Ch. 16 Rescue in the Ruins

[VirusZero]

Andraia and Raven had cleared a path through the caves and managed to make their way back outside, into the forest again. Though the weather had turned into a massive storm and lightning leaped from cloud to cloud in the sky.

In the distance was a shrine, though it was across a bridge. However jetpack pantheons had appeared and began to pepper the area with buster fire.
"That's no doubt where we have to go." Andraia stated.

However Raven was already gone with a cry of 'Anne, I'll race you'.
Andraia frowned a bit, her name was not anne. And she didn't really like it, but now was not the time to really pick a fight. Not when enemies had appeared. Raven had already taken shots at some of them to weaken them.
"Looks like I'll have to do clean up then" Andraia muttered.

She ignited her jets and took skyward to meet them. A dangerous place if there were one... With a saber in her good hand she slashed the wing of one pantheon and watched as the off-kilter enemy plummeted into the ground below, unable to control it's flight path, then exploded into the rocks.

Another enemy approached with buster hot, a shot flew by Andraia and impacted the ground below her. Andraia accelerated upwards then at the last second she pulled her knees up so that she spun backwards in a flip and, in doing so, kicked the pantheon square in the head. The impact caused the pantheon to go flying back and upwards. Though it had obviously ascended too much and a second later a bolt of lightning arced from one of the clouds and caught the pantheon in it's powerful stream. The pantheon exploded as the massive surge of energy blew through it.

Raven had already taken out a few of them, enough to clear a path... So Andraia, not wanting to spend any more time airborne (especially not given the pantheon's predicament) turned and accelerated back towards the ground. She righted her self before hitting the ground and applied a bit of counter thrust to slow herself from landing too hard. So she landed just before the shrine.

---

Stark had barely landed in the area and gotten stood up before Rai had gotten impatient and dropped down in. Rai collided with him and knocked him to the ground, he fell directly into the pool of water that still covered the floor.

Though seconds later Rai had righted himself. Stark looked up from his position on the floor and Jody was there. She helped him up as she commented on the maze like nature of the whole place.
"Yeah, this place is large and confusingly laid out." Stark replied.

"I have an idea though" Stark stated as he moved towards a wall. He raised his palm and at once a low whine echoed in the area before a burst of light erupted. His repulsor blast hit the wall and slowly he moved while the energy poured out so that he carved a mark into it. His mark was a simple lightning bolt shape. Something that wasn't likely to form naturally in the wall.
"There, now if we get turned around here we'll know because of this mark."

"However I don't think we should stick around here too much longer. Enemies are likely on our tail. So we should probably keep moving forward." Stark stated simply.

[Jet]

Andraia and Raven reached the shrine at the other end of the bridge to find an ancient transserver housed in a small stone building. It afforded some cover from the jetpack pantheons which were still swooping around, as well as a good vantage point to shoot down the crawlers that were still shambling after them. The transserver didn't have any options, nor any description about where it led to, but with nowhere else to go Andraia and Raven elected to take their chances with the machine rather than remain in the storm with the pantheon pack.

The machine activated and warped the two of them away to a dark room, more of a closet than anything. They were compressed tightly, Andraia and Raven couldn't even bring their arms up to their faces they were pressed so closely together. And to make matters worse, there was a third unknown party stuck with them. Confused shouting ensued, as all three of them pressed up against the walls looking for some way to escape the tomb they'd found themselves in.

Jody, now with Rai and Stark accompanying her continued through the maze. When the call for help came again she turned to the others to make sure that they heard it as well. "I'm not crazy right?" she asked. "You can hear that too?"

Rai and Stark agreed that they could hear the distressed call, but said nothing as to whether Jody was crazy. Now the voice was joined by two others, it was hard to make out what was being said but there was a lot of surprised and angry shouting. Stark burned another mark into the wall to indicate which way they were going and they turned down another corridor looking for the cause of all the commotion. They closed in on the shouting but found nothing but an empty hallway.

"We're here," Jody shouted back, "What's going on, where are you?"

Rai pressed a hand to the stone and listened. "They're in the wall," he realized. Rai fired his chain rod at the stone, and Stark and Jody helped him pull. Slowly the wall came away revealing Andraia, Raven and one of the lost resistance soldiers.

"Wow, you really didn't have a lot of elbow room," Jody remarked, peering into the dark cramped compartment her allies had been jammed into. It would have been tight quarters for one, let alone three.

