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Post by Kuma on Jun 15, 2017 3:37:24 GMT
-Thank you.- Riku’s only words after such exposition of information. He gained some insights, but not much. He might have to be patient finish the mission and get his reward and train under Ikari Fukushi. The Vengeful Boxer might have opened up a bit if time allowed it, but alas he didn’t shed his harsh exterior today, at least not in this moment, as finally he was able to hear, surely like the others, the incoming threat from beyond the broken door. At first it was too far away to distinguish it, only sounding as something splashing on water, the same water that kept flowing from the top floors. Riku stood up, peering into the darkness without being able to see anything, just hear the ever closer sounds of something moving, shrouded by shadows. Finally the sounds became more distinguishable, it had the rhythm that only something moving forward would make, and anybody with keen enough hearing would notice that it was two sets of steps, steps of four legged creatures.
-More wolves?- Riku whispered to himself, but remembered that the beast they fought could move as balls, plus they wouldn’t be as loud as whatever was coming. The suspense could be cut with a knife as an eerie atmosphere took over, with the heavy sets of charging footsteps growing ever closer. The Vengeful Boxer remembered bringing something from the camp, he pocketed it thinking it would be useful but thanks to Yuu’s natural abilities it wasn’t needed, but right now it could be quite the asset. He reached into his pocket and pulled a whole bundle of emergency glow sticks. He twisted them to turn them on and threw them into the currents of water. The glowsticks were carried by the water, slowly filling the hallway beyond the doors with dim light. For a second nothing seemed to appear in the revealing light, but suddenly, coming out from the slowly shrinking shadows two massive shapes bursted into the illuminated area, splashing bucketloads of water around them as they landed with heavy metallic sounds accompanying the water sounds.
Two massive Russian Black Bears, decayed like the wolves and humans, but instead of having external exoskeletons they had almost armored suits, grafted through their flesh directly into reinforced bones. The grotesque head, half covered with similar helmets as the others, only tougher and with individual lenses instead of a single visor, ended in a decayed snout with yellow and greenish teeth, some of them cracked, yet around their jaw they had artificial under and overbites, the same kind of reinforcement was on their claws, plus their front legs had even larger armor pieces, almost like giant shield. Yet the most important piece of armor they had was the one covering their backs and shoulders, charged with half-empty rocket silos and a large artillery cannons. Heavy Weapons Bears. Both of them stopped roughly 30 mts away from the group and something on their feet armor pierced through the floor, clamping them as they positioned with their main cannons aimed directly at the makeshift camp.
The detonation inside the metal tubes echoed in the hallway as two tank-cannon-sized slugs flew towards them.
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Post by HungryHunter on Jun 15, 2017 5:38:45 GMT
"Nothing to thank me for. I told you not to go for her." Martha grumbled. Yuu nodded. "I have to agree. You shouldn't seek out fights. Just win the ones that find you." "Not because of that!" Martha protested. Before she could really get into it, she saw motion at the doorway. It wasn't the bears but their scout fleeing them, in free fall straight sideways. Her trajectory changed until she landed right among her team. "Hey. Monsters." Sidney gave the warning as the sound of splashing picked up. The other scouts turned towards the door just in time to see the ursine tanks charging through. "What!?" Yuu's composure dropped for just a second. "That's so cool! I want one!" Chelsea's own composure dropped just the same up above.
The cannon fire annihilated the empty island, blowing it up into mere murky sludge. Yuu came to a stop on the left of the blast radius, fire snuffed and Marika in her arms. Her sturdy back took the brunt of the steaming mud that rained down after the blast. She gently put Marika down and turned to face the beastly artillery. "Try to hit a missile still in the silo with your plasma!" She suggested as she rushed forward, seeking to draw fire when her eyes sparked and flames spread across her body again. She wasn't trying to attack, just draw fire. She was sure a hot target was an attractive one for simple minds.
On the other side of the island, Martha let go of the backs of Jane's coat, having drug her out of the way. She had also attempted the same for Riku. Jane clumsily splashed down in the water and came up coughing. "Sorry Jane! Gotta go!" Martha charged at once, but already she was feeling the effects of the cold. Without the fine tuned heat control of warm blooded living humans, dolls were highly vulnerable to temperature drops. Her limbs grew stiff and heavy as she charged through the water. It was like running straight up a mountain. Even slowed, she was vastly above normal human speeds, rushing in a zig zag towards the zombies. She jumped to attack the visors of one of them hard kicks.
Josefina stepped forward as well, looking down at the little cannon bearing caniforms. She was slow and big. A rather vulnerable target. She waved her arm slowly over the ground and a wall pushed its way up through the concrete between her and the bears. It should take at least one shot. Chelsea too opted for defensive tactics. She spiraled overhead, looking for weak spots. Their position at the doors made it tricky to loop around behind them. Instead she waited for them to fire again. That would be their most vulnerable moment, between shots. Then she would dive and see if she could find anything in the launchers that could be cut or pried loose.
