleton of Quadman's chest. Four legs were clearly stronger than the last two. Quadman was a beautiful creature.

Quadman let out a mighty howling screech of a roar; then suddenly hurled himself an impressive distance, right for C.H.A.R.!

C.H.A.R. slid to the side, assisted by rocket boosters, which are wedged between its 'cockpit' and armaments on either side. For a lumbering, several ton mech, C.H.A.R.'s tangible form was surprisingly fast. It ran around the beast, and started unloading lead into it's side with two side-mounted GAU-8's. He had to fire his left thruster to compensate for the sheer recoil threatening to swivel C.H.A.R. in the wrong direction.

After unloading hundreds of bullets into the disgusting xeno, C.H.A.R. was thrown into the air by the charging beast. All was going to plan, he thought. C.H.A.R. launched a salvo of SAM missiles into the Xeno while airborne, and, when turned around, launched his flare countermeasures to distract it. The mech then folded it's legs, and landed on top of the monster's head. Rather hard. You could hear the sickening crack a mile away, but the beast survived, even with gore and gristle pouring out it's side.

"Bow before me, your almighty mechanical overlord. Before I turn you into a fine mist."


C.H.A.R. pointed its missile launcher and started spinning its miniguns while its legs settled into a combat stance.

Quadman buckled, but didn't collapse, under the weight of C.H.A.R. landing on it's head. Orange-brown goo oozed from a little more than a hundred bullet holes in it's main chest cavity- while the bullets were strong, not all of them could pierce the armored exoskeleton of the Gargantua. A steady orange glow leaked from the holes as well. The missiles did more damage - tearing off completely one of his stronger limbs and the two weaker ones. Quadman now only had three of his infamously muscular legs.

The crowd went silent at the crack of C.H.A.R. landing, only to erupt into cheers as the Champion commanded it's subservience. Quadman was teetering - not only from losing a limb, but from severe disorientation from the cranial hit. His vision was gone. His hearing was gone. All Quadman knew was the ground beneath his remaining limbs, and C.H.A.R. atop his head.

On instinct, Quadman the Gargantua bucked, hoping to fling C.H.A.R. from atop him. His spidery legs pumped as he bucked again, more innards gushing from his wounds as he did so. The Gargantua was weakening, but still had a bit of a fight left in him.

C.H.A.R. fell onto it's rump. It got up. It shot once near Quadman's head, and Quadman didn't even flinch. It dawned pretty quickly Quadman was rendered blind and deaf.

C.H.A.R. slammed into Quadman several times, feet first, darting away to avoid the consequences. Quadman could be terminated instantaneously, but C.H.A.R. wasn't an assassin or hunter, but a gladiator. Though smaller than Quadman, the mech had no problem pushing Quadman around the arena, in a show of humiliation that would give PETA an aneurysm. Finally, C.H.A.R. purposefully tipped Quadman on his side and unloaded a dozen rockets and dozens more bullets into the beast's cranium.


C.H.A.R. sawed off the beast's head and held it up. The crowd went wild.

Quadman's body trembled and weakened rapidly as he gave the rest of what he had. His legs buckled easily with the impact of the tip. The ground shook as gravity took his lifeless body to the ground. Where his head once was oozed a river of innards. As the shell of the Gargantua emptied, the glowing core could be seen brighter and brighter.

Then, an immaculate display of carnage which sent the crowd mad with delight! Thousands of shells sprayed in every direction as, with the firepower only a true gladiator could possess, Quadman's head was removed. Sawed off, but by a gun. That would definitely be extra points for creativity.

"DEFEAT!"

C.H.A.R. kicked the beast's head off to the side. The crowd went wild!

"You may not terrorize this plane any longer"

The mech stood in a heroic pose. However, C.H.A.R. was no entertainment AI. He knew what it meant to be never idle. Three smaller worker drones, which were merely extensions of C.H.A.R. just like the mech and helicopter, cloaked and started digging into the beast, uncloaking once concealed within the wretched... thing. They dug out the power core.

