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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Jan 24, 2017 23:11:09 GMT -5
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KRAKOW
In one brief moment, the very fabric of space burst open, a split-second tear as bright and deafening as a lightning bolt across the golden glow of the evening sky. From out of that flash came a girl, rocketing through the open air as if she had been shot from a cannon. She violently collided with the ground at a hundred miles per hour, skidding and tumbling through the grass until finally sliding to a halt, leaving a scar in the earth that nearly stretched the length of a football field.
One brief moment, then the park fell silent again.
As the cloud of dust settled around her, the young woman in the pink flannel shirt lay still, her body twisted in numerous unnatural positions. Any onlookers might have reasonably assumed she was dead. Someone of her petite stature couldn't have survived such a brutal crash landing, and her obvious broken bones and lack of oxygen intake seemed to support this. Then...
"GAAAAAAAAAASP...!!!"
Bright blue eyes shot open, and with a panicked expression, the contorted young woman started breathing again. After calming down slightly, she whipped her flimsy right arm out from underneath her. Several audible snaps and cracks later, the appendage had corrected itself. She grabbed the edge of the crater she was lying in and pulled herself up, groaning and whimpering with each twitch, each spasm, each painful snap as her bones rapidly healed and readjusted to their proper state. In no time at all, she looked just fine, brushing her brown curls out of her face and taking deep, relaxed breaths as if nothing had happened.
"Wow..." she sighed, casting a flabbergasted expression at the ground. "That was, uh... Well, I don't know what that was."
She paused for a moment, then her stare turned into a scowl. "Well, I knew that! I'm just saying that I thought I had gotten the hang of this by now."
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Post by ryocker on Jan 25, 2017 0:04:18 GMT -5
Mere moments before the crash...
Two odd fellows were sitting on a bench in the middle of portal park, watching kids run around and hopping into portals like it was just normal business. The larger of the pair smiled, sighing.
"This place ain't half bad, huh boss?" he asked. Dressed in lots of green and white, the man appeared to be a cross between a football player and a boxer, what with the fully decked out gear and his huge gloves. His notably tiny legs dangled on the bench, his big arms curled up so his hands touched his knees.
"Eh, It's alright," his small boss huffed, leaning back with his legs crossed and his hands on his head. With his stripes, violet attire and ski mask, you'd think he was some manner of thief, but the truth was he was nothing of the sort. Just a treasure hunter with an unfortunate affinity for masks.
"Honestly, this place just makes me wanna curl up and sleep my way out of this nightmare," the small man admitted. "That skirt in the house wasn't a pleasant experience."
"You mean ghost?"
"Like it matters any..." The big guy looked ready to say something else, but looked up. "...What's up, Bryn?"
"Jack, is that a meteorite heading our way?" he asked, pointing. The small man's eyes squinted... Then BUGGED OUT.
"HIT THE DECK!!!" he yelped, jumping out of the bench and sliding away as Bryn did the exact same. A loud SNAP split the bench into 19 pieces, the thing that caused it sliding in a straight line darn near to the other end of the park. The pair stared wide eyed, young children either curiously looking at the disaster or crying their young eyes out from the wanton destruction caused by that singular landing.
Jack stood up, pulling out a weird wand with a hand on the end. "Bryn, Catch!" He declared, lasoing the sticky hand he was holding. Sending it toward Bryn as he stood up, the green behemoth caught it, smirking as he soon did the hammer toss with his boss. "NICE SHOOOOOOOOOOooooot"
Kicking up dust around his feet, the big man soon darted forward, approaching the landing sight of whatever wrecked their bench. Mere moments before he got there, he jumped over the carnage, grabbing Jack before sliding into the dirt. Jack's response?
"SAFE!" he declared, Bryn pumping a fist before standing up and staring at the hole.
THEN ALL THE CRAZY CRAP EVAN DESCRIBED HAPPENED.
"...Boss?"
"Yes, Bryn?"
"Is... that a normal thing?"
"No Bryn. That ain't normal in any sense of the word..."
