675/Chasing the Dream

Chasing the Dream
Date of Scene:	25 September 2014
Location:	Flying Island
Synopsis:	Having learned the Doctor is looking for malevolent red flowers to turn Mimiga into his personal weapons of death, our heroes rush to the sand zone hoping to get there first and put an end to his evil scheme.
Cast of Characters:	Deelel, Staren, 151, 154, 403, 541, 577
Tinyplot:	Cave Story

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Quote (403) has posed:
    Earlier..."Do you understand what this means? It's not just Sue that's in danger now."

    "He's going after the flowers. He *knows* where they are. They're in the Sand Zone."

    "He's going to use you. As weapons of death."

    "I'm not going to let that happen!"

    "... Activated. This pad's now linked to the Sand Zone."

    Preparations have been made, but haste is required. Perhaps no more than an hour ago, the Doctor learned where to find what he had been seeking. A store of Red Flowers, large enough to permit him to turn all the island's Mimiga into his own personal army. A brutal horde of monsters that feel no pain, no fear, only anger. An army under his complete control, one all but immune to bullets, lasers, and any other of the weapons of this world. Not an invincible army, certainly, but one that could cause great mayhem and death.... particularly among the innocent. Even if that army never set foot upon the soil of the surface world, innocents would die. Innocents used to create the army itself.

    A quick call goes out. This is no longer about rescuing a single girl, or even a group of scientists. There's little time though. Those who can go, those who are ready and willing, those are the ones who must act.

    Those stepping through the teleporter will go from the comfortable light and atmosphere of Arthur's cozy home to the harshest environment in the Flying Island. The Sand Zone is bright and dry, though not incredibly hot. There's really only one place to go, at least at first. A short distance away from the teleporter, the cave opens into the bottom of a chasm leading upwards. The climb doesn't look too difficult, even for those lacking special equipment.

    As the group proceeds one by one through the teleporter, a figure appears at the bottom of the chasm, peering down the short caveway at the gathering group. It's a girl. A human woman, apparently. Blonde, wearing red cargo pants and a midriff-revealing tank top. She's only there for a few seconds however. Without acknowledging anyone, she turns and abruptly heads back where she came from, presumably up the nearly-sheer wall of the chasm.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley is prepared for a fight. She brought her longsword and she's got some basic leather armor on to at least protect her from scratches and cuts along the way. The lizard girl looks tired, though, with a perpetual frown on her face. When she goes through the teleporter, her body crackles with electricity as if it had interacted oddly with her magic, or she just has an excess of electrical energy in her right now.

    It's the stress weighing on her, though no one would really know that.

    A desert-themed cavern environment. She seems to regain some pep in her step, marching forward. She stops when she sees the strange silent figure, and lets out a "W-wait...!" as she runs off like that. Ainsley breaks into a run ahead, and then looks up the cliffs, realizing she'd never catch whoever that was easily.

    She begins flying, full vertical. Not quickly, though, fully prepared to get attacked by some manner of wildlife, especially in a zone that reminds her so much of where she used to live.

Marrik (541) has posed:
"What in the hell?" Marrik coughed while fumbling through his coat pockets for the mask he'd worn when he was selling at Brockton. Once his face was covered he breathed deep. Sparks quickly went back to the teleporter since she would be no good with all this grit in the air, and having eyes on the village seemed like a good idea. He patted himself over and made a slow turn around to see what he could see. That is when he spotted the human woman and let out a short whistle before pointing. "We've got- damn, gone." A length of spidersilk rope and a grapple were brought out and slung over his shoulder. Sure he didn't need yet, but he would. Yet he waited for Quote's lead before moving. He was not familiar with this terrain or what was ahead, and it cost him nothing to wait a few moments before following someone else's lead.

Leyanne Mace (154) has posed:
Leyanne Mace steps through the portal crouched, with a fairly generic solid-shot assault rifle in her hand. She's not wearing a helmet, but she does have a filter-mask over her nose and mouth. She ducks behind a rock as she sees movement, though she holds her fire.
"Movement!" She calls out, her voice rendered flat and monotone. "Multiple bats, plus one human-sized unknown, blonde hair."

Staren has posed:
    The past hour or so has been very educational. At least, Staren learned a lot about the story of what's up on the island -- that the mysterious Doctor was one of the scientists sent here, how Sue and Kazuma and Booster got away and Sue got transformed, how a Mimiga was turned into that monster they fought in the Egg Corridor... and what the Doctor may be trying to do. Also, apparently Staren's girlfriend is afraid of bats. So, she'll be staying behind to watch the village, it seems. They can talk about this later, if she wants to, but right now, there is a bad guy who urgently needs stopping! Staren bids Twilight goodbye with a long hug and then heads through the teleporter.

    Upon seeing the woman, he waves. "Hey! You there! Hey! Heeeeeeey!" But, she's gone. "Did she somehow not see us...?" Staren heads on through the cavern. Desert, huh? Hopefully he won't be around the sand long enough for it to mess up his armor.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel has been making ready to day she's got the basic idea of what's up, the monsters have proven disturbing. She knew of things in her world but they were made that way. Organics should have some level of surival drive and these thigns don't. Either way she's ready as she's ever going to be really. The bit about the flowers and what they do, or so far as she's got the idea from listening. She's looking pretty serious but then comes someone else she pauses for a moment and bolts after her like Anisley trying to keep up with her and find out whom this new person is.

"Halt!"

Okay that came out bad but it's a old force of habit for her really.

Chika (577) has posed:
    There is a cat here.

    Not just any cat, either. It's big for a house cat, though not much different in appearance, and it's wearing a leather hat shaped to fit over its ears. Some kind of bag is belted around its cream-colored belly -- white canvas, decorated with a red paw print, and obviously stuffed -- and in its paws, it's gripping the end of what looks like a plain wooden stick carved kind of into a flat blade shape. Red cloth wraps the end of the stick to improve the cat's grip.

    It -- or she, if the sound of her voice is anything to go by, though really, she sounds like a cat so it's anybody's guess -- she isn't taking any nonsense from those bats! "Hya! Nyaaa! MRAH! You think you're tough!" The stupid wooden sword she's got is surprisingly not useless! She's giving it her all to thin the flock's number!

    But, she's only a cat, so she's kind of short? Like, less than half Ainsley's height, that's for sure. She can't reach these things so well.

Quote (403) has posed:
    The bugs in the chasm, large as they are, aren't particularly aggressive. Unlike much of the wildlife in the caves so far, they don't charge headlong at those who invade their territory, and they don't pursue. It's possible that whatever has stirred creatures in the other zones might not have stirred things up here... or perhaps these are just a mellow brand of giant bug compared to the uptight ones in the Egg corridor.

    Of course that's assuming you're not a catling standing right in the middle of their nesting grounds, swatting at them with a wooden sword and quite possibly attracting them with food packed away somewhere. They seem to be paying plenty of attention to Chika, and much less attention to Ainsley and the others should they decide to leave good enough alone.

    At the top of the chasm, the cavern extends in two directions. The shorter of the two paths dead-ends at a Mimiga-styled burrow-home, one that looks well-maintained. The longer path heads a ways away, the stony ground full of lumps and ramps, before being blocked by a wall of what appears at cursory examination to be sand.

Marrik (541) has posed:
"Strange even by my standards." Marrik shrugged at the stuffed cat and used his magic to swat away bats that got in his way. 'Bat away' being more 'drained the life from these beetle critters' really. He wasn't being flashy, or hitting anything that wasn't directly in his way, partially because they were possibly being watched an wanted whoever to think he had far less range than he really did, and because he wanted to see if the rest would get the point and leave.

