Crimson Sky

"Oi, Muppet. We're distracting and supporting... Get ready to be flying shit where its needed." I turn away before seeing his impending annoyed reaction. "Now to let the kid know what he's doing," I say to no one in particular. I turn to look for the boy to pass on information about the hunt. The young hunter's sudden move away from the group catches my eye. Looks like the newbie's found something.

I watch the young hunter to see what he's doing.

As you walk up to the mound of cloth, you realize that it is in fact a man, completely covered in black leather armour and a thick black cloak. A black bandanna covers what little of his face is visible beneath the large goggles he is wearing. He appears to be conscious as he reaches out a hand weakly to you as you come nearer.

Daniel rolls his eyes.

"Same shit as always then." He remarks, following your gaze.

"Oi! Dragon boy! What you got there?!" The griffin-winged hunter yells over the sandstorm.

"Dragon boy? Creative genius aren't you?"

"Fuck you."

"Shut up, will you? How about we go and see what he's found." I turn away from Daniel.

Curiosity forces me to walk over to see what has caught the young hunter's interest.

As you walk up what the newbie has discovered, you see it is a the mound of cloth. As you get nearer, you realize that it is in fact a man, completely covered in black leather armour and a thick black cloak. A black bandanna covers what little of his face is visible beneath the large goggles he is wearing. He appears to be conscious and is reaching out a hand weakly to the newbie.

I drop to my knees beside the man, lift him slightly and offer him some water.

I gesture at the hunter that walked up to me, "help me get him up"

I put the water away and set about assisting the young hunter to bring the man to his feet. I indicate for the two nearest people to come closer. "Take him, get back to the lift, then head straight to the medics," I shout over the wind. After a moment's pause with no response: "Now!"

One of the fodder runs up, looking unimpressed. Another joins him and together they lift the man.

"Wait..." He rasps. "I come fro-"

A sudden, echoing bellow sounds all around you, continuing for several seconds. A vast shadow appears in the sandstorm and the sand beneath your feet shudders, causing you to sink about a foot into the sands. Samuel jumps up onto one of the mechs which are largely unaffected by the shifting sands, clambering up it.

"As much as I'd love to stay and talk, I think it'll have to wait." I get up out of the sand and signal for the man to be taken to safety. I drag the young hunter out of the sand and yell: "You're with me and Daniel, distracting and supporting. Now get to it." After quickly adjusting my goggles I take to the air.

I too decide to get an Arial view of the situation. I open my wings and fly to the air.

Another bellowing cry follows and the creature bounds out of the storm into the middle of the group of hunters. It is at least six stories tall,a giant lion with massive, dragon-like wings and the tail of a scorpion. It lets out another bellowing roar, sending those in the air spiraling away from it.

Spotting one of the mech users, it bounds forward, swatting it aside with one giant paw. Another user jumps his mech forward and catches the paw, sliding out the giant blade on the suit's arm and stabbing it between the beast's claws.

I begin the usual looping dives in front of the beast to distract it from the hunters on the ground, darting past other hunters in the air so it never has one clear target.

The Manticore roars again and flings the mech into the air at one of the griffin-winged hunter, who dodges, before swiping at the other one as he passes you.

The Manticore roars again and flings the mech into the air at Daniel, who dodges, it then turns to swipe at you as you pass the newbie.

I drop into a sharp dive and head down and away from the manticore. I pull up and spiral away once I feel it is safe to do so. I turn to take aim at the beast with my rifle.

I begin to weave about in the air looking for weak points in the beast. I observe for a moment and then decide to strike at what seems to be the beast's weakest point, his wing. I dive forward with my claws outstretched with one eye on its tail.

I notice the rookie's simple mistake and quickly realise I'm the only one to have spotted it.

I fly around to the back of the creature and open fire on its sensitive tail in an attempt to draw the attention of the manticore from the other hunters.

Little as I know about the newbie, he seems to have promising talent, but requires further instruction and training. I think to myself: It would be a waste to let him die so soon.

