[LoboDiabloLoneWolf]

THE MASK REMOVED, A NEMESIS REVEALED...(cont.)


Stranger shot off Boom-bat Seekers off to the mass of Wolvarks dropped on the grass. The Wolvarks were flung off, their bodies in a flash of flames shrouding their blue ugly uniforms. Some others recovered from the explosion, and fired bullets, hailing over Stranger. Bullets stuck out of the soft ground, making a sloppy circle around himself. Stranger jumped aside of the Wolvarks’ sight, and hid behind a crumbly stone-brick house, locking down Spark Stunks and Riot Slugs. The Wolvarks grumbled up the ramp to where the Steef had taken shelter behind the house. Then, a powerful suction and smell pulled their bodies towards the house quicker. They landed with a loud thud in unison, then felt the heaviest, sharpest pain run through their spines, as something impacted their backs, literally breaking their spines. The Wolvarks gave a last howl of pain, then their heads thudded to the ground.
“Keep goin’, guys! Don’t look back!” Umi shouted to the Grubbs passing by her. Umi shot her glance up behind her, seeing the same blimpy dropship come right behind her near the berry bushes.
“Stranger!” Umi shouted down. He snapped his head up to her. She was pointing right behind her, shouting out, “Wolvarks!” He growled, and ran back up the ramp up behind the village. The flaps underneath the dropship screeched open, and Wolvarks piled upon each other out from the belly of the dropship, then hovered up and shot away from them.
“God damn! Ger’t off’a me, lard-ass!” a Wolvark screamed, clawing its way out from under thepile of squirming Wolvarks.
“Well, you ain’t the lightest of the batch, you cow!” another from the bottom scowled at it.
“Both y’all shut up! We’s got’s work ter do! Startin’ with tha-“ the Wolvarks looked from the cleaved feet pressed in front of them, up to the Steef bearing its green armor and bow with a heinous-looking creature glaring at them. The Steef grinned hatefully at their eyes, bearing its teeth with sharp luminous green eyes. “There it is! Get that son of a bitch!” the Wolvark shouted, beginning to squirm harder from underneath the Wolvarks’ weight. Stranger shook his head at the pathetic Wolvarks, then shot the Boom-bat Seekers out on his bow, along with some Rabid Fuzzles for the stragglers. The Wolvarks toppled off of each other in either a million fleshy pieces, or soaking in the flames burning on their corpses. The remaining Wolvarks had Rabid Fuzzles clamp down on their skin with their jowls of pointy sharp teeth. Stranger watched the Wolvarks fall down one by one, then turned back around and trotted down the ramp above the berries.
“Damn! That Steef’s a hard-ass! Any stragglers retreat! Retreat!” a dropship high above called from a loudspeaker. Stranger grinned with pride, spitting on the ground near a dead Wolvark corpse.
“Damn Wolvark scum,” Stranger slammed his fist in to his palm. Umi skidded to a halt in front of him, hunching down on her knees for breath. She stood straight when she rejuvenated.
“Nice work, bud,” Umi smiled. Stranger nodded as well, then looked down at the head of the village, seeing the Grubbs recede from the hiding places they took shelter behind. They ran up the ramp, watching aside from tripping over the Wolvark bodies, up to their saviors. They cheered loudly in a mob of joining Grubbs, circling around the Steef and his partner. The ring of Grubbs parted away, when the Queen of the Grubbs darted in excitedly.
“Steef! Holy cow, that was amazing! You beat those Wolvarks’ ass, and saved the village!” she flung herself in to the air.
“Uh-huh. Now, I need’s te, take yer somewhere else. I need’s to, ask yer some questions,” Stranger swung his arm around the Queen’s shoulder, and led her out of the circle.
“Umi! Umi!” a familiar feminine voice called out.
“Jala!” Umi shouted waving her arm over the crowd of Grubbs. Jala pushed her way through the excited Grubbs, up to Umi. “You did it! You saved us all! Now you’ve inspired us to fight back!” Jala embraced around Umi’s mid-section.
“Really,” Umi smiled up to the Grubbs. All of them nodded in agreement to her, having confident faces grinning up. “Stranger’ll be really happy ter hear this,” Umi looked back down to Jala.

