2318/Blood of the Earth

Blood of the Earth
Date of Scene:	25 May 2015
Location:	Paragon City <CoH>
Synopsis:	The poisoned serum is used to try to save Vasilikos Senior, at the same time that Devouring Earth monsters start pouring out of Terra Nova! Can the heroes + Seto Kaiba stop the invasion!?
Cast of Characters:	414, Blurr, 623, 768, 769

---

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    With the ingredients that were saved from the truck convoy, Dr. Vasilikos and his team have managed to create a serum based upon the mysterious Devouring Earth's toxins in order to heal rather than harm. It could grant the elder Vasilikos a form of temporary regeneration, purge him of the alien infection, and allow transplanted tissues to be incorporated more readily. And he desperately needs such.

    Anyone who has seen the state of Vasilikos Sr. knows he's in a bad state. So much of his body is made up of crystals that they can't remove them anymore. It would leave huge, open holes in his body and missing organs (which are, for the moment, continuing to function somehow despite being crystalline). He needs something miraculous to save his life. This serum might be it. Utilizing research from other places in the Multiverse, medical techniques and DNA studies of everything from saiyans to namekians... This is a treatment that just has to help! It must at LEAST buy some time for Demetrios's investigation into prosthetic bodies and transplants to bear fruit!

    Shortly after introducing the serum, it seemed it was having a positive effect. The crystals were crumbling away all on their own. Losing their physical integrity. It was working!

    But then vital signs started plunging, and the crumbling effect was extending far beyond just the crystalline tumors. As physicians and medical technicians all began scrambling to find out what was wrong, to cut the serum feed, to undo the damage that was happening...

    To the south, the forces stationed at the entrance into Terra Volta were being overwhelmed by swarms of Devouring Earth. The security drones are still experimental. Not approved for large-scale usage due to safety concerns. They're based off of Rikti technology after all. They can't keep up with the monsters surging through the security doors and into Independence Port.

    Creatures of earth, creatures of crystal, creatures of vegetation, creatures that are humanoid fungi... All forcing their way through, and attackign anyone who gets in their way as they head north.

    Heroes have been called to respond. At least one hero is already on-site. His name is Cortex, and while he doesn't know what's happening back as Vasilikos Laboratories, he isn't about to let the monsters get past him. ut one hero alone isn't enough... And while his psychic powers can throw the enemies back, knock them unconscious, or trap them in whatever passes for their minds, he can not halt their advance.

    Something has to be done!

Cory (768) has posed:
    'Come help us stop a swarm of incredibly tough, innumerable monsters.' Saying that to Cory is like giving a kid free reign to buy everything in a candy store.

    Which is why she rockets onto the scene in a hurry. From the warp gate, to the sky, to the biggest signs of strange things going on and smoke rising in the distance! Crossing the whole city at great speed, she comes swooooooping down near the lone Cortex.

    While still above him, the eager Saiyan extends her hands and- "HAAAAYAH!!"

    Fires a THICK beam from both palms. Once it's over the horde it splits into dozens of smaller balls that rain down on their numbers. Each goes BOOM like a hefty grenade on impact!

    Of course this is to buy a bit of time. She's quick o desend. Upon landing near Cortex she tilts her head his way... "Don't suppose I should know anything about these creepies?!"

Seto Kaiba (623) has posed:
     Seto Kaiba has some image issues. While he is considered an incredibly famous and popular figure on his own world, he has been attempting to get more popularity throughout the Multiverse as a whole. Good publicity is good for business, after all. At the same time, this doesn't mean that Kaiba doesn't actively want to help people as well. His main goal is spreading Kaiba Corp until it becomes the Multiverse's number one company. But, stopping some of the Multiversal destruction that is out there is an important goal.

     Because of this, Kaiba has sent his men across the Multiverse, looking for causes to help with. And, as the chaos begins to go down in this city, one of Kaiba's men sends him a message to come immediately.

     It's only a short bit after that Kaiba arrives. His Blue-Eyes White Dragon Jet, one of the most ridiculous looking transports ever, flies in. It lands on the edge of the chaos, relatively close to Cortex. The hatch opens, and Kaiba effortlessly leaps out of the jet. His Duel Disk is already strapped to his left arm, with his deck within.

     He glances at Cortex, and then at Cory. That's... the Saiyan who has been talking on the broadband, isn't it? He turns his eyes back to Cortex. A smug look still on his face.

     "It seems you might need some help in this matter. I suppose I should offer it."

     And, he draws his cards. He holds these cards in his left hand, and immediately starts playing cards. This /might/ seem ridiculous, but honestly, there are stranger powersets out there in the Multiverse. Battling with a literal deck of cards is not that strange.

     "I set one card in my Trap and Spell Zone! And, I play... BATTLE OX IN ATTACK MODE!"

     He places the monster card down, and suddenly, the hologram appears before him. A massive armored minotaur, with a gigantic battleax. The monster roars at the oncoming hordes, and starts walking forward towards them. It'll begin to attack any of the creatures that come close to it.

Revan (414) has posed:
     Saving civilisation was a full-time job, and even if a hero saves the world, the galaxy, or the universe once that hardly means that dark forces won't try again. Lowri's agenda was already full on several fronts, and it seemed as if she had just finished fending off the convoy with its desperately-needed serum. But it would seem there would be no rest for the weary. Fortunately for her, this was her true calling even beyond being a member of the Jedi Order. There wasn't really any point in honing one's powers and skills if one wasn't going to use them for the greater good, after all.

