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Post by Fatalis "White" Niveus-Aquila on Oct 21, 2012 23:41:37 GMT -7
"Alleyways. Check. I have one more blue potion in stock so if you get hurt, don't keep quiet about it" He spoke firm but without feeling, as they - they being his fellow soldiers, from his days in the army - always did in the fight. None of his dry sarcasm or quiet joy or dark fury.
He moved as quickly as the wounded would allow him, keeping himself at a pace Niko could keep at. He ignored the explosives and roars as he kept himself in that central goal focus. He didn't know the base that well but it would have the best defences, he decided though a instinctual chill was in his bones. He didn't like it. Maybe just take them to an emergency hospital instead? Somewhere with no bureaucracy. He didn't have time to be indecisive. He kept moving.
"Make them help us...Maybe but much as I would like to walk with the nightmares, talk with the nightmares, grunt, squeak and squawk with the nightmares...I can't take that kind of chance with wounded to think about" He spoke informatively to Nikolai. Information. The true weapon of war. And they were sorely lacking it.
This wasn't fair on them. Not on Nikolai. Not on Morgan
It wasn't right.
Using people so young to deal with the pests...He understood that. They all knew what they were doing, they went out into the dream world on a regular basis; they could handle it. Then that Thing showed up. That despicable vile thing that so quickly showed up out of nowhere to ruin their lives
White's blood would have boiled were he not so focused on saving the two of them. He avoided the main roads where he could, continually walking onwards towards the base, his bones chilling as he got closer.
He remembered that feeling. That despicable feeling. That feeling that you were walking into a trap and couldn't do anything about it because there was never enough information and since White never left the rank of Lance Corporal, he was never allowed to say "I have a feeling we should do something else".
Stupid psychological analysis. If it weren't for that he'd be back with the section, hopefully fighting this thing properly instead of leaving it to people like Morgan and Nikolai.
He pushed those thoughts from his mind. Goal. Focus on it. He continued to approach the base, though now with more caution and care. He was not going to stick around if his bones were right on the matter. One sight of anything remotely threatening, he'd go to the hospital.
Slowly, bit by bit, the base came into view. If that...Thing. Was there, White was gonna flip his lid. No question about it
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Post by Imaginer on Oct 22, 2012 13:00:52 GMT -7
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style,width: 500px; height: 168px; padding: 5px; vertical-align: top;][atrb=width,440px,true][atrb=border,0,true]Ah, nothing like a persistent voice in his head questioning his every move.
"You have to get out of the Base, NOW!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'll be out in a minute with my stuff. Can't let it get wrecked with everything else. So, where is everyone right now anyway?"
"Making their way to the parkside as we speak. The only people still with you are our fellow judges."
"Good. At least I still have an audience." Archer pressed his eye to the small scanner fixed onto the door and waited for it to match his data with the information on file. The door slid open to a sprawling hangar, with machinery that ran non-stop and some enclosed space within the space.
Right in the middle of it stood a towering mobile suit, with about as much firepower as could fit in the thing without it imploding on itself or turning it into an impractical brick. It was Archer's most recent work, probably even his best one if he'd had more time for it.
"So you're attached to the new toy of yours. Is it really that big a deal to you?"
Oh, how little she knew. The only way the Imaginer would ever relinquish his attachment to things was when he was certain it would be out of his hands indefinitely. Until then, he could be as self-serving or selfless with his work as he wanted. He just shook his head, then went over to the closed-up little shed at the corner of the hangar and opened the gate, an Ephemeral held within.
The nightmare usually looked unfazed by things that went on outside of its awareness, held its head low and relaxed its hind legs. At the sound of the stable gate opening, the Ephemeral had its head raised and stared straight ahead towards the exit, but otherwise didn't move. It listened as the human spoke ("Well, I guess this is where we part ways,") and the words didn't quite match the tone they were said in (lightly, with the shrugging and loose posture), but the exit was opened fully and the human stood aside to let the once-elusive creature go past. Goodbye was goodbye, it supposed, and it trotted on out of the stable, phasing through the walls and out of the Base like a ghost.
That right there was a surprisingly well-behaved horse. Helpful, too. No one in the Base really got the idea of, well, basing their new tech off of existing Dream things. Just his luck, when he finally got the chance to try, this all had to happen. Better if he let the nightmare go now and cut his losses, even if it meant leaving his project as a work in progress. It was functional, certainly, but just not complete.
He'd stepped into the lift and the door closed. A familiar hum resounded as it took him to the topmost floor, closer to the hatch on the towering armored suit.
