orioncayge
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Bandana Guy
Round 2
Posts: 629
Trainer Class:
Arena Points: 10
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Post by orioncayge on Jun 29, 2023 15:51:22 GMT 9
"The game is gonna wear us down eventually, might as well poke whatever freakshow is behind this in the eye!" Orion growled.
They rushed out of the house and onto the street, and then they shot down the road like bats out of hell. However, they weren't out of hell they were just fucking off deeper into it. They were already elbow deep in this bitch, but now it was time to wriggle all the way to shoulder deep and really just see what the fuck was going on this this gory mess. Already he felt a picture forming into his head as they ran towards the water treatment center. Disease could travel through all sort of conduits, the very lifeline of most towns was their water infrastructure. A metal network of water leading from one centralized point allowed one point of contamination to reach thousands, if not millions. Whatever happened here had all started at this one place.
And they were running face first into it.
The closer and closer they got, the louder and louder that ambient droning became. It went from the whisper of a foul curse spoken in hushed tones to almost a dull roar of gnashing teeth and profane noises gurgled in unintelligible syllables. They were drawing nearer to the source, and it's agitation grew readily greater with each step of theirs. Yet oddly enough their entire trip went unbadgered, not a single flying creature overhead or a single shambler lurching from the shadows, and soon Orion understood why.
As they crested a hill they found the treatment center in a lower valley, absolutely teeming with the horrors from before and more. The chaotic mess of limbs and claws that could fly through the air were perched along crumpled security checkpoints like gargoyles, veritable mobs of the bidpedal horrors' mingled in front of the gate and around the various fences outlining the perimeter.
"Fucking Shit..." Orion spat, grinding his teeth together as he placed his hands on top of his head to regain his breath. "How the fuck are we gonna get in there? We're gonna need some serious firepower or are gonna need to go full metal gear on this motherfucker..." Achilles HP 200/600
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Big Bee
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Bandana Guy
Round 2
Posts: 573
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Bryan Nautilus
OOC Username: Ladybug
Arena Points: 79
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Post by Big Bee on Jun 29, 2023 16:19:39 GMT 9
Big Bee surveyed the horrors below them. "Well there's only ever three options, right?" he asked rhetorically. "We can go under, but that seems...unlikely. We can go through, and that...I mean they'll swarm us as soon as we hit the fence. Or, and here me out here..." he looked over at Taka and his powerful cannons. "We go over."
It was a dumb plan. No, not dumb. Patriotic. Wait no not that either. Suicidal and highly optimistic? Yeah that worked.
"Climb on to Taka you two," he said to Orion and Achilles. "We're going to head in over the top." As he climbed onto the his Pokemon he slapped the marble shell of the tremendous turtle. "This guy's as solid as a rock now, so he'll just use these blasters to carry us straight up and then we bomb down in through the ceiling, right?" He grinned as the rumble of water built in the shoulders of their makeshift aircraft.
"It's like how a wrestler drops in from the top ropes. We're going to drop in from, like 100 feet! And if that doesn't take out whatever evil is brewing below up then I don't know what will." Taka HP 250/700
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orioncayge
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Bandana Guy
Round 2
Posts: 629
Trainer Class:
Arena Points: 10
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Post by orioncayge on Jun 29, 2023 18:03:43 GMT 9
"Off the top ropes?" Orion asked, eyes darting from Bee, to Achilles, to Taka.
"Off the top ropes!" Achilles roared thumping his chest.
This burst of noise seemed to draw the attention of some of the critters lurking below, some of their vile gazes turning up to peer upon them with prejudice. This was all the encouragement Orion needed, hopping onto Taka's shell alongside Bee and Achilles, taking to the air in a truly chaotic fashion as the group rocketed into the air like a water powered coke bottle rocket. The spiraled so hectically that the world melded into a blur.