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Jan 25, 2017 10:43:11 GMT -5
"Mmph..." The young lady sat in silence for a few seconds, rubbing her temples all the while, barely registering the world around her. Eventually she let out a sigh. "Right..." Then she sprung to her feet, gripped her fists and cast a stern gaze in the direction she had been flung from. "Now where did that-"
She straightened up slightly and took on a surprised expression when she finally noticed her surroundings, looking every which way to take it all in. This was... definitely not campus grounds. Not even remotely so. There was a city in the distance, but she could clearly tell from a glance that it wasn't the familiar skyline of Acheron Heights.
"W... What...?" Panic was once again evident on her face as she stumbled in a circle, desperately searching for any familiar landmarks but finding none. Beyond that, though, her eyes kept flicking towards the sky; what exactly she was looking for in the high above was anyone's guess. Finally her wide eyes landed on the two odd gentlemen standing near her impact site, at which point her body promptly locked up, her face frozen in confusion and concern.
"Uh..."
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Jan 25, 2017 18:03:30 GMT -5
"Go to Nexus, they said. It'll be easy, they said. Just check the anomaly, they said. WELL I FOUND THE ANOMALY BUT IT ISN'T EASY."
A hulking forearm covered in spikes slammed Liderc to the ground, causing him to yep upon impact. He groaned as he picked himself up, spitting up a bit of what appeared to be mint green blood. Dammit, there goes something, he thought. He slowly forced himself to his feet, staring at the monstrosity before him.
A towering figure that resembled a top-heavy, upside-down human, its skin coloured a putrid shade of yellow. From what was its back protruded a pair of golden wings, splattered with earth, human blood, and a strange yellow substance. Its forearms were covered in spikes, its arms and legs covered in antler-like protrusions.
The abomination let out a roar as it raised its oversized arm, swatting the green angel away. Liderc screamed, unable to get his wings to work in time... If he couldn't control his flight path, all he could do was try to minimize landing damage.
There was a strange sound as the fabric of the tunic on Liderc's back reformed itself into a parachute of some sort, slowing the angel's fall...
"Frickin'... So this is the anomaly..." He muttered as he fell. landing face-first near the trio...
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Post by ryocker on Jan 25, 2017 18:15:35 GMT -5
"You just plowed through about 100 yards of earth, a rock, a park bench and a log!" Bryn gulped, the huge man shocked to see her recover and stand near instantly. "What... ARE you?!"
Jack looked noticeably peeved. "Bryn, you know how I say some questions are best left for later?" he asked, receiving a quick nod. "It's because some people would find those comments rude, buddy."
He quickly gasped, covering his mouth with one of his hands. "I'm sorry, ma'am..." Jack just knowingly smiled at Bryn.
"He's impulsive some days. Anyway, might I ask who you are?"
About five seconds after she gave her answer, Liderc landed next to them. "...Might I also ask if he's a friend of yours...?"
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Jan 25, 2017 18:42:48 GMT -5
"Uhh..." the girl repeated, loosening up just enough to straighten herself out and fully face the duo. Her expression was still one of utter bafflement. The fact that these two had witnessed her powers at work was disconcerting, sure, but their confusion was to be expected; she had received much more alarmed reactions in the past, after all.
In response to Jack's question, after a drawn-out awkward silence, she half-consciously choked up an answer. "...Kelsey."
She then flinched and leaned back when a winged, green-skinned man crash landed right next to her own landing site. Jack's next question fell on deaf ears. All Kelsey could do was stare down at Liderc with a raised eyebrow and a gaping mouth and wonder what just happened. The sudden relocation, the two bizarrely-dressed men, the guy with wings... What WAS all this?!
"WELL..."
Kelsey flinched again when she felt something on her shoulder, turning a frustrated glare on something that the three men couldn't see.
Leaning against her was the astral projection of a young man with an uncanny resemblance to Kelsey. Same outfit, same brown curls... but with seemingly out of place horns and ice-blue eyes, the latter of which were staring blankly at the downed angel. "That escalated quickly."
After exhaling the built-up tension in her chest, Kelsey looked up at the strange people surrounding her and desperately asked, "Okay... can somebody tell me what the hell is going on?"
