one more five horu drive to home...then ill stop spamming the status bar. promise. go back to only updating it once every few months
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2 yrs ago
back in my home state. actually a real nice hotel compared to the last one that had cockroaches in the bathroom. so thats cool and good. ready to get home tomorrow. blehhhhjgkjgkjhatk
Level 6: 42/60 Location: Avenger -> Paved Wilderness Word Count: short Points Gained: 1 +5 New EXP Balance: Level 6: 48/60 +5
Juri walked down the ramp of the Avenger with her motorcycle at her side and her new green and purple repainted Ghoulsaw strapped over her back. From the windows she could tell this place was wide open and massive, so her motorbike would be necessary to get around without relying on any other Seekers.
Juri had on her helmet, a pink, black and blur full helm that obscured her features, though on top were two colored protrusions that mimicked devil horns.
It didn’t take long for Juri to start getting antsy and looking for trouble. The last thing she wanted to do was hang around here, even though like Tora she couldn’t help but notice the most common type of mechanic.
Fortunately, Fortune came to her rescue by informing her of loot available. Juri grinned under her helm, and it reflected in her voice. ”Gee, that’s just swell.” She said.
”I’m gonna head over there and hope there’s some cold dead hands I can pry some loot from.” Juri said, stepping over her motorcycle and sitting on it. It had been too long since she got to go for a ride. She brought her cycle around to the map board to clear the way. Once she had her fill of info on where the Highertower was, she sped off in a cloud of dust, looking to get there ahead of the other Seekers.
Who knew what she would find? Even if it wasn't anything useful on its own, cash was never out of style. And no way she wasn’t headed towards a fight. Juri had been preoccupied at Mafia Town to enjoy too much of the fighting, and since then she’d just been stepping on gross undead bugs and shitty old geezers. Or swatting that annoying cherub, Pit. She wanted a real fight with some real blood. And the mercs and bandits she pictured running around picking up valuables would be perfect for a scrap or two.
@Lugubrious Ok, great. That's very helpful thank you. Since Sakura is pretty high level I won't have to think about new abilities very often. I've got my eye on SAS Clairvoyance and Heavy Thoughts when the time comes. But Dark Sakura was her level 10 upgrade so I have 100 exp to get before the next one XD.
which is probably a long enough time that its kinda giving me an existential crisis, 2026 power up lmao. but at this point Sakura has a feature complete ability list plus a few extras.
i suppose i will put her alongside Juri, then! but juri and her bike will be fun to play in this Hammerhead place i think.
Hellooo. Speaking of characters returning from vacation. I think it is about time I open back up to the possibility of playing a second character. Safe in the knowledge that if it ever becomes too much one or the other can take a break or perform off screen activities haha
I brought Sakura's sheet over and made a few changes, taking the opportunity to make her strengths and weaknesses a little more cohesive in my view. I don't know exactly if the math works out, lol. I also looked up some art, i think this is a version of her in a gacha mobile game. but i think it fits, and makes her look tougher and more mature haha. so i went with it.
I'm not like dying to bring her back into action ASAP. but i have the sheet finished and its just been sitting in my notes for a couple days so i figure i might as well post it, huh.
She is still fused with the spirit of a literal random npc. i dont know how to level up her psychic abilities XD
Name: Sakura Kasugano Origin: Street Fighter Alpha 2 Appearance:
Personality: Bubbly, gregarious, outgoing, kind-hearted and a ferocious drive for battle and self-improvement. Sakura could have once been considered naive, but her good nature has withstood the tests presented to her by the world of light. Sakura is strong of will and introspective. She really loves to fight, win or lose, and will throw hands with anyone at any time if they are open to it. It's the best way to get to know someone and to hopefully make friends. Sakura is an open book and can get ahead of herself, and has a small sarcastic streak.
Background: A girl like any other growing up in the woven neighborhoods of Japan, Sakura became fixated on street fighting and on the legendary world warrior Ryu at a young age. A self-taught prodigy, above all she sought his wisdom and to be his student, and following him took her on quite a few adventures. Her rival is Karin Kanzuki, the preposterously wealthy heiress who she does battle with on occasion. Her beleaguered best friend Kei often struggled to match her energy.
Sakura did battle with figures like Sagat and Zangief, and even villains like M.Bison himself in defense of Ryu. After returning home safely from the battle against Seth's forces, Sakura considered her future before being taken into the world of light.
In the Now: While under Galeem's influence, Sakura spent most of her time fighting in various tournaments in Esaka, the Tiered City. Ryu was notably absent, and Sakura left to go find him, her journey bringing her to the Friend Hearted fighter. After the battle she joined the Seekers, following them to Alcamoth. Then she took off to the Deepl Blue, becoming a ship girl and meeting and befriending Bella. She travelled into the rotted core, survived the Maw, and delivered a mortal blow upon the Orphan Guardian. During this time she reunited with Karin Kanzuki in Limsa Lomscuttle, eventually freeing her.
Sakura followed the Seekers to Midgar, where they weaved through corruption and urban decay and constant supernatural crisis until they slayed the Guardian beneath there.
Warfare is against Sakura's gentle (if punch hungry) nature, and needing a break from it, she decided to stay with Karin Kanzuki at Midgar to help rebuild and shelter the refugees of the great city. She even reunited with her parents. Since then she has been helping move heavy things and battling stray monsters and warding off bandits. As her mental strength has recovered, and the citizens situation stabilizes, her thoughts drift once again to the Seekers and the all-important battle that is deciding the fate of the universe. Ultimately, she could only sit it out for so long.
Job: Street Fighter Specialty: A close ranged powerhouse with medium range capability. Her skills and combos let her battle against single opponents, while her strength and speed let her keep up with groups. Sakura is a versatile frontline fighter with the speed and utility skills to support her teammates. Inventory: New Clothes: A thankful refugee tailor made her a durable custom set of clothing. The jacket is comfortable and keeps her warm, though can be unzipped or wrapped around the waist in hotter climates.
Backpack: A backpack for holding goodies and supplies. Some money, bandages, food, water, toys collectibles, etc.
Smart Phone + Earphones: For keeping up in Midgar.
Fancy Mountain Bike: To make people eat dust.
Lv: 10 EXP: See posts Abilities: (Powers, spells, special moves, an iconic piece of equipment, and so forth)
EX SPECIAL MOVES - Through dealing and to a lesser extent taking damage, Sakura builds up an EX meter, up to three (four) bars. She can spend an EX bar to enhance one of her special moves, or spend three bars to perform a high damaging Critical Art.
V-Meter - Two bars of V-Meter, built through taking damage or using V-Skills. She can use them to perform a V-Reversal, which is a no-damage, no-risk defensive technique to interrupt enemy offense. Alternatively she can spent a bar of V-Meter on a V-Shift, which is a high risk precise dodge that allows her to counter-attack if successful, but leaves her exposed if failed.
V-Skills - Two mobility options that build V-Meter. A large leap that can take Sakura up to twenty feet in the air, or fast, long-ranged, high speed dodge roll that can be used to avoid attacks or as a combo tool.
V-Trigger - When she has two bars of V-Meter, Sakura can spend both to access to a comeback mechanic known as V-Trigger. Activating them gives her some attacking advantage, and lets her enter one of two empowered states. These states last for about thirty seconds, but go away much more quickly when she uses the enhanced techniques.
Haru Arashi: Sakura's palms to begin to glow bright blue. Her Ki based projectile attacks hit harder, dealing more damage and becoming more difficult to block, with greater knockbock. She also gains greater control over her Ki, allowing her access to moves like the "Hogosho" a short range concentrated blast of Ki energy.
Sakura Senpu: Sakura's fist and feet become enveloped in blue flame. Her strikes heat up, dealing more damage and becoming more difficult to overcome. Her melee and special moves become more lethal and unpredictable, letting her defense flow quicker into her offense.
Focus - Sakura gains access to an armored state that lets her absorb one hit of damage. She can use it on the fly, leaving and entering the state at will, but she must be standing still to Focus. If she charges up for a second, she can unleash an unblockable, armor-breaking Focus Attack that crumples whoever it hits. Armor breaking moves or grabs can counter Focus. She can spend two bars of EX to cancel a move into a Focus state to apply pressure or to escape an unsafe move. Absorbed damage still applies, but is returned over time to Sakura in the form of grey health.
Red Focus - Spend three EX to enter a state of Red Focus, raising giving her Focus state an infinite amount of armor, countering armor breaking moves. As long as Sakura has health, she can absorb it.
Revenge Gauge - A pure comeback mechanic. When Sakura is at half health, she can perform a free super attack called an Ultra Combo. If she is at 25% health, the Ultra Combo does more damage. This allows her to spend EX more freely if the fight calls for it while still having access to a super attack if things get rough.