At the crossroads Marrik frowned. "So who here thinks the overgrown path goes where we want?" He stood at the fork and hrmed, seemingly reluctant to pick a path as he sent his magic out. His motions were smooth and resembled a person doing a kata in place. Why was he being fancy now? The whole point was to probe the wall to see if he could decay it down and out of the way without any tunnel collapsing on them. It was a big wall so him getting rid of it in total would be tricky at best.

Staren has posed:
    Staren wants to chase the mysterious woman, but there's a catgirl besieged by beetles! "Hey! WHo are you? Hang on..." Staren pulls out a grenade and throws it at some of the beetles, hoping to take out some of them and scare the rest away. If that deals with the problem, he asks: "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Chika (577) has posed:
    Chika takes one more wild swing right before Staren throws his grenade and she's forced to duck back. As the grenade pops, she pulls her hat lower and hunkers toward the ground, her tail bristling up in startled reaction.

    Smoke and beetle parts clearing the air, Chika stands back up and almost primly dusts off her knees and straightens out her whiskers. "Mrrr...the /name/ is Chika! As to why I'm here, I...oh! What are /you/ doing here? What's /your/ name?" She blinks her big blue eyes in curious inspection of Staren, then seems to smile. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter. You know how to use a grenade, and that's good enough to deal with those beetle bats! Say, can I return the favor? Help you out?"

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley pauses to look at Chika, who appears to be accosted by bug creatures. She carefully examines the situation, not sure how to handle it... and then she shrugs her shoulders, and continues ascending through the chasm, not really interested in helping Chika if she thinks she can handle the bug creatures. She doesn't anticipate anyone having trouble with these beetle things.

    "Weird," she says aloud. She can't say she's seen anything quite like that. The sound of the grenade going off behind her makes the lizard girl's feathers bristle, glancing back to make sure no one got hurt before continuing.

Quote (403) has posed:
    Quote has no particular need to take the lead here. Taking the lead made sense in the Bushlands since he'd been there before, but he doesn't know anything about this zone that the others don't.

    The robot bounds up the chasm wall, leaping up to a ledge, then leaping up and inwards and using his weird floating ability to return to a higher ledge. The ascent's pretty easy for him, it seems, and he sees no reason he can't go all the way up and join Ainsley.

    No reason but one, anyways. He stops about a dozen feet above Chika, pulls out the Polar Star, and shoots a beetle that was trying to buzz him. "Just got to keep moving." he advises, reaching out a hand towards the feline and beckoning. "Like Ainsley did. Don't fight on a ledge if you can help it. Wait for the flat ground above if you need to." he suggests.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is moving along and taking note ofg hte bugs, she's not going to pick a fight with them, she's going to leave them be for the most part. She's very much intending to leave these things alone. She's going to press on and that's going to be that. There's so many other creatures like the bats she's not about to piss off the bugs. Several bats get slammed by her staff as she keeps going.

"...looks like we do got company."

Staren has posed:
    Staren blinks at Chika. "...Sure. If you can fight, you can come along, but otherwise you should go back through that teleporter." He points back the way they came. "Long story short, a bad man called The Doctor is going to use magic flowers to turn the mimigas into monsters under his control. So we're going to take the flowers first. They're somewhere in this area."

    That explained, Staren starts to head for the wall to climb, then hesitates. He pulls a potion vial from his bag and hands it to Chika. "If we come under attack, drink this. It will protect you." And then he manifests his wings and flies up to the top.

    Staren looks back and forth. "Where are the flowers kept? There are two dead ends!"

    He tries to raise Kazuma or Booster or someone on the radio.

Marrik (541) has posed:
After a minutevor two of probing Marrik drew up to n upright stance and, with several quick motions to direct his magic, decayed the wall down. Really it was far easier than he thought, like it had been a nest. Maybe it was an ancient termite mound? All he wanted was to burrow a person sized hole through. Shouldn't be hard right? OK fine make the hole a little bigger for Leyanne. He looked back and grunted at the missing mouse, maybe she went back to help defend the village? Smart.

Hole made, He made his way through, using magic to sap the life out of bugs or anything else that didn't want to act friendly.

Chika (577) has posed:
    "Whoa!" That's Chika sounding impressed about Quote and the shot he made. "What a gun you've got! So, keep moving, huh? Felynes are good movers! And shakers."

    Before she can follow the robot's instructions, she's given a potion by Staren. Chika ends up juggling the vial and her weapon between her paws, nearly dropping 'em both, before she manages to get the bottle crammed into her almost-overflowing bag. The bottle chinks against the side of a horn punched full of holes in a specific pattern. Some kind of musical instrument, maybe? Whatever it is, it vanishes from sight as the cat fights to pull her bag's flap shut.

    Settled, she nods at Staren once all swift and serious. "You've got it! I can fight, but I'm better off supporting those who are made for it! I'll support you in your search for the red flowers. I know everything there is to know about monsters, and nobody nice should ever be turned into monsters! Nya!"

    Chika grips her weapon between her teeth. Then, sprouting claws from all four paws, she quickly scrabbles up the stone wall. Not such a tough climb for a cat! At the top, she looks around, paying close attention to the ground, like maybe she's searching for something -- and she is! She's looking for any signs of tracks or activity. Maybe one of the trails isn't really a dead end?

    "Hmm, hmm..."

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley lets out a sigh, looking toward the Mimiga-styled house for a second or two. She's not anticipating finding anything, so instead she heads for the door and tries to push it open and head inside. "Hello?" she calls, carefully. Her voice is tentative. After all, if the Doctor has been here... She doesn't want to think about it.
    "My name is Ainsley," she tries, as she steps inside.

Quote (403) has posed:
    The beetles dealt with, it's easy enough for people to reach the top. From there they have a choice of two paths. The path that dead-ends in the Mimiga home, and the path where Marrik has observed that the sand-like wall isn't particularly sturdy, where he manages to open a path beyond. Beyond it is a relatively small chamber and then another sand-stone wall. Beyond that, presumably, is yet another. Before long though, that path will open up into an area that branches out into the Sand Zone's larger caverns... though of course no one knows that quite yet.

    Quote continues his leaps to the top, his senses making it relatively safe for him to just hop on past what few beetles remain. Once at the top he looks around. The wall Marrik knocked down is fairly obvious, and the house is intriguing. Perhaps occupied. "That girl couldn't have gone through the wall there." he says, gesturing towards Marrik's path. "Or she'd have had to go through the wall. So she's probably in the house now. So she's in hiding, or that house is our goal. If it was our goal though, I think we'd see Balrog or Misery... " he says. But he IS curious, and when Ainsley enters he decides to follow her.

Staren has posed:
    Staren is faced with two dead-ends. Marrik makes one not a dead end anymore, but then it's pointed out that the mysterious woman is probably in the mimiga-style house. Staren considers... but, well, talking to people isn't his thing, and he already lost time stopping for Chika. So he flies along after Marrik for now.

Chika (577) has posed:
    Looks like Chika probably found...everyone else's footprints. Nothing points to red flowers, or where those flowers might be. Spinning around and un-crouching, Chika picks up her head, closes her eyes, and sniffs at the air. Does anything /smell/ like flowers? Oh, probably not. It doesn't hurt to try, huh?

    Surrounded by strangers, Chika should feel lost and alone, but she's feeling the opposite. Felyne are made to adventure! Curious as can be, she considers her party and her options. She could choose to follow Staren, but isn't Ainsley kind of a curious creature? And so tall! Those remarkable feathers are quite fascinating, too. Chika takes a few steps in Ainsley's direction, forming something of a rearguard as the lizard lady proceeds into the Mimiga household.

    If Ainsley stops to look at Chika, Chika just smiles and waves a paw. It's what she'd always do in a situation like this.