Now reunited the group started to share their separate adventures in the ruins. As she listened Jody noticed the water around her shifting, like there was an undercurrent, one that hadn't been present before. Normally she might not have thought anything of it but this temple had put her on edge, she spun around and drew her sword as a watery figure rose up. A single red eye, or maybe a power core, was visible through its liquidlike body. And it didn't look friendly. Several more sludgy enemies rose from the water, they were surrounded. It was enough to make her want to crawl into the hole in the wall and hide, but the group was finally united and she'd stand her ground with them against these devils. She just hoped her weapons would be effective against liquid enemies.

[Vile]

Its a trap! For the utmost hundredths time. This area was a showcase of classic temple horror, filled with the fun of Neo Acradia lore. Jody was the first to notice, and thankfully someone did, that water demons were apperently a thing in this ruined base. Out of water positive - electrical use would be back soon, negative - these bots. The squad readied into defensive positions, and each survayed the area. Rai focused on these... things layout. Jelly-water bodies, red eyes, cloudy or dirty water...
"Are these, Pantheon's?" Rai asked himself aloud. Lord knows he's faced plenty in his lifetime to noticed a few quirks about them, not that it took a rocket scientist to deduce that red eyes and Arcadia made had a common denominator. His mind was a bit slow but it slowly came to him.
"Ive faced one of these before. Disrupt the water on them and aim for the eye." He commanded

Waiting a moment, Rai lept at the nearest foe, palm open and slamming it into the red eye. He attempted to spark out, but nothing but a short circut click happened. The water was hard, as if it was able to intensify it surface tension. The 'face' bounced back, Rai's momentum coming to an end, as he landed on his feet. He tried to spark his other hand and push it into the devils body, a small spark emitting, breaking the tension in a small region. Well, that was how this was to be done at least... and then a watery fist smashed Rai into the ground.

[VirusZero]

Andraia was warped into a small and highly cramped space. She couldn't move enough to raise her arms to pull her saber to anything. She wasn't even sure if having her saber would help because she had no idea where they were. They could have been buried 5 feet underground, trapped in a coffin or ome other equally remote location. To make matters worse she was pinned with 2 others. She knew one of them was Raven, but she had no idea who the other was.
And she had no idea which of them had their hand all over her butt. One of them, or maybe both, was going to lose a hand after this.

Though the other they were trapped with was yelling and before too long, someone head and was able to free them. Apparently they were trapped inside a wall. Which the second the wall was pulled loose, Andraia hit the ground.
One of the other resistance members remarked about not having much space. Andraia slowly stood back up and replied:
"Who builds a transporter to stuff people in a wall. It's insane. I'm sick of this place. I'm ready to get what we came for and get out. Then nuke this entire place."

Soon enough they had progressed onward and the sound of water shifting and swirling was heard. Jody had readied herself for combat and Andraia, feeling that was a good idea also, drew her saber and thumbed the ignition to have it activate at a second's notice. Then a type of sludge seemed to appear with a single red eye or core or something...

Andraia listened to Rai's advice and then watched Rai attack one (and fail to really do anything). Andraia watched Rai fail and an idea came to her. She put her saber away, figuring that it wouldn't really do much, and instead raised her hand and fired her Reaction Blaster. Her energy attack hit the opponent and it did exactly what she wanted... the water/sludge of it's body burst apart. Though before she could capitalize on the chance, it's protective coating reformed.
She silently cursed the fact she was down to one hand. If she had both of her hands she could have easily used a buster or another special attack to do some damage. But as things stood now she'd only be able to disrupt their shells.

"I can disrupt them, but I can't hurt them when I'm doing it. I'm going to fire a shot someone else be ready." Andraia stated as she powered up her reaction blaster again. A green light emanated off her remaining hand to show that her attack was about to launch. She raised her hand and pointed at one of the sludge monsters then fired...

[Vile]

Don't everyone lift a finger or anything... Rai lay upon that ground in the small indent that his face had made when he was so inelegantly pummeled into it. There he lay, and for what its worth, tried to muster up some more enthusiasm. His hair was soaked, his uniform drenched, his face now dirty, and his armor worn. This was the look of an unbecoming cadet. This look alone infuriated him. He had always striven so hard to look his best, because ones appearance should be a reflection of them on the inside. These thoughts plagued him, poked at the walls in his mind. Trivial at best, though enough to push an exhausted man over his mental edge.

