Chapter 4: The Search Begins
The colosseus that was the red dragon flew past the Doom Slayer and the JSDF, circling around towards the villagers in the carriages. Seeing the monstrous beast, the villagers quickly scattered around like flies, in an attempt to escape a painful, fiery death. As they scattered, the beast made a landing on both of its hind feet, leaving itself still for our heroes to attack.
Reloading the Super Shotgun, the Doom Slayer wasted no time in sprinting towards the beast, running throughout the flat land at the speed of a sportscar on a highway. The people of the JSDF, as well as Tuka, were dumbfounded by the man's incredible speed, though Rory showed only intrigue. It wasn't until the dragon roared that the JSDF snapped out of their trance, with Itami slamming his foot on the accelerator. As the Humvee took off, the LAV soon followed behind with one of the soldiers climbing up to the .50 caliber machine gun turret.
As the JSDF distracted the dragon by laying down machine gun fire, the Doom Slayer made a mad dash towards the beast, dodging and dashing past it's burning flame. Latching onto its side with the meat hook, the marine swung himself around into its backside. Detaching, he extended out the blade attached to his wrist and slammed it into its scales, puncturing enough to hold on as the beast flinched. Managing to get a grip on its scales with his hands, the marine pulled out and put away the blade and began his climb towards its head.
Meanwhile, the JSDF gunner found himself astounded when he discovered that the armor penetrating. 50 caliber rounds had no effect on the dragon at all. All the bullets, like the Doom Slayers', would simply ricochet off it's hardened scales. Getting on a portable radio attached to his combat vest, the gunner spoke to lieutenant Itami in panic.
Gunner: Our .50 caliber rounds aren't doing jack shit!
Itami: Shit! Seriously!?
Gunner: Do I sound like I'm trying to be funny right now!?
Itami: Fine! Just keep shooting until it-! Huh?
In the Humvee, Tuka attempted to speak to the lieutenant while pointing at her eye.
Tuka: The eye!
Unable to fully understand her language, the lieutenant responded with confusion.
Itami: What?
She repeated herself, this time in a much more angrier tone.
Tuka: The eye! Hit it in the eye!
Seeing her finger, the lieutenant suddenly realized what the elf had said, widening his eyes in disbelief.
Itami: Oh my g-. Why didn't I see this?
Getting back onto the portable radio, he yelled out to the entire team.
Itami: The eyes! Shoot it in the eyes!
As the soldiers aimed their stream of bullets ever closer to the dragon's eyes, the Doom Slayer had climbed his way up onto the head of the beast. One hand on its scales and a plasma rifle in the other, the marine let go and go of off sprinting across its head. As he leaps off, the soldiers bullets hit the dragon's right eye, causing it to frantically move it's head around. In all its random twitching, the Doom Slayer air-dashed his way onto its left eyelid.Impailing above its eye with his blade, the marine placed the barrel of the rifle onto its eyeball and held the trigger firmly. The dragon moved it's head even more frantically as superheated plasma instantly boiled up the blood inside its left eye, causing the eyeball to bubble up as it was being incinerated. But as the Doom Slayer burned away the entirety of the eyeball, he felt himself slipping off of the beast. The blade, unable to stick, slipped out as the Doom Slayer fell, forcing him to prioritize on landing instead of killing.
As he lands on the hard rock, the message 'IMPACT COMPENSATION' displayed across his visor. Standing up, he looked out to see the red dragon flying in a wobbily circle and blowing out fire everywhere around him before retreating once more. Cursing himself, the marine grabbed his futuristic weapon and sprinted through the line of simmering flames in search of any surviving villagers. What he found instead were several orphaned children, a few whole families intact, and another batch of corpses.
A good portion of the caravan was lost in the surprise attack by the red dragon. In the darkness of the night, we transported the survivors to the plains a few miles ahead, only for them to make a pit stop to mourn the loss of their loved ones. As the JSDF assisted them in prayer, I stood alone, watching them from a distance as the Praetor Suit cooled itself down from running through fire. I wasn't too good with mourning, or even prayer for that matter..
But as I watched the old man speak to the lieutenant, I already noticed the families intact were preparing to leave. As they finished speaking, the old man was already waving his goodbyes at me, leaving behind some of the children.
Approaching the soldiers, I looked on at the many children left behind as I thought to them.
Itami: They....couldn't afford to take them. I think.
Mari: What are we going to do with all of them?
After a few seconds of silence, the lieutenant spoke.
Itami: We're the good guys, right?
Addressing the children, he spoke to them with a reassuring tone while giving them a thumbs up.
Itami: Everything will be alright! Haha.
As I thought, the children looked back at me.
Child: Are you going to leave us with them?
Looking back at the unit, I responded.
Itami: Hey! Why are you smiling like that!?
Mari: Nothing. I just figured you'd say something like that.
Pointing at the vehicles, I instructed the children, all the while giving them a thumbs up.