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Post by Kuma on Jun 19, 2017 4:06:28 GMT
Riku was already on the move when Martha grabbed him from the collar. He planned to avoid the explosion running towards the enemy and use the blast behind him, while shielding himself with Fighting Spirit, to avoid receiving damage from the explosion, using the shock wave to propel his body towards the enemy to finish them quickly, as fighting against such firepower in a confined space wasn’t ideal, especially after seeing how a small explosion caused a small scale flood. Yet his plans were cut short as the Doll yanked him from the back of his jacket and threw him to the side in a well-performed, yet misguided attempt to save him. Riku didn’t display the frustration boiling inside him, at least he didn’t showcase it out in the open, maybe just a bit, a glimmer of anger on his eyes, as he was sitting on the cold water, getting pieces of concrete out of his hair. The Vengeful Boxer stood up and started moving to seek cover behind the large door, as he thought about his next move.
This time around the bears didn’t go with the precision strike, as the silos on their shoulders opened launching a dozen of spiralling missiles directed towards the dolls general direction, a veritable Itano Circus. Seemingly they’ve been programmed as Artillery Support, mobile, highly armored and totally indiscriminate on their firepower, a “quantity over quality” approach, as not only they released the missiles that flew towards Marika and her Dolls, especially Martha, Chelsea and Yuu, but also they kept chucking powerful artillery slugs from their back cannons, some bouncing off the gigantic doors and falling in the floor, exploding or just falling harmlessly without detonating. Behind them, if anybody was able to see through the smoke and flames, the glow sticks Riku threw lighted the silhouettes of fast moving shapes speeding on the walls. A pack of Blitz Wolves in ball form were blasting alongside the walls, pushed by their spinning jets, their metal plates leaving an indented trail on the crumbling walls as they moved forward.
Riku, peeking out the edge of the door, tried to follow the pattern as his cover vibrated getting hit by the artillery slugs. The deeper they went the more coordinated were the attacks of the enemies and their implants seemed to be in better shape. If they survived this situation he might share his theories with the group. As the Vengeful Boxer wasn’t seeing the incoming enemies as what they were, individual creatures attacking in packs, he saw each movement of their quarry as a punch thrown by a yet unseen enemy, and for the looks of it they were fighting an outboxer. The deeper they went the clearer he could see the silhouette of the enemy, and thus he would know more about him after this exchange of blows. Still there were many things he was still wondering about, but those enigmas would need to be ignored for the time being, as there are more pressing matters at hand.
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Post by HungryHunter on Jun 19, 2017 6:15:26 GMT
Josefina's wall held up to the occasional missiles pounding into it, keeping Josefina safe but unable to act. She carefully peaked around the wall and spied on the situation. Martha, the closest to the bears, managed a few stumbling dodges before an explosion went off right next to her and she was smashed off her feet, skidding over the water until she hit the wall in a spray of murky water and cracked concrete.
Chelsea's plan to wait for an opening was foiled when she was faced with a neverending barrage. She spiraled in patterns that grew more and more erratic as she tried to avoid the seemingly endless missiles offered by the bears. "Oh, fine. You will not face my blade, so instead you must face my firearm! From it comes the fires of hell! Burn here before you burn there, foolish mortalish things!" She fired the shotgun off in the general direction of the bears, kickback pushing her back in the air. She didn't have time to properly aim, but that was the beauty of shotguns.
Yuu moved cloaked in steam, dancing between missiles. She couldn't reach her full strength with the water preventing most of her body from being wreathed in flame. She was quick enough to remain alive, but not enough to rush the walking artillery. She provided cover for Marika to fire her plasma pistols, but the shots struck far from their targets, putting smouldering holes in the doors or flying into the hallway behind to strike at blitz wolves. She glared at her pistols like they were the problem and looked to her towering creation.
"Josefina, stop being a coward and get those doors closed!" She commanded and the mighty golem moved. She stepped from behind her wall of safety and began approaching the entrance, hands up as she approached as shields. Above, Sidney casually strolled. Nobody ever looked up. With almost no missiles going her direction, she could walk over the bears and drop straight down, personal gravity increasing several times over to the point where she weighed over a ton. She aimed for their visors, the delicate targeting systems hopefully within, not the hefty guns on their back. There was only so much force she herself could take.
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Post by Kuma on Jun 20, 2017 4:44:20 GMT
For a moment it might seem that the fight was about to end, or at least the danger of the massive reanimated cyborg Bears, but unlike their human counterparts they seemed to be moving much faster and had a greater array of sensory options, surely connected to their role as mobile artillery. Thus thanks to their enhanced features both Bears lifted their front legs, heavily armored, and the plates blocked the incoming Sidney Drop and the pellets coming from Chelsea’s shotgun.. The muddy ground helped the creatures withstand the weight, standing on their reinforced hind legs.
Behind them, the pack of Blitz Wolves jumped from the walls, two passed in-between the bears and the walls, while the other two did a cross attack, one aiming at the legs and the other the chest of Sidney, coming from different angles. The other two kept advancing, one aiming to trample the fallen Martha, while the other rolled towards Yuu. Riku kept looking from behind the door, yet his attention was broken when the echo of something reached him, not from beyond the door, but from the path they came from. It was faint and he lacked the enhanced hearing to properly identify it, but soon he, and everybody else would find out what was happening. -Something is coming!- He tried to warn the others, but his voice was muted by the roaring sound coming from behind them.
