NIGHTSHIFT 27: SUN ROOM

[uruz_vii]

[ From here.]

Sousuke rushed into the room, immediately turning around in a circle, his pole at the ready. It didn't look like anything was in there, but Sousuke still felt uneasy. His soldier's sense was prickling. But maybe it was just his imagination

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[sasuke_of_sound]

[[from here]]

Sasuke's hand remained on the wall as he slipped subtly into the room, listening as hard as he could to separate the sound of his own and Kakashi's movements from the noise in the hall and the mess in the Sun Room itself.

Amongst the sound of feet (heading out, mostly) was a distinctive thumping step, ominously heavy. Most humans didn't step with that much weight, even if they weren't specifically trained to move silently. And so -- that was probably the opponent at hand.

Lee's distinctive voice didn't speak up again, and Sasuke frowned, brow furrowed with the effort of focusing his hearing. It didn't seem like anyone was in a position to comment on their entry into the room, but he was considering trying Sharingan. Everything had some sort of energy he could see, whether they called it chakra or not (he'd noticed that in the cafeteria) -- but he still preferred to conserve the extremely limited ability for an emergency.

He stopped several metres away from the door, waiting for Kakashi to catch up and trying as hard as he could to establish the exact situation in the room.

[raptscarecrow]

Kakashi stayed close at Sasuke's back, keeping sound to a minimum. There were more people than he had thought, primarily because most weren't actually engaged in battle, but the bulk of his attention went to the man -- no, it was man-shaped, but the sense it gave off wasn't human -- that was trudging after a fleeing group. He was huge, some seven feet, with a sword to match. On his head --

There's talk on the bulletin board of one with a large metal helmet that sounds dangerous.

Found him. Unless Landel's lacked variety.

Not wanting to obstruct Sasuke's hearing, Kakashi spoke to him quickly, although he might have already figured out who the enemy was from that thundering gait alone. "It looks human. It has a metal helmet shaped like a pyramid -- " And there was Lee, already in the action of going straight for it.

[sasuke_of_sound]

[[Repost for new deveopment, sorry!]]

Despite himself, Sasuke felt a slight thrill of excitement. He'd seen enough talk of this monster that it interested him, even if he was fully aware that he was at a disadvantage.

Perhaps not so much, though -- from the sounds of it, the thing wasn't moving at a rapid pace, and it was certainly heavy . And if Kakashi had noted that it was humanoid, then there would doubtless be some point of weakness. He was about to ask Kakashi to locate Lee when he grew aware of an odd whistling noise, as if something was falling --

With a startled sound, Sasuke realised that it was coming from above and sidestepped hastily, but not quite enough to avoid something large and unwieldy that fell partially on him, knocking him hard into the wall and catching briefly on the sword before sliding to the ground.

He swore, moving away immediately with sword raised defensively. It hadn't even felt alive, but it had also felt very much like some sort of animal -- something that could well be another monster, at least. He could only hope that Kakashi knew what to do on his side.

[thebloodyacacia]

((From two threads up. o the fun we will have))

He turned to face the new arrivals, hauling his sword around to once again drag behind him.

thump

thump

thump

[youthfulrocklee]

Shit! thought Lee. The thing seemed to have been affected him as if he were nothing more than an irritating fly! Was he truly that little of a threat to everything?

On the other hand, did that ever stop him from fighting?

Moving quickly, he joined Kakashi and Sasuke. "The others who were here fled, stating that this creature is very strong."

[raptscarecrow]

Kakashi noticed the sound at about the same time Sasuke did -- admittedly, perhaps an instant later -- and moved swiftly out of the way as it collided partially with Sasuke. Tensing for a return attack, Kakashi stopped when he saw that the body had hit the ground in a way that suggested it wasn't getting up again.