"How sure are you that this will even work?"
"I'm not. It'll be fun trying it out anyway, though." The inside of the armor came to life as soon as he stepped in, panels lighting up and sensors relaying information of the immediate surroundings. Fun, right. He was a bit anxious to get into the pilot's seat--
except someone was already in it when he got there.
Archer looked completely nonplussed to find Mariella curled up into a shaking ball right in the seat he was supposed to be. Why not? Rena was technically still right in mentioning that only judges remained in the Base. "Shouldn't you have run outside with the others?"
The frail blonde clutched her sketchbook tighter and stole little glances at him, hesitant as if his presence would be made a little less real if she didn't pay attention to him visually.
"Y-yeah, but. . . I thought this was a, uhm, a better place to hide, is all!"
Oh well, good enough for him. He made a motion for her to shuffle over and he took his half-a-seat to get to the controls. Time to really get this thing going.
A loud whirring noise and a few short sputters were all he was getting at first before a visible forcefield came up and cloaked the armored suit. It took wobbling steps forward. Each landing was loud and echoing, and if the Imaginer and Navigator were lucky, the step wouldn't be followed by the armor keeling over and dropping straight through the floor. To their relief, it reached to the end of the hangar and the field did just as it was supposed to; the armor went straight through, neither it nor the wall fazed by the intrusion of the other. A few more unsteady steps later and the suit was outside of the complex, joining the other competition judges and drawing their attention away from each other as soon as they heard it.
Archer could hear static in his head, useless white noise as Rena tried to speak to him again. Problem: he was kind of not in a dimension she could reach currently with her powers. Ah, he should have told her that sooner. No doubt she'd be worried right about then, but if that Nightmare was coming soon then he couldn't really risk turning the dimension shifter off. Oh well. |
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Nightmare
Nightmare
[M:98235:38435224543:]
Posts: 36
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Post by Nightmare on Oct 25, 2012 11:15:01 GMT -7
The Ephemeral liked it a lot better in the Base, where it was spared the chaos of a hunting competition and being a target. Peace and quiet, save for being taken to different chambers, the occasional clacking of keys, the beeps of machinery, and the low roaring of that weird metal golem every time it woke up. Being let free wasn't too much of a problem either-- it was left to roam many other times before, but now it had the feeling that returning to that human like it did the other times wasn't an option anymore. Shame; it kind of liked the cubes of congealed Dream Dust that it'd been fed for its troubles.
So, now where was it supposed to go? The city wasn't meant to be on fire, and Ephemeral was sure of that simply because it wasn't on fire before, and it would be difficult to find refuge in a place that was being eaten alive by flames.
The mare whickered in impatience and looked at its surroundings. Surely there was one place that didn't look like it would collapse on itself-- well, there were many, actually, but that number would be going down fast if all of the hydrae flying around (and even the ones on ground) weren't stopped.
Its ears twitched as it picked up a noise coming closer. Footsteps? Hrrrr~. Sounded human.
Sure enough, a figure spilled out of the alleyway, waddling in the Ephemeral's general direction in a panicked rush, his thick-gloved hands fumbling at his pointed hat that was set ablaze at some point in all of this. His advance was stopped by an overturned trash can in his way and he flipped head over heels to the ground.
"Oww~. . ."
If the word 'dork' was in Ephemeral's vocabulary, it would probably be using that to describe Arcane right then. Either that or 'klutz'. The mare trotted over and stamped out the flames from the headwear and stepped away. Arcane retrieved his crushed hat and placed it back on his head, trying to stifle his sniffles at how wrecked it was. That moment was considerably short-lived; at looking up at what'd saved his hat from certain doom-by-immolation, the sad look on his face fell away to an inappropriately bright grin. He started jumping up and down and flapping his arms in excitement.
"Eeeee! Effie," he squealed, and slapped his hands along the Ephemeral's side in order to find something to help him climb on. Considering the large absence of a saddle and stirrups, the effort was futile-- not to mention annoying.
Effie-- er, Ephemeral gave a snort and bent low to give Arcane an easier time getting on. Might as well start going somewhere with him, so on they went through the streets. Maybe they can find someplace to stay, or Ephemeral can at least drop Arcane off on someone else. Hm. The brat was usually following Galahad around. What was the knight up to that had him so distracted?
----
This was not going too well.
The knight dove to the side, hearing the rumble of earth as it broke through the pavement. The sharp points jutted out at an angle clearly meant to impale whatever was in the way. He remained unscathed so far, but that wouldn't last at this rate. It was six to one, or whatever else decided to come along-- he could swear he saw something shift at the top of a building just near the hydra.