The flying creatures took great exception to this, shrieking and flailing into the air to try like a fleshy anti air defense system, but Taka sailed through two birds like the proverbial one stone that he was, smashing through them like a canon ball through most burlap sacks filled with soggy chicken nuggets. Guts and goo galore splashed over the four of them like a demented jackson pollock painting, acid hissing against skin as it burnt away at their bodies. Yet what comes up must come down, and down the fucking plummeted.
The roof might as well have been a wet paper bag as Taka belly flopped through dilapidated metal paneling and rusty I-beams. The floor was a different story altogether, jolting them to a painful stop as Orion's body lurched painfully against the marble shell of their magnificent improvised SAM 'mon. Achilles rolled off nimbly, landing in a primal hunting stance ready to face whatever was coming for them. Shrieks of the alerted horde came from behind, and based on what little information Orion had managed to gleam during their flight that mean the entryway they circumvented was that way.
"Forward!" Orion hissed, rolling off of Taka's shell and helping Bee back onto his feet. The hallway before them was like something straight out of some sort of Horror game. The walls were covered in pulsing purple pustules of putrid poison, the ground slick with septic scented slime as the entire building was filled with a dull glow of eerie bioluminescence.
Yet the worst part was the chanting.
It wasn't in any language known to the tongue of man, a bassy babble that made Orion's very bones stand on end with each foul syllable. Each word was impossible hushed and immutably loud at the same time, making his head pulse with agony as they moved forward. Achilles led the front of the group, a gout of flame hanging on his teeth like a dying cigarette as his stamina dwindled. They didn't have much gas in the tank, nobody did. Yet onwards they made, one sign hanging limply from a chain half covered in the gloomy flesh creep simply labled "Main Treatment Tank."
They were entering the Heart of Darknyas. 150/600
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Big Bee
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Bandana Guy
Round 2
Posts: 573
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Bryan Nautilus
OOC Username: Ladybug
Arena Points: 79
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Post by Big Bee on Jun 30, 2023 8:53:54 GMT 9
The words licked Bee's brain and whispered foul nothings into his ears, like a bedtime story from a home invader.
He peeled pieces of meat from his clothes and brushed them off Taka's shell, before pulling out a pair of bandanas and tying them over their mouths. "Forward it is," Bee agreed, as the quartet of warriors stalked through the darkest sewers.
The world down here glowed sickly blue, and the walls pulsed with unstable, gasping life. This was the place where hope came to die. To be consumed and subsumed into a greater mass. Faith flickered, yet growth was eternal.
Bee felt his health trickling away like blood from a sliced artery. The flight had drained Taka's water and strength, and the pair clung to each other, taking the staircase down ward one slick step at a time.
The walls echoed with the undying chant from below. The staircase crawled and shifted around them, like a giant gullet swallowing them step by step. The acrid air was like fumes from a giant stomach, and he pressed his hand into his mouth, stifling a cough as each breath burned at his lungs.
The staircase ended abruptly in a cement platform. Steel catwalks speared out from the side of the platform like exposed ribs, stretching across the chasm below. Big Bee looked down, and saw a pool of bubbling darkness below. It was like the lungs of a million chronic smokers had been scraped clean, and all the foul tar and putrid flesh had been gathered in one vat. Thick, langorous bubbles rose to the surface and popped in sibilant burst, each one releasing whispers of the chant.
The vat of boiling sewage was singing. TAKA HP 200/700
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orioncayge
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Bandana Guy
Round 2
Posts: 629
Trainer Class:
Arena Points: 10
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Post by orioncayge on Jun 30, 2023 15:42:54 GMT 9
It was like the very world itself wanted them dead the further and further they tread into the belly of the beast. Orion's eye flit between each of his companions, watching with a equal amount of fear and frustration as the energy was sucked from them. There was no victory to be had here today, there was no triumph to be snatched from the jaws of adversity. This was a suicide mission, plain and simple. They were venturing forward to learn more, to get their asses knocked flat and to die another day. The only progress today would be a vague understanding of what awaited them in the depths.