     It wasn't long after the call went out that there was a blur of blue light arcing through the air for the leading edge of the twisted creations bearing down on the facilities, just as swiftly returning to the hand of the black-clad, hooded figure standing on the metal roof of one of the low adjacent buildings.

     With a wave, she grinned slightly down at Cortex. "As I was saying earlier, we should stop meeting like this."

     Of course, the psychic hero would be here as Dr. Vasilikos's friend and bodyguard, but Paragon City was a place that seemed to lend free range to her quirky quipping.

Blurr has posed:
    Blurr had been passing this sector of the Multiverse when he picked up on a signal out of Independence Port. Hordes of organic monsters, or so it would seem. Heh, should be dealt with easily enough! Right?

    He navigates his vessel into geosynchronous orbit and targets the source of the signal with the orbital jump transporter, quickly beaming down to the surface where the disturbance was in a flash of bright blue light. "Heh. Wow, they weren't yanking a crankcase about those hordes." he mutters to himself.

    Without further ado, he opens fire on the strange creatures, attempting to mow down as many as he can at once.

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    The black-and-purple garbed hero looks up in surprise as the glare from Cory's explosive attacks is traced back to their origin. He calls back, "They're called the Devouring Earth. We don't know much about them. They only appeared recently. Only about a month or two ago, infact! From what I've observed so far, they seem to be out to kill humans and destroy things, mostly!" He pauses long enough to release a TK blast on a green, crystalline enemy. The Geode shatters. "The crystal ones seem to be resistant to energy attacks, but don't handle blunt impacts so well. The mushroom-looking ones are resistant to blunt impacts, but vulnerable to blades, and other piercing attacks. The plant ones I don't know about a weakness for, but they're don't seem to take much damage from punches or kicks. The rock ones seem be resistant to blades, and that's about it. I don't usually face these things so--"

    When Kaiba arrives in his jet, the blonde-haired hero just kind of stares for a bit, before giving an off-handed salute and saying, "Any help would be appreciated!" And once Kaiba summons his monster to attack, it demonstrates what Cortex was talking about Re: Blade weaknesses. Fungoid and Deathspores who have been throwing poisonous, paralyzing spores at people, are hurled back by the Battle Ox's axe. Some are even defeated outright when taken together with the bombardment that Cory already did.

    The lightsaber throw carves its way through a Bladegrass enemy or two, though they don't seem to feel pain as a result. Really, NONE of these enemies seem to experience pain, no matter what's done to them. They demonstrate some level of intelligence, in that they respond to changes in their environment, change directions to avoid obstacles, prioritize threatening targets, and so on... But they aren't making any attempt at communication or reacting like beings that are suffering from the injuries being inflicted upon them by energy blasts, battle axes, laser swords, and now even more lasers! They could be golems of some kind. Or remotely manipulated. But the point is they are very numerous and not stopping until they are taken out. The dozen or so eliminated so far is barely even a dent in the mass of monstrous bodies surging towards them.

    Cortex takes the time to grin up at Revan, and summarize what he told Cory to everyone else here now. Then he says grimly, "It's good to see you again, Miss Lowri, and Cory, and to meet new heroes even under these conditions. But the Devouring Earth monsters all seem to be headed north, for some reason. Dr. Vasilikos was supposed to be treating his father today with materials utilizing the Devouring Earth, I think." He probably wasn't supposed to reveal that, but he's not thinking about doctor/patient confidentiality right now. He is focused on the buzzing of his psychic powers as he tries to fight off more of the monsters who are coming closer. "I have a bad feeling about this... You see that huge gateway over there? Where all the creatures are coming out of? That's Terra Volta. There's a nuclear power plant in there, providing energy for the whole city. Someone needs to head inside of Terra Volta and try to find out where they're all coming from, and if the power plant might be in danger. After all, if they really want to wipe us out, they could sabotage the reactor!"

    A nuclear meltdown in the middle of a city so big and so populated it practically has multiple other crowded cities inside of it. Not a pleasant prospect. "I'll try to hold them off until other local heroes arrive! Maybe all of you should head inside!" He may be overestimating his abilities if he thinks he can handle this alone. But he DOES show telekinetic abilities he has not demonstrated so far when he lifts one of the boulder-person enemies into the air, a Bedrock, and hurls it at some of the smashing-vulnerable crystalline enemies!

Blurr has posed:
    Blurr listens to CORTEX'S descriptions and warning of a potential nuclear meltdown. In the middle of such a populated area? That would certainly be disastrous! "Good Primus, can't have that now can we?" With that, he transforms and bolts off toward the gateway indicated, at the same time plowing over any monsters headed his way and scanning whatever lies beyond to determine how he might locate the reactor room, or if there is anything else of interest worth noting.

Seto Kaiba (623) has posed:
     Kaiba listens closely to the talk about weaknesses. Crystals being resistant to energy attacks makes sense. As does mushroom being weak to blades. The plant and rock ones... Hrm. No known weakness, but at least he knows what not to use. But, the talk of the power plant being in danger... Yes. That is a bad thing. And as Kaiba looks at the others, he pauses for a second.