"We've been sent to an alternate dimension, those two are treasure hunters, that guy's an angel, aaaaand you might wanna take a few steps back."
"What?"
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Jan 25, 2017 18:56:11 GMT -5
The green angel groaned as he forced himself up, the back of its tunic reverting to fabric from the parachute. That was quite the fall, and he did share his caste's normal vulnerability to physical attacks. Realizing there were others nearby, Liderc cleared his throat and adjusted the collar of the tunic slightly.
"Keruv Liderc Shamash Serapis. Sent by Fa- Paradiso Serapis Caladrius Ukko to investigate an anomaly on Nexus Island," He stated as if it was rehearsed, before adding in a rather annoyed tone, "Because our initial scout failed to report in two hourglass's time."
The ground shook, the misshapen humanoid drawing closer. Hoping they didn't notice, Liderc gulped, seemingly conjuring what appeared to be a naginata covered in green flames. "The anomaly is here. Get away unless you want to be killed, or worse, absorbed."
A bellowing roar emitted, a large forearm reaching forward to swat the green angel again.
"Seriously, unless you can fight with the strength of ten men, run!"
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Post by ryocker on Jan 25, 2017 21:37:46 GMT -5
Two orbs were soon chucked at the beast's face, Jack handing Bryn bombs for his left arm as Bryn made his own in his right. "Better explain the Do's and Don'ts of fighting this thing, then! Bryn and I don't run unless we have to!"
The explosions were near rapid fire, Bryn's chucking hitting with the force of a flying brick before exploding. The two kept a healthy distance away.
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Jan 25, 2017 22:13:57 GMT -5
"YIPE-!!!" Kelsey stumbled back a few steps, just barely avoiding the malformed beast's swing. For a moment, she just stood there, once again frozen in horror as the chaos unfolded before her. She hadn't even been in this world for a minute and already she was...
"WHOO!!! Outta the frying pan and into the fire, am I right?!" the astral projection cast a giddy smile at his partner. "Well, no sense in slowing down now! Go get 'em, kid!"
"UM, EXCUSE ME...!" Kelsey anxiously protested. "We were kinda in the middle of something important, Tri! It'd be nice to know why that stopped being a thing and what we've gotten ourselves into now!!!"
"What we've gotten ourselves into is a fight! The same thing we were in the middle of back home!" Tri gleefully responded. "Now are ya gonna help those poor bastards or what?"
Kelsey turned to watch the current predicament again. The sight of the grotesque humanoid creature made her stomach turn, a fact that irked her in and of itself. She would've liked to believe that after fighting demons of various shapes, sizes and forms for several months, even defeating one of the most powerful archdemons in existence, she would've grown accustomed to confrontation with monsters. But no. Somehow this never got easier.
Still... she had the power to help them. It felt wrong not to use it.
"Could you at least-?"
"LATER!"
Ignoring Kelsey's yelp of protest, Tri grabbed her wrists and ran his thumbs along her palms, then yanked at her lips, then poked the bridge of her nose, a series of actions that caused her fingers to sprout claws, her fangs to double in size, and her eyes to turn a bright, glowing blue with sharpened, snake-like pupils. "All will be explained later! Now's the time for action!"
"But...!"
"Butts are for butt stuff! NOW GO KICK HIS!!!"
"RGH...! FINE!!!"
With a newfound look of righteous fury, Kelsey charged into the fray at inhuman speed. A black aura surrounded her form while flames sprung to life and engulfed her arms. Once she was close enough, she leaped a good twenty feet into the air, flinging great balls of fire at the hulking brute. She flipped in midair and landed behind it; immediately, a series of black, ethereal tentacles erupted from her aura, grabbing the monster by its arms and legs.
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Jan 26, 2017 20:10:35 GMT -5
"Well. That's not something the average magical human can do. I guess the demon's newer in their bloodlines."
Liderc unfolded his wings, taking flight, planning to take advantage of the beast's new distractions.
The beast, for its part, roared as the bombs impacted with its nearly featureless head. Holes appeared, gushing a strange dark yellow substance as it bellowed in pain.
