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Post by BloodValkyrie on Jun 19, 2014 23:42:52 GMT -5
Sojourner grimaced as her energy eye saw the group of assailants split up, with three of them heading towards her current location. She ran through her options, considering moving to another location, stepping out into the open and killing them, or even using her cloak as a disguise and hoping they'd ignore her human form.
She would likely be spotted if she moved somewhere else now, she had no idea of their capabilities so it would be foolish to expose herself to them all now, and it was very likely they'd try to kill her human form anyways just for being around. What she had to do was take care of them quickly and as silently as possible. This could work, although it would be difficult.
The inhuman woman took a deep breath, waiting for the three armored foes to arrive. Once they were a mere few feet from her debris, with one placing a hand on the top and about to look over, she struck. Three tendrils of energy flew out from behind the debris, quickly grabbing all three of them and pulling them behind the wreckage. Sojourner simply folded her arms and stared at them with her yellow eyes as she watched each tendril wrap tighter and tighter around their bodies, binding their arms to their sides, and quickly suffocate them until they passed out. After that was done she gently dropped them onto the ground, careful to avoid making noise and exposing their bodies from cover.
It was only a matter of time until another group of them came to investigate where these three were and the woman scrambled towards another pile of debris, further away from the destroyed gas station. At this point, she would welcome the reappearance of the skeletal man from before. It would be far better to directly confront these armored brutes with someone else at her side, in case they were too much for her.
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Post by Tokrochiru on Jun 20, 2014 0:01:55 GMT -5
For all intents and purposes, the Sojourner had done everything right. The soldiers passed out quickly, quietly, and without being spotted by any of the other troops. However, as soon as the entangled soldiers began squirming around in their trap, something occurred that only the Sojourner could have noticed. Her spiritual sense picked up something grating and painful coming from her captives. It was as if someone had shouted into a megaphone, right next to her ear.
The disturbance was akin to a siren. A repetitive, loud, invasive alarm that would have deafened a weaker spiritualist than her.
The other soldiers reacted immediately to the disturbance.
"It's the outsider! Kill her!!"
The other soldiers rolled to the closest source of cover they could find and rained a torrent of metal projectiles down on the Sojourner's position. The piece of debris she was using for cover was quickly being torn apart by their bullets.
She was in a bad situation, and there was no time to come up with a complicated plan. She needed to be quick if she wanted to avoid the sting of her enemies' firearms.
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Post by BloodValkyrie on Jun 21, 2014 12:37:40 GMT -5
That sound was like an alarm. It was a rare occurrence when a spiritually anomaly had such a loud sound. It made Sojourner's skull feel as if it were about to split in two. Her first thought was to crush the bodies of her unconscious enemies but this was thrown out the window when their comrades began firing at her. Her cover was being torn to shreds and it would only be seconds until she was filled with their projectiles. She needed to act quickly.
Four large energy arms sprouted from Sojourner's back, two of them ripping into the ground and picking up a large rock while the other two lifted her into the air. She used the boulder as a shield against the shots and her other energy arms quickly moved her to the side and towards more cover, the arms stabbing into the earth and flinging large rocks towards the armored assailants as they moved their mistress about.
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Post by Tokrochiru on Jun 22, 2014 4:53:37 GMT -5
600,000 chips. It cost him 600,000 chips simply to buy the rights to that plot of land. It cost him even more build a foundation on top of it, find a reliable source of gasoline, acquire the rights to sell various products....he could have gone on forever, listing off all the things were needed to manage an independently owned gas station in the middle of nowhere, Holgraff.
He worked hard for all of it. He acquired the money in exchange for seven years' worth of blood, sweat, and tears, both figuratively and literally.
And now it had all blown up in his face. It had actually, honest to gods, blown up in his face.
At first, all he could feel was disappointment. It had all been for nothing. He should have known better than to settle down in one place. Staying put had never brought him anything but misery.
Disappointment gave way to frustration, and frustration gave way to rage. A familiar hatred washed over him as fire consumed his skin. He rose from the ground.
With little regard for his own safety, he stomped his right foot into the ground. The organic mechanisms of his body augmented the force of his stomp, sending him soaring through at air, towards the objects of his hatred.
