Livin' Large: The Fortunate Ones

The Rabbit on the far left: Jack Ravage
The armadillo on the left: See below for details...
The armadillo on the right: Amanda Ironclad
The opossum on the far right: The Mississippi Queen

I also forgot to mention... the dragons are just weaker monsters under the influence of the Mississippi Queen. Those flying things above Amanda are what I call Mosquitos, attack drone quad copters. 

Note:  Amanda and Sydney do have very similar abilities, but the key differences between the two are that Amanda is more balanced between agility, accuracy, power, etc. while Sydney is more focused on brute force at the cost of speed.  Sydney’s abilities deliver more force and better range while Amanda’s deliver much better accuracy and speed.

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Sydney Armadillo Armstrong

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Theme song:  “Fortunate Son”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec0XKh…

AKA:  Big Daddy, Fat Ass, the Hulk, the Unmovable Object, the Mountain Mover

Species:  mutated nine banded armadillo

Standing Height:  99m (325ft)

Mass:  77240 metric tons

Organization:  Assistant leader to the Second Squadron, Fourth Platoon of the United States Army’s Domesticated Assault Weapon Giants (D.A.W.G.) program.

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Powers

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Built like a mountain- His natural armor is extremely tough, even by giant monster standards.   Many attacks that would normally be lethal to other monsters his size barley even faze him. He can take a nuke to the face and keep going like nothing happened.  The sharpest claws can barely even put a dent in his tough hide.  The humans also provided him with artificial armor to protect the areas his natural armor does not cover. The artificial armor is much weaker than his natural armor, but it is still very tough and much better than having no protection at all.

Long lasting endurance- He has some pretty serious endurance. He can keep fighting for several days straight without food, water, or sleep when needed. In combination with his seriously tough hide, he can just keep taking hits from the enemy until they are too tired to fight any more.

Sledge hammer hitter- To put it simply, he packs some very impressive strength.  He can send enemies flying with a single hit, and the blunt trauma alone is often enough to stop monsters much larger than him in just a couple blows.  If he really wants to, he can easily take another monster roughly his size and literally tear them in half.  Although, one of Sydney’s more preferred methods is to “hug” his opponents into submission.  He can and will squeeze them to the point that it breaks their body, and even possibly crushes his opponents to death.  He has even been known to flip entire mountains upside down.

Seismograph senses-  Sydney also a has a very sharp sense of vibration and sound. Much like a radar system; he can track the number, speed, and size of friends and foes from several miles away…even through solid objects.  In addition his sense is smell can also pick on individuals from long distances.  His eyesight is much better than a normal armadillo, but it is still only about as good as a human’s eyesight.

Earth bender- Using a combination of his vibration senses and a lot of brute force, he can manipulate the properties of the ground to his advantage by punching or stomping the Earth. This includes but is not limited to: swallowing enemies in massive sink holes, pulling out large columns of earth to use like clubs, sending large pieces of earth hurling towards enemies from seemly random directions, summoning large protective barriers from the ground, and of course the ability to tunnel with great ease.

Friend of humans- One of the many perks of being a monster in the army is that you very rarely have to fight alone.  He actually holds rank in the army and even receives assistance from a specialized squadron.  He can get human artillery, infantry, air and even support from other human friendly giant monsters.

 

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Weaknesses

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Big and Bulky- Although he has the strength to take down another monster in a couple blows, the problem for him is trying to land a direct hit. His movements are a bit slow and awkward, and it’s not too difficult to dodge most of his attacks.

Weak spots-   The artificial armor is significantly weaker than his natural armor and there are certain areas still exposed for mobility reasons.  His skin is pretty tough, but a well-aimed attack could do some serious damage.

Hates to kill-  His compassion for other living creatures friend or foe dose make it very stressful when he  is forced to fight to the death.  He’d prefer not to kill, but often his only options are to not fight… or smash his opponent’s head in with his bare hands.   It also doesn’t help given the fact that often seemingly minor decisions could potentially kill thousands of innocent lives.