Round Two - In a situation where she would normally be knocked unconscious, Sakura instead enters a dazed, downed state. Taking any damage during this state will KO her. However, if she goes ten seconds without taking damage, she will regain health back to full. All resources except EX meter are lost.
Tag - "Tag Out" an ally as if they were swapping positions in a tag team game. To facilitate this, the tagged out ally gains some health regen and a retreating speed boost, while Sakura's next attack gains a high amount of knock back from the momentum of the switch.
Brain Drive - An alternate form of empowerment, with more of a focus on her newly acquired psychic abilities. Filled up by dealing damage to opponents. Once activated Sakura's psychic powers strengthen and become less draining to use, and her physical attack speed increases for a limited amount of time.
DARK SAKURA - Sakura locks in. Spend a full EX gauge and V-Meter to enter an empowered state. Sakura's aura changes from blue and white to purple and pink. Her eyes turn a sharp shade of red, and her skin burns into a vibrant, brown-orange shade.
EX fireballs become powerful super fireballs that deal high damage and break armor. Her special attacks become easier to link into each other, allowing for relentless offense.
Sakura gains access to a short ranged invincible teleporting dash, dramatically increasing her evasiveness and mobility.
If she builds up an extra four bars, she can become the Raging Demon, a powerful, invulnerable teleporting command grab move. Sakura unleashes a flurry of pummeling strikes from all directions. This move is a penance for the evil ones in this world, dealing more damage depending on the amount of sins their soul has yet to atone for.
This empowered state lasts until the battle is over, or Sakura is knocked unconscious.
Notably, while the actual empowered state ends, Dark Sakura herself will not go away unless she purposefully de-transforms. Dark Sakura is rougher, more battle hungry, pitiless, delinquent, cheeky, headstrong and less strategic. Though she still retains all of her other positive personality traits. A disempowered 'casual' Dark Sakura has blue energy with a hint of pink, and her eyes turn to a usual brown state. Again everything else about her is normal, including the need to gain full resources to enter the empowered state. Only the physical and personality differences remain until the transformation is undone. When used properly, this isn't an evil form at all.
Ability Name - Ability Description
Skills: (Passive abilities, outstanding ‘stats’, and talents/proficiencies)
Self Taught Ki Enhanced Ansatsuken Style Karate - Extreme martial prowess grants Sakura heightened durability, strength, mobility, and the power to project her spiritual strength outwards through ki projectiles. She can block powerful attacks with blue defensive ki from her body.
GUTS Scaling - Being low health, like for anyone, isn't great for Sakura. But as she takes more of a beating, her will to fight doesn't fade. When Sakura is on low health, she gains damage resistance. How much magic does she have in that pixel?
Rival Schools - Sakura's V-Skill jump doubles in height. Sakura can perform all of her special moves in the air. Her Chin Buster Kick becomes a powerful launcher, and she can perform juggling air combos and multiple air attacks.
Advanced Ki Techniques - Taking pages from her various crossover appearances, Sakura gains access to a wider range of more powerful fireballs. She can fire one handed fireballs mid air or on the ground, charge them up for more powerful blasts with AoE damage. Her uppercut gains a projectile shield, allowing her to blast through ranged attacks at high speed or mid-air.
Skill Name - Skill Description
Weaknesses: (Practical limitations, detrimental ‘stats’, and deficiencies. Include at least three)
Stun - A secondary health bar that fills up fast, but empties just as easily. When Sakura takes damage, the bar starts to fill. When she goes a few seconds without taking damage of any kind (chip and grey included) it begins to empty. If the bar becomes full, Sakura becomes Stunned and is rendered dazed and helpless until she takes damage or five seconds pass. Basically if she takes too much damage too quickly, her situation will get even worse because of Stun. This weakness directly contradicts with her wide array of comeback mechanics, so getting beat up isn't a free ticket to greater power, and prevents her from taking on a role as a tank.
Elemental Weaknesses - Frost damage prevents her stun from draining, and electrical damage deals more stun. Poison can still be applied through her block to drain her health over time. Fire can burn through her block to deal grey damage, and she takes more damage when burning. And naturally anything that applies any kind of stun effect on its own merit would increase the stun bar as well.
Crush Counter - If Sakura makes a mistake and her attacks are interrupted by a strong enough attack, she will be Crush Countered. Crush Counters deal more stun to Sakura and her reaction to them is stronger than otherwise, leaving her more exposed to punishing follow ups from her opponents. Of course being counter hit in any way is bad, but Crush Counters tend to be pretty unfortunately spectacular for Sakura. Even if nothing else comes of it, the Hard Knockdown leaves Sakura floored for a second or two.
Satsui No Hado - Dark Sakura doesn't typically channel the Satsui no Hado, but it is obviously adjacent to it. Under extreme circumstances, Sakura may unintentionally enter the Dark Sakura state. But entering Dark Sakura through rage as opposed to heightened control, focus, and battle rhythm has negative effects on Sakura's personality and state of mind, making it a problem all on its own. Her violence can easily turn on allies. This form of the Dark Sakura state is marked by purple and black aura, brighter redder eyes, and an extreme lack of cheerful demeanor and mental stability. Channeling too much inner power before she is ready is bad for her soul. Any raw power that may be accessed from the Satsui no Hado is offset not just by the mental instability, but the draining of her very vitality as her body almost literally burns to keep up the output. This is a risk Sakura is having to mitigate as her powers grow. She fully intends for this to never, ever happen.
Spirits: (Any spirits your character possesses should be listed here with their type)
Yushin Clements - A random psychic spirit Sakura adopted to infiltrate a psionic police force in Midgar. Sakura's psychic third eye is opened, allowing her access to psychic powers and psychic awareness. In particular, this Spirit confers the power Mental Connection an ability that allows her to move herself or a target like a psychic grappling hook, as long as she has thoughts (either stray thoughts or an ally's thoughts) to latch onto. It confers the weakness Harsh Reality. Psychically aware creatures can sense her presence. Psychic damage deals additional Stun to Sakura. If Sakura is Stunned with psychic damage, she enters an even more vulnerable, longer lasting Brain Crush state, which opens her up to a one hit KO that breaks through abilities like Round Two.
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Rapport: (You can keep track of your Rapport here. As you level up Rapports, consider linking the posts here and listing what they give you)
Level: 8 - Total EXP: 22/80 Level 6: 47/60 Word Count: 4,924 (+5 exp)
Even after winding down with a few card games following the battle, it was hard for Pit to actually relax. Sure his stamina had taken a hit with the whole marathon of morning fights but he was already feeling better, especially after eating. So even though his energy level wasn't high enough to warrant working through in the training center, he also didn't feel like sitting around and doing nothing. He was looking forward to stopping at Hammerhead, but in the meantime he toured the Avenger like he'd done the day before - heading first for the Spirit Chamber to take care of the handful of carcass spirits he had on him, then the armory to drop off what had come out of them.
Acid Abrasive A handheld device with opposing pads soaked in acidic solution. Running a bladed weapon through the gap will temporarily coat it in acid, allowing the next half-dozen blocked or landed strikes to inflict durability and defense-reducing acid damage. Of course, doing so also gradually eats away at the weapon itself. There's enough solution in the pads to coat the average sword three times Vivid Crystal Ergo A mysterious, bright blue power stone rich in some kind of strange energy. It can be absorbed by machines and turned into power Carcass Crystal Axe A huge, heavy weapon split into two parts, which can be assembled together or with other modular weapons. The axe head's skill allows the weapon to generate a splash of acid when it slams down into the ground, and the handle's skill allows one to temporary conserve energy, decreasing stamina consumption Potion of Lead Skin For a short time after consumption, enemy projectiles will be reflected off the user's body
Before finally just wandering and continuing to flex his new reading skill on the signs posted along the hallways.
Which is when he ran into another Seeker making her way out of the vehicle storage. Although it was really more like he'd spotted her leaving and turning down another hall and picked up his pace to follow after her.
"Hey, Juri!" Pit called, flitting over and smiling at the woman. Where normally he might be looking up at her, with their spirit fusions the two were about the same height now. It was curiosity more than anything else that drove him to talk to her, that and want to find something to do until they landed.
The angel figured she probably wouldn't mind. She hadn't seemed that affected by the events in the final hollow compared to many others, and besides ever since the minigames in Carnival Town he knew Juri was a team player even if people thought otherwise.
Pit glanced back toward the doors of the vehicle bay before. "Do you like cars and tanks and stuff? Have you been to Hammerhead -where we're going- before? They have this thing called a Rocket League where the cars drive upside down in this cage and..." he started saying, more or less rambling to Juri as she walked.
Juri stopped walking and let her currently unpainted Ghoulsaw swing from one hand. With the other, she reached over her own shoulder and tried to reach her back, like she was trying to scratch at it.
”Oh, sorry,” She said. ”I was just wonderin’ if someone put a note on my back that said: ‘annoy me’.”
