Origin of the 11th

Chapter 6: A World of Machines

Up until this point, I had spent my entire life in California on the other side of the Pacific. The dry, musty climate of my hometown was still fresh in my mind even during the flight through the storm. But nothing could have prepared me for the green grasslands that I now saw before me, filled with clear skies and plant life. "We should land as quickly as possible." Julia suggested suddenly, causing me to halt my admiration of the Asian topography.

"Why?" I responded absentmindedly, vaguely surprised that Julia was able to keep her head more so than I, especially since she was much more into aesthetics.

"In the air, we'll be detected more easily." She explained simply.

"Alright." I agreed, mentally slapping myself for forgetting that we were in the midst of enemy territory. We had a mission, and that took priority over sightseeing. As we landed, I gazed at the grass mournfully. California hadn't had any vegetation since the war began, and I assumed that the rest of the country of the Human Survival Force didn't have any either. "Why do you think that this that this place is so beautiful?" I asked, my mind wandering to what it would be like to live here.

"It probably has to do with the means of war production." Julia guessed, Mecha-G's head turning side to side. We began moving, making sure that we weren't wasting time. "Do you wash Super 11?"

I compared the two mechs, and nearly laughed at how ridiculous the difference was. The miniature silver mechanical dinosaur seemed to shine in the sunlight, refracting many rays of light, which gave the impression that it was glowing. I knew that Julia took very good care of Mecha-G, but looking at Super 11's battle-worn appearance and all of its caked-on dirt and mud, it really seemed like some ancient relic. We had moved into very tall grass that obscured our sight of the forward path. "Not really." I admitted, slightly flustered, and thankful that Julia couldn't see my face.

"You really should take care of your valuables." Julia said, Mecha-G's tiny arms trying to fold in a futile attempt at being vain. "You never know when they might..." But she was suddenly interrupted as we both heard a rustling sound in the grass around us. It seemed to be coming from multiple directions at once and was growing louder every moment.

"Stay very still. We have to fight physically." I whispered at the moment that we heard a growling sound. We were dealing with wildlife, so our training would be ineffective here. I activated Super 11's "doom sabers" as Mecha-G's claws elongated and its body grew a multitude of serrated spikes.

"How can wildlife coexist with the Mechanon?" Julia asked, standing behind me at a safe distance.

"Maybe we haven't been getting the updated information." I suggested, then my instincts kicked in. "Here it comes!" I yelled as something large and quadruped leaped out of the grass. I noticed that similar creatures jumped out at Julia before the first one collided with Super 11, sending me sprawling and spinning several feet. I checked the damage and found that although none of the major systems had been damaged, my body had suffered a large bruise from the impact.

"Timothy! Are you alright!" Julia called, trying to hack away at the creatures. From the slim knowledge of animal life that I had, these creatures seemed to be some sort of reptilian wolves that could destroy metal as easily as flesh. However, they seemed to be more wary of Julia, probably because of Mecha-G's design, and were circling her. I counted four in total, three of which were fighting Julia and one of which was fighting me. I had to deal with the one as quickly as possible to help Julia, who was slowly losing the intimidation factor.

"I'm fine." I called back, dodging the creature's next pounce with Super 11's immense speed before smashing my left hand into its stomach. The creature promptly collapsed and lay still. I concluded that the creature had died because both my hands had my 'doom sabers' on them and I had impaled the creature with the left one. "I'm coming!" I called, running over to Julia's location, but then a large force collided with my back, slamming me onto the ground and sending me into a dazed state.