Nightshift 25: Discplinary Therapy Room Hallways

[stray_shinigami]

[from hereRenji stopped himself from simply stumbling into the hallway by grabbing the door frame. There were nine people behind him, poised for attack and rescue. But it would be stupid to run in blindly

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[scintillatingly]

The trip to the halls where the experimentation happened wasn't nearly as long as Sora had been expecting it to be. He made certain to commit that path to memory, as it was one he might have to travel many times in the future. He hoped not, but even the bearer of light had to be realistic about certain things.

As they reached the proper hallway, the boy prepared for a fight. There was no way such "important" rooms wouldn't be guarded, but they had at least come with reinforcements.

Still, the monsters that were there to apprehend them were of a sort he hadn't seen around thus far. They were similar in structure to the thing with the huge triangle on its head, which meant that they might have quite the fight ahead of them.

When he heard Renji's order to run if a certain amount of people fell, Sora mentally shook his head. No, he wouldn't run this time. He had to save Kairi, no matter what.

Though when Renji seemed to be waiting for him, Sora bit his lip. "The Keyblade usually only comes out when I really need it. I have to wait for them to attack!" Dangerous, yes, but there was nothing else he could do. The creatures were on their way over, so he steeled himself and waited, staring forward unflinchingly.

[damned_monsters]

The creatures each seemed to narrow in on a target. Shambling in stilted steps, they advanced. One drew up before the first group, bladed fingers raised high, mouth open in a silent scream. How could the thing sense them - blind, without ears, how did it sense their presence? And how did it pick Renji as their leader? For it was Renji that those bladed claws swiped down at, glowing with the same eerie dull gold as the rest of the creature's body.

The claws fell in a slow but precise arc.

[stray_shinigami]

As the creature moved forward toward him, Renji shifted on his feet, ready to dodge. Mentally he cursed himself for only being armed with a knife; the range was about comparable to that of the creatures. It was better than nothing, but a longer weapon would have been a welcome advantage.

He was ready when it swiped at him. Thanks to the fight with the necrits earlier, all traces of the painkillers from earlier had been burned from his system. Even the pain from the relatively minor wounds they had caused him left him sharp and ready.

He dodged downward and to the side to avoid those swiping claws, coming up to thrust his knife at the creature's momentarily unprotected side; on a human, it would have been the soft section between the floating ribs and hip. Not an ideal blow, but a good opener; it was hard to fight with one's bowels punctured, after all.

[byname_bynature]

Artemis nearly shrieked when the claws came forward to slice Renji to ribbons. But somehow, he held his ground behind the man. For once in his life, he was going to do as he was told.

This is no game, he told himself, I could end up maimed or dead if I do something moronic. Artemis turned to Sora, his eyes clearly full of sheer terror.

"Any chance of that Keyblade-thing making an appearance soon?" He asked, his voice shaking, "We could really use it, I believe."

[scintillatingly]

Sora's breath caught in his throat when the monster went straight for Renji. He wanted to do something--jump in the way, or push Renji out of range of the creature's attack--but he knew better than to act recklessly just because he felt vulnerable without his weapon.

In the end, Renji did a fine job of dodging. Still, there was no way he could continue watching like this. He was supposed to help, and as Artemis pointed out, he needed the Keyblade for that.

He nodded to the other boy, and then threw all caution to the wind by charging straight for their foe. He needed to get himself into some serious danger, and then he would be able to actually contribute!

[damned_monsters]

Renji's blade struck the side of the beast. It bounced off with a sound that was almost metallic, reverberating with the force of the blow. It seemed to have had no effect on the creature. But Renji was no longer its target. Sensing Sora's approach, the creature turned with a jerk and swung at the boy. It brought its arm around in a clumsy arc, claws extended to catch the boy on the shoulder.

[stray_shinigami]

Renji grimaced. Of course it couldn't be that easy. Nothing was, in this place. He ran through a quick mental catalog of cheap shots. Without obvious sensory organs to go for, the next best place to try was the armpit, which he couldn't get to right now. Which left kidneys, or going for the back of the legs.

All of this crossed his mind in a split second. He swallowed down the urge to leap to defend Sora; if this was the only way for Sora's weapon to appear, it had to happen. And he trusted Sora, believed in him, and he hadn't been wrong yet.

...at least about that sort of thing.

Renji took his opportunity to dive into a roll and come up behind the creature.

[byname_bynature]

Artemis saw the claws coming at Sora, but for some reason his legs refused to move. He was still rooted to the spot, staring at the beast dumbly. All around him, there was activity. People swinging various weapons at the beasts without speaking. It was too eerie.

And the intercom sounded. The boy's head snapped up suddenly, his eyes wide.