Juri took a big step forward, leaning towards his face. ”Who even are you, again?”
"Wh- I'm Pit! We just fought together and we did all those games before!" He was not actually as offended as he sounded. He also completely ignored her comment about being annoyed. A thought occurred to him and he said, "Wait, did we skip the big introductions when you... did you not know my name? That's why you were calling me those nicknames!"
Pit rested his hands on his hips, now pleased like he'd figured something out. "Well like I said, I'm Pit! Easy to remember, right?"
If she was being honest with herself, keeping track of whose who when people are either dropping dead or changing appearance was a real pain in the ass. Juri figured she recognized him, now.
”Pit?” Juri grinned, and poked Pit in the forehead.
”What kinda sorry ass name is Pit? Your momma hate you or somethin’, kid?” She asked.
”But yeah, I remember ya now. I had to go in there and finish off that wimpy old man you somehow failed to kill.” Juri stood up straight, folding one leg behind the other and setting a hand on her hip.
He reached up to rub the spot Juri had poked, intending to argue that Pit was actually a very cool and heroic name and he was not, technically, a kid - but her bringing up Consul O made his eyes widen slightly, and he focused on that instead.
"I didn't fail!" he said sharply, though his next words were less sure. "I wasn't trying to– I was going to but then he... he said he was giving up!"
Pit frowned as he remembered the whole unpleasant encounter. "He didn't look like he could fight and he seemed... scared. And he said he surrendered, so..." The angel sighed roughly. "But then he trapped me in a tiny little fish tank with a bunch of cute otters and left us to drown!"
He actually might have if Sandalphon hadn't come to save him. The near death experience didn't bother him so much as it being implied he'd failed in his duty, though.
"He didn't try to trick you when you found him?"
For a moment, something in Juri’s eyes flickered. Then, ”Pfft,” She cupped her bottom lip and puffed out her bangs to reveal her green eye like a blink. ”’Course, tried to bribe me cuz I ain’t soft like you. But even that didn’t work, so I broke his damn neck, because I didn’t fail.” She said emphatically.
”I can’t believe you fell for that. I can’t believe you told me! You grow up in candyland or somethin’?” Juri asked.
The last comment fell flat, as Pit only thought a land of candy sounded like a neat place to live. Still, his cheeks colored slightly in embarrassment. "Yeah, well, if I hadn't fallen for it then he wouldn't have told me D's weakness! And... I'm the one that found him in the first place!"
Of course once it had become clear that D was a vampire, someone would have probably figured out his weaknesses anyway. Pit didn't point that out, instead crossing his arms defensively.
"Why wouldn't I tell you? You're a Seeker too. We're basically friends!" he spoke defensively too now, even as he stated that he considered Juri an ally and, probably, a future pal. "I found him, you finished him. Teamwork."
”No, see, ‘cuz I had to find him again. So it was more like,” And Juri counted on her fingers for this, ”You failed, I found him, I killed him.” She teased.
Her tone took on a more serious tone. ”And we’re not friends, twerp. I can’t stomach most of these Seekers, let alone one dumb enough to fall for a puppy dog eyes act from a wretched geezer like O.”
She lowered herself to lean forward and push her face up at Pit, her eyes widening. ”I tore him into him with my saw, kicked him outta his wheelchair and broke his neck with my foot as he begged for mercy. I had a freakin’ good time doing it, too. Still wanna be my friend?” Juri asked, retracting once more.
Pit bristled when Juri got into his space this time, but he didn't shrink away. He let out a quick sigh through his nose.
O had been an unrepentant villain, even if Pit hadn't been able to see it at first. He needed to be defeated, and he'd had a chance to save his own life only to squander it when he pulled one over on the angel. Just because Pit was wont to take people at their word and was personally hesitant to take the life of a human, what humans did to each other was ultimately not his business unless it threatened the world.
"He was a bad guy," Pit said simply. Juri claiming to take pleasure in his killing was maybe a little unnerving, but should a good guy not enjoy triumphing over evil?
And as for if Pit wanted to be her friend, well, he countered with, "And it kinds seems like you need one."
”Oh, God,” Juri rolled her eyes and stuck a finger into her mouth, making a retching noise. ”Hurk! Barf!”
Juri shouldered her Ghoulsaw, shaking her head. ”The good news is, I won’t have to put up with you very long. Won’t be too long before some Consul tags you as an easy mark and stabs you in the back after tricking you into makin’ ‘em cookies. You know our ‘lives’ mean less than nothing to any of these people, right? Mercy is a weakness, especially in this world.” She said.
”If you really wanna be my toady, I wanna see you ice the next freak you down. No hesitation. Put one of them lil’ cupid arrows right between the eyes.” This time she poked herself in the forehead to drive the point home.
”Understand, twerp?”
"Toady?"
Like a lackey, Palutena supplied him with a hint of amusement.
Pit squeezed his arms a little tighter, his wings twitching briefly. He'd been called that so many times by a lot of different people, but at this point he could let it go. He fixed Juri with a bright stare.
"I'm not gonna get tricked again," he told her, though he half said it for himself. "And... I'm gonna do whatever I need to do, not what you tell me to!"
He looked to be a few moments away from sticking his tongue out at her, but instead he just said, "So you don't have to worry about me."
”Trust me, I’m not.” Juri glanced over her shoulder, down the hall.
”I’m ‘unna go get this thing painted while everyone’s at that waste of time funeral.” Juri said, referring to her Ghoulsaw. And also calling the funeral a waste of time, casually, to see if that would get more of a rise out of Pit. ”I don’t need to get it cleaned, though, the blood goes away with the corpses. So that’s a plus.”
Her callousness didn't rankle him as much as one might expect. Because if she really didn't care about what had happened with O, or about the people they'd just lost, she wouldn't have brought it up. If she really was as annoyed by Pit as she said she was, she would have ditched him. And if she really detested being part of the team, she wouldn't have joined in the first place.
Or that was Pit's assumption, anyway.
He shifted his posture, his frown fading as he remembered something he'd thought about Juri before.
"I know you aren't as nasty as you pretend to be," he said, quickly, like he'd caught on to some secret and might have been trying to turn the tables in the conversation - though it was more likely the angel just couldn't grasp why she'd 'pretend' to be like this in the first place and was pointing it out the only way he knew how, directly.
”Wanna bet?” Juri asked coldly, lashing out to kick his legs out from under him. The sudden movement easily caught Pit off guard, and he fell onto his back with a little yelp.
”Who do you think you’re talking to?” She leaned over, her smile hollow and angry, like her face was about to fall off and shatter into porcelain shards. Her visible eye was a dark hole in the earth.
”There’s nothing I can’t stand more than self-righteous pricks who think they’re better than everyone else. You wanna reach down to me, like I’m beneath you? Be my friend because you think I need one? I’d beat you senseless if it wouldn’t cost me my best shot at Galeem. You don’t know anything about me. Got it?” Juri hissed. A moment passed, and she went back to ‘pretending’. Whatever she was pretending to be. She stepped away from Pit, her smile lessening and becoming natural again. She ran her tongue along the front of her teeth.
”Now do us both a favor and don’t even bother next time.” Juri said. She rolled her neck and started stalking off down the hall.
For a few seconds after Pit sat up he only watched Juri go. He was surprised, and even kind of insulted, but it was hard to tell if it was on his own behalf or Juri's. He scrambled to his feet and -perhaps unwisely- followed after her.
"I don't think like that!" he tried to clarify. "I'm not trying to be your friend 'cause I think I'm better than you - like I said, we're on the same team! And everybody needs friends!
"Plus I know enough about you! Like..."
Quick, help me out here Lady Palutena!
You got yourself into this one, Pit, the goddess responded. Still, she wasn't about to pass up the chance to flex her extensive knowledge of fighters.
Juri Han... she's a master martial artist with a mean streak. She really does enjoy making her opponents suffer, so she wouldn't go easy on you if you were to fight.
So that part about her was true. Surprise briefly flickered on Pit's face. So you don't think I could win?
Now, now, I didn't say that. There was a brief pause as Palutena collected her thoughts, or else collected the information on Juri from wherever she pulled her other world knowledge from. Besides that, Juri prefers motorcycles to 'cars and tanks.' She even has one of her own. She's a thrill seeker and a scofflaw, but without a goal to chase she gets dreary. It used to be that her goal was revenge, but now...
Now its helping save the world!
Let's go with that.
The telepathic exchange was quick, but there had been enough of a pause to be noticeable before Pit spoke up again.
"...like I know you like fighting and having fun, and you have a cool motorcycle, and... and even if you're gloomy, you really want to help."
Juri, stopped, turned over her shoulder and stared at Pit, her face twisting into a bewildered sneer. ”Haaah? You’re still following me? Still talking?” Juri asked.
