Night 52: Sun Room
[from here]
Last time he'd been in the Sun Room at night, there'd been some crazy guy with a gun and Neku really wasn't looking to have another bullet in him, so he was cautious as he pushed the door open, his flashlight darting from place to place. He might not have all his old psychs on him, but he still had a few of Mr. H's pins and those would ( Read more... )
Last time he'd been in the Sun Room at night, there'd been some crazy guy with a gun and Neku really wasn't looking to have another bullet in him, so he was cautious as he pushed the door open, his flashlight darting from place to place. He might not have all his old psychs on him, but he still had a few of Mr. H's pins and those would ( Read more... )
Besides, he had his own problems when one of the thing's legs started to come down on him. Hearing Soma yelling for him helped him to react. His hands went up into the pose he'd learned for when he wanted to block, and his Keyblade manifested just in time. The metal leg hit his weapon, causing a large clang as sparks flew. They were bright enough that Sora had to wince his eyes shut for a moment.
He knew he didn't have the strength to overpower the leg, and so he was forced to jump back and out of the way; still, he had his weapon now, so all he had to do was weave in toward that weak spot and hope that he could do something once he got there.
But at that moment the intercom suddenly came on, flooding the whole Sun Room with the Head Doctor's words. It was hard to focus on them when he was staring down a machine that was piloted by some weird figure who wanted them dead (or at least injured), but Sora did his best to listen with at least one ear as he charged once more.
He just had to dodge the legs until he got close enough to where the figure was seated in the middle, and then --
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Suddenly, an idea struck! What if he devoted two legs to parrying attacks targeting the glass tube and had two legs dedicated to attacking? Yes, it would allow him mobility, defense, and offense! "Mech transformation! Change from spider style..." Porky shouted as the two back-middle legs rose up and flipped over to form an X in front of his tube. At the same time, the the two front legs rose up, their new configuration resembling the scythe-like arms of a mantis, "To mantis-style! Now let's get this show on the road, with a little music to get your blood pumping!"
With its four remaining legs, the mech charged forward at Soma, the two "arms" clawing forward menacingly. Finally, two speakers popped out of the side of the mech and began blaring music that made the fight seem a lot more climactic than it really was. "Don't think I've forgotten about you guys yet! I've just got to take care of your little girlfriend first!" Porky laughed as the two arms of his mech shot out to stab at the girl.
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The old man was still talking. He talked too much, she decided, though she wouldn't say it out loud. It gave them something of an advantage. If he kept revealing his plans like that, like some sort of terrible movie villain, she wouldn't be needing her brainwaves for the fight at all.
She tensed but held her ground as the mobile suit charged at her, Marie thrumming like a taut wire in the back of her mind. Closer--closer--now, and the supersoldier ducked and rolled forward, past the arms' immediate range and toward the protected glass tube. She had misjudged her timing, and one of the arms tore across her back as she hurtled past, but she pushed the pain away and kept going.
"You'll have to try harder than that, old man!" she shouted. If she could irritate him, keep him distracted, it would give Sora an opportunity to get closer.
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As if that wasn't enough, there was battle music. Battle Music. In all of its 8-bit glory no less. Music while fighting, sure. He listened to his headphones all the time while battling the Noise. But this? He couldn't even find words to describe it. If it weren't actually happening instead of being something he'd see on a Saturday morning anime for children, he might've spared a moment to face-palm at it all. But since the giant robot mantis was attacking his team-mates, that made it a little harder to ignore.
Of course, it was even harder to concentrate when the radio broadcast came on and the lights flared up. At least once the commotion was over there was enough light to see by, but if the doctor's words were anything to go by, it was going to be a busy night. For now though, they better concentrate on the walking cliche' or they really wouldn't have to worry about much at all later.