Sinks like a stone- To put it simply, he can’t swim.  He can learn.  It’s just that he pretty much sinks straight to the bottom.  At best, he might be able to barley keep his head above water if he kicks like crazy.  He can walk on the bottom and jump up for air, but underwater is very far from an ideal situation for him.

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Personality

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  Gentle Giant- As mentioned before, at heart he is the peaceful type.  He’d rather not harm anyone friend or foe unless he really has to.  He typically tries to talk with his opponents before resorting to violence. Seeing the aftermath of his battles often puts a lot emotional stress on him.  Smashing open your enemy’s head with your bare hands can be stressful enough over time… but when you end up destroying thousands of people’s homes and lives in the process… and see the fear and hatred in their eyes as you pass by with blood soaked hands…  it can be too much to bear.

Lovable oaf- He might look big and scary, but really he’s just a big goofball.  He is normally very friendly to humans and most other monsters.  He’s not afraid to start a conversation about random nonsense, tell jokes, dance, or just be plain silly at times. Every now and then he might even play harmless pranks on some of his friends.  He understands there are times to be serious, but he also knows the only way to survive in this brutal world is to lighten up and take time to laugh every now and then.

Smarter than he looks-  He may act silly and stupid at times, but don’t let that fool you…  he’s actually very skilled at planning in stressful situations and making split second decisions.  He is considered to be roughly as intelligent as a human, maybe even more.  Many of his friends and enemies may be well above human intelligence in one way or another, but he has something they lack a time too many… common sense.

But seriously… don’t make him mad- There’s a good reason he is sometimes called the Hulk. No, he doesn’t turn green, wear super stretchy purple pants, or speak with horrible grammar.  Everyone has their limits, and Sydney is no exception to that.  If something or someone pushes his anger too far, like messing with the ones really close to him, he can and will go into a blind rage.  He pretty much becomes an unstoppable brute that will smash anything and anyone in his way until whatever made him so angry is nothing more than a bloody pulp buried six miles under.  Unfortunately for him, his rampages do have a tendency to harm innocent lives and the ones he cares about too.

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Back Story

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Like with many other giant monsters in Livin’ Large, this typical wild animal lived doing typical wild animal things.  For him that was digging in dirt, eating bugs, digging in dirt, sleeping in cozy little burrows, and digging in dirt.  However, one night he was struck by a car.  Normally this would be the end of the story for most armadillos, but not for this little fellow.

A short distance from the collision, the car pulled over.  The armadillo sat there on the side of the road in twitching pain.  From the vehicle emerged a family of three.  As they approached the injured creature, the mother and father argued over how the incident could have been avoided.  The child was a young girl roughly the age of six. She began to tear when she approached the bloody armadillo. The daughter was about to reach down to pet the suffering creature when suddenly her father pulled her arm back telling her not to touch it. The daughter began to cry and the mother began yelling at the father for his rough handling.  The family argued for several minutes over what to do with the armadillo.  The daughter pled with her mother, a veterinarian, and her father, a wildlife scientist, to try fixing the armadillo. The father was at first very reluctant to have this creature in their home, but couldn’t stand to see his daughter so upset.  They put the bloody animal in a blanket and gently placed it in the trunk of their car.

About another half hour passed when they finally reached their home. They came up the long drive way to a fairly large two story home resting on what must have been a forty acre property.  Next to the large home were a few steel and wood buildings.  One of the buildings housed many animals, or what the mother called her patients. Another building housed the equipment to maintain the ranch.  In the largest of the buildings were a clinic/ laboratory.  The mother took the creature in the blanket into the clinic where the two of them stayed for the rest of the night.

To the family’s surprise, the armadillo only suffered a few broken bones and cuts. While the armadillo recovered from its injuries, the family housed it in a pen connected to the barn. Every day the little girl brought food to the armadillo’s pen.  Against her parent’s wishes, she would often keep the bowl in her hand and get the armadillo to hobble over to her.  At first the armadillo was very reluctant to approach this strange creature, but within a couple weeks the armadillo was more then eager to greet her every time she called him by his new name… Sydney.

