LogFAQs > #905256941

Then, as it saw the terrified company of humans trapped in the narrow corridor before it, the monster thought better. It thought to destroy them all. This creature had been bred with an instinct of hatred for humans, and it would kill everything that it thought that it could. And in that moment it thought it could destroy all of them. And so it would.

"Attack!" Punch commanded them, through blood streaked lips. His body was half submerged in the water, his face and hair all wet, blood streaming down his torso as he hung out of the mouth of the enemy. Then his lower body curled and he planted one of his feet against the bottom edge of its jaw. His other hand pulled back and clenched into a fist.

"Don't stop attacking! Split your backs if you must!" He hammered the enemy with his punch, crushing its snout with as much force as he could muster. As he continued to pummel it, he tried to spur the others into action. There was no way he could pull himself free. But Punch wouldn't lay down and die either. He was going to go down fighting. "You think this thing will let us go if we give up and run? Our only chance .... is to fight!"

It was something Matsuda had always known. He was someone who never learned his lesson. And, in this kind of moment, he'd always do the same thing. It was impossible for him to passively watch on and take the safe way out. He raised the gun and realized if he shot at its face again he might hit the Captain. And, beyond that, the last shot had seem to do nothing.

Instead, Matsuda turned the barrel of the gun upward and blasted away at the ceiling.

A shower of rocks and dirt came flying down from above and struck the creature in the eyes at that moment. Matsuda backed away while using this screen of debris as cover. It was better to let everyone get into the proper position so that they could all attack together. The best course of action was if-

Splash, splash, splash! It came barreling forward through the shallows. Punch had been discarded and trampled beneath it as it shot forward in a full barreled rushing motion. Gunslinger Kidd was there nearest for some reason. Perhaps he had been moving into a position to attack, but at that time all he could do was brace his body for the incoming tackle.

Kidd's shoulder broke as the creature slammed into him, and he found himself dragged beneath its hooves. He rolled to one side and the other, with no clear purpose or direction, only hoping to avoid having his skull split open. Though the water around him was swirling around in the chaos and he felt something bump against his side, Kidd somehow felt that his brain hadn't been smashed to pieces.

Punch grabbed onto the back leg of the monster with his one remaining good arm, even as it tried to charge past him. There was no way he had the strength to stop it or slow it down, but he hadn't stopped attacking. Hell, he didn't even have a weapon.

At that moment he had somehow risen to half of a standing position, though he was still being dragged forward by the enemy, and was totally unable to slow it down. As he looked past the enemy, Punch locked eyes with Owen. The other man had raised the axe above his head but his eyes were filled with tears as he saw the enemy charging at him.

Owen looked past the eyes of the monster and saw Captain Punch, there, staring back at him. Owen was quivering with fear. And in that moment he realized that Punch was trying to tell him something.

"You can't die here," Punch said. "As long as you survive, I'll live on inside of you. And you'll keep Tristan's memory alive as well. So... no matter what... you have to survive, okay?"
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
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