Then, she started laughing. ”Because, what, you like my motorcycle? Let me show you somethin’ I’ve been working on.” Juri gestured Pit over to a nearby supply closet, tapping a button to open the vertically sliding door.
"Huh? Here?"
Wait, had he actually gotten through to her, even if only a little? Both optimistic and oblivious, Pit did not hesitate to approach for a closer look.
”Yeah, right in there.” Juri palmed the back of his head and shoved him inside, before pressing the button to close the door again. With a quick hack, she made it unable to be opened from the inside. After that, she broke open the control panel and unplugged a couple wires, making the effect permanent.
”Hahaha!” Juri laughed loudly. Amused and satisfied, she walked away again.
The sound of banging, shouting, and the door rattling against its track and latch followed after her instead of an annoyingly plucky angel.
At least until there was a muffled whirring noise from the closet she'd left behind, swiftly followed by a loud crash as the now heavily dented door was blown open and out of its track, smashing against the opposite wall.
Pit hopped back into the hallway as the Upperdash Arm dissolved into light. His face had once again taken on a pink color after that little humiliation, especially after he'd just told Juri he wasn't going to be tricked after O. His wings were also half open, his feathers ruffled literally and metaphorically, puffed up like a little animal trying to make itself look bigger.
He hoped he wasn't going to get in trouble for breaking something, but technically Juri had broken it first.
At this point Pit didn't really care whether Juri wanted to be his friend or not (she'd made it pretty obvious that the answer was not), but considering what Lady Palutena had told him, how she'd looked after knocking him to the ground, and how she seemed to try inserting herself into the group while simultaneously keeping herself at arm's length, Pit knew he was right about her. So it was really a point of childishly making sure she knew he was right about her too. If they ended up graduating from estranged people with the same goal to tumultuous teammates, it would just be a bonus.
"Okay, I get it, maybe you really are that mean!" Feeling stubborn, Pit pointed at her retreating back and made sure she could hear him as he went on. "But I also know you have a heart somewhere in there! If you didn't then you wouldn't be helping us fight Galeem, and you wouldn't have been trying so hard to get revenge for something before you joined up with us!"
He didn't know what for, or if she'd eventually gotten her vengeance or not, but like he'd thought earlier Juri clearly cared more than she let on. Recalling her threat and the Goddess of Light's words, Pit let out a puff of air before giving her a brash grin.
"And I know you'd have to try, really, really hard to beat me."
Juri, without turning around, let her Ghoulsaw fall to the ground with a thud. It’d just slow her down. Then she turned to face Pit once again, teeth gleaming.
”You’re stupid, Pit. But if you wanna play, let’s play.” She lifted her front leg and rested her elbow on it. Then she flicked her foot upwards, gathering black and white energy around her ankles.
Though he had taunted her, Pit was still a little surprised that she intended to fight him here in the middle of a corridor. He could practically hear Lady Palutena's facepalm in his head, but she didn't offer anymore advice and Pit didn't ask. He might actually be stupid as Juri said (but smart enough to read now! he thought), but he kind of already felt a sense of victory since she hadn't called him 'kid' or 'twerp.' It showed in his gaze, too.
Pit tensed up, prepared to summon any of his divine weapons at a moment's notice. And then he acted unwisely again, darting forward to shrink the gap between them.
Juri spun low and sent a grounded wave of energy streaking towards Pit’s legs. She followed it up with a dash of her own to close the distance, and there was a burst of pink energy as she inflicted Weak upon Pit, lowering his damage by 30% for a few precious seconds. At the same time she went to kick out and over her projectile before it sliced into his legs. ”Haha!”
Ready for her this time, the heavenly shields that made up the Guardian Orbitars flashed into existence. When they came into being it was slightly ahead of Pit himself, and though they couldn't stop the pink wave of Weak they could reflect Juri's monochrome energy right back at her. The shields didn't fade away afterward, one took the brunt of Juri's kick while the other just shot right towards her center mass for a blunt impact.
Juri’s own leg was caught by her projectile, causing her to be unbalanced, while the second orb struck her center. ”Ooh-” She grunted, shoved backwards, though her Weak spell was still in effect to reduce the damage she took.
The Orbitars were not that strong in the first place either, but Pit the slight advantage while he could, whirling the crimson and gold shields in a tornado-like fashion that pressed in at Juri.
”Tch,” Juri rose her arm and leg, the tornado scraping against her. She let herself get pushed back and then grabbed one of the shields to halt the tornado in place long enough to kick out at Pit’s torso in hopes of disrupting the spell.
Since her opponent's shields were free floating, the one not caught in her grasp could simply rush back to Pit's side. It wasn't quite fast enough to completely block the blow, but between it and Pit's bracer as he raised his arm in defense the angel took a much less painful hit to the arm instead of the chest. Then the Orbitar Juri was holding suddenly faded into golden particles just before reappearing with its twin to hang in the air beside Pit. His expression was cheeky as if to say see? You'll have to try harder. Just before the Orbitars began to glow to fire projectiles of their own.
”Hope you plan on doing more than a lightshow, twerp!” Juri swatted the projectiles away with her leg, generating more fuha stocks. Then she bent low under one, and hopped over the other, before suddenly diving through the air with a long ranged dive kick. If the first hit, she would follow up with a spinning volley of other kicks that carried them both through down the corridor.
It connected when she slipped through, roughly shoving Pit back and losing the ground he'd gained - and then even more as she rushed him. The Orbitars had abandoned their assault to dedicated themselves to what they were meant for, defense, as angel and weaponry hurried to lessen each subsequent blow.
"I can do a lot more!" Though getting an opening was another matter. Before they got more than halfway back to where they'd come from Pit stood his ground and shoved both Orbitars together at Juri's leg as she kicked out, just enough to make some breathing room. Then the shields dispersed again, and no weapon seemed to replace them. Instead, the skin showing on his right arm lit up with prismatic tattoos. He went to grab Juri's attacking limb so he could retaliate in kind with a vertical stretch kick, and use the leverage to lash out with his own opposite leg in a high roundhouse.
”As if,” Juri’s leg hit Pit’s palm with force, making grabbing it difficult, especially as she retracted it with practiced ease and swiftness. She leaned her body to the side to avoid the stretch kick and then spun under the roundhouse, returning fire with a sweep to Pit’s leg still on the ground.
Finishing her spin she brought her foot down like an axe towards Pit, leaving a streak of empowered black and white energy behind it. ”I’ll crush you!”
Pit fell for the sweep again, but this time he used his wings to beat the air and push himself to roll out from under Juri's follow up. "You'll only try!"
As there wasn't a ton of space in the hallway his back hit the wall soon after, though he used it to spring right back at Juri. With the Palm Breaker equipped his hand to hand strikes were empowered to the point of a proper martial artist, and he struck out with the heel of his palm at her core.
The fuha empowered strike lent Juri more mobility, and as Pit sprung towards her she smoothly transitioned into two sweeping side kicks, the streaks of energy and her long legs outreaching Pit’s diving punch. If it worked it would kick PIt into the wall, only for a gust of wind to pull him into Juri’s waiting rib-cracking elbow strike and follow up thrusting strike aimed towards his neck. ”Come on!”
Her plan seemed to work as Pit felt his back connect with the wall yet again, only much harder this time. When he was pulled back toward her he raised his arms in a crossed guard, his bracers absorbing the worst of her attacks. He winced - it still hurt. Pit uncurled from his guard swiftly, throwing his glowy arm out with a chop toward the side of her head. At the same time his hand exploded with light, his own energy channeled into multiple little bright arcs that would home in on her had they not been locked in melee, but with the close proximity could pretty much instantly strike her.
Juri met the chop with her forearm, and then half-shielded herself as the blasts knocked her backwards. She swatted away the last of the blasts with a sparking clash, and then launched a near instant projectile of her own with purple ki colored kick. Then she backdashed, using her new skill to create a sharp air vortex in her wake that pulled Pit towards her and slashed into him, long enough for her to send an elbow towards his face. She had him against the wall and was intent on not letting him go. She was confident that her skills up close were superior to his, magic or not.
Pit managed to avoid the blast of energy, just barely, but Juri was right to be confident. Even though the Breaking Palm boosted his power, hand to hand was not his strongest suite, especially compared to a dedicated martial artist. His head snapped back when her elbow connected, but thankfully he had a really hard head.
"That all you got?!" He said after a hissed out breath. He let another round of light shots out from his palm while he reached out to grab her and stop her flurry. As long as he could get a hold of her he'd bring his leg up in a knee strike before going to shove her away.
Juri wasn’t going to let a perfectly good head hit go without followup. Ready for the next round of blasts, she turned perpendicular and braced her shoulder to not lose any ground, steadied her self against his grip and brought up her own knee to meet his. She held the pose, her face inches from his. ”I like it!” Juri cooed, before shoving him away instead.