He grabbed a second frame from the wall and made his way closer, flinging the first frisbee-style at the mecha's legs with all the force he could summon up. Physical combat wasn't his best, but he didn't suck either. Maybe if they could topple the thing, or at least distract his attention a few different ways, they could get to the old geezer piloting it.
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Normally Sora might have protested the comment about Soma being his girlfriend (or Neku's, for that matter), since she was more than that -- she was a teammate and this old guy shouldn't forget that -- but he didn't have the time for it. Instead, he dodged to the side of the mech as the lights went haywire overhead, barely getting out of the way when one burst and almost sent the glass shards down on his head.
He thought back to all of his previous fights, and came up with an idea. What had he had to do with the Cerberus, the Hydra, and so many other enemies? Jump on their back.
So Sora worked his way around to the back of the "mantis," taking a running leap in hopes of landing on top of it. Then he'd be close enough to do some real damage to the weak spot in the center! He just hoped that Soma would be okay fighting it head-on like she was...
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Gritting his teeth angrily, Porky activated his PSI counter device, surrounding the mech with a bright pink light that faded away within moments. In addition, shields appeared around the girl and the boy who had jumped onto the mech, as well. Porky didn't doubt that the psychic brat had healing powers, but with the counter shield on his two little friends, any healing that he tried to do on them would be reflected back to him, leading not only to guilt for the healer, but sustained blood loss for the intended target! And this time, Porky didn't shout it out for everyone to hear!
But that wouldn't be enough to take down this brats. The painting hadn't been enough to knock over the mech, but it did cause one of the legs to slip momentarily, leading to the lapse in defense which allowed the key boy to jump on. Grumbling, Porky reverted the mech back to "spider mode" with all eight legs back on the ground. He grinned. "Quick question," he sneered, "How exactly do you think I got up on the ceiling in the first place?" As the pneumatic joints on the mech's legs hissed and released air, the body of the mech lowered for a moment before the legs stiffened and sent the entire machine flying into the air.
Porky couldn't help but laugh as he deftly controlled the machine, leaping over the girl on the ground and landing a good ways behind her, the mech crashing on the ground. Hopefully that had been enough to shake off the brat that had hitched a ride, but Porky wasn't feeling too optimistic. Besides, Porky could deal with the key brat while his friends were dealing with the spray of superglue that Porky just shot at them. Like a spray of spider's silk, the glue shot across the room at the girl and the emo kid.
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That seemed unlikely, but in any case there wasn't time to warn him. There were knoblike protrusions sticking out from the side of the tube closest to her--something that looked like a face, in the flickering light of the Sun Room--and she leapt for them, hoping to grab on and climb up from the front, even as Sora appeared on the back of the mobile suit--
Soma hit the ground hard as the mobile suit leapt over her, gritting her teeth as she tucked into a roll to cushion the fall. Timing. Her reflexes were too slow here, too sluggish in comparison to her movements at home, always half a step behind her brainwaves. She rose into a crouching position and turned back just in time to see some unknown substance sprayed at her. She whipped her head back again, closing her eyes, but the stuff managed to cover the better part of her body even as she tried to evade it.
She managed about three steps back before she encountered resistance. The substance had fused her shoes to the floor, and stuck parts of her clothing fast to her skin. Glue? Some sort of powerful adhesive? Whatever it was, she was stuck here for the moment, and it probably wasn't wise to try to slip out of her shoes until the area around her had dried, too.
The shields, prompted Marie, and Soma nodded grimly. "Neku!" she called. "Try not to heal at all if you can help it! I don't know what that light was, but it's best not to risk hurting yourself again!"
She pulled at her shoes again, hard: still stuck. Instead she leveled her gun at the back of the mobile suit and waited. Too risky to fire now--she might hit Sora--but as soon as she saw an opening...
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He'd worked with Sora before, but the girl was new. Even so, it was kind of surprising that they were able to work well together as a team. The distraction seemed to work, at least it was enough to wobble the machine's legs so that Sora could hop on. What Neku didn't expect though, was for the whole spider thing to jump up and go flying across the room, shaking the ground with how hard it landed.