His enemy had taken to the skies, annoyingly enough, and now was just toying with him and tossing random elements his way. First water, then fire, then wind, now earth. He knew there was some way to turn the first two elements against each other, but he just hadn't achieved it yet. Couldn't. They were a bit too focused on him, those heads. All of them. At least when Arcane was around to serve as a distraction, he could get a good hit in, but the nightmare ran away with his hat on fire after a close call. Poor little guy.
The knight ducked to avoid a focused gust of wind, the attack cutting the light pole behind him in two and sending it crashing to the streets in a shower of glass and sparks. The hydra craned one of its necks back, charging up for another attack, but what was up top revealed itself -- little leaping mounds of fur latched onto the hydra, screeching and clawing and just generally being annoying.
Nice. Pests. This was. . . great?
The pests raked their claws along the hydra heads and they hissed and tried to bite back or shook themselves rapidly to knock the little beasts off, to no avail. One of them got the idea to help the other
but too bad it didn't get the realization that that was best not done.
One head hissed and reached across to bite the Pest off of another but sunk its fangs into the entirely wrong thing. The newly-wounded head gave out a sharp cry and retaliated, and all the Pests jumped ship while the scene devolved to one twisted pretzel knot of bites and hisses and random jets of water and wind hitting each other at full force or getting its trajectory diverted and -- welp, there went a wing. The hydra flapped the remaining wing as wildly as it could in some attempt to keep from crash landing hard, but just managed as much as "fall slowly and hit everything on the way down". And they were still fighting each other when they landed.
Galahad took the opportunity to settle their dispute once and for all, with a well placed lance. The little crisis settled, he turned to the vague outline of a fortress just within view. He didn't know what exactly that place was, but it looked A) imposing, and B) important. Perhaps it had armaments? It would be best to find out. He cleaned the lance off as best as he could and started on his trek there.
----
The lack of hiding place made it so that finding someone to dump Arcane onto was the next best thing. It was the only thing. Ephemeral doubted the brat even knew that, though. He seemed realy eager to hand out instructions to reach an undisclosed Point B and nudge/yank the mare in whatever direction that was, and was incredibly attached to his 'Effie'. He'd even said such strange things as 'Good girl'. What was a 'girl' supposed to be, anyway?
The nightmare moved through the streets at a full gallop, ducking into and out of alleyways as instructed, ignoring the explosions and rumbles and roars it narrowly avoided, although the rumbles weren't quite out of its hearing. This place definitely was not supposed to be as ruined as it actually was. The silly hunt must have gotten out of hand. Maybe it was best for the nightmare to ignore its initial feeling and go back to the human at the Base. Much safer there. But -- dropping Arcane first was still on the spot before it. Those Dream Dust cubes belonged to Effie, damn it.
The rumbling had gotten louder, and closer. Ephemeral's eyes darted to either side to find that it was surrounded by-- itself?
Arcane laughed. He tossed yet another Replication spell at the street and watched as a copy of Ephemeral appeared and joined in the running. And another. And another.
Well, crap. There was a stampede going on. Those copies didn't let the implied boundaries of the city get in their way-- with no riders to guide them, entire groups broke away from the main herd and phased through the rubble and run-down buildings to do their own thing. It was just a little simpler, but one couldn't help but wonder just what they would go on and do.
Someone was in the way up ahead, and what was left of the herd slowed in their advance, stopping fully at the point where they got close enough to see Galahad's features.
Galahad looked up at Ephemeral, then at Arcane. He gave a single nod of acknowledgment, and then promptly grabbed the smaller nightmare by the collar, pulled him off of the horse and placed him on another, and took his place on it instead.
All at once, a change came over the Ephemeral. The pearly white sheen of its coat went black as night. The horn fell away, and the dreamlike unicorn turned into the kind of glowy-eyed and fiery beast that invaded peoples' dreams in the dead of night. Its neigh even had a menacing triple echo to it. A fitting steed to ride into battle with, one would figure.
Galahad went off towards the fortress, with the other Ephemeral copies in tow. Their trek was undisturbed for a while before they crossed paths with a bunch of humans. One of them was wounded and unconscious. They all seemed to be heading the same way.
. . . . . .
The herd surrounded the group, with Galahad at the lead. They could head there together, because why the hell not? It'd be fine, as long as they didn't touch anything he would immediately claim as his when they got there.
