Finale: All teams

[voidtreckermods]

Inside the System

The forest seems endless as the Voidtreckers move through it, soothing the red vines that constrict the trees as they go. But eventually they will start to come together, as though they are being funnelled towards a centre.

The trees end, the forest opening out into a large clearing. Vines carpet the floor and climb up the trees, curving to create a dome of red mesh that blocks out the sky. As everyone gathers in the clearing, vines weave past them to cover the entrances, closing them in. The red light does little to light up the gloomy dome, but as their eyes adjust they will see a huge gnarled and broken tree in the centre. It pulses with the same sickly red glow.

From the gloom creatures emerge, more of the mongoose. These ones are larger, teeth and claws are sharp as they circle the clearing, hissing and snarling.

The tree begins to move, its branches and roots are huge and they swing towards the gathering Voidtreckers with a speed that seems unlikely for their size, roots rise up to try and tangle around limbs.

The vines creating the dome can be soothed, but there are so many of them it will be a lengthy job and the mongooses patrol the edges, attacking anyone who is trying to clear the roots. Often they will give chase to anyone who tries to run, trying to hound them into the path of the tree roots or into the range of the attacking branches.

All the while more vines are growing from the tree, pulsing red strands that spread towards the walls of the dome and beyond.

Outside the System

For those that did not enter the system it has been a long vigil over their unconscious teammates. The sectors still have problems but these seem to lessen: there are fewer emergency alerts in Winter, the walls stop moving in Autumn, all seems calm in Spring and the weather calms in Summer.

But as Day Eleven of the month of Jelly begins there seems to be a shift: the sky darkens, going from the usual clear blue that is has been for days to a dark, burnt red.

The Helpmates have mostly calmed the last few days, but now there are more of them and they will attack on sight. The only place they will not enter is the inner sanctuaries of the Great-Seasons, where the bodies of those who have entered the system still lie.

A few times the ground ominously rumbles and for anyone still in the Spring sector there are certainly a few frightened alpaca-type creatures to calm.

Comments

[tactlesstantei]

[Masumi nods in acknowledgment of Yuume, her focus on not getting trapped as she keeps moving towards the group. She continues to use her water powers to block anything that might try to come close to her or Yuume, working to help keep the path clear to allow progress forward.]

[nutkrusher]

Cassie nods at Yugi, pulling her shield back up immediately as it dies down.

"Sure is," she says.

"And Jack, that's exactly what I'd like to see out of you, too."

[voidtreckernpcs]

They make it through. Fighting mongeese, branches and vines, working together, watching each others backs. Freezing and burning roots, shielding each other, firing leaves at angry mongeese, they begin to make real progress through the defences.

Those that make the push towards the tree break through the roots and branches, the walls of vines until they are at the trunk.

Unlike the trees of the Great-Seasons this one has no safe space, they are not free from attack here though they are a little too close for the branches to get any real momentum.

Most of the danger come from mongeese who begin firing in at them.

Still they are at the trunk now, it is up to them to decide what to do next.

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita has herself a final lookout - absently grabbing hold of one last vine to soothe - before she takes her gaze, and her hand, to the trunk of the very hostile tree.

Or-

You're not a tree, she says, in her head and not even in the Speech.

You're pretending to be, maybe you're trying to be, but you're not.

Mongeese will have an easy time getting to her, but she simply freezes them, again and again.

But whatever you really are... you deserve to be recognized for whatever that is. Accepted, for whatever that is.

She makes that contact and holds it, holds it for all its worth.

If she's wrong, it's not as if she'll die in here. But if she's right-

[nutkrusher]

Cassie doesn't know anything about that. It's not high on her list of considerations. So while that's happening, she and everyone who followed her forward is going to be dealing with those mongeese.

Shielding against their blasts, and swatting them away with leaves and close-range strikes.

[light_of_willpower]

Trunks had eventually fallen in somewhere slightly behind but near Cassie, helping clear the way as best he could. Between freezing things, ice shards, and his own sword-stick. It wasn't fun work at all, but it wasworking.

Which means as Nita makes a run for the trunk, Trunks will find himself besides Cassie, taking out Mongeese. "Couldn't have asked for a better partner." He calls to her, with a hint of smile before focusing on his task again. Good thing the two fought together so often.

[nutkrusher]

Cassie carries on her assigned task of beating shit up. But she does it with a visible increase in energy and vigor, as well as a bigger smile on her face.

"I do love these couples retreats they send us on."

[its_dad_sanzo]

Koumyou's paying more attention to anything coming at Devero than anything coming at himself, so a blast of water takes the creature out mid-leap--

And then that branch takes Koumyou's legs out from behind!

For!

Half a second!

The priest turns that sudden momentum up and back and down into a one-handed flip, landing on his free hand and then back up onto his feet as if there's no gravity here to slow him down. Sword held at the ready to block the next attack.

