"Well that was Farcical." Rex's voice echoed in their minds as a small pin of light against the comet indicated Kitten's doom

  "If we win the day, I'll be able to bring her back." Sora said confidently. "Don't give into despair just yet." Fighting off a wave with only three Gordians was less than ideal, but Sora had seen worse.

  Rex from the 20th Century was piloting Guardian 01, a mech shaped like a big cat of old. The 01 was a fast melee attacker, that would excel in weaving between enemies and attacks. Rex himself was showing an amazing 100% compatibility with his Guardian, which meant there would be almost no learning curb for the boy. It'd be like he was made to run on all fours.

  Clay would be her other melee unit in Guardian 06. That model would grow to become a powerful tank and duelist, and today would me making good use of it's simple sword. Clay was hovering around a 70% compatibility rating, the standard for pilots on their first go. The AI couldn't do all the work, sometimes a pilot simply had to learn how to move in a 200 foot tall body.

  Finally there was bunny in the 07. Lucky was a nasty piece of work, all about debuffing enemy units, applying status effects. It must have had a cantankerous personality because poor Bunny was only at 30% compatibility even just walking was going to be a struggle for her.

  Not ideal.

  A little air support would have been handy but, Kitten had to do what she thought was best.

  Sora could sense emotions stirring in Bunny. At first she thought it might be anxiety, but was quick to discover it was curiosity.

  "Do we remember what it's like?"

  "No." Sora responded. "When we reset the incursion, things go back to just before the rift opens. Before you even got the call to asemble here. In fact if your guardian was destroyed at each mission, you'd be sitting at the end of this war thinking it was all a big prank."

  She reached out, curious as to what Bunny would be feeling now. Sora was like that, her emotions were big enough for others to feel, and her heart was big enough to feel those of others.

  Disappointment.

  That's what Bunny felt, what an odd duck.

  "That makes first impressions kind of hard doesn't it?" Bunny asked.

  "It was the last thing on our mind, when we were designing the Guardians." Besides whatever Kitten saw and felt up there, was better left forgotten. A kind smile and firm handshake could be given twice, but you only get one shot a sanity.

  "It's so beautiful." Bunny and the others were still watching the comet pass by. They were not yet disgusted by the abomination. They would learn. They would see.

  Already sensors only Sora was privy to became to awaken. The great enemy was awakening. The New Gods clawed at the thin fabric of reality eager to burn this world down and rule it's ashes. Sora had seen it, Sora had been there. A brown barren world filled with only the monuments to sleeping gods, and the dancing of a lobotomized race once known as Man.

  "Focus up everyone." Sora directed the cameras of their guardians towards a magenta rift squelching open over the city. Many fleshy cords began to drip from the rifts. There were umbilical cords for the new gods, birthed into this reality by the old god. "We've got company."

  "That's disgusting." Said Clay, and he was right. The New Gods were filth, plague, trash, and the Earth was being polluted.

  "That's the enemy, don't underestimate them, they've already destroyed this world once." This world and countless others, but they didn't need to know that. How does one eat an elephant? One bite at at time. "First thing's first, scan the enemies to get a picture of what we're dealing with."

  The Guardians followed her lead, and a penetrating wave of data flowed over the city.

  45 Enemies Detected.

  10 Gaunts

  Level: 1

  Health: 1

  Evasion: 4

  Ability: Flight

  The Guardians didn't need to use their sensors, Sora could have told the group about these insects. The long limbed, half insect, half man abominations were little more than vermin in the universe at large. They flew around the disgusting senate of The New Gods like a swarm of flies around a stinking animal. They were no threat to the Guardians, but a human being was another story. The worst part about them is that they were native to this reality, which mean they could survive a reset.

  Without Kitten in the air, they were sure to fly out of range and wreck havoc on the Earth, gathering mass for their unholy hosts. "I'll take the fliers."

  Polarisis's boosters gave a quick pop, and she was in the air with all the ease of a seed. All the glands in ther body, and the nodes in her brain sung with joy. Once again her purpose was here, and she could do battle with the enemy!

