Vitality In A Wasteland

14

As Dalia rose a screeching roar sounded across every direction. Seemingly out of nowhere it came, a creature of pure nightmare. It simply turned a corner and found itself at a stare off with a titanium piece of machinery. Although Madeline had seen them countless times over from her mind and various media, she never thought of how truly horrifying a real one in plain sight would have looked. She sat wide eyed; attention shot to the scaly creature with enough power to crash one of the surrounding buildings with only a mere tap of its wrist. She knew the previous night that Claire had fought of one of the creatures while Madeline was locked up. It had only taken five minutes for the fighting to stop, yet now Madeline was unsure. This Denjura had an oozing puss dripping from its maw, acid that simply boiled the street below it. Its four eyes held nothing but soulless death, its hammer head shark like face made it even more of a surreal sight. But it was real, as real as the Corvega she sat in.

Dalia raised her fist, mimicking Claire's battle pose. She dropped her gas mask a moment ago, replacing it with her headset and a small smirk that rose on her face as she stared down the mighty monster. It haunted Madeline. How could Claire be so sly, so used to such a mighty encounter?

Then in the blink of an eye it came, its mighty claws slashed first but Dalia somehow grabbed hold of its arm and sent a powerful knee to its belly. The creature moved a step back, slightly dazed for a brief second before it came again with another slash of its razor claws. It almost hit, if it were not for Dalia moving her shoulder a pinch it would have had catastrophic effects.

Claire seemed unfazed by the near strike and simply delivered a ground striking punch to the creatures distorted face. The blow from the punch almost made Madeline fly, she braced herself as tightly as she could to her railing and watched in utter awe.

A series of slashes flowed none of which could break through Dalia's quick reflexes. The Corvega moved with such ease that even the surrounding air aided in its acrobatic calculations. It was able to dodge with the speed of sound, able to deliver blows so powerful they surely would have crumbled multiple buildings yet barely had any effect on the creature aside from its screeching and occasional steps backward. It was clear the close combat was not affective; in Madeline's mind she was able to pick a pattern. The creature would attack, and Dalia would block and vies versa, their attacks varied but all the same results followed. Why was Claire not using any of her weapons? Surely, they would be far greater and effective than risky punches.

"Use your blade," suggested Madeline.

"Working on it," replied Claire.

A moment later Dalia's blade crawled from her left forearm. Claire pressed a holographic icon, the blade started to glow a deep orange.

The Denjura seemed to notice what she was doing. It took a few steps back, clearly calculating the new tide of combat. Then it came, its claws grew! They grew to be almost as wide as its bulky arms, each of its three claws on each hand completely more devastating than its previous entries. For a moment Claire's smirk faded, she too looked surprised by what just happened.

The monster charged forward, trying to jab right at Dalia's core, Dalia shoved her blade into a block seconds before the claws dug in. She shot the claws back, preparing to parry a second blow. The creature delivered, it struck at her, Dalia blocked again and so began a sequence back and forth of blocks. Dalia managed to find a window through her opponent's defence, a powerful stab reached fight though the monsters abdomen. Fire burnt a clear precise hole through it as Dalia pulled back with the creature screaming in agony. It did however manage to deflect a secondary attack from Dalia which would have certainly met its neck.

The monster swept Dalia's leg, forcing Dalia to crumble to the ground. She barely rolled when the creature came at her, she flew into a building, concrete, steel, and everything in between broke apart like a simple scissors through paper. Madeline lost her grip and flew into the wall, a painful burst ripped through her head, Claire did not even notice for the greater threat lied in when the creature pulled Dalia by the leg. It pulled her like a ragdoll, throwing her through several more buildings and nearly knocking Madeline out from the impact.

"Ouch!"

Claire suddenly shot her head over her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Look out!" The Denjura jumped onto Dalia, pining her down to building rubble as several loud warning bells rang across the control pod.

"Shit!" Claire almost felt the creature cut through her but something miraculous happened. Something way too unexpected for her to comprehend. A second Denjura had pulled the first one from Dalia. The two faced each other, their cries ear ringing.

Both Claire and Madeline gasped. The two creatures brawled, claw against claw and teeth against jaw. It was the strangest sight Claire had ever seen and worse, both Denjura were type fives.

Dalia rose as quick as possible, the sight of two of the most dangerous creatures in the world fighting must have even horrified her circuits and computer.

The creatures were relentless, they battled like real animals, wild and unjust. How had two come up at once? Then Madeline realised that even Denjura fight for territory. Madeline and Claire were in the wrong place in the absolute worst time.

Yet the fighting suddenly stopped. The creatures let go off each other necks, their soulless eyes stared into one another. Then they turned to Dalia. They both charged, one nearly ripped of Dalia's legs while the other wrapped its tail around her arms, she could not fight back a series of slashes, warnings sounded like nuclear alarms, the hull had sustained incredibly devastating damage. Dalia finally got herself loose with a jab from her blade, but it was clear: Claire could not fight off two type fives alone.

"Let me co-pilot!" Decreed Madeline.

"What! Are you crazy!"

"We have no choice, Madame. If I don't help, we die, yes? I know how to fight, and you do to, we can beat them as one."

Dalia stepped back to avoid another series of slashes, several more buildings collapsed behind her back. Claire yelled, "Fine! Quick!"

Madeline ran over to Claire's right. She had not even considered what she was about to do fully. Was she mental? Did he know what such an action would do? She moved all that aside, all that mattered now was survival and running was no option against two type fives. From above her a harness nestled around her body and a headset rested. It powered up, icons in red appeared before her with specs of Dalia's critical condition and blade overheating.

Both pilots yelled, "Synchronise!"

In a flash all of reality changed. It literally became a new reality. Light became no more than a useless word, sounds and all other senses dissipated. All that came was something no human mind could ever truly comprehend. When two minds become one. When thoughts and emotions are non-existent and instead a state of utter harmony becomes clear. Fists, feet, and blood. All human pieces in metal and wires, heated by a core nearly as hot as a sun. They became Dalia, no not just that, they became the essence of human and machine. Nothing could ever get as close to what they just became, they weren't even alive anymore. Dalia combined both of their worlds, her posture became a mixed style, and her punches grew stronger. Both her blades came out, everything was less than a blink. Then it was over. She kneeled; the heads of two mighty type fives strung deep onto her burning blades. When her engines shut down Madeline and Claire fell to the ground screaming. The harnesses and headsets flew off. They rolled to the ground in utter agony, every muscle was burning like a million scorpions had stung them. The pain, the mental pain was like the blast of endless nuclear warheads, their blood boiled, and their skin felt like it was melting. Then nothing, all pain vanished within two mere seconds. The pain of dying brought them back to life, the only reminder of their deaths was their now bleeding noses.

They slowly sat up; their widened eyes met each other. So distant yet so much as one being. Even now less than ten seconds apart, their souls knew where they belonged, as one being.