Calvin sighed as he watched the dragon continue it's flight through the air. Even after his attack, and 5 other Nomads wailing on him, he didn't seem to be slowing down. He even entered a death-roll in mid-air, followed by a jet boost. Unless they were in a video game all of a sudden, that meant he was hardly even bothered by their combined attacks. Calvin sighed as he sat down on the side of the roof, slapping his lap as he flapped his lips, exhaling slowly. He wasn't about to waste more ki on an attack that hardly scratched the giant dragon.
But sitting on the roof, he noticed a large mob of robots walking down the road, holding all sorts of looted goods in their hands. Not bags of money, or stolen jewels, but random things you'd see every day. TV's, furniture, clothing, perfume, and--
Holy Crap.
One of the robots was carrying a Guten Junge, which wasn't supposed to be released overseas for a year and a half! Calvin had to do something. He gave himself a gentle push off of the roof, landing on his feet. He rushed in front of the mob of robots, stalling them in their tracks as they all looked at him.
"Hey guys. I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and guess that none of you guys actually bought that stuff, and I know some of you guys are just holding things like soap and clothes, but uh... Yknow Lootings cause more damage than they let on. And if my guess is correct, that Dragon is just a distraction so you guys could sneak in here while anyone capable of stopping you is fighting tooth and nail against that Dragon, which... I'm going to guess hasn't actually caused that much damage, because it's meant to cover up you guys. But see, I'm no good at fighting giant mecha dragons, so..."
Calvin just noticed a good majority of the robots had dropped their spoils and raised guns at Calvin.
"Woops."
Almost the exact moment the Robots started firing, Calvin erected an Ice Barrier wide enough to cover himself from all the robots, so long as he crouched. While hidden, he used his ki to generate a handful of snowballs, which he started peeking over the barrier to throw right at the enemies visors. The ki in them made them freeze upon contact with the robots, causing them to either malfunction or burst and fall apart. But he only had 5 snowballs, and there were well over 50 in this crowd.
The unlikely duo were interrupted in their conversation by the sudden crowd that had formed over a spot to the leftside of the street.
"O diabo bateu de novo!" A man in a white shirt cried, clutching his head. The devil has struck again!
The small crowd, consisting of 8-12 people, had formed over 3 dead bodies. Two women and a man. In his hand was a knife, coated in glistening oil. Neither of the women appeared too harmed, but were deathly pale, even slightly shriveled. One of the women had a black hole in the middle of her neck, with dark veins jetting out from it. The man, on the other hand, had several slash marks across his body. The largest one being in his belly, which had been bleeding a material that looked like sparkling water.
As both Rosie and Sage closed in, SYM-04 looked down at them from a rooftop from behind.
They were different. They were some of the juicy ones he had fought back at the loud place that was attacked by Dead Things. One of them he recognized. The Tall Thing that could summon juice to attack SYM-04.
The one who had hurt him.
SYM-04 knew he was a predator. He could lunge in this moment, and take out either one of them. He hadn't seen the other Thing in battle, but he knew the Tall Thing was dangerous. Could summon juice to attack him, and even grow those flat things the Things that Flew had. He could lunge and take her out, feast upon it, and then attack the Other Thing while they were still unaware. He reared his back, preparing to lunge within an instant...
"Located Target. Pre--"
No. Jeremy was trying to come back. SYM-04 had just feasted.
"SHUT UP!"
SYM-04 had screamed out loud, clutching his head. Jeremy was cheating. He wasn't playing fair. SYM-04 knew if he feasted twice before the sky went dark, he could keep Jeremy away. He was cheating. A cheater.A Cheater.
A Cheater.
A Cheater.
A FILTHY CRAWLING CHEATER.
Unbeknownst to SYM-04, he just announced his presence with his scream, and now stood, distracted. The crowd gathered around the victims had screamed as they begun to ran.
Neither Rosie nor Sage needed to be a genius to know who had just showed up.
A brawl is surely brewing, Ivory thought. In fact, it had already started.
The Oni Emperor was squaring off against the violet-haired woman who dared to assault him, with a powerful ring of lightning dancing around them both. The Emperor's servants had begun assaulting the fighters and viewers alike. But that was beyond Ivory's concerns at the moment. Her task was to abduct an Oni, and that is what she came to do.
She watched the fight from a safe position, trying to pick a proper subject. Most of the Oni's were giants among men, wielding clubs taller than her. Yet still, the fighters managed to hold them off... Atleast until the Emperor stopped showboating. It was always the leader that tied an army together.