About two months passed when the time came to finally place Sydney back in the wild.  As much as the daughter pled with her parents, they insisted that Sydney is a wild animal and that’s where he belongs.  The father placed Sydney in a container and brought him to some brush near the edge of their property. He turned the container on its side and Sydney promptly scampered into the bushes.  A few days later, the family was shocked find a hole under one of the fences of the pen, and in the corner under the shade was their little armored one sleeping. The father once again, placed Sydney in a container and took him a little further away.  To their shock, they found him back in his pen just a week after evicting him.  The father tried two more times before he finally gave up.  To the daughter’s delight, the parents agreed that the very determined little critter could make his home on their property as long as he didn’t cause trouble for any of the other animals/ patients.

For a while, things seemed happy for the family.  The armadillo had free run on their property, but always came when the daughter called.  However things were not so peaceful outside of this 40 acre section of the world.  The parents could see more and more reports of horrible things happening around the planet… entire cities disappearing, and massive creatures running amok.

One night, they awoke to the sounds of very horrible moaning and banging from their barn.  The father, having dealt with the occasional rural problems such as coyotes and vandals, grabbed his shotgun ready to confront the problem.  He stepped outside, and what he saw next was beyond belief.  This strange, grotesque, insect-like creature nearly twice the size of a human was holding the shredded remains of what looked like of one of their client’s horses.  The creature caught a glimpse of Sydney in his pen, trying desperately to burrow to safety.  The creature easily tore through the mesh screen grasping the squirming armadillo in its claws.

The monster opened its horrid mouth, sinking a dagger like beak partially into the little armored one. Just then… a loud bang … the monster fell against the side of the barn. At that same instant, the bug like abomination threw the armadillo from its mouth, sending Sydney flying into the bushes. The creature, bleeding, stood back up and charged at the father.  He discharged two more shells and retreated back into the house. The mother and daughter shrieked as they watch from the window.  The creature limped and tried tearing open the door before four more shots finally silenced the creature.

The next morning... the family finally crept out from their home to find the bloody mess the creature left behind.  The mother and daughter, badly shaken from the incident, wanted to leave for the security of the city right away, however the father was unwilling to leave everything behind.  Eventually the authorities came after their extremely hectic night dealing with many similar calls. They ordered the family to relocate to the city while they did their investigation/clean up.  The police did see signs that the family had some sort of pet, but they assumed it ended up as one of the many shredded corpses scattered in the yard.  Sydney already slipped away into the wild brush hours before...

Several weeks passed by when the father was finally allowed return for his research. The mother and daughter refused to come back to that dangerous place ever again. He had arrived to find his home aged in neglect… a large tear in the door still remained from the incident.  He walked in only to hear some rustling coming from the kitchen. He grabbed a knife the wife left on a table after the incident and slowly crept towards the noise.  Before he could react or even see what it was, something leapt out and shoved him to the ground.  Naturally he tried stabbing whatever it was… however it proved useless as knife immediately snapped when it struck the beast’s armored skin.  After a few seconds of struggle, the father got a better glimpse of the animal.  An armadillo... nearly the size of a full grown human... he soon realized it wasn't attacking him, but merely licking his face much like a dog.

He hesitatingly and somewhat unknowingly asked, "Sydney?" Its ears perked...and stuttered, "dd... daddy?" Dr. Armstrong aka the father wore a face overloaded with too many emotions to express individually….

