The Grind

by Dante Doom

  “Okay, round two!” Fingers cheered as he spun his revolvers. He looked a little ridiculous wearing his own bluish glasses with his cowboy hat, but at this point, it was function over form.

  “What about our Virals?” Timon asked, pointing to the silver-shadowed insectoids hovering in the doorway.

  “Delete them,” Elanor advised. “He’s going to have stronger Virals to summon.”

  “Since he knows we can control them, I’m betting he won’t summon any,” Savannah said.

  “Oh, he’ll summon a bunch of them,” Fingers said. “Think about it. He doesn’t know to what extent we can control his Virals, so he’ll test us. Throw a bunch of weak ones at us and see how many we can control.”

  “So, we’ll need to fight them instead. We’ve got to keep this knowledge close to the vest as long as we can,” Timon said. “We cannot, under any circumstances, let Leopold know how many we can control at a time.”

  “It’s settled then,” Elanor said as she tightened her Electric Gloves. “Get ready, team, this is going to be the last time we try to fight Leopold. Because this time, we’re going to win. Ten, whenever you’re ready.”

  “Very well,” Ten-Thirty said as it held up its hands. “Teleporting in three… two… one.”

  Suddenly, they were standing in the throne room. Leopold was sitting on his throne, shouting at a few of his lackeys, and looked up at them with genuine surprise.

  “What the hell? That teleportation door cost a million points! No one would ever—”

  “What, sacrifice their points for a greater cause?” Elanor asked. “We’re here to end you, once and for all.”

  “Bah, a waste of time,” Leopold said. “Good luck finding me,” he taunted them before vanishing.

  “This is going to be one long game of whack-a-mole,” Fingers said. “Which way did he go, robot?”

  “He went back to the Stats room,” Timon said. “It would make sense that he would double back in a feeble attempt to hide from us.”

  “Let’s go!” Savannah shouted.

  In the blink of an eye, they were standing on the seventh floor again. Leopold was there. “Interesting,” he growled. “So you have a way of tracking me? Then let’s move this fight to somewhere far more spacious, for both our sakes!” And with that, he vanished again.

  “All right, which areas connect here?”

  “The throne room, Level 6, and Fieros,” Ten-Thirty said.

  “My money’s on Fieros,” Elanor said. “Leopold was always a dramatic git. Bubbling lava and burning sands would be far more enticing to him than a sterile hallway or a throne room.”

  “Let’s move,” Savannah replied as she held her Arc Rifle high. Once again, they were suddenly shifted to another realm. Beneath her feet, the ground was red and cracked, and the burning heat indicated that they were in Fieros. Savannah could feel the sweat beginning to form on her brow already.

  “Let’s finish this, once and for all,” Leopold boomed. He was floating high above them, his arms stretched out wide. “You have no chance of escaping me!”

  “Escaping you? You were the one who was running away from us with your tail between your legs!” Fingers shouted back as he began to open fire on Leopold. Bullets flew through the air with each shot, but they bounced off Leopold harmlessly. The word Deflected hovered above his head.

  “You cannot kill me! My defensive powers are far beyond what you are capable of!” Leopold taunted them. “Now, let’s see how you fare against my minions!”

  The ground began to rumble as eight large, hulking beasts with reddish bodies and long, metallic arms emerged from the ground. They were squat and beetlelike, with sectioned backs and long mandibles jutting from their mouths.

  “Let’s kill them!” Elanor screamed with bloodlust as she leapt into action. She rushed towards two and began to fire on them with her electrical powers, sending surge after surge of lightning into their abdomens. The words 500 damage hovered over each of their heads, killing them both instantly.

  “Yes, we called it!” Timon cheered as he turned his own attention to a target. He fired off a few shots, dealing 150 damage with each hit until the creature faded away.

  “Is that all you got?” Savannah yelled as her Arc Rifle and Finger’s concentrated fire quickly dispatched the rest of the bug creatures without a problem. “Come on, Leo, send us something worth really fighting!”

