Level 11 Sectonia (holding 4 level up) - (82/110) Location: The Under - Hollow Knight Word Count: Less than 750
"Hmph. I suppose I should see what this staff you wanted to make so badly did..." Sectonia said, grabbing the blue gemmed staff from the ashes of Rubick. As she did so, she found that this caused his spirit to disappear, as if the weapon was tied to his very essence with how much he valued it.
Sectonia gained
A legendary scepter that upgrades a power. Upgrades Summon Antler to summon 2 Gold Antlers. Gold Antlers are The largest antler. they have high melee damage, a strong shield and are nearly immovable. If nothing is in melee range they can cast arcane magic in the form of orbs, but will prefer their melee attacks. Very high HP, high defense, and very slow.
Sectonia wasn't disappointed though, it gave her the same power Rubick had shown, the ability to summon Golden Antlers. She could only summon 2 at a time unlike Rubick's 3, but this was quite an interesting ability. She did find that she had to hold the scepter to have these buffs, but that was quickly remedied with her trinket smelter. From what she could gather from how joined it was to his spirit, whatever spell he stole, this scepter upgraded it so that it'd be better than the person he stole it from. Now she saw how he got that title. Although his lack of power in this world was ultimately his downfall.
Sectonia couldn't help but agree with the others distaste of F. "Considering P ran as well, it seems so far these Consuls are cowards that let others take care of things for them. But that also means they give up ground as they run. Annoying." Well, before them was the source of this 'infection' coming from behind the sealed door. As they moved through the temple, Sectonia could see what Bowser was about, this had some proper flare at the very least. "Could use more color." Sectonia said, giving her own criticism but not denying what Bowser and Nadia had said.
Soon they found the bound form of the Hollow Knight. Something felt a bit off about this though as when they freed the thing, it began to fight them. She summoned her new Gold Antlers, which took up a fair amount of space and were bigger than Bowser thanks to her BFF trinket. They were slow, but would smack the hollow knight with their maces if he got close.
As the fight went on, Kamek flipped through his book and learned something that had confused Sectonia, confirmed something for her, and also made her a bit uneasy. They had to somehow get inside this thing's dreams to deal with the true guardian, as this was just one more seal. "Hmph, so weaken, but don't kill so we can restrain it and find the true guardian. This'll be a bit annoying, but I'm sure the two kings can hold it down when the time comes. The question will be, when will we know the time has come to enter its dreams?" Sectonia said as she cast Slow on the hollow knight to slow it down and fired off some void globules as to not damage it too much, but give it some steady damage.
Well, it seemed that the Consul was better at what he was doing when he had an army. Once he got cocky and started to want to eat everything, he went down with a fair amount of difficulty. Being the first Consul that these three had beaten, Blazermate was confused as to why he didn't drop a spirit. "Dang, I figured he'd drop a strong spirit or something." Susie noticed what he had said about Mobius, and while she didn't know what it meant, both her and Roland said, although in their own ways, that perhaps whatever power he had over the others of this world meant he no longer dropped a spirit upon death.
Given some time to rest and heal up before they approached the guardian itself, and the secret under Midgar. Blazermate took this time to turn Armstrong into a striker, beating Susie at a game of rock paper scissors over the buff boy as the two small ladies had a thing for big buff boys.
New Striker spiritbound: Senator Steven Armstrong A nigh-unstoppable powerhouse wielding superhuman brawn. His attacks, even his grab, are all armored and cannot be intercepted by normal attacks or projectiles. He can perform two massive advancing hook punches, a headbutt that can cause stun, a football kick with high launch power, a running bear grab with reduced turning ability, and a ground pound that causes delayed explosive cracks. The damage transferred to his host is also reduced due to nanomachines. However, Armstrong has a long cooldown to compensate
As they entered past the doors they saw the Guardian. It was some huge robot, monitoring portals all around it. It looked... very cobbled together for a word, but in a professional way. It was operated by what looked like steam, and it seemed to ignore the seekers for the moment. And as if to make the situation even worse, the other Consul C appeared and brought his own group that wanted what this guardian could do as well. Apparently it could control time? Something that only Roland had any experience with, if only second hand. Still, from what he knew from T corp and Angela, nothing good came with meddling with time.
He even voiced as such, saying. "So what is your plan then? Use this thing's power to reverse time to... what? There isn't a past to go back to if that Galeem thing was so powerful to erase and combine multiple dimensions together AND this thing is his guardian, thus under his power. At best you'll cause a loop and we'll just be here, again and again..." Hm... Could this be the case and he has been here before? He wouldn't know if that was the case at any rate.
Goldweis was the first to rush into battle, and it was clear that this guardian wasn't the only one with time powers as the mummy Nox, the one most interested in using this power, took out Goldweis in a flash using some time stopping power. Considering how tanky the vet had been so far, that was a bit of a shock. But with that, the battle began.
Blazermate was on healing duty as ever, but this time as she had turned Armstrong into a striker, summoned the big boy. The striker Armstrong and Sam locked eyes, and almost as if it was a magnetic pull from two opposite forces, Armstrong charged Sam with the former cyber ninja looking a bit apprehensive about the man running towards him but not floundering in his resolve as he wasn't alone this time. Roland was ready for a fight, and reminded of that, he gained the powers of the Floor of Language. And with that, he engaged with Armstrong and jetstream Sam, clashing with Sam to open him up for the senator. A clash that Roland didn't have a chance of winning causing him to get pushed back and injured from Sam's swipe but giving Armstrong a bit of an opening to tackle him.
This upped his emotion level and gave him Claws of Savagery, a savage voice saying "What sharp claws I had, the better to fill the role I was born for…" This wouldn't actually give him any benefits for a while though. While Roland and Blazermate were doing their things, Susie engaged with the guardian itself. While her business suit wasn't in prime condition, she could at least use it to try to guard the Guardian from the other enemies and deal some damage herself. Her high defense in her business suit softened the blows from the giant mech that could only do some heavy, but half handed punches her way. After having a bit of a boxing match with Susie, it began to start to use its abilities. Spawning portals around the room in a + pattern, it fired lasers out of them. Lasers that would be immediately stopped by its time powers. It was clear to anyone paying attention where the lasers would go once released, it just wasn't clear when Tycoon would release them.
Seeing Roland injured and her other allies, Blazermate went to heal them. The enemies around weren't dumb though, and upon seeing Blazermate heal her allies, those not distracted at the time made it their mission to deal with her. And unlike Y's clone army, these were much stronger opponents. Mephisto took their opportunity to engage with the medabot, shooting his special bullets at her. Blazermate was used to projectiles aimed her way, and blocked them with her suffering shield arm. Their damage was lower than even she thought, although after a few shots he had managed to build up some kind of debuff on her. Before she could swap to herself to cleanse her own debuff though, Sam had broken away after beating Roland in another clash and using his superior speed to get away from Armstrong whom despawned with his target out of range and deal with the medic, attacking her from behind as she was busy dealing with the shots from the front. This did bonus damage since she was weak from the back, and it wasn't often that people blindsided her.
Roland, taking over from what Zenkichi had done, moved to smack Karen with his hammer and parried his next move against Zenkichi. This leveled up his emotions again, and gained him Vampirism, with a noble voice saying "Chew it all up! Imbibe to the last drop!". Now his attacks would heal him if he succeeded in winning clashes a little bit. Using his hypervelocity and duplicate powers, Karen sent a duplicate to break Roland's counter, before attacking him and pushing him away so he could deal with the target that his other allies were targeting the healer. It'd use up a bit more of his power than he'd like, but getting rid of their healer would be paramount to winning this fight and claiming the guardian, so there wasn't much choice. Using the tail end of his hypervelocity, he moved to intercept Blazermate as she fell from the sky after a followup leg kick from Sam sent her to the ground and punched her into the line of Tycoon's laser.
To keep the medabot from getting back up in hope to keep her in line with Tycoon's laser, he hit her with his cryokinisis, freezing her momentarily in place. Sam slammed down on Blazermate with his sword to deal what damage he could before he moved out of the way as Tycoon's laser was let loose from its stasis, hitting Blazermate and with the damage caused by Sam and Karen's CC and shoving her into Tycoon's laser, overwhelmed Blazermate's parts and finally caused the medabot to eject her medal in defeat.
Level 11 Sectonia (holding 5 level up) - (78/110) Location: The Under - Dirtmouth Word Count: Less than 750
Sectonia wasn't much for this 'camp' food as it were, but with a bit of creativity, she could at least flavor the bland meat with something to subsist with. She wasn't happy though, not at all. This just reminded her of how she was a 'hobo queen' at this point and that just wasn't something she wanted to think about.
Unlike many of the others, the question of how to get down the chasm wasn't really a hard one for Sectonia. She was one of the resident fliers, and had flown down the chasm before. The only problem would be another ambush from F, but that seemed unlikely. She even offered to carry one of the lighter team members down, as long as they didn't make a fuss or mess, since it was quite a long ways down. What she wasn't expecting was the appearance of a strange warrior-miner, sorta deal. But she had already descended the chasm to worry too much about them. From what little she heard, they offered another way down that seemed... to waterlog you. Not a pleasant way to do things.
Upon reaching the bottom, Ganondorf showed himself to be... useful and giving information? Did he fuse with a spirit to make him more chatty or was this something else? Nor did she expect him to give away something so charitably. Much like the Octopath travelers, she found that was... unexpected. Well, she was a bit like that earlier before she got to know people, so perhaps it was the same for him? Or the seeds of some power grab? Well... time would tell, but that was interesting at least.
"The only thing I know about this guardian, is that it has something to do with dreams. So it could be anything really. A god of dreams perhaps?" Sectonia said, having just as little info as everyone else. "Hmm... if thats the case, do you think it has been watching us as we progressed through this area?"
Booking When Roland is involved in a fight and him or his allies defeat an enemy, instead of turning into a spirit, page-like will o wisps envelop their spirit and turn them into a book instead. Books act like spirits in most regards; you can absorb them or crush/destroy them like any spirit. The differences being,
*Books do not expire on their own. *Books can be read to get an understanding of the booked person's personal history and dreams *Books will be fancier based on the rank of the spirit. *If a foe is defeated that is a composite of multiple spirits, each spirit will split from the main foe and form their own, damaged, books. Damaged books act like normal books, but have some information missing or a fewer choice of items. The main foe will form into a book as normal. *Books can be 'burned' to retrieve items from the spirit instead of being destroyed like a normal spirit, with the item being a choice of equipment the spirit used/wielded instead of a random item. *A resurrection spell can be cast upon the book to revive the spirited person. This can only be done once and if defeated again, they will not turn into books.
Roland, being more mobile in general with his fighting style, kept up the maneuvering jumping from platform to platform. Susie and Blazermate, being more defensive though, ate a powerful laser. Both robots had shields of various make, and Susie had her business suit, but this beam did some good damage to the two even through all that, even breaking Blazermate's projectile shield. This taught the two to be mobile like everyone else though at least, although Blazermate could only heal. And her sentry gun had gotten destroyed, but that at least ate one of his attacks.
Seeing these big attacks coming their way, the seekers unleashed their own big attacks. Roland acting like Goldlewis now and striking at Y with his large two handed sword in melee range, using his jumping momentum to slash into him, before using his body to jump back to the platforms. Blazeramte was busy healing, and Susie was busy dodging, so there wasn't much to do here.
Although things took a spicy turn when Y was tired of all the relative knats swarming and biting his form, so he decided to pull his trump card. Opening up his chest cavity, he put out enough suction force to devour all the platforms and the seekers upon them. This was... Well, it wasn't good considering what he did with those clones.
Being sucked up wasn't the end though, instead it seemed that, to 'assimilate' his pray, Y had to expose his core. Of course this wouldn't be easy, as Y was well aware of his own weakness and unleashed a varying barrage of attacks. Most were just strikes with some purple energy manifesting as various kinds of spears and lances in various formations in both melee and ranged variants. Alongside that he summoned some minions with the same kind of scheme.
Susie went on to deal with the Wireframes, whirling her fists to more move to dodge the barbs going her way as she barreled towards one of the wireframes, stopping to grab it and use it as a shield from a second wave of barbs heading her way. Her business suit had taken enough damage now, and she'd have to stop using it soon, but before that she'd use its strength to at least cause some chaos and the wireframes made excellent shields in the meantime. With Midna's assistance, she could also use a few Wireframes as body missiles to throw at Y's core, but that wasn't really all that effective.
Roland meanwhile clashed with the lances and barbs flying his way. He could deflect the purple barbs with his swords without much issue, but for now he could only clash with the purple spears, not gaining much ground for now. After a couple clashes though, he reached Emotion level 4, and gained Power of the Past, with the same womanly voice from before saying "I’ll be the one to take things away this time…" This made Roland a bit slower, but much, much stronger. He also gained the EGO The Homing Instinct. This one he decided to use when he got the chance.
As the white area turned into a grass field with a yellow road leading to a distant city of emerald, Roland donning a classy suit as he got ready to snap his fingers. Seeing what was happening, and needing a Kritz target to get this fight done as fast as possible, Blazermate decided to kritz Roland since she knew a big move was coming. Sure it wasn't the best of the EGO to Kritz, but a glowing electric blue house dropped onto Y's core dealing a massive amount of crushing damage to him and any wireframes nearby the landing area as well as giving all of his allies a slight damage boost. Roland's Rake ability now triggered, leaving Y locked out of using his Circuit Lance Stab and making him easier to approach as a bonus.
Not wanting to waste the kritz, Roland went in to smack the heart, the Kritz allowing him to overpower the lance attacks coming his way and allowing him to smack Y for some good damage. What was even better, when Y tried to attack Roland when he wasn't clashing, his Counter activated, and while under the power of Power of the Past and Blazermate's kritz, that just lead to Roland overpowering and striking Y's core a few extra times on each Counter, greatly punishing him for using a flurry of light attacks instead of one huge get-off-me move if he wasn't taking Roland seriously.
