Spider came charging outside and, remembering the mist from last night, stopped talking for long enough to get through the only other door he could see. It felt wrong, this ... being cautious.
Finding an empty hallway was one thing, but the field being completely deserted was a whole different shade of creepy. Sora didn't scare easily, and he was sure that he could handle himself if a monster showed up, but being completely alone was unnerving. Usually he had at least two friends at his side.
That hadn't been the case for a while now, though. He could deal with waiting around in the dark, cold field on his own! No problem.
He stayed near the wall, though -- it wouldn't be the smartest idea to go wandering out into the middle of the area and begging to be attacked. He was sure Allen would be here soon, since the other boy hadn't made him wait long last time. Sora clutched at his extension cord with one hand and scanned the area in front of him with his flashlight, keeping an eye out for any shadows in the darkness.
It looked like things were still alright and Sora was waiting for him as soon as he walked outside. He gave the other boy a half-hearted smile and jogged over the last few steps.
"Same as last night, right? Hopefully we'll have time to get there tonight," he suggested. They'd made it pretty far, but there'd been delays getting the wire. Tonight was just for reaching the quarry.
The only thing of interest that had happened while Sora had waited was one other patient passing him by. He was relieved that he hadn't gotten ambushed in the time that it took Allen to get here, and that relief showed in the smile he shot the other boy.
"I'm sure we'll make it this time! Especially since we got out here so quick." Both of them were also used to getting over the wall, so it was going to be a cinch! Well, they might run into problems when they were trying to get down into the quarry, but they would worry about that when the time came.
Without any delay, Sora moved away from the wall and started to cross the field, doing his best to ignore the cold. "I don't think we should use the cords to get over this time, though," he warned. "We don't want to wear them down." If they snapped at the crucial moment, it would be a big problem.
The sound of a canine howl suddenly pierced the night, the call hanging still and lonely in the still air. After a moment it was answered by another, this sound coming from the other side of the field. Two dogs, separated from the rest of their pack and driven closer to the building by hunger, had spotted the pair currently making their way across the field.
One moved into view from the east, one from the west, claws digging into the grassy turf as they loped at a ground-eating pace to meet in the center and from their pursue their prey. At their current pace the boys wouldn't be too hard to catch, but should they begin to hurry, well - the dogs could run fast as well, if the need arose.
It wasn't until they'd begun trying to cross the large, empty field that Allen caught sight of the sudden movement, two of those rotting animals running after them, much faster than they could run, he was sure.
His first instinct was to fight, but how much of his strength could he use? These were minor enemies compared to others, but what if they ran into something else later? It only took Allen a moment to decide that they'd simply try something else later if they had to. They couldn't very well leave a mess like this for other patients to run into.
"Two of them, two of us?" he suggested, counting down the seconds before the dogs would be upon them. He felt pretty confident he could take out a single dog, but he'd no idea how Sora fought or if he could at all. Allen's eyes flicked back to the dogs and he tore the bandages away from his left arm. It wasn't meant to destroy anything but Akuma, but it could if he had to.
It was the howling that alerted Sora first, but the sound of rushing footfalls made it even more certain that they had some monsters on their trail. As Allen turned, Sora mimicked him, eyes narrowing as he tried to pinpoint where exactly the monsters were. He used his flashlight, hoping that he could at least impair the dogs' vision before they reached them
( ... )
It was wise of the pair not to try to run, in that they'd not be about to outrace the pair of dogs intent on the hunt. But still, to stand and fight - well, the dogs had nothing driving them but intense hunger, so all they saw was a meal ready and waiting, and they were all too pleased to oblige.
Each took aim toward one of the boys by unspoken accord. The one racing toward Sora yelped at the sudden flash of light in its eyes and slowed momentarily; its fellow veered a little out of its path to avoid the beam, but continued onward, jaws gaping wide as it pushed into a lunge at Allen.
As soon as Sora agreed, Allen activated his Innocence, the dogs nearly upon them. In a flash of light the deformed left arm became a huge, faintly glowing claw, at least as tall as Allen was and then some. He wasted no time in defending himself as the dog lunged at him, he didn't know how long he could hold the invocation. Luckily, it'd been several days since he'd used it and he was in pretty good shape.
The claw held the beast back, long fingers curling around the dog's diseased yet somehow living body. As his fingers sunk into flesh, there was a sound of skin and old meat sizzling. The Innocence did more than defend, its touch could burn away skin and bone in an instant. His hand closed and he attempted to crush the thing's spine, hoping to put it out of its misery without making it suffer too much.
As it turned out, his flashlight had done some good, as the dog (if it could even be called that anymore) cut down on its speed a little. Granted, Sora still needed it to attack him before the Keyblade would activate, but he'd rather deal with a slow approach. He remained focused on the dog, wanting to be ready to dodge out of the way once it got close enough, but then he was completely distracted by a sudden light coming from Allen's direction
( ... )
Needless to say, the dog attacking Allen received a rather unpleasant surprise - instead of sinking its teeth into living flesh, it found itself attacked, with sharp-tipped fingers digging into what remained of its own rotted skin. Bones snapped under the pressure exerted by the claw, punctuating the hiss as the creature's fur and sinew burned away, but still it struggled; even if the back legs hung limp the fore still twitched, the dog's jaw still snapping, trying to somehow find purchase on the limb that held it.
