[IC] HCL 2: Twisted tinkers' triumph

[Akihisa Yoshii]

Desmond quickly slides under the giant fist, and almost instinctively rams his body into the large creature, being enough to knock it away from him and, in addition, the two people that he had been aiming for. Kevin blinked, still processing just what was going on. After his counterstrike Desmond blinked as well, his instincts giving way to him being equally confused on what was happening. "Who in the hell are you?" He asks Torguo.

[thewizardguy]

supertinyking said
Minx's eyes widened, and she quickly tried to force some sort of rune onto Toguro's skin, a faint dark mist forming into the rune. She tries to strike the spot, with an open palm, glowing bright pink, with pink colored lighting, as if she thinks she can break him apart with this strike."Neither am I..." She says, with a partial smile, thinking this her ace in the hole. Darkside seems a bit shocked, as he looks about, as if expecting an attack.

Smiling, Toguro stops his fist. In his line of work, he did a lot of fighting. That was because his line of work WAS fighting. And he was a hard worker indeed. After all, to him, work and play were one and the same. But, when fighting a large amount of people in this world, there's a few things you tend to learn. Mark it down to practical experience. First, don't rely on a single method of attack, there's someone out there who's immune to it. Secondly, good guys tend to come in swarms, something about teamwork and ponies that makes them stick together harder than glue. Thirdly..... everyone has their own little ace up their sleeves. And it's best to kill them before they manage to get their tricks off.

As the mark was drawn, Toguro already knew that he was the target of some form of special attack, or defensive maneuver. Perhaps it was triggered by him punching, or, more likely, it was her attack that would trigger it. While he could probably have moved his fist fast enough to kill her before she managed to activate her attack, there was no way to guarantee that wasn't exactly what she wanted. In these situations, the best solution wasn't the obvious one. In fact, the very fact that it was obvious made it dangerous, as your opponent could have planned for it. So Toguro needed an attack that would be unexpected, and he needed an attack that was fast. Preferrably so fast his opponent wouldn't be able to react.

Of course, there was a fourth rule to fighting an opponent with unknown powers. Always, ALWAYS, keep a close eye on the environment, on every single thing that goes on around you. Experience helped with this one.

EDIT:
At the last moment, two figures were transported into the area, already ready to fight, one of them even going so far as to attampt to strike him, although even at this level he could absorb the impact fairly easily. There were new factors to take into acount, and Toguro didn't hesitate in releasing the vacuum shell he had created around the fight. The difference in positive and negative charge inside and outside the bubble would automatically resolve, at near the speed of light, as the massive amount of energy was transported. Had air been a good conductor, this wouldn't even had been noticeable. However, it was not, and the resulting 'friction' created enough heat to burn as hot as any burst of flame could. Announced with thundrous applause, the entire scene was engulfed in ball lightning.

At the speed of light, the area was superheated, as Ball Lightning materialized around the pair of combatants. The thunderclap, iconic of the superheating of air particles, seemed almost simultaneous with the bright flash of light at this short distance. It was a wave of heat, the ground and combatants scorched, and yet, even as the smoke cleared, Toguro simply stood. He hadn't moved from his position, hadn't done anything unnecesary. Minx, however, returned to her human form, was not so lucky. Struck by ball lightning that had partially originated from inside her body, her flesh was roasted, and her heart had stopped. Her muscles hadn't even had time to spasm, as would have been typical of a more prolonged exposure. Instead, she simply dropped to the ground. Force powers or no, she would experience brain death in mere seconds.

Looking up for a moment, Toguro held up one hand, as if signifying the end of the fight. "That was a good fight. 5, let's get out of here. The boss is done here by now, he's going to need us at the next seal." Nodding to Minx, who had fallen to the ground, her skin now charred a deep black, he walked away. "If she lives, tell her to come fight me some other time. That was the most fun I've had in a while. If not..... well, I'm sure one of you guys can try to avenge her for me, right? If you do, come at me with all you got, and go out with a bang." Toguro stuck one hand seemingly inside his chest, as the many small orbs that had once been a part of him flew towards him, attaching themselves to him once more. From inside his chest cavity he retrieved what seemed to be a large gem, and as he held it forwards, a portal opened. "I have a feeling we're going to meet up real soon. We'll have a good time." With this, he walked through the portal, which closed behind him.