Your claws rip through the leathery fabric of the manticore's bat-like wing, tearing twin gashes on either side of one of the bones that span just over half way down the wing.

The beast roars in pain and snaps out the wing, sending you flying back into the air, before quickly closing it and whimpering in pain. As you spin away, you see the griffin-hunter draw the beasts attention.

Experience tells you that though it can no longer fly away, it is still perfectly capable of running.

The newbie's claws rip through the leathery fabric of the manticore's bat-like wing, tearing twin gashes on either side of one of the bones that span just over half way down the wing.

The beast roars in pain and snaps out the wing, sending him spinning back into the air, before quickly closing it and whimpering in pain. It should no longer be able to fly.

The majority of your bullets ricochet off the thick exoskeleton surrounding the scorpion-like tail, but a few of them impact with one of the joints.

The beast roars, the twin attacks from behind causing it to turn around. It flicks off the mech that was holding its paw and turns. It appears to be putting slightly less weight on that paw.

The beast turns, but you have been thrown too far out by its wing, and it instead locks onto the next nearest target, the griffin-hunter.

Unable to see the one who damaged his wing, as the newbie was thrown too far, it instead locks onto you.

I spiral down towards Samuel with occasional sudden rolls and dives to keep the beast's interest. I fly over the hunter, barely missing him, to try and lure the creature's gaze downwards to let him do his usual job now that the manticore is injured and a little fatigued.

Noticing that the manticore was close to defeat I rush back in to find the previously hurt section of the wing. I wait in the air steadily without drawing attention to myself.

If the beast tries to run away I'd strike another blow into the wing in an attempt at creating enough pain to stop it from moving. This was one of the techniques my father had taught me to use when fighting large creatures. I start scanning the wing for points that would have large nerve clusters for the most crippling effect.

You hear your father's voice speaking to you from the past.

With a creature this big, though, its nerves are going to be more spread out, you want to find a cluster, then do as much damage in as big an area around that as you can. The biggest, most damageable area you can see is the wing membrane, the muscles having less nerves.

As you watch, the beast swats the griffin hunter out of the air, its paw coming down on both him and Samuel.

The beast's gaze follows you down and it swats you out of the sky with a giant paw, smashing both you and Samuel into the dunes. The sand breaks your fall somewhat, but the force is enough to knock the wind out of you.

Several of the mech users have worked their way round behind the manticore and jump onto its hind legs. The beast roars as they stab it and kicks its hind legs out, launching them away.

Its stinger comes down, impaling one of the mech-using hunters that stood before it through the stomach with the foot wide spike, the poison dooming him instantly. It pulls its tail back gingerly, as though it were painful. Bending down, it roars, the force knocking any mechs remaining in front of it to the ground. It snatches one of them up and crushes them between its teeth, before turning to retreat.

Noticing the beast turning to make a retreat, I dart forward toward the tender webbing of the wing and slice through it. I spiral upward ripping the wing from end to end in an attempt to paralyse it completely through pain.

I get up quickly and help Samuel to his feet. "Next time, duck."

I turn and run across the sand, and take to the air once more. Noticing that it has turned away, I dart to the creature's left hind leg and signal to the nearest hunter to join me on the other side. I then prepare to pounce in order to use my wrist blades on the manticore's tendons and muscles to cripple it.

The beast roars in pain and stumbles as you cut its wing, its scorpion's tail arcs down and slices through your upper arm. It was only a glancing blow, but you know you only have a matter of around half a minute to remove or negate the poison from the wound before it becomes deadly. Below you, those attacking its leg seem to be achieving very little.

"That doesn't help when you bring its paw down on top of my head!" He yells.

Your claws aren't long enough to reach the creatures tendons this far down its leg. The other hunter does not join you, wary of the fact that he is not fully armoured like you, and the creatures hairs are both coarse, sharp, and soaked in the poisonous oils secreted from its skin.

The beast has not got away from you yet however. You hear it roar in pain. Above you you see the newbie cripple its other wing, causing it to stumble from the pain, however its tail arcs down and catches him in the arm. Unless the poison is removed or negated, he only has around half a minute to live.