As for its companion, slowed though it was by the sudden flash of light, once Sora became distracted the dog made up for lost time and redoubled its pace. The scent of warm blood drove it on, that purpose being the reason the corpselike beast remained animated. Flecks of saliva and foam dripped from its gaping jaws as it pushed from the ground, lunging for the boy's throat.
As soon as he felt the bones start to break, he hoped that would be the end of the struggle. It's just like an Akuma. It's just like an Akuma, his mind repeated, though it was hard to think of it like that. It wasn't that he enjoyed hurting any living thing, but here, it seemed, it was often necessary for their own survival.
Allen dug in his heels and lifted the dog, finding it harder than it ought to be to do so. Usually fallen pieces of buildings or pillars were all fairly easy for the Innocence to handle. With a grunt he threw the creature back toward the institute. If the throw wasn't enough to kill it, hopefully it was enough to leave it stunned.
Focused as he was, it left little time for him to worry over his companion. Sora said he'd fought before, right? He'd seemed confident. But as Allen turned to check on the other, he didn't even have time to shout a warning as the second dog leaped.
The panting breaths and padding of four paws pulled Sora's attention back to his own target, but it was already too late. No matter what he did, it was going to reach him, and so the only thing he could do was shield himself. He swiveled the left side of his body toward the dog, turning his arm up slightly. A bite in the arm was much better than one in the neck, after all.
In a split second, he felt the pain of fangs slicing into his skin and cried out. The weight of the dog was there as well, and chances were that it was going to cling onto him and keep biting if he didn't do something. Sora flung his arm around wildly, hoping he could shake it off.
He had already made a stupid move, but Allen should have warned him about the fact that his arm could morph into a huge weapon like that! But he wasn't going to blame the other boy for it, and he would deal with his new wound without complaint. It was bound to happen, after all, and he could already feel the warmth of the Keyblade starting to form in his right hand.
The thrown dog let out a final pained yelp as it struck the ground, for a moment lifting its head in a vain struggle to continue the quest to feed, but at this point its injuries were far too great to continue and it dropped again to lie still. Whether it had finally died in truth or was still clinging to a tiny scrap of life was uncertain, but it no longer moved. It was no longer a threat, whether to the two boys or others emerging onto the field.
The second dog found its lunge abruptly halted before its fangs could reach its target's neck - the arm its jaws instead clamped down on was a poor substitute, lacking in enough substance and warm, rich blood to keep it satisfied. The dog's teeth ripped free of flesh as it was shaken, and it landed a little awkwardly on the ground again. It paused for only an instant, though, before righting itself and whirling to attack again, this time aiming toward the boy's leg. If it couldn't reach the neck, instinct told it to bring the prey down to its level instead.
At least Sora had managed to fend off the first attack, but now the dog was on him and it would be really difficult to try to separate them with his Innocence without hurting Sora too. Allen de-activated the claw and in the blink of an eye it was back to the way it was. Maybe he could still pull the thing off and help, or-
But it looked like Sora knew what he was doing after all. There was something forming in his right hand. Was it like Innocence? Something else entirely? Was it better to stay out of the way? Allen hesitated, but if he didn't fend it off in the next few moments, maybe he could try to separate them.
For now, the only thing Sora could focus on was the dog attacking him. He was pretty sure Allen could take care of himself, though, with a weapon-arm-thing like that. While he heard the cries of hungry birds coming from other parts of the field, he couldn't worry about that either. He didn't like the idea that other people were also being attacked, but he knew that was just the norm in this place
( ... )
Once more the dog's sharp fangs drew blood, and yet once more it was interrupted before it could get more than just a tantalizing taste. Even as its jaws closed on the boy's leg it felt a sharp blow on its unprotected back, hard enough to make its legs buckle as it let out a sharp yelp of pain.
When it rose to its feet again it only did so with three of them, one foreleg hanging limp and apparently useless, and it awkwardly scrambled back a couple of steps to eye the pair. Hunger pressed at it, told it to attack once more - but at the same time its packmate had already been killed and it injured.
It paused in the wary half-crouch for an instant, blood-tinged saliva dripping from snarling jaws, before the temptation became too much and it lunged forward again toward Sora. Slowed by the injury it might be, still it strove for more than just a taste of the boy's flesh.
Finding an empty hallway was one thing, but the field being completely deserted was a whole different shade of creepy. Sora didn't scare easily, and he was sure that he could handle himself if a monster showed up, but being completely alone was unnerving. Usually he had at least two friends at his side.
That hadn't been the case for a while now, though. He could deal with waiting around in the dark, cold field on his own! No problem.
