CRASH!
A giant rampaging beast charges into a building. The beast, which is 20 metres tall and has an appearance similar to a boar but green with trees and flora sprouting from it, shakes its body around.
"Crap!"
The shout came from the man standing a top the beast. The man is wielding 2 revolver-like pistols while trying to balance himself, occasionally shooting mana bullets at the uncontrollable platform beneath him. He is wearing a dark brown trench coat over light metallic armour, a wide brimmed hat hides the top of his face only showing his roughly trimmed beard.
"Don't worry, Ark!"
A muscled giant with tanned skin and short dark blue hair, wearing a brown short sleeve shirt and black cargo trousers with heavy plate armour that covers his chest, shoulders and knees, calls out to the man riding the beast from the street nearby. The giant is kneeling down, still being taller than the young man next to him, while holding a mana stone powered portable cannon.
"Is it ready Harron?" the giant asks Harron, the neatly outfitted, spectacled young man with silver hair next to him.
"Yes, Captain Tholl, sir!" Harron replies enthusiastically with a hint of timidness, while adjusting the glasses on his face.
"Ha ha! That's the spirit!"
Captain Tholl then pulls the trigger and the cannon fires a large ball of energy at the beast.
Seeing this, Ark, the man riding the beast, quickly holsters his guns before the energy ball hits the beast and explodes, releasing a cloud of smoke. The shockwave shakes through the beast and sends Ark into the air, his hat flies off revealing his dark green eyes and slicked back brown hair that goes down to his neck.
Ark flips through the air and pulls out his mana knife which when imbued with mana, starts vibrating at high speeds. Falling to the ground, he stabs his knife into the beast's leg with his left hand and plucks his hat out of the air with his other hand before putting it back on his head while grinning.
He slides down the leg of the beast, his knife slicing through its skin to lessen the velocity. Before reaching the ground he pushes off the beast and leaps to the street.
The beast topples over and crushes a small building, creating a massive cloud of dust.
Ark jogs over to Captain Tholl and Harron who are disassembling the portable cannon.
"I almost died! Who's crazy idea was it that got me riding that beast!" Ark exclaims, exasperated.
The other 2 stop and stare at him before saying in unison "Yours!"
Ark has a confused look on his face and turns his head to the side while reminiscing.
******
A few hours earlier…
"So after Elsa has lured the terraboar into this crowded part of the abandoned city, I will jump onto its back while you two ready the cannon!" Ark says enthusiastically with a confident smile on his face.
Looking around the dark cabin of the Chimera, slightly illuminated by the light blue glow of the illusion table in the centre. Standing around the tables are 3 men; Ark, Tholl and Harron, and a black haired, tall, slender woman named Elsa.
Tholl, Harron and Elsa stare unenthused at Ark who is still smiling.
"You're an idiot." Elsa replies, breaking the silence.
"That wasn't a no!" Ark says joyfully while still smiling.
Elsa sighs, "Well it's not like it matters, and you're skilled enough to not die doing something that stupid. So sure, why not!" she says mockingly.
Ark looks at the other crew members who shrug acceptingly.
******
In the present…
"Ha, oh yeah that did happen…" Ark stops his reminiscing and begins to smile again.
"Crazy fool." Elsa says, suddenly appearing as if out of nowhere, she has her black hair tied back in a pony tail and is wearing a flexible black outfit with a short sword attached behind her waist.
Ark and Harron jump, surprised.
"Damn ninjas, I don't think I'll ever get used to that." Ark calms himself as Tholl starts laughing his hearty laugh.
"Ha ha ha! Come on party, enough dilly dallying, let's load this terraboar into the Chimera's storage." Tholl says while picking up the heavy portable cannon case with one arm.
******
Hovering above the ground is a medium sized spaceship, that looks to be an amalgamation of various different ship types with an octagonal shape split into 3 parts: a sharp, thin front with a round sticking out cockpit, a thicker middle section with 2 adjustable wings on both sides, and a smooth back with a long ramp, 2 large cylindrical thrusters and an extendable boarding capsule between them, the ship is covered in various weapons from cannons to machine guns and it has 6 VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) thrusters attached to the hull which act as landing struts. The ship slowly flies toward the beast corpse. Landing with its rear to the boar, the large ramp descends and Tholl walks down, carrying a cylindrical machine with a wide tube connecting it to the ship.
Tholl approaches the beast before attaching the device to the corpse.
"Ark, I've attached the storage tube, begin extraction." Tholl says into his earpiece.
Ark is sitting in the cockpit, looking at a computer console that is positioned to the side of the centre captain's seat and steering console. He presses some buttons on his console before replying to the Captain.
"Spacial storage extraction beginning."
The device attached to the beast begins to extend its supports to the ground before whirring to life. The terraboar starts to slowly shrink and contort as it is sucked into the tube.
After about 10 minutes, the beast has now completely disappeared and the storage device deactivates itself. Tholl picks it up and it retracts the supports. He then carries it into the ship and the ramp goes back up behind him.
Captain Tholl walks into the cockpit where the rest of the crew are already at their consoles and preparing for takeoff. He sits in the centre captain's seat and presses the ignition on the console before grabbing the 2 flight sticks. The Chimera's engine heats up, the repulser boosters on the side start emitting powerful condensed 'mana fire', then Tholl pulls back slightly on the flight sticks before the ship slowly floats up. After that, Tholl pulls the triggers on the flight sticks, then the repulsors on the back quickly fire up and the ship accelerates forward and up. The acceleration continues until the Chimera levels out a few kilometres above the sprawling light grey desert.
As they fly through the white, cloudless sky, the abandoned city they were in quickly disappears behind them and the sun that was previously right above them, soon sets behind them.
Less than an hour later, under the cover of night, they approach a large, brightly lit city. On the outskirts of the city, multi-coloured neon lights span a wide area, while spaceships, that look like fireflies from a distance, are flying in queues up to space where a gigantic ring is positioned, complemented by the clear and beautiful starry sky.
As you look further into the circular city, the buildings get taller and the lights are a more fluorescent white. In the centre, tall skyscrapers tower over the land.
The Chimera flies toward the edge of one sector of the city which is more built up with a tall, bulky tower in the middle that has a large sign that reads, in bright lights, 'Guild'.
Near the city edge, they fly to an area where several deep and wide square pits are positioned in an orderly fashion with hundreds of ships flying around. The ship starts to descend into one, embedded into the walls are holes which are either empty or have other spaceships parked inside. They quickly find an empty spot and park neatly inside.
As they exit the ship, Tholl tells Harron to sort the Chimera's fuel and maintenance before he heads to a console in the wall of the parking box. Elsa, still in the ship, opens a door labelled 'Storage' and walks over to a touchscreen. On the screen, she scrolls through many different items of various shapes and sizes before finding the terraboar corpse, she then presses on it and presses the 'transfer to portable' option. A loading bar appears on the screen and after a few seconds, a light on a black cube next to the screen glows blue. After retrieving the black cube, she joins the others outside.
"Alright team, we're splitting up here. Me and Elsa will head to the guild." Tholl explained,
"Ark, pick up the supplies, after that you're free to do whatever." Ark nods in reply.
"That's the same with you, Harron, after you're done with the refuel." he called out to Harron who gave a slight nod while holding what looks to be a fuel nozzle.
"And Ark, don't go causing trouble." Elsa scolded as Ark smiled a guilty smile and tried to cover his face with his hat.
The three then walk to the elevator which takes them to a busy subway station where they part ways. Tholl and Elsa go to the train headed to the Adventurer's Guild and Ark boards the train bound for the nearest market.