Seemingly the ceiling damage by the last fight collapsed even more and a burst of cold swamp water was rushing down like a miniature Tsunami. -EVERYONE! GRAB ONTO SOMETHING!- The torrent, roaring like beasts on the prowl, was descending fast and it would hit them soon.
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Post by HungryHunter on Jun 21, 2017 5:26:13 GMT
Yuu began to sweat when the blitz wolves added themselves to the mix. She began moving away from the great doors, but it wasn't quick enough. Her feet, pushing through water, couldn't move her faster than the carnivore's jets. It came whirling towards her across the water's surface, pushing a wake around itself as it came charging. Yuu had no recourse but to dive forward, letting it pass overhead. She was lost in a vast fireball when her coating of burning chemicals were carried off on the steam being thrown off of the water, like a grease fire with water thrown onto it.
Yuu was surprised at the ferocity of what she had just caused as she pulled herself back up, now covered in water rather than flames. The strength of flame passed with the flames themselves, and bare of all fire, she was weak. However, she didn't need strength for the weapon that hung at her side, undamaged by her flames (hopefully). She raised the railgun towards the bears, ignoring the wolf for the seconds it would take to turn back around. The reacted fast enough to stop Sidney's fall, but certainly they couldn't react so easily to a hypersonic projectile? She made a snap shot, just generally the direction of one bear's missile silos. She didn't have time for more precision.
She turned to find Marika taking shots at the pack hunter with her plasma pistols, finally on target with a close ranged foe. "Marika, get back!" She yelled, running towards the beast in the hopes it would attack her rather than her tiny daughter. "Ignore her, I'm the threat here!" She yelled, sparking her eyes to demonstrate this reality. With no tears to light, all this really did was spit sparks and smoke. Still, she hoped the display drew the cyborg's attention. She raised her sword, seeking to sidestep and strike when it came rolling.
Across the room, Martha pushed on the wall to lift herself to her feet. Her head spun from the concussive blast that knocked her down in the first place. She had to snap herself back to full functionality when a living cannonball came rushing right at her. She turned and set her feet on the wall, flinging herself up and above the attack. She landed with a splash on the other side of the crash, glancing between the wolf and the bears. As a result, she didn't see the doll shooting wind blades at the wolf, aiming right for its visor. "Jane!?" Martha held out a hand. "No, you stay back! This is getting bad!" Jane just shook her head. "You can't do this alone! I'm finally useful, so let me help!" She took a few more shots, all aimed with at least passable aim. Martha growled and moved to capitalized on Jane's shots, rushing forward and grabbing with her gauntlets. She sought to plunge her fist into its visor to charge the gauntlet. Maybe a good shock would be more capable of going through the armor the bears had.
Sidney hovered off the bear she had landed upon. Maybe she could tip them now? Before she got a chance, the two wolves came barrelling at her. She made her "drop" towards the ceiling, but it wasn't fast enough to avoid the wolf who was hurtling for her chest. Due to her rising, it instead clipped her leg. She spun like she was forcibly shoved into a cartwheel, landing painfully on her back on the ceiling. She grumbled and leaned up, looking back down on the battlefield. "And that's what we get for trying." She grumbled. She wouldn't have come down if the ceiling hadn't stopped being a safe platform. Chunks began falling away to make way for water, giving her less and less space to stand.
Sidney just signed and stepped into the stream. Not like she could drown. Marika screamed as she was ripped off the ground by the force of the water. "Marika!" Yuu yelled, swimming to Marika and grabbing her. As a doll, her body was vastly more buoyant than a human's, allowing her to float with Marika safe in her arms. The other dolls similarly adapted, taking deep breaths to make themselves float even better. "This could be to our advantage!" Yuu yelled to Riku. "As far as I know, those weapons shouldn't work underwater!"
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Post by Kuma on Jun 23, 2017 5:42:47 GMT
Yuu’s shot was more than enough to pierce through the bear’s armor, reaching the armor silo, unluckily the previous barrage had spent every missile in all of their silos, so the projectile only left a burning hole through the empty launcher, piercing through it and hitting one of the walls a good distance behind them. While she handled this Marika kept missing her shots, hitting anything but the wolves, Jane was a bit more successful, as her wind blast were not only better aimed, but also had a greater area of effect, making them easier to connect. She managed to push the 2 wolves that advanced, the one that attacked Yuu and the one who almost crushed Martha, behind the bears.
If Martha went for the closest wolf then she aimed to the one who failed its mission of crippling Sidney’s legs. Her armed gauntlets crashed against the incoming wolf just as it was shifting mid-air into its walking form, to reset its stance before starting a new charge. A sudden spark of electricity surged from the broken visor and Martha might feel a bit of a tingling as the energy stored on the Blitz Wolf batteries was drained into the gloves, which now shone with bluish light coming from several reinforced light-bulb looking storing units. Hopefully the devices were water proof, or she would have a very bad time as the ever encroaching wave came closer, roaring through the door.