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Post by Alexander on Oct 25, 2012 15:20:30 GMT -7
Control,
Instinct,
Dominance.
Such things passed on and dwelt in the nature of all things both known and unknown. Though he had been overcome, he lived still and in such a fact therein dwelt much confusion. The chaos that he had woken to, the disorder and disarray, the sheer mayhem that had come upon this place was nothing but an inkling of what forever raged in his own mind. This conflict, this setting, this disaster zone was nothing and yet still it seemed a something but ultimately it was indeed nothing.
Reality,
Illusion,
What were these but one in the same existing both in and out of his mind; two indiscernible worlds vying against one another as the opposing retraction of two magnets forced to come together; there he stood on the brink.
A White Mask surrounded by the soon to dissipate corpses of several beings, each being neither real or fabricated but each being a reality of an illusion and an illusion of a reality. He looked at his left hand and indeed it was covered in dripping blood. Was this his own? Perhaps. Was it that of another? More likely. If he could feel the pain of injury it would perhaps be an easier task to discern but the chaos was all he felt and soon It would take control.
It writhed beneath him in pain and agony still. He had yet to realize until now that serpent beneath him dying it's death from whatever injury he had perhaps inflicted upon it. Was it him? No, it couldn't be. Such a one as this seemed more than a match against his own frail humanity and yet there was none other around that could claim victory over this one. None other around but the one that lurked within. He looked upon his right hand clutching that weapon of old, that rod of metal harder than metal and the chaos ensued.
A vision,
A memory,
A girl covered in blood giving chase upon him as though the dead having risen in their hunger for flesh and blood.
He clutched his head in the agonizing torment and screamed outward in a wailing that would perturb the very hearts of men; a scream of pain and suffering for but a moment when he struggled against his own self to remove that which lay over his face and yet with all his strength given, he simply could not remove that which lay over his own face. It was then, when he battered that serpent at his feet more so with a greater violence given forth from that weapon of old in his hand, that He was now, but he was not, for the Mask was over his own face and the Mask was all that was.
Dominance.
Someone or something approached;
Horses perhaps being ridden by horsemen riding to purge these lands of the chaos ensuing.
There, in the glare of the near distance, he looked and beheld their coming forth and he did not move.
Breathless he stood staring at their approach.
More blood for the slaughter.
Perhaps,
Perhaps not.
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Fighter
Fighter
[M:0:0:][M:0:0:0:]
Posts: 4
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Post by Fighter on Oct 30, 2012 13:41:47 GMT -7
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style,width: 500px; height: 168px; padding: 5px; vertical-align: top;] "Judging from everyone else's reactions, Archer is still at the Base. With his mobile suit, of course."
"He's not dead yet? Good." So the static in his visions was as a result of that giant hunk of metal interfering, not. . . something else. Hopefully they'd get there in time before that 'something else' showed up to ruin things more. Seriously, what could they call that thing? Hellbeast with a capital H? It was a good start, he had to give it that, but that wasn't its true name. That was what they needed to get even an idea of how to kill it. Or at least, make it easier to kill it.
"Anybody got a clue where Mari is?" Navigators usually had a better sense of danger than most, and she was the one with the notes. Maybe by chance, she'd had a sketch of something like this?
"She's not with the judges or the others, from what I can see. If anything, she and Archer are in the same spot."
"Close enough." They weren't, though. It was hard to get anywhere on foot, even running at full tilt toward their destination, and they couldn't risk calling back their own teleporter in case the Hellbeast showed up right then and the other judges needed use of his powers.
Shit, they needed something, anything! A truck, a car, a goddamn bicycle, whatever!
A low rumble shook the streets, and Zeph turned his head from side to side to see where it was coming from. What was even heading their way? He shook his 8-Ball in some hope of receiving a quick clarification before presumably the ground opened up or something worse, but he noticed the judges ahead of him looking over his shoulder and so turned around.
Horses. A small herd of them coming towards the group.
Seriously?
This was kind of, . . . . uh . . . . .
Oh fuck it, it was better than nothing.
A well-placed use of telekinesis later, and the remaining group was on horseback and making a beeline straight for the Base. Zeph had to resist the reflexive urge to rein his own Ephemeral in and steer it one way or the other to dodge oncoming anything, even knowing that it could just phase them through obstacles in its path as if nothing at all was wrong.
Conscious thought won out and paid off, as all of the judges were reunited. To all their relief, nothing yet had happened. They still had a bit of time left. How much, the Fighter wasn't exactly sure, but best not to dwell on that. He dismounted and went over to the mobile suit his companions were in.