Eventually though Roland would need to retreat as his weapons started to flicker, signifying the end of Kritz. Seeing this, he retreated as he left a final parting shot with his crossbow, getting back to get into a more evasive stance for whatever came next.
As the clones and their nearly invisible partners approached the group, Roland moved up to deal with one of them taking the flank, clashing with his hammer in a defensive flourish to get a feel for the opponent's power. He soon found the clones themselves individually weren't much of a problem, it was their collective might and their invisible partners that were the real issue. From his first clash however, Roland's emotion level went up and he got the power Rake, with a chilling, yet silly voice saying. "I’ll scrape your wisdom…" He then moved to the next clone in line, not staying in one place for too long to allow their invisible partners to counterattack him as he laid into the next clone with his swords.
Susie had stayed in the backline alongside the healers, acting as a bit of a mobile defense platform. She was assisted by Blazermate's sentry gun, whom would soon eventually reach level 3 as all the clones were commanded to go after her and Sandalphon. Being the mindless constructs they were, they ignored the stationary gun shooting them to go after the healers, which at least gave the two some relief from its sheer firepower and pushing power slowing down some of the clones rushing them.
Seeing the backline getting assaulted, Roland went in to help them. Using his lance to clash with a clone that was charging in with his weapon and intercepting and overpowering him. This leveled his emotion to 2, giving him Timber, as a metallic large voice said "I want to be warm… I need something stronger…" Although this wouldn't actually help against the clones as Roland was already stronger than them in most regards it seemed. Of course putting him in the main brawl around the healers.
Blazermate, seeing all the ranged attackers try to go after her, summoned her projectile shield to protect herself. She also lowered herself to try to fry a few of them and defend Sandalphon as well, as some of the melee attacks that didn't fully pass through the shield were negated by it as well. Susie also coming to the healer's aid by using her mech to throw people around and scatter them, which in turn allowed both the sentry gun and Roland to pick off the ones far off. Still, with so many clones coming at once, it was a bit of a tricky situation. Susie then had an idea, they were targeting the healers at Y's command, but did he know she had one as well? And with that she summoned her Striker whom started to throw potions at Sandalphon and Blazermate as they got damaged while placing down a seal on the ground which ended up rooting a fair amount of clones as they didn't have the self preservation to dodge the slow move, giving the healers a bit more of some breathing room.
Relief from the assault came when a newcommer came, and through a series of events caused Y to reveal his true plan. A disgusting plan according to Roland, to devour everything. And he started with the clones, eventually turning into a giant monster and shattering the bridge he was standing on. "Another one? Come on, thats not fair!" Roland said, echoing Goldlewis' distaste of the situation. Blazermate meanwhile mentioned. "He ate a lot of weak spirits, What does that actually mean though? Is he strong or weak now? Well whatever he is, he is sure tanky." Susie had to think about what was going on herself. She didn't fully understand what all of this was, but considering he used Moebius as a proper noun to refer to himself... well there were a lot of things that word could mean. But for now, they all had to fight this giant creature.
Blazermate had been gaining a steady amount of Uber during the clone fight, with Roland having clashed a few more times with the clones before they were absorbed, at least leaving him partway through emotion level 3 and giving him the power "Oblivion", and a womanly voice saying "Staying alive is all I can do in a life like this…". And he was sure that this buffed Consul was stronger than him, so Timber was in effect as well. In addition he gained an EGO page "False Throne", which he saved to use for later as it was more for utility than raw damage. For now though, Roland could only unload on Y with his ranged weapons such as his crossbow and shotgun.
Susie didn't change up her tactics much either, turning to the now mutated Y and firing her missiles at him. Blazermate's engineer spirit had vanished at this point, but he did leave behind a half full level 3 sentry and a level 3 dispenser for the moment, so there was some damage output coming from her as well for the time being. She was mostly waiting to see what this guy would do next as she healed and overhealed people as she had an uber ready and waiting to be deployed.
Roland had been given a bit of time to himself to rest, while Susie and Blazermate had to fight their own battles. Having his perception blocking mask on really helped him sometimes as while there were shinra forces, most of them didn't know who Roland was and just percieved him as 'oh him? he works here." and ignored him for the most part. Much like the others, he found the healing stations littered around and cursed Shinra for hiding something that would revolutionize things, but then the same could be said for K corp, and they were a wing that did horrific experiments, so...
Roland was one of the first at the location, just waiting around for the rest of the group. Coming in groups, it didn't take too long for everyone to eventually make their way back here, although some of them looked a bit different. He also heard mumblings of who they had fought, and he found it... interesting that one of the groups had fought and beaten Armstrong? Guess all those muscles were for show, all the strong people in his world weren't all that well built due to not needing it.
Well, that would have to wait as they encountered the Consul, who upon being encountered on what was quite the crazy bridge, summoned some ghosts behind him. Ghosts Roland, Susie, and Blazermate couldn't see, and soon understood they were chimeras and legions. However, they also saw a few people they could see, and they would have to be the ones they fought. Blazermate assisted her allies like she normally did, healing them and summoning her engineer to set up a turret and dispenser, while Susie hopped into her business suit and shot rockets. Roland knew that there was something... wrong with all of this, but he'd need to work a bit before he went after the big guy.
All this talk about working with his new friends reminded him of the Floor of Social Sciences, and he started by opening fire with his X gun upon one of the stand users, much like Susie was with her missiles. This wouldn't give him any emotion level just yet though, but until he understood the chimera/legion situation, he wasn't going to dash into what could be a massive blender.
Level 11 Sectonia (holding 5 level up) - (74/110) Location: The Under - Dirtmouth Word Count: 2310
Having had enough of the prison, Sectonia let the others explore it and find what they will, she wasn't keen on getting trapped in another mirror or another weird dream. She waited until she was informed that the group had found the item they were looking for, the Dreamcatcher. Curious, but considering all the stuff that had been going on so far, Sectonia was a bit too tired to deal with any shenanigans that came with it at the moment.
Sectonia was happy to get out of not only the jail, but the underground as a whole as Nadia, having made friends with some strange creature, pointed the group to some sort of strange transit system where they rode large stag beetles. Being the big lady she was, she took most of the seats of her transit, meaning that one of the smaller party members had to ride with her, if they even wanted to.
Upon reaching the surface and being told the houses were abandoned by the elderbug, Sectonia decided to take one for herself as everyone else debated on who got what, taking the fanciest looking of the group. She wasn't pleased about having to be this 'squatter queen' as it were, and the looks of the abandoned house didn't help matters much. So she summoned some of her antlers and got herself ready to sleep, at least until an ally came looking for help.
Once of the first of Sectonia's teammates to start seeking shelter among the empty ovoid huts of Dirthmouth had been the crew's original cat burglar, Ms Fortune. For a while now she'd been longing for an escape from the inhospitable confines of the underground, but as much as she appreciated the chance to fill her lungs with fresh mountain air, the Charm's surroundings weren't exactly warm or comfortable. Pretty soon she began to poke around the quaint little houses, trying to find somewhere she could tuck in for some much-needed rest. A former alley cat wasn't picky when it came to places to hole up for the night, but she never liked sleeping with one eye open. Plus, her room the Mizzenmast back in Limsa Lominscuttle Town had kind of spoiled her, and Habbo Hotel hadn't been half bad, either. Determined to seize the best lodging she could before anyone else took it, Nadia soon made her choice. One of the huts had once belonged to a weaver, and that artisan had left behind plenty of scrap cloth that could made into blankets. Once Nadia laid down her heavy jacket, belt, and various weapons though, she still had one glaring issue. And as tired as she was, this one couldn't wait until morning.
ust as Sectonia was settling into her own hut (the biggest and fanciest of the bunch, though realistically that wasn't saying much) she received a visitor. Nadia poked her head in, a cheeky grin on her face. "Hiya Toni. You got a minute?" After her guest stepped in, Sectonia could get a good look at her, not to mention an idea of how she'd changed. Down to the bare essentials of jet-black leotard and modified Mantreads, Nadia possessed a silhouette dominated by a huge amount of voluminous snow-white hair, a cape of curls all the way down to the base of her tails. "You might have noticed, but a buncha the spirits I've fused with had something in common." Grinning, Nadia flipped her hair for dramatic emphasis. "I mean, it 'locks' good, right? I knew it'd be handful, but I figured it'd be a small price toupee. After all that fighting in the prison, though..."
Nadia threw her hands up. "It's such a pain in the ass! It's SO heavy, I'm constantly distracted. It's always flying everywhere, getting in the way while I'm doing stuff, and it blocks my equipment. As if covering my left eye all the time wasn't enough. Plus, all kinds of crap gets tangled in it! I mean, look." She ran her fingers through her hair for a moment, and to her own dismay pulled out a root sprig several inches long. "I mean, comb on." After flicking it away, she crossed her arms. "So I figured I better get rid of it. Hair today, gone tomorrow, right? A shoulder-length bob works just fine. And I figured, well, nobody does style like Sectonia. You're not just any royal after all, you're the 'hair apparent', nyahaha!" She clapped her hands together pleadingly. "So whaddya think, Toni? Hairdo a girl a solid?"
Sectonia, having to make the best of a bad situation, was about ready to get to bed. A few Antlers could be seen cleaning the place as the queen laid on a bit of bedding from her camping set. She wasn't expecting anyone to come to anyone after the day they had all had. But considering the advice that was being asked, it made sense Nadia would come to her, the true eminence of beauty, to maker herself more beautiful.
Nadia would see a bit of a snicker on Sectonia's face before she got up, saying. "Well, its good you came to me. Outside of perhaps Primrose, none of the others really understand beauty. " She then looked at Nadia's hair, and could only shake her head. "Welll, you are right. There is far too much hair here to do much, and keeping it proper would take quite a bit of effort." She ran her hand through Nadia's hair and pulled out a few pebbles, shaking her hand clean in disgust.
Grabbing one of her ice Antler who was cleaning, she said. "Well, we should get started then. Although I do think I can do better than a simple bob cut." Sectonia then went to work. Seeing how extremely volumetric Nadia's hair was, she decided the first round of curating this issue would probably require something a bit stronger than scissors. A pair of swords used as a large set of scissors would work though, and Sectonia summoned both of them and got to work.
First Sectonia used her swords as large makeshift shears, making sure Nadia's tail was out of the way before shearing the back of her hair down quite a bit so that it was more managable. She then picked up her ice antler and used its ice powers on their 'warmest' setting to mist wash Nadia's hair and get rid of the gunk in it, pulling out a brush to comb out all the icky part, knots, and just random junk that this mane of hair had all around it. "I suppose its a good thing the downsides of your fusions can be handled with a simple haircut. Its a good problem to have." Sectonia said, as she pulled out what were fairly large scissors by Nadia's standards and started to clean up the relatively neater mess she made.
The steady stream of cool air made Nadia shiver, causing goosebumps to crop up all across her skin, but after being stuck underground for so long she could take it. That went double if it meant getting clean, or at least, cleaner. Nonstop adventuring -and exercise- in all sorts of bizarre environments tended to leave a mark on someone, be it physical matter or just a good pong. Even if the others were in the same boat and would probably understand, Nadia wanted to be presentable. As Sectonia got busy cutting the feral's hair down to size, she idly wondered if she'd always felt this way. A poor orphan had more vital things to worry about, after all, and someone she fused with could have very well made her more self-conscious. Then again, even if she'd always been the rough-and-tumble, tomboyish type, the Fishbone Gang had always called her a diamond in the rough. Nadia Fortune, thief of hearts and wallets, robbing you blind and looking good while doing it--that would never change. Providing Sectonia's aesthetic sense wasn't too dissimilar from her own, of course.
"See, I was talking to someone about this, Primrose I think," Nadia mentioned, continuing the thread of conversation that Sectonia began. "The changes from fusion, they're purr-etty serious, right? Say I just stuck to humans, or catgirls for that matter. Even then a teeny-tiny change in my face or voice should be super noticeable. Uncanny, even. But when I looked at my reflection, it's just...me. My voice doesn't sound weird to me. Nothing seems like a problem, I guess." She paused for a moment. "But that's kinda weird, too. It's like I'm numb to it. I only noticed the hair thing 'cause it got so annoying." Upon reflecting, though, Nadia gave a sheepish laugh. "Sorry, I guess you can't relate, huh? Not a lotta people like you around after all. The pickings must be pretty slim."
Sectonia paused for a bit upon Nadia self reflection. "Yes, the lack of beauty is quite noticeable... and yes beautiful insect spirits are quite rare as well. Considering we are in a place full of them. Especially those of any real power." Sectonia said, before she went back to her work. As she cleaned up Nadia's bangs to get that hair out of her eye, Sectonia continued. "I suppose when you gain power and it changes your form that can be a concern. but you seem to have realized the key to it, your still you. Sectonia said, moving to another section before continuing, musing a bit herself. "Its caught me off guard a bit with some of the strange things I've had to deal with. If you have concerns about your looks because of a fusion, I can make you presentable. And if I can't, Kamek has that item that will make it possible. That and that orb are honestly why I've been looking at other avenues of power. Although so far they seem... lacking."
As Nadia heard this, she couldn't help but give a wry smile. She'd used both the items that Sectonia mentioned already, and in fact, she'd been the one who discovered the orb. Did they really have to little to talk about that they both needed to go over stuff they already knew? An extrovert like her ought to be able to do better. They did have one pressing concern at the moment: whenever Sectonia tried to trim back the bangs over Nadia's left eye (bringing her massive scissors rather close to her face in the process) she found that the hair grew back immediately. "Don't worry about that," she advised after a few attempts. "I think it's stuck that way 'cause I fused with that assassin chick. Like it's her curse or somethin'. I woulda gotten rid of it already if I could. It's not that bad though, and it makes me look all mysterious. So 'eye' don't mind."
