trans_9 | The Challenge From Beyond-Time for a Fight

Kirk stepped off, leading the way. That was what a captain did - at least, Kirk's brand of captain, anyway. Phaser in hand, he set himself, quelled the doubt in his own heart as he always did in these moments of crisis and set off towards Escherville. The heart of darkness. The source of all the pain and misery that had engulfed the ship. The devil in the dark. Time to see whether or not they can make him bleed.

He gestured for the others to follow. "Let's go. Stay close, watch each others' backs - and above all, don't give in to that fear. You've been through tougher then this. I know you have."

Castiel was already standing at the steps of Escherville when the others finally arrived, staring at the entrance with a fixated gazed, with a silver knife clutched tightly in his hand.

"Do you believe in God, Captain?" he asked, his focus never wavering from the building in front of him.

Rhiow took a deep breath and said the three words that would activate the spell, raising a shield across the front wall of the cathedral, dividing Escherville and those entering it from the greater part of the city. "While that holds, it should protect our backs," she said, her ear twitching. While it holds was not a phrase she had ever used to qualify her magic before Stacey. It... didn't feel right.

She trotted up to join the group, nervousness prickling her gut. She licked her nose, swallowed, and allowed the emotion to run its course, shoving it firmly aside. Now was the time to stand firm.

Kirk shot Castiel a curious look, "I believe in a higher power, if that's what you mean."

"I don't, sir. No Abh does. So if I die, can I trouble you to tell my deeds here to my people? I will do the same for you, if you wish it." Lafiel checked and double checked her pistols, both magic and conventional, helmet and gooheik glove slung over her back. Her face was set and grim.

(http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j138/SoaringHeadache/Cape%20and%20Cowl/Shadow%20The%20Hedgehog/?action=view&current=thShadow004.png)

"No one's dying. Not today. Not ever." Shadow said, skating along. His jet shoes may be on the fritz, but it wasn't going to stop him. In his hands were two ignited Chaos Spears, held like swords. "We're going in, we're going to stop this monster, and we're going home. Nothing else."

"Good," was all Castiel said in response to the captain. Without speaking antoher word, he took a step forward and began the steady, deliberate climb up the steps to Escherville.

You feel them before you see them. Even if you don't have psychic powers, you know they're there.

Creatures of the darkness, moving through the shadows.

As you get closer, you don't just feel them, you hear them. An eerie song, one that, if listened to for too long, was both terrifying and maddening, yet still possessed a grace almost lyrical.

And then, you see them. And all you can do is wish you hadn't.

Creatures, and beasts, piles of flesh that have been twisted beyond all description.

But the scariest thing about them all? The sheer plurality of them. Their numbers seem endless as more and more seep from the darkness to claim your souls.

To get this far, you had to overcome yourselves. To gain entrance into Escherville itself, and to the Cathedral where the Nightmare King makes his bid to be released, you must overcome them. And ordinary weapons will not cut it.

((ooc: High-Octane Magic users, you are go! You have to help the Crew fight their way past Lovecraftian Horrors and deep into Escherville. Team assignments are here))

Edited 2010-03-04 04:49 (UTC)

Wanda stepped into action right away. She was still juiced up from her nightmare, flowing with Chthon's dark energy. "Spread out. I want each of you covering the others. Make sure nothing gets past you and press forward. If you see anyone who needs assistance and you can help without leaving the others open to attack, do it. If you can't call out for someone else to provide assistance. This will be hard but keep going." And with that she let go of her restraint, sending a blast of magic at the energy at the monsters.

Alessa didn't have the heart to tell Wanda that she had no intentions of really listening to anyone at this point. It was nothing personal: in fact, she liked Wanda, and thought her courageous for having to deal with that dark god. But after that nonsense back at the gathering, she had time to think about her position and what she was doing. She had been waiting, preparing for weeks, and now she was expected to kowtow to someone who was only just getting ready to fight these things? The logic itself wasn't sound, and was hardly sound, and a bit insulting.