More water splashed about him. Not laying still for an instant as it began to crawl to a centerpoint after making contact with the stone flooring. It slooped and glooped around him, wiving through his hair, across his body, sliding from under him. To be honest, it was enjoyable. A relaxing moment that was like taking a lazy shower. Too bad the water was cold, and this was no tiled shower. This wasn't exactly a moment to enjoy. Slowly, Rai pressed against the ground, raising his upper body. His slopy wet hair lay in the way of his gaze as he turned around to see the water goblin reforming. That was the opportune time, but getting back into the motions may be a challenge for him right now. On his feet he pulled back his hair, getting it away from his eyes. His left hand ran down his back, taking hold of the trusty chainrod once it reached his hip zone.

"I can disrupt them, but I can't hurt them when I'm doing it. I'm going to fire a shot someone else be ready." Andraia called out. She must have been the one that did the strike not long again that caked Rai. She was all for business, and usually fast to survey the situation, but didn't she bare arms of the elements? The sudden thought of freezing them just occurred to Rai.

Andraia fired again, at the same Devil that had just reformed. Don't give it a chance to attack again, but Rai knew the others were moving in. No enemy stood too still too long. It was damn foolish. Time was now of the essences! It was just a second, and the the plasma blast from Andraia's buster completely disrupted the devils functions. Water flew about the area, hitting all members, other devils, everything. Hopfully no one was against getting wet at this point. The red 'eye' part of the devil lay on the ground after that outstanding attack. Sooner than desired the water began its reformations. That however, was also disrupted. A light energy spear made its way into the red eye like part, and pulled it straight out as it was connected to an energy like chain. The 'eye' dashed into the air and pretty much lept at Rai, who was at this point had his left arm cocked back, as if it was about to throw a massive power punch. That same hand did in fact hold his chain-rod, which was connected to the 'eye'. The red closed in, rushing and collecting some water in the air. Rai's fist flew out, all of his compiled strength in this one. The two connected, not enough water had formed around eye to soften the blow, causing the 'eye' to shatter on impact. Glass like shrapnel soared into the hallway, away from the party thankfully.

Now what was that thought earlier? Oh right, the others..... From his blindspot one Devil closed in on Rai. Unknowing to it, perhaps from sensor damage, felt the water graving slam against his face. This attack however he was able to remain standing, his body limping a bit with his head down. Not even looking up, he twisted himself to through a punch. As his arm extended and his other tucked in, another devil from afar performed the ever so famous fun move, stretch punch! Into the water of the devil that Rai was about to strike, and right out of its belly and into Rai's chest. Now this, this crazy unforeseen attack was more than enough. It forced Rai back, up off the ground. Essentially he hovered for a moment was traveling backwards. That ended rather ubrutly though, as his fanny bounced off the earth floor and propelled him onto his back. His roll ended just short of Andraia, whom he looked up at, mostly dazed.

"Hey beautiful, don't you have a way to..." His conciseness was drifting "uh... freeze them? If not.. I have... chip..." He muttered.

[Jet]

Jody didn't have much time to spend observing her allies battle, there was nearly one sludge monster for each one of the resistance forces and she had to defend immediately. Sludgy fists battered her new shield and forced her to back up into the wall. Still, she had to fight back and the glowing red eye, or core, or whatever it was seemed like the best target. She slashed her sword at the red target but it floated away to a different point in the monster's body, and her sword passed right through the liquid. Until it began to thicken around her sword, making it harder to move and difficult to pull free. She tugged as hard as she could but it would not come loose. She was forced to leave it behind when the devil formed a massive fist and prepared to break her face with it. As she backed off the creature let its density return to normal and the sword dropped into the water.

The monster's great red eye was still fixated on her however, it hadn't switched targets. Jody backed away slowly, she was out of immediate striking distance and the thing didn't look very fast. Maybe if one of her allies could distract it she could slip around it and retrieve her weapon. As she formed her plan however the rainbow devil recoiled into itself and pulsated, becoming more of a blob than a humanoid shape. Then it launched itself through the air, a huge face as big as her body with rows of razor sharp teeth. Instinctively she raised her shield to deflect the attack... and the face splattered against it and lost its form. Now it was just slime on the ground.

Jody spotted movement though, the red eye was bouncing from puddle to puddle trying to reform. Jody dashed over to it, dropped to her knees in a slide and brought the edge of her shield down on the red sphere. It made a sort of pained squeal and hopped away with renewed vigor. Jody chased after it, swatting with her shield and hoping to slow it down. At one point she managed to trap it under the shield but the eye/core was too slippery and squirmed loose, disappearing into the darkness. There were still other devils to fight however. Jody retrieved her sword and sized up the situation.