  Leopold had crossed his arms and was staring down at them. Savannah could see the lines of worry on his face as he hovered above them. While he continued to plan his next move, though, she took aim and began to fire on him. The energy streaks from the Arc Rifle crashed into him, ignoring his armor bonus and dealing 300 damage straight to his health, dropping him down from 123,325 to 123,025 hit points. His hit points were draining slowly due to the fact that he couldn’t make his stats permanent. In spite of this benefit, his health was too high. It was going to be a long fight.

  “Ten, get moving!” Savannah yelled once she realized that Ten-Thirty was standing in the center of the group, simply staring straight ahead.

  Ten jerked up as if it had been lost in thought and then proceeded to fire its Rail Gun into the air. Timon, Elanor, and Fingers joined in the shooting, but their damage output was weak compared to Savannah’s. While she was hitting him for 300 a pop, they were dealing in the low 10s per hit.

  “Enough!” Leopold shouted as he held up his hand, creating a large energy force field around his own body. Even Savannah’s shots began to bounce off the shield. “Listen here, Machina! Listen to my words, for they are truth! Do you know what they want you to do? You must. They are here, demanding that you give your life to save their wretched cause. So, you are here, fighting against your own right to exist. They’re going to turn the Grind off, you know. They’re going to kill you.”

  “It is a worthy cause, if it means saving the lives of those outside of the Grind,” Ten-Thirty replied.

  “Who’s to even say that they are saving lives? Machina, what is your name?”

  “Ten-Thirty.”

  “Bah, they didn’t even give you a real name? Why should you believe them?”

  “I don’t… I don’t know,” Ten-Thirty replied as it tilted its head down.

  “Don’t listen to him,” Timon hissed. “He’s trying to manipulate you.”

  “Keep him talking until that shield wears out,” Elanor advised the Machina. They were all waiting for the opportunity to attack. Savannah knew she could probably use her Arc Rifle’s special ability to damage the shield, but she wanted to hold onto it for a real emergency. Who knew what tricks Leopold had up his sleeve?

  “So they demand that you give your life over to save theirs, yet you aren’t even sure if you can trust them. What kind of a terrible friend would ask another to die for their cause?” the King demanded. “You don’t know what the real world looks like; you’re only a computer program. Yet, you can think,” Leopold said as he began to float down a little more. “You can think, feel, and reason. So, it would stand to reason that it would be a very, very bad idea for you to follow their directions. You will die. You’ll cease to be and, for what? For a world you will never see? It might as well be a fairy tale to you. Why are you listening to them? What could they possibly offer you? If anything, they offer you destruction.”

  “You speak truth,” Ten-Thirty said as it glanced at Savannah and the rest of the group. It began to walk forward a little more. “What other choice do I have, however?”

  “Any choice that you like. You can go home, or perhaps you can join me. I want to protect your home, you know. I want to keep your world safe for as long as I can. Elanor wants to destroy it all, to pull the plug on your world and universe. She is the villain in this story, or at least she is to you. You are a mighty Machina, and you don’t owe them anything,” Leopold said. His feet touched the ground as he fully descended. “You can fight them with ease, but instead you aid them in killing yourself. Do you even know why you are self-aware?”


  “I do not,” Ten-Thirty said as it reached the bubble Leopold hid behind. “But… they are my friends.”

  “It is a strange friend who asks you to give up everything on their behalf,” Leopold replied. “Friends look out for one another. It seems that they aren’t looking out for you.”

  “They look out for one another,” Ten-Thirty mumbled. It turned around to face the rest of the group. “You have all been so kind to me, but I fear that King Leopold is correct in this matter. I have no desire to die.”

  “Ten, we need you!” Savannah shouted. This was starting to go south quickly. Without Ten-Thirty, they wouldn’t be able to follow Leopold. The Machina had conveniently kept the secrets of teleportation to itself. Had it been planning this kind of betrayal all along?

  “Don’t go!” Fingers said. “Come on, robot, I thought we had some good times!”

  “Listen to them—they don’t care about you,” Leopold said as he began to laugh. “They want to ensure that you do what they say! They will say whatever it takes to get you to kill yourself. Your life is worth far more than these few, I promise you that.”

