One hour had passed, the team had setup shop around the town square, whilst Benny went ahead to lay traps near the gate. It was at this time, Lawrence, Obi and Aziz spent time in finding good spots to hide; in preparation to ambush their prey. Obi and Aziz had found a small demolished building and wreckage of a car respectively to hide, whilst Iron Law seemed not to care, as he stood on the roof of a twenty floor high skyscraper, looking down on the square and a few miles ahead into the Gate.
They waited with bated breath, until a set of tremors triggered not too far from the square. The earth swelled before granite burst forth from underground. A scorpion-like monster, about 20 metres tall and 30 feet long. It was decked in golden plated carapace with fur decked on its forehead. The beast had a plethora of beady, black and blue eyes, six in total. As it fully surfaced its large body, it also revealed its eight legs and rattle like tail with a sharp thick needle at the end.
Obi and Aziz in their hiding spots both looked up at the building Lawrence stood on, keeping their weapons and arms on the ready. When a hunt began, one had to keep your prey guessing until an attack was declared by the lead hunter.
Up on the roof, Lawrence had stood up from his squatting position, looking down on the beast before him. His lips curled to a small smile, before he wore his gauntlets. The next thing he did pulled the attention of the Umbara, as he began to circulate his Quather to form a large storm roiling in his chest. His body shone like the noon day sun, reflecting into the distance in the dark red sky of the city of chad. His hair turned slightly golden, same as the Aura around him, which formed a halo, like a sun.
"Oh boy… Dey with me!!! (Hey you, get over here!!!)" he roared so loud, it echoed for miles. Then he dropped down from the tall skyscraper like nobody's business and crashed into the tarred road, creating an explosion and a massive crater. The Umbara scorpion was immediately startled, and then screamed in rage, as it was taunted by Iron Law's actions. It charged to where Iron Law landed in fury, swinging its large pincers.
Just as the dust cleared, a beam of light flashed and landed on the crashing pincer of the scorpion, throwing its attack upward. Law jumped out from the dust, his fists close to his chest like a professional boxer. He pushed his golden quatheric energy into his gastrocnemius and Achilles tendons, making his legs look bigger, as he then took a step forwards and burst out in such speed, he created a sonic boom. Before the Umbara scorpion could react, it felt a force hit it on its jaw.
Just then, multiple machine gun shots resounded from the left side of the scorpion, coming from Aziz who had mounted his weaponry on a medium height perch. The bullets crashed into the scorpion's thick plating, emitting ringing sounds and sparks which flew haphazardly into the air. giant claymore for the tail of the scorpion, keeping it at bay. Law on the other hand, weaved the scorpion's attacks with its pincers and kept punching it in the face, taking out one of its ten eyes in the process. The scorpion became enraged, letting out a primal roar as it raised its Quather and forced a pulse of light to form around its body, pushing away all its enemies.
Law looked at Obi and smiled. They both nodded in agreement, as if they had already formulated a plan just then. Immediately, Obi shouted.
"Make a big circle…" then he pushed his red quatheric energy into his legs and dashed in a circular manner around the Scorpion.
"Like your mother's cooking pot" Law replied, also dashing in a manner that he kept a certain distance from Obi, forming a perfect spacing between them. Aziz stayed behind them, placing his palms on the ground as he channeled his Quather to cast a support spell.
Haste
This doubled the speed at which Lawrence and Obi ran around the Scorpion, dazing it. Whenever Obi struck, Lawrence was always behind to garner the Scorpions attention, and when Lawrence struck, Obi would pull its attention. It was a tactic they came together from a game they played as kids under the moonlight. It was such a big memory in their growing years they made it a tactic.
Just when they had worn down the Umbara scorpion, a dark aura covered its body as it roared into the red sky. Its shell began to glow crimson as its spines on its back and tail grew longer and more sinister. It had entered its enraged state.
"Obi, Aziz, Make una give me space" Lawrence shouted in pidgin, he spread his arms as the Scorpion began to rage. Aziz and Obi, on seeing this, nodded to each other and backed off. This was a moment Lawrence wanted for himself, a habit he'd formed when they went Evo-Beast hunting: He must wrestle.
Aziz began to reload his machine gun, whilst Obi looked on, channeling Quather into his blade, as if waiting for a key moment.
"Skraaaghhhh!!!" The scorpion cried, swinging its tail and pincers around in a frenzied manner. Its multiple eyes looked directly at Law in hate and fueled rage, as if it had seen its worst enemy after ages of search. Lawrence on the other hand seemed calm like a cucumber. He dug his toes into the ground, hunched his back muscles, and made a grabbing motion at the scorpion.
"Amalinze has awakened!" Obi echoed out in fanaticism and awe. Lawrence to him had not just been an elder brother, but a father figure to him and his siblings. Though he was the second male child, and the third overall, he matured quicker than the rest of them, always putting himself in a place of power over them.
At first they hadn't been too keen of his authoritative behavior, but it soon became very key to their parents died just a few months of each other. The elder children tried their best, it was Lawrence who stood on the fore front of the family. By then, he had just won the youth traditional wrestling championship, gaining the nickname 'Amanlinze' which meant a cat whose back didn't touch the ground, a title given to a fighter whose back never touched the ground. And he literally did just that.