Her allies were having some success, Rai had managed to pull the core out of the liquid body by using his chain rod. And Andraia had been able to temporarily immobilize the devils with her buster but she looked like she needed help finishing the job. Jody hurried over to her side just as another devil came at her. Andraia fired another shot from her buster to stun the monster, and in that time Jody attacked with a leaping strike from her sword and cleaved the pulsating red core in two. The devil's body broke apart and splashed to their feet like water. That was at least two down, but there were at least two devils still up that Jody could see, and possibly more blending in with the water.

Rai got pummeled by one of the devils and crash landed near Jody and Andraia. He muttered something about freezing them but before Jody could say anything or help him up her legs were taken out from under her and she landed beside him with a splash. One of the devils rose out of the water in front of them and began churning its body like a milkshake in a blender. After building up speed it began launching parts of its body throughout the chamber. One of them landed near Jody's head giving her a good look at the black metal package contained inside the water droplet.

"Bomb," she cried, rolling away and putting her shield in between the explosive and herself. The blast went off but her shield protected Rai and herself from harm, though it did cause a small wave of water to wash over them. She was thoroughly soaked now and ready to leave the temple. She looked around scanning for immediate danger, there were again the two devils that she could see and at least one for sure under the surface. Somehow Stark and Raven had been separated from the group, and with them was that resistance soldier they'd found. He was doing alright, still had his weapon and was firing at the devils from behind Stark, though his shots didn't seem to be doing any damage. It did however attract the attention of another devil, one that swam up next to him unseen and dragged him under the water.

[VirusZero]

Andraia's Reaction Blaster hit the devil and like expected it blew it's watery coating away. Though this time, in a display of teamwork, Rai had used his chain rod to pull the core of the enemy away from the water. And with a punch of significant magnitude, Rai obliterated the core and sent a cascade of shrapnel littering the ground.
But then was quickly savaged by another of the water mechs as it's arm extended and caught him right in the stomach and sent him flying backwards to meet ground. He landed right before Andraia and asked about her freezing them.
"I can do that... but you don't want to be anywhere close when I do." She stated simply.

With that she jumped away from Rai and the others, thankfully just in time to avoid the bulk of the bomb exploding. Though she still got hit by some of the impact from the shock wave and was sent crashing into the ground. The elbow of her broken arm landed first and with a loud crack, pieces of armour on her elbow broke away. When she stood back up, her entire forearm hung loose.
She grimaced, her sensors were indicating the damage. She realised that her attack against the giant paladin enemy must have done more damage to her arm than she thought. Otherwise her elbow would never have broke like that.

But she didn't have time to dwell on it. She had to help put down these goo things.

As she stood away from the others, she engaged her absorption power. Though this time she began absorbing purely the cold energy. The air around her began to flow as the temperature began to rise drastically. The area had been somewhat cool before (due to it being a cave like area) but right around her the temperature had reached several hundred degrees and was still climbing. Her fingers began to glow a slight red as the temperature rose directly around her, indicating how hot she was making the area.

One of the water devils noticed her standing still and decided to attack. It threw it's massive stretch fist directly at her. But as it got close the increased temperature began to cause the fist to bubble. Finally when it was just about to impact, it's entire arm exploded into a massive burst of steam. It reeled back as it's attack had failed and cost it a bunch of it's liquid coating.

However by this time Andraia's attack was ready. A second later she raised her hand and a beam of the purest blue erupted from it. Her beam hit the water devil directly in the chest and for a second it looked like nothing had happened... But then as her beam exhausted it's power and ended, her beam's effect took hold and that Devil's entire fluid body shifted structure. The molecules lined up and went rigid and it became a solid block of ice, with the core trapped firmly inside.

"Another one down" Andraia stated as she lowered her remaining hand, which had returned to a normal colour. She moved away from the area quickly, hoping that the rest of her body would cool down without too much issue.

[Zanjitsu]

Raven | Some place in the ruins

Looks like everyone was pulling their weight, but Raven? He was just firing wildly at the slimes. His buster shots were doing jack-all really. He couldn't kick them, they would just turn into even more and become even more difficult to handle. The most he could do was scatter them. His best bet was taking out some kind of core, but none presented itself.

"Are you serious?!", having seen Stark get dragged beneath the water, Raven made a face and then began stutter stepping around wherever he could, effectively avoiding some of them. He ceased fire for a moment as he looked around again... So one of their number could freeze them? That would be useful. After all, buster fire and his kicking won't do him any good here. Maybe if he had a piercing laser shot of some kind, there'd be enough concentrated force to pierce through their gelatinous bodies and destroy the cores. Though... What he saw next, was Andraia drying them out instead.