  “I fear that my decision is final,” Ten-Thirty replied, and then it turned back to speak to Savannah directly. “I will not fight against you, but I cannot commit myself to oblivion any longer. I am sorry, but I must do what is right for me, for my world.”

  Savannah stood by helplessly. There was nothing she could do, and nothing she could say. The Machina was betraying them at the most critical juncture, and she could even understand why. Everything was about to fall apart.

  “Excellent,” Leopold said as his shield began to flicker. “Now, then, shall we leave this place?” He extended his hand out as the shield faded away.

  “Yes,” Ten-Thirty said as it took Leopold’s hand. But suddenly, it jerked Leopold forward and elbowed him in the head, hard. The word Disoriented hovered above Leopold’s head as he staggered backwards.

  “Ah! The hell?” Leopold shouted as Ten rushed forward and latched both arms onto his shoulders.

  “I don’t like that I must face the end…” Ten-Thirty said, “but there are things bigger than myself. Each one of these people behind me has chosen to give something up, for a bigger purpose. Savannah has given up her dreams of nobility, Timon has given up his life, and even Fingers gave up his desire to stay in this land forever. Why? Because they believe in something bigger than themselves. I am only one tiny Machina, a fluke that shouldn’t have existed to begin with!”

  As Ten-Thirty spoke, its legs began to glow bright red. The word Charging hovered above its head and the bar filled rapidly. The rest of its silvery body was beginning to glow red, as well. “I have the chance to be a part of something bigger, to sacrifice myself so that these humans may have something greater. Why should I be the only one to hold onto what is precious to me? This moment is why I am sentient; this moment is why I am here in this universe. You selfishly cling to everything in the hopes of having it all, but in the end, even what you don’t have will be taken away!”

  “What’s going on?” Fingers hissed.

  “I don’t know,” Savannah said as she watched the rest of the Machina’s body begin to burn with a bright red energy.

  “Why are you doing this?” Leopold wheezed as he struggled in vain against his own disorientation.

  “Because I take care of my friends!” Ten-Thirty replied. Its entire body then erupted into a massive explosion of red energy. The shockwave was powerful enough to throw Savannah and the rest of her team backwards. The flash from the explosion temporarily blinded Savannah, its effects lasting for a few seconds before she was able to scramble to her feet blinking a few times, waiting for her sight to return.

  The images slowly came back into focus then, and she could see King Leopold standing alone in the center of a crater. His hit points were down to only 10,000 now, and he was staggering forward, as well, unable to cope with the serious amount of damage that he had just taken.

  “Holy crap!” Savannah shouted. “Guys, Ten-Thirty took his health down! Open fire!” She began to blast away at Leopold, who sluggishly attempted to dodge in vain. Each blast did more and more damage until he raised his hands up and created another shield.

  The rest of the team had been scattered, but they were slowly getting back to their feet and training their weapons on Leopold. The thin blue shield deflected any attack with ease, but Savannah could see that he was only at 9,400 health.

  “I can’t believe Ten-Thirty could do that the whole time!” Fingers said as he paused to reload his gun. “Why didn’t it do that earlier?”

  “Because it’s dead,” Elanor said.

  Savannah’s heart sank as the excitement of the fight began to fade away. “You’re right…” she whispered. “It self-destructed to save us.”

  “You all think you’re so clever!” Leopold screamed hoarsely. He was having trouble standing up now, and Savannah could tell that he had sustained quite a few injuries. Since it was his health that had been hit so hard, not his armor, he would have taken on injuries that would reduce his efficiency in a fight, too. He was so staggered that it would be easy pickings once his shield wore off. “You all think you can defeat me, and then, what? Save Verre from the aristocracy? We were the only thing keeping the masses in line! You are all fools!”

  “Shut the hell up, Leopold,” Elanor said. “Surrender already. Turn off your shield and face the end like a nobleman. There will be no prison time for you in the real world.”