“Now, about this…protector thing. What’cha mean’s by tha’?” Stranger asked, holding out far away from the Grubbs. The Queen Grubb squinted an eye to him.
“I cannot tell you things that you are not ready for. But I can say, once you are ready, you’ll find it yourself, and realize your destiny. So…get to realizing, already. We need you,” the Queen smiled. Stranger looked down. He didn’t want to wait for whatever the Queen wanted him to know. He wanted to know it now. Queen looked under his frown, then smiled concernly.
“I know how you feel, Steef. But I can’t teach such a heart filled with fear and darkness. You need to figure it out yourself. If I told you about it, well, it’d be hard for you to understand,” Queen said in a gentle voice. Stranger looked back up to the Queen, keeping his head down low. He nodded, accepting that not only the Queen will tell him by what she means, but he would have to figure it out by himself.
“But I can say one thing…” she continued, looking over to Umi surrounded by the cheerful Grubbs. “…one of your destinies is with that young human. And it lies with her as well,” Stranger looked over to Umi as well, she smiling and laughing along with the Grubbs. He smiled confidently, knowing now what the Queen meant. Being the protector of the Grubbs was one thing. But having a young human to have as a partner made up the rest of the cake. He now knew that Umi was part of his destiny: To be a legendary part in a Steef guardian’s life. And he was proud to have such a thing laid upon him.
“Yeah. I see what you mean,” Stranger nodded, still smiling over to Umi.
“Good. Now, I suggest you get your boney butt in to action, Steef. There’s still the fact of Sekto and his dam. Go back to the Waterfall cave, and get to your boat. There, you’ll pass in to the Mongo River, and pass Last Legs. There, you’ll find Sekto’s dam. But be careful! Those Wolvarks are as dangerous in one entire facility, let alone a small squad,” Queen patted his arm.
“Yeah. But ter make sure, y’all gonna be, alright now?” he asked with a bit of concern. Queen smiled her toothless gums.
“Don’t worry about us! We’ll be fine, now that you came along and kicked some serious whoop-ass to them Wolvarks! They won’t be comin’ here any longer, now that you showed your face!” Queen said. Stranger nodded, and walked away from the Queen Grubb, through the circle of Grubbs. They parted away from the Steef pushing through gently to get to Umi. Stranger stopped in front of her with a grin.
“You ready ter get up to Sekto’s dam?” he asked.
“Thought you’d never ask,” Umi grinned mischievously. The Grubbs began to cheer again, following slowly behind them walking up to the ramp that led up in to the village. Umi swung on to Stranger’s back again, getting herself comfortable before take-off. The Queen Grubb walked in front of all the Grubbs with a smile.
“Thank you again, Steef and human! Good luck at Sekto’s dam! Our prayers are with you all the way!” she said, and the Grubbs nodded with her. Jala ran next to the Queen.
“G’luck, Umi! Don’t be gettin’ in to too much trouble!” Jala waved.
“Don’t worry. With Stranger ‘round, I won’t be in much,” Umi grinned to Stranger’s eye. Stranger nodded once more, then kicked off down the ramp off back down through the rocky meadow, and back through the Waterfall cave entrance. They could hear the Grubbs shout over the mountainous passage. They were proud to have done something good for a change.
“Ah, Steef dude! You made it back! We heard you opened up a can of good ole fashion whoop-ass on them Wolvarks back down in the Native’s Village! And hey, we fixed up your boat, all good ‘n new for ya!” the Grubb smiled up to the Steef walking up to it. The boat was in better condition than before. In fact, it was almost immaculate compared to the junky boat they saw. The bow of the boat had a carved dragon’s face with horns pointing out of its head, and the eyes painted a glittery red, glimmering maliciously out on the surface of the crystal waters. The boat provided six oars, three on each side, and was attached to two handles, so rowing wouldn’t be so hard for Umi and Stranger. The boat, also on the bow side, holstered what looked of an automated gun. It would be like the good old days for Umi, when she first handled the gattling gun on the backside of the LAAV Warthog, only this would be on the front side of a boat. Stranger was more than impressed with the craftsmanship of the boat the Grubbs created.
