Sam and Cal
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Battle Ready Pep
🕑 Added 2022-10-19 14:02:05 +0000 UTCAn action shot of Pepper engaging some enemies in style with her Mag Lancer pistol and her explosive brews in hand. Tried some textures on this one that make it look more like a comic cover. Hope you all enjoy!
Pepper © Hi-Rez Studios
Story time!
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"Crap!" Sam cried out, staring up at the dark creature that loomed over him. The winged demon snarled and pinned his arms down to his sides, spreading its wings and lowering its oddly shaped head toward its prey. Sam tried to struggle, but his body was tired and his fear was mounting. He couldn't move at all. "Someone help me!" he screamed as his eyes slammed shut. The demon made an odd sound that almost sounded like a laugh, baring its sharp fangs and moving its head toward his neck. _"Damn it...! I knew... I knew I wasn't cut out for this."
A sharp whistling sound caught Sam's ear as well as the monster pinning him. It looked to the side only to catch a burning hot fireball to the face, the monster screaming in pain as it was immediately vaporized. Sam, realizing that the grip on him was now gone, snapped up to see a white furred goat standing over him.
"No time for laying around! You're supposed to be leading us, y'know," Asriel said, reaching down and offering her hand.
Sam grabbed her hand and let out a sigh of relief, getting to his feet and wiping himself off. "Hah... well, uh... yeah." He rubbed the back of his head, looking to Asriel and chuckling. "I _almost_ had the extraction point repaired and recharged. Until I got a visit from... that thing. Man, these simulations are pretty realistic..."
Asriel raised a brow. "You bet. A real demon would do something exactly like that in the field." The voluptuous boss monster held a black object in her hand which Sam immediately took notice of. She held it up to him. "Mission complete. We've got a black heart from the nest."
"Fantastic! Then all that's left to do is... fix the extraction point." Sam got down on the ground next to a circular metal platform that sparked with energy, but all of the lights on the outer edge of it weren't on. "And gather everyone back... where's Aster and Pepper?"
Looking up, Sam caught a glimpse of the cream-furred fox coming over the green hill, running as fast as he could. The vista would have been almost scenic what with the setting sun in the sky casting a pleasant orange hue over everything. That would have been, if not for the presence of the Blackwave hive, a huge mass of black tendrils and glowing purple light coming from within. The horrible, grotesque mass physically shuddered without its power source, which the guardian trainees had successfully stolen. The demons within weren't going to let this go without a fight however, as evidenced by the incubus demon that had just attacked Sam. If Aster was running like that, he figured that it wouldn't be long before they were surrounded.
"Is this extraction turned on!?" Aster called out, his body having lost much of its previously held fat due to magical casting. "They are coming! We need to leave!"
"Almost!" Sam called out. Beads of sweat were on his brow looking down at the extraction platforms mana generator which was still partially damaged. "I need... a little help over here fixing this last part. The platform isn't getting all of the power it needs to create the portal!"
Asriel stood protectively in front of the platform, rubbing her hands together in anticipation of more spell casting. When Aster got to her, she tilted her head toward Sam. "Go and help him. I'll hold them off." Right as Asriel said that however, her eyes widened in fear as something else started to come over the hill Aster had just come from. A huge wave of Blackwave demons were scrambling up the hill and howling with rage, flanked by three giant monsters easily more than triple Asriel's height. Their horrible teeth and glowing eyes instantly struck fear into her heart. "Nope," Asriel muttered, "I am _not_ holding that off..."
"S-Shit... this isn't... working!" Aster shouted, glancing up at the approaching horde of monsters and screaming in terror. "We're never gonna make it!" The sound of the monsters' feet trampling over the ground was getting nearer and nearer. It opened a pit in the stomachs of the gathered guardians and made them think that the mission was going to be over.
"Pepper... if you're still out there, we need you right now!" Sam broadcasted over the communications network, silently praying even further after he was done talking.
As if in reply, a blue blur shot over the head of the three giants, speeding through the air until it landed just a few feet in front of Asriel. "Hey, hey! Sorry I'm late," Pepper said, looking over her shoulder and winking playfully to her team. "Just needed to brew up something super special for this little army of darkness here..."
"Whatever you have planned, we need it right about now!" Sam called out. Despite the fear in his voice, he was actually relieved to see Pepper exuding so much confidence even in this situation. It made him, and indeed everyone else, feel a little safer.
The scouting demons of the approaching horde were getting close, the black and purple beasts growing and lunging toward the group with their claws out. Pepper, manifesting her Mag Lancer pistol, immediately fired two bolts of mana into the skulls of two demons with expert precision. "Hehe... glad we're fighting stupid creatures instead of dudes with guns like I'm used to. They'd be a lot harder to shoot!" As their bodies evaporated into nothing, Pepper used her free hand to remove a potion from in between her breasts. Asriel could see a skull and crossbones marking on the little label, as well as the glowing purple liquid within.
"Kaboom?" Asriel asked, allowing a smile.
"How about an earth-shattering kaboom~?" The monsters in the army, including the giants were uncomfortably close, their shadows casting over the four guardians. Pepper, gauging the distance until it was exactly right, tossed the potion directly at the demons with great force.
There was a white flash and an explosion that blinded and deafened everyone present. When the light faded and the ringing in their ears ceased, Aster, Sam, and Asriel looked up to see the green field covered in... little white fluffy creatures. They were small, fat little things with tall, pointy ears and twitchy pink noses.
It was enough that Aster and Sam sat up, looking out in awe over the scene. "Bunnies?" Aster asked as several of the small creatures bounded over towards the platform, harmlessly pawing at the dirt, at each other, or at Asriel and Pepper's feet.
"Isn't it glorious?" Pepper said, who spontaneously had sunglasses on. "I've been working on my mass polymorph formula and thought I would put it to the test! With just how big that angry horde was... I'd say it was the perfect testing ground, no?"
Sam smiled, his tail wagging as he realized that everything had worked out. "You gave us quite a scare waiting so long... but it worked! Great job, Pep."
"Thank you, thank you!" the soft fox said with a bow. "Now... let me help you boys get this extraction fixed so we can be ready for the buffet!" The fox jumped over to the panel and knelt down to help.
"Mm... I am pretty hungry," Aster said with a chuckle, patting his stomach underneath his mag-amp. "I used up nearly all of my body fat trying to escape the hive! I guess that lipomancy really does help with sustaining magic use for that long."
"Who knew that being fat could actually help you in battle..." Sam said, rubbing his chin. "Eh, whatever works, I suppose."
Asriel turned to face the others, holding a bundle of rabbits in her arms. "Sucks that this is a simulation or I'd keep some! Cute little floofers..." One of the rabbits in her arms was particularly large, one of the giant monsters. "I found a big one! I'm naming him... Mr. Snugglesworth!"
