Young Writers Society

Annie

I shakily rose, trying my best to ignore the pain from my wounds as they protested against the movement.

"Renegade?" I asked, stunned when I saw him standing there, looking completely peaceful yet dangerous at the same time.

"Anneliese," he acknowledged my presence; I could tell he was slightly surprised to see me.

"Call me Annie, please," I corrected him. "What do you want to negotiate?"

Mishca

"A truce between your group and mine."

"And why would you offer that?" Garrick asked as I carefully took two small steps back and one to the right so I was out of view, behind the main bulk of the group.

"Did you not hear what I just told you?" Renegade demanded.

"Yes but you could run. You could be gone from here by now. Why do you need our help?" Garrick asked.

Renegade gave Garrick his full attention. "One needs allies in times of war," he said.

"What about all the other magic hating allies you're with?" Coden asked, anger in his voice.

Renegade glanced at him and said, "After my battle with the dragon my superior ordered his men to wait in my room to kill me. I do not know why I have been betrayed, but now that I think about it, it might have something to do with that mech I used earlier today."

"OK, so you need our help so you can get to safety," Garrick said. "But why should we help you? If we leave now we can avoid being caught by the enemy."

"But to do that you need to move the wounded as well," Renegade said, motioning toward Annie. "You know how much time that would take."

"What other choice do we have?" Garrick asked.

Renegade smiled. "Tell me, have you not wondered why the enemy thinks I'm still in that old base when I'm out here talking to you?" He continued before Garrick could answer. "These lands are riddled with underground tunnels the army used to transport supplies and weaponry. You won't have to worry about how slow you go if you use them. There is an entrance to it not far from here, but you will need my help to get into it."

Renegade held out his hand. "Help me get to a safe distance and I'll help you through the tunnels. What do you say?"

Garrick looked at his outstretched hand for a moment. "How can we know you won't betray us at the last minute?"

"You can't," Renegade told him, his hand still out. "But what choice do you have?"

Mishca

"We could go through the tunnels on our own," I spoke at last, drawing their attention to myself. Recognition flashed in Renegade's eyes or perhapsm it was merely interest?

"You can't. Only a Mech can get you through," Renegade replied.

"There's no choice then. We're in," Garrick decided, shaking Renegade's hand. I tried to hide my disapointment. I didn't feel in the slightest bit comfortable having a traitor join the group and I was very tempted to contact my superior straight away but at the risk of sabotaging my missio then, I decided against it. There would be time for that later or perhaps I could encourage one of the others to kill him for me.

"Lead the way," Garrick commanded.

Name-Mallory
age-14
race-Elf
gender-female
allence-Magic
description- dark haired, blue eyed, 5'6.
personality-she has a trick up her sleve at all times, sometimes (mostly) they backfire. she nver gives up and decided to join the war because she felt that she needed to do something that would help others.

(Welcome to the story! Hope you enjoy it!)

Annie

"Fine, lead the way," someone asked, but I couldn't tell who. Everything had blurred and swayed.

I shouldn't have moved... I groaned, sliding to my knees, leaning against the door frame. I'm still too weak...

Someone would have to carry me, I knew that much, or we wouldn't be traveling at all.

As Renegade's orange dot disappeared, the three red dots converged upon his estimated position as ordered.

"General, he's returned power the base," S-3 reported. "We're under attack from its defenses. Shall we continue searching?"

"This is S-2, I'm–"

As the communication cut, the red dot approaching the base from the north was replaced with a small rectangular box that read: Fallen.

Axel contemplated the situation. Clearly Renegade had found the tracker, though it was still in question whether he had just located it, or he had discovered it earlier and waited to remove it at the opportune time. Axel favored the later; surely Renegade would not reactivate the base's defenses if unaware he was being pursued. What made more sense was that Renegade had laid a trap.

A trap that had already claimed one of his units. The other units were faring better, but they too were damaged.

"S-3, R-9, retreat at once," Axel ordered.

Fortunately the pilots had not penetrated the base substantially, so the retreat was quick and the mechs received little damage.

Now Axel weighed his options: Renegade was either still blockaded in the base, or he had fled. It was difficult to say which, as both options had their pros and cons. Axel's brain worked deftly, sorting the advantages and disadvantages into a mental list:

He Stayed:
•Better defense:
-Advantageous position
-More supplies

He Fled:
•Permanent escape*
•Keep enemies guessing
•Gather allies*

*Dependent on motivation

Axel reasoned that Renegade’s motivation lay either with distancing himself as much from the army as possible, or – more likely, given his personality – that he would try and seek vengeance. In both cases, retreat had been the most plausible course of action, and further action would be fruitless until reinforcements arrived; he could accomplish little with two damaged mechs.

“Surround the compound once again and wait for further instruction.”

Something didn't feel right as Renegade and the others walked over to his mech. He stopped and strained his ears. The gunfire and explosions in the distance had stopped. They were on to him.

Renegade climbed up to the cockpit and pressed a button before jumping back down. Both HK-47's leg compartments opened to reveal the weapons he had taken from the base. He grabbed two guns and tossed them to Coden and Garrick. "The enemy knows I'm not at the base anymore, we need to move quickly and be cautious of enemy attack."

Coden and Garrick both looked at the weapons Renegade had given them with odd looks. "And... what exactly are these?" Coden asked.

"They're called guns." He grabbed another gun to show them how to use it. "You hold it like this, one hand under the barrel and one hand on the trigger. You pull the trigger in order to fire it."

"Why do we need guns when we can just use our magic?" Seara asked.