Seeing as Andraia increased the temperature in the room, that would mean some others would be a little weakened... He looked around and spotted one, rolling towards the water. Without a thought, he sprinted up to it and kicked it like a soccer ball, sending it flying, before it'd be shot to bits mid-air.

[Jet]

Several of the cores had been destroyed, and as they were dismantled the watery bodies lost their form. With nothing to hold them together the bodies collapsed into the liquid on the floor. Before Jody would have called it water, but now she wasn’t so sure. The ankle deep substance had grown more and more difficult to move around in. It had thickened, become something more gelatinous, and slowed her movement as Jody tried to chase down a core that one of her team had exposed, but this one slipped away.

Something else caught her eye though, a green uniform floundering under the surface. It was the resistance soldier they’d encountered who’d been imprisoned in the wall with the others. Jody splashed toward him but an unseen current pulled him further down the tunnel. As Jody chased him she became aware that most of the liquid was rushing down the tunnel as well. Suddenly a large wave crashed into her and the current swept her off her feet. Blindly she lashed out with her sword, managing to force it into the stone wall and anchor her in position while the current washed over her. It only lasted a moment, Jody sat up and pulled her weapon free of the wall. She was still wet, the ground was damp but she was no longer sitting in ankle deep water. She wondered for a brief moment where all of the liquid had gone but that question was answered as a sludgy figure lurched up the tunnel toward her.

The remaining devils had merged into one enormous enemy, now filling the tunnel and stretching from wall to wall. Jody scrambled to her feet and back to her allies, the path forward was completely blocked now. Inside the liquid body she could see a cluster of eyes, at least three of them floating about, but there was also a familiar green uniform. The resistance member had been absorbed into the blob and he was no longer struggling. Her allies were firing their ranged weapons at the monstrous being as it lurched its way forward, making a horrid squelching noise as it came. Andraia was firing, probably trying to freeze it, Rai was free to shock the monster now that they weren’t all standing in water. Raven was firing at the cores but his shots couldn’t seem to penetrate deep enough through the liquid body. Jody could only grasp her sword and shield helplessly as the sludge monster rolled forth to crush them, it was too late to turn and run now. But just as it was upon them the devil began to smoke and glow with a yellow light, as if burning up from the inside. The devil swelled in size and exploded, splattering them with a fresh coat of slime.

“That was really close, nice job someone,” Jody said, looking around for one of her teammates to give credit to. She assumed that Rai’s electricity or Andraia’s buster had caused some sort of reaction and forced it to burn up from the inside, but neither one of them claimed responsibility. From further down the tunnel Jody could hear the sounds of a buster charging, and through the light of its energy a familiar figure in heavy black armor was illuminated. It was that Arcadian who had forced them to separate before! Her team was looking pretty beat up, they weren’t ready for another fight. They began to run again as the charged plasma shots began to fly. Together the ground rounded a corner, hoping they could lose him in the labyrinth but the wall exploded inward, the Arcadian was eradiating a golden aura and had simply charged through the wall. He raised his buster again and let another blast of plasma fly.

[VirusZero]

Stark didn't know how the heck it happened, but the watery deluge from these things somehow congealed enough and dragged him under. The enemy in question bashed him against the wall several times, Stark feebly tried punching, but the fluid merely moved out of the way like he expected it to. His repulsor blast attack had limited effectiveness, cutting a small hole out of the enemy. But it lasted but a second before sealing itself up. He was trapped and unable to go anywhere until it had decided beating him off rocks was no longer fun.
Thankfully it was not too many impacts before two of the resistance members had defeated a few of the others. Having managed to find a solution to bypass their defences and defeat them, the monstrosity let go of Stark and he dropped with a splash and a clank onto the ground. Meanwhile the remaining ones formed together and transformed into one giant version.

Stark fired as much as he could into it. He could hear others taking shots at it, but he didn't really look to see what they were up to. Though thankfully it was not long before something caused a reaction and then ruptured, splashing them with enough slime to last a lifetime.
Stark was forced to the ground when a this new gross coating hit. Thick strands of the goo hung off his armour.
"As if once was not enough" he muttered to himself as he slowly stood back and peeled off as much of that goo as possible. But he didn't have long to wait before the sound of a buster charging was heard.