More importantly, she saw the monsters. Wanda meant well, but she was not a demon like she was: she could feel the oozing, the feeling of WRONG coming from these things. Their essence was very much like the Nightmare King's but in corporeal form. Already Alessa could feel the urge to kill rising, could feel the pull in her to start directing where the next lunge would be. She was unafraid of these things in the dark: they were minions, much like the ones ion her own Silent Hill, but a deal deadlier, and certainly older. Not that it mattered: she was not new to the world, she only looked it. When she saw them, the ship, the people, everything passed away: she could only see the darkness all around them, the threat they posed, the malice in their intent.

Alessa smiled. They had no idea who they were dealing with.

She would show them.

The vines, which usually took at least thirty seconds to full extend, came out easily: she had already began the preliminary preparation for this. Now she could hear the roar of her own monsters, feel their anxiousness that their master was about to enter into the fray herself. Minions were like that: they wanted their own shot at going for these creatures too, and Alessa would let them, eventually: she knew she would have need of them. She knew in time she would even have to summon one of her greatest warriors Pyramid Head, and that would take a toll, but it would be needed. In any case, that time would come: these creatures did not know what she capable of.

She turned to Wanda and, having no time to talk, said this to her, I will try to manage your instruction, but likely I may have to come at these creatures in full force. I may not be able to assist anyone if I can help it.

Plus, it would be a distraction. There were far too many of these things.

She leapt into the fray, and now it was real: her vines no longer toying, they started to RIP at her enemies, and when they started to gather Alessa had fire shoot from the vines now. Daimon would have recognized hellfire when he saw it: it wasn't something Alessa liked using all that much, but when a situation called for it, she did not let her pride get in the way. The monsters screeched and fought back, and one could hear a low laughter from the demon girl as they dug their claws into her flesh. Good: they would feel the poison soon enough.

She added very quietly in the back of her mind that if she saw Shadow being attacked in this fray, she wouldn't hold back.

(http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j138/SoaringHeadache/Cape%20and%20Cowl/Shadow%20The%20Hedgehog/?action=view&current=thShadow035.png)

This was it. All or nothing. Now or never.

"Alright, you freaks. Let's see what you can do when you're fighting on MY terms!" Shadow said, snarling. Jet shoes igniting again, Shadow raced into the fray, going airborne and perform a Sonic Spin Attack, the added power of the Chaos Spears tearing into those unfortunate to be in its path. Coming out of it, the hedgehog went into the offensive, cutting through the creatures with his Spears, launching them and creating more to replace them.

Wanda felt the chthonic power flowing through her. She felt it rise, the pressure built until she cast it all out of her body, directing it all out in one overpowering wave.

Alessa wasted no time with words. The creatures she did not take for granted: the air was thick with dark energy, and in order for her to cause damage she had to be at her best. The tentacles stopped grappling at this point then now it was meant for tearing.

And there was much to tear at.

The first came at one of the smaller monsters: it had teeth and fangs, but seemed to be composed of mostly sickly sticky skin. It tried to sink its fangs through her own tentacles, but Alessa was not an amateur at this, quite the opposite: she had made twisted monsters like this, she knew she had to match dark power with its own. She grasped at the center and tore, her eyes far from the usual impassive look. The blood sprayed freely, but she discarded the monster immediately: no telling who had poison blood in this mess.

But now a new monster took that others' place and got a hit on Alessa she had not been expecting this soulless face beast who's piercing yell actually pushed back like a wind into the outstretched arms of a slit nosed freak with no pupils. Alessa grimaced when it touched her and reacted accordingly: she vanished from the arms and the tentacles seized the creature and threw it at the creature. The yell pushed it back too, but Alessa was ready, and the tentacles cut deeply into it. The yells from the creatures were inhuman, but Alessa had no time to think about that: a few lizard like creatures were leaping at Shadow, and she was there a moment later, pulling one down into the ground sharply.