The feral shifted her posture slightly to get more comfortable, making no sudden movements that might result in an errant clip. "That whole prison was super freaky, huh?" she asked after a moment. "Not just the horrible monsters, either. All those poor people stuck in a trance. Blurring the line between dream in reality..." Though she wasn't about to share it, her unreal encounters with Minette and Black Dahlia weighed on her most heavily of all. Instead, Nadia laughed helplessly. "After all that, I just wanna black out 'til morning. Gimme some sweet, sweet oblivion."
"Very well. I suppose a hair clip will also solve the issue." Sectonia said, giving up on dealing with the bangs and finishing her work. Sure Nadia wanted a bob, but that was plain... but an egyptian bob... Now that was fancy. Even if it was just a bit of jewelery in the hair that could be easily taken out...
"Much of this area has been horrid. That prison was weird, agreed. You were fortunate you weren't locked in a magical mirror for an undisclosed amount of time. And with your doubts earlier, I assume it played with your mind quite a bit. Perhaps thats why I ran into that mirror instead, hm....." Sectonia said. She ignored the oblivion comment, only partially. "It'll be easier to sleep without that mane of hair, I'm sure."
After a few more snips, Sectonia was almost done. All that was needed was the final touches. Summoning one of her fire antlers, which she was about the same size of now, she had it use its heat on its 'coolest' setting like a hair dryer to finish up. "I will say, after fusing with that last spirit, and that item we found yesterday, its a bit awkward to be smaller than my own summons. So I suppose we have something in common there."
Even after getting cut short, Nadia's locks remained quite thick and prone to fluffing up. Rather than try and force a certain kind of hair into a shape it wasn't suited for, the expert aesthetician could modify the original vision to make the style suit the hair, rather than the other way around. Once the drying completed, the final results were in: a rather short but poofy bob. After getting a look at her reflection with the flat of a blade, Nadia looked pleased. "Hey, not bad! Cute, yes purractical." She grinned at Sectonia. "You're a real cut above, Toni!"
"Yes, well, naturally." Sectonia said. "If the bangs get into your eyes remember a few hairclips can help." Sectonia then let out a silent yawn, her work being done. "Now if only the others would come to get beutified. Either way, its getting late. Careful with your dreams, mine have been weird as of late." and with that, Sectonia lazily shooed Nadia off and went to sleep when her antlers had cleaned the place to her liking.
”We don’t have time for your petty revenge or your awful ideology, so please, do one good thing for this city-” Midna said she formed a massive shadowhand before driving it forwards in a massive punch as she concluded her request with ”-and die quickly!” in a pretty clear indication that she was dropping her avoiding of killing plan for this man.
”Great…” said Roxas. He too wasn’t exactly hiding his irritation, ”...Just what we needed.” He quickly aimed the palm of his right hand gauntlet in the direction of the Senator as Midna threw her punch and began charging. Once her attack was done he let off a charged shot from his newly-acquired RockGun. He figured he may as well get in some practice using his new gear.
”You know, I like muscle guys, but you took it wayyy too far.” Blazermate said, trying to find something the others didn’t say. This guy was a complete loon. Well, either way, he probably hit like a truck so time to overheal.
For a moment, Giovanna hung back. The low-key secret agent lacked Midna’s short temper, and when faced with Armstrong, one all-important question had come to mind. When the senator boasted about killing Shinra, he’d very suddenly revealed true colors that even Gio couldn’t have imagined, but she hadn’t known whether or not to take him at his word. Then, when he pounded his fist, she could help but wonder: could this guy actually fight?
So she let Midna charge in to find out, and Armstrong did not disappoint.
“Hmph!” His tie flapped in the wind as a sudden burst of air pressure accompanied the rapid deceleration of Midna’s punch. Despite a solid attempt to deck Armstrong, the Twilight Princess had failed to lay him out flat–in fact, he’d barely even moved. With coal-black fists he’d caught her shadow hand in his grip, and now he wasn’t letting go. “Cocky little shit, aren’t you?” Seeing Roxas charging his RockGun, he put his incredible strength to work and yanked Midna off her feet by her hair. He swung her around in a circle, using her to catch the charge shot for him before hurling her at Roxas and Giovanna. “You’re going down!”
By that time, Gio was already running. She slid under the living projectile, then came to a stop in a tensed crouch and leaped into the air. After a somersault she cannoned down with a divekick, only for it to slam into Armstrong’s crossed arms. A jolt went through her body; that felt like kicking a wall of solid steel. She bounced off and flipped to the ground, where she immediately pivoted around into a barrage of side kicks with Rei for support. They struck fast as lightning, several ramming into the senator’s unprotected chest per second. Unbelievably, he didn’t even budge. After a moment Gio’s fight or flight reflex activated, and she spent half her tension on a purple Roman Cancel to stop herself short and slide backward. The next second, Armstrong’s huge hand swiped through the air where her neck had been an instant prior, and his grab barely missed. Giovanna dashed backward, wincing at her aching leg. “...What are you?”
Armstrong laughed, pushing up his glasses with a smirk. “Why don’t you stick around and find out?”
Unfortunately for Roxas, he didn’t have enough time to react before the body of the Twilight Princess came crashing into him. It of course knocked the wind out of him and sent them both sprawling, but after a moment the Nobody pushed himself back to his feet, ”Ugh, did someone get the number of that speeding tram?” he asked as he recovered from the sudden and unorthodox projectile attack. He shook his head and then redoubled his efforts.
Not yet ready to give up on his ranged weapon, Roxas decided to run a circle around Armstrong and pelt him with rapid energy shots from his RockGun. But despite the attacks appearing to connect, if they were doing any damage then it was impossible to tell. ”Jeez, what’s this guy’s deal?” Roxas questioned as he activated the StepSword on his left gauntlet while summoning his black Keyblade in the other hand. Then he shot forward at Armstrong with a dashing-slash of the energy blade. And with his Keyblade already out he could instantly follow up on that with another slashing attack.
Unfortunately, both attacks similarly didn’t appear to do much damage to the man that Roxas could see. Even more unfortunate was when Armstrong’s big hand managed to snatch the Nobody by his wrist mid-attack, “You’ll have to do a hell of a lot better than that, kiddo!” said the Senator as he wrapped his other massive arm around Roxas’ body. He then seemed to lift the kid up only to whirl him back down and slam him back-first onto his knee. After letting Roxas hit the ground he then lunged forward and kicked the downed Nobody, which sent him careening off a fair distance, “Don’t fuck with this senator!” He made a show of the giant punt, as if he could hear the crowd cheering from the bleachers. The sight made Giovanna balk. “I played college ball, you know,” Armstrong admitted with a cracking of his neck and knuckles. Of course, there was no way football alone was an adequate explanation for his apparent superhuman abilities.
Somehow not deterred by being used as a flail, the princess rushed past the punted Roxas, hands empty of weapons till she got close and flicked one out into reality with a crescent moon slash. The supernatural strike seemed to work for just a second, only for the second of Zanzo’s cleavers to break just like the first, shattering when it impacted with the senator’s skin, leaving the princess holding just a handle.
“Nice knife” the senator taunted.
”That was my bad one!” she retorted as she flicked second sword into reality, in this case Mao’s longsword he’d hand-me-downed to her, only for a hand to grab it before it could even strike.
“Nice trick, but you can’t fool me twice,” Armstrong told her, before squeezing the blade as she watched in horror, steel buckling under his grip before this well made blade broke just like the terrible one. Midna, who had been trying to wrench the blade free, fell back when the blade snapped in half, which was the only thing that prevented her from having her face punched in. Instead she landed on her back, and had to scrabble back once on all 6 limbs like a bug to avoid being stomped like one.
Then using skywave launched herself up into the air and, she hoped, out of harm's way for a moment. As she fled, Giovanna made her move. Shrugging off blows and snapping swordblades were no mean feats, and she’d seen that before each clash Armstrong’s skin turned black, like the pigment of a cuttlefish or octopus, in anticipation of contact. But what if she took him by surprise? When she unleashed Seismic Hammer to rupture the ground beneath him, however, he barely reacted. “Huh?” Was he not controlling the ability like she thought? Either way, she’d have to worry about it later. Armstrong barreled toward her with his arms spread wide in a humongous running bear grab. She leaped up into the air to avoid it, only for him to spring after her, his meaty mitts like crocodiles lunging for their prey. Only with an airdash did she manage to escape his grasp, and the senator fell heavily to the floor.
When she touched down, Gio turned in a flash and zipped toward him. Her mobility, she knew, was her key to victory. Before Armstrong could round on her, she extended her leg to strike the side of his knee. In the sporting world this was an illegal move thanks to its tendency to cripple people, but here her shoe stopped short against rock-hard skin. “Oh, come-!” The senator turned with a mighty backfist that struck Gio’s jaw, making her see stars as she spun around. She fell to her knees facing away from him, a hand on her poor chin, and Armstrong unceremoniously kicked her in the butt to send her sprawling face-first on the ground. “Guh!”
As people got knocked back and away and someone else distracted Armstrong, Blazermate could heal them up and overheal them as they were picking themselves up from being thrown. ”Man, this is going to be a long fight.” Blazermate said as she healed Roxas. She then got an idea, and as Midna went up to bat, then Gio, she took that time to zoom over a bit to summon her striker, the engineer, to make his equipment before going somewhere else to continue to heal people and generate her resources.
Once recovered, Roxas was back on his feet and already moving to take another shot at Armstrong. He deactivated his energy blade and replaced it with Oathkeeper - his second Keyblade. Clearly this was not the kind of fight for him to be experimenting with his new weapons or abilities, so from this point he would be fighting with his more familiar abilities and tactics. Roxas first turned into a streak of light that zig-zagged at Armstrong with blinding speed. As soon as the light touched him, Roxas instantly reappeared to hit him with a powerful Cross Slash.
Similarly to Gio’s attacks, Armstrong’s skin seemed to turn black at the spots where the Keyblades’ struck him, as if in reaction to the imminent damage that was incoming. But the Keybearer’s assault didn’t end there. He continued forward with a flurry of rapid Keyblade strikes. But each time, the blades were met with the same blackened spots that appeared on Armstrong’s skin. The Senator sweeped his arm and attempted to catch Roxas with a sweeping lariat. But Roxas was quick and able to jump back to avoid the hit. Then he had an idea, ”I need your help, Burn Rooster!” the Nobody said as he summoned the striker. But before the reploid moved, Roxas appeared to target him for attack, ”Freeze!” he called, casting the Blizzaga spell at his own striker. The tactic certainly seemed to surprise Armstrong, who tilted his head and cocked an eyebrow.
But that ice spell - despite damaging Burn Rooster and Roxas by extension - had an interesting side effect. Taking ice damage caused Burn Rooster to explode with a strong, fiery aura that boosted the power and damage of his fire attacks. He then unleashed that on Armstrong in the form of his fire breath attack. In response, the Senator held up both arms to cover his face. The skin on those arms blackened and were able to blunt much of the fire damage he otherwise would have taken, ”What? How is that even possible?” Roxas demanded in disbelief.
The senator then barreled forward as Burn Rooster disappeared and managed to catch Roxas in a choke-hold, “Nanomachines, son!” he yelled before spinning around and putting momentum into hurling Roxas away from him and careening into Gio.
”Ugh.” Roxas groaned, having the wind once again knocked out of him, ”Nano…what?” he finally said when his breath came back to him.
”I don’t know but rushing in one at a time clearly isn’t working!” Midna pointed out as she landed a fair bit away from the big guy, having been caught by her Flygon after launching herself. She slipped off its back and launched a pair of autopistols she’d stolen from the Commando into her hands, gripping each with two hands to steady them better before opening fire with a hail of small arms fire interspersed with more dangerous phase rounds.
The peashooters weren't much on their own, but with a call of ”Blast him!” the princess dipped a hand into every other pool of firepower she had, summoning arrow penetrating psychic spear throwers and ice javelineers to her side, while her flygon unleashed its dragon breath, and she herself formed a twilight volley bomb to slap down at her foe. Her remaining striker not on cooldown, she kept on reserve.
As the barrage of projectile attacks rained down on him from Midna and Blazermate’s turret, Armstrong breathed in deep, filling his lungs. Giovanna and Roxas had both picked themselves up to rush the senator down again, but hearing Armstrong suck in air -and seeing a huge magic bomb from Midna- made Gio hesitate. A second later, the big man yelled, and the nanomachines throughout his body released stored-up energy in an omnidirectional yellow wave. While it lost its repelling power beyond melee range, its sustained output was enough to crumple bullets, shatter ice, thwart mental energy, and detonate the volley bomb. It didn't protect him from everything by any stretch, but it made quite the statement.
With no other ranged attacks, Gio helped with what she could: a heavy Seismic Hammer. Armstrong laughed it off, then concentrated stored energy into his fist. “That's all you got?” He then aped her, slamming his fist into the ground. A glowing fissure ripped through the arena’s surface, spreading like a bolt of lightning beneath the Seekers and the turret. “Go big or go HOME!” Gio instinctively dashed to safety, and the next moment Armstrong pushed his arm even deeper, detonating the fissure–and with it the annoying turret.
Midna’s strikers were at least all gone by the time the explosive wave, so it was only her and her flygon that had to dodge out of the way, each of them leaping to either side to avoid getting blasted.
”Does nothing phase this guy,” Midna complained as she ditched the two guns she’d been using into portals, and tried to plan, before deciding, simply ”I’ll just have to hit him hard enough that he’ll feel it.”
Rather than follow up on this statement right away however, she instead started dancing. Dragon dancing. The princess stepped and spun with rhythmic grace, building up more and more power every few seconds, power which was visible as a gradually intensifying royal purple aura. As she did this, her flygon hovered nearby, ready to swoop in to defend its mistress if need be.
