Bite the Hand

"I am Garrett Bates!" Garrett shouted as dashed to the nearest scout drone to destroy it. It evaded the first few swipes, but the sword finally made contact on the fifth swing. The drone collapsed to the ground, dropping another orb of Helioxene. "Register Garrett Bates as handler!"

Steam hissed from the joints of the metal being as it stood up straight, slightly taller than Garrett. "HANDLER REGISTERED. BEGINNING BOOT SEQUENCE." It hummed and shook, as the scout drones turned their attention to the robot. The green glow from within shifted to a soft blue color. Slowly, it stopped shaking and it looked around the room with its glowing blue eye. It stood at attention and saluted.

"Greetings, Boss! How are you today?"

"Not good!" Garrett shouted back as the alarm continued from the drones. "Take out the scout drones!"

Plex nodded and, much quicker than its frame would have indicated, rushed, and began to crush the drones in its hands. The remaining three drones, upon seeing this, started to head off in different directions, the alarm still blaring. "Don't let them escape!" Garrett shouted as he chased after one.

"Understood, Boss!" Plex said as he ran after another.

"No, split badness!" Cerezie said as she took aim at the remaining drone. However, the shock of Garrett and Plex both going in different directions caused her to miss. The drone disappeared deep into the hallway, the sound of the alarm beginning to fade. She shouted something in a foreign language and looked down the hallway, then towards Garrett. Cerezie gritted her teeth before tearing herself away from the hallway where the drone escape and she ran after Garrett.

Garrett chased after the drone, tailing right behind it but just out of reach. "Come on! Get back here!" As he looked down, he noticed that one of the jewels in his bracelet had been restored. Garrett took aim and shouted, "Flariseo!" A burst of fire shot from his hand, engulfing the drone. The alarm began to die out and the drone crashed to the ground, dropping a small blue God Chest. He began to catch his breath as he walked over towards the chest.

As he bent down to pick it up, he noticed that he had been lead into a large room. It was filled with small robots, about the size of a small dog, no taller than his knees. At a quick glance, there had to be at least twenty of them. Each of them had large metal jaws, like walking bear traps. Slowly, they all were activating, red lights glowing eerily in the darkness of the room.

"INTRUDER! INTRUDER! INTRUDER!"

The robots charged towards Garrett with the speed of a raccoon. Garrett immediately turned around, trying to go back the way he came, but more of the large jawed robots blocked his path. He held up his shield, quickly turning around trying to block the oncoming onslaught of machines. However, the shield by itself was not enough. His ankles were exposed, which the robots took advantage of, biting tightly. Garrett screamed out in pain, trying to shake them off, but they held firm. He swung his sword, which managed to cleave a few of them, but others quickly took their place. More of them swarmed his arms and his back, knocking Garrett to the ground. He groaned loudly through the pain, trying to muster up the strength to take down the machines.

A few gunshots rang through the air as Garrett felt the weight on him lessen little by little. He struggled to look up and saw Cerezie standing in the entrance, taking aim with her rifle. "You are of little knowing that not know splitting up be bad!" She fired a few more shots, which allowed Garrett enough room to move. He spun around quickly, knocking away most of the robots that were surrounding him. Cerezie shot the robots that were still attached to Garrett, causing them to collapse on the ground harmlessly. "Come! We are of leave Biters!" She waved for Garrett to follow her, but Garrett shook his head.

"We need to take care of these before they alert anything else!" Garrett shouted, attempting to muster his resolve. He had never been this badly wounded before. Sure, he had died multiple times, but those were generally quick and painless deaths. This was the first encounter he had where he was injured badly but still alive. His breath was heavy but filled with determination and anger to slay these machines. His eyes fell onto the blue God Chest, and he made a beeline for it. "Cover me!"

"You are not of bossing me!" Cerezie complained but still complied. Shots rang out and machines fell apart as Garrett made his way towards the God Chest.

"Give me something good!" He pulled the orb out from the God Chest and held it up in his right hand. There was a bright shine as the orb transformed, elongating into a large spear with two prongs on the end instead of one. "Alright, that's something, I guess." Garrett swung the spear around, able to stave off more of the Biters thanks to the increased range. He was also now able to attack them without getting within their jaws.

With the combined might of Garrett's new weapon and Cerezie's skill, they were able to dispatch all of the Biters. He didn't get any more God Chests, but he at least had a decent haul of Helioxene now. He tucked the pouch of Helioxene away as Cerezie walked up and smacked him in the back of the head. "You are foolishness!"

"Owww!" Garrett groaned, despite knowing that probably deserved that. His body ached as the adrenaline began to wear off. "You could be a little more gentle."

"You is lucky that I arrival and help when I did," Cerezie said, crossing her arms. She stared at him intently, with both anger and sadness behind her eyes. She sighed and began looking over Garrett's wounds.

"Hey, easy," he said as she began to pull him left and right.

"Wounds not deeply," Cerezie said as she finished looking over him. She began to rip parts of his clothes and tie them around as makeshift bandages. "Should holder for now. Need medical supplies for properly treatment." She gestured for him to follow her. "Let hurry. More drone alert more robots."