The disgusting smell of burning flesh became apparent as Kelsey's fireballs met its sickly yellow skin. It roared again, falling flat on its underside, its limbs wrapped in the black tentacles. The green angel landed on its back, spinning the flaming naginata. After a moment, Liderc thrust the weapon into the creature, causing it to erupt in pain, the green man spinning the weapon through its flesh like a drill.
"Keep distracting it! You need to take out the wings! Get it up!"
If one could see Liderc's face, one would see a sadistic grin, seemingly enjoying the suffering of the beast.
The beast's cries sounded not bestial this time, but exactly like a person.
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Post by ryocker on Jan 26, 2017 20:36:43 GMT -5
Bryn flinched at the screams of pain. "Boss-"
"You don't have to tell me, Bryn- It seems obvious that thing used to be a person," he growled, handing him the bomb needed. "Green guy said hit the wings, right? We have to, then!"
"But, I don't want to hurt someone innocent-!"
His Hesitance wasn't helping matters... and Jack knew it.
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Jan 26, 2017 22:49:37 GMT -5
It was clear from Kelsey's expression that she was still very unnerved by the situation she was in. Months of experience helped her keep her cool and fight with impressive prowess, but the discomfort was evident nonetheless, and it only increased when the monster let out an eerily human shout.
So many questions had been cycling through her head since her arrival, but as she maintained a feverish grip on the creature, she chose to start with what would hopefully be the simplest.
"Tri... what is this thing?"
"Degenerated angel," Tri answered plainly as he hovered over Kelsey, his chin in his hand in a thoughtful pose. "No hope of saving him. Just gonna have to help Greenie take those wings off."
"That's it?? There's seriously nothing we can do but kill him?!"
"Kels, lighten up! We went through the same thing with Gin! Yeah, it started out as something relatively normal, but now it's broken and angry and is just gonna f*** s*** up until something stops it!"
Kelsey sighed, knowing deep down that she was probably going to regret this later. "Alright, hang tight!"
All but one of the dark tendrils released the beast, the last one flinging it high into the air. Kelsey propelled herself in its direction, meeting it with a roundhouse kick.
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Jan 26, 2017 23:07:19 GMT -5
"Good job! Now, to get to the inside..."
Flapping his wings to remain on top of the punched beast, Liderc deemed the hole big enough and slipped through it. Once in, his hands glowed white, growing into a massive pair of claws. The green angel located something...
"I'm afraid this will hurt. Don't worry, I won't feel a thing."
On the outside, the beast landed on the ground, wings open to attack...
It thrashed in pain, as SOMETHING tore at its inside, threatening to burst from its back...
One of the antler-like protrusions on its back legs extended into a massive tentacle as it screamed and writhed in pain, grabbing the first creature it could find...
Which just so happened to be Kelsey.
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Post by ryocker on Jan 27, 2017 14:06:03 GMT -5
"KELSEY!!"
"Bryn, launch those things!"
"But-"
"You heard her, didn't you? If we don't end it now, it might end thousands later!"
The man looked conflicted, arms shaking as he tensed up. With a force only found in most cartoons, the chi-bombs were flung at its wings, making decent explosions on impact. "Gimme another, boss!" He ordered, chucking his own bombs while he could.
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Jan 27, 2017 17:59:58 GMT -5
"GAH! EW! EW! EW!!!" Kelsey hit the ground hard, her descent thrown off by the tentacle wrapping around her. While one arm was pinned to her side, she quickly, furiously raked the claws of her free hand along the grotesque appendage, only managing to draw blood.
She snarled with fury, fangs bared, eyes blazing like the flame of a Bunsen burner, expression one of unmistakable anger. Not so much with her predicament, but with the means of escape it was forcing her to implement. With one more swipe, Kelsey dug her claws into the monster's tentacle, pressing as much skin as she could against the rotten yellow flesh.
Her pale skin darkened into a warm burgundy. Slowly but surely, it acquired an odd shimmer as well. It almost looked like she was sweating, yet...
Red slime trickled from her pores onto the tentacle. At first, it felt warm. Then it felt hot. Then it started to fizz. Then, at a painfully rapid rate, the slime ate away at the monster's flesh.
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