The face floating screecher, however, was moving toward the hedgehog.

(http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j138/SoaringHeadache/Cape%20and%20Cowl/Shadow%20The%20Hedgehog/?action=view&current=thShadow010.png)

As the battle raged, Shadow continued his assault. As the Chaos Spears tear into the creatures, Shadow began to wish that he had another weapon to aid him. As he turned, he saw the screecher that encountered Alessa. Before he could act, the creature let out a powerful screech that sent the hedgehog flying away from the group and into the waiting arms of others far away.

"...great. More of them..." Shadow mused before starting to fight through them.

Eddie's skin is sizzling hot as he leaps into the fray, talons and horns gouging and burning whatever monstrosity was unlucky enough to cross him. Since Eon had aged him, Eddie's muscle mass had nearly tripled, and he used this to his advantage, ripping apart the creatures into pieces that burn away into ash.

Not only had Eddie gained strength, but even more firepower as well. His fire breath was even hotter, and he didn't even need to breath it seemed. Fire shot from his hands in great torrents, and he could heat the air around a creature just by looking at it.

Eddie was reveling in this newfound power. Was this what would happen once he lost his soul? he almost lost his mind to the chaos, but the little voice of his conscience nudged him, reminded him why he was fighting; to help the rest of the crew get into the Cathedral and fight the Nightmare King. Eddie focused his mind on the mission, and fought on with all his heart.

Alessa was happy that they were all fighting: these creatures were getting numerous, and she had to come at them with full fury, ignoring that she probably looked bloodthirsty and vicious. She would have been more than happy to continue fighting, but the truth was something was distracting her. She felt as if something was wrong on the ship, and that something was related to her. She didn't think about it at first, just hacking and cutting, but more and more she felt disturbed, and then it became clear.

Someone (http://community.livejournal.com/trans_ /306133.html?thread=23304661#t23304661) was trying to impersonate her.

"NO!" Alessa screeched, and was gone. She was for awhile, and then she came back, fake Alessa strangled at the throat, now resembling nothing like the facsimile she had been. Alessa, however, was taking ragged breaths: the jump from one place to another had displaced her power, and she couldn't concentrate.

And that was what they were waiting for as they swarmed the demon.

"What the-" Wanda didn't finish, instead leaping forward to blast several of the demons back. "Cover her!"

(http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j138/SoaringHeadache/Cape%20and%20Cowl/Shadow%20The%20Hedgehog/?action=view&current=thShadow047.png)

"CHAOS...BLAST!"

That was all Shadow had to hear. Alessa was in trouble - and he pointed it out to her not to do something like that. Unleashing a massive burst of Chaos Energy, he cleared a path for him to reach Alessa, igniting more Chaos Spears as he fought to beat the beasts back.

"GET AWAY FROM HER! I WON'T LET YOU TOUCH HER AGAIN!" Shadow roared. Not again. Never again.

It was a good thing that Wanda and Shadow had reacted so quickly: the monsters had ripped at Alessa pretty well, and would probably have done worse damage had it not been for their interference. Still, Alessa was still limping and her hair was dotted with blood that fell freely down her face. The look on her face, however, was unmistakable: it was flat out loathing.

It was bad enough that the filthy King had a power similar to hers, and that he had attempted to give her nightmares. But to impersonate her and then sic his filthy minions on her too, to actually hurt her? That would not stand.

Alessa opened her mouth, and the air was filled with a dark, foreboding sound. It was Alessa's last resort, and she knew, at least, that this would by them time. A moment later, all of the monsters from the factory were now approaching to intercept the monsters, and Alessa fell against Shadow, breathing shallowly.

"Get the rest if you can," the demon girl said.

"How is she?" Wanda shouted. She didn't stop fighting against the monsters and blasted yet more back. "Get-" She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence as a monster came in while her back was turned and lunged.