"I have countries begging for the fruits of my research; it is only through my own pitying patriotism that I stick with this sad bunch of short-sighted military men!"

"Research...!" He breathed. And then Renji rolled to the back of the monster, and Artemis was left quite unshielded.

[scintillatingly]

The intercom's message was the last of Sora's concerns at the moment. The good news was that his plan seemed to have worked. The bad news was that that meant he was in imminent danger.

Still, he was more than prepared for the clawed hand coming for him, and leaned back at the waist in order to avoid it. Normally, he would have been able to arch his body forward again and then attack, but he couldn't move as agilely in Landel's.

Which meant that he ended up losing his balance and falling back onto the floor. However, he felt a stirring in his heart and before long, he had his Keyblade. Now he was just at a serious disadvantage, so he did his best to scramble to his feet again.

[damned_monsters]

Renji was ignored. Artemis was ignored. The creature's sole focus was Sora, Sora who had been knocked backwards. The glowing gold creature bent, one shoulder jerking down and then the other following as though controlled by some mechanism. Again it swiped at Sora, either uncaring or unaware that the boy was now armed.

And Renji goes for the rugby tackle! <3

[stray_shinigami]

"Move it, Sora!" Renji shouted, then clamped the knife between his teeth and dropped to a three point crouch. The monster was bending down. Which meant, he hoped, that it was off balance. Rather than wasting a lot of time randomly poking it in the back with his knife, he thought it'd be better if he could simply help it overbalance and fall. Maybe they could keep it from getting back up. Maybe it'd reveal and obvious weak point, maybe it would give them a chance to search for one. Maybe...

Knife clenched between his teeth, he launched himself at the knees, throwing his shoulder against them and all of his weight behind it.

[byname_bynature]

Artemis drew his hands up to his face as the monster turned its sights on Sora. Wait... it wasn't going to attack him? Why? Sora and Renji were both armed, he would have been an easy target. He pondered this, taking it in for a few milliseconds, then came back to the battle.

He wasn't doing any good standing in front of the thing, that was certain. And the way Renji was crouching now, it was impossible for the boy to tell where his supposed shield would be next. So for the time being, he stood there, scalpel in hand, flashlight in the other. Should he try stabbing it? Should he do anything at all, really?

Wait for the moment... you'll need every scrap of wit you can muster, that's certain.

And so he waited, and continued to stare dumbly into the face of the beast.

[scintillatingly]

Sora wasn't one to hesitate in the middle of battle. Renji's order combined with the monster coming for him was enough motivation to get him moving. He scrabbled backward on the floor, his weapon held clumsily in his right hand.

Then Renji went for a tackle, and it seemed exactly like the sort of foolhardy thing he would do. (Hadn't he just charged the monster unarmed, after all?) Still, the distraction was a welcome one, and it gave him enough time to get standing again.

He glanced over his shoulder at Artemis, who looked a bit out of place, flashed him a grin, and then turned back to the fight at hand. He needed to find an opening so that he could join in the assault...

[damned_monsters]

The tackle from Renji caught the creature completely off guard. It went down with its mouth twisted in a soundless scream, flinging out its arms in an attempt to slash anything within range. It rolled and bucked under Renji, attempting to throw off the attacker. There seemed an almost desperate rage in the thing now, now that it had been knocked onto its front.

[stray_shinigami]

Renji hadn't expected it to work that well, but he didn't pause to thank his good luck. He was on the downed creature's back, scrambling up to plant his knee firmly between its shoulder blades and bear down with all his weight. The other leg was over the side, foot firm on the ground as the creature twisted beneath him. It would - hopefully - be enough to help him keep his balance, stay on the thing's back, and thus keep it on the ground.

He yanked the knife from between his teeth and took an experimental cut at the back of its neck. "While it's down!" Renji yelled. "Gotta find a weak point!"

The radios turned on in the confusion; he caught little of what the man said, but he did hear the demand that they listen, and the comparison to children - the doubt. For someone that claimed to be helping them all, the man had a funny way of doing it. Emotions riding high in the battle, his first urge was obeyed. He yanked the radio out of his waistband and smashed it on the creature's head.

[byname_bynature]

Artemis was startled when the thing fell forward--so startled that he took a step backwards. He still had his scalpel in had, but was still unsure of how he could help.

The only obvious weapons this monster has are its claws. If those are disabled, defeating it should be child's play. Artemis was hesitant to act though, as the monster was flailing wildly. Right at the moment Renji brought his radio down on the monster's head, Artemis aimed a wild swing of his flashlight at the monster's right claw--putting as much strength into it as possible. The boy was hoping to injure the thing's arm or hand or whatever it was.

At least he was trying to help now.