Tat

Currently, my room is completely cluttered with stacked cases of saved documentaries next to variously strewn, soon to be completed, unboxed Gundam models and other miscellaneous reading material strewn about. I have more important things going on right now to worry about than how unorganized my room is. Though Rossi, who is awkwardly shuffling around for any space to sit, is vocally in disagreement with that opinion. Sucks for him, butso long as I have a path leading to my bed and a computer with an open chair I’m pretty much set, and it’s not like I don’t know where stuff is. I keep track of what I put down and so long as people don’t touch my stuff and disrupt my flow then there normally isn’t a problem, and like everything else the mask was right where I left it.

The mask itself isn’t anything too interesting on the surface, lacking really any eye-catching features on its plain stony surface. However, it must have some sort of story behind it. The circumstances of Axel acquiring it are certainly fascinating enough, but since I can’t look any further into its background or why Axel even acquired it, I’ll have to settle for seeing it in action without putting it on myself.

“So are you sure that you’re ok with this? I can guarantee you this’ll hurt like hell if it works again.” Rossi wanted to see the mask for himself and came back to my place to put it on and experience it himself.

“Of c~ourse! To be completely honest with you, I’m actually very interested in what Axel’s grandfather is keeping from his family. It must have been maddening for him.”

“Oh? What do you mean?” None of us have ever been too involved with Axel’s family.

“I mean I’ve actually spoken to Axel's grandfather about a year back. I never brought it up to him of course, as I wasn’t sure if it was something he had to hear at that very moment. So I believe that understanding this mask can lead to a better understanding of what his grandfather told me.”

“Hold up,” I interject “What did you two even talk about? Rossi, did he tell you anything that can give me a better idea with what is up with this mask?”

“I guarantee you it’s interesting, but before that, I’d like to try that mask on before getting into that. If it’s as bad as you say I’d rather get that done and over with.” Rossi points at the stone mask that’s on my desk.

I want to hear the story but he’s right. “True, this mask can prove to hold more than it lets on. Are you ready?”

Axel

My mother was utterly oblivious to what was happening behind her as the machine readied a knife to throw at me. Its eyes are completely locked on, with me as it's only concern. If that's the case, then there isn't any reason to involve mom. "Oi! The foods' burning!" I point to the stove where my mom has food cooking. Out of panic, she looks over at the stove right as the thing throws the knife directly at my head.

The blade was perfectly thrown as it headed straight for me through the air. I sidestep and attempt to catch the blade by the handle, but I went for it too soon and caught it by the blade. "FFF…" I keep my scream in and hide the blade behind my back.

My mom looks back over slightly irritated. "Nothing is burning. what was that you…"

"Ah, my bad. Hey, I'm going for a walk; we can talk later, ok." I said through clenched teeth. I pick up a rag with my free hand and hurry out the front door, ignoring my mom calling out to me.

As I hastily walk out the front door, I throw the knife in my hand into the bush, out of view, and tie the rag around the wound the blade made. The cut wasn't too deep, but catching it was the only option I had to keep mom from noticing anything weird. Hopefully, she doesn't see the tiny trail of blood leading out of the house so soon.

I look behind me, and the machine is lumbering out of the house, still persistently giving chase. It is definitely only concerned with me. Everything this thing is doing is to attack me and only me. When it left my room, it did so to find something to attack with, but now that I'm running, it's making sure not to lose me.

When I summoned this thing after beating it the first time, it didn't even acknowledge me beating it after seeing me. It's being reset after each summon. I need to figure out a way to take this thing out, after that, I'll figure out what to do from there.

I start to run away from the machine, and it quickly begins following. Good! I have some amount of control if it's just blindly chasing. Course' that doesn't mean anything if I don't figure out a way to touch it.

I make my way towards another house and jump the fence leading to the backyard.

I live in a suburban area, but a few roads down from where I live are stables and a more rural area. That's where Savant is. The kennel he works and lives at is deeper into that rural area. He has plenty of equipment at his house he uses to keep out wildlife. I can use that to hopefully trap this machine.

