[OPEN] I'm busy taking stock of all the things that I've forgot-

[thedevilsmile]

Characters: People who're staying behind in the Victoria II~
Content: NOT AS PLANNED.
Setting: All over the goddammed Victoria II... kinda, I guess.
Time: Later in the evening, while TACTICAL INFILTRATION ACTION is on.
Warnings: Horror! Shock! Denial all around for our unfortunate heroes and Kristoph brand of fail. And, uh. Epic trainwreck? I guess

Comments

[butterflychains]

Yetis. Soubi vaguely recalled the stories. Large, hulking beasts that lived in snowy mountain regions and sometimes preyed upon wayward travelers. Even as a child, he didn't believe a word of it. And now, he was possibly staring one in the face. Well, they do say that all myths have some basis in fact, though how much fact that was varied from story to story.

"...I see," he replied, taking another shot at the monster, aiming for the chest this time. It didn't seem all that effective, but Soubi only carried the lightest of firearms. He was not a marksman by trade, of course. His talent lay with the arcane arts.

If this was truly a snow beast, Soubi wondered how well it would take to fire. However...so close to the engines? That would probably be too risky to do here. Instead, he'd try something else. With Kristoph (who was, admittedly, much better with a gun than he) there, there would be enough distraction to get a spell off. Putting his gun away, he instead formed a vision in his mind, one of the creature being attacked by countless needles.

"Needles," he said quietly. "Every single one with points as sharp as the most finely crafted sword. Rain down on my enemy, punish it for daring to board this ship."

And just as he had imagined and described it, a layer of needles magically appeared over the beast and plunged down into it, causing it to roar in pain before fading away into thin air.

[thedevilsmile]

Of course Kristoph had be better in using his weapons; unlike Soubi and Jade, the quartermaster lacked the ability to use any form of magic. It was always something that annoyed the man to no end - in his younger days, he would pour over his books and notes to find ways on how one born without magic would be able to acquire it, but as the years passed there was no surefire method to obtaining it - exposure to mana crystals was the most common way, but that had its own backlashes too. There was no one hundred percent guarantee that he'd be able to obtain magic without any form of loss.

Eventually though he had given up on the idea, and even convinced himself that remaining as who he was was more than enough - those with magic and abilities were imperfect after all. Utterly imperfect. Even if they were his relatives; they were still imperfect. The magic had corrupted and tainted them.

Still, a mildly impressed look crossed his face as Kristoph watched the needles plunging themselves into the flesh of the beast before them, the monster howling in pain as it trashed violently, swinging wildly around the area. The quartermaster noticed its path veering towards part of the engine and quickly took a shot at the beast to drive it off. The tactic worked, and the beast let out a cry as it stumbled backwards in surprise. Soon the surprise disappeared from its system however, and then proceeded to direct its attention towards the one who shot him in the first place - who was Kristoph.

The quartermaster barely managed to dodge in time as the monster charged towards him, rolling on the floor to evade the lunge that the Yeti sprung towards him.

[butterflychains]

Soubi always considered his abilities a curse. If he didn't have the power of spell words, what happened eight years ago could have been avoided. But there was no use dwelling on the past. He had this gift now, and he would use them, otherwise, what he learned at the academy would have been all for naught.

Right now, he had to protect the engine room and his stepcousin.

Instead of attacking with needles, he conjured up strong gusts of wind to hold the creature back. It would do no good to have it rampaging around wherever it liked. This would be a fine way to keep it away from Kristoph and the turbines, while keeping it occupied with the task of merely standing, let alone attacking. But even with all this, Soubi wasn't sure they could defeat the beast by themselves.

What they needed was backup. Badly.

[thedevilsmile]

Kristoph straightened himself once he managed to roll out of harm's way, stopping short near the general vicinity of the boiler as he steadied himself with one arm braced against the floor while his better hand took aim with his gun and fired off the last of his second round of bullets into the beast. They didn't do much damage though to the monster and its iron-thick skin. The quartermaster muttered a few curses that usually weren't heard from him as he got up properly this time and dug around his suit for more bullets to load into his gun.