Marrik (541) has posed:
Marrik looked around to see if anyone was actually following then frowned when he saw himself alone. Except he saw Staren behind him. "You realize I have no idea what I'm doing right?" He grumbled and tried to make his next path use less mana by trying to carve a hole instead of knock wall down. Then again he tried that before and the whole thing fell down.         He breathed deep and continued to see what was beyond, but it was slow going. Maybe that woman was in the house, but maybe she could teleport.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is able to get up with the beetles handled and she's looking about trying to track where the new girl has gone she also takes a look at Chika and she nods.

"Good to have some more help. I'm Deelel."

She keeps going as they contiune on thier way.

Quote (403) has posed:
    At the house...

    Inside the house, there is indeed a certain blonde girl. She looks uncannily like Quote, actually, up close. Same skin tone with the same not-quite-metallic texture. Same style of clothing, more or less. And most telling, same ear-based antennae. Around her are four Mimiga children, hiding more or less behind the robot girl.

    "Aaaah! We have VISITORS!" the robot girl cries out, smiling cheerfully. "I know what it is you're looking for!" she claims.

Quote (403) has posed:
Down the path...

    A few sandstone walls go by, and no creatures present at all. It's almost disturbing. At one point though, the sandstone shows up in the ground instead. Below it comes the faint thumping of distant and rather heavy treads. Someone the size of Balrog moving around in a hurry, or multiple someones in lockstep. To get to the source of the noise will take going through two levels of sandstone blocks. When it's done though, the footsteps are revealed to be... giant moving skeletons.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    "We're looking for a man called the Doctor so we can punch him in the throat," Ainsley tells Curly, quite abruptly and a bit with an irritated edge, "What do /you/ think we're looking for? As you so cheerfully stated you do in a way I cannot help but take as aggressively happy sarcasm." She crosses her arms and looks at Curly with quite an uncertain impatience, because being greeted with a very rude and loud and happy voice like that is not fun for her.

    Ainsley is in a very bad mood these last few days. It's showing.

    She looks at the children, and then to Curly, quirking a brow. "You clearly are not one of his soldiers," she says, relaxing some.

Chika (577) has posed:
    Clutching her wooden sword, Chika bobs her head in greeting to Deelel. A cheerful meow rises up in her voice: "I'm Chika!"

    The same energy is displayed to the blonde shiny girl and the children gathered around her legs. Chika lowers herself slightly and cocks her head to the left, then the right, her wide blue eyes fixed curiously on the kids. "Hello?" Another greeting is attempted in the form of a waved paw.

    The Felyne is pretty much the opposite of Ainsley's Bad Mood.

    Any kind of threat or politics is disregarded in the way she treats the children, and Curly, too. "Hello there, my name is Chika! Do you know where we can find some red flowers?"

Staren has posed:
    Staren hovers after Marrik. When they hear footsteps... "Balrog must already be here!" He prepares for a fight as Marrik breaks down the wall...

    Only to be confronted by GIANT WALKING SKELETONS

    "AAAH!" Staren just blasts them with the armor's forearm particle cannons and ducks behind the stone. "WHY? What is this island, made of nightmares?!"

    He takes a deep breath, trying to calm down. First bats scaring Twilight, and now this. It has to be a coincidence, doesn't it?

    Something Marrik says trickles through fear to his brain. "...Constructs? ...Can you dispel the magic?" The shock wearing off, he's starting to think of strategies to fight them already.

Quote (403) has posed:
    "Wake up!" Curly says, her voice indeed aggressively happy sarcasm. "They're not soldiers, they're harmless!" she claims. "Too bad for you I'm NOT! And I'm on THEIR side!" she cries. So saying, she whips out a gun. It's not a huge gun... she holds the thing casually one-handed. But then, if she's like Quote, she's stronger than she'd look. But the gun's pretty bulky, and the muzzle has an ominous set of vent-holes like a machinegun would have.

    Quote manages a whole "Wha?" as the gun comes out and levels at the group. "Look out!" he cries, leaping into the air in an effort to divide the girl's fire. The gun whirrs, building up power, and then spits out a rapid stream of shots!

Marrik (541) has posed:
Marrik dropped subtle at the feel of footfalls and as soon as the final wall crumpled he stared. Just. STARED. Then he started cursing the fact he didn't have any spirits to call on.

OK. Deep breathing. Marrik reached out with his magic to the last one in line. He did not like doing it this way because he would have to try directing it manually instead of give orders. Starens words sink in and he tries feeling to see what magic is there, or failing that feel for spots that feel weak.

"I might not be able to get all of them. Cover me if they start shooting." His voice sounded absentminded, because he was occupied with figuring out how to cleanly turn the construct off. "I am going after the last one in line, NOW." Marrik started moving, flowing arm and hand motions to direct his magic first to try dispelling the magic animating the gholem, and then if he can manage that he would try controlling it directly, but only if he could disable it.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    "WOAH!!"

    Ainsley stumbles away from the gunfire, her eyes wide, "WOAH WOAH WOAH!! STOP!" she shouts at Curly, and then she /flies/ up to the ceiling and tries desperately to avoid getting filled with bullets, getting grazed a couple times in the process. And then she just growls, and points at Curly, releasing a spray of lightning bolts at the woman, mostly aiming to try to disable her so she stops coming at them. "Stop that!"

Quote (403) has posed:
    The golems stomp around their little region, completely ignoring the figures standing well above them. Like more familiar types of golems, their 'programming' is extremely limited. They make up for it by being untiring, tough as hell, and utterly dedicated to their guardianship.

    Marrik's attempt to switch them off meets no success. The golems were animated by someone with more power than him, or by a ritual that's much harder to disrupt than a simple summoning would be, or both. The good news though? They don't shoot, and they don't even beeline towards Marrik and Staren. They just continue clomping along their endless route.

Staren has posed:
    Staren nods to Marrik, getting out his laser rifle and firing at the other golems while Marrik tries to disable one of them. Yes, they're scary-looking, but this is a combat situation, and getting overrun and killed by them would be /worse/, so he's going to destroy them.

    So focused on destroying them he is, that only after firing several bursts does he realize that they're not attacking back. Staren stop shooting. "...Uh? Theyre not attacking... do they even have weapons?"

Chika (577) has posed:
    That's different.

    Chika throws her paws up in the air and begins to run back and forth as fast as she can. The air whistles and the ground sparks, pops and pings going off whenever the bullets strike something solid -- like the door jamb, or Chika's sword! Though only made of wood, what looks like the most simplistic weapon proves to be much more resilient than its appearance suggests it should be. Chika flails it around as she runs, using it as an inexact but nevertheless effective barrier.

    Of course, there's only so much one Felyne can do, given this kind of danger! Without cover, she's guaranteed to be hit -- and she is! Chika's left arm is struck, prompting her to yowl like an alley cat in a brawl. She toppples backwards, her hat goes sailing away, and she hits the ground hard, making dizzy, distressed noises as she tries to understand what the heck just happened.

    "O-oooh..." Chika sits up slowly, then gives her head a good, hard shake, ears flopping. "So, that's the kind of person you are?!"

    A dangerous gleam enters Chika's eye. She thrusts her good paw into her canvas bag, and...it comes out bristling with bombs. Three, to be exact, which is more than she should physically be able to grasp.

    Chika throws the bombs into the lightning storm cast by Ainsley.

Marrik (541) has posed:
"Holy mother above," Marrik breathed. "Whoever raised these is good. Damned good." He breathed deep. "That removes subtle." Deep breathing, this time from the exertion. Was he sweating? From somewhere up his sleeves a pair of elemental rods, one fire and the other lightning. "You know? I dunno." The runes on each forearm length of wood glowed as he started gathering power. "Am kinda wondering what they're guarding. Power gathered at the end of each rod as he aimed both foreward. Fire and lightning shot forward, coiling and twining til it combined into a plasma aimed at the bone creations.

He was too annoyed to be scared at punching someone bigger than him magically speaking. He was too sick of it always being some creep going after people who can't fight back. So he probably was being reckless about things.