She zig-zagged the distance between them away before going to hook her foot behind his head, knee him up into the air and then launch him suddenly to the left. Her green eye glowed, and suddenly a heavy bulkhead door descended from its safe storage place in the ceiling and dropped onto his back!
In the blink of an eye Pit used the break to swap weapons again. The tattoos on his arm snaked towards his palm, though the gathered light in his hand took the shape of a bow rather than firing out at Juri. With his favored weapon he'd be able to meet the street fighter at her level, eliminating the advantage she had! Unfortunately, he wouldn't get a chance to really use it.
He used the armor on his shin to block her knee, but he was still thrown to the side at her whim. He didn't fight that, instead bringing his bow up and about to spin the blade at Juri. But he had not expected a hunk of metal to suddenly drop down onto him. The heavy door slammed into Pit, winding him and flattening him to the ground. He laid there pinned as the bow dissolved back into light, for a moment not moving with all six of his limbs splayed out. Then he looked up at Juri sharply, a petulant scowl on his face.
"If I was a human that could have killed me!" He was thankful it had only struck his lower back, if that had managed to break the more delicate bones in his wings he would have been really mad. And in a lot of agony, but also mad.
Juri grinned and stooped over to him, squatting in front of him. ”Who cares?” She asked, resting her cheek in her palm. ”No, really. Who cares?”
”Buncha dust walkin’ around, thinkin’ it’s people? Hardly counts.” Juri tilted her head from side to side.
”You think I have a heart because I’m helping you Seekers burn everything down?” Juri lowered her face towards Pit’s again, looking him in the eyes.
”Nah. It’s cuz between spending forever as ignorant dust, or as some warden over a plastic toy sandbox, or killing the fucker that did this to us, going after Galeem is the only choice that even remotely matters.” She stated this with conviction. Juri stood back up.
”Eternity is for chumps. I’d rather die than hit thirty.” Juri said, and then stretched.
Her tone lightened. ”I’m ‘unna leave ya there cuz you already proved you can’t take a hint. See ya around, twerp.” Juri waved over her shoulder and lumbered off, scooping up her Ghoulsaw as she did.
By the time Pit would be able to wiggle himself free (or someone came along to help him), Juri would be long gone - so there wasn't much else he could do besides watch her leave and sit with her words. Maybe her outlook was just too different from his, but he still thought he was right about her. If she didn't insist on being a loner, she might not be so much... like that. Not that it mattered much at the moment after she'd thrashed him and left him stuck.
"Uugh." Pit let his forehead fall back to the floor with a dull thud.
Level 6: 41/60 Location: Dead Zone: Qliphoth Word Count: short Points Gained: 1 New EXP Balance: Level 6: 42/60
Juri’s gut was right, her help wasn’t needed to secure the rest of the battlefield. The Seekers had this in the bag, despite the cheap shot free kills Consul A managed to secure. Primrose, that wizard chick, landed the final blow and blew him up on the inside. Some giant thing, Ganondorf maybe? Really tore into the Gravemind. After that, Consul D ran away.
”All that power, just to die being someone else’s bitch.” Juri scoffed.
Both of them tried to get some poignant last words in. ”MAN, you two sure are chatty for a couple of dead chumps, huh? Fuck off already, wouldja?!” Juri taunted, her voice echoing last as their enemies faded into nothingness.
”Welp,” Juri sniffed. ”We did win. Those guys sure did talk a lot of shit for three outta four to be dead.” Juri kicked at the ground where Consul A was.
”I’m sick of this cruddy place, let’s ditch it.” Juri said when Sandalphon offered the way out.
Once back on the Avenger, Juri had no interest right now of sticking around to chat with a bunch of gloomy people. She stalked off to the hanger, in search of a new vehicle to pilfer or claim as her own. Instead, much to her delight, she found her old bike!
She definitely remembered Midna having magic’d it up. It looks like she stored it here. Huh. Now Juri actually did feel a bit bummed out that Midna died. Still, she grinned, patting her motorcycle with a usually hidden well of sentimentality. Then she put her Ghoulsaw against it, trying to find the best places to store it. It only then occurred to her that her new weapon should have a Juri themed paint job.
”Oh, baby.” Juri said, running her hand down the side of the chainsaw. ”Imagine how good you’d look in green and purple! Or purple and black.” She mused. If this place had a hanger, it must have a garage. Juri set off in search of a paintjob.
Level 6: 35/60 Location: Dead Zone: Qliphoth Word Count: short Points Gained: 1+ 6 New EXP Balance: Level 6: 41/60
Juri didn’t even have a chance to turn down the next offer before that big guy put himself up. That was more the reaction speed she was anticipating. While she had no particular attachment to this guy, Consul A was the smuggest most arrogance piece of shit in the room, so Juri would be very pleased if a Seeker managed to snuff him out.
Once she was back where she was and outside, Juri went to the whole that Rika and Jr. had left. The battle was raging fiercely. D still seemed strong, but A was trying not to throw a tantrum now that he was going to lose even with his bullshit power going off twice.
”I killed Consul O!” Juri informed everyone of what had happened with a boast. ”Let’s finish these freaks off already!” Juri flexed her leg up, down, and brought it around, recharging her Fuha energy.
Consul D was high in the air, raining down hell on the Seekers. Unfortunately like many of the others she was lacking in long ranged firepower.
”I need a god damn rocket launcher,” Juri mused aloud. Regardless, Juri didn’t engage yet and instead observed from afar to see how things panned out before choosing where to intervene. She didn’t want to get caught up in some suicide attack from a nearly defeated foe if she didn’t have to be. It looked like Consul A and the Gravemind were being given the boot, and Juri couldn't do much against D so why subject herself to the barrage? No, Juri decided to play herself in reserve for now.
Just when Juri had been sneaking in, she had been yoinked up into some nightmare scenario where, apparently, one of the Seekers had to choose to die. Considering she thought she was running with selfless hero types, it took way longer than she thought for someone else to cave. Eventually, Princess Midna did and it dropped Juri right back where she was before, like it was all in her head. Taking a moment to regain her composure, Juri turned her eyes upward through the glass dome at the encroaching moon, her mouth falling open.
”Tch,” Juri sneered and kept moving through the outside of the enclosure. ”Course it had to be the blue chick who vacuumed up my bike to bite the bullet. Where the hell is my cycle, now?” Juri complained to herself.
Not long after Juri slipped through the Cretaceous enclosure’s electric fence with the help of her hacking ability, a familiar crimson light shone down through the glass dome of O’s Command Center. When the martial artist looked up, she saw the Consul’s giant, disembodied eyes phase through the glass and descend toward her, narrowed in frustrated incredulity around his glowing lemniscate pupils. “What!? How in the world did you…?” They squeezed closed, then shook from side to side. Without the rest of O’s head there to gesticulate, the motion looked a little odd, but Juri got the memo.
Juri couldn’t help but laugh, looking up at the eyes. Her artificial eye glowed as she prepared to use another hack, expecting O to try something.
“Bah, nevermind that. Look, let’s talk this over.” O lowered his tone insistently, his voice a conspiratorial, projected whisper. “Why are you even fighting us? I know you’re not like the others. I’ve got an eye for these things, see. You don’t play by their rules. So why are you dancing on their strings?” His eyes swerved around her, their gaze bemused. “Don’t you know they’ve sent you on a suicide mission? Even if you do ‘save the world’, your existence ends with the Endless Now!”
Juri narrowed her eyes at the accusation she was dancing on anyone’s strings. But she didn’t let this conversation stop her from searching around the perimeter of the glass dome. When O mentioned the suicide mission, she did slow, her eyes unfocusing for a moment with interiority, before she kept moving forward.
”You must be worried if you’re tryin’ to turn me. Talk about a pie in the sky. How ‘bout you show me where you are and we speak in person?” She said with a grin. Juri was fairly immediacy oriented these days, and the pleasure of murdering some desperately bargaining overlord was high on her priority list.
As Juri snooped around the various consoles and rooms that ringed the Command Center’s upper levels, which seemed to be mostly full of large, blinking machines with no discernible purpose, O’s entreaty grew subtly more urgent. “Of course I’m worried,” he hissed as if through gritted teeth. “After all, this world is all that any of us have. If -and that’s a big if- you all actually do destroy the World of Light, it’s not like you’ll wake up with everything back to normal. Maybe some semblance of us will continue on out there, but the ‘we’ who live now will be really, truly dead! Don’t ‘we’ deserve to live!? Better to reincarnate again and again in the World of Light–or better yet, become Moebius! Moebius is immortality. Don’t you see, that could be you!”
His eyes widened as he spoke, and as if to underscore his point, he began to create all sorts of things around Juri. Grass, plants, trees, furniture, vehicles, animals, workers, and more all showed up for a moment, then disappeared. Only a rather expensive-looking motorcycle remained; evidently O had been listening to Juri’s mutters. “The whole world, your very own playbox. Power? Prestige? Revenge? Entertainment? Whatever you crave, it could be yours! Why sacrifice your very existence for them, when you could rule over such fools instead, bend them to your every whim!” Judging by the speed and intensity of his monologued appeal, Juri must be getting close to his hiding spot.