As they entered the main treatment center, Orion found himself holding his breath. There was a sinister reverence to this place, an air similar to that of the Precipice shrine before Ruby took it over perhaps. The air coursed with profane energy, and the unholy hymns being churned out by the vile pools of corruption below only hammered that home. They were in over their heads, beyond anything they could ever possibly hope to handle alone, yet Orion found a rage stirring inside him.
Why?
Nothing had followed them, despite all the screeches from before, the deeper in they'd gotten it was like the rank and file didn't dare give chase, or perhaps they didn't need to. Some movement caught the fighter's eyes, not the typical undulation of the fleshy walls of their hellish prison, not, this was much...larger and more substantial. It took a moment to process what he was seeing at first, several obsidian spikes began to rise from the ocean of poison in a circular formation, and then more and more concentric circles would appear, tighter and tighter until finally it clicked.
They were teeth.
A horrible serpentine head emerged from the pool, something akin to a lamprey or an eel of some variety that had been dredged from the depths of the Marianas trench. Around the lips of the mouth were countless eyes with blood red pupils and a ghastly gangrenous yellow sclera that lazily peered down at the two of them as if they were idle pests. Very rarely did Orion feel small, even when dealing with goliath Pokémon, but this thing made him feel like an ant sitting at the foot of a god. He wanted desperately to speak, to shout or bark some sort of warning to his companions, but his lips found themselves sealed tight, his jaw clenched so tightly he was worried he might crack a molar. Higher and higher this creature rose, until finally it curved it's head to peer down lazily at the four creatures at the edge of it's foul pool. The building rumbled, and the metal scaffolding they stood on shook as if it were going to collapse and send them falling into the pool. Was it an earthquake? Was the building going to collapse? No.
It was laughing at them.
"̴̰̍I̴̺͆ ̸̱͋c̷̞̆ą̶͐n̷̖̉n̵̛̲o̷̠̎ṱ̶͘ ̵͕̋d̷̙̈́e̶̫̿c̸͓̀i̸̟̓d̵̡̾è̸͙ ̸̭͑i̸̖͌f̵̩̑ ̸̗̓y̴̛̙o̶̙͐u̴͊ͅ ̶̻̉a̴͉͐r̵̞͌ẹ̸̈ ̴͇͂ǐ̴͖n̷̮͝c̴̼̊r̴̮̂e̸̮̕d̵͔̏i̵̙̇b̴̞̐l̶̝͌y̵̲̋ ̶̘̏b̴̟̔ŕ̷̰ä̵̲́v̶̘̅e̵̦͗ ̶̮̊o̵̺͠r̷͈͝ ̶̠͝v̸̖̆ë̴͕́r̴͖̍ỳ̵͙,̶̛͓ ̸̣̈v̴̻̊e̶̙͌r̴̯͆ỳ̷̭ ̶̥̀f̸͇͂ö̶̺o̵̬̍l̴̙̓ī̶̠ș̴̚h̵̪͛.̴̺̂"̷̜͠ It's words shook reality itself, resonating through his very bones as it garbled noises that no human mouth could ever dream of uttering, yet the sheer force of will behind them forced the meaning into the heads of those listening to it speak. It barely deigned to look down at them, yet Orion couldn't help but feel like it was watching every move they were making with an impossible level of scrutiny.
"̴̥̓Ẇ̷͖ḩ̵̇a̴͎̋t̶͕͑ ̵̧̒b̵̠̆r̶͎͝ị̸̈n̸̲̈g̷̛̳s̷̤̒ ̷̱͋y̸͙̾ó̴̝u̶̩͋ ̸͔̈t̸͚̐ȏ̸͙ ̶̳͑m̴̜̓y̷̬̽ ̷̦͂d̸̟̐o̸̩̓m̴̥͛ą̴̍i̸͇͑n̷̤̍?̵͚̆"̶̱͗
100/600
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Big Bee
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Bandana Guy
Round 2
Posts: 573
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Bryan Nautilus
OOC Username: Ladybug
Arena Points: 79
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Post by Big Bee on Jun 30, 2023 17:47:14 GMT 9
Big Bee's bone's quivered. His skin tried to peel away from his body, and his muscles twisted like wrung towels. He dragged his eyes up the slippery leather of the creature's hide. It was like a sentient drain clog. A pipe of rotten skin filled with dark chunks and vile intent.