[thewizardguy]

Even as Mithias skillfully wove around the attack, which, to a trained swordfighter for a couple of hundred years, had been simply disgraceful. A quick riposte had struck the clone's wing, and, surprisingly, it had come apart as easily as slicing through butter. Presumably, the individual nanobots were moving out of the way so as to minimize the force of the impact. However, the effect was quite noticeable, as the clumsy creature nearly tumbled over in midair. After a second or so, the wing had been rebuilt, and it was once more balanced. However, this was almost surreally easy, especially seeing the two opponents this creature had only moments before destroyed. It was quite clear that this being had no experience with this form of combat.

The silence was broken by a shout from below, as Teo rocketed up, his hammer flashing through the air as it smashed into 5's side. It's torso was obliterated, scattering into a billion pieces as the hammer tore through it, powered by not only Teo's physical strength, but the upwards thrust of his personal jet pack. Of course, this intervention from the man who was, still, dressed like a giant banana, did nothing to make the scene seem less surreal. In fact, Mithias had to remind himself that he was not high, and this banana man with the hammer was just a part of this brand new experience.

However, from there, things went downhill. This time, it took less than a second for the the nanites to resume their original shape. And instead of forming into the torso that had been smashed, now the creature's upper and lower body were connected solely by a thin metal pipe, whereas the rest had formed into a large four-fingered metal claw, attached to a long metal chain. This in itself would not be that big a problem, were it not for the fact that the claw was firmly attached around Teo's face, a steady hum filling the air as Mithias realized that Teo wasn't moving.

To Teo, the world had soon dissolved. One moment,he had been rushing to fight one of the two flying vampires with swords (and apparently hit the evil one), and the next, he was in a bed. He was feeling quite tired, and his body ached like crazy, but it wasn't the ache of a burning wound. He felt.... weary. It hurt just keeping his eyes open, and as he breathed, he could hear a faint rattling from his ribcage. Looking at his hands, they were wrinkled, the skin papery dry. He could see the veins running under his skin, as if it were transparent, although his site seemed to be fading. The good thing was that the pain was fading away. He could hear someone saying something, a language he didn't understand, but it was alright. Everything was slowly fading to black.... but somehow, he felt at peace.

In these moments, he felt a strange sense of invasion. It was disturbing, humiliating. As if he were standing naked before an audience, but somehow more intimate. His very memories, his knowledge, his thoughts, his opinions, his very being, penetrated. He could feel something akin to a tentacle rumaging through his brain, and yet, old and frail, was powerless to stop it. A twisting, nearly painful violation of his mind, akin to mental rape.

And then he was gone.

As the claw released Teo, he plummeted down to the Earth, spiraling due to the remaining energy in his now steerless jet pack. His heart was beating, his subconscious causing him to breathe, his mind completely intact. And yet, he was lost, experiencing his own death over and over, a Hell forged from the memories of a dying man, a torment of events doomed to repeat themselves for eternity. Like a falling meteor, he crashed into the ground below,a bright, cartoonish explosion marking the landing site as several of his more unstable gadgets exploded violently. AS was the nature of a mad scientist.

No longer was Mithias staring into a mirror of himself. The nanobots, once more, had rearranged their physical form, and it was instantly clear who this was. Wielding a large hammer, the top of which was a bright red material, it moved into fighting position. His left hand was at his belt, ready to pull out whatever invention he felt was appropriate for the situation, his visor having slid down over his eyes. A cocky smile illuminated the young face, and it was clear that this recreation was completely different from the one Mithias had faced before. The posture, the grin, the movements of the hammer as it wove through the air. Nearly unconsciously, Mithias would have solidified his guard, old habits making him check his footwork, despite the ground being over a hundred meters down. As the clone spoke, it was Teo's voice that was heard. "Looks like I'm going to have to solve this with violence. It's Hammertime!"