Riku was hit first by the water and clinged to the edge of the giant door as the current tried to drag him. His well trained muscles and determination were the only thing keeping him clinging to the door. The wave also hit their enemies. The Bears, once again showing amazing reaction, lowered their heavy arms, burrowing the claws on the floor, and created a wall of metal to withstand the first wave. They got pushed backwards, but they didn’t break formation. The wolves weren’t so lucky. The one Martha disabled was dragged by the roaring current, the one that managed to connect an attack on Sydney also was caught on the wave as it landed on the floor after hitting her. The other two, who were pushed by Jane’s gun, hid behind the bears, taking advantage of them diverting the water.
Meanwhile, on the surface Shikishima was leaning on a chair he set alongside his entrance camp. He was still pissed at being ignored by the people down there, so he started listening to some music to chill out. But even with his headphones on max he noticed the sound echoing in the swamp. The Mad Weaponsmith took out his earplugs and stood up. His eyes scanned the area, like his ears, searching for the source of the strange slurping sound. Finally he located it nearby, a large pool of water had a massive whirlpool in the middle. -They’re being flooded!?- For a moment he considered leaving them to die, but he realized that if he didn’t get the Heart, then Kuro-san would have him skinned alive and thrown into a pile of rock salt. So he decided to help and thus he marched towards the main camp in search of the perfect tool to help the group.
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Post by HungryHunter on Jun 24, 2017 4:11:42 GMT
Yuu was surprised at the sheer power of her weapon. She eyed it cautiously at her side. This was a great power to be used judiciously. She supposed it was good that she had it over any of the others. "Everybody focus on staying together!" She yelled, kicking her legs to get to the wall and stab her blade into it to anchor herself. She grabbed Sidney as she floated past, making no effort not to be washed away. "Thanks, boss." She yawned, taking a few lazy shots with her blaster at the bear's visors while they were pinned down.
"Fucking water, can't do shit in it." Martha grumbled, keeping her fists at her sides to help swim. Her strong legs kicked hard enough to fight the current, but Jane went flying by. "Nooooooooo!" She wailed, helplessly struggling in the water. "Jane, flood your lungs!" Yuu yelled. The tiny doll nodded and opened her mouth wide. She nearly choked at the taste, like a million dirty fish and soggy marsh grass. Cold spread throughout her insides like blood circulated in normal humans and she sank just a little, anchored by the water inside her. Her speed didn't slow however, and she continued to be washed away. "Blurghhhhh!" She bubbled through the water in her lungs at Riku, desperately throwing out her hand to be caught as she was swept towards the doors.
Josefina just kept walking in the water. The rapids were of no concern. However, prolongued exposure of water itself seemed to be an issue. Her legs began to shed dirt, making a trail of brown downstream from each. What remained was soaking through, becoming soft mud. Her steps became shaky when her legs began to outfight bend, tilting her dangerously to the left. She held her arms out to the side, preventing a crash into the wall. However, it only redirected her fall, pushing off from the wall to drop right at the front doors, where Riku and Jane waited.
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Post by Kuma on Jun 25, 2017 21:23:41 GMT
Sydney might attempt shooting at the bears visors, but their massive armored forearms were in the way. Her attacks only hit the thick reinforced plates surging from their arms. The Wolves behind them were revving up, seemingly aiming at the walls to ride them and jump from them over the currently unguarded team, who were busier trying to avoid being pushed by the current.
Riku extended his hand and grasped at Jane’s. At first he failed, the wetness on their hands made him lose his grip, but if The Vengeful Boxer was something, that was stubborn. As Jane kept floating away he shifted his body, launching towards her while using his legs to grab hold to the door. His fast hands, usually used to throw deadly jabs were this time around used to protect a life as his finger closed around Jane’s leg. -I’ve got you.- He was feeling the strain on his muscles, no matter how much training one has Mother Nature tends to be stronger, but still he held on with his ankles firmly placed against the large door, powering his body with Fighting Spirit to keep his grip.
The Vengeful Boxer perceived the incoming danger and against his better judgement jumped off his position, pushing against the door while keep Jane’s head over water. Riku aimed at Yuu, who seemed to have the strongest hold on the wall. -Grab my hand!- He shouted while the powerful current pushed him ever closer to the leader of the Dolls.
Shikishima rushed back from the main camp carrying a large backpack connected to a raygun gothic-looking weapon. It kinda fitted him being a crazy scientist. It was a prototype of Hino’s Freeze Ray, one of the weapons Falken mistakenly believed was made by students from Inazuma. -Do I need to do everything myself?- The Mad Weaponsmith complained as he flipped the switches on the backpack starting a very satisfying buzzing sound and then aimed to the center of the whirlpool formed on the large lagoon. A ice blue lighting arc was shot from the top of the coil and upon hitting the water it started freezing it. It wasn’t just superficial, the settings were pushed to the max and the sudden shift in temperature pierced deeply below the point of impact. The water froze, still on a swirling pattern, leaving a massive screw-like estalactite in the tunnel below, stopping the flow of water.
The Mad Weaponsmith took off the gear, leaving it inside his hut in the Entrance Camp and sat down, warming his hands against an electric stove.