"Hey! Heeeeeeyyyyy, Archer! Mind giving me a hand?"
The strange sheen covering the armor came off at that. "Nice seeing you too, Zeph." There was a weird tinny echo to his voice when it projected from the suit. It didn't even need to be there considering how well they could make every other noise imaginable come out crystal-clear from speakers and et cetera, and whatever was covering the armor went away, so it wasn't as if it was warping the noise. Stupid Imaginer going for the dramatic "cool" effect with his tech. Zeph was not impre-- holy hell Archer was seriously picking him up with the mobile suit's oversized hand!!!
He really should have worded this better-- seeing the ground shrink away with just one eye was trippy as fuck.
The mobile suit let him go once he reached the top, and he shuffled along the outer shell of it, trying not to fall over sideways before he made it to the hatch. It opened when he got closer, and he saw the shock of straw-blonde hair tied back in a band before it sank back into the safety of the armor.
He followed Mari in and shut the hatch behind him. "On a scale from one to ten, how good is this thing in combat?"
"Wouldn't be able to tell you," Archer replied, flipping a few switches and turning the field back on. "Phasing powers work fine, though."
Mariella looked back over her shoulder to Zeph and noted that he was just about to say something-- no doubt rude, and probably a very detailed and obscene description of what Archer might as well have been doing with his time if it wasn't figuring out if the thing could fight. She caught his attention with a wave of her hand and mimicked a small shaking motion.
What? ....Oh, right, the 8-Ball. Good idea, checking if my powers still work inside of this thing. Powers interfering with others was a tricky subject, but the Fighter tried his ability anyway. A quick image of the Nightmare came up, and his omniscience soon showed another image of it in the same spot as before, but the view was from farther away, more surroundings than anything.
"Huh?" Zeph shook the medium again but snuck a few glances up from it and to the screen ahead. It was near here... Or, well, it would be near here? Damn omniscience not being total and godlike yet. He would've really needed it to be right this moment. Whatever that nightmare was, whereever it was at the moment, they needed to catch it by surprise before it did them first.
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Post by Fatalis "White" Niveus-Aquila on Nov 12, 2012 14:34:25 GMT -7
Lugging the two comatose bodies of Morgan and Niko along, White groaned as he turned around a corner. Straight on now to the base where they could get medical treatment. They were gonna be okay. They were going to sur-
Huh. Surrounded by weird horses. One of them had a knight.
White didn't like it. He wanted to reach to his belt and pull his revolvers, point them at the knight and demand information on what was going on, but he couldn't. Not with Morgan and Niko in tow...In fact, he was fairly sure that Niko had just passed out. Damn.
They had to get somewhere with medical treatment facilities, could these horses be ridden? Was the knight there to rob them?...Wait it was a knight. The code of chivalry. Though... It was a long shot.
White knew all those days as a child, reading through what little fiction he could get his hands on, even if it was cheesy period dramas, would be useless as all hell. To think they actually got some use now...
"Sir Knight" Swear to god I hope I never have to talk like this again, he thought to himself in-between speech. His one was pleading and desperate, respectful and hopeful
"I am in need of assistance, we are in need of assistance. These two are wounded and I'm not enough of a medical practitioner to properly tend their wounds. If you wo- Oh stuff it. Knight. I need to get these two to somewhere safe where they can be treated, the base or the nearest hospital, can you and your flock of horses get us there? Name your price, whatever it is."
It felt better to just be blunt about it. White had enough for one day, he hoped this knight would want something that wasn't his revolvers. Those were...Well he didn't want to give them up but if meant getting these two to safety, then he'd give up both of them and his bandana. They had to live. They were both too young to die.
He wouldn't allow them to die when he himself should be the one to go.
"Please"
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Post by Imaginer on Nov 16, 2012 17:11:50 GMT -7
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style,width: 500px; height: 168px; padding: 5px; vertical-align: top;][atrb=width,440px,true][atrb=border,0,true]"Got anything yet?"
"Depends on what you mean by 'anything'. These visions are reeeeeaaaaaally vague for some reason."
"I'm gonna take that as a yes out of principle," Archer said with a shrug. He turned the mobile suit to either side to get a better look at their surroundings. Various crosshairs meandered along the screen in search of a target but found nothing yet. Despite that, the Imaginer pressed a button to have the weapons at the ready. He could at least have the cannon set to fire for when the thing showed up. The other judges followed suit, ready to use their weapons and powers and anticipating the nightmare's arrival.