Quote (403) has posed:
    Curly Brace of course has no intention of stopping. Bad guys are always dismayed when heroes fight back, right? And they're eager to tell the hero to stop firing. The only thing that stops Curly's gun is when she's out of bullets. This is, fortunately for Ainsley, quick to occur.

    The robot girl moves, getting caught by a one of the sprayed bolts and momentarily staggered by it. She quickly recovers though, dashing across the room to take up another firing position. The Mimiga children scatter and bounce madly about the room. Should they hit someone they're not likely to do any serious damage, but they add a whole lot to the mayhem.

    Quote pulls his Bubbline, after a moment's consideration. The bubble gun will be a whole lot less destructive than the Fireball, and the electrical bubbles seem to be good both defensively and offensively. He'll not risk Ainsley given her position up high in the room, but he'll have to be careful the electrical burst given off by the bubbles doesn't threaten their newest ally Chika.

    Bombs don't seem to affect Curly Brace at all, strangely. They send the Mimiga children flying, but the explosions don't seem to penetrate a bubble fitting close around her body. It's a subtle defense, useless against most weapons, but rather effective against pressure-based attack.

    The machine gun charges up again. Begging the question HOW did she reload it? She certainly made no motion towards a magazine... and for that matter there doesn't appear to BE a magazine. But the gun charges up again and this time Curly aims upwards, trying to pin Ainsley down. Or possibly up.

Quote (403) has posed:
    Staren blasts a golem. It takes a couple of shots, but the golem breaks apart and disanimates. Likewise, Marrik's plasma bolt shatters one, clearing the way. They're tough, but they're not THAT tough. They can't take hits from the big guns.

    Beyond the two golems, another sandstone layer leads downwards and towards more thumping footsteps of more bone minions. There's also a home carved into the side of the chasm. It might almost be missed, but there's a cheerful looking ornamental sign by the door claiming this is 'Jenka's house'. Who or what a Jenka is... well, that's not entirely clear.

Chika (577) has posed:
    By now, Chika's scampered through the doorway and out the other side, but she's not abandoned the battle -- she's just taking cover. "What's a Mimigaaa!" Chika wails from the other side, her voice threading between the gunfire, both in person and over the radio.

    A moment later, another bomb is lobbed into the fray. Instead of exploding, it bursts into a gas cloud -- the kind of gas cloud that, when inhaled, could put anybody to sleep! Even monsters. Big monsters. Or little monsters, if that's what the shiny blonde lady turns out to be. "Do Mimiga SLEEP?!" she wonders out loud, right before she ducks back out of sight behind the door. It's a good thing Curly's focused on Ainsley...

Staren has posed:
    Well...okay. The bone golems are easily and systematically dealt with. They're scary to look at, sure, but... not really that fearsome in action. Staren pauses as he reads the sign. Is there any reason to stop here?

    After a moment's thought, he says: "Now that I think about it, locals might know where the flowers are. If the Doctor's already on his way here... information is our best chance at beating him." Staren heads into the house. "Hey! Anybody home?"

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley is aimed at by Curly. Oh no. The bullets fly across the room, and Ainsley tries to flit out of the way of the shot! But she can't completely avoid it, and it's only by virtue of her leather armor that she isn't immediately perforated by the gunfire, as well as an effort to project a magnetic field to slow them down. Otherwise, she'd be a very dead lizard after getting hit like that! She bleeds on herself, and makes a few choking noises as she continues to avoid the line of fire.

    Then she emits a constant beam of electricity at Curly. "WE ARE NOT HERE FOR THE MIMIGAS!!" she shouts at Curly, over the sound of the lightning, hoping the woman will just stop. Ainsley isn't really going to assume she will, though.

Marrik (541) has posed:
Marrik grunted as the gholems fell, and huffed when he approached. Big fellas, which got poked at with one of his blasting rods. Headshake before he moved on. If he had time, maybe he could reassemble one. Basic concept wasn't too dissimilar from what his cult used for servators, but there was no time. Oh well.

Another hole in wall made and more gholems shattered Marrik blinked at the sign and hrmed before poking his head through the door. "We're not with the doctor or anything and don't want trouble. Just passing through."

Then a thought hit. "We have food to trade."

Deelel has posed:
Deelel grins a little at Chika but it fades as they run into trouble. She looks at Curly for a moment She stres at her as she ppens fire and Deelel is diving for cover now. She bring sup her staff it morph, then a bitchen techo song starts playing that might just be Derezzed and the shots are coming in time to the beat as she attempts to peg this woman whose just opened up on them.

"This is all Glitched up."

Quote (403) has posed:
    It turns out that yes, Mimiga sleep. When the gas cloud disperses, four little Mimiga children will be sprawled out adorably. The robot girl, predictably, isn't affected.

    Quote charges up a cloud of bubbles, swirling and diving around him thanks to the electrostatic field of the weird little bubblegun. Abruptly he releases the field, popping the bubbles, sending a swarm of little electrical bolts Curly's way. The bolts go right through her defensive field just like Ainsley's lightning did, momentarily stunning the female robot. She whirls and charges up her gun for a third time, sending a spray of bullets at Quote who barely manages to avoid the stream of fire.

    Deleel's musical bolts slam into Curly Brace, staggering the robot girl. She can probably appreciate techno, but not quite in this way! Ainsley's blast of electricity, however, decides the fight. The powerful beam strikes Curly, staggering her, then making her collapse. Sparks fly across her surface, and she tries to rise, then collapses once again. "Y-you win... I can't fight any more." she says, morose in defeat. "I suppose you're going to kill all the Mimiga, just like all the other invaders?"

Quote (403) has posed:
    Within the home indicated by the sign saying Jenka's House is an old woman who is presumably Jenka. Small and wrinkled, with white hair and huge spectacles, she doesn't look like she's in good shape. In addition to being obviously ancient, she lies sprawled on the ground surrounded by fiercely-yapping little white dogs.

    "Ooooh my idiot son-in-law." she complains, probably more annoyed than actually injured. Still, she moves with the careful caution of someone who's either suffered harm or fears it might be so. "You're not with him are you." More of a statement than a question.

Marrik (541) has posed:
Marrik shook his head, "No ma'am." Marrik reached down to let the little dogs sniff at him. "We're passing through to try keep somebody from taking some red flowers that would be very bad for a few folk that live back where we came from." As much of a hurry as they were in he was not going to be short with this woman. "Are you alright?"

Staren has posed:
    Staren shakes his head. "We don't know anyone from here but the mimigas. We're here to stop the Doctor from hurting them." Staren nods to Marrik.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley finally lands and sits down near the stunned and beaten robot girl. She looks at her quite seriously, frowning at her.

    "Like I would have said before you started shooting at us," she says, "No, we are not. We are here to fight the Doctor. The very person you would want to fight. We are on the same damn side!" She throws her arms up in the air in an emphatic way, and then winces.

    "Ow..."

Chika (577) has posed:
    Chika leans back and lets out a relieved sigh. Looks like the violence has passed, huh? "Mrrah...oh, this smarts." Looking down at her wounded arm, she winces, looks momentarily very, very sad, with her ears all lowered -- oh! But then, she remembers Staren's given her some kind of potion? Potions are always good for injuries, right?

    Without a thought, Chika retrieves and drinks the potion Staren gave her way back when she first met him, so long ago.

Chika (577) has posed:
    ...that's not as useful as Chika expected it to be.

Quote (403) has posed:
    "Good." says Jenka, in a no-nonsense tone of voice that suggests she might have had more than words with the newcomers if they WERE with her son in law. Whoever that is. She also doesn't actually appear injured, just knocked about a bit. "Well, what are you waiting for? You have to stop him! He stole the key to the warehouse. You know, the warehouse?" she says, gazing at Marrik and Staren with an eye that seems to see entirely too much.