[supertinyking]

As Minx fell to the ground, Charred and cooked though and though, something may of struck Toguro as off...she was smiling, as was Darkside. Both a very creepy smile. Very, very creepy....and soon the world around him begins to change, to a grassy field, the foliage covered in a fresh dew. To everyone else, they could see the seal she had placed on him seeping with darkness, as Darkside helps put Minx's charred hand around Toguro's ankle, and blocked off the portal via putting a litteral stone wall between it and Toguro. As this happened, her body begins to sap Toguro's power, healing itself, but it's an automated process, helped by Darkside's hand. He feeds some power into her at first, a jolt, to keep the body from totally dying, but not enough to totally saturate it. However, darkside seems to think for a moment, before he puts the wall down, and breaks the seal. "Leave, Toguro. She'll be back, and she'll seek vengance." Darkside says, before portalling away with Minx's still semi-charred corpse.

[ShadowVentus]

Michael had been down and out for quite some time. Fortunately, he had just now awakened, arising from a pile of nearby rubble, head bleeding and vision slightly clouded. "What the hell happened...?" He asked himself as he tries make sense of the blurred mess laying before him. The last thing the tactician could remember was a monster of a man, sending him flying with a single punch that hit like a freight train. His body aching and feeling drained, Michael dared not advance until he could form some sort of strategy that would help him out the mess he had gotten himself into.

[Teoinsanity]

thewizardguy said
Even as Mithias skillfully wove around the attack, which, to a trained swordfighter for a couple of hundred years, had been simply disgraceful. A quick riposte had struck the clone's wing, and, surprisingly, it had come apart as easily as slicing through butter. Presumably, the individual nanobots were moving out of the way so as to minimize the force of the impact. However, the effect was quite noticeable, as the clumsy creature nearly tumbled over in midair. After a second or so, the wing had been rebuilt, and it was once more balanced. However, this was almost surreally easy, especially seeing the two opponents this creature had only moments before destroyed. It was quite clear that this being had no experience with this form of combat.The silence was broken by a shout from below, as Teo rocketed up, his hammer flashing through the air as it smashed into 5's side. It's torso was obliterated, scattering into a billion pieces as the hammer tore through it, powered by not only Teo's physical strength, but the upwards thrust of his personal jet pack. Of course, this intervention from the man who was, still, dressed like a giant banana, did nothing to make the scene seem less surreal. In fact, Mithias had to remind himself that he was not high, and this banana man with the hammer was just a part of this brand new experience.However, from there, things went downhill. This time, it took less than a second for the the nanites to resume their original shape. And instead of forming into the torso that had been smashed, now the creature's upper and lower body were connected solely by a thin metal pipe, whereas the rest had formed into a large four-fingered metal claw, attached to a long metal chain. This in itself would not be that big a problem, were it not for the fact that the claw was firmly attached around Teo's face, a steady hum filling the air as Mithias realized that Teo wasn't moving.To Teo, the world had soon dissolved. One moment,he had been rushing to fight one of the two flying vampires with swords (and apparently hit the evil one), and the next, he was in a bed. He was feeling quite tired, and his body ached like crazy, but it wasn't the ache of a burning wound. He felt.... weary. It hurt just keeping his eyes open, and as he breathed, he could hear a faint rattling from his ribcage. Looking at his hands, they were wrinkled, the skin papery dry. He could see the veins running under his skin, as if it were transparent, although his site seemed to be fading. The good thing was that the pain was fading away. He could hear someone saying something, a language he didn't understand, but it was alright. Everything was slowly fading to black.... but somehow, he felt at peace.In these moments, he felt a strange sense of invasion. It was disturbing, humiliating. As if he were standing naked before an audience, but somehow more intimate. His very memories, his knowledge, his thoughts, his opinions, his very being, penetrated. He could feel something akin to a tentacle rumaging through his brain, and yet, old and frail, was powerless to stop it. A twisting, nearly painful violation of his mind, akin to mental rape.And then he was gone.As the claw released Teo, he plummeted down to the Earth, spiraling due to the remaining energy in his now steerless jet pack. His heart was beating, his subconscious causing him to breathe, his mind completely intact. And yet, he was lost, experiencing his own death over and over, a Hell forged from the memories of a dying man, a torment of events doomed to repeat themselves for eternity. Like a falling meteor, he crashed into the ground below,a bright, cartoonish explosion marking the landing site as several of his more unstable gadgets exploded violently. AS was the nature of a mad scientist.No longer was Mithias staring into a mirror of himself. The nanobots, once more, had rearranged their physical form, and it was instantly clear who this was. Wielding a large hammer, the top of which was a bright red material, it moved into fighting position. His left hand was at his belt, ready to pull out whatever invention he felt was appropriate for the situation, his visor having slid down over his eyes. A cocky smile illuminated the young face, and it was clear that this recreation was completely different from the one Mithias had faced before. The posture, the grin, the movements of the hammer as it wove through the air. Nearly unconsciously, Mithias would have solidified his guard, old habits making him check his footwork, despite the ground being over a hundred meters down. As the clone spoke, it was Teo's voice that was heard. "Looks like I'm going to have to solve this with violence. It's Hammertime!"