The Sojourner's makeshift shield provided her with with barely adequate protection as she charged forth. Her offense was surprisingly effective. The rocks thrown by the ethereal arms may not have been dense enough to break through the magically enhanced metal plating, but they were thrown with such superhuman force that they knocked 3 soldiers flat on their backs. In the end, she was able to reach a sturdy-looking clump of metallic debris. It provided much better cover than her previous location had, and put her in a position that was much closer to her opponents. The soldiers seemed to realize this.
"She's too close!" one of them shouted. His tone was not fearful, but very urgent. "Pull back! Pull back!"
However, as the soldiers attempted to withdraw, a spine-chilling laugh echoed throughout the area.
With the speed and force of a rocket-propelled missile, a bizarre creature made of bone fell from the sky and landed on one of the soldiers that was still firing at the Sojourner. The soldier's head was completely squashed between the monster's right foot and the crusty ground.
It was indeed the same skeleton-creature that the Sojourner had encountered not long ago. However, he was completely without clothing, and had no flesh on his body whatsoever., revealing his bizarre, true form for all to see. His body was more than just a mockery of a human skeleton. It was some kind of machine. Cogs and pumps made of bone matter whirred and clanged in various places throughout its form.
The bone-machine stabbed two soldiers straight through the brain with spike that materialized on its cylindrically shaped wrists, killing them instantly.
It wouldn't have been surprising if at least a few of the soldiers panicked upon seeing the creature up close. However, once again proving that they were more than mere soldiers, they kept their wits about them.
"Move and shoot!! Kill the Bonewalker!!" The squad leader barked out orders clearly enough for his comrades to hear him even over the sound of their weapons.
The gunfire was now split between the "Bonewalker" and the Sojourner. The skeletal abomination managed to protect himself by using the bodies of the soldiers he stabbed as human shields. Their armor proved effective against their fellow soldiers' weapons.
In spite of the gunmen's impressive coordination, they were losing ground. Their shots became less accurate as they attempted to move away from the paranormal killing machines while keeping them pinned with suppressive fire. It seemed that the fight was starting to lean in the Sojourner's favor.
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Post by BloodValkyrie on Jun 22, 2014 10:12:52 GMT -5
Sojourner was, for the most part, merely buying time until the skeletal man showed up or until she thought of a clear plan to defeat her foes. Thankfully her gamble on this "Bonewalker" paid off. The armored assailants' fire was now split between the two of them, which gave her plenty of room to move around with less fear of taking damage.
The Outsider charged out from her cover, a hint of a smile on her fact at this turn of events. She used the natural armor plating on her arms and legs, reinforced by extra covering made of energy, to deflect whichever shots actually managed to make their mark. She was unfamiliar with these weapons but she had to admit that they'd likely pierce her flesh if they hit. Were these weapons just for the more advanced people, such as these foes, or were they a common thing in this world?
Such things did not matter at this time. What mattered was taking these people down and Sojourner planned on doing just that.
As she flew ahead she outstretched her arms, sending out two long limbs of energy and grabbed two of the armored shooters aiming at her, smashing their heads together and caving in their helmets. One was tossed aside like a waste of flesh while the other was being used as a shield against incoming fire. Sojourner vaulted herself in the air, hearing the clanging of metal as projectiles began to pepper her shield's armor, and lifted her left leg up next to her head. She moved her shield aside for the briefest of moments as she brought her leg down, a giant energy copy of the sharp needle-like limb falling down behind it and crushing two more soldiers who were unlucky enough to be called into work today.
"Your regret for even waking today must be near palpable. But I give you all credit for not turning your backs and running like cowards. Yes, face your ends like brave warriors!"
Sojourner continued to move about the battlefield, generating a small purple eye near her to keep a constant eye on her ally and ensure his safety. At this specific moment and time, she needed his help and would be damned if she allowed him to fall.
[[Holy bloody hell, Tok. That music is wonderful and really got me pumped while writing this. I could easily imagine Sojourner and Boey fighting with this in the background. Good job.]]
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Post by Tokrochiru on Jun 22, 2014 12:18:32 GMT -5
Of the original 16 troopers, only 6 remained. They were functioning at less than half strength. Still, they persisted in their efforts to terminate the two supernatural battlers.