For several minutes, Dr. Armstrong sat there watching Sydney watch him.  Eventually Sydney got bored and went back to munching on the insects gathered around the rotting food in the kitchen.  In haste Dr. Armstrong walked to the clinic/lab in search for his notes on how animals could mutate in such strange ways.  To his dismay, he found his office in shambles… his computers were gone, and his notes were nowhere to be found in the mess.  Years of research stolen… All he had now was a family that refused to leave the city, a rotting home, and an armadillo…

Remembering about the armadillo, the father retrieved a toy from the remains Sydney’s old pen.  He called out to Sydney. The large armadillo quickly hobbled out of the house.  Dr. Armstrong braced himself, but this time the armadillo did not tackle him.  Instead he stopped, stood up, placed one paw on him, and tried reaching for the toy.  Dr. Armstrong took a couple steps back, and so did Sydney.  He slowly led him to the back of the lab clinic with a couple large pens normally used as a sort of waiting room for animals just before and after surgery.  Dr. Armstrong tossed the toy in one of the pens, Sydney quickly followed, and he locked the door behind Sydney. 

Just about every day the father would come in and do anything from giving him food and water, to poking him with some extremely large needles.  Many times he just sat there watching Sydney.  Over a period of a few weeks, the father observed some astounding things happening to Sydney. He was still growing, both physically and mentally at a high rate.  Within just a couple months, Sydney more than doubled in size and mentally developed enough to begin holding conversations with Dr. Armstrong.  Sydney observed   changes over time with the Dr. too.  This human was very distant at first… only coming in to give him some gruel or to poke him with more needles… but then over time it seemed like he was doing less because had to and more because he wanted to.  This human took time to talk with him, teach him certain things humans do and don’t do, and most of all… he started calling Sydney “Son.”

It soon became obvious that Sydney would no longer fit his cage.  It also became more and more obvious that he could no longer provide for Sydney on this property and keep him hidden away from the public.  The Father told no one including his wife and daughter out of fear what the public may do.  One night the doctor told Sydney to get on a trailer then put a large tarp over him.  A few hours later they stopped in a very remote area.  The father explained what was going on and that he had to make a new home in the wild.  Father set some ground rules such as: never interact with any other humans, never wander anywhere he could be spotted and cause panic, and do not harm anything or anyone unless absolutely necessary.  The father promised he would visit at least once every week.

A few months came and went… Dr. Armstrong still held his promise to visit his adopted “Son” while also observing quietly him from a distance too.  By now Sydney had grown into a large 300ft behemoth, dwarfing much of his surroundings.  He dug a nice burrow hidden by the surrounding mountains and made a healthy living mainly from insects from small to giant and some plants.  Even at his gargantuan size… he still had many would be predators to deal with. There were quite a few close calls, but the not so little armored one managed to survive. 

Then one week, Dr. Armstrong did not show up.  Sydney waited for a whole another week, but still no sign of him.  He waited and waited another week and still nothing…  Concerned what happened, Sydney disobeyed his father’s strict rules and ventured out to find him.  He checked his old home at the farm, but no sign of any humans…  Then an explosion in the distance caught his attention.  It was one of those cities his father told him about, a dwelling for humans. The armadillo ventured a bit closer… but something was wrong.  He could see what looked like massive steel and concrete structures falling, the smell burning meat, the sounds of screaming, and the vibrations of what must have been thousands running in every direction.  In the center of it all, was silhouette of a large dragon like creature.  A bright light shot from its mouth into the city quickly followed by more explosions.  Without thinking, Sydney dove into the concrete jungle.

Sydney’s senses were nearly over whelmed by all the new smells, sounds, sights, and textures of the city.  Massive cubes of concrete, glass, and steel obstructed his vison.  The cubes crumbled when put too much of his weight on them, but they also proved to be very easy to move out of his way.  Sydney did his best to avoid crushing the little ones he was trying to protect, but it proved too difficult to avoid stepping on of the many vehicles littering the roadways.

Chaos surrounded him. He could see few blocks away ill equipped armed forces trying to herd as many humans away from the dragon like beast as they hopelessly try to stop it.  The monster shot a blast of energy at the fleeing crowd...

One of the buildings suddenly collapses and a large figure appears in the dust. The blast strikes the armored titan's back sending fire blasting to the sides and shattering a couple of the nearby buildings to pieces.  Unfazed, he slowly turned to the other beast.  Even the terrifyingly large dragon was dwarfed by this new creature, merely half the height of Sydney.  Then the dragon like monster leapt at the armadillo.  Sydney tried to stop it, but the beast moved too quickly and bit into his arm.  Both Sydney and the dragon were surprised to find that its teeth could barely even puncture the skin. Sydney grabbed one of the creature's limbs crushing it with very little effort.  Then he threw the creature with enough force to smash clean through two buildings and halfway into a third.