"Mech armour is very sturdy, it takes a lot to damage them. The bullets in these guns have explosive shells that can penetrate even the toughest of armour. I suggest using them until you run out of bullets, then you can use your magic. But don't shoot anything right now or you may compromise our-"

The gun in Coden's hand fired when he accidentally pulled the trigger. Luckily he was pointing it away from the group. The explosive bullet blasted a hole into the ground a few yards away. Dirt and torn up grass rained on the group.

Renegade's face lit up with rage. "You moron! You just gave away our position!"

"I didn't mean-"

"There's no time!" Renegade shouted, tossing guns to the rest of the able bodied magic users. "The enemy is about eight or nine miles from here. If we hurry we will have about a two minute head start on them." He climbed into the cockpit of his mech and closed the leg compartments. "The entrance to the tunnel is due east from here. Follow the old forest path until you find to tunnel, I'll be right behind you!" Before anyone could argue, Renegade closed the cockpit hatch. The machine lumbered behind the group as they raced to get into the forest. Seara and Mishca were carrying Annie. Renegade kept his eyes glued to his radar, waiting for the enemies to make their move.

Mishca

I eyed the guns hopefully but burdened with the weight of Annie at one side, I decided against demanding one. Besides, I could not afford to seem eager to touch the technology that the others evidently feared and hated.

"I can see the tunnel," Garrick panted as he led the way down the forest path.

"Good," I mumbled, pulling Annie's arm tighter around my shoulder so that her feet didn't drag along the ground. On her other side, Seara copied the action and upon reaching the tunnel, we all hurried inside. I turned at the last minute to look for Renegade and as I did, Garrick pushed his way back through and reached up to seal the entrance. Automatically my hand snaked out and caught his wrist. He blinked and stared at me.

"We owe him," I said in a soft, firm voice. He shook my hand away and stalked back to the front of the group, leading the way along the tunnel. Annie and Saera both watched me cautiously. Bad move.

Everyone had made it inside the tunnel by the time Renegade lumbered up to the entrance. Then two red dots appeared on the radar screen and they were coming in fast. Four smaller yellow dots came from one of the red ones and headed toward Renegade. Missiles.

Renegade turned to see the missiles heading toward him from above the trees. He opened his mech's chest and fired four of his own missiles for interception. Three of the missiles succeeded with the interception but one missed. The stray missile rocketed toward HK-47. Renegade made his mech crouch and lift up its left arm in a sort of shielding motion. The missile hit the arm with a mighty impact. If Renegade's mech had been standing when the missile hit... well, it wouldn't have been standing now.

The missile hadn't caused any serious damage to the arm, nothing some welding and a new paint job couldn't fix. The two red dots were converging on his position from both sides. Renegade had suspected the missiles to be a diversion, luckily it was one he was familiar with.

His radar told him one of the enemies were approaching him from the side. He lifted his mech's machine gun to the right and began firing into the trees. Among the sound of wood and earth being torn asunder he could hear the bullets hitting something made of metal. The enemy mech jumped out of the trees and charge Renegade's mech, despite all the bullets he was firing into the machine. The enemy's energy sword flared to life on its left arm as it lunged toward HK-47.

With expert piloting and lightning quick reflexes, Renegade dropped his mech's machine gun and ducked under the blade just as the enemy swung at him. He grabbed the enemy mech by its mid-section and, using the enemy's momentum, lifted it over his head. The mech landed on its back. Renegade activated HK-47's energy blade and plunged it into the enemy mech.

Renegade glanced at the radar to see the second mech was right behind him. With one powerful swing he spun his mech around and slashed his sword through the enemy's chest. The mech split into two along the line of the cut before exploding.

As Renegade retrieved his mech's gun from the ground he took a look at the radar. There were no more enemies to be found. He pressed a few buttons and increased the radar's signal range. What he saw made his heart sink. A squadron of almost thirty mechs were 150 miles away and heading toward Renegade's position.

He ran into the tunnel and closed the entrance. He used his mech's energy blade to seal the entrance by fusing the doors shut, just like he had with the entrance from the military base. They were safe, for now...

Annie

I staggered along, supported on either side by Mischa and Saera. Nonetheless, I noticed the young elfin girl fall in behind us; she had slipped in before Renegade had sealed the exit.

"Who are you?" I asked politely, making everyone stop.

The girl was about to speak when Renegade interrupted them. "Introductions later, right now we have to move." He spoke through his mech's intercom system so they could all hear him without having to get out of the machine.

"I thought you said it was safe in these tunnels," Garrick said.

"I said it was safer than walking around in the open with enemy mechs approaching," he said. "I sealed the door, so that should buy us some time. But the enemy is still coming."

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Coden asked. "With Annie wounded we can't move very fast."

Renegade thought for a minute. He had an idea. "Which direction is your capitol city from here?" he asked.

"North east," Coden said. "Why?"

Renegade looked up and down the tunnel until he saw an old train with two flatbed cars. It was on one of the tracks that led down the north east tunnel. He pointed to it. "There. We'll use that train to get to your city."

Garrick gave Renegade a condescending look. "That old thing? After all the years it's been rusting down here do you even think it'll still work?"

"Not by itself," Renegade told him. "Everyone get into the locomotive." Everyone did what he said and climbed into the front of the train. Renegade climbed onto the flatbeds with his mech. The machine was big enough to take up two cars. He wrapped his mech's hands around the side of the first flatbed and kept its knees steady on the other.

He turned on his mech's booster systems. The jets on its back opened up and flared to life. The train lurched forward slightly when they did. Renegade kept increasing the power a little more until the train was moving. Pretty soon the train was speeding down the tracks deep into the tunnels.

(Come on, guys. Keep posting! This is a cool storybook, don't let it die.)

(I'm still here, Dynamo. Where's everyone else??????

Oh yeah. Merry Christmas!)