The Bonewalker tossed his corpse-shields to the side as he swiftly grabbed a nearby, stray can of gasoline. A piston fired in his right arm, and he tossed the can at the commander. Upon impact with the commander's armor, the can split apart, dousing the soldier in flammable fluid as he was knocked back into some burning rubble. The man screamed as he was burned alive.
"Ain't irony a bitch?" the Bonewalker said in cruel jest. He was pleased that at least one of the people who reduced his home to cinders was being incinerated in the fires they caused.
The skeletal machine took the incoming bullets willingly as he stomped on the ground, another piston going off in his right leg. His ribcage opened, each rib pointing outward towards his opponents, like spikes. These ribs pierced two soldiers who happened to be lined up with each other, shishkabobbing them on his body.
It was a risky move, but worth it. The bullets that had pierced Boey's body during his reckless attack left clear, visible holes, as well as cracks in his frame, but they didn't stop him. He had no blood to lose, and no pain to endure. He could still fight as well as ever.
Meanwhile, the Sojourner did receive a few shots to her leg and torso, in places where her exoskeleton met her skin. The damage was far from lethal. The bullets' momentum and trajectory was offset by her natural armor, causing only superficial damage to her body.
Only three troopers remained. One of which was firing at the Sojourner, and two of which were firing at the Bonewalker. Just fight was mere moments away from being finished.
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Post by BloodValkyrie on Jun 22, 2014 16:21:20 GMT -5
[[ I apologize for assuming direct control of this final opponent in advance]]
Sojourner shook her head, feeling pity for these last few soldiers. It was quite sad. Their allies were annihilated before their very eyes and they were unable to stop it. Now they were left, having gone from an advantageous position to a disadvantage. But, of course, this would not stop her from finishing the job. The purple eyeball floating next to her saw the Bonewalker take a few shots but not react to them at all. Either he had an extremely high pain threshold, or was unaffected by such attacks. Given his unusual structure, it was entirely possible that he had only one vulnerable part and everything else was superficial.
The inhuman woman moved forward towards her final opponent, holding up the armored corpse as a shield once again and deflecting the projectiles fired by her foe. Once she was a mere few feet from them ducked under her target's fire and swung her corpse shield at them like a baseball bat. The sound of metal hitting metal echoed as the mercenary went flying to the side from the impact but, to Sojourner's surprise, they rolled across the ground and quickly stood back up, using the momentum to their advantage. It seemed this last one was in fight or flight mode, and chose to fight with every fiber of their being.
They aimed their firearm at her again and continued shooting. Sojourner blocked the first few shots with the armored corpse again but, after a few seconds, tossed it to the side and charged forward. If her enemy wanted to go down like this then the least she could do was give them a small chance. Apparently all that chance amounted to was a bullet grazing her left cheek. She felt liquid beginning to seep from the wound and knew her opponent had drawn blood.
Congratulations to them. Now it was her turn.
Sojourner continued moving side-to-side and she advanced, avoiding most of the shots while feeling a few deflect off her exoskeleton. A large purple arm flew out from her, grabbing the armored assailant's arms and gun, then crushing them all together and pulling them towards the Outsider. The arm held them at eye level with their mistress and she stared at the helmet with her golden eyes.
"I've won and you have lost. Now tell me why you attacked me."
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Post by Tokrochiru on Jun 22, 2014 19:21:30 GMT -5
The troopers that impaled made for adequate shielding as the Bonewalker charged towards his final opponents. After closing some distance between the pair of riflemen, he retracted his ribs back into their normal position, covering the glowing blue orb at the center of his torso. Their bodies fell to the ground. Without wasting a moment of time, he cartwheeled bodies and launch himself at one of his remaining assailants. He ended the stunt by forming a spike on the ball of his foot and jamming it through one of the soldier's necks, piercing his spine. Not allowing him a moment's rest, his final opponent attempted to riddle him with as many bullets were left in his magazine. The Bonewalker ducked completely under his line of sight, quickly crawling towards him in a bug-like fashion.
Once within melee range, he did a handstand and kicked the soldier in the chin with enough force push back a charging bull, launching him several feet in the air and breaking his neck. As the deceased soldier fell to the ground, the Bonewalker opened up his ribcage again. He stood on his feet again, his open ribcage facing the airborne corpse. It fell right on top of the deadly sharp bones, piercing it in six places. That would have been the end of it, but the Bonewalker had other plans.