He jumped in to the boat, shaking off his feet from the water he touched, and sat in a comfy position with his four legs in a criss-cross pose, and his back legs just in a regular sitting posture. Umi, however, sat in front of the gun turret, holding both handles and her thumbs on the trigger. The Grubbs ran to the shore side behind Stranger.
“Alrighty, Steef! We’re all ready for you! Go through the gates out to the Mongo River, and follow the flow out to Last Legs! Behind that, Sekto’s dam should be right there. It’s not hard to miss. It’s just one big, humongous, ginormous, largeous…you get the idea. It’s a big-ass building that towers practically up to heaven,” the Grubb nodded. The current of the river took them through the gates out to the Mongo River. The tunnel was lit with torches hanging on the wall. Mosses and grasses hung above their heads with rock icicles dripping off water.
“Ahh, back out on the water again, ‘ey, Stranger?” Umi smiled back to Stranger. He didn’t make a gesture, but rowed the two handles back and forth, which rowed the six oars in a perfect circle together. Umi watched again in front of her, now squinting far in front of them. Mist began to flutter at the end of the tunnel, and a thunderous roar of crashing water bounced off the walls. She turned back to Stranger.
“Uh, d’you realize, there’s a waterfall in front of us?” Umi pointed out further from the boat. Stranger only grinned in a mischievously way, still rowing faster and faster. Umi turned back to the bow of the boat, then swallowed deeply in her throat. She knew what he was going to do, and it would not be a good feeling. The current got stronger, sweeping them closer to the edge of the falls. The thunderous cracking of the water splashing below got even louder. Next thing you know, they were falling. The tip of the boat leaned over the fall’s edge, then they fell, plummeting down near the curl of churning water impacting the glassy water’s surface. Umi gripped on the wood of the boat tightly, as the feeling of her insides flew up in to her throat. A cold rush of water splashed around them, taking them under like a vicious shark.

The boat overturned under water, resurfacing upside-down with the bottom curving up in the air. Umi screamed under water from the frostiness of the water pushing against her self. She scrambled back up back to the surface of the water, gasping in deeply and shivering greatly, holding her soaked arms around her self. She kicked her legs under the water, looking around for any sight of Stranger. The boat lay overturned still, but drifting slowly away from the current of the waterfall.
“Stranger…” she glanced around quickly, beginning to feel anxiety strike in her mind. Alone in a river of freezing cold water, and nothing but the sound of a crashing waterfall. She shivered again, beginning to stoke over to the boat. She put both hands under the boat, and pushed up to lay it properly on the water. But when she did, she got a surprise. Stranger swam still, with a mischievous grin on towards Umi. She gasped in fright, kicking away from Stranger, then held still. She scrunched her nose angrily.
“Don’t ever, EVER, do that again! You scared the livin’ crap outta me!” she cried. Stranger gave a chuckle, and swam over to Umi, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.
“In’t that what I’m supposed ter do? Scare yeh?” he smiled, and lifted her on the boat first, then climbed after. He ruffled his fur, shaking off the water like a drowned dog, and smoothed down. Umi holstered the gun turret again, and Stranger began to row again. They sped out of an archway out to the real river. Little islands of trees against the cliff sides beached out in to the deep trenches of the Mongo River. One large island, however, Wolvarks vacated. A large rig out in the middle of the river held more Wolvarks. Further down from the rig was a small dam, blocking the way out further through the river. Stranger released the handles to the oars, slowing down the boat first off, then stayed hunched down, but brought up hid bow with the Snuzi darts. Umi stayed out of Stranger’s sniper by laying flat in the boat. He locked on to a Wolvark on the island, trotting aimlessly by the island’s shore, looking down at the sparkling water reflecting off the sun. With his snooper as well, he could hear what the Wolvark was saying, even it grumbling lowly.
“Man…this job sucks Meech’s ass…All I get’s ter do is just walk around fer nothin’…and hang out with these stanky, mindless dumbass’s…” the Wolvark mumbled irritatingly. The others behind him only smirked hatefully at the bellyaching Wolvark on the shore.
“Well, he ain’t the smartest of the batch, yer know,” a Wolvark whispered to the other. The other nodded in agreement, watching the bored Wolvark continue his goose-stepping on the shore. He stopped for a moment, turning back around. He saw a glinting object out in the water, and squinted hard out, covering his eyes with his flat hand to see the object floating aloft in the water.