Quote (403) has posed:
    "We're with the Mimigas." says Quote, moving to assist Curly Brace. For some reason he doesn't think she's a threat. He never thought she was really a threat, not even when she was shooting at him. A hazard, yes, but not an enemy.

    "You're a friend of the Mimigas?" Curly asks, startled. She knows nothing about the Doctor, but this much sinks in. "I'm Curly Brace. Er... sorry about ..." she frowns, almost pouting. "About the misunderstanding." she concludes. "I've been with these children ever since I woke up. I don't have memories before then." She frowns even more deeply, an impressive feat. "Before I got amnesia, I was ... probably a Mimiga-butcher just like all the other robots from that invasion." she claims sorrowfully. "Robots make me think what it must have been like, back during that time..."

    Curly goes to check on the Mimiga, but they all appear to be breathing smoothly, fast asleep.

Marrik (541) has posed:
Marrik bowed slightly to the elderly woman. "I would love to but I don't know where we need to go." If Jenka were keeping am eye on the metaphysics of him she could tell he basically had far more energy than he should naturally be able to create. "Without knowing where we waste even more time running blind." Deep breath. "Please point the way and I'll see what I can do." He set both blasting rods down and nodded. "In case they come back this way." From somewhere up his sleeve he pulled out a rune covered staff.

Staren has posed:
    Staren's eyebrows raise behind his visor. Someone helpful! This almost seems like too much to hope for. "Warehouse? Where is it? Our only chance to stop him is to get there before he does!" Staren replies.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel seein she's staggering as she now gives up on fighting Deelel lowers her weapon at this point and it morphs back into a stagg.

No that is not our attempt we have been attempting to help them since we arrived. If we had been here to kill them why would we have disabled them."

She looks to her and sighs for a moment she listens humming at this.

"...don't think about that Quote my past is about the same one day I woke up and I still don't know ... where I came from but what's imporant is what I did afterwards."

Quote (403) has posed:
    Jenka peers at Staren and Marrik in turn. "Down." she says. "End of the cavern. You can't miss it." she claims bluntly. "Watch out for the guardians." she croaks. "Though if you have to break them, do so. They don't have much purpose if those flowers are stolen. You be sure to get there and burn them all, you hear? If you leave any for that idiot Balrog, I'll be very cross. Now go, hurry!"

Chika (577) has posed:
    Let Ainsley and Quote deal with Curly Brace; Chika's just along for the ride! Besides, she's got more pressing matters to think about -- or /not/ think about, as Quote's advised. Reaching into her red-stamped bag a second time, Chika tucks away her empty force field vial, and pulls out one of those curved horns someone might have glimpsed earlier. Remember, when she was fighting so many awful bats?

    Er...beetles?

    Chika puts the horn to her mouth, and blows for all she's worth!

    Surprisingly, it doesn't honk; instead, it plays a sweet melody guided by her nimble kitty toes. Anyone who can hear it will feel at least a little invigorated, but the melody sinks into Chika herself, providing magical strength and healing whenever it's needed most. The blood staining her fur fades away. The bullet she took pops out and drops onto the ground, all mushed up.

    Once her song ends, she comes bounding into the house, good as new! "Oh, look! The sleep bomb did the trick. Hi, I'm Chika! You didn't forget my name already, did you?" The question aimed at Curly Brace.

Marrik (541) has posed:
Marrik nodded again, "Yes Macam. Others might come through. Lizard woman, Pale faced robot with Antenna, couple others. They're with us." Before leaving he fished out a pouch from his coat and sat it down. "Be well." And then he was gone. Down she said? He can do that. He's starting to get a little worried on how his magic will hold out, but he can do this.

Quote (403) has posed:
    Quote is thinking about it, of course. It doesn't take a genius to realize, like Curly Brace has, that if robots were here as Mimiga-butchers, and if he's a robot, he might well have been here for that purpose before he too lost his memory. But Deleel's right... it's not what you did in the past, it's what you do that defines you.

    "We'd better get going. We have to stop Mimiga-killers." Quote says carefully. He assesses Curly's damage, running it through as if it were his own damage to consider. They seem similar after all. Then he nods. Fixable, but she won't be sprinting for a little while. He holds out a hand, abruptly holding a collection of wire and metal that he simply wasn't holding before. "We can talk later. Now we have to go." he says.

    "Right!" Curly Brace agrees. "Um, nice to meet you all! Er, good luck!" she says, waving. She might have come with, but her damage is enough to slow her. Besides, she's got unconscious Mimiga pups to worry about here. They need protection too! She takes the collection of wire and scrap with a grin, making it vanish in much the same way Quote produced it, as if by magic.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley gets up to a stand, looking at the Mimiga. She frowns down at her wounds, not having caught any bullets that were stuck in her thanks to the way she defended herself, but she's got a lot of scrapes and burns and bruises from the shots that hurt like hell. She heads for the door, nodding at Curly. She keeps going, frowning with determination now. They know where the flowers are, and once this Curly Brace is healed, they may have another ally here to count on. A native to the world is always best.

    Ainsley takes flight to catch up with the rest of them. She doesn't switch to Blood Magic mode, because that would mean being unable to fly in a dangerous place. Healing really isn't something she's very good at, anyways.

Staren has posed:
    Staren nods to Jenka. "Thanks." He waits a moment to consult with friends over the radio... but well, it looks like they're on their own for now. Staren pulls his magitech staff out of his bag and casts speed up on himself and Marrik -- Then he runs outside, blasts through the sandstone with his weapons, activates his wings, and just makes a beeline right in the offered direction. Ignoring monsters when he can, especially the bone golems that stick to the ground. Staff in his left hand, rifle in his right.

Quote (403) has posed:
    Staren and Marrik make their way to the bottom of the chasm, ending up really not at all far from where they entered Sand Zone in the first place. The zone really opens up here, most of the zone's sand having settled in this lowest cavern. Sand dunes are numerous, and a series of suspended stone platforms hang not far above the sand, making a second route for fliers and long-jumpers.

    The obstacles in the Sand Zone however are rather ... ominous. There's more of those stomping bone golems rolling along the dunes. Worse than that though, there's giant crow-like birds who carry their own golem heads. And THESE heads spit bones at anyone who comes near, the pair acting like flying sentry turrets. Pretty much EXACTLY like mobile sentry turrets. If the golem gets destroyed, the giant crow will dive to the attack. If the crow is destroyed, the golem drops to the sand below and begins stomping around. Both have to be destroyed to keep the peace.

    Also on the sands are giant armordillos. These creatures, about a meter high and two meters long, are even tougher than the golems. Still, they're slower too and they completely lack ranged attacks, making them pretty easy to go around or over.

Staren has posed:
    Spitting bones?! Staren doesn't expect that the first time, but once he's aware of it... well, he can fly. Dodging's not /that/ hard.

    Birds look squishier than bones, so he shoots the birds. Things on the ground aren't a problem. Everyone can fly, right?

Marrik (541) has posed:
Marrik waited at the edge of the defensive line and frowned. "You know, assuming she's up to it I'll want to talk to Miss Jenka when this mess clears." He scratched his chin thoughfully as he waited. His magic was getting low and he needed to conserve for what he felt was an inevitable confrontation. So here was Mister Big Bad Necromancer pulling out an utterly mundane pistol loaded with normal bullets.

Eyes rolled when Staten started blowing birds apart. "You idiot I can't flipping' fly!" He screamed before taking aim. Sure the gun and bullets were mundane, but as each round was fired it was wrapped in kinetic energy to make it hit about as hard as an anti-tank shell. Now that he knew these things weren't insanely tough dial back, shepherd his magic since there seemed to be little obliging life for him to leech off of. Well other than the crows that was.