     He is probably the only one here who is even remotely qualified to handle the technology in a nuclear power plant. He looks at the others, considering them. He views much of the world as a game, and the others are the pieces. The goal is to get to the Power Plant and Solve the Problem. As for their formation... Were this Chess, Kaiba would be the King. His monsters would be the more powerful pieces. Cory, and Blurr? ...More likely akin to pawns. Possibly Rooks. They seem rather straightforward, after all.

     He speaks, with a little bit of arrogance in his tone, "I'll lead the charge to the power plant. Everyone, cover my approach. If there is something wrong with the technology in there, I'm most qualified."

     And then, he pulls the next card from his deck, and adds it to his hand. He smirks a little bit, looking at the monster. The best defense, in many ways, is an unstoppable offense. And Kaiba is getting close to having two of his strongest monsters out.

     "I set monster card, face down... And then I immediately play Acid Trap Hole! This will trigger the effect of my face down monster, The Maiden with Eyes of Blue. Once it is flipped over, and the effect takes place, sending it to my graveyard... I can summon the most powerful monster in my deck!"

     As this plays out, a holographic card appears in the air. It's flipped over as the Acid Trap Hole appears, revealing a beautiful silver haired woman. Who immediately falls into the hole and is destroyed. Thankfully this is just really advanced holographics. Machinery in the deck pushes the card he seeks out. He pulls it out, his deck is shuffled by the same machinery, and he places it face up on the field. Causing another monster to appear.

     "I CALL YOU FORTH! MY BLUE-EYES WHITE DRAGON! Blue-Eyes White Dragon, blast at any creature not made of crystal! Battle Ox, cut at all of the mushrooms and plants!"

     And the monsters follow his orders. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon sends out powerful white-hot beams of destruction straight at the monsters that /aren't/ made of gem, which incldus the plants, mushrooms, and rock monsters. The Battle Ox, as ordered, starts trying to cut down the plant and mushroom monsters.

     And, Kaiba smiles, looking at Cory. Pointing, he says, "You. Saiyan. Handle the crystal monsters. Punch through them with your bare hands." He then turns towards the Autobot, "And you, take out everything /not/ laser resistant."

Revan (414) has posed:
     Jumping off the roof, the Jedi called out to the other familiar face. "Nice to see you guys again," she greeted Cory even as she lifted a large chunk of concrete by way of the Force and hurled it at one of the Geodes. Evading those not-so-nice looking clouds would probably be a good idea, even if she had Force-enhanced resistances to poison. "I hope no one has allergies, otherwise I'd say steer clear of those spore clouds!"

     The pale-haired Guardian frowned slightly at the advancing horde as Cortex ran through what they knew of the Devouring Earth strengths and vulnerabilities. "That's a pretty diverse group," she commented, noting the lack of pain...or much of anything beyond destruction. "I'd say they're almost like droids."

     But out of natural materials? That's just plain weird.

     Even weirder was /where/ they were coming from. "A nuclear plant? That's a bit rustic..." Lowri shook her head. Paragon City was definitely an interesting place with its mix of insanely-advanced and ridiculously obsolete -- by her galaxy's standards -- technology. And she didn't like the idea of leaving Cortex to hold off the swarm until reinforcements arrived, but it seemed as if there wasn't much of a choice. "All right, if you're..."

     And then she watched as Cortex threw a boulder down the way with a low whistle. "Have you been working out? Ah, never mind..."

     She did, however, have something definitely unorthodox for a Jedi. Sheathing one of her lightsabers, Revan took a sonic grenade out from a side pouch at her belt and tossed it into the middle of the advancing Devouring Earth, careful to position the blast out of the range of where it might pose a problem for the reactor. The frequency was too low to do damage to any of the buildings, but hopefully the Devouring Earth wouldn't be so lucky.

     "It's not a thermal detonator, but it'll do. I'm not so sure I'd want to use one this close to /that/, anyway," Revan remarked before heading for the reactor.

Cory (768) has posed:
    "Gaah. That's a lot to remember. I'll focus on the Cry--" And then in comes Saiba, shouting orders. Just on reflex Cory whirls around and takes to the air, glaring at him. "Who are you supposed to be?!" But he does seem to have some good ideas, so she doesn't do more than that.

    "Don't go wrecking everything this time, turbo!" She yells at Blurr... then rises skyward.. only to PLUNGe at high speed for some of the crystal creatures like a rocket. All punches and kicks!

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    Blurr runs over many of the enemies, sending them flying, on his way towards Terra Volta's security gate, though few are actually defeated. He's in such a rush! When he makes it through, he enters into a sprawling area that is not what most people would envision a nuclear power plant looking like. There are smoke stacks and silos and high walls and roads that descend and rise in a labyrinth like city of industrial equipment, buildings, iron walkways overhead, and so on! On top of that, the tide of Devouring Earth fills the streets, and OTHER villain groups are even trying to stop them! A bunch of people who seem to be part-flesh, and part-machine are doing battle on various platforms and areas. Jetpack-utilizing criminals who only appeared back towards the end of April, seem to be taking potshots with laser rifles... And getting thorns and boulders thrown at them in turn.

    In the shadows homeless folk encountered before, in Perez Park, seem to be watching from the shadows, and only taking action if the monsters come close. At which point, the Lost attack with a mix of street-level weapons like baseball bats and handguns, and bizarrely advanced weapons like hand-held energy guns, buzzing green electrical energy rifles, and even psychic attacks from some of the more physically-warped looking members.

    It's a real nightmare! And Blurr just charged right into the middle of it. Dozens of enemies focus on him and start bombarding him with attacks!