As imperfect as magic was, it was still useful enough - while Soubi kept the beast at bay Kristoph rummaged around in a fluster before managing to retrieve a few more bullets. These were no ordinary bullets however - they were each infused with mana and tiny mana shards, enough to cause a good deal of damage when used properly. Though they didn't come very cheap - each one cost a pretty penny, not to mention they weren't very commercialized. Most people would never be able to get their hands on it.

However, being a noble and part of the Ivona army, that fact was made negligible. Kristoph picked out the suitable bullets from teh ones at hand and loaded them quickly into his pistol before taking aim and firing them. He couldn't used the fire elemental one nor the lighting elemental ones - they'd only cause more havoc than good. The flash ones would only blind them all despite the fact that Yeti's were rather sensitive to light and he didn't bring the other bullets over.

He had to make do with the ice ones for now - it really wouldn't work, given how the beast lived here in the freezing weather, but hopefully the fact that they were in somewhere warm now and that the man was about to deal a blast of freezing cold to the beast could hopefully make the thing drop his guard for a second and give Soubi a chance to do some damage.

[butterflychains]

Soubi had no idea that Kristoph was carrying such ammunition on himself and was mildy impressed that his stepcousin managed to obtain them at all. However, he was very grateful for them, as it opened up an opportunity for him to do something else. But he wasn't quite sure on what to do.

The yeti was confused by the sudden change in temperature, and Soubi had to take this chance before it slipped away. It wasn't likely that the same trick would work twice, not even on a seemingly brainless beast such as this.

He tried wind again, this time imagining the gusts to be sharp and fast, rather than mighty and overwhelming, moving at such high speeds that it could cut flesh. The wind headed straight for the monster, slicing open wounds over its arms and across its chest. It clutched one of its arms and roared in pain, and Soubi cursed himself for not being able to empower the spell more. But that would have cost precious time they didn't have.

"Is there any backup coming?" Soubi asked. They could hardly be expected to defend one of the most important areas of the ship by themselves.

[thedevilsmile]

Normally Kristoph wouldn't think about bringing mana-infused bullets onto the battle - he was a man who relied on his brains rather than brawn. But desperate times called for desperate measures, and this whole situation certainly called for it being desperate enough. The quartermaster quickly reloaded his gun once the ice elemental bullets were fired (his gun could only hold a pair of mana bullets at one tie due to their recoil and drawback power from the blast) as Soubi took the chance presented to him.

The man frowned as he cocked back his gun and took a proper aim this round while the Yeti was distracted by the cutting winds. "You'd do well to be more cautious with your magic, Soubi," the elder man spoke as he closed one eye and took a good aim at the forehead of the beast. "If you're not careful enough, you might end up damaging the engines instead." Saying that, the man fired the second round of magic bullets, each bullet striking the beast on either side of its head with a flash of bright blue light.

It worked to a mild extent. The Yeti gave out a pained roar at the sharp pain on its cranium and stumbled back a little once more, taking a few seconds to recover from the attack. Kristoph clenched his jaw once again as he loaded another pair of ice bullets into his gun. "I doubt it. Most of the guards were sent for patrol duty. Only the minimum number of guards required are available on the ship." Dammit, why did things like these always happen to him? First the Lunasa bombings and now this. Was karma out to get him or something? This whole situation was getting more and more ridiculous by the second.

[butterflychains]

To Kristoph's warning, Soubi merely gave a slight sigh. He was always careful. He hadn't destroyed anything now, had he? But, he wasn't going to argue with Kristoph. They had a more pressing matter at hand. There was a dilemma, though, he had to admit. It was obvious that weak spells weren't going to take down this monster, but powerful ones could end up damaging the ship. Just how was he supposed to perform this balancing act, hmm?