(http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j138/SoaringHeadache/Cape%20and%20Cowl/Shadow%20The%20Hedgehog/?action=view&current=thShadow046.png)

Oh, this was just Shadow's day. Alessa's injured, Wanda's down, the creatures are starting to get the best of them...

Turning around, he scooped Alessa in his arms and leaped over one of the creatures attacking.

"HANG ON!" Shadow shouted. Hopping off each of the creatures, he made his way over to where Wanda was, dropping down and lashing out with a Chaos Spear. Setting Alessa down, he moved to help Wanda up. "Are you okay? We can't give up now. Not when we're so clo-WOAH!" A few moments later, Shadow found himself being pulled up and away from the girls.

Alessa, despite her weakness, was still very protective of her man...or whatever the hell she and Shadow were to each other. Either way, she was not going to allow either Shadow or Wanda to be unnecessarily injured because they were trying to help her. Out of nowhere a scythe appeared in her hand that appeared to be powered by some kind of dark energy. She plunged it at the monster that had Shadow and cleaved it in two, then turned toward Wanda.

"Stick by me," she rasped. "It's a rather crude weapon, but it will get the job done."

There were so many of them... all between the crew and where they needed to be. But that was all right; this was where her team began to earn their keep. This was where the hours she and her team had spent preparing would pay off. Nanoha couldn't help but feel a chill shoot up her spine, anxious yet excited at the very primal thrill of battle.

"Exceed Drive!"

"Ignition."

The girl was momentarily covered in a bright magenta light, and when it faded - seeming to shatter around her like a shell - her staff was now a golden spear, and the white of her Barrier Jacket was longer, now with black-gold trim.

"Everyone, on me," she called out, at the top of her lungs. "This is what we've all been preparing for!"

"This isn't going to be easy, but we're ready for it as long as we focus on what we're doing - just like we practiced! Keep your wits and don't do anything reckless!"

The golden spear pointed, arcing through the darkness to point in the direction of the Cathedral. "That's our destination. We're going to fight our way there, and once we're there, we aren't going to let a single monster get past us to the team inside. Not a single one!"

She turned, grabbing Raising Heart and preparing to run forward - not fly. She could fly, but others couldn't, and they had to stick together as a team. "Stay together. No one gets left behind!"

Her voice took on a lower tone, but the passion still cut through her words. "Don't hold back. Let's give them everything we've got!"

Nanoha's hand reached out to slam a fresh magazine of magical cartridges into the weapon, feeling the satisfying click as it locked home, and the low "chunk-hiss" as the cartridges were consumed one by one, the empty shells ejecting out of the top - and the power surged through her, making her entire body tingle.

She briefly gave a quick mental apology to Fate before opening her eyes again. "Blaster System Limit 1, release!"

"Blaster Set."

The surge intensified, and anyone watching her would see the hum of magic around her suddenly flare up as the energy rushed through her, painful but exhilarating in its own way. Nanoha brought the weapon to bear at the masses in front of her, brilliant magical light gathered at its tip.

They couldn't afford to hold back, so she wasn't going to.

"Divine Buster!" Her shout was drowned out by the roar of her weapon firing, a massive magenta beam slicing through the waves and waves of enemies in front of her, opening a path for her team to clear.

Rhiow growled low in her throat, the fur standing up all down her spine. This was not what she had expected - but then again, nothing of this was what she expected.

Hurriedly, she began piecing together the molecular dissolution in her head, characters coming together as fast as she could remember them, slotting into the spell easily. But then - Whisperer, I must know the specifics-

A moment, the Whisperer said, Her voice calm - but Rhiow could detect maybe a hint of frustration, and that frightened her. What if she couldn't find the information she needed? What if this in-between-place, and anything created here, just wasn't governed by the Powers? What if-

Rhiow hissed softly to herself, shaking those thoughts out of her head as new strings of characters poured into her mental workspace. She began speaking the spell as soon as it was finished, crouching with her eyes half-closed, glaring at the twisted abominations advancing toward them - and then it was done.