Running was the only option and so Stark took off, following the others. Though their attempt to lose him wasn't going to work this time as he merely ripped through a wall and continued pursuit. His golden aura gleaming and illuminating the dim tunnel to show just how seriously pissed off he was. His buster was raised and another shot fired. This time Stark was ready. He pushed himself in front of it with his jets active and engaged his energy shield. His shield took the hit and managed to absorb it. But Stark was still sent careening into ground for his trouble. He didn't hit that hard thankfully due to his shield taking the brunt of the force, but that saved his allies from taking a hit. It also meant that his indiscriminate fire wasn't causing damage to the tunnel and risking it collapsing on them.

That gave him an idea though... And from his vantage point on ground he noticed a good opportunity to enact his plan. He raised his arm and launched one of his missiles. It struck the ceiling. Stark engaged his jets and boosted along the ground, armour scraping against the floor in the process. But a second later when his missile exploded and rocks began to fall from the ceiling, he was glad not to be directly underneath them. A little scraping of the pain was nothing compared to being buried under all those rocks.

He hoped that bought them a few seconds before the enemy could get through so they could lose him. But he didn't exactly have high hopes. In fact he could hear the sound of a buster charging. Maybe they didn't have as long as he hoped...

[Jet]

Jody watched as Stark took the plasma shot. She thought she saw the flash of an energy shield, and that must have been the case since Stark appeared alright, apart from the impact knocking him down. He wasn't finished though, raising his arm and firing a missile at the ceiling and causing another collapse before rocketing to safety. Jody was relieved that she wouldn't have to fight the big Arcadian, she had been about to charge him with her sword and hopefully create an opening for her allies, but running was much better.

There was a staircase ahead, and at the top there was a doorway with light steaming through it. The resistance members charged up the staircase as fast as they were able, Jody moving a bit slower to assist one of her more injured allies. Ahead of them however the doorway was disappearing, the opening streaming light got smaller and smaller. When they reached the top it was almost completely closed, and since the bottom was lined with spikes no one wanted to risk rolling under and being impaled Jody pounded her fist against the wall in frustration, they were trapped again, and it wouldn't take long before the big Arcadian shifted the stone and came after them again.

But their fortunes shifted again, a slim ray of light crept into the stairway getting wider and wider. The wall was raising back up! Jody dropped to her knees and peered cautiously through the doorway, it was not just a door or a wall but the entire ceiling of the next room, lined with spikes and moving up and down on a slow, deliberate cycle. The room itself was wide open, maybe 200 yards across. Jody heard an explosion and a crash behind them, they didn't have much time. Still on her knees she slipped into the room as the ceiling continued its ascension, motioning for her allies to follow. She hoped everyone was ready to sprint.

------------------------------------
Ultros growled in frustration, once again finding his path blocked by a cave in. He stepped back and fired a charged blast of plasma, along with two missiles to weaken the rubble. Then he took a step back and began glowing once more with a golden aura, flying through the rubble with another Nova Strike.

By this point his quarry had gone, but there was only one path for them to take. Ultros charged up the stairs and into the next room where he spied the resistance forces halfway across the space. He dashed forward and flew into another Nova Strike to close the distance and eliminate the resistance scum.

[Vile]

Good. Greif. This overbearing reploid was the icing on the cake for this situation. Was it not bad enough that to be caked in a blue jello, that this freak had to also seek out the glory of soiling their uniforms. Oh, move. Right!

With those thoughts, the team ventured out of the chamber of goo and towards the light. Jody was the first to move forth, going under a moving panel. After dropping, she stuck her hand out and motioned for the team to fallow her lead. Rai glanced over at Stark and chuckled to himself. The oaf would have to wait for the ceiling a little more, his girth wasn't a bonus in this area.

Rai was the second to fallow Jody's lead, flopping to the floor and slowly pushing himself forward. The other end was in sight, so rather than use effort, Rai fired away his chain-rod toward the end. After a 'tink' sound, the line tensed. He recoiled it, skitting across the ground, scuffing up his soaked uniform. His feat however ended with a bang of a sort. He may have forgotten to decelerate, and met the wall face first.

[VirusZero]

Once they were in the open area the ceiling once again shut, closing the pursuing reploid from catching up once again. At least for several more seconds anyway. But before they could get very far the ceiling had parted and opening made way to allow their pursuer to gain access.

And in no time at all he was upon them.

Stark turned to see the massive reploid catch up in a blink of an eye, surrounded by a golden light. The light vanished once he got close. But Stark had no doubt that light would hurt if he hit them with it. He'd been using it to break through rocks afterall.