“Hmm?” it hummed, raising its brow up suspiciously. The thing shone once more, then total blankness shot out through its forehead. The Wolvark tumbled head first down in to the water, it moaning once more, with its mouth bubbling in the water. The other Wolvarks shouted in surprise, raising its guns in defense.
“Go check it out…” a Wolvark shoved the other. The other mumbled in a negative way, shaking its head, and hesitating to go. Both of them went down to the fallen Wolvark in a straight row horizontally to the thing far out in the water. But by the time they could alert the rig, their heads were only a bloody hole. Their faces laid in a sloppy row in the cool water, blood from their heads swamping out in to the river along with the current.
“Bulls-eye,” Stranger growled in satisfaction, and began to row the boat up to the shore. There was only one obstacle left, and that was the Rig.
“Move the boat up to the side. I can get a clear shot on the Wolvarks, and maybe can blow that gargantuan to hell,” Umi said back to Stranger. He didn’t make a remark, but did as Umi said. Risky, but it would work. If they were caught by the Wolvarks, they were sitting ducks. Stranger couldn’t possibly move the boat in time before a bullet could strike them or sink the boat. He kept the boat as close to the shore as possible, without beaching it or scrape it along the sandy bottom. Umi holstered the gun, and moved it to the first target on the boat. Since there were no aiming devices, she would have a little trouble getting a perfect-aim shot on all of them.
“Ok, stop the boat,” Umi whispered over her shoulder. Stranger scraped the oars at the bottom, and the boat came to a halt. Umi closed an eye tight, moving the gun turret around to the first Wolvark. She slipped her tongue out of her lips, the squeezed the handles. The front of the gun began to whirl around, then pink-purple long-shaped bullets spewed out of the barrel. It felt exactly like the LAAV Warthog gattling gun she used. The bullets flew out in a straight, but crooked line, out towards the first Wolvark. The bullets, on impact, made Swiss cheese look bad. The bullets literally put large holes in to the Wolvark like it was being hole-punched. The Wolvark tumbled off the rig, and in to the water. Only two remained alive, running right to the place where the shot Wolvark stood.
“What the hell-Joel’s off the deck!” a Wolvark shouted, waving his arms over to the dam. A few more bullets flew, and struck in to the Wolvark, shoving him off in to the water as well. The last one quivered in fear.
“I’m the last one…” it stuck its fingers in to its lips, dropping its weapon on the deck. It shot glances around out in the river, shivering violently, and eyes horror-stricken. “I-I…” it stuttered, still shooting glances around. “I-I…I DON’T WANNA DIE!!!” it screeched, snapping its head up in to the air. And as it said that, the purple-pink bullets struck the Wolvark cleanly through its skin. The Wolvark gagged painfully, then tumbled over the railing around the rig. Umi grinned slyly.
“And that’s how you use a gun,” Umi grinned back to Stranger.
“Now there’s the case of bringin’ down tha’ rig,” Stranger scratched his beard thoughtfully. Umi tapped on his arm. When his attention snapped to her, she pointed to the familiar cylinder-shaped barrels peppered among the rig’s deck. He smiled greatly, ruffling Umi’s hair. “Let ‘er rip, kid,” Stranger nodded in approval. Umi brought her head down between the turret’s handles, and squinted her eyes craftily. The head of the gun spun around again, and the pink-purple bullets sprung out of the turret again. Sparks spreaded among the hull of the rig, leaving a hot-pink glow and a large bullet hole left in the metal. The bullets struck closely near the explosive’s barrel, then toppled it over on its belly. Umi growled, but kept the bullets spewing. Sooner or later, one bullet would spark in to the barrel, and cause it to explode, and chain-react with the other explosives.
“C’mon, Umi. You can do it,” Stranger said. She kept her tongue out between her tight lips, closing an eye tightly to get a good aim on the bloody object.