"You two focus on offense, I'll keep everyone's backs covered," Koumyou says aloud, mostly for Kaiba's benefit. Devero already knows the drill, after fighting their way through to get here together.

[subcircuits]

If Kaiba had been anticipating one extra-large ice shard from their combined powers experiment, he's going to be disappointed. What happens instead is the water splits into myriad droplets that sting like wind-driven sleet on impact, and then coat the target with an icy crust.

But you know what? That's damn usable. As it turns out, sleet-stunned mongeese are much easier to hit, and ice-bound branches and roots much easier to break. There are much worse ways to push through the central tree's defenses, especially with Koumyou Sanzo ruthlessly dispatching what Devero and Kaiba work in tandem to delay and break.

And then, just like that, they're inside the dangerous reach of the lashing branches. Devero looks from Koumyou to Kaiba, then around at the others who've made it this far. "What now? Do we--?" He extends and arm towards the viral luminescence of the great tree, palm facing the bark.

[blue_ice]

It's...definitely a little smaller than he hoped, but that's all right. It works! Kaiba can supplement with his own icicles---it's a little draining, but they can go for a one-two punch on a rotation with this.

He glances at Nita trying to reach it, at Cassie's group beating back branches...and with a swing of his stick, decides.

"Keep slowing it down!"

He pumps out freeze after freeze, peppering the tree with icicles when he can. That leaves him vulnerable, but he's gonna grit his teeth and fire until he goes down.

[luckydragonsfoot]

Okay, he just needs to Soothe-

Katsuya is sure focusing on that, even if mongeese are-

"Ahhhh hell, lay off already..!" he snaps, kicking and swinging at a few as he goes back and forth on trying to soothe. "You guys holdin' out over there..!?"

Emporio frowns as he approaches with his group though. "That's actually less reassuring..! Pain is one of the things that tells you when you're too hurt..." But... "AH-" Mongeese! They're at the trunk but- He'll cast a blind, hopefully covering a greater range of assailants to buy them time.

With Yuume however... "Hff...looks like we made it then..." That. Was tiring. But they're not out of the clear either... "...Focus on the tree," she determines, facing the mongeese and watching the branches. "I'll handle your defenses."

[voidtreckernpcs]

Nita touches the tree, she will feel nothing, no connection, her powers far away from her here. A couple of mongeese attack but they are helpfully blinded by Emporio and others are picked off by Yuume

Trunks and Cassie are pretty busy with mongeese, though they should also be wary of the roots trying to tangle around their feet.

Devero and Kaiba's sleet attack has cleared a decent area for them and Devero will find no resistance as he moves to touch the tree, helped by Kaiba and Koumyou's attacks on the tree. Ice shards and water keep the area clear of mongeese though they both have more branches to contend with. Roots and branches whip in, though many are frozen and shattered as quickly as they arrive.

As Jonouchi joins Devero and Nita at the trunk all those fighting will find the illusions flickering. It doesn't start at the trunk but rather around the dome. Vines looking more like wires, mongeese looking more like red blobs. The closer to the trunk they are the more solid the illusion is.

[sizedoesntmatter]

Yugi looked up for a moment nearly tilting his head briefly. he didn't fully understand what was going on, but considering they aren't necessarily in the real world he could at least take a guess.

"It seems like something is going on. Does anyone else notice the flickering?"

[tactlesstantei]

Got it!

[Masumi rushes for the trunk, slamming both hands onto the bark in an effort to help soothe it like the vines. She personally would have chosen to help hold off the mongeese and branches, but with the choice out of her hands all she can do is stand there and help soothe.

It’s Yugi’s comment that gets her attention, and she briefly glances towards the edges of the dome before returning her focus to what’s going on around her.]

I saw that, alright! It looks like we’re succeeding at this!

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita drags her hand along the trunk, starting to make her way towards the others.

Does the effect increase when people are concentrated? More mongeese are frozen, as she walks, over root and under branch.

[adropofsunlight]

Rapunzel continues to simply do what thing of dodging and if she can try and get the vines and such to go for her instead of the others.

Sure it wasn't a lot, but it was still something flickering or not.

[blue_ice]

"The illusion's breaking!"

Kaiba's finally caught up. He's not sure if that's good or bad news, but he continues to pump out ice. If they can just chill the 'tree', that's a good start. He tries to push the vines back while he can, but swinging to bat back the red things is taking up a good amount of his attention.

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin has been fighting anything that comes at him or at the others, shooting ice-shards at the mongooses, hitting the roots and branches with the freezing power. He also has his sword, though it isn't in fact a sword but a wooden club. Still, it works well enough to swat away a mongoose, and if that doesn't work, a powerful kick of his boot will serve.