A loud, distorted magical shriek could be heard as an incredibly strong vacuum pulled the soldier into the Bonewalker's ribcage. The corpse was mangled and bent in disgusting ways until part of its body tore away from the ribs that pierced it, crunching it into the inside of his ribcage. Slowly, the Bonewalker's torso devoured the dead gunman, its body disappearing into the blue mass.
"Ugh," The monster grunted in a distorted, deep voice. "Tastes like month-old pizza pockets."
After devouring the corpse, the Bonewalker's wounds immediately disappeared. It was as if he had never been shot in the first place.
Meanwhile, as the Sojourner attempted to interrogate the last conscious trooper, something bizarre happened. The soldier made guttural choking noises as his body seized in the outsider's ethereal grasp. This continued for 5 seconds, after which, Sojourner heard a loud snap. All movement ceased. Similarly loud snaps were soon heard coming from the direction where the three unconscious, but not dead soldiers had been dropped.
The battle was over, but it seemed that the paranormal duo would have no one but each other to help answer their questions.
With his skeletal framed drenched in blood, the Bonewalker walked over to the Sojourner. "You survived," he said. "Not many people I've met are capable of surviving an explosion like that."
He eyed the horned woman as she held on to the lifeless meatsack with a ghostly arm. It hadn't occurred to him until now to question exactly what sort of being she was. It hadn't been important until now. The answer to his question could provide some insight as to why those S.A.F troopers destroyed his gas station. Still, he didn't want to ask her about it just yet....No. That wasn't the right way to put it. He wanted to ask her, if only so he could get to the bottom of why his home had been incinerated. But he was smarter than that. The woman had given him every reason to believe she was just as clueless as he was, or perhaps even more so. There was no need to bombard her with personal questions. Not right after a battle, and not right when his blood-covered true form stood before her.
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Post by BloodValkyrie on Jun 22, 2014 21:14:30 GMT -5
Sojourner had seen the Bonewalker devour that soldier via her violet eye. It was rather gruesome and shocking, but it could be dealt with later. Right now she needed to question this-
Her train of thought stopped entirely when she heard the surviving armored assailants having seizures and suddenly snapping, life draining from their bodies in an instant. This was foolish of her to attempt. She should have known they would have some way of preventing information leaks, given how sophisticated their weaponry seemed and how well trained and organized they were. The inhuman woman growled and smashed the corpse on the ground in a rage, destroying its head with her sharp end of a leg. Just then she noticed the Bonewalker was standing next to her, his eyes upon her.
"Yes." She replied solemnly. "I survived. I am quite durable. I did not become who I am by being weak."
A moment of silence passed before she turned to look at him, kicking the headless corpse away from her.
"It seems we have a similar problem now. I assume you're as clueless as I am about the attack?"
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Post by Tokrochiru on Jun 23, 2014 6:43:31 GMT -5
"Pretty much," the Bonewalker said with a shrug. He stared at the wreckage longingly, and sighed in disappointment. "So much money and time. Burning away. Right in front of me."
His shoulders slumped as he mourned the loss of his establishment. A few moments passed in silence before the Bonewalker was willing to speak up again. He'd only begun to realize something he should have realized several minutes ago.
"I ain't got a truck anymore, do I?" he asked as his eyes fell upon a charred green vehicle that was halfway buried underneath a pile of rubble. The lid was open, and he could see that the machinery was completely busted.
Best. Day. Ever.
He took a glance at his own body. It was a literal naked, bloody mess. He wondered if the horned woman found it grotesque.
...It was this thought that set off a series of sparks in his mind. Perhaps the battered, broken box-on-wheels could be of some use after all.
The Bonewalker walked over to the destroyed truck. Looking through the broken window, he could see that the seats of the car, along with the dashboard, were relatively undamaged. He'd caught an incredibly lucky break, all things considered.
He crawled into the car through the window and looked around. Underneath the driver's seat, he found a jostled cardboard box, some jeans, briefs, and an orange tank top. They were the spare clothes he kept in his car, just in case he needed to take a lengthy drive. It was a little unorthodox to keep an extra set of clothing in a car, but doing so proved beneficial on multiple occasions, so he had no regrets.
