Emma didn't respond to Kusari, at least not at first. The girl she had thought was dying was now standing, almost whole once again. But therein lay exactly what terrified Emma: Kusari was not as she once was. Emma cringed away- it was certainly a ghastly sight, perhaps even moreso than when she was 'dying'.
Not, not quite, but... this isn't right... Emma wasn't quite prepared to see something so clearly unnatural as Kuari's leg, which would fit better in Jurrasic Park than on the field in front of her. It did appear that Kusari was indeed, as Emma had suspected, alive by the grace of her power. Emma stood up. She was sure that she would be seeing much more stranger things in the near future, assuming she survived the battle.
The doll was resuming it's attack, quickly dispatching Emma's tulpas.
If I want to win I need to control them better, or else they'll just blindly charge to their deaths.. She looked at Kusari,
”Are you able to fi-” the words stuck in Emma's throat. Something was happening...
A memory came to Emma...
A memory?
She wasn't sure if it was an old experience, or a new one. She sat alone on a beach, the white sand cool against her feet having long since been shaded by the umbrella overhead. She wasn't herself, at least not the self she was on the battlefield fighting Menagarie's monsters. She was younger, or at least she felt younger.
Wait, alone?
She wasn't alone. In fact, she was surrounded by people. By friends. Friends from before USARILN, before stigmas, before powers, before being something less than human. She was normal- just a normal high school girl, in a completely ordinary world. At least what qualified as ordinary when you lived in a world inhabited by Dreamcatcher.
She only felt alone.
Her friends around her chatted, played, lived. She curled up in her chair by herself. She did the minimum, spoke when spoken to, obliged them when they wanted talk, but she wasn't really there. This was a long time ago. She wasn't good a faking it. Perhaps she only had friends because they were obligated to hang out with her?
She didn't like wearing a bikini.
In truth she felt exposed. Like everyone was looking at her, the parts that she didn't want other people to see. She wanted to hide herself in more ways than one. Cover up and slip away where no one could see her.
The ocean called to her.
She got up for the first time since she had gotten to the beach and began to walk towards it. Cautiously, slowly, tip-toeing in fear of alerting those around her to her presence. Or was it something else she feared? The ocean's surface was glassy and still.
Still? There were suppoused to be waves, weren't there?
She kneeled next to it in a careful, calculated manner. She realized that she wasn't afraid of the others, she was scared of the ocean. More accurately scared of the ocean first and her 'friends' second Scared yet drawn to it in an oxymoronic manner. She looked into the water's expanse. It was perfectly clear- she could see al the way down to the distant floor of the ocean, hundreds of feet below.
Hundreds?
This wasn't a proper coast, she realized. It wasn't a gradual slope into the murky bottom but a sudden dropoff like the rim of a glass. There was something down there at the bottom. Something writhing, something hungry, something that was beyond her understanding in every possible way. Something vast. It called to her.
She really was alone now.
The people around her bled away into the background, and she felt at one with the ocean and the force it held and that terrified her. She felt it entering her and her entering it... but it was just a drop. It was consuming so much of her but she consumed so little of it.
She was tainted.
Suddenly she was back on the battlefield. The doll was in front of her, Kusari was next to her, and no time had passed at all. She never left, she had been there all along, she realized. She was trying to remember what she was saying but she couldn't. She took a breath and suddenly before her were Determination and Devotion. But Determination was different. It was no longer fluid like the rest of the Tulpas- it was now solid, covered in black plating that resembled chitin.
The ocean's power? Is this what I was scared of?She needed to stop the doll.
”Devotion, slow the doll and then attack with Determination. Try to topple the doll.” Her words were steady- she wasn't sure what she was doing, but it sounded a little more like she was.
Between seeing Kusari stand to her feet with what looked like a mortal injury, to her now monstrous right leg that had replaced her normal one, the shock on Emma's face should have been expected. But it wasn't. Being looked at as if she were some abomination, it hurt her. She wouldn't admit it, and if they weren't about to be carved into pieces right now she would most likely be screaming at Emma right now. Instead of screaming, Kusari turned her gaze to the doll and watched as she grew accustomed to her leg. The first thing she noticed was how powerful it was. Standing on one leg, her body felt weightless. Using her sharp talons, she dug at the ground. The dirt easily broke apart as if she were digging into jello. She wasn't quite sure, but wasn't this leg really powerful?
Emma summoned her creatures again, this time the larger one appeared different than the last time she saw it. The creature looked like it could actually take more than a single hit now.
Emma commanded the two of them. Kusari watched, rubbing a crick in her neck as it finally healed. The ground around the doll turned to sludge, something that seemed a little more than useful given their foe's agility.
"Hey Emma..." Kusari muttered, tossing the bloody scarf to her. She'd apologize for dirtying it, but it wasn't as if she asked for it, her neck would have healed regardless.
"Why are you sending the smaller one in to die? It looks like it's ability is far more useful than anything it could do physically..." She knew she was basically telling someone how to use their own ability, but it didn't seem logical to her. She hopped on her right leg a few times, then took a deep breath.
"Keep it focused on slowing it down instead, and make sure it doesn't end up slowing me down as well." With that Kusari ran, and tripped onto her face. She silently got back to her feet, ignoring the fact that she had let out a fairly dainty yelp just now. She sprinted once more, this time adjusting her weight and speed properly. She would kick off of the ground with her powerful leg, land on it, and kick off again. You couldn't call it running really, it was more like jumping.
She curved around the doll, expecting Emma to handle her creatures properly enough to keep the target still. Now behind the doll, she knelled down, and launched herself towards the doll. Mustering all the strength she could, she sent a piercing slash towards the doll's back.
Emma nodded slowly at Kusari's suggestion. She called out,
”Devotion, stop... just slow the doll and try to not slow Kusari.” The tulpa quickly halted, now standing roughly inbetween Emma and the Doll.