Whatever kind of attack Roxas had planned was cut short by the literal explosion that Armstrong caused around him. Unable to get close while that happened, Roxas did the opposite and backed off. He hoped that by putting some distance between himself and Armstrong - and if Armstrong continued to pay more attention to the other Seekers - Roxas could prepare another plan of attack without being noticed.
And so after he backed off and found a spot he could squat behind and be out of sight, Roxas retrieved the unused spirit of Fortune from his person and looked intently at it, ”I think we’re gonna need your help here, Miss Sniper. Hope there’s no hard feelings.”
The sudden retreat of both Roxas and Midna moments after the Twilight Princess said that everyone should attack together left only Giovanna standing before Armstrong as he stood to his full height. Taken aback, the secret agent briefly glanced between her allies before refocusing on the man in front of her. “Uhh…” He took off, picking up speed like a charging bull. Gio tensed up, ready to dodge, and when the moment came she ducked under Armstrong’s clothesline haymaker. She got clear rather than trying to attack, but even avoiding one of the senator’s felt like an achievement. When she turned to face him, however, Gio saw that he’d kept right on going. His true target wasn’t her at all. Instead he stampeded toward Midna, arms pumping. “Think you’re cute?”
Waiting for just this moment, her flygon dove down on its own. Armstrong had seen it on guard duty, of course, and when it acted predictably, the senator was ready. He cannoned off the ground and intercepted the pokemon mid-dive. His shirt gained some fresh clawmarks, but nevertheless he snatched the flygon by its long neck, then returned to the ground in a chokeslam strong enough to shake the arena. After kicking it onto its belly in Midna’s direction, he raised his fist and struck the ground to send a chain of flame geysers toward the pair.
In response the princess stepped onto the sliding form of her minion in what seemed an absolutely callus move, only to use the motion of leaping off of it to also kick it down into a twilight portal out of harm's way, followed by slamming her shadowhand down onto the ground and narrowly tossing herself over the wall of flames that only got a few licks on her. Then she kept dancing.
New Striker spiritbound: Fortune A striker that specializes in firepower. She has only two attacks, which have wildly different cooldowns. Using her Beretta 92F handgun has a short cooldown, but shorter range and low damage. Her Lockheed RG-590 Experimental Aircraft Rail Cannon has a long cooldown, as well as a long charge-up time, during which she can be interrupted and banished at any point. Once fired, though, that railgun does huge, highly destructive damage, capable of demolishing heavy armor, terrain, and so forth. When in use, she confers a passive ability to both herself and Roxas that increases the likelihood of enemy projectiles missing.
Then he summoned her. She wasn’t like other strikers, who typically went for their attack immediately. Instead Fortune stayed put and leveled her big railgun to take aim at Armstrong. Then she started charging the weapon. Seeing how it worked up close, Roxas now understood why she had earlier elected to stay hidden and take shots at them as a sniper. Clearly that was the safer and more strategically sound use of her rail cannon. If he wanted this to go off without a hitch, then Roxas was going to have to offer himself up to Armstrong as a decoy.
He moved away from his hiding spot and then took off in a run, specifically choosing to circle around so that the Senator would be in between himself and his striker, ”Hey, Senator Blockhead!” Roxas shouted with a taunt, even hurling a Waterga spell at Armstrong for good measure, ”Are all those muscles of yours compensating for something?”
Armstrong stood, turning from the havoc he’d sent toward Midna to give Roxas a sneer. He put up his arm to soak up the Waterga, then casually brushed the droplets off his shoulder. “Gotta work on your mudslinging, son. I’ve heard way worse.” Gio approached from a different angle, and for a brief moment Armstrong debated the options before him. “Still…” Launching forward, he made a beeline for Roxas anyway to send him flying with a mighty side kick. Gio dashed in after him. “I’m gonna knock you out!”
Blazermate could only really help with her healing for the first part of the fight, but once her striker’s turret got destroyed and he despawned, she had another idea. She could heal two people using her healing drone and her healing beam, but that wasn’t her plan. She’d be the annoying ranged person that hid behind her team, moving from purgatory crack to purgatory crack to summon ghosts that zoomed in and exploded on Armstrong.
Now if they did damage was anyone’s guess, but that was some damage she could do until she got an uber or a good chance to use her shield. Considering how threatening Armstrong was in melee, she really didn’t wanna get close to him with her shield, at least not yet. But it didn’t take too many ghosts until Blazermate got unlucky and a crack spawned under Armstong, leaving her back on healing duty but with her shield ready to use. Now the question was… offensive or defensive? She’d know after Armstrong’s next move.
Unfortunately for Armstrong, Roxas had learned his lesson, and he was clearly more agile. He first dodge rolled out of the way of the Senator’s incoming kick. Then, remembering what happened moments ago, he kept his distance and proceeded to pelt the man with a few Firagas. They didn’t seem that much more effective than the Waterga was, but at least it gave the Nobody a means to keep Armstrong’s attention on him. One thing Roxas remained paranoid about was keeping himself out of the man’s reach. He really did not want to get flung around and punted again like earlier.
Meanwhile, from her hidden spot out of sight, Fortune kept her rail cannon trained on Armstrong. It was almost finished charging up, so she began to look for an opportunity to take a clean shot at the Senator, preferably while his back was turned. They’d soon be able to learn just how good his nanomachines were at blocking a fully charged rail cannon shot from behind.
Roxas was fast, but he was not infallible. He was playing a dangerous game, and before his number came up, Giovanna was determined to help. Just after the Nobody slipped out of the grasp of one of Armstrong's big grabs, Gio struck from behind with a grab of her own. In a flash she was in the senator’s shoulders, her legs locked around his throat in a vice grip. Nanomachines might harden in response to physical trauma, but a squeeze was a little different. By the time they stiffened, Armstrong was already being choked. Rei joined in, chomping the big man’s wrist in an attempt to distract him. Finally, Gio slammed her fists into his head, discharging a massive amount of electricity from her gloves to make sure there really was nothing between his ears.
It was an incredible feat, and most incredible of all, it seemed to work. “Raaaaaaaaaagh!” Armstrong bellowed, struggling against Rei and pawing at Gio’s legs. After just a couple precious seconds, however, he clenched his teeth and sent Rei flying with a sweep of his arm. He reached up to grab Giovanna, but she managed to lean and duck away from his grip. A moment later, though, her wild ride came to an end. Armstrong jumped up, fell backward, and as he crushed the agent beneath his weight the air filled with the awful sound of cracking bones.
”Get off of her!” Midna shouted at the man, having arrived, glowing with power, and once again lashing out with her shadow hand. Not to punch this time, because that would end poorly for Gio, but instead the princess took a leaf out of the agent’s book and tried to grab the man with her mighty mitt. To haul him up. And then to hurl him as far as she could from the source of the move’s inspiration. Her boosted speed and strength allowed her to lift Armstrong off Giovanna, then throw him away from her wounded ally.
Blazermate’s scanners informed her of Giovanna’s now injured state as the massive meat man landed on top of her, only to be thrown away by Midna. ”I’m coming!” Blazermate said as she zoomed up to start to heal Giovanna, the same sickening bone snapping sounds happening, but in reverse as the bones knitted themselves back together. It was probably painful, but healing wasn’t always painless. Stil, Armstrong wasn’t a dumb guy even though he was a mountain of meat, so Blazermate kept her eyes on him and she had her shield ready for if he did anything.
Roxas admittedly froze up for a moment. Not only at the sickening sound of Gio’s severe injuries, but also because he knew he was partially to blame for it. He’d gotten a bit too overzealous in attracting Armstrong’s attention, and she was obviously the one who now paid the price for it. But after that moment of guilt, Roxas sprang back into movement. He ran past where Blazermate was healing Gio in order to put himself between them and Armstrong. As was becoming the norm, the Senator was already back on his feet and was now barrelling toward Roxas.
It was now or never, ”Freeze!” Roxas suddenly cried out. He shot the Blizzaga from the tip of his Keyblades, but it was aimed slightly low. He wasn’t aiming for Armstrong’s body, but rather his legs. And even though the nanomachines in his skin protected him from the damage, they weren’t able to stop his feet from becoming momentarily stuck to the ground. He had still managed to get close enough to slam Roxas with an uppercut that knocked him back to the spot nearby Blazermate and Gio. After that he had no choice but to tend to getting himself unstuck. With a giant yank, he broke one leg loose in a spray of ice shards, then went to free the other.
And that was all Fortune needed. She had a clear shot now, and so she squeezed the trigger and let loose her mighty rail cannon shot.
To say that the railgun’s payload finished Armstrong’s job for him was an understatement. The sheer force it communicated was enough to throw the man a couple dozen feet to the floor, and that was just from the aftershock of its absurd kinetic energy. That magnetically-propelled projectile simply moved too quickly -and struck too suddenly- for the nanomachines to fully absorb the immense damage. His shirt had been blown off, and the shot left a gruesome wound in his chest. Even after the fact his nanomachines did not recede from the impact site, as if their presence was needed to hold them together. Still, not even a shot that would have turned an average man into mist took the fight out of this Senator. After gritting his teeth, his face contorted in pain, he began to laugh.
“Hahahahaha!” he chortled, rising. “That one hurt!” When he stood, the others could see something unusual about his bare chest. It was covered in healed scar tissue, especially around the left side and radiating outward in streaks like swollen veins, too clean to be the result of injury. With no glasses to hide them, Armstrong’s pupils were glowing red.
Extensively healed by Blazermate, Giovanna picked herself up gingerly. Shaken by the traumatic pain of grievous injury and treatment that felt no better, it took a lot of effort just to face Armstrong once more. The Seekers’ foe looked more menacing than ever, but they could all see they were making progress. These next few moments might be the toughest yet, and Gio certainly couldn’t fight at her best, but this was the final round. Only so many seconds remained on the clock. One way or another, this was about to be decided.
”Together?” Midna asked, preparing one final joust against their bulwark of a foe.
”Yep.” Roxas said, ”All for one.” he then added in spite of himself. Sora really had rubbed off on him, not that any of the other Seekers would know that. He brandished Keyblades and gestured with both of them toward the nearby Gio and Midna, ”Light!” And on that command, he spent the last of his MP and shared his light with the two of them, empowering their abilities.
Gio took a deep breath. “Yeah.” Rei manifested beside her. When she ran forward, she’d build up the last bit of tension she needed to max out and cause her passive to kick in, turning her eyes white as her skin and hair began to glow with the power of a damage and defense buff. She couldn’t spend any tension without losing the boost, but as long as the four of them were working together, there was a chance they could win. And Roxas was sprinting right behind her. Seeing her allies on the attack, Blazermate also decided to join in as her kritz was almost charged and she still hadn’t gotten a use on her shield.
The three of them rushed Armstrong together. Both of their mobilities enhanced by Gio’s built up tension and Roxas’ light, they assaulted the Senator with a blitzkrieg of lightning fast kicks and Keyblade strikes. Blazermate was able to keep up thanks to the properties of her medibeam as well. And while they did that, Midna used her shadowhand to begin charging a super large Volleybomb. Armstrong’s nanomachines struggled to keep up with the speed and aggressiveness of his attackers, but he was at least able to shrug off some of their blows as they came. His fists met his opponent’s keyblade and kicks again and again, giving as good as he got, although he had no real answer to Blazermate’s damaging shield, as the speed inherited from Gio and Roxas made her incredibly difficult to even touch as she evaded his moves and kept her shield on him. As Roxas and Gio became little more than vicious streaks of gold and green, however, the output of Armstrong’s artificial heart finally reached its limit. “Grrrrrah!” he roared, reeling in an explosion of brilliant sparks. “You little shits!”
”Done!” cried Midna, leaping up above and readying herself to hurl the Volleybomb she had charged up. But she didn’t do it alone. Gio and Roxas both backed off from their onslaught and leaped up to join her, with Blazermate latching her medibeam onto Midna to give her a dose of kritz to make this vollybomb really hurt. They helped spike the bomb down at the Senator still standing there on the ground, now recovered enough to clench his teeth and tighten his fists. He crouched, muscles bulging, then leaped upward, one jet-black fist extended to pit his strength against the Seekers’ head-on. The next second, his megaton punch met Midna’s amped-up magic, and for a moment everything disappeared in an explosion of orange and teal.
When the light died down and the smoke cleared, Armstrong was down on one knee, his entire body grievously wounded. Over half of his right arm had been destroyed, and he was breathing heavily, no doubt in great pain. Nevertheless, he managed to raise his head and glower at the Seekers. “Huh…huh…not bad.”
”You wanna know what the sad part is?” Roxas asked the man as he dispelled his Keyblades, ”I couldn’t really disagree with you in all honesty. You were right when you said the city was rotten. We’ve all seen that for ourselves by now. But it didn’t look like your methods were making things any better. Are money and politics really the only things people care about here? Seems like a pretty sad way to live your life if you ask me.”
”Seemed like more of a might makes right type, which works all well and good till a hero comes along to stop you” Midna commented matter of factly, before gesturing to the spirit of the man Armstrong had used his might to usurp, asking ”Which took, what? An hour this time? Minutes?” before preparing to move, seeing as it had taken ”Too long for my tastes either way, seeing as we have a city to save”
Armstrong had no choice but to let his enemies’ smugness wash over him as he fought to compose himself, though at this point no amount of catching his breath would give him a second wind. “You still don’t understand,” he grumbled. “It was never about money. It’s about freedom, damn it. The freedom to live as we see fit, without anyone getting in our way!” He clenched his fist. “Do you know how long it’s been? Fighting for causes we don’t believe in. Dying for reasons we don’t understand. Midgar can’t be saved. But if they’re strong enough, its people can save themselves!” Armstrong faltered, but still he laughed. “You know it, too. You’ve taken things into your own hands. You’re dismantling things, piece by piece. Making things change, not letting legal bullshit get in the way, and if it costs a few lives? So be it.”