And those eyes.
He'd seen eyes like that before. Only once. When he was a kid, young and stupid, and he'd been pulled out past the breakwater as dusk was falling. Clinging to his board for dear life something had knocked him into the water and pulled him under, and for a moment he'd seen eyes just like these staring up at him from the murk.
He'd spent twenty years convincing himself that he'd just imagined it, but Mistra has peeled back that protective scab of time like the skin of a lychee, revealing the ripe flesh within. Those eyes belonged to the Devil. Or worse, something they didn't have a name for.
Bee's throat was as dry as a hearse's exhaust pipe.
Here, on the thin metal walkway beneath the gaze of this demon, with his best bro by his side, he should have felt invincible. He should have felt like the world had his back, ready to punch up at this big ugly slimeball. Ready to give the order and have Taka power-wash right through its face. And then the music would play and he and Orion would head out for drinks, or go bowling or whatever.
But no.
Friendship and confidence faded like ashes in cold water.
As those eyes pinned him to the steel walkway he was alone. He was completely and utterly helpless. They weren't an opponent to this swimming horror. To this thing they were less than a curiosity. A snack. An insect. A smudge on the floor.
And they had been foolish enough to drawn the eyes of this rot god in its own domain. Why had they come here? To fight? To win? To stick it to the king? It was all so distant and pointless now.
Caught in the dread eyes of this decaying titan he had nothing but fear in his mind, Bee couldn't answer. His mouth, still open in shock, gasped out a singular question. "What...are you?"
The earthquake of laughter came again, shaking the water treatment plant and making the liquid below them dance like a decade worth of rainwater in an abandoned quarry. The beast spoke, and the words felt like a thousand curses all rumbling in his ear at the same time.
The sound was indecipherable.
Before he'd mistaken the whispers for music, like chants spoken by some drowning choir. But now he understood.
There was no music here.
Music was creation and this was the opposite. It was a tortured, discordant thing. It was music played backwards. Creation perverted. A twisted tune that tore at the world around it, breaking it down to nothing but mush and rust.
"̸̷̸̷̷̢̞̖̝̠̒̓͛̄͝D̴̷̴̵̷̡͓͇͎̯͛̑̊̀̆Ě̴̵̸̸̴̬̹̺̱̤̓̓͒̈́C̴̵̸̸̷̹̻̞̮̣̿̐͒͌͝O̸̷̵̶̸̼͍̼̾̈́͐͂͜͜͝M̸̵̵̷̴̧̩̼͍͔̂̅̈́̍̈P̸̶̷̵̷̧̻̠͇͚̆̄́͐͘Ő̴̸̸̷̷̢̦̹͈̹͊͐̈͝S̶̸̵̸̷͙͚̜͈̩̄̀͂̏̑İ̵̷̵̴̴̢̤̻̘͍͒̇͊͠T̴̸̶̷̵̨̙͚͉͓̋̀̐̒͝I̷̵̵̸̷̧͇̬̮͍͗̎̄̏̽Ô̸̴̴̶̷̟̥̗͙̇̅̔̈́ͅN̶̴̵̷̶̡̧͈̜̹̋̿͛́̽"̶̴̴̵̴̧͕͚͙͋̒̊̓̇ͅ TAKA HP 150/700
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orioncayge
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Bandana Guy
Round 2
Posts: 629
Trainer Class:
Arena Points: 10
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Post by orioncayge on Jun 30, 2023 18:25:03 GMT 9
Bee's words broke the spell for Orion, his mouth suddenly able to move as he remembered he wasn't here alone. He was here with people he cared about, hell he'd go as far to say he loved them like family. Yet here this monster lurched and it made him feel so small, so impotent, and that same rage from before began to boil once more as this creature stood there mocking them. Finally, Orion managed to move his fingers, and then his wrist as this shock induced rigor mortis began to fade. There was no way out of here, at least, not for the both of them. If this creature wanted to, it could crush them both in an instant. They were but gnats to this massive apotheotic predator, but maybe, just maybe, he could buy Bee some time. Maybe one of them didn't need to fall to report this.