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    Cortex seems confused by Kaiba's method of using his powers, but willing to accept it. There's lots of weirdness in this city. He throws boulder people around with his brain. He's hardly one to talk! But he seems horrified when some woman gets thrown into an acid pit to summon a dragon! "Wh-what the--!?" he starts. But he's beginning to realize this may not be all that it appears to be. "...H-holograms or something?" he asks cautiously, before having to switch his attention onto a new wave of enemies charging towards them.

    The laser bombardment from the Blue-Eyes White Dragon seems plenty effective against the other Devouring Earth minions, even without a specific vulnerability to such. It also pushes back those who aren't defeated outright. Some of the Bladegrass enemies seem to suffer extra damage when an abandoned vehicle caught in the path of the laser explodes. Plant enemy weakness revealed! They're weak to fire! ...Makes sense! Though the rock enemies still remain a mystery except for blades not doing much to them, they take damage like normal from dragon lasers anyway.

    The Fungoids and Deathcaps are cut down thanks to the combination of lasering and axing, and the ones who survive to throw spore bombs or release them at close range for a highly inconvenient sleep-effect are weakened by Revan's sonic grenade, causing the damage they take from everyone ELSE to be even MORE effective.

    Cortex takes the time to respond to Revan with, "I've been practicing trying to emulate abilities I've seen you use! I'm still early in my career, and I'm sure I have plenty of untapped potential I can use to pick up new powers!" That Boulder he threw earlier is still drawing more enemies to it as it flies back. More and more enemies are gathering together into a huge ball of Boulders, Bedrocks, Bladegrass, Razorvines, Fungoids, and Geodes! But it also seems to be taking a lot out of Cortex. He's sweating heavily from maintaining that power, AND shooting mental blasts at the same time.

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    Thankfully, Cory dives in and starts smashing apart the crystalline foes, freeing up some of the burden from Cortex, so he doesn't have to sustain them as well. With mineral-based enemies falling left and right, and the combined efforts of everyone here, it seems like they have a chance! ...If only reinforcements weren't constantly being provided from inside Terra Volta. Speaking of enemy reinforcements, there seems to be movement. A moving carpet of green and brown figures... Miniature versions of the crystal and rock enemies. Oh, shoot. Every one of those bigger versions defeated has been producing much smaller versions. There's several dozen headed this way, scrambling and leaping over obstacles, and preparing to attack with their jagged little limbs!

Seto Kaiba (623) has posed:
     Kaiba gives a slight glance backwards at Cortex. This is actually one of his favorite ways of judging people: their reaction to his power. His face remains calm as he looks towards the hero, and he explains, keeping it brief as possible, "Holograms." And with that, he keeps moving forward. Since he is on foot, he's not as fast Blurr, or Cory. But still, he's continueing to head forward, flaked by his monster.

     He makes note of the plants catching fire. This is... Logical, at least. Still, considering he doesn't have any Pyro or Fire Attribute monsters in his deck, he'll simply have to take care of this in a significantly simpler way. Continued use of extreme force. He draws his next card. A slight frown. Not the /most/ useful card in the current situation, buuuut... If he draws the right card, it could be incredibly useful. He adds it to his hand, while pulling out another card.

     "I summon La Jinn, the Mystical Genie of the Lamp, in Attack mode! Continue to hold off the monsters!"

     His Blue-Eyes and Battle Ox continue with the strategy. The newly arrived green genie whose lower half is just a trail of smoke joins in on the action. It moves towards the crystal creatures, punching at them as well. It's trying to add to Kaiba's line of defense. If a /single/ Devouring Earth so much as approaches Kaiba, his monsters will move to his defense, to block the attacks for him.

     The spores, sadly, are not something Kaiba has an easy way of handling. As such, as long as he is not actively drawing cards, playing cards, or giving orders, he has his hand over his mouth, with a napkin. As some of the spores come close to him, it /does/ make him a bit drowsy. But, as long as his monsters can continue to hold the Devouring Earth back....

     He looks at his deck. This battle is going well so far, but they're not even where they need to be yet. He needs to draw the right card. And he needs to stay safe. He turns to Lowri, pulling the cloth from his mouth for a second.

     "So. What /can/ you do, aside throwing those loud bombs, and lightning from your hand?"

Cory (768) has posed:
    "How're we supposd to break through when these things just keep coming?!" Cory exclaims while volleyball-fist smashing a crystal foe. It's getting her hands somewhat cut up but she picks out crystal slivers whenever they pierce her skin. Both hands are now somewhat bloody, but it's not slowing her down.

    IN fact, she's only speeding up. White winds kick up around her as she zigzags and pinballs from foe to foe. Not just sticking to the crystals either. EVERYTHING in-between is a target of opportunity for a flurry of kicks, punches, and slams faster than the naked eye can see!

    From afar, it looks like a whirlwind of impacts and blurs, with each blow kicking up a shockwave and cracking the ground...

Blurr has posed:
    Blurr isn't really sure who all the other weird people in here are, but they seem to be helping against the 'Devouring Earth' as Cortex had called them. So they -must- be allies, right? Right! Thus he pays them no mind, blasting and battering the Devouring Earth minions as best he can but not really trying to destroy them completely. That's not the central objective, anyway, right? The main goal here is to make sure a nuclear meltdown doesn't occur and wipe out scores of innocent humans. Besides, with the number of these things, just cutting them down with pure firepower wasn't going to them much good!