((remeber that Teo cant be mind read))

Teo soon woke up ,reinfalted himself.and realized what was happening
"well that nano machines screwed"
he said with a grin,becuase due to the unstabability of his personality and mind ,would cause the machine to overload.

teo looks down on the holes in his chest

"Thats gonna leave a mark"

[Akihisa Yoshii]

Kevin had finally made sense of what was happening when a large amount of heat hit him. He had fought Natsu Dragneel and Creed, another Fire Dragon Slayer, so many times he had quite the tolerance to the stuff, but the heat was unimaginable. Nothing Natsu or Creed could conjure would compare. His skin began to burn, his blood began to boil; only a few seconds of intense heat but it would have been enough to kill him. But as he began to burn, his magic power unleashed of its own accord. A large increase in power hit him and he stepped forward, Crash breaking up the ground beneath his feet, his magical aura protecting him from extensive fire damage. The man Desmond joined him in his magical shield, not ready to die yet. Even then the heat was intolerable and they both came out with a lot of charred skin, but they lived.

[ShadowVentus]

Realizing that he was blinded by his own blood, Michael wiped it away from his eyes, pulling back a bloody left hand as he firstly recognized Kevin, walking over to them. "Damn...what happened while I was out?" He asks those of the group that are still conscious.

[Akihisa Yoshii]

Kevin looks at him and smirks, his magic power fading. "Not much... I don't even know... You don't look so hot." He replies.

[ShadowVentus]

"Don't worry about it...it's just a flesh wound..." He says before he coughs, spitting a bit of blood. His head and ears continue to ache, as if he had been under some sort of traumatic pressure. In fact, as he thought more on the matter, he couldn't help but feel a ringing in his ear. "Do you hear that...? That noise...ngh..." With that being said he covers his ears with his hands as he stumbles and then falls once more, the ringing in his ears and overall pain from the fight finally catching up to him.

[Akihisa Yoshii]

Kevin walks over and drags him up. "Now don't die on me... I need you to explain shit..." He says, and looks around for somewhere to take him. Desmond sipped some random tea and watched them, following them around.

[thewizardguy]

supertinyking said
As Minx fell to the ground, Charred and cooked though and though, something may of struck Toguro as off...she was smiling, as was Darkside. Both a very creepy smile. Very, very creepy....and soon the world around him begins to change, to a grassy field, the foliage covered in a fresh dew. To everyone else, they could see the seal she had placed on him seeping with darkness, as Darkside helps put Minx's charred hand around Toguro's ankle, and blocked off the portal via putting a litteral stone wall between it and Toguro. As this happened, her body begins to sap Toguro's power, healing itself, but it's an automated process, helped by Darkside's hand. He feeds some power into her at first, a jolt, to keep the body from totally dying, but not enough to totally saturate it. However, darkside seems to think for a moment, before he puts the wall down, and breaks the seal. "Leave, Toguro. She'll be back, and she'll seek vengance." Darkside says, before portalling away with Minx's still semi-charred corpse.

Toguro looks surprised, before grinning widely. "If any of you guys are serious about trying to die on my fists, come meet us at the Lounge. Genocide said there'd be a group who'd try and stop us, said something about them being a problem." The massive figuro casts an appraising eye over the scene of destruction. Most of the group was near death, or at least heavily wounded. Nobody was in any state to fight, and if he had wanted to, Toguro could probably have ended this right here. "Rather it be you guys than someone, you know..... competent." He then leaves through the gate, which radiated with a mysterious energy certainly not belonging to Toguro.

