Imperfect Life: Arc 1

Chapter 29

On the other side of the portal was a world that looked similar to the one Crys was familiar with. The portal had dropped Crys off in a forest filled with trees. Behind her was a portal that hopefully would lead back to the lab when everything was over. Nothing looked too out of place except for the trail of destruction that Karen had left behind her.

"Alright, looks like we know where she went." Crys said, nervous.

"Yeah." Brandon agreed in a similarly nervous tone.

Crys started following the trail while carrying Brandon on her back. Luckily for Crys, it was night in whatever dimension they happened to be in, so it wouldn't take long to catch up with Karen. A sense of dread filled both of them, worried about what it was they were getting themselves into to. After a while of following the trail, they found Karen. She was thrashing about in an abandoned construction site. Rubble was scattered everywhere and the air was filled with the clanging of metal and the cackling of Karen.

Crys stopped not too far off, and Brandon hopped off of Crys' back. Crys and Brandon stood side by side, looking up at the back of the mech suit.

"Hey!" Crys shouted.

Karen turned around to confront the two friends. Karen sat exposed in the chassis with a furious look on her face. "Looks like I need to invest in better restraints!" Karen replied, furiously.

"We're not going to let you do this!" Crys said, uncertain about what she was saying and unable to think of anything clever.

Karen cackled again. "A measly human child and a weak hybrid? HA! Well, I didn't need either of you alive anyways." Karen grinned. Her mech suit then sprang into action, its right arm swinging at Crys, who managed to jump out of the way while pulling Brandon away as well.

Crys then jumped forwards to try and slash at the mech suit's right arm, but her claws only scratched the surface of the metal, leaving only some marks on the suit. The suit's left arm then punched at Crys, who was still preoccupied with the right arm, knocking her back a distance into the rubble.

Brandon watched as Crys got flung back, and while he wasn't paying attention, the right arm of the mech swung at him, hitting him in the gut and sending him flying back into a different patch of rubble. The impact left Brandon dazed, and he was unable to get up.

Crys slowly got up and shook off the bits of rubble in her fur. She steadied herself and looked towards the mech. Karen was going towards where Brandon had landed to knock the last bit of life out of him. Crys ran right towards the mech and tried to claw at its back to divert Karen's attention. She then jumped back, expecting another swing from one of the arms, but instead Karen just turned around to confront Crys.

"Your tenacity is really starting to get on my nerves!" Karen snarled.

Karen then used the suit's right arm to swing at Crys, who jumped away. Crys didn't realize that the left arm of the mech suit was also headed her way, and so she got knocked down by it. While Crys was still on the ground, one of the arms of the mech suit grabbed Crys by the legs and held her up in front of the center chassis so Karen could see her prize.

"Now, would you like to continue to live, or would you rather I put you out of your misery right now." Karen sneered.

"I'm not going to let you get away with this." Crys said through breaths.

"Then, I'll just have to kill you, then." Karen said with an impartial tone.

Karen then threw Crys across the rubble battlefield with great force, causing Crys to land not too far off from Brandon. Crys struggled to move for a moment as she took in the pain of the landing. Crys shook her head and had a minor coughing fit before looking towards Karen. Karen turned to face Crys and cackled maniacally at Crys' pain. Karen stood where she was, confident that Crys couldn't do anything to harm her. Crys looked around and saw Brandon not too far off. He was unconscious and bleeding. Crys then looked at herself, her leg had a small gash in it which was staining her fur with blood. Crys tried to get up, but found herself unable to move. She didn't have the energy or ability to get up after being tossed around like a ragdoll so much. Her vision started to blur, and a massive headache was coming on. Crys grunted while she tried to get up again, this time getting into a sitting position. She breathed heavily as she thought of how in the world she would be able to survive, much less defeat Karen. Crys started to crawl away from Karen, to where, she didn't know. She just wanted to get some distance. It wasn't long before Crys collapsed, however. She collapsed under the pain of her injuries onto a metal rod buried in the rubble of the construction site. The rod poked into her side, and that's when Crys got an idea. Crys took a deep breath then fought the pain to sit up. She grabbed the metal rod and used it to help her stand up and steady herself. When Crys felt like she could stand on her own, she stopped using the rod as a crutch and oriented herself towards Karen. Miraculously, Karen was still laughing to herself. Apparently, she found this whole scenario too hilarious to take seriously. Crys decided to use this to her advantage. She took up the metal rod and held it back, getting ready to throw it. Crys knew this would be the only shot she'd get, and as terrible as it may be, it was the only thing she could think to do. Crys readied herself, then threw the metal rod directly at Karen with all her might. The unaware Karen didn't even notice the rod hurling towards her until it was too late. The rod lodged itself into Karen's right shoulder, going right through it. Karen wailed in agony before looking down at Crys, who still struggled to stand. Karen thought to herself for a moment and decided the battle was a lost cause. She knew that the pain of the metal rod would be too much for her to bear, so she decided to execute one of her failsafe plans. With her left hand, she pressed a few buttons on her mech suits console, and with the press of the last button, Karen's body slumped over in the chassis of the mech suit. The mech suit itself then keeled over onto the ground.