Archer snuck a glance to Mariella and joked, "Here's hoping those twitch-fast reflexes I got from playing shooters all day paid off."
She tried to stifle a laugh and raised her sketchbook up to cover her face and pretend she didn't find that amusing.
"Wait a minute--"
The Imaginer and Navigator turned in their seat at that. Zeph waved a hand at them, motioning for them to face forward again. "The image got clearer. Turn this thing to the left."
Archer settled in his seat. "Can do." The crossshairs continued to wander but in a more focused point as energy readings started to waver and spike in that direction. He pressed a button to diffuse the phase-shifting shield and set it down for now. He wasn't sure what effect that would have on his weapons if they were both on at the same time, but his first guess was "nothing good". Pretty likely he'd just shoot right through the Nightmare without actually hitting it if it showed up. And that was if the shield worked correctly at that point.
In the meanwhile, they waited.
The silence stretched across that single moment. The tension in the air was straight-up palpable.
"NOW!"
Didn't need to hear that twice; once the reticles went onto the same spot, Archer fired.
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Nightmare
Nightmare
[M:98235:38435224543:]
Posts: 36
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Post by Nightmare on Nov 24, 2012 18:44:44 GMT -7
[atrb=width,440px,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true] [style=margin-top:10px;]BOSS LEVEL {1599} [/style] |
If the Nightmare could talk, it wouldn't waste its breath. It arrived into a mess of noise and lights that it didn't even cause, and its was overcome with the painful and relentless sting of beams and explosions, followed by gunfire and concussive blasts on the part of the humans. The nightmare growled and bared its jagged, bloodstained teeth. It tensed, and the very air twisted and warped with a visible stream that coiled itself around the beams coming from the armored suit, and before long the light thinned into nothing. Its supposed victory was short-lived; a strange glow had set on the armor, not a product of the beast's warping powers. Was it trying to attack with something different? The nightmare wasn't going to let it. It reached for the mobile suit's limbs to tear them away, but its claws touched thin air instead. It could see the machine standing before it, but it felt nothing. Nothing! What kind of power was that? If that metal thing thought itself capable to a Nightmare, it would die by that mistake, given enough time. The beast hissed, turned its attention to the humans on the ground and tried to swipe at them as well. Although they'd bunched together and that had made them easier targets, the entire group disappeared before they could be cut open. The judges reappeared at the roof of the complex, and their clear evasion made the Nightmare twist up in rage. They couldn't be putting up a fight; they were insignificant. ---- Galahad hadn't expected one of his new charges to speak. Sounded like the man was having a hard time of it, until he dropped the stilted arch tone and started making his plea normally, thank goodness. Galahad was well aware that he was created to look like a knight, but his idiolect, while succinct, was terribly off thanks to whoever created him. If he could only bring himself to take off the armor, he could possibly blend in with the humans, but he was rather attached to the thing. (There were times when he even doubted he had a presence under all the metal.) "[...] can you and your flock of horses get us there? Name your price, whatever it is." "To the Base. No price, but anything I say is mine, don't touch."Arcane shifted in his spot on one of the Ephemeral copies, eyes darting back and forth at the gunslinger man and his wounded friends. Galahad was being incredibly courteous by regular standards, choosing to take them in like that, but he was going to need a bit more than his word to make things work. He hesitantly conjured up a pair of replication spells to base itself on the knight, and let them go near the man in white. Duplicates of Galahad appeared to take the dark-haired boy first then the blond one and set them each on separate Ephemerals. "There. No extra weight." The true Galahad started forward with his horse to lead the way towards the Base. One of the duplicates motioned for man in white to get on horseback as well, and once everything was set, the rest of the herd followed after the original knight. A strange figure could be seen in the distance, and Galahad was wary of what that presence meant, but otherwise kept moving forward. As long as the figure knew to stay out of the way, they could get to their destination with little time wasted.
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Post by Alexander on Dec 2, 2012 20:32:18 GMT -7
"You musn't go near that one," It was a voice distinctly prominent, like the voice of many voices, both great and small, female and male, child and adult, speaking at once, and it rang about as though spoken in the quiet of the most silent chambers, yet none other would come to hear such a voice but White and White alone, "He's a dangerous one, he is. Please sir, for the sake of you and these others, turn this around."
She, however, had the appearance of a saintly young girl quite barely, if even, reaching the age of doubled digits but despite her pale moon-like skin, glowing blue eyes, raven hair, and raggamuffin garbs, none other would come to see her but White and White alone;
A Nightmare.
Quite obviously a Nightmare.