    Doing his best to plow through the hordes of elementals, he keeps scanning the area in search of a central control room from which he might be able to determine the status of the reactor or if it might have something to do with where the slag these things were coming form.

Revan (414) has posed:
     Just as it might seem that Cortex was about to be overwhelmed, the very shadows themselves seemed to rise up, ensnaring the Devouring Earth in inky, near-transparent tentacles. Though they seemed ridiculously faint, the mutated creatures were held fast, immobilised in place. Seconds later, a petite figure in muted green and charcoal-grey dropped down out of the sky, cratering the ground where the group had been trapped. Once the dust settled, it revealed a woman with red hair cut just above the shoulders, dressed not in a costume but a moss-green vest over a charcoal shirt and slacks, a pair of round glasses on her face, and her fists covered in fingerless gloves and wreathed in shadowy energy.

     Dropping into a stance which seemed like a bizarre cross between boxing and Tai Chi, she yelled at the group over her shoulder in a Northern Irish accent. "Go! We'll hold 'em off!"

     Meanwhile, Revan drew her lightsabers again and ignited them in a single motion even as she ran through the evacuated gateway, lifting another chunk of concrete to clear her path through another wave. Blurr was already there, and the Cybertronian sure seemed to attract a lot of attention! Which fortunately gave her enough time to reach out with the Force and start tracing the exact location of the source of the waves of Devouring Earth.

     "A little of this, a little of that," the Jedi answered distractedly, her answer vague as she concentrated. It didn't take long for her to find it, with the insane energy radiating from a location not far from the reactor itself.

     "Got it! I have the location of the source. This way!"

     And possibly to Kaito's dismay, Lowri began making her way there, though trying not to aggro what groups of mutated homeless people, punks into all manner of extreme body modification, and oddly stylish air pirates.

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    Oh, okay. Holograms. Well, that's okay then. Cortex can no longer sustain his Telekinesis, and lets it lapse as he falls to one knee, exhausted. That's a new power for him, and a very draining one. Thankfully, Seto's monsters are doing a good job of keeping the area clear, and with Blurr holding up Devouring Earth traffic INSIDE of Terra Volta, there's a clear path to get inside! ...Except for the Underling opponents! They're tiny, but they still pack a punch. Or a stab.

    As Cory just rolls her way through the tiny enemies, crushing them in a flurry of kicks and punches, all tinged with her blazing aura of Ki, even that threat is dispose of for now. With the ball of enemies weakened by the sonic grenade now getting lasered as they lie in a pile, and slashed, and punched, the sudden quiet that follows makes it seem like the battle is over.

    But inside the Trial Zone itself, the battle still rages on. As soon as Blurr is no longer the target of their attention, the waves of attackers are going to pour through again. This is the chance to go in there and stop all this. And help Blurr.

    Speaking of Blurr, as he smashes and shoots his way through the streets, and the hordes of monsters crowding them, he's quite a distance to the actual nuclear power plant on the complete opposite side of this zone. Getting anywhere near a control room is going to be quite a task, and he's getting super-hardened thorns, boulders, toxic spores, extremely sharp crystak shards, and melee range attacks thrown at him the entire time. Even a transformer may be taking a significant beating. Most of these things are 8 to 10 feet tall. Some are even taller! But he is also reducing their numbers. And as he does, it's becoming more apparent that the new monsters are not coming from the reactor, but from somewhere much closer.

    Revan takes out one of the Geodes trying to climb to its feet with a ball of compressed concrete to its crystalline face, and the others in the pile are snared and kept at bay. The many smaller Devouring Earth monsters likewise suffers the grip of shadowy tendrils, and possibly soon the wrath of the Dark Scrapper who has just appeared! There may be other heroes visibly on the way as well, travelling by super jumping right over or even OFF OF the water, or flying through the air, or teleporting in amidst several short 'jumps'. This place isn't known as the 'City of Heores' for nothing! But for now, Cortex and Siobhan are taking care of business, while the others are free to head into the factory-city and deal with the source of the problem... Which, as Revan noticed, is a highly concentrated source of warped life energy. Cory might likewise pick it up if she focuses on it. An energy signature like a small piece of a god.

    Once Revan (and possibly others) get inside, they'll see what Blurr has been dealing with all this time, and the many bodies of monsters lying around as they either crumble to pieces or start to fade out of existence. It's doubtful any of them are going to be incarcerated, but they can't just be left lying around either. They might still be dangerous!

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    Across the way, in the middle of one of the roads, a terrifying creature stands. It's like a twisted mockery of the human form. It has arms, and legs, and a torso, and something like a head, but there the resemblance ends. Its flesh is bizarre, mottled and wrinkled and smooth and scaled. A leathery hide with hints of amphibian slime. It has three digits on each 'hand'. A clawed thumb and two more claws. Its feet can't seem to decide whether they are hooves or claws, and settled on a mix of multiple of each. Its face is the most hideous of all. A squirming mass of worm-snake-things in a mouth that comprises almost all of its face. No visible eyes, ears, nose, or other features. Just a misshapen head, and pale, segmented lengths, wiggling and writhing in the air.

    The Lesser Devoured is not the source of the life energy.

