Nightshift 43: Main Hallway 2-West
[from here]It was quiet so far up here. Sam couldn't see anyone around unlike how it'd been downstairs. Which actually put him in more of his comfort zone, really. Wasn't often they did a hunt while other people were strolling through the halls of what basically amounted to an abandoned building and he could never shake the feeling he needed to
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Special Counseling, they called it? It was difficult to imagine that brainwashing could lead to something so incredibly bizarre.
Curious, the Eldarian made his way over to a wall and felt it with his hand. It was warm and soft, and his hand sunk into it when he pressed with it. Pulling it back, he moved back to rejoin the group. "It appears to be no mere illusion," he reported, though he was sure everyone suspected as much. It was a relief to know he wasn't suffering from hallucinations, at least, but the fact remained that they seemed to be standing inside of some sort of massive organism.
"Avoiding a confrontation may be difficult here," he observed. Running without fighting would be ideal, but the passage was quite narrow. It would be all too easy for the one responsible for the hallway's transformation to block their way and force them to fight or retreat.
Whatever course of action was decided by the leader, Faize would follow. There seemed to be no easy way about the situation.
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Pink, gooey stuff? It sprung under his feet, it was everywhere, and he was pretty sure that it was alive. He wasn't even certain why he felt that way, but he remembered what it had been like to be stuck in Monstro, and this felt similar. (It was a whole lot grosser, though.)
He heard Kratos suggest that it was Special Counseling, but even that was hard to believe. Someone had the power to turn a hallway into this? Sora peered around, looking for some indication of what had happened, or even a way out, but that was when he heard a fight going on a little ahead of them. Maybe a brainwashed patient really had done this, then.
They had definitely picked the wrong place to go tonight! Sora stayed on the defensive, following after Hitsugaya and watching as Faize went to go poke around. He had to agree that it didn't seem like finding the exit (if there even was one -- was the whole second floor like this?) would be easy, but they had no other choice but to keep moving forward.
"Well, let's just keep going!" he voiced out loud. "If we have to fight, we have to fight!" He trailed after Hitsugaya, becoming more and more curious as they got closer to the sounds of some kind of scuffle. Did another patient need their help?
It was around that point that the intercom went off, its sound somehow getting to them even while they were stuck in... whatever they were in. It was more of that computer stuff, except this time it was just saying a bunch of numbers. Or... just ones and zeroes.
Man, tonight was weird!
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So it should come as no surprise that the white-haired man walked towards them, head slightly downward, with no attempt to remain unseen. Only when he was closer to the new group of unruly patients did he finally raise his head and regard them.
He raised an eyebrow curiously, waiting for them to make the first move.
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He tensed as the sounds of fighting he had heard before faded, leaving the hallway quiet. It would be only a matter of time before whoever it was turned his or her attention on them, and sure enough a man soon walked directly into their line of vision. Kratos knew he was the one almost immediately; the clothing made it far too obvious.
He sized up their soon-to-be opponent. The man was tall - perhaps a few inches above Kratos himself - and appeared to be on the older side, although age was never a good indicator of fighting ability. Most of all, however, Kratos was disturbed by the fact that the man hadn't attempted to attack them at first sight, rather, he was almost waiting for them to come at him. That meant he was confident in his own strength - confident enough to give up the element of surprise and to allow for a full frontal assault from multiple unknown foes if they so wished.
"I think there's little chance for running now, unless we plan on turning around." Kratos slid his sword an inch or so from his belt, ready to fully draw it if he had to, and glanced toward Hitsugaya for orders.
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With his sword raised, the shinigami moved up next to Kratos. They had the advantage of numbers, but that was the only one. The enemy's strength and abilities were unknown, and the purpose of the pink flesh mutating the hallway was still a mystery.
"For now, focus on the enemy, but if an opening appears, take it and head towards our destination. Don't go all out unless you need to. Fighting a fellow patient doesn't benefit either of us," Hitsugaya said. He didn't want to harm a fellow patient, much less a controlled one, if he could, but as a leader, his team's well-being took priority.
"Spread out." They'd need to take advantage of their numbers while they still could, and without more info, Hitsugaya couldn't make any plans that would fully utilize his team members' individual strengths.
Hitsugaya saw that their enemy was waiting for them to make the first move, and while attacking was risky, they had little choice in the matter. With the weight of his team's lives on his back, Hitsugaya strode forward, leading the attack.
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Most curious indeed.
As the broadcast began to fade, Faize's ears picked up the faint sound of voices moaning and crying, as though in agony. Visibly uncomfortable with the noise, he lowered his gaze to the ground, but his focus returned once he realized they were being approached by someone.
The peculiar man's unfamiliar clothing and his confident demeanor implied he was the one guarding the hallway. Still, if Kratos was correct, then this man was a Special Counseling patient... a victim of brainwashing.
