((For consistency and clarity, I recommend everyone enclose telepathic communications in <angle brackets>, to visually distinguish them from audibly spoken communications.
...Also, ah, tell me if I should tone things down a bit. I'm having fun with this, but I'd rather not make things unpleasant for y'all.))
Alida gives one last thought to her comrade.. "I hope you've been doing better than I have."
Smile. Don't let the creature have the satisfaction of seeing me hurt. You know, more than I already am.
Put down the club with the less-injured body, and pick up the original. Remove my soul gem from my breast, and pin it on the less injured body. Keep the more injured one looking at the wire man intently, while smiling. Then throw her, aiming for the creature's legs first. As she flies, she will try to give the creature one last blow with her feet. The less injured body, with the soul gem, will look for a chance to fling her club into the machine. If no opportunity presents itself, she will try to centre herself and recover her balance. If the thrown body gets mangled, drop the effigy, and simply leave Alida with the one, less injured body.
You stare down the wireman with both of your arrogant gazes, and he stares back at your original body. At this point, you don't think he's even capable of changing his expression, his face frozen under all those wires, but you still feel a spark of satisfaction with how afraid he looks. You've been broken twice over, but looking into his defeated face, you feel confident that you can win. You just have to be creative...
The solution comes to you quickly. Your less-wounded body crouches down and drops its club, and then your other body moves to stand behind it, half resting on your own shoulders. You pause for a moment, gauging the distance between you and the wireman. Satisfied that you're strong enough to reach him, you push off the ground with both bodies, using your crouched body to add even more momentum to the other. The exertion sends a fresh wave of agony through your wounded arms, but you just shout it away, changing the pain to anger and pushing off even harder for it.
[Joy]
[Bravery]
The wireman calmly watches your ascent, holding your gaze as you sail through the air in a high arc. For a moment it seems like he doesn't even realize that you're about to attack him, but at the apex of your jump he rears up, stepping forward and reaching out to catch you with both arms. Undeterred by his simple counter, you curl up into a ball midair. Then, the moment that you're within reach, you stretch forward and grab onto his hands before he can catch you. You simultaneously pull youself closer, manually adjusting your aim slightly, while yanking his hands to the sides to prevent him from arresting your momentum--then you deliver a powerful double kick, literally throwing your entire body into it.
Your aim
had been good, but the simple forward motion he made ruined your angle on his legs, placing his heavily armored torso in your path instead. If that had been all he'd done, you'd have uselessly kicked the wires, and likely been trapped as they unwound from his body to grip your legs. But he reached out to grab you as well, and that let you adjust your aim upward. Both your heels slam hard into the thick wrapping around the lower half of his face, grotesquely snapping his head back. There's a sickening crunch as his spine and jaw are shattered, then a quieter thump as the rest of your body collides with his upper body.
The wireman slackens, and you tumble free from his loose grip, landing heavily in front of him. Immediately, you start scrambling away from him in an effort to avoid his inevitable counterattack, but he doesn't do anything except stand there, his arms dumbly hanging at his sides. You blink, and actually examine the damage you did: his head is
gone.
You kicked his head off! Elation starts to build, but then the wire armor around him begins to move, roiling chaotically around his frame. Three wires stretched over the ruined flesh of his neck tighten, and start moving downward. Slowly, you watch as those wires drag his head back into place atop his shoulders, the lower half deformed and covered in blood, but his expression of horror unchanged... only now, he doesn't seem to be looking at anything in particular, let alone you.
He spasms, clumsily raising his right arm high, the wires around it bulging. You roll over and scramble away on all fours, and he smashes it down behind you, hard enough to send tremors through the stone floor. He tumbles forward with the blow, collapsing into a writhing lump while his limbs twist inward, completely unable to pursue after you. You still retreat a little further for safety, before turning back over to watch whatever is happening to him.