Perhaps,
Perhaps not.
With all that has come to pass, the appearance of such a one as this would fail to strike astound in even the most innocent of hearts but why White of all therein has this particular Nightmare chosen? Perhaps White seemed the more sensitive to such things or the more sensible in mind of the bunch.
Perhaps there was a motive yet to be discerned.
Now Alexander watched as this entourage of riders riding upon their horses taking charge over those on foot as captors taking captives of the slaves they have just enslaved approached so earnestly in his direction as though not a threat in a world could possibly overtake them. His steps began forth, toward them, slowly at first yet gaining quickness, gaining severity in their great strides as though he marched against an army, and indeed he marched as though marching against an army; the intention was clear.
They would have all died this hour had it not been for a single intervening factor that alone could cease the steps of such a Mask as this. And it came to pass, when he felt the pressure of such a one as "it," standing in the veil of shadows nearby that he ceased his quickened steps and looked onward, to the shadows nearby, where he and he alone would see such a tall and faceless figure, slender in it's stature, staring back at him as though a predator prepared to overtake his prey.
He was taken back; it seemed as though fear had entered him and he ran. As fast as he possibly could, he ran into the weaving between shattered buildings and rubble where safety abounded, only no safety could ever abound to safeguard him from such a troubling menace as this.
For the time the Riders and their captives were safe;
Safe enough to continue riding along in their way in the safety of their numbers and strength.
However,
"I fear for you..." Spoke the ghastly girl to sensible White, "you've not seen the last of that one. His eyes are always watching..."
In all her speaking, she spoke calmly, almost cheerfully, as though fear and trembling had no place within the confines of whatever heart beat within her despite the forebodings and the warnings she had to offer in regards to the Masked stranger that at one point had stood in their path.
She remained with him;
With them.
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Post by Fatalis "White" Niveus-Aquila on Dec 7, 2012 14:16:47 GMT -7
White looked to themounts before him, wondering how the law of conservation of matter was utterly defied but then he pretty much stopped caring. As he moved to mount it...
He heard it. He felt it echoing in his mind, before he even saw her. It felt so....Compelling. He was about to follow it until his rationality kicked in. He had to think about it.
Who do I believe? A being out of nowhere? A viable option? He was so tired...So much energy had been consumed by his worries and anger and fear. He wasn't sure if he had the energy for a decision any more...Maybe just collapse right here...Let fate decide the events that followed
...No... He had a duty. He took a deep breath. The girl urged him not to go, unfounded and without evidence but it had a strong compulsion and voice from beyond when you have no history of schizophrenia usually indicates importance. However, the Knight was freely taking wounded to a location where White could get Morgan and Niko treated...
He had to figure out why he couldn't go to the base. Either: something was there to be avoided or this knight was dangerous... What about this girl? She had appeared out of nowhere. Was she illusion? Was she a threat...
Do as the girl says...Or follow the Knight....Take a third option and leave the pair of them, heading to the hospital instead of the base...Fourth option, give up...
Loading Niko and Morgan onto the mare's back and took hold of the underside of its neck before looking to the girl.
"Can you show me the way to the hospital?"
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Post by Imaginer on Dec 10, 2012 15:55:41 GMT -7
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style,width: 500px; height: 168px; padding: 5px; vertical-align: top;][atrb=width,440px,true][atrb=border,0,true]Archer nodded with approval as the Nightmare's claw struck air that was meant to be occupied. "The shield works fine." Now all they needed was for it to continue working when they needed it.
The beast was outraged at having missed his target and switched over to the other judges on the ground. They were teleported to safety, and the Nightmare practically contorted into a visual representation of its anger. It was pissed off, but it was also distracted. A big mistake.
Archer dropped the protective phase-shifting shield and flipped the switches before him, sending a quicker volley of beams at the Nightmare to get its attention again before it thought of getting close to the Base complex.