Following Hitsugaya's orders, Faize stepped to the side. He moved his flashlight to his right hand, leaving his dominant hand free. Even as he prepared to summon the power necessary for his symbology, however, he looked their adversary in the eyes and made one request.
"You are the guardian of this hall? I must ask you: please stand down."
Though the others were most likely correct to say that a fight was inevitable, Faize would not be satisfied without at least trying to reason with the man before resorting to blows.
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"What?!" he exclaimed, not to anyone in particular. He didn't want to just ignore that, although he also knew that even if those people were being tortured and hurt, they had no way of knowing where it was happening or how to get to them.
Faize didn't look like he was handling it much better, but before Sora could say any more about it, the man who was probably behind the transformed hallway showed up, and it looked like he was ready for a fight. Sora had no intention on turning tail and running away (they had a mission, after all!), but he also knew that they probably didn't have much of a chance against this guy if he had the power to change the hallway like this. For that reason, he could agree with Hitsugaya's orders.
Sora appreciated Faize's attempt to talk reason with the brainwashed patient, but he already knew from experience that it wasn't going to work. It seemed that Hitsugaya wanted to take the lead, but Sora followed quickly after him. If he wanted to help with the fight, he was going to have to provoke the older man into attacking him specifically.
The screaming was still quietly coming out of the intercom (wherever it was), but it was harder to pay attention to it when they were about to jump into a battle like this.
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His response was to crouch down, hands pressed into the flesh of the hall. The sensation didn't phase him, either. He seemed perfectly at home here.
The man grinned wider, and that was all the warning they had before the ground underneath them shifted under their feet, trying to both sink lower and enclose their feet at the same time.
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He sighed inwardly at Faize's request. The younger man was probably just covering his bases, but it showed that he was not yet as jaded as the rest of them, who knew that negotiations - unless violent - were useless.
Just then, their opponent made his move, crouching down and placing his hands on the floor. Kratos's eyes narrowed as his mind flashed through a series of possible attacks to expect from that position, but they soon widened as the flesh beneath him without warning sank further, trying to drag him down. He wrenched his foot out of the swiftly closing hole it had been sucked into and danced out of the way, trying not to stay in one place for too long. As if the footing could not have possibly gotten any worse...they would all have to keep well on their toes from now on.
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The disturbing sounds of pain and suffering on the intercom were distracting, and Hitsugaya almost missed his feet sinking into the ground, but the slight vibration running up through the soles of his feet gave the trap away. When the walls of flesh began swallowing his slippers, thinking took a backseat to centuries of experience, which forced his body to automatically react. On pure reflex, Hitsugaya sprung forward, discarding his slippers. Using Haineko's dull edge, Hitsugaya aimed for the elderly man's shoulder. The strike was meant to disable, not kill, the opponent.
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Sora's advance was alarmingly reckless, considering both his apparent age and the fact that he was unarmed. For the time being, all Faize could do was hope that he had a plan, as he had already begun his casting, and moving from where he stood was sure to disrupt it.
Faize continued to focus on his symbology, but the Eldarian tensed when he realized his feet were beginning to sink into the flesh below him. The increasingly loud screams blaring from the intercom also threatened to disrupt his concentration. Were they the screams of people suffering at that very moment? Or was it a recording from some time ago? No - he couldn't think about that. He needed to focus.
After what seemed to be far longer than the usual casting time of his technique, he was ready. "Shadow Needles!" he shouted, his incantation complete. However, as he raised his hand, the spell did not manifest there, nor did it manifest near the enemy. Instead, dark power gathered farther down the hall, behind the opponent. From that mass of dark energy came two long shards, which shot out at the man from behind.
Two? At Faize's level of mastery, he should have been able to conjure several times that number. It appeared his abilities had indeed been weakened significantly.
Now that he no longer needed to focus, Faize had an opportunity to move and free himself... yet his legs would not move. His feet had sunk quite a bit, but not so far that he should have been unable to pull them out, he thought. However, his legs simply felt too weak. Was he experiencing fatigue so soon?
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That was a little harder when even their movement was being messed with, though. Sora yelped when he realized that the squishy floor was trying to swallow him or something. It was kind of like quicksand, and his legs weren't as long as the others'. The boy flailed around and ended up grabbing for the nearby wall, digging his fingers into the soft tissue as he tried to yank himself up out of the ground.
He had decided. This was worse than Monstro.
At least it looked like the others were getting some attacks in. Sora didn't know if it would be good enough to defeat this guy, but if they could stun him, then that would at least give them the chance to run away! He was rearing and ready to pitch in, but that wouldn't be possible until he had his footing again.