Juri’s stance widened, gripping her Ghoulsaw tightly as she moved forward, surveying the changing objects until her eyes landed on the motorcycle. Consul O could make objects and creatures appear out of thin air, she wasn’t trying to be caught off guard. More than her eyes, she relied on her ears. Her heart began to race, and some deep-seated anger began to boil under the surface. This guy and all his ‘points’ were really rubbing her the wrong way.
Still. She couldn’t pretend O didn’t have her attention. ”You ever heard of a guy named M. Bison? Sometimes he goes by Vega. Big guy in a stupid hat, white eyes and shit-eating grin. Leader of Shadaloo. World dominating type.” She asked.
The Consul paused long enough for it to be conspicuous. “...And what if I have?”
Juri chuckled breathily, now certain that he had. ”Do the math, genius. You offered me revenge. I could even kill someone like him, right?” She asked, though she felt like she already knew the answer and was already out of patience.
“As many times as you could ever want,” O replied, his voice a little too eager. In the pause that followed, there happened to be a brief lull in the battle outside, and Juri heard a metallic clank a couple doors down.
That took her by surprise, and Juri’s eyes widened. As many times as she wanted. At the clank, she turned over her shoulder, and her face soured. Her knuckles whitened. ”Because he’d never really die.” She growled. She wanted him to suffer. But more than that, she wanted to kill him. Really kill him.
Her hands shook. ”He’d come back like he always does. I could torture him for eternity and he’d forget it every ten years. I’d have to start over forever until I ended up like you, trying to bargain my way out of a fight as some new batch of fucking dickheads tries to kill me!” Juri sped forward with a Drive Rush, looking to search as much ground as possible now that her temper had suddenly boiled over. She couldn’t believe she let this arrogant prick slow her down for even a second! Play her for a fool?! God damn it!
”So come on out, asshole! I think you’re the only one between the two of us here that can really die!” Juri called out.
After a moment of stunned surprise, O gave a raspy snarl. “Argh! Vitriolic brat. Would you spite the air for having to breathe it? Your mother for having birthed you?” He paused for a moment, then snickered. “Ah, that must be it! What use is eternity for one for whom existence itself is ennui? What you really crave, then, must be death!”
When Juri burst through the door with a Drive Rush-boosted strike, she finally spotted him. A Consul, armored and masked like all the rest, but wizened and wheelchair-bound. On either side of him stood six zookeepers with randomized appearances but uniformly dead eyes, tranquilizer rifles at the ready. Between them and the door lay an obstacle course of waist-high metal food troughs full of meat, water, and vegetables. O’s Moebius eyes reappeared in front of his helmet, flaring up with red light. “Fire!”
”Shitty geezer!” Juri spat. If she was one thing, it was vitriolic. She lit up with blue Drive Parry energy, and swatted the six darts out of the air with a broad-sided swipe of her Ghoulsaw, letting it swing out wide. She launched herself forward with another Drive Rush. Her feet left the ground as she span nearly sideways through the air over the first few obstacles, saw blade extended. Then her Ghoulsaw slammed into the ground and she planted her feet on top of it. She would let it carry her with a horrifying metallic yowl as it carved through floor and trough alike, only made more manic by the speed increase and streak of energy from her rush and the spray of debris and detritus as she barrelled towards Consul O. At this rate she was looking to carve him and his wheelchair up the middle.
As she closed in, however, an electric fence shot up to protect O from the front. A prehistoric -themed concession stand then popped up around him to shield him from all other angles, its walls of solid stone. With all O’s efforts focused on defense, however, only his zookeepers remained to actually attack Juri. They kept shooting at her, even if their aim left something to be desired; from a physical standpoint, they seemed to be completely normal humans.
Juri reared back, stopping suddenly and hooking her foot on a lever of the Ghoulsaw. She leaned all the way back and tapped her prosthetic eye as her shoulder blades hit the floor, darts sailing through the space she had just occupied. A moment passed and the electric fence turned off. She span on the floor in a break-dance like maneuver and then lunged through the gap in the fence towards O, taking her Ghoulsaw with her to dive inside and slice into his thighs before she even hit the ground.
O howled, his body wrenching in agony as his wordless cry resounded within the echo chamber he’d boxed himself into. While his legs didn’t do him much good, as indicated by his wheelchair, he was still unfortunate enough to have feeling in them. When his concentration was broken and his body moved, his ocular apparition melted away, and the Consul was nothing but a defenseless old man. He had only one card left to play: an attempted to teleport away in a flare of purple Moebius energy, but that would take precious seconds he didn’t have.
Juri let the Ghoulsaw fall where it lay after she landed on the ground, and skittered forward like a spider after its prey. ”C’mere!” She growled, twisting her body to slam her heel into his face to interrupt whatever spell he was casting, knocking him onto his side.
”Wuh oh!” She crowed. Then her plan was simple: stomp his neck and twist. With only the feeblest manner of opposition at his disposal, O could do nothing to stop her. He could only gasp in terrified desperation. “Wait-!” Then came a terrible crack, and the Consul’s body went limp.
Juri stood in silence for a moment, exhaling. She gave the body an extra kick to make sure he started turning to ash. Instead, she quickened his disintegration into glowing purple particles that left not the slightest trace behind, not even a spirit. Juri frowned. The Consuls were different than everyone else in this fake-ass candyland world, she thought. She guessed they didn’t ash.
”’...Wait-!’” She repeated mockingly. ”Heard that one before. Not so eternal now, huh?” Juri asked, picking up her Ghoulsaw. She gave it a wipe, brushing some of the fruit chunks off of it with a frown.
”...Tch” Juri grit her teeth. ”Ennui. What a loser.” She mumbled. She slipped out of the gate and dealt with the remaining guards in a manner-of-fact way.
Juri tipped her head skyward through the dome and to the encroaching monster moon, and listened to the battle outside. ”Uuugh. Alright. Where’s that turtle brat and his toy boat sister?” She asked, before moving to leave the room to find them. She'd find the dome completely empty.
Level 6: 33/60 Location: Dead Zone: Qliphoth Word Count: short Points Gained: 1 x 2 New EXP Balance: Level 6: 35/60
Juri did indeed disregard the little punks Rika and Jr, who she remembered from their time at the bar. While Junior did upgrade her tommy gun, she had since cast it aside in favor of her Ghoulsaw. What had he done for her recently? Not much. Besides, she had no interest in fighting…hippos or whatever.
Juri cracked the door open with her hacking and went inside O’s command center, on the hunt for the wizard behind the curtain. Forgoing her martial arts for now, she went with her Ghoulsaw, figuring precision and speed weren’t needed for now. Those annoying red eyes, floating around the place. Where was this little creep?
Well, she didn’t find a little creep. Instead she found a dinosaur. ”Haah?” She asked, tilting her head to the side. That wasn’t what she expected. ”Badass…” She muttered to herself, looking the beast over. A quick scan of the environment showed that O wasn’t here. There must be a secret door or something, right? Unless Sandy’s intel was somehow wrong.
The fences were definitely electric, given the voltage. This all looked very Jurassic Park. There was nothing she could do with this T-Rex in the way. The downside of relying on wild animals was that they weren’t inherently aggressive, Juri thought. Just, well, wild.
Juri wasn’t afraid of the T-Rex. Worst case scenario she felt like she could sever a single ankle with her Ghoulsaw and cripple the poor thing. Sure it was dangerous but so were assault rifles, and Juri could handle those no problem. Instead, though, she thought she might have a quicker way. Or at least, a more fun, less animal-chopping kind of way.
Making a mad dash to the right, she quickly hacked the electrical fence to temporarily disable it. Then she dove right through the bars and slipped through, crawling into the space between the round dome and the square fence. She shimmied right. Either the fence would come online before the Rex came after her, or she would slip to the side as it crashed into the fence and damaged the glass dome around the exterior. Since she hadn’t triggered Galeem’s aggression curse, she wondered if the T-Rex would choose to pursue after some prey like her crammed behind a re-electrified fence, or seek freedom in the outside world. Either way, by Juri’s calculations it was a win-win for her.
”Heh heh” She giggled. As she went, she scouted out the room from the edges, looking at the interior and at the ground beneath her feet for any sign of exits or entrances. O had to be here somewhere. She’d flush the little rat out.
