//Just got back from my beach vacation [th_084_.gif]

//Blast some rock music and grab some popcorn, theres a battle coming up!

It was not an explosion, but rather the emergence of at least five gigantic drills scattered throughout the far edges of the forest. Attached to them were the rest of the drone’s long armored body, it resembled the tunnel diggers in her old world. After it was completely emerged, the body split into two parts, slightly sloping and turning them in front of the newly made hole, forming a formidable barricade.

Numerous large figures ran out from within, they surrounded the hole before stopping and giving her a clearer glimpse.

She gasped. Large Wolves, their snarling mouthes exposed sharp canine teeth and their sizes rivaled that of a lion, their dark green fur engulfed the weak luminescent lights.

Slower, bigger forms appeared. Dark green bears that are at least one half the size of black bears, some where rubbing their metallic claws, roaring fiercely, excited for the coming clash.

Complex cyber metallic armor mounted their backs, composing of metal pads connected by interlocking joints, some had metal helmets ending with a very sharp triangular nose.

There were also various types of androids.

“Commence” Bob’s walkie talkie buzzed.

The giant canons perched on her home started moving.

Boom! Multiple explosions around each hole signaled the start. Dirt and debris scattered everywhere. The newly made bunkers stood there, enduring the bombardment stubbornly, releasing a torrent of more moving figures.

The invaders spread throughout the forest floor, heading towards her home.

She zoomed in to specific areas, observing the battle on a smaller scale.

Groups of small androids jumped down from the tree canopies, aiming their weapons downward. Most of them missed, landing on the ground and sending dusts everywhere.

She squinted. The ones that managed immediately stabbed their weapon, pulled a trigger and a projectile shot through the body of their targets. Armor piercing shells on melee weapons? A lucky few even decapitated their targets.

The drones had little in terms of power and armor, surprise was their only decisive factor. After the ambush finished, the battle turned into a one sided slaughter.

Without shields, they were picked off one by one from the invading sniper bots. She frowned, looking at a wolf biting down on a bot and swung it towards the ground like a rag doll. Bears swiped their sharp metallic claws, cleanly slicing anything in its path into two. A very few bots grabbed and stabbed the bears back, but they too were shortly taken care off.

Tiny droplets of water littered her screen, signaling the approaching rain.

The invading forces continued their march. More exploding shells struck down, devastating their charging formations. The ones wearing helmets were able to avoid the incoming artillery.

Visual guidance? Cool!

Flares shot out from their back armors, blinding nearby sentries by splashing on their shields. The streams split, trying to avoid the defensive structures like matches and soap.

Various traps triggered on their paths, giant glowing metal spikes rose from the ground, impaling anything above. More explosions occurred from triggered mines.

Sentries responded by firing missiles, flares and other explosive projectiles, most of them where deflected by the invader shields. Blinded by the flares, some animals slammed themselves into trees and deployed traps.

A group of half dozen Eve’s medium bots clustered together, trying to fend off vastly outnumbering groups of wolves circling about. Spears and dual swords readied.

Numerous wolves continuously broke off from their circling formation, heading towards the defender’s group from various directions.

A spear tip met a rushing wolf head first, impaling it, firing a piercing bullet through its skull. Other wolves dodged, leaping and preparing to tackle the spear holders, only to be stopped by the blocking of the dual sword wielders.

The bots retaliated, slashing, stabbing and shooting at the wolves metal armor. Most attacks missed or gazed, a few penetrated their armors, earning injured yelps.

She winced, some of the painful screeches breached the walls of her room.

“Their vocal chords are genetically modified to resonate through sound proof objects, we are working hard to solve it”. Bob shrugged.

After each charge, the offending wolves dashed aside or jump backward into their formation.

It was a steady stand off until one wolf managed to jump above its defender, landing in the middle and breaking the group’s form. The wolves plucked the disordered bots one by one.

Other bot groups held their ground. The giant bots in their ranks helped keeping the formation from breaking.

The agile wolves dodged the swinging of their giant swords, a few unfortunate ones were sliced in half.

A giant shield wielding bot charged out of its group, its titanic shield sent everything tumbling back. The bot stopped abruptly, it threw a small box forward before slamming the shield on the ground and taking cover.

The explosion rivaled the one at the warehouse, she could feel the shaking and rumbling through the walls. The bot emerged from its blacken shield without a scratch, a large bell shaped scotch marked the ground. Walking backward slowly and steadily, it returned to formation, leaving behind numerous charred corpses.

The battle leaned towards the defenders, the invader’s losses increased steadily as the bots held their ground.

A dark blob descended from the sky, arrowing down like an eagle diving for its prey. The blob landed on a large bot, revealing itself to be a black winged android, its streamlined body was designed for supersonic flight. Its long rifle penetrated the forcefield using a small bladed part at the barrel tip, aiming at the gap under the neck. The unprepared shielder did not have time to react before a piercing bullet ripped through its innards. It dropped on the ground lifelessly.

The silent assassin opened its wing, taking flight. Its killing procedure lasted seconds.