He only had a limited amount of bullets and wanted to play conservative. So he was just aiming at obvious and immediate threats. No shields of 'everything dies', no multi-arcing lines of death. Just kinetomancey and bullets.

Quote (403) has posed:
    Quote takes the platforming route, midway between 'sky' and sand. It's the natural path for his agility. Trusting Staren and Ainsley to cover the air, he pulls out his ground-effect weapon. The orange Fireball. One of his more damaging guns, it has an odd limitation. The shots nosedive out of the gun's barrel after a few feet, hit the ground, and bounce. Charged plasma in an electrostatic shell that discharges when it hits anything conductive... like flesh, metal or bone. It takes several fireballs to down a golem, but at the speed Quote runs he tends to bunch up several fireballs all bouncing together in a narrow space, and they all tend to smash the same target. He doesn't hit all the golems of course. Gaps in the platforms are what he can shoot through, and there's plenty of threat for others to deal with. He'll just thin the herd ahead of Marrik a little, that's all.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is chekcing out the other hostiles as they move she looks to her companions for a moment.

"...why is animal often so hostile like this. I been wondering about this since I ended up in your world."

Deelel now is taking in all the new hostiles and tpauses for a moment.

"It's almost like they are biological analogs to ... a defence system..."

Staren has posed:
    Staren hesitates when it turns out everyone does not, in fact, have ways to fly. Should he stay behind, or press on?

    The group settles on 'rush ahead so you can slow down the Doctor if he gets there before they do'.

    Staren nods, waves, and speeds off down the tunnel again, shooting birds and mostly ignoring ground hazards. Still, if he can get enemies positioned in a cluster or a line, he might zap a lightning bolt or shoot a fireball to take out a group, on the ground or in the air.

    But his primary objective is reaching the warehouse first.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley desperately avoids the various beasties that fill the Sand Zone by flying around... which eliminates almost all of the threat of the zone. She can freely strafe through the air, flinging-- woah, she's forming /solid/ lightning in her hands and throwing it like spears now, by instinct by the looks of it. Like she's Zeus or something. She does this to speed ahead, ignoring anything not explicitly in her way.

    Her teeth grind, as the pain of her wounds pulses in her head. Why did she have to get into a fight for absolutely no reason? Now she's genuinely mad, and severely stressed.

Quote (403) has posed:
    In the air, flocks of giant crows slow down the fliers... or try to at least. They're really not tough, and are a little too linear to avoid being blown past or blown away by Staren and Ainsley. They're deadly enough to those trying to hop from crumbling pillar to crumbling pillar, but no real threat to true fliers. Staren and Ainsley will see little threat that can touch them, and will soon see the fortress of stone rising from the sands at the end of the cavern. They're not there yet, but they can see the warehouse up ahead once they get past the birds and obstacles.

Quote (403) has posed:
    On the ground, the threat's a little different. Golems are a hassle, but they only damage those they smash through... and the party has plenty of ranged firepower. Likewise with Armordillos. Since there are no more birds to worry about, the attacks are straightforward and rather easy to deal with.

    They run into their first real obstacle at the end of the sand stretch. There's a vertical wall of stone, some five meters high. Easy enough to defeat with a grappling hook, most likely. Beyond the stone wall lies a series of ruins filled with sentry golems on patrol. The biggest obstacle they're likely to face are going to be the crumbling pillars. No birds to deal with fortunately, but some of the ground under the crumbling pillars is covered by red crystal spikes. The gap between successive pillars is over three meters, making it something a normal human could do only with a good running start... and since the pillar's only about a meter across, a running start is exactly what the heroes unable to fly WON'T have.

Marrik (541) has posed:
Marrik nodded at the consensus from the radio. Staten and Ainsley would fly ahead while he Quite, and Deelel tried to play catchup. Yet he was holding back because caution. What if he got there and had nothing? As he fired he watched the slog seem to stretch on for miles, and never mind the distance.

Something quote said tumbled in his head though as he saw the obstacles past the stone wall. He was glad he'd made it policy to carry climbing gear, but this was nutty even for him.

So he took a series of deep breaths and let magic fly to try carving a path through. He would lag further behind as a result, but maybe he could thin things out enough Quote and Deelel wouldn't be nearly as exhausted when they got there. So he stood at the stone platform half dancing and half shadow fighting as threads of mana twisted and curved through. He couldn't get everything, but maybe enough. He hoped so, because this next part was gonna suck.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley is sure as heck not slowing down for any reason. The birds in her path meet a variety of sword slashes and zaps with lightning as she cleaves through and heads toward the warehouse. She hisses from the aches in her body as she slows to a stop when she sees the warehouse they're supposed to enter. She then goes right up to the door, expecting to just bust her way into the warehouse and make sure these flowers get torched.

Staren has posed:
    The target's in sight! Staren speeds on to the warehouse with Ainsley. Further action depends on what he finds when he gets there.

Quote (403) has posed:
    The warehouse is within the broken-down fortress at the end of the Sand Zone. It's massive doorway is gaping open. As Staren and Ainsley reach the door they can see Balrog rocketing away, trailing sparks and smoke as well as jet exhaust. From within the warehouse, a sudden flare of blue light bursts out. From outside the room the flare's bright, and the THUMP to the air can be felt even from a distance. It's unimaginable what it must have been like up close.

    Once the doorway is reached and entered, the sight within is grim. King lies by the door, bleeding and broken, unmoving. Across the room stands a tall figure wearing a metal crown with a huge glowing red eye on its front. The Doctor, presumably. Halfway between King and the Doctor lies another Mimiga, huddled and quivering.

    "Oooh. You're those persistent meddlers." The Doctor smirks. "You have perfect timing." he gloats, rising into the air and hovering there. "I leave this one to you. No need to thank me." he says, still grinning. The Mimiga figure rises, howls in anguish, and begins to swell rapidly into a hulking monster.

Staren has posed:
    "DAMMIT!" Staren speeds on, firing up at Balrog, missile launchers rotating into position when... a light?! What's going on in the warehouse? Well, Balrog's tunnel doesn't exactly look hard to follow from here, so he flies to the warehouse door and peers in.

    A man in a crown. He talks, about how Staren expected him to talk.

    Perfect timing indeed. Right after the Doctor says those words, all of Staren's missiles lock onto him and head straight for him. Twelve little smoke trails through the air -- half of them, the smaller ones, are programmed to ram the target and explode inside, while the other half, the larger ones, produce wide fireballs by superheating the nearby air to plasma, and are programmed to airburst around the Doctor from every angle.

    Talking is something you do when you're not trying to stop a bunch of innocents from being turned into brainwashed monsters.
]

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley rushes into the room, and she's greeted with the sight of the Doctor, a sight that burns into the back of her mind as he speaks. He floats up and she can almost feel the power rolling off of him. Her head turns to look down at...

    "N...no."

    She looks at Toroko, and turns to look at King, the bleeding heap. She looks between the two of them, and tears run down her face. Instead of leaping to strike Toroko before she can properly transform, she clenches her teeth and throws her longsword to the side, running over to slide to a stop near King. A surge of red light appears around her as she changes her mana for healing.

    And she tries to pour as much life energy into King as she can to keep him alive.

    Because the alternative is trying to put down an innocent caught in the crossfire, something she can't stomach at all right now.

Marrik (541) has posed:
Marrik wasn't there yet. He didn't naturally have Quote's speed, so he had to cheat by giving himself magical shoves with every bound to make these jumps. He still had magic, but when he felt and saw something up ahead he had doubts on if it was going to be enough.

What was it he heard said once? Kick doubt and fear aside and break through?

If only it were that easy to not feel like they were already too late. Yet as he raced ahead as fast as his body and magic would let him. He saw Ainsley's magic and started screaming as he ran, a wordless howl as he tried closing the distaince.