Sydney walked up to the stunned monster buried in the rubble shaking the ground with each step… He raised the sledge hammer that was his fist then dropped it onto the monster's head... the impact was so great it could be felt several blocks away, a wave of earth threw several cars into the air, and many of the surrounding buildings collapsed.

 The streets were silent.  All that could be seen was the armadillo standing back on its hind legs reaching down and picking up the now headless beast from a fresh crater... Sydney turned towards the crowd.  He briefly waited for cheers, but they said nothing… some just stood there staring, others slowly backed away while they could.  The collective sense of fear sent chills down Sydney’s back.

Just when he about to speak, his ears perked to the sounds of buzzing in the distance. When he turned his head to see, he was instantly stuck by a small object… generating a massive explosion.  Quickly more of these small objects struck him and more explosions followed.  They stung his skin but left no open wounds.  Suddenly he felt an impact on his head like no other…. It sent his body flying back, smashing through a couple buildings.  His head ringing and disoriented, he looked to see what delivered such a punch.

What he saw shocked him. It was another Armadillo! This one appeared to be roughly two thirds his size, but clearly packed a wallop. It was of a similar build to him, although slightly more slender.  Strangely the front of this armadillo was covered in a metallic like armor that appeared to be bolted directly to its natural armor. Its sharp green eyes locked on the contrastingly deep yellow eyes of Sydney.  He managed to catch a brief scent of the other armadillo… it was a female.

Before he even had a chance to stand back up, she charged at Sydney ready to drop her fist much like he did to the dragon.  He managed to put his arm up just in time.  The impact rang through every bone of his body and into the ground… making both his arm and her hand go numb for a moment.  Suddenly she deviled a painful kick to his side, sending Sydney rolling onto another building.  He promptly stumbled back onto his feet.

He could see the female armadillo repositioning herself for another attack.  She charged at him again… this time trying to strike his stomach. She managed to get one in his arm blocking his stomach and two more into his side armor, but the blows showed little effect on Sydney this time.  Panicked and agitated, Sydney swung his mighty arm striking her right in the center and sending her stumbling backwards crashing through the sides of a couple buildings and an overpass.

Then they both swung at each other at the same time… their fists collided… the impact was so great, a visible shockwave could be seen shattering many of the surrounding windows, tearing up bits of pavement and buildings, and sending lighter objects flying. They both prepared to deliver another strike, however the female armadillo proved to be faster and struck Sydney in his stomach and chin.  Sydney rolled back then skidded on all fours briefly.

Immediately she tried approaching in again for another attack… this time side stepping, trying to weave in and out buildings to make it more difficult for him to counter attack.  Sydney’s ears perked, he could not see her, but he felt every step she took.  He could sense her heart beating… steadily going up through the battle.  He felt the vibrations rapidly coming towards him… acting fast, he Slammed his hands down hard into the ground…

Some of the buildings instantly collapsed and deep fractures shot through the pavement.  Something beyond belief happened… nearly an entire city block suddenly sprung up like a seesaw. The female armadillo barely had time to react and ran head on into the wall of stone and earth.  Sydney slammed the piece of city again and this time sent a column shooting though and smashing her backwards… before she could regain her composure, Sydney stomped up holding a large club of solid stone.  With one giant swing, the club stuck her head and exploded with such force that a dust cloud could be seen from miles around.  She was partially buried in the rubble, motionless.

Then the silence… Sydney just realized the severity of his actions. He looked around and saw block after block, flattened… homes, businesses, and lives destroyed.  He desperately looked for any signs of the ones he was trying to protect.  His stomach turned as he only found more of their crushed bodies in the ruins.