He grabbed the clothes, along with a lighter and a roadmap that he'd kept in the glove compartment, and exited the vehicle through the same window he used to enter. He quickly dressed himself, placing the lighter and map in the pockets of his pants. After this, he formed another layer of false flesh and over his bones. Everything, from the styling of his hair to the pigmentation of his skin was exactly the same as it had been before he shed his husk earlier.
He walked over to the horned woman again. "There. Now that I'm all human'd up again, you mind telling me what you plan on doing? You gonna keep following me around until you figure out what this 'pull' you're feeling means? Or are you gonna do the sensible thing and split like a banana before more S.A.F troops show up?"
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Post by BloodValkyrie on Jun 24, 2014 18:35:05 GMT -5
Sojourner looked off into empty space, her mind churning everything that had just occurred and attempting to figure out what to do with this information. She had been drawn here, and then attacked by an armored company. It was clear they were not the only ones of their kind, which meant that they would eventually come for her again, especially since they were aware of her status as an Outsider. This was not exactly what she wanted to do with her time, but it needed to be dealt with. She could not continue on with a group like that badgering her.
"You act as if that is an actual choice. Those people were aware of my status as an Outsider. Which means they know quite a bit of me. At least more than the majority of the people in this world. This means they're likely to come after me again. I can't continue and get involved in some other business while I have a group like them bothering me and destroying everything around them. They need to be dealt with first."
The inhuman woman wrapped her cloak around herself, her horns, exoskeleton, and other unusual features melting away until she was a simple human version of herself wrapped in a brown robe and cloak.
"You're more familiar with this world than I am. Where do we go from here?"
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Post by Tokrochiru on Jun 24, 2014 23:10:40 GMT -5
The Bonewalker sighed. What she said made sense. He was stuck with her, at least for now.
"First things first, honey. You got a name?"
It was a simple question, but he wouldn't have been surprised if she answered "no". The girl was strange enough as is. For all he knew, her people didn't even have names. Speaking of which, that reminded him. She herself said she was an outsider, which meant that she was from another world. There was no way to tell how different this world was from her own.
He mentally prepared himself for an unusual response.
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Post by BloodValkyrie on Jun 27, 2014 12:22:48 GMT -5
A name. She did have a name. Two, to be exact. One from her own native realm, which she had yet to figure out how to properly translate to these people's native tongue. A second one, given to her by the insect-like man and his dark-skinned female friend, for that precise reason. The inhuman woman, now in her human-esque form, thought for a few moments in silence.
"Sojourner. You can call me Sojourner."
She turned to look at the Bonewalker.
"It's common to ask for the name of someone else in return, yes? What's yours?"
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Post by Tokrochiru on Jun 27, 2014 20:33:30 GMT -5
Sojourner. A word used to describe a person who resides in a place only temporarily. If she she really was from another world, her name was all too fitting, especially if she intended to move on to another realm eventually.
Satisfied with her introduction, the Bonewalker gave his own.
"Richard Boey. Just Boey for short. But you can call me whatever the hell you want," he said with a shrug. "Now that we're all acquainted and shit, lemme show you something."
Boey pulled the map out of his pocket and unfolded it. He pointed at a specific spot near the upper left corner. "This is where we are." He then traced his finger along a line that represented highway 101 until his finger landed on a small dot that had the word 'Kamestown' written underneath it. "This is where we need to go."
He shoved the map into her hand, expecting that she would have the common sense to hold onto it before the wind blew it away. Just in case she didn't, he kept a loose grip on the map until she grabbed it. Boey looked her straight in the eyes.
"How long you been walking on foot?" he asked flatly.
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Post by BloodValkyrie on Jul 1, 2014 10:06:23 GMT -5
Sojourner nodded at Boey's introduction, accepting it. She grasped the map from him and examined it, retracing where his finger ran along with her eyes. It was quite a distance they had, especially if they lacked any faster method of transportation. She did not mind too much, but she did want to get to the root of this problem quickly for a variety of reasons.
"I've been walking for the past three days." She answered. "We should try and find some way to move along faster. Otherwise those assailants might end up sending something much more fitting to fighting us since they now know our capabilities. I would prefer to find them first before such a thing were to happen."
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