I jump the next fence leading from one backyard over to the next.

Excluding the one good punch I landed earlier, something else bothers me about that moment. After I punched it, it was flung away and actually crashed into a wall. It wasn't just a tap, or a light brushing up against the wall, this was a full-blown collision. Even thinking back to when it left the room, it opened the door to leave. It had the most opportunity to strike when it closed the door on my hand, instead of setting up for an attack.

I jump the last fence leading to a street on another block and look back to see how far the machine is from me.

Even if I can't directly attack it, I can use tools to attack it. Savant has plenty of miscellaneous garbage at his place that I can use to set up a scenario where this machine will either take itself out, or immobilize itself and leave it open to an attack.

Out of nowhere, something swings under me and makes me lose my balance. During the fall, I glimpsed the machine looking down at me, it had somehow gotten behind me with a bat in hand and was gearing up to start swinging. With the way it had been attacking me so far, by the time I hit the ground, the thing would have already swung down and bashed in my skull. I can't think about how it got behind me, I need to get the fuck away now, or I'm fucking dead!

In a desperate attempt to get away, I slam my legs down and try to place enough force to push my body away from the swing or avoid it hitting my head. I feel my legs extend out and launch myself from the front lawn to the middle of the street, that fucking worked somehow. Again?! Like back home, when I attacked, a body part felt like it extended and had a stronger impact than it initially did.

After landing, I turn and see the machine still looking at me with the intent of continuing its deadly assault. I quickly make my way to the yard opposite the machine and notice some baseball equipment lying around minus a bat.

Well, that explained where the bat came from, but that would mean this creature somehow got in front of me without climbing over 3 fences and without me seeing it happen.

I make it to the next yard and pick up one of the baseballs. I need to make sure that I'm right about using objects against this machine. It isn't moving fast right now, so I have a solid minute to ready my throw.

I stand with my feet together, and both my hands centered at my chest. My right hand gripping the ball tightly, keeping my ring finger curled in to keep the ball firmly in place, index and middle fingers resting on its seam and a thumb gently placed below the ball. While my left-hand rests on top of my right hand for posture and support. My body is facing away from the machine at a ninety-degree angle while it continues to lurch towards me. I proceed to bring my leg up to my chest, bending my leg to a forty-five-degree angle. I take a step forward while positioning my right arm behind me with the ball level to my head. The left-hand stretches out ahead to point directly at my target, the machine's head. My foot lands perfectly perpendicular to where I want to throw, twisting my upper body rapidly to put more power into the release. I let momentum guide the swing while bringing my other arm into my chest to keep balance, all the while pivoting my right foot deeper into the grass. While the ball is in the apex of the arc, I loosen my grip on the ball and bring the arm down to allow index and middle fingers to push the ball forward and slide off my fingers. It rotates hard and ejects explosively from my grip into a straight line towards the machine.

The ball collides with the machines noggin dead on! It staggers back from the force, but then quickly regains its stance and sets its sights back on me. "FUCK" I threw everything into that throw, but it didn't even make a dent in it. I pick up a few more balls and continue towards Savant's place. I'm going to need to try harder at keeping my eye on this thing now, I can't let it get behind me again. I pull out my phone and begin to call Savant, keeping my gaze on the machine lumbering towards me.

After a few rings, Savant picks up, "Yo, Axel."

"Hey, so, that box had a thing in it, and I need to know if you have an empty cage I can use?"

"I... wait. First, Kennels, second, the small little handheld one? Third, Yea?"

"Whatever, no shit, and awesome keep it open I'll be there soon." I immediately hang up and continue my way down to Savant's place. Since it can interact with inanimate objects, I can probably catch it in a cage and easily take it out while it has nowhere left to go. I just need to get myself down to his house without this thing blindsiding me again. No, the even better idea is that I need to figure out how it snuck up to me in the first place. If I figure that out, I win.

To be continued