Just then, some signs of life… a few blocks away he heard the sounds of helicopters flying. He approached to find mob of humans in sheer panic.  He happened to look at two humans jumping on to a fully packed helicopter just seconds before it took off.  In all the chaos the helicopter accidently came very close to Sydney.  He caught a glimpse of the passengers, and who he saw shocked him down to the core.  It was the mother and daughter that took care of him.  Even in the brief second of eye contact, Sydney sensed the fear and hatred emulating from each human… including the ones he called a family.  He suddenly felt a hard pull on his arm.  It was the female armadillo again.  He only caught a brief glimpse of her before she delivered one heavy blow to the side of his face.  He immediately fell and blacked out. 

He awoke an unknown period of time later to find himself in a strange room.  It was cylindrical in shape and made of very dense and smooth concrete.  It was barley large enough in diameter for him to stretch his arms out and just barley long enough from him lay down stretched.  On one end were two concrete bowls built into the floor, just above the bowls were a couple small slots used to drop in water and some strange bits that smelled a lot like dog food.  Adjacent to those two was a more tower like bowl with a slightly bigger opening in the middle. This one smelled of waste.  Part of the floor composed of a large foam like pad, providing very minimal comfort.  On the other end of the “can” was a massive steel door.  The door was nearly solid except for a few tiny slots for ventilation and viewing into the chamber.  His head hurt and Sydney felt very drowsy… He noticed his arms legs and tail were tightly bounded by carbon fiber shackles connected together by some sort of solid metal mechanism.  He could tell from the vibrations smells that he certainly was not alone.

He could not tell how much time passed, but eventually his cell door slid open.  He was promptly greeted by whom else but the female armadillo.  Below her was a small entourage of humans. “It’s you!” Sydney stuttered.  He tried standing up… “SIT DOWN,” she commanded, ready to tackle him… “You will address me as Lieutenant Amanda Ironclad.  You will obey mine and any orders given to you by these humans, or we will kill you. Understand!?”  Sydney nodded.  She continued, “So you so much as move the wrong way or even breathe the wrong way and I won’t hesitate to snap your neck! Understand!!?”  Sydney strutted, “Y… yes Amanda…m… mam.”  She scowled…

Then one of the humans, dressed in more formal uniform, stepped up… “Thank you for the encouraging words Lt. Ironclad, but I’ll handle it from here.” She replied, “Yes, General…” He took a few more steps inside his cell, inspecting the shackled armadillo.  Then Sydney cried out, “I’m sorry… I’m sorry!  I didn’t mean to hurt those people! I… I just wanted to help…and all I did was…. I thought you were… and that creature was… I’m so sorry. Please, I… I want to help you all. I want to help the humans.  I’m sorry!” He begged, almost in tears.

The general began to interrogate Sydney. He willfully spilt every bit of information he could, trying to earn some form of forgiveness. Told everything from how and where he was raised to when he entered the city. When he asked what may have happened to his family, they didn’t answer.  The general abruptly called off the interrogation.  The general walked out and they closed the door, leaving Sydney in tears about his actions.

He sat in his cell for another undetermined amount of time.  Then something he never expected… The cell door opened.  It was Amanda with several humans and some sort of strange vehicle carrying a screwdriver like device.  They ordered him to kneel down and hold still.  The vehicle approached and inserted the device into a small opening in his shackles.  It buzzed and he felt the straps losing tension. After they removed the last of his shackles… Amanda sternly told him, “Sydney Armstrong, your first day basic training begins tomorrow at 04:00 sharp.  Get ready for one long ride through hell.” They closed the door before he even had a chance to ask.

To be continued…

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Wow, this was doozy!!! There are some pretty big screw ups, but I'm proud with how it came out.  One thing that keeps getting me is the scan quality... another are my screw ups with anatomy.  I'd like to go back and redo their designs at some point too.  It took me a long long time to do mainly because I ran into a few art blocks along the way and stuff like school and all that got in the way.... and I'm a lazy good for nothing...

Constructive criticism on how to improve future drawings would be greatly appreciated!