The ascension stopped shortly as a speeding white blob collided. Their airborne clash happened in a mere second, ending with the torn apart assassin falling straight down.

An ivory android took its place. Smoke rose from its damaged, beautiful angelic wings as it was assaulted by the pouring rain. Headed towards base, it flew shakily.

Flying bots are scary.

The battle dragged on for a few more minutes before the invaders retreated under the safety of their tunnels.

“Is it over?” She asked, staring at the remaining injured wolves as they limped towards the tunnel.

The defenders stood there, dripping with water as they made no move to pursuit.

Hearing only silence, she stared back at Bob, only to see him with an amused smile.

“Technically, it is, but the finale is coming up”. He spoke to his walkie talkie. “Under 12 seconds, 500 credits”

“Alright”. It buzzed.

Is he making a bet? She was incredulous.

RAWWWR! A thundering roar shook the camera. On the ground next to her castle, opened a giant garage gate. A gigantic figure opened its metallic wings as it flew outside.

A dragon? She gawked openly.

Covering at least half a football field, it stood haughty in front of the gate, roaring again towards the horizon.

Such an impressive sight, too bad the thing is designed for aesthetic rather than real combat, she concluded, noticing its obvious flaws.

Beautiful blue, glowing metal plates covered its belly and back, leaving the sides completely exposed, displaying the large arrays of weapons mounted there. She knew that a more practical design would protect and cover them rather than leaving them open so flashily. Its tail, ending with a sharp triangular blade and connected by interlocking parts, was left unarmored at the last joint that connected with the main body. While the neck was thickly armored, the unprotected gaps between its cartilages was wide enough to receive various bombs and guided missiles.

I really need to stop running those simulations. She thought amusedly, remembering the times she simulated realistic battles between fantasy creatures.

She appraised it once more, scanning it from head to toe. Making a long sigh, she stared helplessly at such ridiculous a feature, it would render the dragon completely impractical for joining real battles. Her eyes wandered towards Bob, her confused expression bordered on dumbness.

He guffawed loudly upon seeing her cute, speechless face. “The ears were Alice’s idea”.

A pair of blue glossy bunny ears rested atop its metallic head. Flopping with the wind, they removed all of the dragon’s majestic virtue, making any action it took silly and awkward.

The scene was impressive nonetheless, it was the largest creature she had ever seen.

Two large drills launched themselves from the ground, leaving one hole that was twice as large as the others.

A large, obsidian dragon emerged. It landed a few hundred meters away, roaring just as fiercely. Its design was as impractical as the first, minus the ears. While its armaments are fewer in number, they made up for the increase in size.

For a few silent seconds, the two titans stared at each other.

The ground quaked and groaned at their charge. The weapons on their backs flashed, storms of projectiles flew forward, from missiles to giant exploding bullets. Each dragon ran on three legs, with left front paw raised, deploying a large shield to deflect everything to the side.

The shields were turned off at the last second as their mountainous forms clashed, resounding in a loud rumble.

They tried to bite each other’s shoulder, using their front legs to grab hold.

Her dragon slipped from the muddy ground and was kicked hard. Metal screeched at its sidewards slide.

Standing up in seconds, the gushing rain put out its side fires instantly. It fired more missiles as the two began their second charge.

Her dragon deflected the other’s right leg and head butting under its face, knocking it backwards.

The two growled, slowly circling each other, watching for an opening.

Then she noticed the sparks flying out from her dragon’s damaged left wing. Uh Oh.

The other dragon saw it too, it opened its towering wings, taking flight. It leered at her dragon that could only stand there.

Reaching the desired height, the dragon closed its wings, diving down with front legs raised forward, ready to tackle hers.

Her dragon was ready, lowering its stance, it waited until the right moment before turning around, swinging its deadly tail forward.

The other dragon had no time to react, it took the full blunt of the blow and was sent tumbling to the side.

It charged almost immediately after the sliding stopped, only to be blinded when her dragon released an overwhelming blue flame from its mouth.

With no vision, the black dragon couldn’t avoid the side swing of her dragon’s head, knocking it to the left. All of the lights on its body flickered.

“11.5 seconds, you’re one lucky duck, Bob”. The walkie talkie said.

“I know a short scuffle when I see one”. Bob replied, smirking.

Her dragon made a loud roar as the other dragon stood up, it limped towards the hole before diving back inside. Her dragon also returned to its base.

She was still staring at the screen, entranced.

“So how was it, kid. I had to admit, you’re rather different, wanting to watch the battle and all”

She snapped from her trance, staring back at him.

“This battle, was it a group practice?” She asked, already knowing the answer.

“Of course, its our custom to do practice raids. Your father and the Lyon corp. We would take turns raiding and defending each other to strengthen our defenses and relationship and some other political crap”. Bob answered matter of factly.

She gulped. My real father couldn’t possibly know of the adoption, right?

//This chapter is a bit raw, it might receive some small self-PR edits

//LOL I made a giant blunder, it was supposed to be night time *fixed*