”Don’t give me that!” Roxas shouted, ”You may be okay with sacrificing lives to get what you’re after, but we’re not! And unlike you, we’re intending for everything and everyone to go back to their lives when this is all over, including the ones who were lost along the way!” He crossed his arms and turned away, no longer wanting to look this guy in the face, ”You may have been right about the rot in the city, but you’re dead wrong about everything else after that. You may have thought you were taking things into your own hands, but you weren’t, and what happened at the debate stage should have been your first clue.” he said, in reference to the Consul who had all but hijacked the debate and made it crystal clear that he was the one pulling much of the strings.
”A fully militarized society is ridiculous anyway. The ‘weak’ forge the soldiers’ arms and armor, they bake the bread that feeds them and build the walls they guard. Your ideas will result in ruins lorded over by starving brutes armed with scrap metal” Minda replied dismissively.
”I mean, you're not wrong, but you don’t have the whole story. Ever wonder why all of this was happening? Well the sun there is actually some super powerful seraphim ball angel thing named Galeem and it destroyed and remade every world and mashed them together, then gave ya false memories to trap ya in a never ending cycle of, this. If you wanted true freedom, you had to figure that out.” Blazermate said. She then remembered. ”Oh right, while under their control you can’t even understand that concept unless you're really introspective or something… huh..” She then looked at the ground for a bit, mumbling so that Armstrong couldn’t hear. ”Why did the super muscle guy have to be evil….”
“You prattle and prognosticate, but at the end of the day, you don’t know jack,” Armstrong declared. “There’s no such thing as good or evil. Just dead, or alive.”
Until now, Giovanna had kept quiet. She didn’t care much about post-victory proclamations, and she didn’t have much in the way of principles she could preach about. She more or less saw all that as a waste of time, and it sure felt that way now, so when Armstrong said something portentous she spoke up. “Right, yeah, that kind of leads in to how this is gonna end,” she said off-handedly. “Soo…”
”Your right, this is a waste of time” Midna agreed, being reminded in this moment of what should have been her last meeting with Zant, before slamming her shadow hand forwards, purple claws glowing at its fingertips. It plunged into the chest of the man who would tear down what little kindness Midgar had in the name of his animalistic definition of freedom, and then ripped out his monstrous heart.
”Brutal.” Blazermate said at Midna’s finisher. Giovanna narrowed her eyes, her lips pursed, and turned away. After calling out Rei, she climbed aboard and began to ride her wolf spirit across the devastated computer garden, toward the huge set of stairs leading toward Arahabaki’s center. Blazermate went over and picked up Armstrong’s spirit. She’d figure out what to do with it later, and went with the rest to the center.
Robin hit the ground hard, and a vast, unnatural creaking noise issued from its body, as if the earth itself were groaning. The awful sound subsided after a moment, but the archangel continued to writhe feebly. Beside it lay its book, splayed open but still intact, though the same couldn’t be said for its horn. Its ten-diamond halo hung empty, listless, and faded. Robin was dying.
”THIS ISN'T HAPPENING,” it wailed after a moment. Badly wounded and thoroughly exhausted, Robin could do little but raise a desperate, imploring hand upward, though unfathomable amounts of earth separated it from the sky. ”LORD OF LIGHT. WHY AM I HERE? JUST TO SUFFER, FOR YOUR DISTANT AMUSEMENT? HAVE PITY ON ME.” Robin grit its teeth, and the pages of its tome began to turn. ”GIVE ME ONE. MORE. CHANCE!”
Robin used Treat, giving itself the random buff Multitarget.
Robin used Fairy Dust.
In that moment, the eyes of every Seeker began to droop. Even the warframes seemed to short out. Everything grew hazy; the darkness closed in. Their limbs, heavy as stone, could not be lifted, and their heads lolled as they sank to the ground.
Then their eyes opened again, and for a moment it seemed as if nothing had changed. Around them towered the underground chamber’s pillars, and over them hung the darkness of its vaulted ceiling. The Seekers could see one another as they stirred. In the air above them, however, hung weightless motes of faint, soft light. Each an intricate, unique circular pattern. The walls of this room seemed to be overgrown with quietly whispering roots, their wood inscribed with barely-perceptible spirals and rings. And the flowers. All around them, the long-dead, withered flowers that they crunched underfoot by the dozen in their struggles against Ten Piedad and Robin Goodfellow were not just alive, but in full bloom. These lumenflowers were even larger than sunflowers, but with milk-white petals, and centers as pitch-black as the inky night.
“Whuh?” Nadia’s head popped up from inside a cluster of lumenflowers, held up by her hand. She looked both angry and bewildered. “Where is…where am I now!?” After seeing her friends, the rest of her appeared and she replaced her head on her shoulders. “You guys too? I’m still dreaming, so…I guess you’re not real, either? Unless we’re all sharing a dream somehow, in which case, hoo boy…”
"That seems to be the case..." Primrose replied, picking herself up once more. When she had felt the now familiar pull of sleep due to Robin's spell, she had expected a third round with Simeon. This was entirely different, but she could tell that she was dreaming too.
Off in the distance, the surreal flowerbed stirred. From them rose the unmistakable shape of a being that should’ve been dead. Robin assumed its full height without a scratch on its body or anything in its hands. It took a deep breath, then held its right hand upward.
Nadia swallowed. “Uh oh.”
Immediately, the room began to shake. Cracks opened in the walls, letting in peach-colored light. After a moment they broke apart and fell away in immense, jagged slabs, and as they crumbled they revealed a boundless sky of gentle clouds and floating islands, interspersed by enormous floating symbols like snowflake dreamcatchers, no two quite alike. The ceiling floated away above the Seekers. Wherever they’d been taken, they were clearly not underground any more.
White motes began to coalesce above Robin, gathering into a storm that slowly spiraled downward like a tornado to its outstretched hand. “EVEN IF THIS IS IT,” the archangel murmured. “THE PITIFUL SUM OF MY EXISTENCE…” The light of dreams slammed together in its palm, and in Robin’s grasp it became an ethereal sword that the archangel held half in front of its face with both hands. “I WILL NOT GIVE IT UP.”
One of the first responses to this was a cry of ”Esuna!” followed by one of ”Oh come on!” as the cure spell failed to awaken Jr’s target from within the dream.
”Hmph!” grunted Ganondorf. He’d had just about as much as he could stand of this Robin Goodfellow, ”Asleep or awake, it makes no difference!” he declared, brandishing his twin greatswords and pointing one of them at Robin in a threatening manner, ”Victory will be mine!” and he charged forward in order to continue his relentless assault of twin sword attacks against Robin.
”Ugh, not this again. I suppose it makes sense this happens considering we need an item from this creature...” Sectonia said, annoyed as she began to throw out her homing spell shots.
Wielding its dream nail in both hands, Robin swung it well before Ganondorf got into range. Its ethereal edge created a shadowy lightwave that flew through the air in a dazzling diagonal arc. It cleaved through the lumenflowers in its way as it surged forth, threatening everyone in its path, and in its wake Robin launched a second lightwave at the opposite diagonal angle. Ganondorf had to halt his advance altogether just so he could jump aside in time to avoid being cleaved by them.
Behind him, Bowser, Jr and Rika had a bit of a better go of it, good at jumping as they where, the pair leapt over the center of each diagonal arch, either one after the other like hurdles in Bowser, and his sons’ case, or all in one go with the featherfall launched Rika. Kamek meanwhile just floated over the problem entirely.
“Oboy.” Already not planning to go toe-to-toe with Robin now that it had a giant sword, Nadia took off in a run to circle away from the huge lightwaves and around the archangel for a flanking maneuver. By ducking down to dart along on all fours, she kept a low enough profile to use the lumenflowers for cover, though with Robin mowing down the flowerbed her cover wouldn’t last for long. “This is NOT my idea of a dream battle.”
“It’s probably really boring from the outside.” Jesse said, Levitating to get into the left ‘quadrant’ of the light waves, going over one and under the other. Doing the usual, she found a big rock in the chamber and chucked it at Robin before following up with Grip shots towards his weird face. For a brief moment Robin held up its dream nail inorder to protect itself, but the stone fragments and the bullets that followed still pitted its body.
It might have been the feeling of dreaming, or seeing that Robin was on his last legs, but Primrose did not immediately go on the attack this time. She avoided the dark waves produced by Robin's sword, then stood her ground. It was the final push, and with everyone here, conscious, and fighting together, she decided to empower the Seekers so that they might get this done all the quicker. She started with Lion Dance and flowed into the Peacock Strut, increasing the offensive capabilities of her allies.
Therion was more than nimble enough to get out of harm's way as well. Once he did, he summoned the ever reliable junicorn to use it as cover to slip into the dwindling flower patch the same as Ms. Fortune. The striker rolled forward, firing its lance at Robin once it came to a stop. The rose-red horn impaled the archangel’s shoulder, then disintegrated after delivering its piercing payload, leaving the junicorn to fade out and start its countdown. Its master had already decided his next move, he just had to get a little closer in order to carry it out.
Ganondorf spotted Robin holding his weapon in a defensive manner and knew he couldn’t waste any time. He lunged forward and attempted his assault on Robin once again. Hopefully with less distance to cover and Robin’s momentary distraction he could catch the archangel unaware and snag him in a flurry of sword slashes. The archangel’s stance had hardly been a big commitment, though, and Robin turned while stepping away to perform a revolving wide slash. ”HAH!” Ganondorf refused to be deterred this time. He held both blades vertically with their tips planted into the ground so they could absorb the brunt of the attack to minimize its damage. Then he went back on the attack. Only now he was close enough that he could clash his blades with Robin’s weapon and hopefully stop it from conjuring anymore lightwaves. His guard certainly blunted the blow, but it hardly stopped Robin in its tracks. After the sweep failed to connect, the archangel lifted its giant dream nail to bring it down on top of Ganondorf. RRRAH! Ganondorf had no other option at this point. He pushed himself into a backward leap to avoid the nail. But that of course meant he now had to lunge back into melee range. Thankfully his allies chose that time to jump in and give him a much-needed moment to breathe.
The troops were hot on his heels, but rather than rush in to do their own thing like they had in a lot of the awake half of the fight, Jr was in a position to organize their tactics from the get go, commanding the squad to focus on pulling off a ”Elemental combo! Water and metal, then a shocker!” which they followed his lead in doing. Jr started out by peppering the titan with numerous metal spikes shot from his wrist while Bowser sprayed him with water from his cannons and Kamek used his Crimson Rod to rain down bloody harm. Then once they’d sufficiently soaked and lightning-rodded their foe, Rika unleashed a swarm of electrical fireflies from her gauntlet hangers and sent them forward as she also summoned her Ichor queen striker inorder to have her unleash a lightning bolt, timing it so they’d both deliver their electrical payload at the same time as Mimi (riding her trainer’s shoulder) hit Robin with an electro ball.
Nadia hadn’t been expecting the Troop to actually coordinate much of anything, let alone elemental reactions. More than anything else, though, those seemed to be what all the powers she’d gained from her fusions lent themselves to. “Hey, wait up!” While Ganondorf bought the others precious time by risking his life in close quarters with Robin Goodfellow, Nadia’s flanking maneuver brought her close enough to strike. First, she leaped out of the bed of lumenflowers to slice at the archangel’s hip with her claws. As the iron spikes flew in, she got the great idea to double jump directly into one’s path. The piercing pain elicited a gasp, but it also caused a Conducted reaction, and the Multitarget that gave her boosted her attacks’ range with bursts of blood. When the others’ plan unfolded, she could reapply more instances of wet to keep the pain train rolling with even more procs of electro-charged.
Of course, being close to Robin meant dealing with its massive, dangerous melee attacks, and Nadia wasn’t the only one in that predicament. Having had a second to breathe and to think, Ganondorf sprang back into action. He tried summoning Blastocyst so that it would drop directly down onto Robin Goodfellow from above - primarily to ensure Robin was momentarily distracted as it lashed out against the giant glob with its ethereal blade. Then he lunged forward to put himself back into direct battle against the archangel, ”I’m getting sick of you! DIE!” he hacked at Robin with a handful of swings then followed that up with unleashing whatever dark explosion he’d managed to build up since the last time he used the attack.
About the same time, Therion made his move and used Shackle Foe. Now that Robin had been forced to take a more direct approach to combat instead of just defending himself and casting, Therion could tell that the archangel's attacks would be difficult to contend with. Anyone backed into a corner would fight ferociously, and the same seemed to be true now. Therion's skill would lower Robin's offensive power, for what it was worth, and he got out of the way quickly when he noted Ganondorf's imminent explosion.
Ganondorf’s barrage met with resistance as the much bigger archangel fought back, trading blows, but Shackle Foe made sure that the red-haired warlord could take it until he let loose with a devastating ender, against which Robin had no reply. The entity reeled for a moment, its arms flailing as it strove to regain its balance.
Choosing to be daring, Therion darted right back in toward Robin. In his periphery he could see several other Seekers doing the same to capitalize on the opening Ganondorf had made. With a burst of speed Therion beat them there, stacking another debuff onto Robin with Armor Corrosive to lower his defense. Then Therion skirted around the archangel, slashing Robin's sides as he made way for his allies. His fellow thief dashed in on his heels, hardened claws at the ready. Nadia raked through the unnatural skin of Robin’s leg twice in quick succession, then chained into a moonlight-empowered Charge that carried her through and past her target in a jagged streak of yellow and silver. Her starting point meant that she ended up a ways behind him, out of melee range but not out of throwing range. She turned and hurled Athame at Robin’s back, and while she wasn’t a good enough knife-thrower to sink its blade, it still further debilitated the archangel’s defense on hit.
