Hydraheads

Chapter 7: Ga o Ka Gureba Urehi no Miyako Ari

NOTE: The plot thickens!
Now that Durgasaur was able to take control of some of the Hydrahead heroes, what would happen to the rest of our characters and would they have a chance of saving the world?
Continue their perilous journey here in Chapter 7!

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The two teenagers emerged from teleportation as battered and bruised figures in a winter wonderland. The world seemed desolate around them. The white snow that blanketed the barren forest and everything they could see contrasted with the twilight sky that barely showed its deep violet hue.

Kanon immediately collapsed under the weight of her exhausted body. Kazuki's breaths were shallow and sharp as he clung to the last bits of his consciousness. He looked down at his trembling hands. The palms showed worrying burn marks, red and blistering.

A distant boom snapped Kazuki back to reality. He didn't know where they were, but stopping in such a frozen wasteland would be suicide. Their unprepared feet were already buried ankle-deep under the thick pile of snow.

Kazuki fought the pain and dragged his feet across the cold ground to find some kind of refuge. He also hauled Kanon to follow him. "Hang on, Kanon. Just hang on... We can't stop yet..."

"So tired..." muttered his friend.

The noise came back again and it was louder this time. It echoed behind the thick woods of the taiga forest. It was something they knew shouldn't be there. His mind must be playing tricks on him because Kazuki was sure he was hearing a song resounding in the cold air.

With his fatigued eyes, Kazuki looked up and squinted. High in the darkened sky was a tiny glowing dot that traveled slowly. His mind quickly decided that it was a passing airplane.

Kazuki's exhaled breath condensed into a faint mist as his mouth went agape in awe at the wondrous sight. He was sure that the object discharged a smaller piece of itself that immediately darted out across the horizon. He then ducked.

An excellent decision considering the small projectile haphazardly fired a spreading cluster of high-intensity lasers that easily cut through the frozen jungle. Arid trees were robbed of their snow cover in a flash and decapitated into multiple pieces. Needless to say, they became a danger for anyone underneath.

"Let's not be on the laser-grill menu!" blurted Kazuki while forcing Kanon to move faster. He had to shout as the disembodied song now blaring at an almost deafening volume. He really felt like in the middle of a war movie.

Things went from bad to worse. Heavy trunks fell around them and dug deep into the buried snow. They felt the earth shake before a massive fireball peeked out behind the crowded canopy. Then, the forest itself broke open.

A heavy robot drudged through the snow like a hunching headless giant. Trampled snow poured out behind its massive legs with some of them showering on the two running youngsters. The war machine didn't notice their presence and continued its path.

That was until the walking robot was attacked. Its turret machine gun sent off a purple plasma barrage against the seemingly-empty night sky. Similar salvos were released by invisible enemies deep behind the treeline. Kazuki only saw blurred shapes in the distance before everything was drowned in the heat of battle. Sparks and flares went all around with building smoke added to the indistinctness. An object struck the mecha and blew it up in the most glorious way.

Like a dead soldier, the mecha slumped into the snow. The shocked Kanon looked at the burning panzer's markings. It was a grinning skull in front of crisscrossing scythes. "It's a Laufroboter," concluded the exhausted girl before her friend picked her back up. "We're a long way from home, Kazuki," she continued.