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[#@rand#=495.24715908127837%@]
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Nightmare
Nightmare
[M:98235:38435224543:]
Posts: 36
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Post by Nightmare on Dec 17, 2012 11:52:54 GMT -7
[atrb=width,440px,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true] [style=margin-top:10px;]BOSS LEVEL {1053} [/style] |
"Grrrraaaaahh..." The nightmare coiled back from the attack, trying to shield itself until it was over. Any shields it put up had broken under the pressure, and it realized its powers weren't working as well as they were supposed to. It had been singed by the beams all long it arms. One beam in particular had gotten through and carved a notch into one of its heads. The Nightmare coiled, focusing its energy into removing the traces of damage and sealing its wounds. Then it warped its surroundings and disappeared again. When next it appeared, it would be behind the armored suit, to strike it down with its claws while it was still unphased. [#@rand#=571.68542800867%@] ---- All right, so what was going on here? The knight accepted the proposal, and they were progressing, but for some reason the white-haired man hadn't moved from his place. In fact, he'd begun speaking to no one in particular-- his attention was focused on thin air. The knight pulled his steed to a stop and turned to face the man in white. "Who are you talking to?" he called out. Arcane made a small worried noise and whispered to the knight, "I think he's crazy."The sigh was muffled by the helmet he wore, but rest assured, he made one. They could not have seriously been encountering an obstacle from within the group of travelers before they'd even put a significant distance between where they used to be and where they were going. "The Base is close. You want closer? Then hurry up!"
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Post by Alexander on Dec 26, 2012 14:10:10 GMT -7
She seemed intent on hiding whatever it was that she was from the Knight. Very much so intent, for when he turned face to cast his gaze upon the perhaps-crazed White, she vanished as though nothing at all only to reappear once more amidst the shadows of the nearby alleys soon after such short lived words had been spoken.
"This way, sir." Her voice rang clear from where she stood and yet only White would come to hear such a sweet sounding melody, "There are others waiting.. we must join them quickly." Though all emotion was lacking in the sound of her voice there was a subtle desperation hidden therein and, oddly enough, a beckoning pressure that pressed on White and White only.
Meanwhile, in a place not so far off, yet afar off indeed, there stood a White Mask staring intently at the sight of his own reflection that stared back just as fervently from the surface of darkly tinted glass as though an apparition in the darkness of void. Raising the pipe in his hand he set forth a crushing wrath upon that glass and it shattered in a greater violence that resounded it's great clamor around and above as the million shards of hate fell to the ground like a winter's snowfall.
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Post by Fatalis "White" Niveus-Aquila on Dec 28, 2012 10:42:05 GMT -7
White growled as he felt the spectre move...No more...Damnit he was so tired why did he have to process through all this...He just wanted to walk home and collapse into his bed, read his book then go to sleep. Everything else could be forgotten about and left to the people who hadn't been mentally exhausted by what happened...
Knight. Girl. Knight. Girl. Knight or the girl. Wait, what's this about others? Other's waiting?...That didn't sound right but the instinct was conflicting. One part told him to follow her, another told him to go with the knight. The majority told him to give up and stop caring, just go home.
But he couldn't do that. He would not do that. Not when his two new com-..Sod it. Two new friends needed him. And his instinct was to go home and leave them to their fate? How dare his instincts tell him to do that. Okay. What did he actually know about this girl? What did he know about the situation...The knight...The knight wasn't mysterious. He was but not in the way the girl was. He could react to the knight better than he could react to the girl...But his instincts ere pressing him into trying to follow the grl...Could he allow that though?
He growled, low and guttural. Like an angry dog. With the two bodies on the horse, his hands were free to release some of that frenzied anger as he raised a hand armed with a revolver, pointing it at the girl and pulling the trigger...The bullet launched forth, Whie caring little for what it did, returning his focus to the situation.
He took a deep breath and looked to knight.
"Sorry. I saw something odd. It freaked me out a little. Would you kindly lead the way?"
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Post by Imaginer on Jan 6, 2013 5:51:17 GMT -7
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style,width: 500px; height: 168px; padding: 5px; vertical-align: top;][atrb=width,440px,true][atrb=border,0,true]There! They got the monster's attention. Now the question was what to do in order to keep it. Archer wasn't given much time to think of that, though. The nightmare phased out, escaping from them like always. The crosshairs on the screen spread out in search of the target again.
Zeph took hold of his 8-Ball and shook it to at least get a hold of which direction the Hellbeast would appear in, and he got his answer when the monster's claws ripped the hatch apart.
The noise of metal being cut through and the sudden draft came as a sobering shock and warning enough for the trio inside, and the Imaginer hammered at the keys to raise the phasing shields back up before the Nightmare could do anything worse. That its claws went through with no audible impact was just a short relief in the face of a bigger problem. There was a loud metallic creaking, and the sudden shifting of weight to one side was the clue that the armored suit was lurching over as the ground below it gave way. Sure, at least it was moving forward, away from the monster, but that wasn't much comfort as the mobile suit landed with a resounding boom.
Aw, come the hell on! Having his suit toppled over like a turtle with its targeting system out of commission wasn't the way Archer imagined this fight going.
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