Once Robin got unbalanced, Sectonia saw a bit of an interesting scheme brewing. Seeing the debuff Therion was putting on him, she decided to hit him with Slow to make his counter attack quite the easy affair to dodge, before following up with her void globules. Might as well let those in melee take the brunt of the hits, but she could make their job easier at the very least.
All too quickly Robin planted a hoof and regained its poise, seizing the hilt of its dream nail with both hands. If its foes had it right where they wanted it, it was time to shake things up. ”RAAAAAAAGH!” Robin rampaged across the arena, swinging the dream nail as it advanced to clear out its melee attackers, then close in on and scatter the shooters.
While Robin was unbalanced, Primrose had moved into the steps of yet another dance - the speed enhancing Panther Dance. It was finished not a moment too soon, an aid to help the party evade Robin's rampage. Primrose herself took no evasive action, instead using the speed boost to swiftly transition from dancing to bringing her weapon up in front of her. She attempted to parry the archangel's swing and found that even with an attack debuff he was still quite powerful. Unlikely to overpower him, she cast a Vengeful Spirit to burst in and through Robin, and in turn his rampage cast her aside.
Ganondorf had to dive out of the way of the archangel’s rampage. This was getting ridiculous. How much more could this thing possibly have in it? Surely it had to be on its last legs by now. The problem was, the Seekers were getting close to their last legs as well. Where was a Bottled Fairy when you needed one? Reluctantly, the warlord retrieved one of the potions on his person and smashed it against himself. The splash healing potions weren't as strong as the instant health potion he drank earlier, but at least it was some healing to get rid of the injuries and damage Ganondorf had been taking.
”I grow tired of this.” he muttered, channeling his dark magic into summoning his Phantom. Once it appeared, Ganondorf grabbed the Phantom’s hand and let it lift him up. After a quick spin around, the Phantom was able to throw Ganondorf toward Robin, allowing him to come down onto the archangel from above. He attacked - not with his swords - but with his Warlock Kick. The kick wasn’t as strong as the Warlock Punch, but it was faster and less telegraphed in exchange. Ganondorf could then follow that opening move by again going head to head against Robin with his twin greatswords. The archangel was getting on the Gerudo’s last nerve and he was determined to kill the bastard once and for all.
The king of evil was joined in his self made projectile attack by Rika, who crossed the last of her hurled distance on the back of a vaultbreaker punch. To follow this slammed her hull claws forwards, as well as firing her rigging disruption cannons, both generating recoil to push her back and away from their foe a bit rather than landing right at his feet.
As for the troop, while Kamek had floated well above sword range as a matter of practice, and from up there continued to harry their foe with what little mana he had remaining, the other three had been in harm's way. At least for a moment till Bowser tossed his children out of it anyway, and left only himself in the way of the rampage. As a result of taking the brunt of it, he was down, but not out, as Jr (who had been the one to hurl Rika after Robin at her request) rushed to his side, helping him stand and using some of his dwindling mana reserves to cast ”cure!” on his papa to get him off of death’s door.
Ganondorf’s intercession prevented Robin taking advantage of the state its frenzied advance left Bowser in, as the shadow-shrouded Warlock Kick smashing into its check took all its attention. Giving the archangel no time to breath, the warlord pressed his advantage with a savage offense, supported by a flurry of dark magic from Sectonia and constant gunfire from Jesse. Robin brought down its dream nail again and again, but Ganondorf did not relent, deftly evading or blocking the blows as his swordblades bit deep. As the rest of the close-quarters fighters closed in to join their furious frontrunner, Robin saw only one option. It inverted its grip on its dream nail, holding the ethereal weapon downward as the fantastical colors gathered around the blade. Then it plunged the weapon downward, creating a column of prismatic power around its body that was breathtaking to behold. Ganondorf, Nadia, and the others were forced to leap clear, lest they be consumed by the unnatural radiance.
Jesse lifted her gun at the sight of the massive column of energy, and switched to Pierce. She began to charge up a round of Pierce. “I’d like to tell you all a story about a dream my brother had once, if you don’t mind.” Jesse said, projecting her voice. She was talking to the Seekers and Robin both.
That deadly x on the end of her barrel formed once again, and a little bead of lead began to vibrate and heat up the obsidian-like rocks that made up her gun.
“See, my brother went to a dark place, and there was a dark man there. His name was Mr. Door.” She says the name, amused. She did some mental math and lined up the shot on where she estimated Robin’s head was behind the pillar. She figured that after all the punishment he had taken, it was time for the Seekers to start going for the finishing blow. For her part, she was targeting his head.
“And he told my brother that there are many worlds, side by side, on top of each other, some inside of others. In one world, there’s a writer who writes a story about a cop.” Jesse said, shutting one eye. The barrier fell, and Jesse had a clear shot. Right between the eyes.
“In another world, the cop was real.” The superheated psychic bullet shot out like a cannon, aiming to punch a hole in Robin’s 2D head.
”Ack” Sectonia reflexivity said at the bright column of light laid out before her. She was further away than the melee fighters, so she was just blinded by it, not in any real danger. Still, she noticed that robin wasn’t moving, and she’d make use of that assuming her spell could go through.
Using her own bit of light magic, she summoned her large rings of light and fired them at Robin, in an attempt to use the light buzzsaw rings to cut through his own light pillar. ”I am tired of this dream world. Vanish.” Sectonia said.
Despite the lightshow, the Seekers’ target wasn’t moving, and the director’s aim was true. Her shot cleaved through the light of dreams, then through the archangel’s self-image, and Sectonia’s spell followed suit. In an instant the pillar of light died, and Robin froze in a stricken position, eyes wide. After a moment a flood of white particles began to spew from its wounds, the same ethereal, radially symmetric patterns that floated throughout this dream world. Its body thrashed limply as it floated there, like a balloon losing its air through a rupture, and the voice that echoed through the field of unreal flowers rang loud and clear with notes of despair.
”NOOOOOOOOOOO! THIS CAN’T BE IT!’ Robin howled. ”I HAVE NOTHING TO WAKE UP TO. I DON’T WANT TO DISAPPEAR!”
Then its body exploded into light, and when the light faded, not the faintest trace remained.
But then a new light began to shine.
Throughout the battle, the floating garden island had been rising through the fathomless expanse of colorful clouds. Now, its upward journey -as frenetic as the pace of the fight itself- finally slowed, coming to an end as it crested the sea of orange clouds to come to a rest beneath a gentle, sunset-orange sky. Motes of light floated calmly here, and the fluffy clouds were piled together like scenic hills. Up through the clouds reached curved stony spires, pointed like ribs or horns, and they framed the gathering glow that now bid the Seekers to turn and look. At first, it looked like the sun itself, brilliant and orange as it would be at dawn or dusk. Yet somehow it seemed far closer. Closer to the dreaming Seekers than they could have possibly managed, closer than it ever should be, and blindingly -searingly- bright.
In moments, the all-consumed splendor of that light had burned everything away, and when all that remained was white, it slowly faded to darkness.
Goldlewis’ @Lugubrious / Susie’s @Archmage MC vs Hank Allen / Jack-8 / Jacqueline / Deckard Pain Word Count: 6926 (+7)
Between the stolid soldiers and unfeeling automatons, there weren’t any more words to bandy, so without further ado the fight was on. Jack and Jacqueline both took off like sprinters from a starting block, the former swinging his massive arms like an ape as he took large, clumsy strides while the latter dashed headfirst on pointed stilettos with her arms and long hair extended behind her. For the moment, Goldlewis held his ground. Considering he was up against a team of four, they probably had a strategy. He and Susie had nothing but their weapons and their wits. While the veteran’s methods might employ a lot of brute force, his greatest strength was the experience and cunning he’d honed over the course of more battles than he wanted to admit. As such, though he didn’t want to give his foes the positional advantage, he needed a moment to scrutinize them. To slow them down he smacked his coffin’s lid and received his Skyfish minigun from within, with which he opened fire. And as the bullets flew, his mind raced.
Jack-8 closed in at the enemy team’s forefront. Clearly a robot of some kind despite his human face, he looked like a heavy metal juggernaut. Probably the equal of Goldlewis in strength, and he couldn’t assume a lack of intelligence or skill, either. Despite her much smaller size, Jacqueline seemed closer, but strangely built. With those crystal skewers especially, she struck him as a product of magitech, perhaps made in Piltover. Her lack of speed made him wonder what supernatural abilities she had in store. Behind the two jogged Hank, a heavy cannon in his hands. Normally someone with defensive abilities would take point, so Goldlewis assumed his plan was to stay back, stay alive, and keep putting shields on the frontliners to keep them alive. If that was the case, going for the tank first might actually be the best option. That came down to the healer, though. Old Deckard moved at a walking pace, staying well away from the frontlines. That didn’t mean he wasn’t a threat though; just that he was where he’d be most effective. In war medics were protected by the Geneva Convention, but in a fight like this victory hinged on eliminating enemy healers. Especially considering that the Seekers didn’t have one of their own.
Well, Goldlewis couldn’t strategize for long. Jack was almost here, and Skyfish hadn’t chewed through his shield. “Get the old guy!” he barked at Susie, figuring that her mobility and ranged attacks would give her the best shot. He dropped his minigun and grabbed the coffin as Jack charged in, then readied himself to block. Like a madman, Jack went for a running tackle right away, and as the throw beat the veteran’s guard Goldlewis went down with Jack on top of him. The robot began to punch, arms like pistons, and Goldlewis put up his own to shield his face. After four punches Jack grabbed hold for a cross arm lock.
Any attempt from Susie to intervene found opposition in Jacqueline, however. The doll used Dark Moon, accelerating her leg boosters to zip behind Susie in a blistering burst of speed, where she whipped her skewers in a two-meter circle to stun her opponent while she stealthed herself. That stun gave Hank the time he needed to jog over and take aim with his laser cannon. A moment after Susie regained control, its powerful beam would blaze her way.
Susie, seeing this coming, transported away and just barely avoided the beam as Hank adjusted his aim to chase her. She hadn’t had a chance to get into her business suit yet, but with their hand shown, she could finally get some height before dropping with her business suit right on top of Deckard. The healer was hurt by this, being the old man he was, but it was soon found that while he lacked in mobility, he gained in the ability to heal himself until help arrived by chugging his potions and tracing a triangle upon the ground using some scroll. Not knowing what this was, Susie started to punch Deckard and push him out of it, and while she managed that, she found her mech was rooted when the rune completed while she was still inside of it. The damage was low, it was just a root, but if Deckard had followed up on the stun from Jacqueline properly there wouldn’t have been anything she could’ve done about that beam.
To finish his retreat before Susie could continue the beatdown, he threw a cube that expanded and exploded in a red flash, causing 3 small red potion vials to spawn around Susie. Bottles that would soon disappear as she spun up her business suit’s spinning fist charge and hit the stealthed Jacqueline as she dashed forward towards Deckard. The healer wouldn’t take this lying down though and as he drank his own potions, he also summoned a tornado of books that Susie couldn’t dash through, instead they knocked her back as she dashed through them, eventually causing her to go around it and clip Deckard instead of hitting him full on with the tornado whirl.
In going after Deckard, Susie forced the enemy team to adapt around her. While Hank’s laser cannon ran through each charge too fast for sustained DPS, it could belt out a lot of punishment in a short amount of time, and the moment he could he unleashed the sizzling blue-and-red beam into Susie’s business suit. His weapon’s recoil was such that he seemed to be fighting it as much as his opponents, and when it petered out, he switched it out for a strange two-handed projection device that looked like something between an accordion and a belt buckle. A little after Deckard’s initial shield burst and he healed himself with a potion, Hank’s Shield Charger placed another, beefier shield on the healer to help keep him alive. Jacqueline joined the attack with Burst Harpoon, slamming the ground to create a fissure beneath Susie’s business suit. From the gashes that left behind the machine began to bleed, not blood but coolant, the loss of which would lead to higher internal temperatures.
Meanwhile, the shift in battle had left Goldlewis in the dust, forcing him to go toe-to-toe with Jack-8. After the arm lock Goldlewis managed to dislodge his opponent and rise, and Jack came in swinging with a series of rushing uppercuts. The veteran blocked them while standing, trying to get a feel for his foe’s strength, and the moment the barrage slowed he tried to check Jack’s offense with a couple low elbow jabs. When they caught him, Goldlewis went straight into an up-forward-down Behemoth Typhoon as an overhead. He did not expect Jack to nimbly backdash, moving with deceptive ability, then circle around and struck with Dumptruck, a forward elbow smash right to his target’s padded ribs.
“Bah.” Goldlewis composed himself in time to block the first two hits of Jack’s Pivot Gun, only for him to delay slightly while charging the final two-fisted blow. Goldlewis knew a frame trap when he saw one, and wasn’t about to challenge this combination. Unfortunately, he was wrong; when that double piston punch blasted forward, it turned out to be unblockable, and the impact threw Goldlewis onto his back. “What!?” As he hit the floor, Jack dashed in to deliver a meaty Rocket Kick, but Goldlewis wasn’t having any of it. “Get the hell off!” he roared, planting his foot hard enough to crack the ground as he rose. “Down the…system!” His heavy reversal dealt a chunk of damage and launched Jack off his feet. By the time the robot landed, he’d be reconsidering such impunity in the future.
Susie meanwhile saw what was going on dealing with the three around her. At least she was causing a lot of chaos and forcing the others to focus on her while Goldlewis dealt with the other person. Deckard saw that his 4th team member was getting attacked, but soon his weakness was shown; he had to get fairly close to toss a potion to them. And with Hank having given his shield to Deckard to protect him from Susie, the only thing she had to really worry about was the assassin doll and the occasional blasts from Hank. At least they attacked her suit, and not her.