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Post by HungryHunter on Jun 25, 2017 23:46:51 GMT
Jane hacked up as much water as she could to clear her lungs. "Thanks!" She managed to say between coughs. "Eep!" She yelped when she saw Josefina's body falling. She and Riku were pushed downstream just in time to avoid Josefina's weight coming down on them. Her crash pushed them faster with the waves it kicked up, making them bob like a boat in a stormy sea.
Yuu pulled Sidney close and shoved her to the wall. "Climb and get a better vantage point!" She yelled, releasing Sidney. Sidney nodded and placed her back on the wall. Up she wiggled like it was the floor until she was totally clear of the water. She sat up, now seeing the wolves from her new position. She began firing upon them, seeking to take them down before they could attack and make her expend more effort.
Her hand free, Yuu reached out to take Riku's. "The bears haven't fired anymore and my shot didn't set off anything! I think they're out of ammo! If we take out the wolves, we can kill them from a distance without much trouble!" The bears had pinned themselves down to negate the current. They couldn't avoid the dolls if they figured out how to attack. Martha seemed to even already have a plan. She swam with the current, pushing through so fast she created a wake. She swam right towards the bears and leaped from the water like a dolphin, intending to come down right on the back of one of the bears.
"Surprise! My legs aren't just for running and kicking! I'm an all terrain asskicker!" She gleefully boasted as she raised her fist. She brought it down like a lightening bolt, right for the top of the bear's head. It was a combination of her base strength and the power of the gauntlet she was hoping would get through its armor and fry whatever was running the thing. She ignored the damp surface she was electrocuting. She didn't know it, but physics may be on her side. If the metal was more conductive than the fresh water on top of it, the charge should go through the former rather than the later.
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Post by Kuma on Jun 28, 2017 5:20:49 GMT
The charged Gauntlet sparked and upon hitting the helmet covering the Bear head it released its charge alongside with the massive influx of kinetic energy coming from Martha’s punch. The force of her leaping haymaker was more than enough to crack the outer shell of the armored headwear and the charge unloaded from the device on her hand reached the circuitry coursing through it and reaching the insides of the implants. Such increase on voltage wasn’t expected by the network of copper cables and transistors. Like a bolt of lighting her fist struck down and just like it burned the creature from the inside out, its mechanized innards exploding from the energy coursing through them. Several areas of the bear skin burst open with blue flames, seemingly there was some kind of gas deposited inside its implants, maybe part of a reloading mechanism, that sparked by the electricity only increased the damage of Martha’s amazingly effective attack.
As this happened Riku was grasping Yuu’s hand as hard as he could, the current, that up until now was forcing him to strain every muscle on his body, was slowly losing speed and force. From his current position he couldn’t see it, as his back was turned to it, but if Yuu glanced towards the ramp they came from she would be able to see the end of the current coming closer. Yet maybe looking backwards wouldn’t be for the best as the Blitz Wolves behind the bears finally jumped out of their cover and came towards them spinning against the wall, leaving a trail of heat-distorted air and fuel fumes. One was coming towards Yuu, Riku and Jane, while the other was moving toward Sidney, who was shooting at them. The Lazy Doll accuracy must been a surprise perk in her creation, or maybe her aloofness and seemingly emotional detachment allowed her to not lose her cool, thus her aim was spot-on, hitting the incoming wolves with the blasts of her shape-shifting weapon.
The Blitz Wolves exploded before reaching the group, as finally the water level was back to almost 0 around the door and only a single bear reminded active.
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Post by HungryHunter on Jun 28, 2017 17:36:01 GMT
Martha guarded her face from the blazing aftermath of her attack. She jumped through the brief wall of blue fire and rolled in the water to snuff what had clung to her. Her strong legs managed to steady her against the weakening current and she came up grinning, fists up to claim more power, but there was nothing to gather a charge from. She settled for attempting to use her control of glass to remotely shatter the remaining bear's visor, blinding the death machine to Yuu.
Yuu was behind Martha, also now standing against the current. She had released Riku to the much weaker current and now even Jane could paddle enough to prevent herself from floating away. Yuu quickly loaded a bolt into her railgun and aimed it. She needed to strike before the bear regained its mobility. She jumped back, right onto her sword's hilt sticking from the wall. From her higher position, she could see the bear's head. It was there she aimed. She took a single shot. It should be all she needed.
Even further back, Sidney dropped down to the fallen giant. Josefina turned her head to look at Sidney. Good, she was alive. She was a mess though, every limb nearly soaked through, legs badly bent. Sidney took a deep breath and closed her eyes, pressing her palms to Josefina's stony face. There was a rush power from her body and she toppled backwards, spent. Josefina reached out a palm to catch her, surprised at her regained ease of movement. She stood, sister in hand. She willed her limbs to straighten and stood tall, body temporarily lighter due to Sidney's interference. However, as a result Sidney herself was spent, looking all but dead as her body entered the stiff, unconscious state dolls who overexerted themselves could go into.