Stark raised his palms and unleashed a quick beam of energy from each. Two repulsor beams hit Ultros and barely did anything. Ultros merely responded by backhanding Stark across the chest, a strike which sent Stark flying into the wall behind him. Several cracks spread along the wall from the force of his impact. Stark slumped to the ground a second later.
"That's quite a backhand" he muttered as he looked down at his chestplate, checking for cracks. Finding no new ones, he slowly stood back up.

---

Andraia saw the massive reploid approach and moved away from the others. She didn't want to be anywhere close if he activated his dash attack again. Plus speaking from a tactical standpoint, she knew that if they spread out it'd make fighting him easier. They could move around him and pelt him with attacks without so much worry of him landing hits.
Though when she saw another resistance member's energy beam attacks hit, she couldn't help but question whether or not their attacks would do anything anyway. But this guy wasn't going to run away so they'd have to engage at some point...

Andraia recalled one of her special attacks which may help even the score... She pulled her buster and pointed it at the big reploid. A second later she fired the Piercing lazer attack. A blue shot erupted from her buster and impacted the enemy combatant. But whether it did anything or not, she couldn't tell.

[Jet]

The piercing lazer attack appeared to be effective, causing the giant Arcadian to halt it's pursuit of the group and activate a personal energy shield. Andraia fired again, and other resistance members with the ability joined in their effort to pin the big Arcadian to one spot while they made their escape. After all, the wall above them was coming down again and to remain in this room was to risk being crushed.

Jody led the group through the doorway and into another hallway, but it wasn't long before they reached another dead end. Jody pounded on the wall in frustration and surprisingly the wall and the floor pivoted around, bringing them to another chamber. Inside of it were the bodies of several more resistance soldiers, but the group did not have time to examine them. There was gunfire up ahead, they'd finally caught up to the survivors!

Isos and Pasos emerged from a doorway on the other side of the room, a small pink cyber elf floating above Pasos' head. Isos turned around and fired off a burst of shots at their pursuer but he was impaled through the chest by a pair of razor sharp claws. Isos crumbled and his assailant slithered into view. It looked like a snake, only it had whip-like appendages which served as its arms and legs.

"This is a restricted area, even for us Neo Arcadians," it hissed. "Now that you’ve come, none of you may leave here alive."

"Isos!" Pasos screamed at seeing his companion cut down.

"There's nothing you can do for him now," Jody said, holding Pasos back. "You need to get back to base." She tagged him with the portable trans-server sending the resistance officer and the mysterious cyber elf back to Elpizo.

"You should not have done that… you have no idea what you’ve unleashed! Hiss!" With that the serpent-like Arcadian dug his limbs into the floor, causing the stone to crumble away. After a short fall the entire group found themselves floating in mid-air on the back of a large mechanical snake.

Jody struggled to hang on as the giant snake wriggled through the air. The walls and the ground below were covered in spikes, they'd have to do battle with the Arcadian on the floating serpent for the time being.

[Vile]

From the shadows, out slithered a diabolical lavender snake roid. Isos limp in the fang claws. Rai watched as a superior officer fell, one of his brothers closest friends. His fists clenched, shaking in rage. He couldn't feel it, but his eye lids twiched as he wanted the actions of his partner who sought revenge, only to be stopped by newcomer Jody. No one else had seemed to be phased by this. The pitiful face of the snake, in its pastel faded mint tint, its glowing lifeless blue eyes just mocked the team. Who even chooses to remain with such clashing colors?! His rage was building by the millisecond. Jody had a hold of Pasos, soon to be sending him home. The other members behind them.

"You worthless ugly piece of scrap!" Rai shouted. He darted out towards the foe, Jody unable to grab him as she trans'd Pasos home. He then lunged himself, throwing a punch. "You make my blood boil!" Hygle however, morphed his body together, like a snake, and dropped low as the flooring crumbled.

The team fell and Rai's moment kept up. Airborne he flew towards a lovely deathpit. These ruins were just loaded with spikes. Glorious, wondrous, hellish spikes. A levitating platform was randomly thrown into the room, which marked a great spot to hook a chain rod. Which Rai did. He magnetized himself to the handle, and the rod hit the head of the snake platform. He prevented himself from sure death by impale, but the jolt of stopping his fall took a toll on his arm. There was a snap and the open wounds throughout it torn open just a smidge so that some oil and other lubricants oozed slowly out of them. Rai shirked, holding on only due to his magnet cling. He retracted himself slowly, swaying as the platform was now moving of its own acord. He was gritting his teeth, his spare first sparked occasionally with a blue current.