And she was going to take advantage of all of this. Grabbing Jacqueline and Deckard with her mech, Susie gave them a toss towards Hank and shot the trio with her cow mangler as Deckard and Jacqueline flew through the air at Hank. Seems like she’d have to keep them together to deal with what Hank and Deckard were doing before they caused her business suit some serious damage.
With his Shield Burst recharged, Hank primed it the moment Susie’s mech managed to grab hold of his teammates. To her credit, neither the medic nor the doll saw it coming either. In their efforts to stay alive and bring the pain to the business suit, they’d ended up underestimating the range of its free-floating limbs. What she did with her captives, however, could’ve used some second guessing. Hank’s eyebrows went up as Susie tossed his teammates toward him. Rather than crush them in her grip, pound them against the floor, or even slam them together, she thought she’d try and take them out in one fell swoop? Well, this bot had another thing coming. Hank turned and rolled out of the way; his joints might creak with age, but his muscles had been forged in fire. His Shield Burst went off to give everyone a little extra protection, which Deckard definitely needed as he hit the ground, but Jacqueline ignited her leg thrusters to recover in the air for a graceful landing.
“You wanna play rough?” Hank spat, rising to his feet. “Fine, we’ll play rough. Round ‘er up, fellas.” Jacqueline obeyed without question, running toward Susie. She whirled like a ballerina to cast Crescent Moon, the pointed tip of her leg drawing a semicircle that then fired out toward the business suit. By now, her attacks had generated enough heat to activate her passive Thermoelectric Shield. When she attacked, the residual heat from each strike got converted into a barrier that would help her keep the pressure on for about seventeen seconds. Meanwhile, Deckard shuffled into position to cast Scroll of Sealing again, aiming to root Susie in place.
With their enemy softened up and pinned down, Hank was ready to take her out. He leveled a strange-looking pistol at his enemy, registering her with a harmless laser pointer. After a brief delay, his Orbital Drill joined the party, a pillar of plasma from on high that would track its target as it lasted for ten seconds, wreaking havoc all the while.
Over by the wall, Goldlewis was having trouble with his own opponent. It wasn’t Jack-8’s strength or intelligence that challenged him; it was that this robot moved like nothing else he’d ever seen. In addition to dashing in and out of range in a fast-paced stop-and-go dance, he moved sideways with uncanny speed and precision, sometimes circling halfway around Goldlewis before his Behemoth Typhoon even descended. On one such exchange Jack counterhit him with an uppercut launcher, then kept him juggled with a knee strike on the same side followed by a stubby hinge kick on the left. As if the metallic impacts weren’t bad enough, Goldlewis came to the shocking realization: this machine knew his combos!
Well, that wasn’t going to fly. “Eat shit!” He yelled, using his Burst to break out of the combo much to Jack’s surprise. The energy wave floored Jack just as Hank’s Orbital Drill dropped on Susie, and Goldlewis grumbled as he charged forward. “How does his work underground?” Jack woke up with a low turn kick, but his opponent had taken to the air. Goldlewis airdashed in and landed with a UMA slapfest practically unopposed, allowing him to gatling into an aerial forward-up-back Behemoth Typhoon, land, and get another Behemoth Typhoon on the ground for good measure. Still Jack came back for more. Time to see if he really couldn’t anti-air. Pressing his advantage, Goldlewis jumped again with a knee strike for an instant overhead. That worked too, so after thanking his lucky stars Goldlewis followed up with aerial down-back-up coffin swing, then landed, got close with a shoulder barge, slammed the coffin down, and finished with a meaty back-down-forward Typhoon.
When Goldlewis went for an empty jump low, however, his good luck went bad on him. Jack might be bad at anti-airs, but he could react to this. He performed a low parry, and before Goldlewis knew what hit him, he’d been flipped onto his back and bounced off the ground. His foe struck with an uppercut into a strong hook punch, ran after him to hit the knee, then launched into a three-punch sequence that ended by firing out his forearm like a piston. Goldlewis hit the ground and slid up against the wall, sore from a barrage of hits mostly to his legs and belly. “Oooogh,” he groaned, struggling to rise as Jack dashed in. The robot stopped short to bait the super, but Goldlewis didn’t bite, going for a grab instead. Jack promptly teched the throw, and just like that the two were back in neutral.
Well if Hank thought Susie was slow and going to take that laser, he had another thing coming. Revving up her business suit, she dashed forward with the mechanical arms of her business suit whirring like a buzzsaw, first bashing through Jacqueline’s crescent moon (which both damaged her suit and inflicted more bleeding), then escaping Deckard’s slow to deploy root, and outrunning the orbital laser as she dashed right for the trio who hadn’t really separated much.
And much like a bowling ball running through pins, she rushed through all 3 of them, dealing some hefty damage and knocking them in various directions. With his jetpack Hank had the mobility to take minimal damage, but Jacqueline and Deckard were not nearly as mobile and got caught off guard by the sudden speed of the business suit, granted their various shields dulled some of the damage. Turning Hank’s own weapon against him as she could still turn while doing her rush and made the laser trace a line to her, having Hank in its destructive path, swerving around in a large circle to take another swipe at them.
Deckard got busy, tossing a health potion to Jacqueline as he moved away, after which he cast a Horadric Cube toward Susie to stymie her approach. The doll regretted using Dark Moon earlier, as its stun paired with the Orbital Drill would’ve been a killer combination, but that ability was still on cooldown. She spread out from the others to force Susie to pick a single target. Once Hank landed, his jetpack needing to recharge, he fired up his laser cannon and let it rip once more.
After their reset, the fight raged on between Goldlewis and Jack-8. Both landed a couple short strings on each other, neither overcommitting. Though the robot managed to open up Goldlewis more with his amazing movement, he discovered one other problem for Jack other than anti-airs: projectiles. When he got enough space to let out a Thunderbird, the flying grenade tracked Jack down despite his attempt to sidestep, and paved the way for Goldlewis to close in behind it and overwhelm his opponent with a hard-to-see jump-in. In the middle of his combo, however, Goldlewis dropped it, and Jack bit back. “Ah, hell!” the veteran spat, counterhit and then sent spinning. He slammed the wall behind him and slumped down, allowing Jack to close in and land another few hits before the hapless southerner finally went off to the side.
That robot sure hit like a truck, but Goldlewis wasn’t out of the running just yet. “Got my back against the wall, huh?” he muttered, getting to his feet as Jack marched forward with an ominous Dark Greeting. He sidestepped the unblockable attack, then lashed out with a backhand that pushed Jack back. He applied pressure with a couple hits, microwalking forward between each one. Then he ran forward as if for a throw, only to shimmy backward at the last second. Jack bought it and flinched in anticipation, allowing Goldlewis to actually grab hold, turn him around, and bash the robot with a triple headbutt. “You! Damn! Fool!” Now cornered, Jack fell to the ground, and Goldlewis tapped him with a stomp to force a quick rise. Then he whipped out his coffin for an uncharged dust, and unfortunately for Jack, he read the attack wrong and blocked low. The UMA’s fist hit him overhead, staggering him long enough for Goldlewis to jump with another UMA slapfest, bang him off the wall with an airborne smack, and airdash cancel that into another one that splatted Jack against the wall. At that point, a third and final coffin thrust smashed Jack right through the wall and sent him flying into the distance.
“Whew,”Goldlewis panted, wiping his forehead. If only he could afford to take a break. Instead he turned and took off running for Susie’s fight, hoping he wasn’t too late to lend a hand.
Susie meanwhile had to guard from the counter attack of Hank. Deckard’s cube didn’t really do much but mildly inconvenienced Susie as he wasn’t really meant for doing damage, but Hank’s laser pushed her back towards Goldiewis. Her suit was durable, but not invincible, and it was looking a bit rough now.
”I see you’ve finished with your opponent. Care to help me with these three?” Susie said, a bit annoyed but more focused at the moment. ”Their combination of shields and heals makes them quite durable. And that puppet seems to just inflict constant attacks that cause my suit to leak coolant. I really don’t want to have to deal with an overheat scenario.”
The enemies who might have otherwise been too focused on Susie to notice the incoming veteran (until his heavy footfalls alerted them, anyway) got plenty of forewarning thanks to her speech. “Yeah, yeah, I’m comin’!” Goldlewis called as he jogged over. He didn’t relish getting bogged down by just one opponent while his comrade fought three, but that robot had been one hell of a fighter. Combatants with those sorts of skills were rare, and in terms of raw fighting ability, an outlier. Hopefully the rest were more typical fare.
He stopped and dropped his coffin. It hit the ground with a slam, then cracked open so that the UMA inside could deliver a Skyfish minigun into the veteran’s waiting hands. “Eat lead!” he yelled as he opened fire, trying to draw off one or two opponents. Hank heard the roar of gunfire and scattered away from the others, instinctively looking for cover. As a soldier, he knew what those kinds of firearms were capable of–and he didn’t know that the Skyfish could only fire thirty rounds maximum. What it could do, however, was lock Hank in hitstun when the bullets clipped him, which most bullets couldn’t do.
The arrival of Goldlewis forced the others to adapt, too. Also identifying him as a shooter, Deckard shied away, trying to put Susie and her business suit between him and Goldlewis. Jacqueline, not being a tank who had to concern herself with Deckard’s wellbeing, decided that she’d rather shed blood than coolant. She used Dark Moon, jetting across the battlefield with terrifying speed to get behind Goldlewis and strike him with a thermoelectric burst. The red-hot wave jolted his nervous system, stunning the man for a couple seconds. “Gaaah, the hell!?” With no more bullets coming his way, Hank switched to his shield projector in anticipation of Susie going after the healer, and began to apply a strong shield to Deckard.
Susie knew that going for Deckard wouldn’t work. Hank would shield him and he’d just heal himself. So instead she decided to go after Hank, with Goldlewis keeping the third member distracted. Hopefully he could handle her as Susie hopped over to deal with the two supports.
Now, she wasn’t all that fast in her business suit without engaging the dash drive, so her hopping over or scooting over to Deckard and Hank was more a power move than anything as she had an idea. Deckard was an old man, and she noticed that to heal people, he had to get somewhat close, so the question became; could she take out Hank before Deckard got close enough to heal him? Well, it was time to test that. Giving Hank and Deckard some time to prepare and put their guard up, she attempted to psyche them out by whirring her charge again, before halting it and grabbing Deckard and chucking him as far as she could to separate him from Hank.
Of course Hank wasn’t going to take this lying down and shot at her suit again with his cannon, seeing Deckard was flying out of the range of his shield. While he would like to shield Jacqueline, the approaching mech was a bigger concern. While Susie threw Deckard, showing her back to Hank, he unleashed his beam on the giant mech that was looking damaged at this point having had to tank so much punishment.
Susie did this maneuver on purpose though, and used her transporter to ditch her business suit as Hank’s gun started to run out of charge. She then charged up her dash itself and dashed into Hank to grab him and push him away from Deckard in the opposite direction, slamming him down on the ground after doing a bit of a heart shaped loop with her metal body. This momentarily stunned hank, and Susie used this opportunity to resummon her business suit and as Hank was getting up from the ground and revved up his jetpack to jump away, Susie grabbed him as he started to fly and throw him back onto the ground before using her business suit’s drill bottom to hop up and down on him.
Deckard wasn’t going to let his ally perish that easily though, and walked his way towards Hank. Not being able to get into range to heal him as Susie’s heavy mech jumped on him, he pulled out his book and started to retell a story of his, using his Stay Awhile and Listen. Susie was barely in range of it, and upon hearing the magical words, fell asleep in her business suit which allowed a heavily injured Hank to get out from under her. As Deckard read his words in order to keep Susie asleep long enough to heal Hank, Susie’s hand hit a switch in her suit, and as hank started to pull out his shield generator, the mech fell on top of him, causing his demise and a sleeping Susie to spill out of it. She’d remain asleep for a good few seconds, but Deckard just had his final ally to heal now before he was all alone.
Of course, by this point he was a ways off from Jacqueline, and for most of the time they’d been separated he hadn’t been able to see her. Under the veil of stealth, the doll of destruction had been kicking Goldlewis while he was down, each blow from her bladelike legs leaving a gash or a bruise on his body. He was a titan of a man though, and he recovered from the stun with plenty of health to spare only to find his opponent completely invisible. “What kind o’ doggone hogwash-!” When he took a blow to the face, knocking off his glasses, he wheeled in the direction it came from with a huge backfist, but for all its speed and range his blind flailing failed to connect. “Hmph!” He set up his coffin vertically, deploying a Wall of Light. While he quickly found out that Jacqueline was on the same side of it that he was, the blue energy barrier created a wall he could put his back to, and the probability of being discovered warded the doll off for the last few seconds of her stealth.
When she reappeared, Goldlewis locked onto her immediately. “There y’are.” Jacqueline launched a crescent moon at him, but he whirled his coffin around to intercept the bloodletting blade with his block. His opponent approached behind it, striking his guard with a flurry of kicks. After a brief pause, she looked down, then dropped one leg to stab into the veteran’s foot. “Ow!” Having opened Goldlewis up, she crouched down and supported herself with one arm to launch a double twisting dropkick. Though he almost stumbled, Goldlewis planted his back foot and pushed forward with a mighty stomp just after Jacqueline landed in a crouch. She dodged away from the blow and threw herself forward with a flying kick, only to be met by her opponent’s haymaker. “Go to hell!” The spectacular cowboy punch flipped the doll end over and, and she landed a couple dozen feet away.
Her thermoelectric shield had absorbed most of the damage, though, and the next moment Jacqueline was on her feet. Goldlewis turned to see her readying another move, so he unceremoniously dropped his coffin on the floor with a bang. His opponent hesitated for a moment, not sure why he’d disarm himself, and in that moment Goldlewis dealt the coffin a mighty kick. It slid right across the floor and slammed Jacqueline’s legs out from under her. Without a word, or even a sign that she felt the hard landing, she got to her feet and began to ignite her thrusters. She did not notice the coffin sliding open behind her, or the arms reaching out, until it was too late. “...Hm!?” Hands clasped around her wrists, her elbows, her shoulders, legs, and neck, pulling her off her feet and onto the ground. They dragged her back to the coffin and pinned her against it, locked around her neck and limbs as she struggled uselessly. As their grip grew tighter, her mechanical body began to spark and crack.
