Survivors of Alterna: Final Run

Chapter 3: Attack of the Steel Twins

After drinking the awful concoction Rick whipped up, the effects kicked in quickly. The pain that plagued Akikta subsided after a few minutes, allowing him to take a much-needed nap. Unfortunately, his rest was interrupted by a loud boom and a violent rumble.

At first, he thought something might've dropped within the shack. But Nakji, who was sitting on a chair across from him, stood up to attention. Then another boom happened, accompanied by another rumble that nearly shook him out of bed. Akikta realized the noises were coming from outside.

"W-what's happening?!" He yelped and stuttered out of fright.

"I don't know!" Nakji answered, clearly as shocked as he was.

"Where's Rick and Biggie?!"

"They went outside minutes ago!" Akikta was afraid they had gone somewhere else. The shack had no windows, meaning they'd have to leave to find out what all the commotion was.

Akikta stood to his feet, noticing the pain wasn't half as bad as it used to be. He could actually stand and walk normally! ...Somewhat.

"What are you doing?" Nakji questioned.

"I'm going to see what's going on!" Nakji frowned at his answer, but didn't stop him. Instead, she unsheathed her blade and followed close behind.

Upon exiting the shack, a large splash of ink hit Akikta right in the face. Luckily, Nakji hadn't fully exited the shack, so only he was hit.

He wiped the greenish liquid off his face, only to see war raging on across the trash city. Salmonids, big and small, engaged each other in fierce combat. Smashing, slamming, and stabbing one another with their assortment of kitchen tools. The bigger and more unique-looking salmonids used much worse brutal tactics to attack.

The large and menacing-looking salmonids, covered in heavy-duty armor, inflated large green bombs at the top of their heads, then tossed them a short distance. Those same bombs would explode shortly after landing, taking out a massive chunk of salmonids while also emitting a loud boom that shook the ground—creating the same noise and rumble that woke Akikta.

Some of these explosions would completely destroy or cripple the large towers made from trash. Resulting in the collapsing debris to completely crush any unfortunate salmonid caught underneath while making the steel ground quake wildly, nearly knocking Akikta off his balance.

There was another type of salmonid, though this one was much smaller. These critters had to be no bigger than Little Buddy—some looked exactly like him, albeit with greener pants.

The tiny fish were in a small spherical ball, acting as a cockpit for some larger mechanism that hovered above the ground by discharging ink downward. Attached on either side of the cockpit were red and blue-colored dumpster bins.

Akikta wondered why anyone would make trashcans that could fly. Then the lids opened, revealing rows of loaded missiles. They fired and most impacted the battlefield filled with salmonids. A few headed towards Nakji and Akikta.

While Nakji was quick to evade, Akikta stood there, dumbfounded at how the salmonids could make weapons out of literal trash containers. The same thing responsible for dousing his face in ink would hit the area around Akikta, only this time, there was enough force to send the teen flying backward. He landed with minimal injury, groaning in annoyance rather than pain.

"You do know you're supposed to dodge a Flyfish's missiles, right?" Nakji commented, kneeling next to Akikta and helping him up.

"Bleh. Some of it got in my mouth..." He ignored Nakji's remark, instead focusing on wiping his face as he rose.