    The knee-height, amoeba-like blob sitting next to it is. A tunnel coming up out of the street lies behind the Lesser Devoured Boss, but the monsters are not coming out of there either. There is a sparking surge of energy, and spores in the air suddenly begin rapidly growing and developing into more of the mushroom-headed enemies. That thing is the source of the Devouring Earth invasion! Such a small thing is producing all of them! And that Lesser Devoured is guarding it!

Seto Kaiba (623) has posed:
     As Kaiba moves forward, he pulls forth another card from his deck. He eyes it. A small smirk on his face again. While his deck is not being as kind to him as it occasionally is, such is just the luck of the draw. His mind briefly wanders back towards his duel with Yugi. The whole 'heart of the cards' thing... No. Decks don't have their own souls. It's not as if his deck is rebelling against him, or something. It's just luck that he has none of his easy fast ways to pull out all three Blue-Eyes.

     He glances back at his hand. Yes, there is a Blue-Eyes in it. But with the need to use multiple types of damage, he isn't going to play it. There is something that would likely be significantly more effective, in this /particular/ situation. And as such, he holds up his newly drawn card.

     "I play Polymerization! With it, I combine together my Battle Ox, with the Mystic Horseman in my hand, thereby creating a powerful new monster! The Rabid Horseman!"

     There is a swirl in the air, of multiple colors. The Battle Ox is drawn into it, along with a figure of a card from his hand. Essentially, a centaur man. They're combined together, into one creature. The Battle Ox's torso, with the centaur's bottom. A Minotaur centaur. It lets out a beastial roar.

     Kaiba finally catches up to where Blurr is. And then, Kaiba spots the creature creating spores. Creating monsters. Well. That's easy enough. They now know where monsters are coming from. And it is basically /completely/ miniscule. Likely to be absolutely no threat.

     "Rabid Horseman La Jinn, hold off any enemies that come near me. And, by Blue-Eyes White Dragon... Vaporize it with your Burst Stream attack!"

     The Rabid Horseman and LaJinn stay near Kaiba, attacking anything that /dares/ to come near him. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon flaps its wings, going into the air. It begins to open its mouth, a ball of white plasma forming inside of it. And then, it unleashes it at the small blob. While this is likely to break up the ground a /bit/ in the process, and possibly even catch the creature next to it in the blast? Kaiba feels that they should hold /nothing/ back taking out the creature causing this mess.

Blurr has posed:
    Hmm, the control room is a ways from here. Blurr could get there fast, but that might cause extensive property damage that might to a meltdown anyway. And it seems from the energy signatures in the area, that the source of the hordes isn't actually in the reactor after all, which is somewhat of a relief. No, in fact it seems to be much closer than that.

    Finally, he's able to pinpoint its location. But...slag. It's so -tiny-. He'll have to use a holomatter projection to attempt to access it. So he wastes no time in activating the projector, sending the hard-light-like hologram to materialize near it and attempt to simply grab it.

    In the meantime, his actual form tries to lay on the laser blasts, though now a bit sidetracked with his attention divided on top of all those attacks from the smaller monsters. The main point is to keep the thing occupied though, and hopefully the rest of the team will help him along in that regard!

Cory (768) has posed:
    As the monsters fall, Cory takes a few moments to gather her wits and regain some Ki. A huge assault like that does wind her a bit. Just as she lands and tries to catch her breath though... "--Auwh?!"

    It's like lightning just struck her. The young Saiyan woman twirls in place to face the direction that strange sensation's coming from. "What the hell's THAT?!"

    Instead of running off on her own she swoops over to Revan for a team-up.

    And by the time they both arrive... she's had ample time to get a look at the Lesser Devoured... and the freakish amoeba. "Okay... whaaaaaat are we LOOKING at?"

    The ground and walls around her crack slightly from a wash of energy, the white aura shifting red and gradually intensifying.

    "We've got our target. THAT THING!"

Revan (414) has posed:
     Nothing was ever easy, was it? Tracking the source of that life energy was simple enough, but the creature next to it certainly looked unfriendly. To say nothing of how angry it would be when they tried to deal with the amoeba-like object.

     "It's pretty crazy," she admitted to Cory, assessing the situation. It looked like Kaiba had the situation with the Hamidon bud in hand with his holograms -- she was really going to have to get a better look at /those/ when this was all through -- but the Lesser Devoured was going to need to be lured away while others worked on destroying the bud.

     Revan used the Force to channel energy and released a blast of lightning at the clawed monstrosity before leaping back. If it worked, the creature would attempt to close the gap...and ignore the others in favour of dealing with a more direct threat.

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    The dragon's laser breath blasts towards the Hamidon Bud, wiping out the newly-created Fungoids! But for some reason the Hamidon Bud itself is not destroyed. It's a lot tougher than its size would indicate. But it also took damage, based on how its healthy, prismatic hue has darkened. Blurr's attempt to grab the very source of the monsters doesn't go over very well, even if it's just a holographic projection with a physical form. This is due to a combination of the dragon blasting it and it not wanting to be grabbed. Heavily damaged, the blob shoots a bio-electric bolt towards the Blurr hologram. It doesn't do a LOT of damage if it hits, but the electrolytic attack may be enough to keep the hologram from picking it up!

    Destroying it outright may be a better option. The Lesser Devoured next to it babbles out in a mix of monstrous, inhuman noises, and... Disturbingly HUMAN speech, "You will not thwart the Hamidon!" It raises its claws in preparation to attack the nearest enemy in defense of the Hamidon Bud, but then it is being accosted with electricity, pulling its attention onto Revan. The lightning seems to have a... Disappointingly small effect on it. There's some scorch marks on its exterior, but the damage is greatly reduced from what it should have been. Great, so even THIS enemy is resistant! What's its weakness? Does it even have one? (Spoiler: It doesn't.)