Level 6: 31/60 Location: Dead Zone: Qliphoth Word Count: 400~ Points Gained: 1 x 2 New EXP Balance: Level 6: 33/60
With Fortune back in action, the jumping of the smug prick ‘D’, or Dracula, continued in earnest. He seemed displeased about it, and pulled out some magic scythes. Juri played it cool, letting the others take the brunt of his attention. It was a necessity, taking a significant amount of time to allow her Burnout period to end. Without it, she still had some speed and strength, but her combos, defense, offense, and mobility were all severely limited. She swiped in occasionally, but usually just threatened to attack with her presence, trying to fake the lord of vampires out and overload his mental stack. This run and gun approach limited her effectiveness but also made her a lot safer.
Really, Juri considered the other battles. The Gravemind loomed overhead, bellowing and hollering about who knows what. Should it come down to it, Juri could start hacking into the monster with her Ghoulsaw. Consul A was casting crazy spells, which Juri had no interest in dueling against. Moreover, though, the only one who had actually managed to put a Seeker on ice was Consul O, who used a rollercoaster to smash the ugly bee queen into the ground. She got carted away by magic cats. A bizarre sight, but with everything else going on Juri pieced together it was some kind of insurance policy. No wonder the Seekers were being so careless. Though Juri had pushed her luck with that battle with Fortune.
When Sandalphon chimed in about O being on the move and the nature of D’s weaknesses, Juri thought a swap was in order. O was dangerous, and currently only the little boy angel was on him. Plus, the technologically oriented O could be stimied by Juri’s natural hacking prowess…and there wasn’t any animal that could catch her.
”Someone should use one of those wooden fences to stake him in the heart,” Juri commented off-handedly, before spending a Drive Rush to blitz across the battle arena, towards O’s little command center. While smashing people with her own hands and feet was fun, she was eager to flex her technological prowess. With Sombra’s power she could shut systems down with a wave of her fingers.
Juri sped towards the constructed command center, hopping from high point to high point as she did. As her head long sprint concluded she prepped her hack.
”Outta my way, Hallmark!” She warned Pit.
Roller coasters would go dead, rides would malfunction and sputter to a stop before O wanted, etc. Well, at least one would before the ability went on cooldown but that was all Juri needed. When she was close enough, she felt as if she could just use her hacking skills to bid the door of the command center: ”Open Sesame.” and stroll inside.
Lvl 14 Ms Fortune (139/140), Level 6 Juri (21/60) Word Count: 3164 + 8exp
Having wound up near Roland after falling prey to Consul D’s bewitchment, Nadia set her sights on him, ready and willing to test his mettle with her own arsenal of weapons. Luckily for him, Roland’s wealth of supernatural experience -both with brainwashing and other, even worse methods of control- meant that he not only recognized what had happened, but also knew a surefire way to set Nadia straight. If he could just stagger her, that shock to the system should loosen the Consul’s grasp. Of course, by now he knew enough to know that Ms Fortune didn’t go down easy, but there was no problem the Fixer couldn’t solve. With swords aglow from stockpiled power, he charged toward his opponent, and Nadia returned the favor with a headlong sprint on all fours. “Finally,” she exclaimed, her voice somewhat slurred. “Someone I can really fight!”
Only a few seconds into their furious clash, however, Nadia got blindsided from behind. A lithe leg bent her straight into the path of a cruel upward knee strike, followed by an airborne thrust kick that sent the feral tumbling. She came to a stop about twenty feet away, not so far from the iron perimeter of O’s hippo exhibit, then rose with teeth gritted. She hadn’t caught sight of the curmudgeon that sucker punched her, she’d grown so familiar with the feel of those kicks that she could be blindfolded and still know just who to blame. “Hah…haha.” Though very much not herself right now, Nadia still found it in her to give Juri a toothy smile. Her eyes were glazed over with a wine-red haze. “Hahahaha! C’mon then! Let’s play!”
Juri grinned, and then turned that grin onto Roland in a warning fashion for a second before refocusing on Fortune.
Roland looked at Nadia getting intercepted by Juri who seemed to be a bit… too eager to fight the mind controlled cat girl. Uh, hopefully she didn’t go overboard but if she was going to knock some sense back into her ally, well, Roland could focus on D again. With his buffs he was a lot faster and stronger, and he still had more room to grow.
Nadia pulled off her head and rolled it forward like a bowling ball. Then she reached into her pouch and withdrew the Free Lemonade, which she promptly pitched in Juri’s direction. It arced through the air, hurling sour yellow juice everywhere, but long before it hit the ground Nadia’s body seized the initiative. With Charge she bolted across the battlefield, closing the space Juri made in an instant, then instantly launched a Fiber Upper–a truly degenerate move, if Fiber Upper still had its armor.
The double projectile throw had made Juri want to play defensively. Juri knew Fortune had speed and reach of her own, so blitzing around the place might leave herself vulnerable. She strafed at a measured but quick pace, setting a hand on her hip as she eyed the rolling head. As the flask rolled in she widened her stance and prepared to block, only to instead block the wild fiber upper instead.
”Haaaah?” Juri crowed incredulously. Juri went for a big punish. To provide insurance against Fortune’s head or that acidic bottle she started with an armored Drive Impact, going low, planting three out of four limbs, and slamming her foot into Fortune’s chest to crumple her in place and knock the wind out of her with a Punish Counter. She stabbed Fortune’s torso with her elbow and a thrusting chop before spin kicking her away- only for an imploding burst of wind to draw Fortune back in and into Juri’s waiting arms, where she axe kicked Fortune into the ground. The bottle turned out to be more of a damage over time situation, which caused some lemony stings in Juri’s thigh and feet but she disregarded the damage for now.
”You really are drunk!” Juri spat. ”But I’ll happily kick you around if you’re gonna keep bein’ stupid!” Juri said. As if to put this to the test, she raised her foot as if to stomp on Fortune, only to draw backwards incase she exploded upwards with another reversal. This also had the side effect of getting her out of the citrus acid puddle.
Juri’s retreat took her just out of range of Nadia’s flailing, disjointed legs as her body rose with a spinning kickflip. She landed on her feet in the middle of the lemonade puddle, and no sooner had her boots splashed down than her head zoomed forward, propelled by a spurt of blood from its severed neck. It closed the distance fast for a weak low hit, but Nadia herself followed behind it in a sprint on all fours, which happened to be a tactic that Juri knew well. After a few steps of crunching across broken glass, though, feral put an extra twist on the tricky approach by hopping into the air, then airdashing barely even a foot off the ground to fly in for an overhead light kick. Expertly timed, it landed split second after her head made contact. “Paw-don me!”
Juri had planted her hand and feet on the floor like a spider. She deflected Fortune’s head, but her head jerked backwards as she caught the light kick for her trouble. Whatever, she could always focus in and bust out the Drive Parry. ”You don’t even have paws.” Juri said, trying to find a moment to slip in a backhand counter strike.
When her kick connected, Nadia went all-in. She chained the quick opener into a heavy X-scrape Claws, then put that momentum into a somersault axe kick that bounced Juri off the ground. A quick dash forward allowed her to confirm two claw swipes, followed by a Tornado kick to start an Unchain combo. Still new to Angel’s tricky technique, she went for a simple chain: a high Sobat kick, a sweeping Under Blow punch, a revolving high kick, and finally an upward Lariat as the finisher empowered by Fluffy Soft. “NYAH! Keep the chain-ge!”
Her combo lasted only a moment, accelerated and made a little more punishing by the blessings of Aha the Elation. Though the Lariat launched Juri high, the fight was far from over, and she could flip out and recover with neither fighter at advantage. Even without the lingering speed boost from Clockwork Apple, though, Nadia was the type to press her assault regardless of advantage. “Under purr-essure!” With her head not far behind, the feral dashed in to keep the pain train rolling.
Juri landed three-point with a huff. As Fortune swung she shifted backwards and returned fire with a stopsign kick to the chest. Then she span down to send a streak of slicing energy towards that head following suit, using her last Fuha Stock and two bars of Drive Gauge for the extra juice. ”I’ll crush you!” She hopped up with a spin and brought her leg down on Fortune’s unbalanced body like a great hammer, looking to slam Fortune down onto her own head with the ankensatsu.
“Ugh!” Running straight into Juri’s extended leg took the wind from Nadia’s lungs, and the knockback from it left her head wide open for an opportunistic saihasho. That crawling crescent wouldn’t stagger her by hitting her head, but the slap of energy kept her disoriented enough for Juri’s heel drop. “Me-owch!” Nadia grimaced, ears flapping in dismay. While she practically sat on her own head on the way down, the impact informed her just where her noggin had fallen. She grabbed it with one hand while firing the other like a grappling hook behind her. It flew toward the iron fence behind her to latch on so she could snap herself to safety, but the maneuver gave Juri another split second or two to make something happen.
”Haha, nice!” Juri casually lifted her leg as Fortune retreated. In the wake of her foot was a line of black and white energy, indicating Juri refilling her Fuha stocks to continue using empowered moves against her wily opponent. It also gave her a moment for her Drive to recharge some more.