And what was this about being short handed? Wouldn't at least some of them have the mind to come to the engine room? It seemed like the only hope was to wait for one of the other officers to stumble in. If that ever happened. The longer and longer this fight drew on, the chances of that decreased dramatically. If only the yeti had waited until after the infiltration mission was complete. This wouldn't have to be so difficult.

Since Soubi was unsure of what offensive spells to use, he would take a different approach. If the creature could be restrained, then it would cease to be a threat and it could be disposed of with less troublesome methods. From seemingly nowhere, a pair of shackles appeared, clamping onto the monster's wrists and tightened until the monster could no longer swing its arms freely.

[thedevilsmile]

The quartermaster just finished reloading his gun when Soubi took the logical step of restraining the beast, who trashed violently as it found itself held down by the shackles. Kristoph gave a mildly approving nod (to his cousin, most certainly not the use of magic) as he cocked his pistol once more, ready to use it in case something cropped up - as far as the man was concerned, this was more than enough of a crop-up.

It certainly didn't help that at least half of the ship was gone due to the infiltration mission. Really, it seemed like these beasts had a good sense of timing. Or perhaps it was just their own bad luck - either way, the fact still remained that there was only the two of them against a huge, scary beast that was once believed to only exist in myths and fables. Kristoph made a mental note to ensure that nothing like this was going to happen again - not to mention starting on just exactly how was he going to tell the Admiral after all this.

Hopefully they'd manage to drive the yeti away by that time, or he'd have a lot of explaining to do. The elder of the duo took aim once more, ready to fire another shot at the beast but then the monster pulled an unsuspecting move on them. Opening its mouth to reveal gaping jaws and fangs, the beast fired out a light blue-tinted pillar of energy towards the two officers.

[butterflychains]

Just when Soubi thought that they had finally bested the creature, it pulled out a surprise on them. Now, no matter how hard Soubi thought, he could not remember yetis being able to shoot out blue beams from their mouths. Perhaps the mothers thought that feature would make their children believe that yetis were creatures to be admired rather than feared if they had included that little fact.

A wonderful thing about spell words was they could do almost anything, provided the user had a strong enough imagination and way with words. And luckily, a protective shield was also included in the repertoire of abilities.

When the blue pillar came towards them, it was stopped by an invisible wall. It was a weak protection spell, as there wasn't sufficient time for Soubi to describe it very well, but the mental image he had formed in his head was strong. It was just enough to block the beam. Now what worried Soubi was that he didn't know how often the beast could keep up this new move. If it was often, Soubi would have to spend his time defending rather than attacking.

[thedevilsmile]

The elder man was just about prepared to do another dodge roll when the beam slammed against the protection that Soubi had erected, and even someone like Kristoph Gavin had to look in slight awe at the display before him before the beam faded, steam trailing from inside the yeti's mouth. The beast growled once more as it fought against the shackles that held its arms together, trashing forwards towards the two of them instead for a head on physical attack.

Kristoph quickly evaded the attack with the dodge roll he had anticipating himself for, gun at the ready once again as he fired the next set of ice bullets to the beast. As if it had been expecting this, the yeti raised its shackled arms and let the shackles take the brunt of the damage of the ice bullets instead, the magic within them immediately freezing the metal to sub-zero temperatures, and cracks began to be heard from the durable material. It was pretty obvious what was going to happen next.

"Soubi, we need to get it before--" the quartermaster was about to speak before he got cut off as the yeti opened its mouth and let loose another blast of energy once more. The man cursed audibly as he sidestepped the attack once more, taking out a round of normal bullets this time as he loaded them into his pistol while avoiding the attack by the yeti.

[butterflychains]

This time, there was no time to set up a shield, and Soubi also had to dodge to avoid getting hit. The yeti seemed to be getting faster and smarter with every move, and Soubi wasn't sure of just how much more they could do by themselves. Eventually, one of them or the engine was going to get hit, both of which were things that could not happen at all costs.