  30 Gorgers Detected

  Name: Gorger

  Health: 1

  Endless Appetite: The Gorger gains mass, and power the more biomass it consumes.

  That was also bad.

  Those things would would just eat and eat and eat until the whole world was empty, and then they'd eat themselves. They were a testimate to the evil of the New Gods, cruel, destructive and utterly pointless.

  "You need to dispatch the gorgers as quickly as possible. The longer they're allowed to run amok the more of a danger they'll become."

  "Consider them gone." Rex radiated confidence as he spoke and charged forward. The 01 Guardian bolted forward with it's trademark speed, all four legs moving in conjunction in a way that the humanoid Guardians couldn't match. He weaved through the streets, between high towers towards his prey.

  Out from behind a glass tower came the third enemy present on the field.

  5 Lancers Detected

  Health: 1

  Armor: 2

  The Lancer was a squid-like creature that floated through the sky as if it were water. Most of it's body was wrapped up in a tight seashell kind of armor which ended in a long spiraling lance like a unicorn.

  The the thing shot forward to impale Rex before he could get to juicer targets, but before it could, 01 leapt out of the way.

  New Skill Discovered!

  Name: Lightning Reflexes

  Effect: If a ranged attack would hit, spend energy to increase your evasion.

  01 Energy: 7/10

  "You're not slowing me down!" Rex howled. The lancer smashed through the street where Rex had been. It burried it's weapon deep into the earth, and exposed the soft creature behind the weapon. Just a mass of meat and long tentacles that fit no design known to earth.

  Clay quickly followed up on Rex and sunk his sword into vulnerable creature. It's tentacles thrashed, and went still. "Ugh." The boy nearly wretched looking at the thing squirm it's last.

  1/5 Lancers Slain

  "Very good." Sora cheered. "The Lancers are aggressive they'll try to protect the gorgers and keep you boxed out don't let them."

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  "Got it!" Clay prepared to dodge a second lancer that was pulsing towards him. However his Guardian didn't have the same agility or speed as 01. He tried to dodge but was knocked back into a building as the chitenous drill slammed into The Guardian. "Ah!"

  06's Health: 8/10

  "Get off me!" He took a vengeance swing at the creature but just connected with it's hard outside. The thing flew away like a balloon, allowing itself to to get out of range for any further attack, and to prepare for the next strike. "I can't get through it's shell!" Clay cried.

  "I can." Bunny's Green and Black Guardian cautiously trailed behind the other two. Sora had advised her to let the boys rule the melee, and she was happy to oblige.

  New Skill Unlocked

  Vitality Siphon

  Level: 1

  Damage: 1

  Energy: 1

  Accuary: 10

  Effect: The Guardian drains life straight out of the target, ignoring armor and healing The Guardian for the damage done.

  Dang that was a good skill. If Sora had it her way, they all would have had something like that.

  Bunny got close enough to the Lancer to get it in range, and this attacked. She stretched out her right hand and then braced it with the left. The green lining on the Guardian took on a sinister green glow, as red ribbons of light began to flow from the Lancer.

  The very life of the thing was drained from it. It was as if Bunny had screwed the monster with a straw and had sucked it dry. It shriveled and shrank even in it's own shell as it withered and died. It fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Apparently it's weightlessness in the sky was a matter of effort.

  "This thing is Berries!" Bunny cried with delight. "I'm like Dracula."

  Clay who got to see the creature in from of him desicate before his very eyes, had a less favorable view of the device. "You know he was the bad guy right?"

  "Perfect! A misunderstood villain. I'm calling my Guardian Lucifer, like from Milton."

  "Call it whatever ya like, just get these things off of me!" Rex snarled. He'd made it to the gorgers and was popping them like waterballoons, but now the three other Lancers were positioning themselves to skewer him.

  Again speed was on his side. Unless the Lancers were lunging at him they moved relatively slowly. So Rex used his speed to keep as far away from them as possible, all the while he herded the gorgers like a border collie, and would dip into the pack to rip one to shreds.