”Finally. Come at me like you wanna kill me, it’s more fun that way.” Juri grinned, her visible eye wide. ”That vampire freak’s done us a real favor, don’tcha think?” Juri beckoned, and began to walk forward, a saunter in her step. Her reactions were on a hair trigger, looking to batter Fortune away, especially if she took the aerial approach.
After hopping to her feet, Nadia held her head by her ears for just a moment, her eyes glassy but filled with hate. “Hah…hahaha!” She gasped, a smile spreading over her face. With one hand she replaced her head on her shoulders, while with the other reached into a belt pouch and withdrew the Bait Launcher. “It would be my purr-leasure!”
Juri liked this side of Fortune.
Foomp. A slab of raw steak arced through the air.
”Seen it!” Juri hissed, recalling their brief, damageless encounter at the Carnival Games where Fortune used the Bait Launcher. She stepped forward to meet the meat and spent an OD Fuhajin to fill the rest of her stock and annihilate the meat projectile in mid air.
Nadia clicked her tongue and used Rosetta’s Roll and Gun to near-instantly reload the Bait Launcher. When she fired again mid-cartwheel, she aimed low, and the steak hit the ground about halfway between the two combatants with a wet plop. Unfortunately for Juri, it didn’t matter where the bait landed–only that she was the closest foe to it. A brolic bengal tiger popped out of nowhere only a half-dozen feet away from Juri. With a bloodcurdling roar it went wild, attacking the martial artist with a barrage of huge swipes from its clawed mitts.
”Annoying-” Juri said, but six feet was better than no feet. With a bit of extra space she focused in and used Drive Parry, a high noise ringing out as she deflected the claws on either side of her with her hands and raised foot. Juri still didn’t like fighting animals, but she went for the counter hit by sinking her elbow into the tigers chest as it raised its upper body. Then she lifted it upwards with a pinwheel kick to launch it over the edge of the nearby enclosure, where it poofed away.
While the relentless tiger bought her a few seconds of time, Nadia quickly traded out her gun for two new items. In one hand she wielded her dagger Athame, and in her other she clutched the Ripened Heart. “It’s time…to cut loose!” Still grinning, she slid the knife along her forearm in one quick motion, not even flinching as her blood poured from the wound. Reacting with her innate Lightning type, the metal blade sparked the Conducted reaction, granting her Multitarget. Electric arrows radiated outward from her body as she pressed the Ripened Heart to her chest and breathed deep, boosting her natural regeneration into overdrive. Then Nadia crouched down in a track-starter stance, transformed her legs into a white tiger’s with Fluffy Soft, and burst forward in an all-out sprint to rush Juri down.
Juri wasn’t sure what half of that stuff was, but she could only guess Fortune was going all out. ”C’mon then!” She taunted, resting her arm on her raised leg and coaxing Fortune forward with an outstretched finger. If Fortune did some vicious strike, as Juri was predicting, Juri would vanish in a split-second blur and reappear a short distance behind Fortune where she backflipped away to put more distance between them, to run out the clock on all these buffs and frustrate Fortune into making a mistake.
She narrowly avoided disaster as Nadia, propelled forward by the twenty-percent speed boost from Fluffy Soft, hopped up to deliver a wild dropkick. Thanks to Multitarget, her legs extended with blasts of electric blood to blast outward in a surprisingly huge cone, but once her target slipped out of harm’s way, the dropkick amounted to little more than a show of force. Nadia’s legs returned to normal as she picked herself up, and after only a brief moment she locked onto her target. Juri flipped away preemptively, and the feral saw her chance to strike. “Gotcha!” She performed a quick somersault to launch an El Gate axe kick that stretched out its furthest extent, aimed not at her airborne opponent but the ground where she would land. On impact another burst of electric blood went off, this one with a five foot radius. Whether it hit or not, Nadia hopped up with her other leg in order to snap down to her extended one. She zoomed in, and upon arrival, slashed her dagger in a glinting arc.
Juri slid backwards, blocking the axe kick and burst of blood. She slipped backwards and away, the dagger cutting across her side with the tip. ”Ah!” Juri stepped backwards. If Fortune kept moving forwards in that moment, Juri would try to slap her across the face with a backhanded jab.
Though inconsequential at first blush, that small slice was all it took to inflict a serious defense debuff on Juri courtesy of Athame’s weapon skill, and Nadia seemed to smell blood. She pivoted around to follow up with a whirling kick, only to be interrupted by a backhand to the face. At around the same time, a wayward magic pulse from Geralt’s Quen gave Fortune a shock from behind.
“Buh!?” In that instant Juri took her turn back, and promptly turned the tides with an OD Tensenrin. A whirling pinwheel kick took Nadia into the sky, and once at the zenith Juri twisted to bring one leg back down on the feral’s head. She hurtled into the ground with a yowl, with her opponent only a split second behind. Nadia had a plan, though, to make her rival think twice about applying pressure–and as with all her best plans, Nadia didn’t give it a second thought. When she sprang off the ground, she did so with one knee lifted to perform her Blue Monday Blockbuster, her eager eyes bright with mischief.
Juri raised her hand and elbow as if to stab down onto Fortune. But she had been saving her Super since this bout started. Fortune wasn’t thinking straight, and the one thing that could clinch the victory in this time pressed moment was for Fortune to do something really, really wild. Which she did. As Fortune lifted her knee, she would not find Juri’s extended arm ripe for countering, but a quick shift as she slid backwards. ”Womp womp,” Juri said, Rushing in to kick Fortune in the side and in the face with a double kick before she could recover.
Time to cash out. She would have to put everything into this to keep Fortune down long enough for her to come around or whatever the hell needed to happen. Juri used the extra advantage from her Rushing punish counter to plant her hand on the ground and kick up into Fortune’s chin, before blitzing around her before she could recover to kick her in the side and in the head again. ”Nighty night!” She drove her elbow into Fortune’s head and then Drive Rush cancelled again, laying on more kicks and strikes before launching Fortune into the air.
She used a Fuha charged projectile to send a ki slice beneath Fortune before she landed to pop her up for a pinwheel kick. Juri’s eye flashed purple as she used her ultimate technique.
”Time to die!” There was an explosive impact as she kicked Fortune high into the air. Somehow, Juri was waiting for her about twenty feet up, having beat her to the apex of the launch, to kick Fortune back down. With a burst of speed, tongue trailing out of the side of her mouth, she beat Fortune back to the ground and kicked upward to practically impale the woman on her foot. She held Fortune aloft, bringing herself to Fortune’s face. She took the moment to gauge Fortune’s mood. Fortunately, some confident, unbothered smile wasn’t waiting for her.
”That felt good, didn’t it?” Juri asked, gently brushing her fingers across Fortune’s cheek. Then she finished the ordeal by using her foot to slam Fortune face first into the ground.
Juri took a few steps backwards, hunching her shoulders and breathing heavily. While she was still doing decently on health, she was completely burnt out with no resources left to speak of. With the debuff Fortune put on her, if Fortune wasn’t knocked out or back to her senses after that beating, Juri would be in real trouble. ”Hah…still…with us?” Juri set a hand on her hip, feigning absolute confidence despite her panting.
When slammed into the ground, Nadia had fallen apart, her pieces lying strewn across the ground. Her Multitarget buff expired, and for a good moment she really did look dead. Of course, the dismembered feral was still very much alive, but it took a second or two longer than usual for her to recover. When her eyes blearily blinked open, they were back to their usual ocean blue. The sounds of allies fighting and undead monstrosities running amok brought her back to reality like smelling salts, but in no state of consciousness did she relish setting eyes on Juri. Half-formed images and memories from her time in D’s thrall hit her like a wave of nausea. “...Ugh.” Rather than ask what happened, she focused on pulling herself together. Whatever had befallen her, she was still alive, and her job wasn’t over yet.
After a moment Nadia got up into a crouch, took a quick look around to make sure she wasn’t in active danger, then used her Ripened Heart. It went dark after doing so, meaning that it would offer no more healing for the time being. Even worse, she recognized the puddle of lemonade nearby, as well as the glass shards around it. “My lemonade?” That magically-refilling pitcher had been a one-of-a-kind relic, and now it lay broken. It was a genuine bummer, and it left Nadia crestfallen. A moment later, though, she shook her head and put on a smile. This loss just meant that finishing this fight would be that much sweeter. “Whatever. Let’s go!” She grabbed Athame and stood up, ready to fight.
Juri had her Ghoulsaw out, but when Fortune’s eyes were back to their normal color, her idea of chopping Fortune up to keep her from reforming would have to remain a fantasy for the sake of the mission. Besides, killing those smug Consuls and that idiotic Gravemind would be the sweetest prize around here. ”Finally,” She said, holstering the weapon. She had also taken the time to sit the battle out to regain her breath.
”I’m bored of kicking your ass, so try not to fall in love again, Fortune.” Juri needled. The catgirl tried to ignore her.
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