Orion could only try.
Several tendrils began to snake out of the pool alongside the creature, wriggling abyssal appendages that could only spell trouble for the brave group gathered here. If a single one of them got a hold of Bee, Taka, or Achilles it would spell their doom, and Orion wasn't letting any of them go down without a fight. Their inevitable doom spurred the fighter into action, grabbing Bee and Achilles by the shoulders one at a time, and with a might heave flinging them backwards into the hallway behind him.
"IT'S TIME FOR US TO MAKE LIKE A TREE AND GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" Orion howled.
Achilles mewled as he tumbled backwards, but caught Bee as he was flung second. "What about you!" Achilles hissed.
"I'M GOING TO BUY YOU SOME TIME!" Orion shot back. His eyes a brilliant cerulean as his body pulsed with a blue aura. Turning, Orion took a deep breath, channeled all of his might, and unleashed the raw unfiltered power of the Moon with a Moongeist beam. Sweeping this brilliant blue laser across the treatment center Orion took all of this bottled up rage, all of this indignant rage, and let it all loose in a massive howl of plasma and the profound rage of the living against death. How dare this creature, virtual or not, prey upon the meek and innocent for no other reason than to simply satiate its endless unceasing hunger. How dare it assume it had the right to rule over this land, land it had pilfered from its prey, like some sort of god.
Orion lashed out at this false idol with the righteous indignation of a father who'd lost a child to cancer. His beam seethed like working man three months behind on rent while his boss gets a six digit bonus. It roiled with the rage of a species that refused to have its role reduced to wormshit. This would ultimately mean nothing in the end, a fruitless gesture that wouldn't change their fate, at best it could buy them a few more minutes reprieve from the executioners block. Yet Orion wanted to poke this creature in the eye, to shatter its own self prescribed notion that it was invincible.
If this god bled, Orion was going to find the fuck out. 50
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Big Bee
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Bandana Guy
Round 2
Posts: 573
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Bryan Nautilus
OOC Username: Ladybug
Arena Points: 79
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Post by Big Bee on Jun 30, 2023 19:20:44 GMT 9
They say the moon was formed about 4.5 billion years ago when a massive meteor crashed into the Earth.
It smashed into our planet hard enough to tear away about a third of the planet, and over time molded that hard-won rock and crystal into its own celestial body.
And not just any body, but one that gave us tides. One that hit us so hard that we're still feeling it today, in the form of the seasons caused by our axial tilt. Some even say that the tides and that tilt are the whole reason that life formed on Earth in the first place.
Can you think of a more perfect symbol for Orion than the moon? A perfect, self-made body and a punch hard enough to tear a planet to shreds? Not just that but a punch hard enough to create life?
He already shared his name with a constellation! And whenever Big Bee imagined his best bro's face it was always with a crescent grin. The grin of someone who knew a little something you didn't, and whether it was a joke or a knuckle sandwich with your name on the brown paper bag remained to be seen.
THAT was Orion.
He had a power and gravity unto himself, and Bee felt himself running not away from his bro, but towards him, pulled inexorably towards the brightest thing in this lightless world. He was drawn like a moth to a flame. Like a bee to a bear. Like the tides to the moon.
Bee planted his feet and pressed his hands onto Orion's back, propping the fighter up like strut supports for a statue of Goku. "FUCK THAT!" Bee shouted above the roar of the moon.
The gleaming lunar beam tore through this nightmare, ripping apart the stagnant dark and providing a sliver of life and light in this terrible place.
"TAKA! BACK HIM UP!" Bee yelled, and his Blastoise launched dual cannons of water over Orion's shoulders. The triple threat of moon, water, and more water flooded the water treatment plant, punching through untold decades of muck, grime, and decay.