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And the one up front intended to do just that. The man they were fighting could dodge the blow easily with his abilities back, but there was a side effect--it broke his control of the hall of flesh. As he pulled his hands away from the ground, the flesh stopped creeping and pressing in on his opponents, freezing in place. He grunted and jumped backwards, only for his eyes to widen. Behind him!
He dodged to the side, but wasn't quite fast enough. One of the shards drew a shallow gash against his side, and he winced. The man had been overconfident, and it had cost him.
The man jumped backwards to put some distance between him and his opponents, frowning. "You won't get another lucky shot."
This time, he waited for them to make the next move.
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There was a fight to focus on, however, and the intercom was ignored as Kratos analyzed the situation. Their advantage in numbers was so far working well: Faize's spell had grazed the older man thanks to the distraction of Hitsugaya's attack. However, now two of their group were trapped.
There were two options he could take: assist Faize and Sora, or continue to press their opponent in the hopes that the two could find their footing on their own. In the end, Kratos went on the offensive, understanding that he couldn't leave Hitsugaya alone to deal with their Special Counseling friend. And so far, it seemed that preventing the man from focusing on the floor was the way to go if they wanted to eventually escape.
Raising his sword, Kratos gathered his mana - he could spare some, at least - and charged forward, trying to take advantage of the momentarily frozen floor. When he was at a moderate distance from the man he swept the sword forward in a wide arc. "Demon Fang!" The white shockwave sped straight across the floor for its target, Kratos following not far behind. A second slash - this one aimed at the man's legs. Hopefully it would distract the man enough for Hitsugaya to make a move.
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While he wasn't comfortable taking his eyes off the enemy, Hitsugaya was concerned for his allies, since Faize and Sora hadn't followed after him. Seeing that their enemy was content to let them take the lead, Hitsugaya risked a cursory glance over his shoulder to check on his comrades. Contrary to his concern, Faize and Sora both seemed alright, just stuck in the pink flesh. Since they were in no immediate danger, his attention shifted to their remaining comrade.
Kratos also appeared fine. In fact, Hitsugaya felt a faint thrum of something resembling spiritual energy emanating from him. Whatever he was trying to do, Hitsugaya wanted to increase Kratos' chance of success, so the shinigami began gathering his reiatsu together for kido.
"Bakudo 9: Geki!" he chanted, using his right hand to release his reiatsu into the atmosphere.
A crimson aura of paralyzing energy wove around Jiraiya, trying to halt his movements, but red glow faded in and out. The binding spell wasn't at full strength, but Hitsugaya poured everything he had into it. When a white shock wave passed by, Hitsugaya's concentration redoubled, ignoring the spiritual backlash that was rattling his body. That must be Kratos' attack. Even as blood dribbled down his nose, and his vision blurred, his left hand continued to grasp his shaking, right forearm, desperately trying to hold Jiriaya in place for as long as possible.
Suddenly, the ground began to violently shake, accompanied by a loud explosion. Was this part of the man's technique? Hitsugaya didn't think so, since the explosion came from outside. What was happening? Looking up, he saw the ceiling begin to buckle, and for a moment the shinigami worried that it was going to collapse on them. Perhaps, this was their chance?
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Fortunately, it seemed the others were capable enough to hold out while he took a moment to recover. They were using some unusual techniques that piqued Faize's curiosity, though there was no time to ask or learn about them. Sora, on the other hand, appeared to be struggling as he was. Perhaps that was for the best, though. While Faize wanted to see what Sora was capable of, he preferred to see their group's youngest member as far from immediate danger as possible.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed someone watching him from nearby. It was surely another patient coming from the stairwell... yet for some reason, Faize found himself gripped with a sudden feeling of dread. He turned his head to look, meaning for it to be just a glance, but when he saw who was standing there, he froze in place, staring.
It was her.
She had the same youthful face, the same gold-trimmed black cloak, the same long, braided hair... Even her red-jeweled tiara was worn precisely as he remembered. But that was where the similarities to his memory ended. Her clothes were stained with blood, and her eyes had a terrified, pleading look in them. Perhaps it was how she looked at the moment of her death.
Faize extended a hand out to reach for her, but she was too far away. He looked down to his feet and tugged at his ankles. The flesh had stopped moving, but with it frozen in place, he still found himself unable to free his sunken feet. He raised his head to face the woman once again, but she was gone. There was nothing where she stood; only an empty corner of the flesh-covered hallway. Had he been hallucinating?
The loud rumbling and crashing sounds coming from somewhere above reminded Faize that he didn't have time to mull over the experience. Looking back to the battle, he shook his head, as though to clear it. The haunting vision had distracted him long enough for him to recover somewhat. With his legs trapped, the only way he could contribute to the battle was with his symbology, and so he began to focus on another spell.
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