“God DAMN, this is annoying!” she screamed. Right when she said that, a bright explosion of the barrel blew in front of their faces and the rest blew their tops as well. Umi stopped the gun, dropping her arms on her knees and sighing loudly. They watched the barrels, one by one blow their tops off in to a massive bolero, the rig becoming shrouded in to it. The bottom-half of the rig blew a hole through the engine, causing the water to rise in to a splash of mist and water. Next thing they saw was the entire mass sink slowly to the deepest part of the river, the fires spreading on it hissing to a dead smoke. Umi and Stranger nodded to each other in satisfaction.
“Nice work, kiddo,” Stranger gently slapped her back. “Now there’s only the dam we need’s ter get to,” Stranger glared to the small dam blocking the water’s flow. He began to row the boat again, then slowed it down until the bottom of the boat skidded on the rough sand below. He made sure the boat would stay in place, then leaped out and began to take cover behind a thick wall of trees. Wolvarks with autos patrolled the top of the dam. Stranger was low on Snuzi darts, which meant he’d have to take it out to up close and personal. Super Stingbees and Rabid Fuzzles were up to play first. He trotted quietly as could be up to trees, watching the Wolvarks stomp around in a lazy circle. He swung his armed bow arm out, crouching down, and squinted at the first Wolvark he could see. Then the Stingbees began to fly like speeding bullets, and small angry fur balls flew along in the spray of stinging bugs. Wolvarks began to howl in intense pain, flinging their guns in the air and waving their arms around like a lunatic. He moved through the mass of bawling Wolvarks to the activation grid that opened the gates of the dam. Two shielded Wolvarks crouched low under their shields, popping up one of their sparkling time bombs. Umi knelt down on one knee, cocked back safety, and let the bullets fly to the Wolvarks. It didn’t take long until the shields were pretty useless to the Wolvarks, which left them defenseless. The bullets cut through them like a hot knife through butter. Stranger passed by Umi when the sight of the Wolvarks were gone, and tapped in unknowingly in to the grid key.
“One o’ these damn things must open them gates,” Stranger growled frustratingly, beginning to literally pound on the pad.
“Ahem,” Umi cleared, and moved Stranger aside. She looked around the keypad patiently, them pressed down on a blue pulsating button. A loud groan under them told that the gates opened. The waters current quickened in to a loud-sounding rapid rush. Umi grinned up smartly up to Stranger, and he chuckled.
“Smart-ass,” he pushed her gently aside.
“Not my fault I know what I’m doin’,” Umi jumped. They ran back down from the dam top, and back to their beached boat. Stranger sat comfortably down in the rower’s seat, and clenched down on the handles. Umi sat cross-legged in front of the gun turret, then feeling the sand roughly coarse off under her legs off the island. He turned the bow around to the front of the opened gates, and pushed off the bottom. The current dragged them swiftly through the gates, and out to the other side. Another large waterfall crashed down near them. Two docks to a small home built on the canyon wall poked out to Stranger’s fancy. Three Grubbs, two male and one female, began to wave crazily to Steef. They shouted in unison something different to Stranger. He nodded to them, and rowed to the first dock that was close-by. He parked the boat near the Grubbs, and climbed up to the dock. The female Grubb rushed up to Stranger, then the males.
“Steef dude! We’re in trouble, man! Last Legs, our last resort, has been invaded by those security pricks! If they take over Last Legs, we’re doomed, dude, because that’s our last area of defense…Well, more likely a hangout, or condo…But anyways, yeah! And if they do that! We don’t have any chance at all against Sekto! So, you need to find our Rebel Leader! And-and she’s pinned down in there with them Wolvarks! So-so go on to Last Legs, and save her!” the Grubb slammed her fist in to her palm. Stranger bowed his head down to the Grubbs, then turned to Umi.
“Best be gettin’ up there, then,” he nodded. She nodded as well, and jumped in the boat, and sat in front of the turret. He jumped in the boat, sat down, and began to row the six oars out to the river again. The Grubbs waved good-bye to the Steef, but he didn’t notice. The river winded further out, and the current began to get stronger. The canyon walls narrowed down, and the scenery far out of the river was a ghostly white. Up on a tall plateau was the shape of a fish-head temple, probably the same one Stranger and Umi went through to save the nerdy Clakker of Buzzarton, Eugene Ius. A sheer, small blast of cold wind brushed against Umi. She didn’t shiver or flinch. She liked the feeling of the cold draft. Their battle was before them, but the war was only beginning.