Treatment plant? What a joke. They'd show this creature water treatment. He thought about saying that to Orion, but there was no way the fighter would hear him over the rush of water and concentrated moonlight.
So Big Bee just smiled. Not the usually, carefree grin of a team leader being paid to drink beers on a virtual beach, but a slim, crescent grin. The grin of something who still had something to laugh about at the end of the world.
They weren't here to win. That was like trying to win your own suicide.
But nobody ever said they had to go quietly into the night. TAKA HP 100/700
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orioncayge
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Bandana Guy
Round 2
Posts: 629
Trainer Class:
Arena Points: 10
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Post by orioncayge on Jul 1, 2023 7:01:26 GMT 9
Of course Bee found his way back to him, bracing up the fighter as the sheer celestial force of his attack aimed to send him flying backwards. It wasn't like Bee to abandon a Bandanaditto in need, it didn't matter the time nor the place. They ate together, they shot the shit together, they shared in all of the good that UNOVR was capable of as brothers. They also fought together, supported each other through a shared bond forged in the heat of battle that was stronger than any god could ever muster. They would kick their feet in tandem, they would struggle simultaneously, and the would fall facing the same foe together. Empowered by his homies at his back, Orion mustered all of his rage, all of his desire to live, and all of his love for those at his side and would push it into a blast that would make Goku look wimpy in comparison. The wretched rot reaper howled in pain as the cerulean moonlight ripped through its outstretched appendages and pierced into it's body.
This God could bleed, it would seem.
As rivulets of black ichor spilled from split appendages like fountains of venom, the beam struggled to find purchase against the main flesh of the monster. It's eyes were red with rage as it flailed backwards, trying to serpentine itself evasively from the offending attack. Achilles would puff rings of flame from his maw, doing his best to singe away the corruption as it flailed about. How dare these gnats barge into it's profane domain and strike at it as if they were worthy of even attempting to try and slay it. They were ants, and it was a god! The little gnat could not hold it's attack forever, and once it was finished, it would be finished.
After what felt like an eternity, Orion found his force dwindling, both in tandem with the fatigue set on by the land, their injuries, and through sheer exertion of will, and soon his might Cerulean beam dwindled to nothing, and for a moment there was a haunting silence in the air as the chanting and the roaring and the rumbling all came to a stop. For just a moment things looked peaceful. Orion wanted to open his mouth and call out some triumphant warcry, a great yell in victory or how there was more where that came from.
That peace was short lived, and there was no more pain to be dished out.
Orion's attack had at best done superficial damage, the roiling appendages wriggled and writhed in agony for a moment or two, but already black ichor was undulating up from the pool to repair the damaged limbs. The beasts body showed next to no damage, aside from mild scorching that was fading away as fast as the redness from a slap might. He'd done no more than minorly inconvenience the creature, like a mosquito bite.
And just like a mosquito, the creature flailed a limb faster than either of the two could comprehend. The room boomed with the crack of the sound barrier being broken instantly, and one moment Orion was staring at the creature as he'd place himself between Bee and the Beast, the next minute everything was white. There was no pain, there was no recognition of what had just happened, and most importantly there was no obnoxious recorder music blasting in his ear.
So that's what this was like.
When Orion awoke he was laying back in his coffin in the Timberlands, disoriented and sore. Sitting up he shot to check his UI to see Bee's status, only to find it as "Busy." His heart plumeted in his chest. In some fucked up way he'd wanted them both to go down, for now he had abandoned his bro in the belly of the beast, left only to watch and wait in absolute silence. vV5Xfb111-201-20
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Big Bee
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Bandana Guy
Round 2
Posts: 573
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Bryan Nautilus
OOC Username: Ladybug
Arena Points: 79
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Post by Big Bee on Jul 2, 2023 22:17:18 GMT 9
They broke the skin. Their blast of moonlight and high-pressure water had punched through the fetid leather that held together the avatar of rot and spilled what passed for blood into the lake of sewerage. But blood in a stool was never a good sign.
