Indigo Fire: The Naga Gatekeeper

Story by Venturing Viper on SoFurry

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                For a while, I've

had a concept of a first person shooter where you play as an augmented snake

that had arms and legs. Sort of like an elite warrior based on agility and some

strength. It had taken quite a few wacky mission types, varying in different

world settings. The protagonist would be named Indigo, a blue, biologically enhanced viper. (I think that is the second blue snake character, aside from my avatar.)

                The following is

a concept boss encounter. Wildly imagined in my perspective. I guess the character

is some sort of elite mercenary sold off to whatever mission requires someone

of unprecedented skill. More of an expendable person. [Ha ha, "an expendable", way

to phrase it.] That would explain why each of the missions are so unrelated to each other.

                Anyway, here it

goes.

Indigo Fire: The Naga Gatekeeper

                A

battalion of soldiers were sent to negotiate with a reclusive nation located in

a well-defended mountain range. There were only four entryways into the region,

each guarded by a gate-keeper. It had been years since any of the gate keepers

had been challenged, and legends declared that no one had passed them for a

time even before then.                The

soldiers approached the southern gateway. A cave sat at the base of one of the

foreshadowing mountains. No one knew much of what lurked inside, and every

single one of them was quite sure that it was something that could kill them

all.                They

stopped about a good hundred feet from the entrance of the cave. The blue snake

standing by the side of the squad leader, who was a formidable looking lizard.                "Alright",

said the commander, "We've made it. We're at the gateway."                Indigo

looked at the commander. He could see the nervousness lurking in his face. That

fear of the unknown was a nerve racking sensation. Indigo could feel it

himself. Just what were they all about to get into? He had ran blindly into

situations far too often, yet he still felt the adrenaline every time.                "Indigo,"

the armored commander turned, "You're going to take point. We don't know much

of what is hiding in those caves. But, from what information we could gather,

there is something guarding the passage. A guard, of sorts. From some ancient

writings, we discovered that one must challenge that guard and best them in

combat. But there is a catch." Indigo straightened up to listen. "We can't kill

them." Indigo nods, seems like a reasonable rule. "They can, however, kill us."

Indigo gave a frown of disapproval. That wasn't very fair. "Killing the

gatekeeper will be taken as an act of war, something that will definitely not

help in trying to negotiate a treaty. We need you to go in there and subdue the

gatekeeper so that we can pass through safely."                Indigo

took a breath. So they all just needed to overpower this gatekeeper, and they

could all go through. Sounded easy enough.                "We

know how you are when faced in a life-threatening situation, and we can't risk

you killing the gatekeeper. So I'll be needing you assault rifle." Indigo

handed over his weapon. "You'll be armed with a modified dual-weapon." Indigo

received a rather odd looking weapon, it was a little large for his liking, but

bearable. "Its primary fire is a shock blaster. It can fire rapid bursts of

electrolyzed pellets to stun enemies. Secondary is a concussion blast. You have

four electrolyte canisters charged and ready. From our scans of the cave, there

are some natural hydrostatic vents you can use to recharge those canisters.

Your concussion cannon is capable of three round burst fire, but it will take

some time to charge up each shot. Roughly five seconds, depending on how many

shots are fired at a time."                Indigo

glanced over the weapon, familiarizing himself with the weapon and getting a

good grip for it.                "Now

go get 'em, tiger." The commander slapped him on the back, causing him to take

his first step. He took a few more steps before realizing that no one else was

making a sound to follow him. He turned around and saw everyone staring at him.

Some looked skeptical, others seemed hopeful, but one things was for sure, they

all stood perfectly still.                "Wait.

Am I going in alone?" Indigo asked.                The

commander stepped toward him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Me and my men

have talked it over. We need as many of us as we can to get through that pass.

If we all go in at once, the odds of at least half of us dying are pretty much

guaranteed. The way we see it. If you don't make it out alive, then no one

will. Not without killing her."                "So,

I'm not going to have any back-up?"                "Yep.

