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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Oct 21, 2006 10:25:51 GMT
Rude's Sacrifice beam hit him dead center in the chest, but he wasn't sure it was having any effect...
*BANGBANGBANG!*
He ducked. It seemed Ami had found the ship's weaponry systems, and she was using them to blast h**l out of the attacking demon. He managed to get out of the creature's flightpath with the time Ami had bought him and contacted with the Sacrifice beam again... Are any of these attacks damaging him at ALL?
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Post by lutz on Oct 21, 2006 10:35:52 GMT
The beam knocked Chaos out of the way of impacted and landed near the ship causing a flaming crater. Chaos rose from the crater and took off once more to the sky. the ships weapon were effective in weakening Chaos but it was only fueling his anger even more. He howled even louder this time hurting the peoples ears. He flapped his black crow-like wings and stood still something was holding him back from attacking, it was Lutz trying to get free.
Lutz: "Guys! I must be healed! the demon wants to get more angery, anger seems to fuel him!"
Chaos snapped back and took over once again. He began shooting massive fireballs at the ship!
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Post by lutz on Oct 21, 2006 10:45:53 GMT
Chaos grown more angery and fled the sceen to the sky and away from the group.
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Oct 21, 2006 10:52:04 GMT
Oh, no you don't, Ami thought to herself from the thingpit. I may s**k at flying... but this is no time for foolish pride...
She hit the ignition and swung the ship around to fire, the entire vessel shaking and weaving in her inexperienced hands. "I must be out of my mind!" Ami shrieked. She blasted Chaos, not trying to hit him, but instead trying to slow him down and cut off his route of escape...
Rude calmed himself. No anger. Check.
He took careful aim and fired once more, this time on the battering ram setting, aiming for the creature's head... I'm gonna knock his lights out.
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Oct 21, 2006 15:39:16 GMT
Ami's shots hampered the demon's progress, but he quickyl managed to get out of range. She thumped the control panel with frustration, cuasing the ship to lurch downward. "Whoa!" She yanked on the control again, leveling it back out, and managed to set the ship back down with any MAJOR mishaps... she'd only got it some twenty feet off the ground, anyway.
Rude shut off the Sacrifice and watched the demon fly away. Where the h**l did that thing come from... and more to the point, when will it come back?
He came back through the hatch as the engines cut out and the Hellfire subsided...
"Is everyone all right?" He didn't wait for an answer. "If so, we should definitely get moving again... that thing might return."
Ami's family had not understood any of this. "What 'thing'?"
Ami stumbled out of the c0ckpit, looking kind of shaky on her feet. "Flying is for the birds..." she muttered.
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Post by Gdosimirj Sunset on Oct 21, 2006 15:43:38 GMT
Gdosimirj looked apprehensive. "You're right... probably... we should get to the village. They shouldn't be able to follow us in..." She seemed very agitated. "My people will not be happy if we bring such evil into the village. If those things follow us... we'll be changing their way of life entirely." She shook her head. "We must go quietly."
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Oct 21, 2006 15:52:11 GMT
Carefully, warily, the group made its way out towards the village. No one seemed ready to attack for the time being, but Ami was way too cranked up to relax. And seeing her so tense made her family absolutely terrified. It takes a declared emergency to get her to panic.
Rude kept his Sacrifice rifle in hand, perpetually scanning the skies. He kept an eye on his partner as well, who seemed a bit weak and shaky... not quite as verbose as usual, either.
Reno leaned on Nikky for support. "I still don't know what that mother did to me... but I feel... different."
Axel, trailing the group from considerable distance (beyond the range of detection), gritted his teeth. Come on... remember what I said to you... take the bait...
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Post by Gdosimirj Sunset on Oct 21, 2006 16:03:26 GMT
They came to a sheer crevasse in the path, at least ten yards across. Over the canyon was stretched a shaky looking rope bridge. She glanced at the bridge oddly. "Something's not right... the weaving..." A light bulb lit up over her head. "Of course! the collapsible bridge project! They were working on that one just before I left." She noticed how wary the others looked at the word collapsible. "Don't worry, it's completely safe..." She tugged on one of the ropes to demonstrate.
The fragile bridge shook, then unraveled, much to the group's dismay. However, the rope she pulled did not stop at the other side of the bridge. It trailed up into a tree and pulled a branch aside, which was holding up an enormous boulder. In turn, the boulder fell out of its canopy with an echoing thud, pulling up a second system of ropes. From a hollow carved beneath them in the canyon, an entirely more sturdy wooden bridge unfolded and clicked into place with finality.
"You see, my clan takes advantage of the human predisposition to take the easiest and most obvious path. Anyone who had tried to cross the rope bridge would have come to a horrible demise." She smiled and crossed the wooden bridge, stomping on it to demonstrate its stability. It held like a rock.
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Oct 21, 2006 16:13:30 GMT
Ami moved forward ahead of the others to test the bridge's weight capacity. It held both her and the bike. She waved the others to come on. "One at a time, folks..."
She waited for the others to cross first. She caught Reno as he followed the group. "I'm getting some bad vibes from you since that Axel guy knocked you out."
"He didn't knock me out..." he insisted, but Ami kept on talking.
"Somehow or other, he replaced part of your essence with his own... not enough to be dangerous, but enough to be risky." Ami looked him in the eyes. "Did he say anything to you? Ask you to do anything?"
Reno thought that over. "Well... he did say I should try out my connection to the Lifestream--"
Ami's eyes widened. "That's a trap," she interrupted. "He knows the Lifestream protects you to a certain degree... by that crazy brand of luck you have. If you somehow abused that power, it would be taken away, and you'd be vulnerable."