The revenge was immediate and brutal. It was like a tension spring breaking on an automatic garage door, or like a two-ton rubber band whipping past his eyes.
The strike tore away the walkway and shredded the air, and Bee found his arms pressed against nothing. The rotten wind pulled his bandana away from around his mouth and it went spinning into the void. It was gone, and so was Orion.
One second there had been four of them on the metal walkway, braced for impact in the light of the blue moon, and the next there was just him and Taka.
Big Bee gaped at the space where Orion had been.
"He's...he's gone."
A part of Bee's mind tried to tell him that somewhere far away Orion was waking up with one hell of a hangover and probably some serious muscle cramps. Nothing worse that he'd get from a serious workout at the gym or after a rough match in the octagon.
But another, more reptilian part of his brain stepped in like a bouncer at a nightclub, and told him straight up that he'd just seen his friend die.
"ORION!" Bee screamed, his voice breaking as he stumbled back from the void. He backed away, hands grasping for a back that was no longer there. Maybe he could grab his spirit and yank him back into this world. Maybe if he put distance between himself and the spot Orion had died he'd see that it was all some trick of the light.
He bumped into something, and turned around half expecting Orion to be behind him with a big 'gotcha' grin on his face.
But that's not how the world works.
Instead it was Taka, his marble skin was slowly succumbing to the rot. Veins of pulsing ooze pressed through his body. It was like watching tar moving through a white sand beach. Every moment stone seemed less sturdy. Less pristine. The corruption was pushing the pieces of his Pokemon apart, and tearing its fabric apart at the seams. TAKA HP 50/700
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Big Bee
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Bandana Guy
Round 2
Posts: 573
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Bryan Nautilus
OOC Username: Ladybug
Arena Points: 79
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Post by Big Bee on Jul 2, 2023 22:47:56 GMT 9
Big Bee grabbed the turtle's arm with both hands, squeezing the marble so hard that his knuckles popped. Corruption oozed from the stone, staining his hands. It crawled along his palms, scratching him like a handful of rusted iron filings. Big Bee didn't let go. "He's GONE Taka," Bee said through gritted teeth, stating the obvious to the only other creature who'd seen it happen.
"The thing fucking..." he grasped for a word to describe the immediate obliteration of Orion. RIpped? No, that felt too slow. Vaporized? That would imply that vapor was left.
The thing had taken Orion. Disappearing him like the world's most traumatic magic trick, or like a teen girl in a Liam Neeson movie. Or like a body slipping beneath the dark waves.
The creature approached him. He didn't need to see its red eyes to know it was growing closer, like a Devil in your rearview mirror. He didn't need to hear the slosh of waste slapping against concrete or the rending of abused steel. He didn't need to feel the stagnant, paint-peeling breath of seaweed and sulfur.
He just knew.
He knew it like he'd known they would never find the body. He knew it like he knew Orion was already through death's door, and that he and Taka were just a half-step behind. He knew it like he knew this place had clawed at the worst part of him and torn away that protective coating he'd spent years building.
This thing wasn't death. It was decomposition.
And it had put him back to square one, face to face with a demon he'd been ignoring for years.
It hadn't been just him out in the surf that day.
His brother had been there too.
They'd stayed out too late, and had both been pulled out past the break, weak and lost and clinging to their boards in the dark. And those red eyes disappearing into the deep? Bee knew they weren't the Devil. They were something worse. The last thing that he'd ever seen of Nick.
Was this catharsis? Was this a memory worth revisiting? If he'd lived that moment on the surfboard a thousand times over would he have ever had the courage to dive down into the darkness?
You couldn't change the past. But maybe in reliving it you could test yourself and find out how much you'd changed.
He turned to face his demons.
The thing had Nick's eyes. Red from salt and sand and crying.
He stared back into the weeping eyes of his manifested loss. The creature opened its mouth wide. An abyss waiting to swallow him whole.
"I'm coming for you bro," Big Bee whispered.
And he dove into the depths. TAKA HP 0/700gq4oEV6n1-20 1-20
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