The wire armor that had covered most of his body seems to be going berserk, some strands loosening from the mass to whip through the air--disconcertingly aiming for
you, though they're not nearly long enough to reach--while others tighten, digging into his flesh and causing blood to leak from... everywhere. You're sure now that the actual man inside is dead, but the wires keep him in motion, sending him into sudden violent movements at random. His right arm slides across the ground towards you, the original joint now hidden but several more apparently having been created, but then his legs suddenly extend and send him rolling away from you, before they contract and bring his knees to his chest, sending his loosely-attached head lolling blindly. All this, without any sound except for the rough scraping of wire against stone.
[Mercy]
A fresh wave of nasuea begins to well up inside you, but you choke it back, along with the ever-present pain of your accumulated wounds. If that...
thing is still an enemy, then you'll have to fight it, and you can't let down your guard. More as a test than an actual attack, your more-healthy body throws its club over the writhing mass, aiming for the single machine that's still active.
[Joy]
...You can't quite bring yourself to look
away from the spasming corpse of the wireman, though. Unsurprisingly, your club glances off the side of the machine, doing no real damage, but at least it wasn't somehow caught. The wires don't seem to react to your attack on the machine, though it's near impossible to tell with how chaotically they're moving.
Someone runs up to your less-injured body, and you spin around to face them, instantly recreating the mask of confidence you had maintained for the wireman before. It isn't another monster though, it's just Mina. She's staring at you in horror, her eyes just as wide as the monster's eyes. You just stare back, not quite sure what to say in the moment. Then you notice two more girls above, still in the wires, staring down at you with caution.
Of course they come, just after you kill the monster!
"R-Right! I'm coming as soon as I can!" Mina stammered. "Um, red person?" she asked the one on her shoulder, "Do you think you can balance? I need to go help her, and I'm not sure you should be running around a lot right after being healed from those kinds of wounds..."
If Tooru can move, then put her down such that she can balance and try to run to aid Alida. Else, try to pass her off to Asha before doing the same.
You shift your weight a little, and the redheaded girl slides off of her own accord, easily finding her footing among the wires. You give her one last look, visually ensuring that your senses didn't lie to you, but she's perfectly fine. She actually looks a bit better than you, if anything, so you turn away and start descending the wires again. You rush as fast as you can, more maintaining a controlled fall rather than just climbing, but it works--it's only a couple of seconds before you can see into the large open chamber that Alida's in, and not much longer before you're near the bottom and you can see Alida.
She looks downright horrible, much worse than when you left. She's
covered in red, matting her hair and staining her blue-and-white uniform, though the only wounds you can actually see are some deep cuts on her arms... cuts which are still leaking blood. You jump down quickly and rush to her side, though you don't actually
touch her; a part of you is worried that she'll just collapse if you do anything.
She turns to you when you get close, an imperious grin on her face. She doesn't look like she's in pain--if anything, she's
smug, somehow. As you wonder what's wrong with her, you notice that there's a second Alida nearby, sitting down and looking away from you, looking at some roiling mass of... wire and blood.
That Alida is somehow even bloodier, and with even more wounds across her body.
You suddenly recall the fake Alida who had kidnapped the other girl, and look back at the dissonantly smug copy of Alida. The fake one had blood on her too.Asha felt her tears building up. She was going to hug Tooru when a voice disturbed her relief.
[What is that?...] she thought, and then Tooru mentioned this voice was similar to that of her kidnapper. It instantly made her raise her vigilance. The enemy was still around. The one that nearly killed Tooru.
This mere thought made Asha furious, burning with rage.
Then she noticed Mina's distress.
"I will take care of Tooru! Quick, go help your friend! I will try to find a way to support you without endangering Tooru."
Remain close to Tooru, and potentially move together toward Alida's location to support her.
"Umm, I'll try to help too! I'm fine!" Which wasn't entirely a lie. She didn't feel messed up despite her near-death (or death-and-resurrection?) experience on the physical side, but the veneer of cheeriness was starting to become more and more forced. What was she doing here? She had almost died already, and had basically only hurt herself and Asha instead of helping anyone.