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Post by Kuma on Jun 29, 2017 3:10:27 GMT
Martha’s attempt was unsuccessful, they visors didn’t seem to be made of glass, still blinding the bear wouldn’t be needed, as no matter how fast the abomination’s reflexes were it couldn’t react to the speed of the Godai Pegasus-Series Railgun. The booming noise of the weapon being shot echoed in the hallway, overcoming the dying sounds of the water current. A projectile was shot from the cannon and vanished from the naked eye, seeming almost instantaneous, as less than a split second after the sound the bear was falling, it’s head splattered like a watermelon in a Gallagher show. The creature fell down, like a puppet cut off from it’s strings. The water was finally leaving the area, so Riku was already standing admiring the situation. He was wet head to toe and from where they came he could feel cold wind coming towards them, this would get nasty too soon. Maybe he was arrogant to think he could do this, he was totally outside his element.
-What the hell am I doing here?- He let out a frustrated whisper as he crouched to examine the battlefield. He looked at the corpses of the bears, focusing on their implants. There was nothing on his arsenal capable of piercing through that armor. Riku stopped for a moment raising his head as he stood up. “Piercing” he thought, realizing the lack of any proper armor penetration on his arsenal of technique, maybe he should develop something to pierce through guards. Without realizing, or maybe as an instinctive move to fight off the cold, he started shadow boxing, testing different angles for a punch as he run the calculations on his head. As he was lost in his own head, imagining how to break through different styles of guard, physical or otherwise the communication devices started buzzing again, as Shikishima opened the channel once again, while he was eating some snacks, clearly to gloat instead of just being useful.
-Entrance HQ here, you bunch of incapable Toys R Us rejects.- Shikishima was still pissed from before. -Just letting you know I saved your artificial asses from getting swamped, so thank your new and powerful god before he gets pissed again.- The Mad Weaponsmith was as his nickname indicated quite unbalanced, mostly because of his brushes with death caused by his own creations and possibly a considerable number of concussions. -I froze the lagoon, so you can rest assured you won’t get flooded again…- His tone grew colder and crazier. -Unless you keep ignoring my requests for information and ignore my orders, because as the Lord giveth the Lord can taketh away.- A blast of fire could be heard through the comm, like a flame-thrower. -Because I have a flamethrower and I can drown your asses if I get an iota of sass or insubordination from you, get it?- It was evident that he wasn’t joking. -So, before I decide to melt the popsicle keeping you alive could any of you give me a situation report?- He punctuated his request with another blast of his flamethrower pistol, one he used to light a cigar.
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Post by HungryHunter on Jun 29, 2017 6:18:45 GMT
Martha sighed and leaned on her knees. Already soreness was working its way into her muscles. Would it just get harder from here on in? "Are you okay after taking that missile?" Jane asked her sister. "I honestly forgot I even got hit! It'll take more than high explosives to do me in!" She put on a bold face, but her back was especially sore. Nothing seemed broken or out of place, but it was a hell of a smash she had taken. "Why didn't you use your foam? It's perfect against these guys!" Martha looked quizzically at Jane. "Water neutralizes it!" Jane demonstrated by spraying her soaked coat's arm with just a hint of blue foam. Instead of eating through, it slid off like water on a greasy surface and splashed into the shallow water at her feet to disperse.
"Right, right. I forgot about that." Martha nodded. Her attention was drawn away by Riku. He was obsessive, wasn't he? Even Callie had more things in her life. She guessed that was one way to get ahead. "Ugh, let's find somewhere drier and warmer." She grumbled, leading Jane and Josefina down the hallway, Chelsea circling overhead. "I would grant you my flame to ease your cold- fueled suffering, sisters, but alas it is only meant for destruction!" She called down. "Can it destroy the cold?" Jane asked. "Nope. Just souls. Souls like the one my collective parts may have had before they were stitched into me." Chelsea wailed and dove ahead.
Yuu put her hand on her short sword and yanked. With a screech it came from the wall. She took a second to look at what this place had done to it. All the time she had spent learning proper care for a blade and applying it looked like a waste with this piteously bent, scratched thing. Looked like that was another thing to take care of during patch up if she got the chance. She gently slid it back into its sheathe and walked across the hall to Marika, clinging to a wall.
"I'm so sorry I couldn't get you, are you alright!?" She extended her arms and Marika jumped right into them. "I want to go home! This place is terrible!" Marika wailed, tears welling over in her eyes. "I know, honey. We just can't right now. We made a deal." Yuu wanted vastly more desperately than Marika to retreat, but she had a grasp on the consequences. Just backing out could make them a hell of an enemy. And besides that, the only way out was forward.
"Here, let's do something fun. Can you make me some straps? About like this?" Yuu made some vague hand gestures to display the dimensions she wanted. Marika stared suspiciously but got to work on the project. Yuu turned and began to pry at a portion of the armor of one of the bears. While she worked, she tapped her headseat. "We're all alive. All of are soaked though, and Sidney is incapacitated. Josefina's been weakened by the water it appears, and Martha took a missile but seems pretty fine. Other than that we're good."