He works with others to help clear a path to the tree's trunk, following Cassie's lead. As he gets nearer the trunk, he looks up at the dome and can intermittently see the vines turning into wires, and when he looks around, the mongooses look like red blobs. "I can see the flickering, too!" he replies to Yugi, Masumi, and Kaiba.

He gets close to Nita, where she stands with her hand on the trunk, and he wonders if the tree is really a giant pipe, or some other mechanistic thing. This virtual world is very weird indeed. "What is it?" he asks her, though she may not be able to answer that question at this moment.

[subcircuits]

Devero turns his back on the fight entirely. He's leaving himself exposed, sure, but he trusts in Koumyou and now in Kaiba to watch his back for him.

He puts both of his hands on the tree, fingers spreading against the bark. Bark that's not bark-- the tree that's not a tree, he knows it's not a tree. But no matter how personally frustrated he is with the illusions, it's still a system in distress. Its viral influence needs to be purged. This is why they're here, isn't it?

(He hears Koumyou's voice in his head, speculating on the train's motivations for picking up wildly outclassed Devero as one of its heroes. "Maybe it wanted someone who wouldn't choose to kill as a first reaction." Maybe this is why he's here...?)

Closing his eyes, he leans his forehead into the bark as well, and focuses how he'd been able to soothe and dissipate vines out there in the forest. He thinks about antiviral programming in a public system, and about the cells of someone's body swarming in an immune response. He thinks about how many of them are here and how hard they've all been working to contain and mitigate this invasion.

He thinks about blue light. He pictures that magical glow piercing into the sickly red of the tree, expanding and brightening to beat back the infection.

"Get out!" he roars, unaware that he's spoken at all, much less how loudly he just shouted that.

[its_dad_sanzo]

A Sanzo priest is, at the end of the day, a protector.

They protect their sutra from the world, and the world from their sutra.

And Koumyou Sanzo in specific had guarded two sutras for over twenty years. The only Sanzo in history to do so, and for longer than some Sanzos lasted guarding one.

Protection is as natural to him as breathing, and that's what he does now, even though the sutra on his shoulders is only illusory. The katana in his hand is only as real as the pole beneath the image, but that's fine.

It's enough.

Sword in one hand ready to block branches and vines, the other hand free to fire jets of water at the mongeese? red blobs? hostiles. He plants himself between Devero's back and any approaching danger, and gets to work.

Which isn't to say he won't defend anyone else in range, of course. There's plenty of him to go around.

i want to apologize for this tag

[gentle_jim]

Everyone's feeling up on the tree and Jack can't help but wonder if maybe it has a preference...

...for a handsome AI, perhaps?

He's just gonna lean one hand on the enormous trunk and grin. "Let me in, baby. I'll show you a good time."

Time to break that mood...

[light_of_willpower]

Meanwhile, away from Jack and the tree-trunk...

Letting out a huff of annoyance, Trunks moved to focus on freezing those vines trying to trap him and Cassie. Trusting her to keep them mongoose-free.

[nutkrusher]

Cassie is far too occupied to roll her eyes and/or vomit the way she'd like. Instead she'll be putting her stick-staff to good use, using gusts of razor-leaf wind to push the mongeese further away.

jack omg...

[shadowslipping]

Yuume is ultimately feeling a bit more in her element with this particular line of work, and while a stick is a stick not a sword, it's something. Much as the illusions might be faltering, they're still at the trunk though, so this is what she has to work with.

Shields, for those attempting to soothe the system. Bladed leaves, for the mongeese as she keeps her footwork going. "Whatever the flickering is, we need to stay on course! Keep it up!"

Emporio quite agrees with the idea- and as one of the continuing fighters, gives a small cry as he continues on. Blind for the mongeese, followed by fireball- both for them and any errant branches and roots. The flickering is odd, and it feels like something's shifting but...

Right, right, focus-

Back at the trunk, Katsuya is doing his best to do just that. He. Does have to pause when he hears Handsome Jack though. "PFffHfhf...oh man that one's perfect..!"

Yep, the blond is a teen alright. Still! They have to keep cooling this thing off! "Righ'- c'mon tree thing, or whatever y' really are...we got yer back..!"

[voidtreckernpcs]

Mongees and roots keep attacking, trying to wind around the ankles of those near the tree to pull them away, or shoot at those trying to protect the ones touching the tree.

As everyone begins to soothe the tree, red vines slowly untangling and vanishing, there is a ripple, then another.

The the illusion is just gone. Suddenly they are stood in a dome of red wire, one that is being rapidly soothed by those not focussing on the tree. The room they are in is one of pipes and wire, slowly being freed by the choking red wires. Mongeese become unformed red shapes, firing lasers from inside the mass of cloudy chaos.

The tree itself a mess of red wires and a cloud of the same cloudy red substance that make up what were once mongeese. But for those currently with their hand on it, soothing it. There is something more. Something being smothered underneath it all.

Slowly but surely though they are cutting through.