We will monitor your vitality signal and await your report, that is, if you do

somehow manage to beat her."                "It's

a she?"                "That

is what we gathered from our records. Now, go get her."          The

commander shoved him again, forcing Indigo to accept his mission. Indigo walked

onward to the gloomy cavern. He was disappointed at having to go in alone, but,

what else was new? Almost every mission had him going in alone at some point,

but those were perfectly good reasons like being undercover. This, however, was

just plain stupid. Him going alone against some unknown threat in the middle of

a mysterious cavern. For all he knew, the creature was going to pounce on him

the darkness and the suicide mission would come to an end.                He

took one more glance at the squadron behind him. Cowards. Well, then again,

perhaps they all would die if they followed him into the cave. Maybe the

commander was right. Everyone else was incompetent compared to him. Or was that

just their way of boosting his ego to better his chances?                He

took another deep breath. Here goes nothing.              He

walked through the long, winding cave. It was unusually wide, as if a river had

been used to carve it out and then redirected after the path had been

completed. Maybe even the size was to accommodate the abnormally large guard.

Whatever the case was, Indigo felt that it would make it a bit easier to see

the gatekeeper.                As

he progressed, he found blue lamps that lit the cave. They looked like they

would be used in some sort of ritual, or maybe even a decoration of some sort. He

came to an area where the cave split in three directions- left, right, and

forward. The two side paths seemed to arc forward, eventually merging again at

some point. Indigo pressed onto the forward

path, readying his weapon. He kept his eyes about him, trying to find some hint

of what he was about to face.The cave arced downward into a sort

of ramp. He crouched through it, eager to see what lay behind that rocky

ceiling. He came to another intersection. This time, the forward path led to a

more expansive cavern."I sssmell an intruder..." a hissy

voice echoed through the caves.Indigo shuffled quietly to the wall."I know you're in here. There is no

hiding in this placcce..." the gatekeeper taunted.Indigo observed the chamber. Raised

plateaus adorned the four corners of the caverns. Waterfalls seeped out of the

walls and into shallow channels. Blue, electric torches hung symmetrically

across the room.This was no ordinary cave system. It

was an arena."Hmm... I sense only one odor in hear.

Are you alone? Poor thing. It was not wise for you to enter this place. You're

mine now."Indigo could hear the voice more

clearly, he determined the direction of the gatekeeper and aimed his rifle

towards a raised hole. Looked like there were more than four ways to enter this

room.He saw a head emerge from the

entryway. Then a body. Then a tail. It was giant snake. No, it was a naga, and

quite intimidating naga. She had the hood of a cobra, and the face of a viper.

He had expected a monster to be lurking in the caves. A dragon perhaps, but

this was still somewhere along those lines.She eased down to the center of the

room, making a show of intimidating the lone warrior. She was covered in a

shiny metal armor. On her back were three rather large weapons lined up and

ready to use. She was much more modernly armed than he expected. All she needed

was some fire breath, and Indigo would have ran for cover. Yet, despite all the

intimidating features, she seemed reasonable, not too reasonable, but

reasonable enough to not to attack him immediately."Ohhh, you are alone. And quite

smaller than I expected. Tell me, are you lost?" she asked, pulling her hand to

her chin in a feminine manner, playfully pondering his motives."No, I'm not lost. Just looking

around." He replied, trying not to look frightened."So you seek passage? Well, you seem

very mislead. One cannot pass through this way, unless they are deemed worthy

by the way's keeper. And, you see, I am she.""I kind of figured that out just

now.""So it seems. But did you know that

you have to best me in battle? Surely, you haven't come to challenge me all on

your lonesome, and with that sorry excuse for a weapon. That would be... quite a

foolish decision.""Well..." Indigo scratched his head in

embarrassment, "That is kind of why I'm here.""I guess you didn't expect to find a

two ton naga guarding the way did you? Tell you what. If you start running now,

I'll give you a ten second head start."Indigo readied himself, quickly

planning on what he was going to do once the gloves were off."You might want to make that three,"

he stated.He immediately strafed to her right

and fired a concussion blast. The force of the blast knocked her head just

enough to make her angry. The little stunt he'd just pulled would not go

unpunished. "You little..!" she exclaimed as she pulled out the gatling gun

that was strapped to her back. As Indigo bolted up a ledge, she began to fire.Indigo saw the weapon fire trailing