Despite their best efforts, Nomads were falling faster than the Oni's. Oni's were falling too, but they were usually too close to others of their kind, or deceased to the abilities of more violent Nomads. After what felt like half an hour, yet was merely a minute, she found her quarry.
An Oni with long white hair, and one of those ball-necklaces many of them wore. His body was yellow with several orange stripes, including around his lips. He held a double-sided club, and had been panting heavily. Without a word, Ricochet and Commando sprinted past Ivory, and towards their target. Ricochet was much more adept at dodging through the carnage. With most fighters being distracted, many of them only felt a brush of orange run behind them. As soon as she was within range, a fist had connected with the Oni's cheek. Commando, on the other hand, had to carefully maneuver around the tiny circles of the brawl, careful not to provoke anyone. Luckily, everyone seemed too concerned with the monstrous giants of legend threatening to club them to worry about a robotic-looking thing.
But once Ricochet's fist had connected with the giant Oni, Ivory realized her mistake.
Once she was within a closer range, his Ki was much more powerful than it had been at a distance. Mayhaps all the different ki signatures of combatants had scrambled hers? Either way, this Oni was stronger. It must've been one of their elites. But regardless, Ivory had to carry through with her assault. The rest of her Symbiotes, Tortuga and Powersaw, had hung back. She could only control so many of her minions at once. She didn't have Haunt in direct sight, but she knew he was lurking somewhere in the Stadium most likely.
Haunt had always slightly startled Ivory. Out of all the Symbiotes, Haunt was the only one she encountered that could slip her notice, and thus her control. She wasn't concerned for her own safety, fortunately. He might've been able to slip her control, but even if they could, none of the symbiotes would dare lay a finger on her. She wasn't worried about him drawing attention, either. Each of the Pioneers had quirks to their behavior. His was that unless he was ordered to, he never killed anyone that would be immediately noticed.
But she couldn't focus on him, he'd appear when he was needed. Right now, she had to focus on Ricochet, who had just been sent flying into the grip of Commando. The Oni they challenged roared, and stamped towards them, twirling his club over his head. Ricochet had quickly regained her composure, and lunged forth, ramming her shoulder right into his groin. The Oni fell to one knee, dropping his club to his side. Commando took this as an opportunity to lunge forward, and pummel the giant twelve times in his face, before the giant had gripped Commando by his fist, and swirled him in a circle around himself, before hurling him into the nearby wall. Ricochet leapt into the air, sticking a leg straight into the Oni's neck.
This strategy was one she used commonly in the training simulations; When faced with a slow yet powerful foe, she paired Ricochet and one of her more formidable symbiotes, typically Commando or Tortuga, together. When one was being attacked, the other would lunge in.
That strategy seemed to prove useless in this scenario, unfortunately. The powerful Oni had shrugged off nearly every attack they landed on him. Then Ivory realized why she couldn't detect his power properly before; He projected most of his ki into a barrier just around the skin of his body, rendering all incoming attacks equivalent to fly swatters. She needed to change her tactics. She commanded Powersaw to rush in, and Ricochet to retreat, simultaneously. Commando managed to evade & block the Oni's attacks, until Powersaw had rushed in. Commando had lunged to the side several times, forcing the Oni to turn his back... In that moment Powersaw leapt, and landed on the Oni's back, sticking his blades into key points in his back. The attacks penetrated the skin easily, rendering the Oni disabled for several seconds... And then for several hours.
Powersaw had turned his two other blades into saws, and dug them into the Oni's shoulders, cutting deep. The Oni roared in pain as his arms went limp. Powersaw straightened his legs and let go from his back, before sawing into the Oni's legs. In one swift movement, the Oni had been disabled. Ivory climbed atop Tortuga, and ran her minions towards the scene. Luckily, the Oni had been separated from the majority of the combat, meaning she didn't have to worry about an immediate retaliation swinging and knocking her out cold. She tucked her head and clung to Tortugas back like a baby koala, avoiding the brunt of damage that would've come from stray attacks, that unloaded themselves on Tortuga instead. He was damaged, but nothing that went below armor.
With all of her symbiotes--minus Haunt, wherever he lurked-- gathering around the crippled Oni, she only had one goal left on her mind.
She had to move fast; Standing around the fallen Oni made her a sore thumb to any curious Nomads, or vengeful Oni.