  7/30 Gorgers Defeated.

  They were truly hideous creatures. Bulbous blobs of flesh in the shape of a man. They were less than half the height of a Guardian but that was more than large enough to pose a risk to the pedestrians fleeing from the city. Rex couldn't help but appreciate the resemblance betwen the gorgers and his own father. They appeared to be tremendously fat men, naked in all of their blubbery glory but presentable as a CPR Mannequin. The cracked buildings and cars open, and ate their contents by the handful. The people died as handfuls of candy die, screaming with their compatriots gnashed to death by an uncaring god.

  Rex was lucky that the monstrosities cared more about filling their mouths than their own safety. They were docile as cattle, and let him take down one after another, trusting that their slow moving guards would save them before it was too late. They cared nothing for each other or their own safety. They simple squatted where they were and ate what they could catch, never flinching that a hundred foot tall wild cat as ripping their brother apart next door.

  The Lancers were trying abate the slotter, but 01 was too fast. Even the ones that came close, were out matched by his speed.

  Skill Activate: Lighting Reflexes

  01 Energy: 5/10

  Attacks Dodged: 3/5

  Only one of the lancers was able to land a hit, but it was a big one. Rex was treated to an entirely new sensation when the torso of his Guardian was directly impacted, and the feline shaped mech was sent sliding into the lobby of a Bank's Headquarters.

  Critial Hit!

  01's Health 6/10

  "That hurt." Rex grunted, surprised by the impact.

  "It was a critical hit." Sora explained. "Sometimes an attack will hit, and there's nothing you can do to dodge it. They deal twice as much damage too."

  "Great." The sensors on 01 were going off in a panic. He could feel something wrapping around his Guardian. Tentacles were entwining with his joins, making it difficult to get up.

  New Enemy Skill Discovered!

  Lancer

  Name: Constrict

  Effect: When a Lancer Critically Hit's it's target, this ability may activate. While this skill is active constricted targets have 0 Movement and 0 Evasion. Furthermore the Lancer's attack is garunteed to hit.

  "Marvelous!" Rex grunted and swipped his heavy paw against the creature. Though he tried to slice the tendreds that were holding him in place the shell of the beast interjected itself. The claws scraped uselessly against the shell, and again sent the creature flying backwards. It's tendrils stretched like rubber bands, and then snapped back, allowing the lance to to make a second strike against the mech.

  01's Health 4/10

  "Ah!"

  Things were starting to seem dire for the man of the past. He had nowhere to run, and no way to harm the creature that was quickly picking apart his mech.

  It's dire times such as that, where it's nice to have a team. Before the Lancer could fire off it's third peck at Rex's Guardian, Bunny and Lucifer stepped in.

  Vitality Drain

  Lucy's Energy 8/10

  The Lancer shriveled around Rex, and he was now able to break out of it's grasp like the tentacles were dried vines. The workings of his Guardian groaned passionately as bent metal was pushed and bent away from moving mechanisms. "Thanks."

  "This thing is awesome!" Bunny turned her hand against the remaining two Lancers, and each crumbled to the ground horrifically. They twitched on the ground as Lucifer drained them of everything.

  "She's pretty scary." Clay gulped

  "What?" Rex joked. "You don't have killer women where you come from?"

  Now that the armored guardians of The Gorgers were taken care of, it was time for Rex and Clay to set themselves to work. These two battle brothers now found themselves in a shared enterprise, they were in the business of extermination.

  Up above Sora flew leisurely through the sky, carefully gathering each of the Gaunts into her targeting algorithm. Her missile rack hummed hungrily, like a cage filled with birds of prey.

  Swarm Missiles

  Rank: 5

  Energy: 5

  Accuracy: 7

  Effect: The Guardian fires 10 missiles with Homing(3) at up to ten targets.

  Homing: For a number of rounds equal to the rank of this upgrade, reroll all missed attack rolls made the previous round.