And then there was whatever the spider was spraying. He put up his arms to block, which kept at least some of it from his face, but his uniform, his hair, even his JoTM brand name headphones. It stung his open wounds, but as he moved to try to wipe it from his arms, his fingers came back sticky, not only that, trying to tug his feet up from the floor was even difficult. At least his pins weren't going anywhere...
He heard Soma's shout and nodded, but now that he was effectively stuck in one spot, what the hell was he supposed to do? The old guy had put the pink shields around Soma and Sora too, if he healed them, it might bounce back, if he fired a Psych at any of them, he was screwed. He couldn't even dodge now that his feet were glued to the floor. If he'd brought his full set, he could've at least cast a barrier spell of his own, but here he was, just standing around helplessly.
Neku sighed his discontent, flinging his last picture frame where the spray of glue had come from. If he got out of this muck, he didn't want to give the guy any chances to spray them again. It didn't fly quite as hard as he would've liked; the glue hadn't quite hardened, so he supposed he should be glad it left his hand at all.
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The plan had been to close in to attack the weak spot at the exact same time that Soma got there, so that they could get him from either side, but that didn't quite go as expected. When the air was released from the legs and the mech started to flatten, Sora almost lost his balance. He made sure to fall forward and grip an edge of the mech as tightly as possible, since he had a feeling he knew what was coming--
As he'd guessed, the whole machine managed to jump in the air, causing the boy to hold on for dear life as he waited for it to hit the ground again. What went up had to come down, and so it did; the spider-shaped mech landed with a lot of impact, causing Sora's body to slam hard against the metal. It was enough to knock the wind out of him for a couple seconds, and he was definitely going to be sore in the morning, but he'd at least avoided falling off.
"C'mon," he said, mainly to himself. They had to do this! Even if they only stunned him for a moment, it would be something. And so the boy slowly got to his feet, using his Keyblade to pull himself up. He was still standing on the thing's back, though a quick glance around showed that his two teammates were incapacitated, at least for the moment.
Which meant one thing: it was up to him! "Don't think we'll give up that easy," he called out as he moved forward on the mech's back, reaching the spot where the old man was seated as he slashed forward with his weapon.
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But Porky had bigger fish to fry. While the two other brats were stuck, the third one was currently climbing all over Porky's mech and being an asshole in general. Of course, Porky wasn't an idiot. He knew that there was no way that he'd be able to deflect the attack in time. Nevertheless, he grinned. The key came crashing down, shattering a good part of the glass tube protecting Porky. As he shouted in faux horror, Porky raised the two back legs of the mech and swung both of them at the boy. With any luck, at least one of them would connect and send him flying into the glue.
"Come on, guys!" Porky shouted above the din of battle, "What's the point of all this? You're not going to win, and even if by some freakish chance you do, what would you have to gain? One night that you could spend running around this cage? It's not like you'll find out anything important! Really, why bother taking your life into your own hands when you could just let the other idiots do all the work for you?"
"Of course, you'll probably take this speech as the cue to give one of your own..." Porky grumbled to himself.
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Soma had never been the sort for speeches--she would leave that to Sora, who seemed the speech-making type. Instead, she clenched her jaw and pulled harder at her shoes--there, there was some give, she might make it yet--
Which was when she saw the back legs rise up and swing at Sora. With a final burst of adrenaline, she yanked her legs free and ran toward the mobile armor.
The rest of its legs had returned to the ground by now, giving it the appearance of a scorpion. One bullet left before she could reload; Soma fired it at one of the legs nearest her, hoping to tilt the mobile armor toward her as she, too, sought to leap onto the now-unprotected tube.
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It wasn't like Neku hadn't thought plenty about the stuff the chubby old guy was yelling already. Everything reset in the morning, but at least it meant that other patients who maybe couldn't handle the fight didn't get hurt.