Reno blinked. "OK, so no experimentation on that front. Important safety tip." He resumed crossing the bridge while Ami waited her turn...
Axel had overheard Ami's warning. He groaned unhappily-- That girl is nothing but trouble, I can tell. Still, what did I expect from a sister of Sephiroth? I'm gonna have to take her down before I can get to Reno...
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Post by Gdosimirj Sunset on Oct 21, 2006 16:21:27 GMT
Gdosimirj pulled on another rope, which caused a second boulder to crash out of the trees. The first boulder was heaved back into the trees, and the bridge swung back down into its hideyhole. They continued on their way...
She paused as they came to a very familiar place in the path, one that went through a pinch in the rocks between two enormous boulders. "Everyone get back about ten paces. They may have expanded this one." As they stepped back, she danced a strange pattern to the other side, nearly falling once. "They changed that clump, didn't they?" she muttered to herself. The others started to notice the strange clumps of leaves in the pathway- almost indistinguishable from the rest of the forest path, but vaguely unnatural.
Gdosimirj let out a sigh of relief when she reached other other end of the passage. She snatched up a rock, then dropped it on one of the clumps. Out of the leaves in the ground shot several sharpened stakes, making the passage look like a stalagmite forest. A few shot out somewhat nearer to the group than she had expected. She grabbed one of the stakes and moved it up and down in its hole, causing a distinguishable squeaking sound. "So they did expand the springboard. Everyone, come across." When they reached the other side, she grabbed two of the spikes and, with great effort, pushed them back down into the ground. The entire bed of spikes vanished.
"Onward, ladies and gents."
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Oct 21, 2006 16:30:13 GMT
Ami's eyes widened. Some pacifists! Finally cheering up somewhat, she looked back at her parents. Maybe these people can keep my family safe after all...
Reno made his way through the spikes in the passage. "What did your people build this stuff for... door to door salesmen?"
Ami and Dimitri had to wait for Gdosimirj to reset the trap so they could push their bikes through. They managed to side step all the leaf clumps, though Ami triggered one with the back wheel of her bike just as she got to the other side... she yanked Gunmetal out of the way a split second before the spears could flatten the tire. She let out a sigh of relief. "Whoops... well, no harm no foul, right?" She fell into step again with the group, but stopped for a moment to check up on her parents...
Her mother had nearly fainted. "Hey, it's OK, Mom... the closest I got to any danger was the potential imminent need to stop by Goodyear."
Nora fanned her face, not looking particularly well suited to finishing this trek, but she kept trooping.
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Post by Gdosimirj Sunset on Oct 21, 2006 16:42:33 GMT
Gdosimirj sighed and reset the trap, then returned to the front of the group. "Generally, if we're at peace with someone, they either don't know we exist or are in contact with someone who knows how to navigate the traps. If we're at war with someone, which is rare, they can't get near us. You should consider yourselves lucky, all of you- you people get to see one of the best kept secrets in the world."
She veered sharply off the well beaten path and walked around the backside of a thick bush onto a thinner path. "This is how we get to the village. They send people out every week to make sure the wrong path is widened and looks like the right one. They way will get steeper and more difficult as we approach, but we're not far now." She triggered another arrow trap carefully, setting off small traps such as these as they drew closer.
She stopped. "Don't move." There was a tiny kitten sitting in the pathway about 15 yards ahead of them, looking at them pitifully. It was one of the most adorable things in the world.
"It's one of nature's own traps," she whispered fearfully. "A young karoid. Don't go near it- we have to scare it off or risk the worst."
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Oct 21, 2006 16:50:38 GMT
"A kitten?"
Ami blinked as Butterball began yapping at it. The weirdness never ends.
"A kitten?"
She turned to Sunset. "A KITTEN?! WTF?" I demand an explanation for this weirdness!
Rude shook his head slowly. "No, a karoid."
Ami turned to him. "What's a karoid?"
Rude pointed his rifle at it. "This one... is Chinese stir-fry in a few seconds."
Lana gasped. "Don't shoot it! It's just a little kitty."
Rude rolled his eyes. "Kid, this is no kitty you'd want for a pet. Unless you like being ripped limb from limb."
Ami scoffed. "By THAT little thing?"
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Post by Gdosimirj Sunset on Oct 21, 2006 16:59:25 GMT
"No, not by that little thing. By the three tons of teeth, claws and muscle that are watching us as I speak. We're being hunted, and that kitten is the bait." She kept scanning the forest for the telltale glowing eyes. "Lana's right. Don't shoot it. If you do, the mother will attack, right now."
She spotted the huge cat in the tree canopy above them. "Everyone, just back away slowly. Karoids figured out that humans like kittens, so they use them for bait. This is how it goes. The human picks up the kitten, the kitten stratches and bites you and gets away. Now, not only are you bleeding- blood is how they track their prey- the kitten brings blood back to its mother for future reference. The mother stalks you until you are alone, and then it strikes. They use strategy."
She shook her head. "We're lucky today. This one's hunting alone, and it won't attack us unless we harm the kitten. Hopefully nobody's bleeding. Now we wait until the kitten leaves."
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Oct 21, 2006 17:07:11 GMT
Axel, having watched the others do it, was trying to trace their steps as he went through the spiky passage...
He almost made it unscathed. He sprang the very last trigger in the pass, and leapt away before getting skewered... but not in time to keep from sustaining a small scratch on his leg. He cursed and tried to ignore it, grabbing some of the spikes to replace his broken staffs before they could retract. Those people are SO s***wed when I catch up to them...
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