He stayed near the wall, though -- it wouldn't be the smartest idea to go wandering out into the middle of the area and begging to be attacked. He was sure Allen would be here soon, since the other boy hadn't made him wait long last time. Sora clutched at his extension cord with one hand and scanned the area in front of him with his flashlight, keeping an eye out for any shadows in the darkness.
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It looked like things were still alright and Sora was waiting for him as soon as he walked outside. He gave the other boy a half-hearted smile and jogged over the last few steps.
"Same as last night, right? Hopefully we'll have time to get there tonight," he suggested. They'd made it pretty far, but there'd been delays getting the wire. Tonight was just for reaching the quarry.
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"I'm sure we'll make it this time! Especially since we got out here so quick." Both of them were also used to getting over the wall, so it was going to be a cinch! Well, they might run into problems when they were trying to get down into the quarry, but they would worry about that when the time came.
Without any delay, Sora moved away from the wall and started to cross the field, doing his best to ignore the cold. "I don't think we should use the cords to get over this time, though," he warned. "We don't want to wear them down." If they snapped at the crucial moment, it would be a big problem.
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One moved into view from the east, one from the west, claws digging into the grassy turf as they loped at a ground-eating pace to meet in the center and from their pursue their prey. At their current pace the boys wouldn't be too hard to catch, but should they begin to hurry, well - the dogs could run fast as well, if the need arose.
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His first instinct was to fight, but how much of his strength could he use? These were minor enemies compared to others, but what if they ran into something else later? It only took Allen a moment to decide that they'd simply try something else later if they had to. They couldn't very well leave a mess like this for other patients to run into.
"Two of them, two of us?" he suggested, counting down the seconds before the dogs would be upon them. He felt pretty confident he could take out a single dog, but he'd no idea how Sora fought or if he could at all. Allen's eyes flicked back to the dogs and he tore the bandages away from his left arm. It wasn't meant to destroy anything but Akuma, but it could if he had to.
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Each took aim toward one of the boys by unspoken accord. The one racing toward Sora yelped at the sudden flash of light in its eyes and slowed momentarily; its fellow veered a little out of its path to avoid the beam, but continued onward, jaws gaping wide as it pushed into a lunge at Allen.
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The claw held the beast back, long fingers curling around the dog's diseased yet somehow living body. As his fingers sunk into flesh, there was a sound of skin and old meat sizzling. The Innocence did more than defend, its touch could burn away skin and bone in an instant. His hand closed and he attempted to crush the thing's spine, hoping to put it out of its misery without making it suffer too much.
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As for its companion, slowed though it was by the sudden flash of light, once Sora became distracted the dog made up for lost time and redoubled its pace. The scent of warm blood drove it on, that purpose being the reason the corpselike beast remained animated. Flecks of saliva and foam dripped from its gaping jaws as it pushed from the ground, lunging for the boy's throat.
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Allen dug in his heels and lifted the dog, finding it harder than it ought to be to do so. Usually fallen pieces of buildings or pillars were all fairly easy for the Innocence to handle. With a grunt he threw the creature back toward the institute. If the throw wasn't enough to kill it, hopefully it was enough to leave it stunned.
Focused as he was, it left little time for him to worry over his companion. Sora said he'd fought before, right? He'd seemed confident. But as Allen turned to check on the other, he didn't even have time to shout a warning as the second dog leaped.
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In a split second, he felt the pain of fangs slicing into his skin and cried out. The weight of the dog was there as well, and chances were that it was going to cling onto him and keep biting if he didn't do something. Sora flung his arm around wildly, hoping he could shake it off.
He had already made a stupid move, but Allen should have warned him about the fact that his arm could morph into a huge weapon like that! But he wasn't going to blame the other boy for it, and he would deal with his new wound without complaint. It was bound to happen, after all, and he could already feel the warmth of the Keyblade starting to form in his right hand.
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The second dog found its lunge abruptly halted before its fangs could reach its target's neck - the arm its jaws instead clamped down on was a poor substitute, lacking in enough substance and warm, rich blood to keep it satisfied. The dog's teeth ripped free of flesh as it was shaken, and it landed a little awkwardly on the ground again. It paused for only an instant, though, before righting itself and whirling to attack again, this time aiming toward the boy's leg. If it couldn't reach the neck, instinct told it to bring the prey down to its level instead.
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But it looked like Sora knew what he was doing after all. There was something forming in his right hand. Was it like Innocence? Something else entirely? Was it better to stay out of the way? Allen hesitated, but if he didn't fend it off in the next few moments, maybe he could try to separate them.
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When it rose to its feet again it only did so with three of them, one foreleg hanging limp and apparently useless, and it awkwardly scrambled back a couple of steps to eye the pair. Hunger pressed at it, told it to attack once more - but at the same time its packmate had already been killed and it injured.
It paused in the wary half-crouch for an instant, blood-tinged saliva dripping from snarling jaws, before the temptation became too much and it lunged forward again toward Sora. Slowed by the injury it might be, still it strove for more than just a taste of the boy's flesh.
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