    Instead of charging towards Revan, it does something disgusting and horrifying as she gains its aggro. It spews out a cloud of buzzing insects akin to a cross between killer bees, wasps, and horse flies. The cloud of insects could flying right at her at high speed, and if they succeed in engulfing her and attacking her, their painful stings carry a toxin that also reduces her speed and reaction time. And the effect only increases with multiple stings. GROSS. And also ANNOYING.

    The Hamidon Bud is not faring well at all, but the Lesser Devoured is still close to full health. Why do these final two enemies have to be so uncooperative after the heroes have done so well up to this point!?

    As Cory powers up, it seems no attention is being paid to her by the Bosses. Possibly a fatal mistake. But Minion level enemies, plants, rocks, and mushrooms, are all closing in on her. The Rabid Horseman succeeds in driving most of them back from both Cory and Seto, but not standing around is probably a good idea even so. Meanwhile, Blurr's lasers are helping to take down the remaining enemies just like the Rabid Horseman. With the Hamidon Bud occupied defending itself instead of making more monsters, and the other villains in the area doing their part (for their own self-interests, of course), it should shortly be down to just the Lesser Devoured and the already-weakened Hamiblob! Meaning... It's time to lay on the firepower! The smoking crater the Hamiblob is sitting in from the Blue-Eyes White Dragon's laser breath is evidence it is not invincible despite its crazy levels of life energy. Focused attacks from everyone could be just what's needed right now!

Blurr has posed:
    The avatar is struck with the electricity. Yikes, that hurt. It flickers in and out of existence for a moment, cracking appearing the holomatter matrix. It even disappears completely for a few astroseconds, only to reappear again in a different spot--though still close to the bud.

    Slag, he'd been hoping he might be able to disable it and take it back to Kimia for analysis, but it seems that won't be an option. "Fine, you wanna play rough?" the avatar taunts the blob. "We'll play rough!" The projection then grabs a piece of sharp debris that has fallen to the ground in the midst of all the fighting and chaos, then attempts to simply -impale- the thing straight through the middle with the makeshift weapon.

    Meanwhile, Blurr's true form staggers a bit when the avatar was struck by the electricity, taking a moment to recover. Once he has, he is disappointed to find that the attacks thus far have had little effect on the ugly snake monster, which can apparently talk too. Hm, maybe they need to try a different approach. The weapons on his arms cycle, switching instead to a stun weapon which won't likely do much actual damage but will hopefully cause temporary paralysis instead. Again, no time is wasted in firing it at the thing.

Seto Kaiba (623) has posed:
     The number of monsters is still overwhelming, even for someone with as much firepower as Kaiba. He frowns towards the blob beast. The Hamiblob, it sounds like. He's ignoring its protector. Taking it out should be easy once the Hamiblob is gone. At the least, it'll mean less of a continuous monster flow. Antoher attack from the Blue-Eyes might do it, but as Kaiba looks at the Rabid Horseman and the La Jinn, fighting off the hordes of monsters... Eventually, these two creatures will be overwhelmed as well. His deck does have cards that could make this easier. A lot easier. Two specific cards would be /incredibly/ useful right now. Simply pull one or the other, and he can ensure their victory. He is certain of it.

     He pulls out the card from his deck.

     A smirk appears on his face.

     "I PLAY SWORDS OF REVEALING LIGHT!"

     From the sky, a number of blades made of pure light appear. They create a barrier between Kaiba and his monsters, and any allies near him. They also aim to pin in a number of nearby monsters. Essentially, this is a field control spell. Limit movement of all enemies, while not limiting the movement range of Kaiba and his allies. They'll allow his allies to pass freely.

     "And then... I will tribute my La Jinn the Magical Genie of the Lamp, and my Rabid Horseman, to summon forth my second Blue-Eyes White Dragon! BOTH OF YOU! BURST STREAM!"

     The end-target is in sight. In theory, Kaiba could send his Rabid Horseman to cleave the monster. But, Kaiba /knows/ how gel monsters work. They tend to split. Reproduce. Especially when cut. He does /not/ want to risk a chance of this thing splitting into two, and making the situation suddenly a /lot/ worse. And, so, the two monsters break into particles, bringing forth a second Blue-Eyes White Dragon. And, in unison, both of the pure white dragons fire their giant beam breath attacks.

     Kaiba, of course, is looking /incredibly/ smug, and gives a sidelong glance to Lowri. "Don't worry. Once this creature is destroyed, I'll help your /own/ predictament."

Cory (768) has posed:
    When a buzzing insect cloud comes flying at Cory and Revan, Cory BOLTS. Skyward! "good luck with that! You just gotta buy time!" Of course, Revan's likely to do way, WAY more than that...

    But Cory's unaware, of course.

    The young tailed woman adjusts her clothing, reaching within her gi to unlatch two belts from over shoulders and drop them to the ground. She does similar after rolling up her sleeves and sliding off a half-dozen weight bands from each arm. Several more are released from her legs in the next few seconds. The whole assortment drops like a rocket.

    No, really, when it hits, it's like someone dropped a bunch of boulders. Good heavens, what kinda weight IS that?!