C.H.A.R. fired countermeasures and dropped smoke, in a display of pyrotechnics bearing the likeness of an angel rising from the clouds. The mech quickly grabbed the power core and concealed it under the pirate flag under it's fuselage. The drones hooked it up, and, with their newfound power, C.H.A.R. shot off into the sky, leaving a white trail behind.

The worker drones powered down and flopped over.

Ryan and Yvandir arrived as the head was kicked aside, followed by an immaculate display of firepower.

“See the core? Obtaining that is the objective” Ryan said, his jaw dropping as the pyrotechnics made what could have been an angel.

"certainly an interesting take on the hunt at least, I was under the impression they were hunted out in the wilds. watching the machine kick aside the head and scoop up the core Yvandír sighed at the lack of respect to his foe but shook his head. looking to Ryan. "Alright Ryan, I'm game, now to sign up"

Ryan lead Yvandir from the stands, which had erupted into chaos. Half the spectators were clamoring to get out, and the other half were just getting started on the celebrating. As they went, he explained the process of signing up. It wasn't hard. You just had to declare yourself, declare your combat style to the best of your ability, and sign a waiver stating that if you die it was your own fault. Easy enough!

"You'll be matched with a Gargantua based on a few factors, most of it is random. You can request a larger or smaller beast, if you would like, though this is rarely done," Ryan continued, "So, are you ready?"

Expectations were high for the next round of the hunt. Not only were the Gargantua extra rabid this year, but a being of unfathomable circumstance was rumored to be competing today. Aberashians and tourists flocked to the arena.


Normally the ground would be shaking with the chaos of the crowd, but instead the arena was a deafening silent. Everyone sat at the edge of their seats, if they weren't hanging over the rails, to be the first to see the rumored God Champion.

Behind a giant grate at one far end, a Gargantua waited patiently for the gate to open. The Gargantua was named Li Xi and she was 58 feet tall. She had eight spidery limbs, wiry and quick. At the end of the two legs closest to her face were special pincers. They secreted a substance almost like a spiders web, which burned to the touch. While she couldn't produce much of it, the strange mutation gave her a slight advantage against the Hunters who had taken her in.

“sign a Waiver for if i die?, if i do end up dead leave me for 24 hours i’ll get back up and try again” he chuckled lightly and smirked

Present Day

Yvandír was meditating, a day or two had passed before he was granted his round of combat, he had favored the blind approach, a beast picked for him to fight at random rather than allowing him to select and learn one of the Gargantuan abilities.

His meditation broken by the Spokesman; who’s voice carried to even within the shadowed rooms underneath the colosseum. He stood, not one of his movements making a sound and so he began his way towards the arena. Bringing his cloak up over his shoulders and around himself hiding himself within it, hood up as well.

When he signed on for this fight he was asked of his combat style, his response was “stealth, archery, and a pack mentality.”

High above the arena circling was a the silhouette of an eagle, this Roc ’Vali’ one of Yvandír’s companions waited even from the great height at which it flew, it was massive, in reality Vali’s wingspan was 60ft across, making him as large as some of the Gargantuans and bigger than most.

Soon enough Yvandír stepped out into the arena, striding out into the sunlight he kept his cloak in place, striding along beside him the second of his three animal companions and the most loyal ‘Fenris’ 10ft long nose to tail tip. The Dire, wolf clad in dark plate and chain armour, in all with its armour it weighed in at 1000+ Ibs.

Yvandír lifted a hand and gently patted the wolf on the head before pushing the cloak back shrugging it away to hang loose like a cape almost. He raised a hand as if gripping something and from his curled hand two streams of golden light wisped from it, one up, and one down, leaving a trail that would form into a longbow.

In a few seconds the legendary artifact ‘Huntmaster’ the nomadic god’s longbow had formed, the ‘dark wood’ longbow covered in runic etchings and glowing symbols. He waited, looking upon Li Xi largest of all the captured gargantuans.

“Well, there’s no slacking now”