---

The Teo clone seemed to be on the point of attacking, hammer swinging wildly through the air, eyes agleam with a tint of madness. Then he shuddered, the eyes went blank, and the entire body once more dissolved into billions of tiny robots. Compacted, they were visible, like one would observe a swarm of insects, a massive zooming mass of objects that couldn't quite be seen, but were definitely there. They moved down, and followed Toguro through the portal, before it closed behind them.

[Wraithblade6]

Mithias had dropped some distance before Teo made his crazy, flying banana-hammer attack. Falling, he watched behind him with a quirked eyebrow as the attack merely resulted in Number 5 taking on a new, more disturbing shape, and Teo getting face-palmed into some kind of brief coma.

The shockwave, and heatwave, of a blast not far from them passed through the three as Toguro and Minx were concluding their battle. Mithias snapped his wings open instinctively stopping his descent to check for new threats. Glancing down quickly, he saw Michael and Kevin, the former looking injured... perhaps dying. Toguro had caused serious, godlike damage. Minx was burned and Darkside was... well who the hell knows.

Mithias came to the conclusion he wasn't high when he saw Number 5 mimic the shape and cartoonish grin of Teo. So, it was clear that physical attacks of any kind would do little to disturb the nanobot matrix, which was quite intelligent as a collective. The individual robots would simply let go of each other and fly apart and come back together as needed. They were too small to cut, heat, cold, force, and etc. resistant, and apparently had some endless unknown energy supply. The only way to control them seemed to be to contain them somehow, but how?

The first option that came to mind seemed rational enough, and with the shimmering soul-dust of Number 5 quickly beginning to follow Tugoro through the portal, Mithias had little time to reconsider. Since it seemed to have worked so well for him last time, once again, Mithias the Tsukune-infused vampire changed himself into a magnet, falling pretty hard in the process.

Immediately, the field of the magnet reached out infinitely, as if it were always there, drawing on the separate, tiny bodies of the nanobots. Like sparkling sand, or snow-dust the bulk of Number 5's makeup was sucked backward, away from the portal, to stick all over Mithias. ... ew.

Mithias the magnet separated himself some legs once on the ground, and while covered in fuzzy nano-bits, resembled a metal tree.

[Teoinsanity]

"Shit ,they escaped "

"Anyway,does anyone have any neosporin?"

Teo says,pointing at the hole in his chest

[kishin asura]

Teoinsanity said
"Shit ,they escaped ""Anyway,does anyone have any neosporin?"Teo says,pointing at the hole in his chest

"No, but I do have not only a plan, but friends in low places." Najimi says "who knows? Given my calculations, I highly doubt I'll need to intervene a second time." She sits down in a chair that, along with najimi herself, had not been there before

[Wraithblade6]

The walking nanobot-covered magnet walks over to Teo and Najimi.
"... Hello? I can't really see very well like this."

[kishin asura]

Wraithblade6 said
The walking nanobot-covered magnet walks over to Teo and Najimi. "... Hello? I can't really see very well like this."

"Oh hey." Najimi says "looks like you took care of that one thing. That only leaves toguro and that other motherfucker." She rests her cheek on her hand "what was his name again?"

[Wraithblade6]

"There's another one?" Mithias tried to clear some nanobots off where his eyes were.

[kishin asura]

Wraithblade6 said
"There's another one?" Mithias tried to clear some nanobots off where his eyes were.

"Yeah." Najimi says "I don't remember his name.... cosmos I think it was....."

[ShadowVentus]

Akihisa Yoshii said
Kevin walks over and drags him up. "Now don't die on me... I need you to explain shit..." He says, and looks around for somewhere to take him. Desmond sipped some random tea and watched them, following them around.

Michael begins to sound as if he were choking on his own blood, the symbol of a familiar dragon beginning to glow on his right hand. "Get...back..." The tactician orders as his vision begins to flicker. "I...have no clue..what'll happen next...." He raspily says.