"Wait." Throwing a last glance at the monster -- it had been hit, but neither it nor Lee seemed affected -- he crouched beside the fallen figure to turn it over, and it took no time to confirm it: "He's dead," he announced, and looked skyward as if for an answer as to where it had come from other than simply up -- which he didn't receive. It wasn't in Kakashi's personality or nature to respond verbally to surprise, but there was nonetheless a distinct sense of what the fuck at it all. "Blonde," he went on to Sasuke, still speaking quick, "looks about your age."

Kakashi stood back up as Lee arrived, shifting at the sight of the approaching creature. "It's headed our way."

[sasuke_of_sound]

There was a metallic screeching (metal weapon?) accompanying the thudding steps, now, giving Kakashi's announcement an eerie ambiance. Blond and his age -- Sasuke's first reaction was quashed before the first syllable had even formed in his mind. Kakashi would have had at least a modicum more of a reaction if that were the case.

And it didn't matter anyway. There were other useful allies. (Wasn't Aidou blond, now that he thought about it?) Even if other allies didn't --

Lee's arrival distracted Sasuke from following that train of thought any further, and he turned towards the approaching monster with what was almost relief. Fighting was easier than thinking, always.

"If it's humanoid, it probably has weak points," he said, measuring the disturbingly even pace of the thing. "And it's slow. We can distract it and attack. How is it armed?"

In the speed of planning, even the inevitable blow to his pride at having to ask was swept away. Sasuke switched the angle of the sword in his hand, changing targets from the -- corpse, apparently -- by his feet.

[thebloodyacacia]

He didn't stop or slow, moving directly at the three gathered near the entrance to the room.

thump

thump

thump

But when he was some feet away, he did stop, helmet tilting forward just the slightest as if to give him a better view of the new victims who had so foolishly wandered into his domain. The muscles of his right arm tensed, and suddenly jerked --

The sword came swinging out from behind Pyramid Head, sweeping in a deadly arc at the bodies of the men.

[youthfulrocklee]

Lee somewhat realized, as his mind said another colorful curse, that he sure was using some less-than-proper-language.

First, his foot rather hurt from the fact that his attack was less than successful.

Two, there was a freaking huge sword heading their way.

The part that had heard Sasuke's question had collided with the part that saw the sword, and he yelled, "Sword!"

His body moved to avoid said sword, and his arms moved to push the other two away from the sword only if they did not move on their own. Lee hoped that they did since they were both considered fast. He had a distinct impression that the two would be very unhappy if they smacked into the ground due to a slightly panicking Lee. If they did move, though, he would just hit air...oh how he hoped he just hit air...

[raptscarecrow]

Kakashi's immediate concern, even as his muscles worked to move him, was Sasuke -- that thing was faster than expected -- but in the same instant Kakashi disregarded it. The thing was fast, yes, but that previous bout of sparring had partly been just for this situation -- Sasuke could handle it.

"Left!" he barked after Lee's cry, and was already shoving himself off to the right in a sideways leap to clear himself of the arc and remain standing, unable to retreat with the wall at his back, and keep that monster directly in front of him.

[sasuke_of_sound]

The thudding came to a stop earlier than Sasuke had expected, which was the first warning. Then a quick screech of metal, as if something had been wrenched from the ground. Lee's answer to his question had Sasuke tensed to move -- the slight screech had come from the left, so he shoved right as well.

Sasuke's instincts screamed counterattack, but it was obviously a heavy creature, and it was hard to judge the reach of the thing. Gritting his teeth in frustration, he focused on keeping a hand on the wall and moving as far right as possible.

[transgenix]

[ Slipping in from here.] (If there's a problem, let me know and I'll delete it.)

Knowing Nadie was right behind her, Max slipped into the Sunroom, trying to prepare herself for whatever they might encounter. Max had seen some pretty strange people in her life, but the one dominating the room was certainly unique. She wondered if there was an actual head under that massive helmet? Lack of light bothered her little as her eyes still worked perfectly in the dark, although in here, things were dimmer than most rooms, even with nightvision. Still, it was enough to make out the room's occupants and what was going on.