With its charred flesh and previously sustained damage, she was able to pry free a decent chunk, enough to cover a portion of her body even if it was a little strangely shaped. She took the straps Marika made and attached them with sticky strings the little seamstress provided. She slid her hand through them and held up her newfound shield. It was heavy, but that was fine. She needed something that could defend her and let her get close with her sword. It was going to be less effective than usual in its current state.
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Post by Kuma on Jun 30, 2017 3:45:58 GMT
-Oh so you finally remembered how to speak, that’s good, that's real good.- Shikishima condescending sing-song tone was punctuated with a blast of fire in the end, still pissed at them. -Now take a while to recuperate, as we wouldn’t like for you to get a cold.- He spoke in a childlike voice, clearly being sarcastic. But he felt the need to reinforce that. -And if you don’t get the sarcasm, what I’m truly saying is that you should continue down or I’ll drown you all, the fastest you finish the mission the faster we can leave this place, Shikishima out.- Once again he muted the communication channel, exhaling a puff of smoke from his flame-thrower lit cigar.
Back underground Riku kept mumbling to himself apart from the dolls, still moving his body to stay warm. He had a good image about what he needed to do, he saw another Spirit Boxer do it, so it was theoretically possible. Confident on this initial breakthrough he came back to reality, turning to see the deplorable state of his comrades. He was starting to feel the cold again, but he was accustomed, he wasn’t particularly rich and his home tended to be as cold or colder than this in winter, mostly because he didn’t want to pay the bills for heating it. -So what is our next move?- He asked with his disgustingly low and raspy voice, as he looked around, only seeing darkness down the hallway, the only way to advance.
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Post by HungryHunter on Jun 30, 2017 4:57:36 GMT
"I'm going to light him on fire when we get back up there." Marika flatly stated when Shikishima hung up. "For once we agree on something." Martha grinned as she trudged down the hallway. Yuu sighed and stepped up in front. "We don't have many options. We just have to keep exploring and make it out. Besides, the sooner we're out of the water, the sooner we can start recovering." Yuu ignited her whole body besides her left arm, providing a field of warmth for those near her. "At least now we have strategies against everything we've come across. Jane's foam is good on the zombies and wolves because they have to get close to attack, and they have weak points all over.
The wolves also can't stop when they get started and can be lured into crashing into walls so we can attack. The bears I can take with my crossbow while you cover me, and if Martha gets a charge she can destroy them as well. Riku, am I missing anything?" She turned to him in particular. Normally she would ask Sidney, who had the best view of each fight, but she was knocked out. Riku seemed to have good instincts for battle and had been seeming to notice a lot of weaknesses already.
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Post by Kuma on Jul 4, 2017 2:09:33 GMT
Riku moved closer to Yuu, almost thanking her for the heat. His mind was racing as he glanced around, using the extra light from the Doll’s fire to properly observe the battlefield. Now he was sure, it was clear that the deeper they got into the complex the more advanced and better maintained were the enemies. This revelation raised several questions. Who was organizing them like this? Who was maintaining them? But before he could keep pondering about the answers Yuu asked him about his opinion on the situation. He realized that most of the Dolls weren’t suited for tactical thinking, at least not in the scale he was looking for, but he knew that 2 or more heads are better than one so he shared his questions with them, still with the same low and raspy voice. -I noticed that the enemies we fought here were in better shape than the ones we fought nearby the electrical trap and much better than the ones on the entrance.-
As a evidence he picked one of the bear plates. -The bears share a similar type of armor as the humans, but up until now we only found rusted implants, these are pretty much unscathed apart from some scratches, clearly somebody is keeping up with the maintenance, that’s how there was still energy on the traps and why the enemies are increasingly difficult the deeper we get.- He crouched and drew several circles on the ground, each one smaller than the later, forming a pattern of concentric shapes. -I think whoever or whatever is controlling these creatures has a layered defense in place, putting the weakest troops on the furthermost regions of the area he or she controls using them as cannon fodder and as an alarm system.- He moved towards the helmets and picked one up -Even the helmets of the first enemies we found were somewhat functional, so there must be a reason for it when the rest of their bodies is rusted.-
This was the most he talked in all the trip so far and the more he talked the faster his words came out. Slowly it would dawn to any listener that he was less explaining to them and more reasoning the situation talking aloud. Riku was slowly starting to gesticulate to punctuate his theories while he paced anxiously from side to side, helmet on hand as if he was playing Hamlet after sniffing a line of coke. -It was curious how synchronized was the appearance of the humanoids and the wolves after we activated the trap, maybe there is some kind of communication happening between the different groups of beings, surely because of the helmets, as it seems that they main function is sensory input and output so it would be logical to think that they also serve as long distance communication, yet I can’t put my finger on how they communicate when there is so much interference, Shikishima said that I remember.- Clearly there was something wrong with Riku, not at the moment, but in general, his frantic demeanor while trying to solve this mystery was totally out of character with the grim and aloof fighter the Dolls meet.