She snarled the release word and several of the horrors simply dissolved into small piles of dust. Upon closer inspection one would find that they were little heaps of carbon, and other trace elements. Rhiow had broken them down to their components.

Want the truth? Vivio was terrified. This was beyond what she was expecting. She always thought that Nanoha had it worse when she was young. This right here proved that she was dead wrong. Part of her wanted to run, to cower behind Nanoha, but...

Vivio, part of being strong is knowing when you aren't ready to face something.

"I'm not ready to face this... I'm not... but, I have to..." Vivio said. "I'm not doing this just to show Nanoha-mama I'm old enough or strong enough to fight with her... I'm doing this because I have people I have to protect!" As her body trembled, she willed herself to stay calm. "Yuri-chan, Fletcher-kun, Sherry, Vega... I don't know if they know I'm here o-or if they even care... but, I'm going to fight for them! I'm going to protect them ALL! Rein-chan! Let's go!"

Once again, the Belkan sigil formed under Vivio's feet, then focused on her right foot. Lifting up her leg, she pulled back, then kicked forward shouting "Rainbow...KIIIIIIICK!" A wave of Reinforce Zwei-powered rainbow magic cut through a number of the creatures, adding on to the devestation.

"Hai!" exclaimed Rein as she followed Vivio through the motions of the Rainbow Kick. Spinning around, the sigil flared to life again as the book rapidly flipped around to a new section of the book. "CROSSFIRE...!"

Energy formed and she thrust her hands out. "SHOOT!"

Another barrage of magenta light, every sphere detonating within the teeming mass of monsters in a burst of magical energy. And then Nanoha was at her daughter's side, her voice lowering just slightly.

"Stay close to me, Vivio," Nanoha said, and there was no hint of it being a request in her voice. "You too, Rein."

Her voice grew louder. "Everyone! Forward, now!"

Edited 2010-03-05 01:04 (UTC)

Rhiow bounded forward in the others' wake, whirling around with another snarling activation to dissolve some eight or ten monsters that had been trying to flank them. "Nanoha!" she shouted, cursing the fact that she had not had the time to set up the telepathy spell. That was when she remembered the comm.

<< Nanoha, I can stay in the rear and set up shields at our backs to keep them off us as we progress. I just need to make sure everyone is inside them before I throw them up, do you think that's viable? >>

She sounded remarkably calm - and so she was. She had faced this kind of pressure before, this kind of fight. They may have smelled like death and gasoline, and looked like nothing Queen Iau would have ever made, but they were no worse than the saurians.

Vivio nodded as she moved to join in with Nanoha. She knew that her mama wasn't going to let her out of her sight for this. Even while Unisoned, she was still inexperienced.

That, and there was probably something Nanoha wasn't going to tell her that happened prior to getting here.

Following Reinforce's movements, she unleashed the Crossfire Shoot attack to strike more of the creatures, taking them out.

Another blast in front of them. Nanoha's carefully honed sense of perception and situational awareness made it very hard to get the jump on her, and detonations blasted away as many of the monsters as she could.

And then Rhiow would hear the mage's voice speaking into her mind: Do it - but don't fall behind! Stay with the group!

"Vivio-chan, get some height," said Rein as she flipped open some pages. "We're going to make a big path too!"

Belkan incantations started to flow off her tongue as Rein started to create a large spell. Black energy started to form and she grinned. "DIABOLIC...!"

As Vivio went airborne, she followed Rein's actions before finishing the Device's incantation.

"...EMISSION!" The girl unleashed the burst of magical energy at the beasts wiping them out in the process. As she did, though, Vivio started to tire a bit. The lack of sleep and the high output of magical energy...

Pixie didn't quite have the awesome powers that the others did. Sure, she looked like a magical girl, and sure, she was all pink and glittery and cute, and her powers made people hallucinate things...

