Basic Oblivion

Chapter 11

Osias was doing a good job as he shot down robot after robot, keeping them at a distance with his various firearms. Some of them had gotten close to him, but they exploded as soon as they stepped on the hidden explosives that Osias had planted in a circle around him. The explosives were a little bigger than a quarter, but they were still just as powerful as an actual land mine.

Osias had already beaten four of the waves before they could get near him thanks to his excellent aiming skills and a little help from his sunglasses as they located the weakest points on the robots for him. The robots were now moving fast and if any of them managed to get past the circle they quickly hit the ground as they were blown apart by a small shotgun that Osias could hold with one hand, taking two down at a time with one shot.

Jason and the others were all watching him from the observation deck. "He's good," Lucas said.

"One of the best marksmen in the world," Jason said with a smile. "Just wait, he hasn't even gotten started yet."

Justin looked confused. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Jason smirked. "Watch," he said as he pointed down at Osias.

Osias pulled out two sub machine guns and began to spin around as he fired them, bullets flying in every direction as they tore the robots apart. Osias stopped when he ran out of ammunition and reloaded, but was standing alone after having destroyed all of them.

Osias wiped out most of the other robots up until the seventh wave of them, when the robots got in close and grabbed hold of him. Unable to free himself from the robots' grip, Osias was helpless as they threw him into the volcano. Osias hit the ground as the arena returned to its normal white and the destroyed robots were cleaned out from the room while the ones that weren't damaged returned back to the hatches they came from.

"Man, I can't believe I got taken out so easily," Osias said as he rejoined the others.

Jason patted his friend on the shoulder. "Close combat never was your strong suit," he said. "You're a long range fighter. Still, not a bad job out there."

Osias smiled. "Thanks," he said.

Jason turned and looked at his other friends. "Alright, I know I don't need to worry about it, but you guys had better pass this test," Jason said.

"You got it," Ella said as she made her way down to the arena entrance.

Ella's puppet magic gave her an advantage in the arena as she was able to destroy the robots from a distance with a puppet that had spikes on its back and knuckles. The puppet was brutally tearing the robots apart with a poisonous sword and beating them down with one hand. Using her other hand, Ella was controlling a second puppet that looked like a woman with wavy hair and a gown with sleeves that hid her hands. The puppet used symbols on its hands to summon different weapons as it threw them at the robots.

"Interesting combination," Osias said.

"She chose Gladiator and Maria?" Synn asked. "Why didn't she just go with The Ripper?"

"Well Ripper's best ability only works against organic beings," Jason said. "So using him to fight robots would be a waste of energy."

Lucas looked confused. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

Jason, Osias, and Synn all looked at Lucas. "The puppets," they said in unison.

"Ella named her puppets?" Marie asked.

"Of course," Jason said. "It makes it easier to remember which is which."

"That and it's cooler," Synn said.