She supposed she could at least help distract whatever other monsters lay in wait, if nothing else.
Follow the green girl.
[Joy] &
[Joy]Tooru gets off Mina, who then races off with little more than a quick glance to ensure that Tooru's alright. Asha starts to look over Tooru again, checking to make absolutely sure that her friend is okay, but Tooru waves her off and insists that they need to go help too. The duo then starts to descend after Mina, though Asha ensures that they move much more carefully than the reckless green girl; neither of them will be any help to anyone if they fall and break something again.
By the time thy get down to the bottom of the wires, Mina's already on the ground, standing near a blonde girl. Asha instantly recognizes the girl, but it takes Tooru slightly longer to realize that she's the kidnapper, since she now has
much more blood on her, and completely different injuries. The blonde girl is just staring at Mina with a predatory grin, not moving, but clearly ready. After a moment, she notices Asha and Tooru, still sitting in the wires, and looks up at them with the same expression.
Soul Gem: Glowing with a warm light.
Age: 14
Hair Color: Salt-stained blonde.
Health: Both forearms have essentially been flayed, she has severe gashes along her left side, her throat is partially crushed, her ribs are in agony, and she's growing weak due to blood loss. Her effigy merely has deep slashes along the forearms, a throbbing headache, and a lingering feeling of nausea.
Inventory: One club, held by her main body.
Totem: A fishing club.
Stats:
Bravery: Talented~
Joy: Skilled!
Innocence: Amateur...
Purity: Amateur...
Mercy: Skilled!
Creativity: Cursed ;-;
Love: Cursed ;-;
Abilities:
Mobility Lvl2
Close Combat Lvl2+1
Totem Manipulation Lvl1
Berzerker Lvl2 - Active; Crippled! (Cheap discount to power use)
Painless Lvl2
Effigy Lvl1 - Active; One Effigy! (Cheap drain)
Soul Gem: Glowing with a
dull light.
Age: 13
Hair color:
Ashen Health: A bit banged up.
Inventory: No real weapons, which is probably for the best.
Totem: A Ribbon. The one her late sister wore.
Stats:
Bravery: Skilled! Joy: Cursed ;-;
Innocence: Cursed ;-;
Purity: Amateur...
Mercy: Talented~ Creativity: Amateur...
Love: Skilled!Abilities:
Mobility: Level 2
Close Combat: Level 2
Totem Manipulation: Level 0 (+1)
Heal and Steel: Level 2 (Active: Mercy++)
Soothe: Level 2
Flagellation: Level 2 Soul Gem: Glowing with a shining light.
Age: 14.
Hair Color: Bright green.
Health: Fine!
Inventory: Her halberd (which is apparently in hammerspace, and therefore ready at a moment's notice).
Totem: A halberd.
Stats:
Bravery: Amateur...
Joy: Skilled!
Innocence: Amateur...
Purity: Skilled!
Mercy: Cursed ;-;
Creativity: Talented~
Love: Cursed ;-;
Abilities:
Mobility: Level 1
Close-Combat: Level 1 (+1)
Regeneration: Level 2
Sixth Sense: Level 2
Semblance: Level 2
Projection: Level 2
Soul Gem: Glowing with a vibrant light.
Age: 13
Hair Color: Bright scarlet.
Health: Fine!
Inventory: No talismans, which is probably for the best.
Totem: Ofuda talismans, primarily thrown as manabolts.
Stats:
Bravery: Cursed ;-;
Joy: Talented~
Innocence: Skilled!
Purity: Amateur...
Mercy: Cursed ;-;
Creativity: Amateur...
Love: Skilled!
Abilities:
Mobility II
Mana Bolt II (+I)
Regeneration I
Gourmand I
Outburst II
Duet with Reality II
Author
Topic: Pumsy's Seeds - A ~MAGICAL GIRL~ game inspired by PMMM (Read 149841 times)