Quote (403) has posed:
    The ground crew, after hopping some pillars, find themselves approaching the final fortress, the area of the cave where their destination lies. They can see Staren and Ainsley well ahead of them, entering the warehouse. They can probably hear the explosions. Just a short ways to go though. Another pillar, that's it. They're almost able to join in...

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is playing catchup, Deelel is very agile all things considered as she goes bounding along as she goes trying to keep on her way as she lashes out with her staff's powered end even s the techno starts up again. She's hearing the explosions as they get near.

"Come on keep moving, they might need our help!"

Quote (403) has posed:
    Talking is exactly what you do, at least if you're a megalomaniacal villain whose plans are all succeeding. Taunting the heroes, particularly when they arrive too late, is a tradition... and it seems the Doctor has read his classics. He smiles, shimmering and vanishing from sight as Staren's missiles rip through the space he'd occupied, smashing into the back wall of the warehouse and exploding in a shower of debris.

    King is still alive, barely, but he's definitely dying. There's a spark of life however, a spark of hope. Ainsley's magic takes hold and begins to kick in... but can it be enough? The damage King took, flying well over ten meters and smashing into a wall, would be astounding even if he hadn't also been struck by Misery's lightning. The Mimiga is powerful but he's not tough, not compared to others. Tougher perhaps than an ordinary Mimiga, but not tough enough for this. Ainsley's power is strong, but will it be strong enough?

    Toroko, now hugely swollen and monstrous, looks a little like Igor now. Great gleaming carnivorous teeth, massive muscles... and a malevolent grin. She spies Staren, shudders in what seems to be a malicious giggle, then bends down to rip a huge stone block from the ground and fling it at him.

Staren has posed:
    "NO!" Staren shouts, when the Doctor disappears after he launches the missiles. The armor-piercing ones blow chunks out of the wall, and then the plasma missiles just glass the surface.

    Now he's got Toroko to deal with. Cutting the stone block in two would be great, but physics doesn't work that way. It's an incredibly telegraphed attack, though, so he dodges. And then he makes a beeline for her. His weapons are held nearby telekinetically, as he draws his beam sabers and slashes at her belly.

    Igor sustained massive damage every which way. Toroko... maybe, MAYBE, he hopes, if he can cut the flower petals out of her, the trauma won't /kill/ her immediately and then with magic and advanced technology maybe they can actually heal her. It's not the best plan, but it's better than nothing!

    Of course, he doesn't expect a single slash will be enough to do this. No, it's gonna take work. he just hopes her hide gives out before his armor does...

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley rests one hand on the dying Mimiga. Tears stream down her face as she feels him fading under her touch. She tries to fight past the idea that she isn't going to be able to do it, and instead she tries everything she can, and more. She thinks on how her magic works... she needs to heal him, but a balance must be struck. And so she brings up her other hand and /bites/ it. A surge of red light appears around her and her eyes turn from blue to red, for the span of time that she's doing this.

    She drains her own life directly to push it into King and try to reverse the damage done to him. She puts great risk to her own physical well-being doing this, weakening her and probably making her very vulnerable should someone try to attack her after she's done this.

    Because she has to be able to do /something/.

    "Damn it, King! I know you're strong! You have people to fight for! You aren't allowed to die!" As much a plea as an angry shout at the very idea that he's dying. "You haven't done enough for them yet!"

Marrik (541) has posed:
They failed.

It was that simple. As Marrik took that last magic fueled jump he knew what happened to Igor had happened again. Igor was. Igor was an innocent. Someone that had been hurt, had been aware but couldn't stop, and it was happening again. He was far from at top form at this point. Yet as he felt Ainsley's magic work his hand automatically went to the potion Jenki gave him and shoved it at her, at least til a hand seemingly made of nothing and appearing as a heat shimmer cradled it and lowered it to the healer.

Meanwhile Marrik looked at the monster Toroko had become. Maybe he could save her, but that was a huge maybe and he needed her still, or at least confined to a sealing circle. Evidence pointed at purifying a mimiga of the red flower was impossible, but he didn't care. That was a kid. Somebody's little girl this sick freak Did Things to because he wanted what all megalomaniac freaks wanted. More Power.

"HEY!" Marrik shouted as he charged forward. "Toroko, over here! Nice squishy mage Right Here!" He hoped the rage state she was in would keep Toroko's movements easy to spot as the hand he had conjured pulled a line from his pocket to try making a circle around her that included as much of the surroundings as he could. Long shot, and he needed more than just a rope circle to work with, but he needed a starting point.

Quote (403) has posed:
    Toroko is much, much nimbler than Igor. This may well be due to her impressive mobility and jumping strength even when not under the influence of Red Flower corruption. Now, with her strength multiplied many times over, she can leap even higher and farther.

    Perhaps also because of the influence of her previous self, she doesn't stick around to trade blows with Staren in melee. He cuts her, but the damage barely seems to scratch her powerful frame. Though she probably could stand and smash him hard in melee, she leaps away to launch another chunk of stone at him. It might be a bit overwhelming for just one person to fight.

    Fortunately Staren's not alone for long. Quote runs in, no doubt with Marrik and Deleel as well. Three on one may not be fair, but this isn't a duel is it? Toroko, in her current state, is quite willing to spread the pain. Rocks, rock chucking for everyone! In her current state, and with a massive amount of rubble littering the stone from all the explosions, there's no shortage of ammunition at hand.

Staren has posed:
    Staren is persistant. Toroko leaps away, and then another terribly choreographed throw that he can dodge... After that, his two swords become one and he dives in again. This time, trying to grab hold of her fur and hold on, while trying to just burn a hole into her.

    You know things are bad when violent amateur surgery is the /best/ plan you can think of.

Marrik (541) has posed:
In theory it was just another fight. Marrik has been in plenty of bar-room scraps and more than a couple duels plus wrestling and boxing, so the idea of fighting wasn't new to him. The fact he was fighting someone that could throw boulders as big as him put a new wrinkle on it. He was focusing purely on being a distraction. Something else the rage induced Toroko had to focus on. Instead his invisible hand pulled another rope to try adding a second circle inside the first.

Then he got clipped by a rock. It wasn't even a full hit but it sent him to the ground and caused the rope to go slack for several moments. He grunted in pain as he rolled away, mentally told his body to get with the program, and tried to keep moving. He was this girl's hope. Not Staren. Not Quote. Not Deelel. Him. Ainsley would likely be able to help, but even if that potion worked she had to have used a lot of magic.

So he tried something else to keep Toroko busy. Necromancy had taught him many diseases, and thankfully more than a few of the non-lethal ones induced vomiting. So his magic sent out to try forcing Toroko to get the flower out of her system, or at least spend time emptying her stomach so he could focus on building his wards.

Quote (403) has posed:
    Quote holds out his old standby, the Polar Star. The Fireball, while good for going after feet and legs, is a bit too random a weapon to use in this crowded area. Besides, Staren has the right idea. With the way that Frenzied Toroko is leaping about, lifting up rocks and flinging them at the height of her jump, they're easy to dodge. Toroko doesn't have a whole lot of fighting experience, which is a small blessing at this point, really. He steadies his laser gun, firing off bolt after bolt into the monstrous form's legs. The weapon's kind of pathetic really, and doesn't do a whole lot of damage, but every little bit helps.

    Focussing so hard on his firing, Quote doesn't even realize it when Toroko breaks pattern. Instead of leaping she stands her ground, tossing a chunk of stone in a flat trajectory right at him. He gets his hands up, but takes the massive stone nearly head-on. There's a crunch of metal. Still, he's tough. After all the repairs he's been doing, this damage isn't enough to cripple him. It rips panels, exposes hydraulics and wires, but nothing that'll stop him outright.