Goldlewis sauntered up. “Thanks, UMA.” He frowned at the trapped robot, rubbing his face before replacing his glasses. “Reckon your time’s just about up, partner. Better hurry up and make your peace.”
For the first time, Jacqueline spoke. “Booster, maximum output. Meteor Strike.”
“Meteor…?”
“Initiate!” Jacqueline’s eyes flared orange, and in a blast of air pressure she broke from the UMA’s grip, knocking both Goldlewis and the coffin back. Golden gears unfurled from her back like wings, three on each side. As she crossed her arms, pink crystalline spikes extended from the gear wings like enormous feathers, and she shot into the air. As she flew upward, she fired both of her other spikes upward, which combined into a huge pink drill lance. She flipped upside down, inserted one leg into the top, and swung the whole thing downward. A moment later she reached the apex of her leap, and after that, she began to rocket back down.
“No way,” Goldlewis muttered, speechless at the sight of the giant drill descending toward him. Try as he might, he could think of any good way out of this. His heart pounded, and he gritted his teeth. “This is dumb as hell.”
Susie woke up from her impromptu sleep finding herself outside of her business suit, and a spirit under it. She shrugged and grabbed it, before using her transporter to get her over to Deckard who was trying to get into range of his ally. ”Oh no you don’t!” Susie said as she approached and summoned her business suit again to try to attack the old man. She’d… find this actually a bad move. While he took all the hits she laid into him and could only really root her or throw cubes at her, he didn’t really bother using the cubes as he just chugged potion after potion, able to completely outheal whatever damage Susie did to him as he moved closer and closer to his ally.
Susie could toss him again, but that didn’t matter when it came to dealing with his healing. All while…. Well, there wasn’t much she could do against what Goldweis was dealing with. That could be a fun spirit to use, but… well a drill from the sky like that could be pretty painful. Hopefully her ally could handle that…
When Goldlewis tried to run away from the impact zone, Jacqueline altered her flight path to follow him. No use beatin’ a computer when it comes to calculations, I suppose. Would he bet it all on his Wall of Light, which could stop a platoon’s worth of gunfire, and turn his coffin skyward? Or would he go with his gut? Goldlewis breathed in deep, filling his lungs. There was no time to plan. Only just enough to act.
“Best defense is a good offense,” he muttered, bolstering himself. He grabbed his coffin and mustered his strength. His blood pumped, his muscles bulged, and he called forth every ounce of power of his body. “DOWN THEEEEEEEE…”
“SYSTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEM!”
His coffin, thrust upward like a mountain rising from continental collision, met the spinning tip of Jacqueline’s crystal drill kick in a calamitous whirlwind of sparks, lightning, and sheer force. For a brief moment they contended, but as Goldlewis held firm, cracks shot up the sides of the crystal drill lance. The next second it shattered, flying apart into chunks propelled by its spent momentum. As the glittering pink shards rained down and Jacqueline got thrown back, three Thunderbirds emerged from the coffin and flew after her. Together they slammed into her and exploded midair like fireworks in a terrific send off for the doll’s flashy ultimate move.
Then Goldlewis slumped down, panting. Down With the System might be invincible, but the aftershock had broken his arm, though between the jarring numbness and adrenaline he couldn’t even really feel it.
Well, Susie didn’t seem to have anything to worry about there, although Goldlewis looked exhausted after doing that. Susie really didn’t have a super move like that, she was more consistent in her abilities. Although having a discussion on that wasn’t something she’d really bother with as all that left to what she could see was Deckard, who just seemed to chug a potion as Susie bashed his face in. For an old guy, he was incredibly durable even without Hank healing him, and his potions seemed to be bottomless. At least his damage was basically non-existent, but Susie wondered why he didn’t give up. Was there something he was waiting for? Or was this just a factor of being Galeem-ified? And with all the healing a friend heart wouldn’t even work on him to break that cycle. Sure Susie could interrupt him every once in a while, but those potions were strong. Maybe he’d run out after enough time passed?
As Goldlewis took a quick breather, he glanced over at Susie with mild bewilderment, wondering what was going on between her and the enemy team’s last man standing. Most medics couldn’t come out on top against a bruiser if left to their own devices, but sure enough, that old man just kept on trucking. As strong as those potions must be to negate Susie’s assault, the experience of getting beat down indefinitely must not be fun. At least he wasn’t going anywhere, so Goldlewis took the moment he needed to compose himself.
That wasn’t to say that he relaxed, though. Always alert, he continued to monitor his surroundings as he fixed his outfit and hair, which meant that when something flew in over the arena’s outer walls, Goldlewis was the first to know. He spotted Jack-8, hanging beneath some sort of jet-propelled flying machine. “You gotta be kiddin’ me,” he complained as he hefted his coffin and got moving. If Deckard and Jack reunited, he and Susie might be in for history’s longest boxing match. He ran in, grabbed the medic, and dealt a triple headbutt that ended with a knockdown. The man could chug potions or get off the floor, but not both. He then joined the assault to whittle Deckard down before Jack arrived. A moment later the robot hit the ground a couple hundred feet away, posed once, then started sprinting the Seekers’ direction.
With Goldlewis helping keep Deckard under control, Susie could help finish him off using the drill bottom of her business suit, drilling through the surprisingly durable old man before Jack got here.
Susie’s decisive conclusion to the storied healer’s attempt to sustain himself made Goldlewis frown. As someone who’d experienced warfare firsthand, he was no stranger to death, but that didn’t mean that he had to like it. He tried to put Deckard’s gruesome end out of his mind as he turned to face Jack-8, ready for another round with the scrappy machine.
Without hesitation, Jack turned the momentum of his run into a sliding low kick, but Goldlewis had good enough reflexes to crouch and block it in time. He replied with an equally audacious up-forward-down Behemoth Typhoon to smash Jack overhead, but the robot managed to rise and block it standing. It still guard crushed, though, which kept Jack in blockstun long enough for Goldlewis to dash forward. They traded jabs, a metal punch for a beefy elbow. Jack went for a launcher in hopes of counterhitting his opponent, but his opponent’s forward-down-back Typhoon was disjointed enough to wallop him. “Try this on!” Its recovery prevented any kind of combo, though, and when Goldlewis ran in for a throw on Jack’s wakeup, the robot deftly sidestepped his grasp and grabbed him instead. “Dagnabbit-!” Jack hoisted him off his feet and kept him airborne with a barrage of piston punches.
Well if the first teamwork move worked, why not another? Hopping out of her business suit as she doubted it would be fast enough for this, she charged up her dash and got into position as Goldlewis went to clash with this final enemy and waited for her opportunity. Which came fairly quickly as Jack was able to outmaneuver Goldlewis and get him into a combo of his own, a combo Susie would break with her own suplex move coming from a very different angle.
After Jack got snatched, Goldlewis hit the ground with a groan, but hurried to pick himself up. Jack was back on his feet just as fast. Now the robot had two targets to worry about, which wasn’t something he was necessarily designed for. Of course, that didn’t mean that he felt any fear. Unconventional foes just demanded unconventional moves. After dashing backward, Jack spread his arms wide and launched off the ground to deliver a Giant Foot Stomp to his fellow machine. Goldlewis had already airdashed toward him and couldn’t change his trajectory with a double jump, so for the moment Susie had to fend for herself.
Jack had a fair amount of distance to cover though, especially as he dashed back, so in order to deliver his foot stomp, he had to deal with getting pelted by Susie’s blaster fire with Susie also retreating back since she was going to stay at range for now. She underestimated the distance he’d cover, since he could jump again several times midair, but he’d pay for knocking Susie back with his foot stomp by taking quite a few blaster shots before he made contact. After her bit of flight, Susie got back up, dusting herself off. Her shield she had grabbed earlier absorbed most of the damage from that attack, but that didn't’ really matter since getting kicked like that made her a bit annoyed as she pulled out her cow mangler and began shooting Jack with it.
The Cow Mangler’s shots traveled a lot slower than Jack could dash-dance, and they didn’t apply hitstun either, but with Goldlewis on the case he couldn’t just chase Susie down. He got Jack’s attention again with the help of an exploding Thunderbird, and their duel quickly resumed. In a flurry of fists and heavy metal the two titans traded blows, mechanical might versus one hundred percent home-grow American muscle. Putting what he’d already learned to good use, Goldlewis made ample use of jump-ins, abusing his coffin’s range and Jack’s lack of anti-airs for all they were worth. Jack didn’t give him a lot of room to work with, but he also utilized his ranged weapons, throwing out a Thunderbird for oki whenever he managed to knock Jack down. Of course, his opponent was a tough nut to crack, and the robot struck back with blistering speed and force.
Their exchange came to a head when, after taking one too many Behemoth Typhoons, Jack threw caution to the wind and went ballistic with a ten-hit combo of steel-bending slugs. That barrage overwhelmed Goldlewis early, before he could commit to Faultless Defense. “Agh! Augh! Gah! Ow!” When the final strike sent Goldlewis spinning, Jack did not rush in to pressure him one wakeup, but did something strange. Seemingly unbothered by Susie, he stood still and began to whirl one of his arms around like a cartoon character. From out of nowhere, an omnipresent voice began to count his arm’s revolutions. “One…two…three…four…”
Well if this guy was going to dodge her shots…. Wait, these were energy rockets right? Why not shoot the ground under him? He couldn’t dodge the explosions! And using this idea, Susie shot her next rocket at his feet. He wasn’t trying to dodge, so that part of it didn’t come into effect. However, what she did cause him to do, was drop the massive hit he was about to do to Goldlewis by making him go airborne and interrupting his concentration.
Goldlewis had been way too alarmed by whatever it was Jack was going to risk getting anywhere near him, so the help from Susie was just what he needed. As the robot popped into the air, his Gigaton Punch cut short, the veteran charged in. “Thanks, li’l miss!” He jumped up and caught his opponent with a quick air combo, and the flurry of hits ended with a tremendous slam that obliterated the last of Jack’s health beneath Goldlewis’ weight. With a sound almost like a duck, the robot’s body burst apart into pieces that quickly began to dissolve, leaving Goldlewis to lie on the floor for a spell and still his pounding heart. “Whoo-wie!” he breathed. “That sumbitch knew how to fight!”
”It was 4 of them vs 2 of us, and they had support as well.” susie said, dusting herself off and making herself presentable before she went over to take a look at Goldlewis. ”Hmm…. I suppose I should pay you for being my bodyguard this time…” Susie said, looking through her bag of random stuff and pulling out some healing mushrooms she had gotten earlier in the quarantine zone. She held them out for Goldlewis to grab.
“Bodyguard? For you?” Thinking of just whose security detail he’d coordinated in the past, Goldlewis chuckled. When presented with stripy fungi, he was hesitant for a moment until he received the unmistakable aroma of fried pork belly. “Bacon?” He took the mushrooms and ate one tentatively. To his surprise, he felt his injuries begin to recede. “Wow. What in the world?” Quickly he devoured the second, and he almost ate the third before he paused, mouth open to take a bite. “Hmm. That’s probably fine for now, better keep the last one.” He handed the last mushroom back to Susie, then got to his feet, his eyes on the immense pillar that seemed to form the core of Arahabaki. “After all, we ain’t done yet.”
”Yes, we had best get going.” Susie said. She was about to get going, before she remembered about the field of spirits of all the things she had just fought, and moved over to pick up all 4. ”Hm…” Susie thought to herself before remembering the pain some of them were. For now, she figured that the old man she had to deal with, the healing one, could be incredibly useful as a new employee. And taking the military Deckard spirit, she enlisted her in the PMC division of the haltmann works company, gaining him as a striker.
New Striker: Deckard Pain A support striker with a medium cooldown. He can do three things: Healing Potion, which places a potion on the ground that can heal anyone on contact, Horadric Cube, which is a projectile that deals minor damage plus a slow, and Scroll of Sealing, a channeled ability that creates a rooting triangle on the ground upon completion.
The other spirit she had an idea of was that stealthing doll that did a fair amount of damage to her business suit. She did notice her out of business suit capabilities were lacking, and that thing had some interesting functions. The stealth most of all the most useful if she got focused to get her out of there and into a better position…. Well she shrugged and figured the two of them looked fairly similar knowing what this spirit fusion did to a few others, so she shrugged and decided to give it a try.
Notable spirit consumed: Jacqueline The host is a bit taller, with more humanoid proportions, such as a smaller head. Her skirt now has side slits and she has actual legs beneath them, though they terminate in points with brass heels. Her floating hands are now five-fingered and white in color with poofy ‘sleeves’. Her head now has a simple face, though it more resembles a motionless mask, with a simple mouth and more detailed eyes. Her hair is also realistic and is longer, now a pink-to-white gradient, but kept in two twintails with pink diamond fixtures on their tips. This spirit confers the Power Thermoelectric Shield. When using an ability that expends energy, some of that energy is now converted into a protective shield, which can also be released for a burst of dual electric-heat damage. This spirit also confers the Weakness Slow. Her baseline movement speed, regardless of transporter or business suit use, is slower
While she did that, Goldlewis collected the other two spirits. He hadn’t been able to pay too much attention to what Hank could do, and he wasn’t sure that he liked the other soldier’s attitude, but both he and Jack packed some serious firepower. Still, better to hold on to them than shake things up mid-operation. With Susie’s changes complete, he looked her over briefly before jabbing his thumb at the other conveyor bridge leading away from the arena. “Whenever you’re ready.”
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Weird Tales
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