He had carried the family affairs on his back, before he became an official ascendant.
From the he came to be of global recognition, earning fame for both family and country. He started just as a small local wrestler who moved his way to the top, travelling around the world and even picking up the arts of combat in his battles in the Eastern front.
He had begun his life as an ascendant a few years after his brother, but all he had for him was respect and awe. While he had spent ten years to reach the peak of the A-Class, Lawrence took three.
The Umbara had now steadied its gigantic frame and charged at Iron Law, like a bull to a red cloth. Lawrence readied himself for his opponent, stretching his arms out as he caught a hold of its pincers.
BOOOM!
The crash was so loud, it shattered the sound barrier. Lawrence wrestled with such a large behemoth, leaving trails of dirt and rock in his wake as he was pushed back by his charging opponent. He creased his brow in a grimace, his veins popping from his neck and face.
"Grrrrr!!!" he growled, placing his right foot down as an anchor whilst using his left to push against the pressure. Before he knew it, he was slowly lifting the pincers of the Umbara scorpion of the ground. He groaned with great effort, as he lifted its claws, and then the pincers, before slowly its legs. The Umbara scorpion on seeing this tried to wriggle out of Iron Law's grasp, but before it could make another action, it was flung into the air and thrown crashing down on its back.
BANG!!!
Iron Law had flipped it on its back and sent it to the ground with such force; it created a crater so large that it set dust and stone debris into the air. The surrounding dilapidated buildings and vehicles crumbled and were flung into the air.
Aziz and Obi had to jump away from the aftershock of the explosion, covering their eyes from the dust that gushed around. They landed not too far from the source of the explosion, on the remaining high rise buildings. Iron Law other hand kept the Umbara scorpion pinned to the floor and proceeded to pass his golden quatheric energy into his hand. The energy made a humming noise, circulating and covering his palm like a stain of oil. Then with a mighty swing, he sent his fist into the face of the scorpion.
BANG! BANG!! BANG!!!
In a split second, he sent three successive punches, right through the protective carapace of its mouth region, followed by a vicious slap so hard it echoed. In the process, he jumped away from the scorpion, giving a wide berth, as if letting it catch it's breathe.
The Umbara scorpion screamed, as its blood and mouth carapace scattered into the air. Anger welled up in itself, but soon, a fear in its heart began to linger. The sense to dodge to its right burned in its open carapace, it almost stung. It instantly did a Quatheric burst, a skill used to throw enemies around in order to distract or deter them, and jumped to the side.
A swooshing sound of air been rent exploded, before the ground where it had dodged burst into energy, dust and debris. Obi had swung his blade downward, sending an arc of crimson quatheric energy towards the scorpion to sever it. He had missed by a hairs breadth, but a sly smile grew on his lips. The scorpion had seen its fair share of powerful individuals, but never had it seen any that made it this desperate. Just then, with the eyes it had left, it saw the smile on Obi's lips. This sent a chill downs its carapace, but before it could react…
Boom Boom Boom BOOOOM!!!
Aziz had planted C4's on that very spot it had jumped to prior to its dodge. The force of the explosion sent tremors through its outer exoskeleton, cracking its underbelly and sending purple blood gushing outwards as it took to the skies.
Obi had already jumped over to it in the air, bringing the full force of his Ezenmuo to bear on its upturned belly. He swung down and with a resounding THWACK! Sent it hurtling towards the ground.
"Amalinze, catch!" Obi roared aloud. Iron Law had seen this coming from the start. He got underneath where the scorpion would land. He set his feet on the ground, spread his arms wide and placed power into his upper and lower body. In that instant, as the scorpion was five feet away from him, he leapt slightly into the air and grasped at its spinal cavity near the centre of its back. Then with a deep growl he muttered.
"Lion style, Grasping Prey"
He instantly channeled his golden quatheric energy into his body, before changing the scorpion's trajectory ever so slightly. This caused it to land on its head instead of its back.
SCREEEEEE!!!
The scorpion screeched loudly before it was abruptly silenced by a resounding explosion. Dirt and debris flew up into the air in a plume of dust and smoke , before settling down. All that was left was Lawrence and a deep crater behind him. He grimaced slightly, before giving a grin afterwards, as he looked towards Obi and Aziz.
"It seems Benny was right, it turned tail the instant it got a chance"
What the scorpion had done was to use the slight crater it made, and its positioning, to drill a tunnel underground and escape. It wasn't something they didn't expect, but it still stunned them nonetheless.
'Aren't you a coward?' they thought to themselves.
Immediately, Aziz jolted and grabbed at his back pocket of his combat jeans and pulled out a walkie-talkie. He scrambled a signal before saying.
"Hey Benny, casala done burst (There's a problem) he done jakpa (It has escaped)". Static scrambled before a reply came a second later.
"Yayouu!" she affirmed, before the signal went off. He nodded to Lawrence who then sighed. He scratched the back of his head and looked down the hole the scorpion made.
"It's a pity I didn't get to shine… Oh well"