    "That's better! Okay, you wanna see 'energy beam?'" A wild smile's cast at Kaiba, then...

    "KAIOKEN TIMES TEN!" The building red aura finally catalyzes, tightening and compressing into a mini-inferno!

    Still airborn, Chikorri cups her hands together and brings them to her side, beginning the familiar chant. "Kaaaaa... meeeeee....."

    Instead of the typical quick shots she's been doing recently, THIS one shows its power immediately. A blinding spark of blue-white power expands to fill the space between both hands, thrashing and pulsing in a bid to escape. But escape it does not. Instead it compresses like a collapsing star's core and builds on more layers from within....

    "Haaaaa.... meeeeeeeeee...." The building Ki whirls and rages, spears of light escaping from Cory's fingers as it seems to hit the limit... and BEYOND.

    In a single, decisive motion she thrusts both hands down towards the Hamiblobs-- "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!"

    BLINDING. What emerges from those palms is so bright that looking upon it is the same as staring at the sun. The light cast by off by this tsunami of Ki bleaches everything a harsh whitish-blue and casts immense shadows hundreds of feet long. Then there's the NOISE. A sizzling, crackling, whooshing sound at thunderous volumes!

    The source of this sensational overload?

    A MASSIVE beam perhaps two or three times as wide as Chikorri is tall. Yes, it's thick as a redwood trunk, and coming down at a steep diagonal for the Hamiblob.

    If the Lesser Devoured gets in the way? Oh well.

    Either way this is going to hurt.

    In fact, it's probably a good idea to stay FAR AWAY from it, or take cover. On impact, well...

    There's probably going to be one HELL of a crafter left. Beware flying debris!

Revan (414) has posed:
     Well, bother. Admittedly, the lightning was mostly to get its attention -- which she certainly had /now/ -- but Lowri had hoped to slow it down a little. No such luck, it seemed. Things then got considerably more annoying when she was suddenly assaulted with all manner of insects that she personally couldn't identify as an outworlder. Whatever they were, they were not helping her situation.

     Deciding against using her lightsabers, as the Lesser Devoured seemed to be immune or at least highly resistant to energy, Lowri's options were rather limited. Yet, she had an idea, though it would come at something of a cost to her, veering dangerously into Dark Side territory. But if the Devouring Earth were things of life, then perhaps they wouldn't take to death energies so well.

     For all his smugness, she smiled sweetly at Kaiba. "You might want to focus properly before it regenerates," she quipped before casting her Death Field.

     It was a forbidden technique that she had been on the receiving end of when she fought her former friend and apprentice for the final time, a dark power which used the Force to drain life and energy from victims, even healing the wielder. It was not something she wanted to tap regularly...or at all, really. But with Swarms, a Lesser Devoured, and a Hamidon bud, it seemed that veering into that territory was unfortunately necessary.

     Returning her lightsabers to her belt and thrusting her arms forward, Revan reached out with the Force in the area around her, draining the Devouring Earth of their vitality.

     Unfortunately, both her eyes were glowing purple with the effort, so that wasn't something she wanted to make a regular habit of.

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    HoloBlurr's attack is successful, piercing the Boss and nailing it in place! ...of course it's kind of gelatinous so maybe it can just ooze around it, but it's also made of living organic matter, and breaching its cell membrane like that has got to have seriously damaged it!

    His REAL self's attempt at paralyzing the Lesser Devoured seems to work pretty well, as it is frozen in the act of pulling its head back: whether to spew another Swarm or something even worse remains unknown! Because it doesn't get to attack!

    Lowri's attack seems to be effective, as it defeats the rather flimsy Swarm, causing the many insect bodies to fall to the ground in a twitching pile, and then siphons the life from the Lesser Devoured. With Kaiba's sword forcefield keeping any help from the remaining handful from coming, and Blurr keeping the monster paralyzed, Revan succeeds in draining the Lesser Devoured until it reaches the point of defeat.

    Then it collapses to the ground. It had... A LOT of life energy bound up in it. A twisted sort of essence, part human and part other things. Nowhere near as much energy as the Hamidon Bud. Not enough to stand out to senses. But its vitality and stamina were considerable. Now, however, the fight with this thing seems to be over.

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    Meanwhile, the severely injured Hamidon Bud, damaged first by a painful dragon laser nuke, then impalement dangerously close to its nucleus from Blurr's hologram, is getting Even More Lasernuked. Cory's attack blends together with the double dragon lasers of Kaiba's summoned monsters, not only finishing off the Hamidon Bud, but also collapsing the tunnel that the Devouring Earth used to get here! ...Aaaaand a couple of storage silos collapse on top of the ruined section of street, burying it. There's no sign of the amoeba-thing except some scorched plasm-like material that is disintegrating before their eyes.

    It looks like the mission is over! But just as that's happening, the group gets a message from Cortex over the radio...

    Clue Discovered!

    Cortex's Dire Message

    'Cortex had this to say over the radio, when the Devouring Earth monsters were defeated. "Good job, everyone. The Devouring Earth monsters have stopped coming through. There's probably some left on your end, but they're not important right now." For someone providing good news, he sounded awfully grim. "Listen, I've just heard... Dr. Vasilikos's fath--patient didn't respond well to the treatment. We think he may be dying."'

    And on THAT happy note...

    Dun dun DUNNNN... DUN!

    MISSION COMPLETE!

http://paragonwiki.com/w/images//3/39/MissionComplete1.ogg