toward him. It was quite a ways off, but the naga did not care. With a weapon

like that, there was no need to really aim. She just needed to point it roughly

in the desired direction, and she was sure to hit something.The barrage of bullets sunk into the

wall, emitting sparks with every single impact. The place was specifically

designed to take all sorts of punishment, despite being ornately decorated for

an arena. Indigo could not let her aim reach him. He fired a stream of shock

pellets at her arm, causing her to lose grip on and cease fire."Aaaaagh!" she hissed from the

stinging pain. That little insect was going to die.Indigo hasted to make use of the

opening he made, charging up to her like any other pawn he'd faced. She

attempted to knock him away with her tail, but he rolled over her sweeping

strike. He then clambered up her back and buried the blaster in a gap of her

plating.He pulled the trigger and sent a

painful drill of electricity in her back. The naga hissed out in fury. The

plate of armor came loose from the electrical fire. Indigo peeled it off and

exposed soft spot. The naga grabbed him and threw him across the room. He still

held on to his weapon, knowing not to lose it during battle.He landed at the foot of the

parallel ledge. The naga switched weapons, opting for a more precise rail gun.

Indigo got up and saw her already aiming the lancer at him. Without hesitation,

he climbed up the ledge. A powerful stream of concentrated energy fired at the

area he stood only a moment ago. "Hold still you little worm!" the

naga shrieked."Why don't you try aiming, you

stupid snake!" shouts Indigo as he retreats into the surrounding corridors.The naga moved to cut him off. She

rounded a main entry way and readied her shot. Indigo slid into view, the naga

pulled the trigger. The slug sailed clean over the ducking snake. She missed. Indigo fired another concussion blast at her

face, causing her helmet to smack painfully against her nose. She instinctively

covered her face and grimaced. That weapon was terribly annoying for her to put

up with. Why didn't he have a regular weapon like any other warrior?Before she could recover, another

abrupt wave smashed into her hand, jerking her head back again. "Gahhh! Stop

doing that!" she hissed. She moved to search for her target, but he vanished. It

took her a moment to realize that the blue snake was once again on her back. She

turned her head and saw his tail wiggling in the air behind her, "Don't you

dare... AAAAAAAAAGH!!!"Indigo fired his shock blaster

between the shoulder plates. She fell on her stomach. The invasive sting only

infuriated her. She mustered all her rage from the irritating shocks and pushed

herself back up. She rammed against the side of the cave, throwing her attacker

off. She blindly swiped her tail and knocked the rude reptile into the center

arena once more. Lucky her.Indigo tumbled once more into the

center room. The sudden impact of metal plates shook his vision for a moment.

He wasted no time in getting back up. He readied his weapon and looked toward

the direction of his enemy. Once the blurry image came into focus, Indigo's jaw

dropped."Let's see you dodge this you

irritating eel!" she hissed, bearing on her shoulder a salvo rocket launcher.

She pulled the trigger and six rockets flared forward in a flurry of smoke and

fire. Indigo leaped out of the way. The rockets flew a few by and exploded,

sending several waves of heat and dust into the room.The gatekeeper readied a second

salvo. Knowing just where that blue freak was in the smoke."DIE!" She then fired another salvo into the room.

The rockets crashed near the left ledge, sending another cloud of dust and

debris into the air, replacing the fading smoke of the last barrage.She switched back to her gatling gun

and readied for him to leap out of the smoke. Just in case he managed to

survive the explosions, which he probably did, despite her being pretty

thorough with making sure he was dead. The dust fell back to the ground rather

swiftly, the moisture in the air must have been the cause of that.He was nowhere to be found. She