[VirusZero]

Andraia watched as one of the two reploids they encountered was killed. She didn't recognise either of them as being Resistance... but Rai did so they must have been. Rai was pissed and rushed the snake reploid though he never connected with his attack. The snake reploid acted and the floor gave way. But once the floor was gone and the snake reploid hit ground he vanished, retreated into the shadows of the area below.

Andraia engaged her jets before she could fall too far. This place had a bad habit of crumbling underneath them and she was kinda tired of falling down or having things fall on her. But with the floor gone she could see the new floor was lined with spikes... all the way up the walls to where they'd basically fallen from.
In the midst of it all was a massive mechanical snake-like platform. Like a blown up image of the reploid's body...

Others had successfully landed on the platform without too much issue. Though Rai had stuck himself to the Snake's head on the platform with his chain rod. He'd be fine though.

"So Boots, this was your whole plan? Make the floor fall out from under us so you could fight us to death on the back of your brother? Still your flaw is that there's no escape for you. There's no ending where you come out ahead. This place has been nothing but a hellhole and it pissed me off. So now you're going to pay for that." Andraia stated. Her buster was in her hand and ready to shoot at him the second he reappeared.

[Zanjitsu]

As things got heated, Raven had hidden himself and kept a low profile, that big guy Ultros didn't seem like the type he could hurt with his little peashooters... Maybe he really should get them amped up or something. Still, his hiding would end very soon as the floor gave way, reacting quickly he managed to grab onto the ledge of the giant snake mechaniloid, as the purple snakey culprit disappeared into the shadows. Rai seemed to be just fine with his chain rod, but he was in a bad situation if the snake guy went after him. There was nothing but darkness below them too, and he'd wager it was instant death if they fell.

He hauled himself up onto the snake mech and readied his busters. He kept an eye near Rai, who was hanging by his chain rod, making him the easiest target right now, if he were the purple snake guy... He didn't get his name. Isos or something. Disus? He didn't care, dude looked creepy.

[VirusZero]

Andraia waited for several tense seconds for an attack to happen so she could react. But she knew that was a foolish plan that only risked someone getting hurt and given the state they were in right then, likely a deadly one. And, for now at least, she needed all of them alive to fight this thing too.

It had hidden itself in the shadows, but she recalled she had a move that might be able to help fix that... She slid her buster away and pointed her palm out in front of her. Quickly a bright blue ball formed then shot across the air. A glowing blue tail, behind the projectile, cast a bright light about the area and for a few seconds dispelled most of the shadows.

She moved her hand and fired another, then moved again and fired another, then another motion and fired again. Three of these comets arced through the air, illuminating the battle ground. And just as the light of the third was dying, Andraia caught a glimpse of reploid's tail. it had snuck itself under the platform they were standing on and was preparing to swing up and attack.

"Get away from the centre" she called out quickly before she pulled her buster and peppered the corner where it would likely arise from with a few shots...

[Vile]

the emerald like stone snake hovered and shook about, like the mongrel it was. More-so it was a nusense, and rather inconvenient. Rai flopped around like a fish out of water with each of it's jerks. His arm was taking quite the beating, which would overall make it useless in this final bout.

About the time he reached the top of it, Andrea had managed to start some sort of barrage of her own? Unsure of what it was, the blue orbs floated and he hardly noticed her in the air. After all he was delusional and likely a reploid form of dehydrated over the lack of coolants and oil's that he was currently lacking. His vision was lacking, blurred if you will. Hazes of gray, some red, and shades of blue crossed here and there as the snake-form slithered. Hygile moved up from the center of it, coiled for a strike.

Andrea fired at him, to which he slithered aside. His mobility was insane, more so with how he moved across his mobile overgrown slinky. Moving fast, he threw out his arm, extending much farther than, well it should have. Rai hardly even caught a glimps of what this purple blot was doing. The fangs of this said arm clashed into Rai's shoulder, piercing his armor and digging into some wiring. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortune itself, Rai had yet to disengage his magnetism. As Hygile attempted to retract his arm, Rai stood still and held the boss at bay. His right arm, now not functioning, laid limp holding onto his chair-rod though magnet power alone. His left arm however still had a small spark going, and taking the moment he grabbed the extraction and attempted his damnedest to shock the ever living cyber-elf out of this monster before he collapsed.