But her big power was a little bit darker than that.

She zipped around, her souldagger glowing in her hand as she stabbed at the monsters in a much more physical fashion.

Nanoha could be a bit physical too when she wanted. "Strike Flame."

Two gouts of pink fire burst from either side of her staff, and as she dashed forward she swung it around, the flames scything through anything in their path, burning the creatures to ash.

But there were so many of them...

Rhiow didn't answer Nanoha, she saved her breath for spells. Her fur stood on end as she rattled them off one after the other.

The molecular dissolution was starting to lose its effectiveness - the universe didn't like it when you broke the same rule over and over, it strove toward the status quo, and of course entropy was always running. Now instead of dissolving in a puff of dust, the creatures took a second or two to melt into puddles of slush. Rhiow hissed softly.

In her mind, she was rapidly composing the changes that would need to be made to the already-constructed shield. Its target area of containment was smaller. The previous array needed to be linked into this one, so that shield would fall when this one activated. Despite her bragging to Isaac earlier, running multiple shields of that size plus combat would have weakened Rhiow beyond what she could take. Spellwork on the fly was somethings he was used to but not... precisely under these conditions.

She darted backward and began speaking the second shield spell as fast as she could without stumbling over any of the words, panting with effort as it sprang into being.

I don't know how much longer I'll be able to keep this up.

"Do you need help?"

Will's spells are less descriptive than those of her friends, but swathes of electrocuted monsters attest to the efficacy of her powers in any case. The Heart of Kandrakar floats above her hand, a bottomless well of energy.

"I can lend you power if you need it."

"Right now?" Vivio said, hearing Will's voice. "We need a lot more than just power...!"

Vivio was really starting to tire. She'd never been in an actual battle. She was in over her head. Even with Reinforce aiding her in attacks and in power, she was starting to feel like a liability.

But, still, she kept fighting. She had to.

Nanoha could tell that the people on her team were starting to flag, and to be honest she felt the burning in her muscles already - not to mention the strain placed on her by the Blaster System. But they were close, now, and they couldn't give up. Not when they'd come so far.

So instead, the energy around her flared up as she redoubled her efforts. "Don't give up!" she cried, taking to the skies to launch a volley of orbs down to help clear the area around Rhiow to give her some breathing space. "We're almost there!"

Rhiow glanced sideways at Will, her ears tilted back. "It's the spell, it's starting to burn out," she said. "I'll switch-" she rifled through her mind for the second combat spell she was carrying, rattling off its syllables quickly and baring her teeth in grim satisfaction when it took.

This one - this one was much more impressive. Instead of puffing into small piles of dust, the abominations exploded in a spray of blood, meat and other things probably left unmentioned. Rhiow growled softly to herself, retreating back from the shield line in an attempt to keep up with everyone else. She did not want to be left behind.

"If you're certain you don't mind, then I wouldn't mind tying myself into that power source," Rhiow said. "If only just to bleed a little energy off now and again. Could you cover me while I do it? It'll take a minute."

"Vivio-chan we should hook into the power source," said Rein from within Vivio. "I've felt Will's power before, it's amazing! It'll give us new energy to fight."

Opening a projected link with everyone, she asked, "Will, please, hook us into your power. I'll manage the mana transfer on my end."

Even if it weren't crawling with Lovecraftian monsters, Escherville itself is a place that warp your mind. Gravity has very little in the way of rhyme or reason here. Up is down is left is right is east is west is north and so on.

But at the end of the maze of distorted gravity is a tunnel, one that will lead you to the lair of the Nightmare King. But between you and that tunnel are more of the creatures you fought outside, coming at you from every possible angle. And there are many.

The Challenge From Beyond-Time for a Fight

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The Slaying of the Monster Part 1 - Outside Escherville

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The Slaying of the Monster Part 2 - Inside Escherville