And worse, Soubi was running out of ideas on what to do. Because they were in the engine room, he had to restrict what spells he could use, and the yeti suddenly had the upper hand. If only they could possibly drive it out. Frustrated, he sent another wave of needles after the monster, causing it to roar yet again. If only there was some kind of weak point they could target...

[thedevilsmile]

There was a loud sizzle as the beam hit out of the upper railings of the engine room, dissolving the metal there as the ends smoked red hot from the heat of that blast. Kristoph cursed once more as he saw the sheer power of that beam before turning back at the loud roar from the beast when Soubi directed another wave of needles into it. It threw its head back a roared loudly enough to make the quartermaster wince at the volume, before his blood froze when the sounds of breaking metal reached his ears.

Breaking free of the weakened chains, the yeti let out a triumphant roar before it charged towards the both of them once more. Kristoph prepared his gun to fire but before he could pull the trigger to shoot, the beast leaped into the air and opened its mouth wide once again to fire a rain of energy beams down onto them.

[butterflychains]

The most Soubi could do at that instant was put up a shield to stop the incoming beams. It was quite obvious now that this monster was becoming more than a match for them. But what could they do? Leaving was not an option, that would leave the engine open to attack.

The monster seemed to realize that it should have resorted to using the energy beams sooner. The two humans before it had to spend their time avoiding or blocking it to stop it, and it once again opened its mouth to attack again.

Soubi could, fortunately, see this coming, and he set up yet another shield. But since he had a few extra seconds this time, he was able to make it stronger. Namely, give it a reflection property. When the beam hit the shield, it was bounced back to the yeti. Hopefully, if it didn't hurt it too much, it would make it think twice about using it indiscriminately.

[thedevilsmile]

The beam reflected due to the shield's reflective properties, heading and striking the yeti right at its chest. The beast let out a pained roar as it flew backwards and landed with a loud thump onto the metal floor. The quartermaster emptied his third cartridge of normal bullets to the beast as it got up, driven back slightly by the offensive comeback. They were alright once again. For now, that was. And who knows how long they were going to be able to hold this advantage.

Finally managing to get a chance to speak, Kristoph loaded his pistol once more as he glanced slightly at the direction of where his stepcousin was. "We need to drive the thing out from the engine room," he first started with the obvious statement as he loaded the gun with a fourth set of bullets. "Not a lot of people know this, but there's a back door in the engine room that leads to the outside," the quartermaster explained as he glanced to a corner of the engine room. It was times like these where it was a good thing that he had been first mate of the vessel - he had long memorized the floor plans, and all he needed was a little recollection to remember these things. "Its used as an emergency exit, so I'm guessing it'd be big enough to squeeze it though and we can bring the fight outside without any worries."

[butterflychains]

A back door in the engine room? Well, that showed how much Soubi knew about the Victoria II. But that could partially be due to the fact that Soubi never visited the engine room. He was Radio Ops, not a mechanic. Where he worked was actually pretty far from the engine room.

"And how do we get this thing through the door?" He asked. Did they lure it through?

[thedevilsmile]

Soubi wasn't the only one who wasn't aware of that - in fact, most of the crew weren't aware of this passageway. Kristoph himself only knew of it after he became first mate of the ship back then, when he managed to get a hold of the proper floor plans. And then even with that it took him nearly a month before he could manage to figure out where the passage was. It was almost like a secret passage, to be honest. Kristoph doubted anyone else save the captain and perhpas Edgeworth would know of this.

"That's a simple enough question for a simple enough answer," replied the quartermaster as he cocked his pistol back up and fired a few shots in the general direction of the yeti. The beast roared at the bullets and took a step back, growling at the duo. Kristoph let a smirk cross his face for once as he emptied the last of the cartridge quickly and moved forward, reloading his gun once more. "We press on with the attack. We drive it back until we get near where the exit is. Don't give the beast a moment to even breath or it'll all be over," he finished the same time as he reloaded his gun and quickly went on the offensive once more, firing his pistol towards the yeti and driving it back.