And then Sora managed to shatter the tube, leaving their target unprotected. So even if he couldn't use Psychs, couldn't find anything to throw, and couldn't really help from a distance, if he could get in close, a well-placed kick just might come in handy.
Soma managed to break free of the glue, which at least told him it was possible, so he set to getting his own legs free, stumbling a little as one jerked loose and other was a little late in following. Once free, Neku charged toward the mecha, hoping the other two would be enough to keep the old man occupied.
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But it wasn't that easy. One of the legs came out of nowhere and hit Sora in the side hard enough that he flew right off of the mech's back. He crashed to the floor, his body sliding right into a huge puddle of the glue. It covered most his upper body, leaving him to try and kick with his legs to attempt to get himself out.
He'd been so close! Forcing down feelings of frustration, Sora just did what he could to try and get his arms to move, while also focusing on the feeling of his fingers wrapped around the hilt of his Keyblade. He couldn't lose it, not yet!
And while he normally was the type to give speeches, Sora was a bit too distracted to do that at the moment. He was trying to tell himself that Soma and Neku would be able to handle things until he was free, but his heart was pounding in his chest with concern for them. He needed to help, before something went wrong!
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Of course, things were rarely that simple. The shot the girl fired from her gun wasn't reflected by the PSI shield like the emo kid's projectiles were, so the mech was knocked off kilter for a moment due to the bullet. Of course, Porky hadn't just changed the music with that command input, and the electricity, while nice and intimidating, wasn't just for show. It only took a moment for the mech to right itself and continue with Porky's maneuver.
The mech leaped into the air and came crashing down behind the group again, spinning to face Porky's enemies in midair. Making sure to keep four legs on the ground to preserve his agility and balance, Porky had the four front legs dart forward at the group, blunt sides first. Porky had been told to keep the idiots alive for whatever reason, and Landel didn't seem like the type to enjoy being disobeyed. At the very worst, the legs would break a bone or two.
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But the old man was putting up more of a fight than she'd expected. For all that the cockpit was shattered and that anyone who could get up there and hold the pilot at gunpoint would be assured of victory in moments--they'd have to get up there first. Right now, as she turned to face the mobile armor once more, that was seeming more and more difficult.
Not that she was giving up. Not by a long shot. They had already established that the armor was vulnerable; all they had to do now was switch up their tactics.
She glanced around quickly as the mobile armor came in for another round, trying to take stock of the situation. Neku was free of the gluey substance, but Sora seemed to have gotten stuck. That was worrying, especially as the mobile armor's front legs swung in toward them.
There wasn't time to reload. Soma emptied the magazine with a huff of disgust and waited again for the armor to come closer. It didn't take long--it seemed as if it were moving faster this time--and as one of the legs descended toward Sora, she hurled herself at it from the side, hoping to knock it aside before it could reach her teammate.
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The machine itself though, did look a good deal more ominous and potentially life threatening as it came crashing down behind them, a flurry of metal and lightning. Neku had to whirl around just to face it, and then there was the flailing limbs to worry about. Soma was first to come to their team-mate's aid and assist Sora by throwing herself at the mecha, so Neku picked up the slack and went after the thing himself. Even if the machine could move fast, it was still clumsy, huge, and at least a little slower than a scrawny teenager with psychic and telekinetic powers rumbling around in his head like a bunch of static.
Sora had the right idea about getting up on its back, so he skidded on sticky boots, weaving through the legs so he could try to get at the back. Once he had a handhold, he had to wonder; now that he was in so close, would the Psychs work? Mr. H cautioned to be careful about using it in close range, but there were few other options. He set to clinging onto the back of the machine while he concentrated on the Psych. Sure enough, the thing sent out a shockwave of psychokinetic energy, sharp and pointed as the scalpels and swords the pin was named after. Either they'd finally do some real damage, or Neku was really going to be hating life come morning.
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