moved toward the center of the arena, trying to find where the little parasite

had gone. This was her arena, and no matter which way he came from, she was

prepared to gun him down.She sensed a faint pattering of feet

come from behind. She swerved her weapon in the direction of the noise and

immediately began spewing shots at the corridor. Indigo leaped over the stream,

he didn't expect her to react so quickly and had almost been caught in the

stream of bullets. He aimed his weapon on the rising gatling gun and fired a

concussion blast. The naga's primary weapon was forced downward, causing her to

lean forward from the cumbersome weight.Indigo placed his foot on the base

of the gatlign gun and kicked at her head. Her head jerked back. He spun

forward over her and yanked the helmet off of her head. He kicked her neck and

fell to the floor.She brought her weapon around to end

him, but a simultaneous fire from his dual-weapon shocked her hand, and caused

her to drop her gatling gun. She hissed in frustration. She

didn't need that cumbersome weapon to deal with her opponent. She would crush

his skull with her own hands.Indigo made an effort to climb on to

her back, but she quickly seized him by the neck and held him up. He fidgeted a

bit with her oversized palm. He couldn't breathe with her monstrous grip

sealing his airways. "I have you now you little piece of-" Indigo fired the blaster at her

head, her helmet was no longer there. It was an easy target."AAAAAAAGH!" she immediately let go

of him and shielded her face. The burst of electricity surged through her head,

burning her nose, numbing her mouth, ringing her eardrums, and stinging her

eyes. "AAAAAAGH! EEEERNH! EEEEERNH!" the

sudden shock to her bare face made all her senses buzz in excruciating pain.

She let go of her face, eyes scrunched tightly trying to avoid the sting of

opening them. She lashed around with her hands, blindly trying to find that

wretched snake. "Curse you, you filthy trash! I'll rip you in half. I'll tear

out your heart! I'll kill you! As soon as I get my hands on you, you will know-"Indigo was already climbing her back

while she yelled her threats. He found that shoulder plates were gone, but

there was still a layer of weaved material, guarding her skin. He clawed into

it and tore an opening. He then fixed his weapon upon the neck of his opponent

and let it rip.The oversized tayser fired directly

to her spine, sending unrestrained pulses of electricity throughout her body.

Her neck jolted up. Her eyes shook in their sockets. Her tongue flicked

uncontrollably.  Her arms splayed out in

a wiggly manner. And her long, slender body spasmed from her chest, all the way

to the tip of her tail.  "GuuuUUUuuuUUUuuuUUUuuuh!" was all

that could come out her mouth as she fell face-first to the floor. The gun

continued to fire for a good fifteen seconds. A weakening numbness overtook her

body. It electrified her until she could barely feel the pain anymore, but she

still had some fight left in her. She was not going to let him win.Indigo stopped his fire. His second

canister was depleted. He needed to reload. "Are you finished yet?" he asked,

sincerely wondering if she was going to give up."No, I will not surrender. Not to

some low-life, skinny little worm!" She brought her arms to bear herself up,

ignoring the trauma her shaky limbs were experiencing. Before she could reach

the point to retaliate, she felt another electric bolt sear into her neck.

"AAAAAAAAAAAUUUUU!" she squealed as she fell back to the floor. That was the

most lady-like thing to come out of her mouth throughout this whole ordeal."Give up already! I beat you fair

and square. If you keep trying to fight, I'm going to keep shocking you until

your nerves fry. And I'm sure you don't want to live the rest of your life like

a vegetable.The naga considered his words. As

much as it broke her callous heart to admit, there was no use in fighting

anymore. She had indeed been bested by as single snake. She had been disarmed

and humiliated. He muscles ached. Her nerves hurt. This was all a horrible dream. How

could such a little twerp like this beat her into submission? This was her

arena. She had all the advantages. She had the bigger size. She had the better

weaponry. She had the newest armor. And she had the experience in fighting in

this cave. She should not have lost. Perhaps, he was the better warrior.

Perhaps he was worthy to pass through. Or maybe he was just lucky. That had

to be it, he must be blessed with some guardian angel to help him out of every

situation. Ah, who was she kidding? She wasn't superstitious. He said it

himself. He beat her fair and square. Well, maybe not fair, the odds were

unfavorable toward him, but he still beat her."Ok," she said in a cracked voice,

"I give up. You win. You are worthy to pass through this place. You may enter

the forbidden kingdom."Indigo could feel her heartbreak.