Still, there were three males scattering before the sword that the attacker swung at them, and Max had to take a moment to marvel at the fact that the man (she thought it was a man?) could swing the giant weapon around as if it weighed nothing.

A moment was all she gave herself, though, as she sprung into action, calling back a warning to Nadie even as she crouched beneath the ending swing of the sword, knowing that most people couldn't take on a fighter of this size and obvious strength.

"Stay back!" she called to the girl behind her, even as she crouched long enough to gather her strength for a lightning-fast leap and a powerful kick aimed at the thing's head (helmet? whatever the hell it was!). The blow would have leave most opponents unconscious and with a very dented head, but Max knew nothing in this place went down as easy as it did back home.

[thebloodyacacia]

The blade swept out -- but the opponents were fast, and the blade was heavy. They dodged away and so the sword made no contact, rent no flesh and drew no blood. It slammed back into the floor sharp-edge first, gouging a long line into it.

Then the girl arrived. She darted forward, a foot slamming into the massive metal helmet on his head. Pyramid Head's entire body rocked backwards with the blow ...

But he didn't fall. Nor was there any mark on his helmet that she had ever touched it.

Still, as if stunned, he was still for the moment.

Only for the moment.

He gripped his sword ever tighter and lurched forward again, helmet swaying to the side to fix on the one who had done him such sudden damage. Whether he was looking for vengeance or simply felt she was more worth his time was unclear; regardless, he was no longer going after the men.

thuMP

thuMP

thuMP

[youthfulrocklee]

Lee believed in heroes. He felt that there were people out there that would go after evil beings in order to save others. Whoever the girl was, she was very brave, and he would consider her the type to be a hero.

He did not feel that he was a hero. He merely thought of himself as trying his best to protect people. For him, rushing into things was a reflex. So when he tried to leap at the girl to tackle her out of the way of that creature, it was merely a reflex. There were several things that were a problem, however. One was the fact that he had already tried to dodge the sword, and was already on the ground, which meant he had to move even more to get up and try to get the girl out of the way. Another problem was the giant sword. It was big, and the creature could move it fast. He was not sure if he get to her in time. But he was bloody well going to try!

Still, this was not going to stop him from at least trying, and if he couldn't get to her, then he would try to attack the creature to get it out of the way. At least now he knew that it was a good idea to aim for the head. He hoped that Kakashi and Sasuke would do something.

[raptscarecrow]

They had all cleared the blow, that woman was fast, and Lee was already going to her -- Kakashi's attention moved back to the monster. He had figured before then that the helmet wasn't the best place to attack; Lee's strike to its legs hadn't worked, either, and its reflexes were quick, meaning a frontal charge with such limited knowledge wasn't favorable in addition to the way its helmet was shaped.

When the thing changed course, Kakashi acted swiftly. Moving behind it, he followed, and put a burst of speed into his step as he leapt at its back, driving his right elbow forward, no holds barred on the strength exerted, and aiming for what normally would have been a pressure point in its mid-back. Even if it was unsuccessful, it would still tell him a little more about the creature's weak points -- or lack thereof.

[beautyforhire]

When Nadie entered, she saw that it was already busy fighting against several others. The creature was unlike anything she had ever seen. Geez, Max sure wasn’t kidding when she said that monsters would wander around at night! It was also thanks to her roommate’s warning that she was able to avoid being hit by its humongous weapon.

She then noticed that whatever this thing was, it was blocking the way to the kitchen. Just her luck…

At least it was outnumbered, though she wasn’t so sure if that was a good thing, considering it was still standing. In any case, Nadie would join the fight, though not immediately.

Though she wasn’t too shabby at martial arts, trying to punch and kick that thing to death wouldn’t have been too smart. Instead, she moved to the side, and waited for her chance to strike.

Armed with only a chair leg, the bounty hunter would have to pick her moment carefully…