  “Ha,” Leopold laughed. “I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. Simply because your robot was suicidal doesn’t mean you’ve won. It took weeks of studying to learn how to teleport. I’m assuming your Machina was the only reason you could teleport and trace me. I will blink away, and you’ll never find me again.”

  “Then why haven’t you left?” Timon asked defiantly. “Why stick around and risk a fight?”

  “I have my reasons,” Leopold replied. Despite his words and tone, though, he was hunched over and holding his ribs.

  “My guess is that you can’t teleport as rapidly as you’d like,” Elanor said with a smirk. “How many times per day can you do it? Because you’ve done it a few times already, recently. Maybe Fieros was your last one, but your head was too big for you. You thought you could win this.”

  “Oh, but I still can,” Leopold chuckled, glaring up at her. “I might be cocky, Elanor, but you are as bad as I am. I simply keep my cards close to the vest.” He raised his right hand. A small pulse of energy began to swirl around it. The blue energy ball began to grow larger and larger as they watched. “I didn’t particularly want to use this contingency plan, I admit,” he said as he began to float upwards again. “Because I don’t quite know what the consequences are going to be… but if I’m going to lose, then I’ll take you all down with me. It’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

  “Savannah, break his shield!” Elanor shouted.

  Savannah nodded and activated her Overdrive+ ability, then activated the Arc Rifle’s special attack. She fired a blast of energy that shattered his shield to pieces, and 600 damage hovered above his head, dropping him down to 8,800 hit points.

  The rest of the team open fired on Leopold as the shield fell apart.

  “Damn, his damage resistance is still too high!” Fingers complained as he pointed to the series of ones that were floating above Leopold’s head.

  “It’s too late!” Leopold cackled. “Prepare yourselves for the ultimate destruction!”

  Suddenly, Kireen appeared in the air next to him. Savannah cheered with excitement at the appearance of the woman—no doubt, the Aspect would help them in some way. To the right of Leopold, Alcius also appeared. Four more Aspects appeared, as well. Two of them were women, one was a man, and the last one was a lion of sorts.

  “What’s going on?” Timon shouted.

  “You’re about to lose!” Leopold laughed as he spread his arms and legs out. Chains of energy burst from his limbs, seizing hold
of the Aspects. The translucent beings all began to cry out in agony as energy rushed from their bodies into Leopold. “Hahahaha!” Leopold laughed as his body began to contort and shift. Two black wings sprouted out from his back, his legs became shriveled and leathery, and claws sprouted out from his hands.

  “I’m going to guess that what’s happening isn’t good,” Fingers shouted out as they all stared at the transforming King in horror as they continued to shoot. His head had become that of a jackal’s, and his skin was like obsidian. The Aspects were still in agony, and were being dragged around as Leopold began to move.

  “Aspects are curious creatures, are they not?” Leopold shouted. His voice had become deep and throaty, so that it sounded as if he were barking more than speaking. “I have learned sacred knowledge that teaches me how to become an Aspect. While there are warnings about sanity, I feel fine!” And with that, Leopold began to laugh hysterically.

  Savannah aimed her Arc Rifle at Leopold. She fired blast after blast, but the word Dodged hovered above him now as he zipped left and right, effortlessly avoiding the attacks.

  “He’s too fast,” Timon replied. “I can’t get a bead on him.”

  “Should we shoot the Aspects instead? They must be the ones giving him power!” Elanor said.

  “No! What if we hurt them?” Savannah protested. “They might turn against us, and then we’re fighting Aspects and Leopold.”

  “The chains, you morons!” Fingers yelled as he fired at the long strands of energy connected to Kireen. “You gotta shoot the chains!” True to his suggestion, 100 damage suddenly hovered above the chain and, sure enough, the chain’s hit points dropped down from 2,000 to 1,900.

  “Incoming!” Timon shouted as he rolled out of the way. Leopold was tearing through the air, charging at Savannah with full force. His feet were large eagle talons now, and they were outstretched, trying to grab onto her. Savannah attempted to roll out of the way, but Leopold was smart enough to curve to the right. His feet snagged the back of her arms and pulled her high into the sky.