She had never been beaten before. That must have taken her a lot of will just

to admit. He could feel her body suddenly go limp. It still shook here and

there from the shocks she received. But other than that, she was completely

shattered in both mind and spirit."I am so humiliated," she said, "I'm

not worthy to be a gatekeeper." She began to cry.Indigo couldn't just stand on her like

some heartless monster and watch her sob. He slid off of her and put a hand on

her bare shoulders. "Hey, don't say that. You fought valiantly. I haven't been

thrown around like that for a while. You are a great warrior. You know. The

moment I first saw you, I thought I was as good as dead. You nearly tore me to

shreds several times! In fact, I shouldn't have won. You gave me a head start!"The naga thumped her head on the

floor. Of course! She gave him the inch he needed to trample all over her!

Well, maybe not trample, but just enough of a chance so that he could win. She

underestimated him. It was such a simple mistake that cost her the fight. It

was a lesson she needed to learn. Actually, it was a reminder of what she had

been taught. This stranger must have been sent from above to put her in her

place. She was a gatekeeper. She needed to be alert and wary of danger. Not

arrogant and proud. It is by such people that kingdoms fall, and she must be better

than that if she were to keep the enemy from breaching her wall.She smiled at that thought. She then

shifter her eyes to see the soul of her opponent. He meant every word. He was

better than her in more ways than one. She picked herself up once more, nearly

failing in her attempt. The adrenaline was gone and she felt the strain of her

battle.Indigo backed away as he suddenly

felt quite small in comparison to her."No hard feelings right?" he asked."Oh, I'm still upset at you for

taking that head start.""I see. Well, I have some- friends

that need to pass through here. I was wondering if they could come with me.""What?""Well, the reason they sent me in

here was to get them access. They want to discuss a treaty with their nation

and yours.""You mean they sent you in here

alone?! The cowards! I will not be granting them entry if they are willing to

send one person all alone to die by my hand! They are not worthy.""Oh please, you're in no condition

to fight, and they mean no harm to anyone.""I can't allow strangers to enter

without them challenging me.""I challenged you on their behalf!

You must let them in, or I'm not going."The naga paused. That was such a

ridiculous threat, it would be less trouble for her if he simply walked away.

Or did he mean that he wasn't going to leave from belittling her until she

agreed? She did not want to argue anymore. She was exhausted."Ok, fine. They can pass. But if

they have weapons, they must leave them behind. I will not let them enter with

weapons of any kind. You know. I have a very

keen sense of smell, and I can tell if someone is trying to smuggle an

armament. Even if it's just a pocket knife.""Thank you, ma'am." Indigo smiles,

he switches to his radio transmitter "Commander. Come in commander!""Yes, Indigo. What is it? Don't tell

me you turned chicken.""I've managed to get your access to

the pass granted. You are free to enter in, under the condition that you leave

all weapons behind, including knives and sharp objects. The people are very

strict in regards to safety and they will not take lightly to anyone sneaking

in with so much as a pocket knife. I'll say again for clarification. You are

not to bring any weapons of any kind.""Well, hot tamales. You really beat

the gatekeeper?"The naga grimaced at the remark. Indigo

smirked, "Well, it was a close one. I think she let me win, actually. I'll see

you shortly."Indigo looked up at the naga and

found her smirking. The naga couldn't help it. Even this little viper held her

honor high, in spite of being defeated by him. Indigo spoke, "You should probably

make yourself presentable. You don't want to look like some mistress who took a

beating from her husband."She chuckled at the thought. She

looked herself over. Chunks of her armor were missing and a few dark spots

showed where exactly she had been tased. She really looked like she has been

beaten by a lover. In a way, she kind of felt like that was indeed the case. She picked up her helmet and placed

it on her head. She then went to retrieve the armor that had fallen off during

the fight. She came back, fully outfitted and just as intimidating as she first

appeared."How's this?" she asked Indigo as

his back was turned.He turned around casually, but then

jumped backward at the sight of her. She looked ready for a rematch. The rocket

launcher was mounted on her shoulder and pointed directly at him."gulp That's more like it..."