At the moment Riku had turned his back on the Dolls and his voice was starting to get difficult to follow, becoming a fast mumbling as he hunched over the floor drawing with his finger on the muddy ground. He snapped his fingers as his mumbling continued. -Maybe, maybe the interference is the signal of their communication and is strong enough to block ours, or maybe I’m wrong… or maybe...ehhhh.- Riku trailed off as he looked at his muddy fingers. For a moment he stood there in silence, looking at his hands and then he snapped back into reality, standing up straight and cleaning his fingers on his pants. He turned around, not wanting to cross his eyes with the Dolls and the others and started walking down the path. Without turning around he said. -We should get going, it would be for the better if we leave.- His voice returned to its original raspy and crawling pace as he walked down the humid hallway. It was really long and it might take a while for the group to reach another landmark. It was evident that he was a bit ashamed about this sudden outburst, something that had been happening to him more and more often the more he fought and accelerated his perceptions with Fighting Spirit, as it was written on the handbooks left to him by his late master. That was the secret of his uncanny tactical mind, the capability to think faster, something much more valuable than a fast jab is a fast mind.
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Post by HungryHunter on Jul 4, 2017 3:53:49 GMT
Yuu listened to Riku's rant with increasing interest. He might actually be on to something here. She had just been assuming there were airless pockets down here where they didn't corrode, but the placements were a little too convenient for that. Yuu rubbed her chin and turned to the one most likely to figure out just what was behind this. "Jane, if Riku's right, what's most likely to be behind this?" She asked the geekiest doll. Real life shouldn't follow fiction, but Yuu had found that often it did.
"Well... there are a few options! It could be one of the original scientists, but it could also be a computer system they left to control it in their absence that turned on them. The cyborgs might also have developed a hive mind and done the same without a system in charge!" Jane threw out a few ideas and Yuu thought. "If it's one thing in charge, we could end this if we incapacitated that. If it's a hive mind, we'll just have to make our way through. That doesn't sound likely though unless there's a variety that could perform maintenance. Josefina, when Sidney wakes up, could you place her down here? I want to talk to her about the communication device she took apart." Yuu made a mental list of activities they had to do, starting with organizing the team.
"Josefina, stay in back. You will keep an eye on the battlefield and provide support. Marika, stay close to me and my shield. Martha, stay up front. Try to keep enemies away from the rest of us. Jane, Chelsea, you're not to engage at close range unless you have no other choice. Flank me. Riku, could you please take point with Martha?" Yuu sorted the various fighters as best she could. She was sorely missing the support of Haven's barriers and blasts, or Ash's ambient heat to keep every doll warm, or Robin's deadly blasts. All would be very welcome additions to the team right now.
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Post by Kuma on Jul 5, 2017 2:48:35 GMT
Riku nodded and walked alongside Martha as the group advanced. The Hallway stretched a long distance with a slight curvature to the left and an almost unnoticeable incline down. The place was deserted, the water that rushed past them had left the floors muddy and slippery, making it hard to walk through. The damage of the torrent of swampy liquid was evident, with pieces of wall missing and swept away by the underground Tsunami. The humid air made their clothes stick to their skin, almost as if the fabric itself was alive and trying to claw into their bodies on every crease. Soon they arrived to a large door, one that upon closer inspection would be identified as a vertical sliding door. Besides the door, on the right side, there was a lever with evidence of recent use, as unlike the rest of the hallway it lacked rust or dust, or at least mud created by the dust.
-Should we activate the lever or should we examine the area a bit more?- Riku asked looking around, but failing to see every corner, as darkness hid most of the walls. -Maybe we could ask Urnas.- He added while taking his finger towards the communication device, waiting for Yuu’s decision. Riku was used to getting instruction from people, as he was a trainee most of his life, so following the Doll’s judgement seemed the best thing at the moment, plus he didn’t want or had the capability to actually lead a group this size, especially after seeing that most of them had the self preservation instincts of a pack of lemmings. -Your call.-
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Post by HungryHunter on Jul 5, 2017 4:43:31 GMT
The dolls squirmed as in their cold clothing, resenting the humidity for not allowing them to dry off. Josefina especially suffered. She would be fragile until she could dry out, and it would take hours even in an arid climate. Yuu examined the great door when they finally approached close enough for it to loom from the darkness. Martha's hand instantly reached for the lever. "Martha, get away from that. Riku, if you could call Urnas that would be wonderful. I don't think he wants to talk to us." Yuu ordered, looking at the lever herself. Its clean nature stood out to her after acres of mud.
"Anything living is a top priority target. It looks like whatever's keeping this place running is probably not just some computer if they're pulling switches." Yuu sighed. She had been pleased to hear that everything they were killing was mindless, not even as conscious and capable of pain and fear as a jellyfish. She had feared that they were being sent to kill a personal enemy of their employer at first. Now it seemed Marika's habits would be enforced once more. She turned to check on her violent little angel to find her placing a thread at ankle level across the hallway.
"I was just thinking, if I ran this place, I would have some of my creations hidden away behind the sneaky fucks getting in my home, then I would unleash them from behind while another group from the front trapped them in. So if anything touches this thread, I'll know!" Marika puffed out her chest with pride, and Yuu had to admit it was a good idea. A pincer maneuver wasn't entirely impossible. "Oh, Riku? Could you also warn Urnas to look out for trip wires?" The last thing they needed was him tripping all over and setting off false alarms.
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