    King reaches one hand up, feeling stronger from Ainsley's magic but still at death's door. Grimly, his bloodied paw closes around her arm. "Save... Toroko." he pleads weakly, his grip relaxing. Seems that's all the strength he could muster, at least right this moment.

    Toroko continues her bouncing barrage, taking several hits from Staren and Quote but seeming to madly laugh off the damage. Hit by Marrik's disease spell, she weakens slightly and subtly, her health deteriorating, but in her current state it's not fully debilitating nor does it make her vomit. Then again, even if she did, her eyes are already fully red. The corruption isn't in her belly, it's everywhere.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is going to have to paly keep away her she not got hte heavy fire power thats all she can do, that's all she can o now so she's tyring ti get in there get it's attention and just plain bonking for where it's neede but there's not quite enough here.

Staren has posed:
    It's still the only strategy Staren can think of. He clings to Toroko's fur desperately as she jumps around, still focused on burning a hole in her belly.

    He's focused on his task. His allies can handle themselves, right?

Marrik (541) has posed:
When Quote took a brick to the everywhere Marrik couldn't help but wince, which caused him to stop just long enough to also notice the second rope was done. Instead of relying on his magic hand he pulled a dufflebag out of his coat. Then he opened the bag and upended it's contents onto the ground.

It was a solid quartz crystal. It was also chiseled into the the shape of a coffin and covered in runes. It was something he had been working on for the phoenix's own corrupted home, but here was more immediate need and so it was deposited onto the ground and the duffel tossed aside alongside Marrik's coat and shirt revealing sun tanned skin contrasted with the pale white vertical scar at the center of his chest. Finally a pendant of twisted metal and purple stone was pulled off hastily and tossed aside.

Was throwing his protection aside needed? Yes. Yes it was. He sprinted ahead, screaming wordlessly while using a burst of magic to leap high go try grabbing Toroko from behind. Anyone watching would have noticed his hands growing first ash, and then black. If he could latch on he could use his body as a conduit.

This was not the corruption of his world. Would it work? Mimiga were not human. It did not matter. Nor did it matter Marrik was digging deep, possibly too deep.

He had no choice. No more children. No more innocents. No! It ends! Not this one! Not today!

Quote (403) has posed:
    Staren and Deelel continue to strike and dodge, slowly wearing down the immense strength of Rabid Toroko. Quote does his part too, though the damage he took has rendered the Polar Star less effective. He keeps using it, despite the beam being only about half-strength. The rocket launcher's far too lethal, the other weapons too imprecise. He's not much able to affect the outcome of the fight, but he also stays agile and avoids getting ripped into by another such rock.

    Toroko continues her rock flinging, slowing but not stopping. She's still going strong when Marrik leaps on her, triggering his corruption drain. THAT finally affects her. Power, monstrous crimson power, leaks from her to him in a torrent. Toroko screams, a deep bellowing roar that shakes the warehouse. The shriek gets higher and higher in pitch as Toroko begins to shrink, weakening as the monstrous power is drained from her. Struggling, but the struggles weaken as Toroko does. The question is, how much corruption can Marrik's power drain? And how much can his crystal hold?

Marrik (541) has posed:
Vile and sweetness and above all else POWER whispered to Marrik as the corruption flowed through him. Strength enough to level mountains. Marrik let out a giggle as he held onto Toroko. It was not a healthy giggle either, and it was followed by laughter, howling insane laughter as his body channeled the stuff the red flower had been packed with. Why did he fight so? Did he not go to the coven for Power?Power enough that he could go home and beat anyone and anything into shape that stood between him and anything he wanted, Power enough to stop the political bickering holding everything back! That is what he had wanted wasn't it? power!-

What about the girl?

His mind faltered. She hadn't chosen that path. It had been /FORCED/. No. Wrong. Unclean! His mind fought back the tidal wave of corruption, wrangling it to the coffen that was rapidly growing darker and darker even as a faint pulsing red light glowed from somewhere inside.

"TOROKO!" Marrik didn't know if he shouted or if it was in his mind. "I'm here to help! We can do this, but only if we work together!" His magic extended deeper into the monster Toroko had been consumed by to try reaching the girl that was.

Was it enough though? He felt alive and free and he was doing what was right, but did he have enough left? After everything getting here and the grasslands before, did he have enough or would he it come down to fingertips touching before she fell?

Quote (403) has posed:
    Toroko's struggles continue to weaken as crimson madness floods out of her, her unnatural strength fading fast. Marrik has to reach deep within himself, drawing on all his reserves. The evil infesting the Red Flowers, the madness and rage infesting the entire island, is quite literally unstoppable It has raged unchecked for a thousand years without weakening in the slightest. The flower itself shares only the smallest part of that power, but its corruption is a horrendous force to try to overcome.

    The decision, however, is taken out of Marrik's hands. Toroko still hasn't returned to her normal size, though at this point she's no stronger than a burly human. Her struggles fade faster than her might however. She goes passive, going weak and collapsing to the ground. The strain of the Red Flowers tore at her muscles, her heart. The strain of sustaining life in such a massive body is not easily overcome, not by magic whose source is destructive. Mimiga all know... to eat the red flower is death. It doesn't matter if death comes at the hands of the enemy or if the enemy lies vanquished. Death will still surely come. To lie down and rest at the end of a battle involving the red flower, typically, is to rest forever.

    Toroko's passing is almost peaceful. In the end, her gentle heart just couldn't take what she'd been forced to do.

    Nearby however, King is getting stronger. If the healing used on him had been used on Toroko instead... but no. King's wounds were just that, wounds. Earned in battle, they could be treated. Toroko's death came from the crimson rage, not from battle wounds. If Ainsley had tried to heal Toroko instead of trying to save King, there would have been two Mimiga dead in this place instead of one.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel closes her eyes, deelel can not shead tears she does not have tear ducts after all. She moves to set a hand on Staren's shoulder and looks him. She's a creature born of science but it's an odd thing that might come out of her mouth. "I know... staren. Her sufferings over and she's somewhere better now. We ... need to focus on seeing she's the last."

Marrik (541) has posed:
Marrik was exausted. So much so that just looking beyond the mortal world was an effort, and even then all he could see were faint echos. "I'm sorry." He reached with shakey fingers to close Toroko's eyes. "Rest now. We'll finish what Arthur started." When he stood for a moment he looked decades older, tired and beaten. The moment passed however and when he shrugged his shirt and coat back on he still looked tired, but it was simple weariness from exertion rather than the weight of failure. "Staren." His voice was a bare whisper. "Carry her, we're not leaving her here."

Quote (403) has posed:
    Quote, like the others here, hadn't really known Toroko. That doesn't matter though. The loss is bitter, particularly since it's clear how much the other Mimiga cared for the girl. He bears the shame of being one of the slower people, and of choosing to investigate the house rather than going full-speed down the other path. They couldn't have known, of course. There was no way to know in advance what the right path would be, or how much delay would be too much. It's only chooser's guilt affecting him now.

    The Doctor has the seeds now, and Toroko's dead. King's alive however, barely so. He goes over to the Mimiga leader and to Ainsley, offering to help them back. A small blessing at least, though he's not sure King would agree. Still, it's not a total loss. Besides, this doesn't mean they can't try other means to stop the Doctor. All this does is fire Quote's determination to see this ended, one way or another.

Staren has posed:
    Staren turns his blade aside but doesn't shut it off yet, clinging to Toroko as the corruption is pulled from her. And then she collapses...

    His armor's sensors determine that it is too late. There is no breath, no heartbeat. "No!" He deactivates the blade, holsters it, and then teleports away with Toroko.

    A couple of hours later, Staren walks back through the warpgate into the mimiga village, Toroko's body in his arms. He shakes his head at any who give questioning looks -- further pressing recieves a reply of "She's gone." His voice tinged with anger and sadness. He brings the body to King, handing her off or laying her to rest wherever he is asked.