  With a bit of aiming the Accuracy of her missiles with up to 9. Au Revior Gaunts.

  Sora gave the gaunts a pitying smile and unleashed her attack. Small pannels along the shoulders of Polaris opeend up and unleased their stinging payload. Like a swarm of bees tiny rockets jumped out and rushed forward. Each went their own direction, agrily buzzing towards the target they now had engraved in their very souls.

  Sora turned her mind away from the guants and down to the battle below. She knew that even if her attack missed the missles would turn around, to try try again. She needed to make sure her protoges were surviving. They couldn't afford to lose precious experience or upgrades by messing up here. Kitten's theatrics was already grinding at the back of Sora's mind.

  Heavy was the head that wore the crown. She used to be actor, not even a good one. How had all of this fallen onto her? Sheer luck, a thing as cosmic and as senseless as the foes she so hated.

  The air support being underleveld was not good. The missile and gun support platforms were going to have to make up for that in the other timelines. She checked the readouts for how those conflcits were going, but came up with nothing but static. That was a worrisome, that smelled like doom. She should have had access to all data from the 1st wave, on each of the fronts. The fact that she was limited to her own time and place made her feel like she was trapped in a glass bottle.

  On the battlefield she noticed a particularly large Gorger had turned on it's own kind, and began to feast on them. "One of them's evolved." Sora warned. "Don't let it eat too many of the others or it'll do it again." A Gorger will eat anything smaller than it, and they always turned on each other as soon as they were big enough to fit another's head in their mouth. There was no honor amongst these gluttons it seemed.

  "I'll take the big guy!" Clay volunteered and charged in. Sora admired that. Rex was motivated by pride, and that was useful. Clay though was made of sterner stuff. Maybe even something heroic. If there ever came a time Sora would need one of the pilots to sacrifice themselves, it would be Clay. She of course had not yet gotten the measure of those she'd yet to meet, there were still 8 heroes for her to access, but anyone who'd been chosen to pilot 06 had her trust.

  As Clay charged in another gorger on the other side of the financial square reached the same level of mass, and began his performance as a cannibal.

  "We got another." Sora said calmly, two would probably be too much for them to handle. She raised her laser catapult to the head of the second beast. She considered stepping in, but held back. The glow and whirring of the great weapon was calmed. Polaris groaned internally. Sora's Guardian had many millions of more lives before it's score with The New Gods was settled. Sora however showed restraint. Their war was endless, and hopeless. She'd come to terms with that, who knew how many lives ago? She'd begun to collect moments like this. Moments where her friends fought for their very survival. When everything else was gone she had her memories.

  10/30 Gorgers Defeated

  13/30 Gorgers Defeated

  18/30 Gorgers Defeated

  Now that two of the creatures had turned on themselves the cull was going at a good pace. The two melee mechs waded into the battle, gloriously. 06 had the advantage of a weapon, and whereever that blade fell, foes fell alongside it. 01 had a harder time of it, some foes would take two or three swipes before they went down.

  25/30 Gorgers Defeated

  They were close, very close to total victory.

  27/30 Gorgers Defeated

  The first of the evolved gorgers finished the last morsel of his allies. The alien insides and muscles of the beast dripped from it's hungry maw as it began to bulge and grow. It'd eaten a full five gorgers, making it one of humanity's greater allies. Though it had not done it out of any nobility or sense of justice. Only hunger grove this thing. It warped before their very eyes. Like a monkey evolving it stood upright for the first time, sheets of fat melting off of it's body as muscle and mass grew defined and enflamed. It was now fully as large as the Guardians.

  28/30 Gorgers Defeated

  This new Gorger brushed past Rex missing the bite of his claws my moments. It then fell upon it's brother, and other evolved Gorger, and began consuming that creature, even as it screamed and squealed in it's clutches. It ate the thing alive. It ate it wriggling. It ate it alien bones and all.

  The three pilots could only look on in disgust, and with no small amount of horror.

  What were these things?