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

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin turns to respond to the last ditch attack. He is a warrior, after all, and it is his job to protect others. He'll have to go back to fighting, for the moment.

He throws the freezing spell and the ice shards at those whipping tendrils, trying to keep everybody on their feet. He is very fast, so he can run between the Voidtreckers and slam the tendrils with the winter powers this place has granted him.

[mynameisallen]

Allen had been doing his part attacking what needed to be attacked and when he could see that he was trying to be knocked off his feet, Allen was at least quick enough to do a few flips away briefly before sending out another fireball towards the center.

[blue_ice]

Kaiba moved in to cut at the red mass more, gaining more control over his power as he went. They could stop this. They were nearly there.

One problem, though: the still-lashing wire. He manages to freeze the first few, gritting his teeth through hits, but just when he's cutting away the last bit in front of him, his arms are seized and he's yanked to the ground.

"---hey!" He's still pumping out ice to try to free himself, but it's harder to aim.

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita crouches, not pulling her hands back.

I know this has got to hurt, but-! Just a bit longer...

And she uses her freeze one more time - if she can't freeze herself, she'll try her hardest to freeze those tendrils.

[10billionpercent]

Suddenly having a tendril come at him made him duck down and tug on Gen at the same time to do the same. Nevermind the lasers, the mass of tendrils in the middle were trying to get the job done.

"I already told you." Senku breathed, and turned to blast his freezing spell on them just before Curufin got in there and hopefully it would help. "That you're getting me in a dress again over my dead body."

[fun_thementalist]

Gen would duck down as Senku tugged him, but also try and roll them away as more came hurtling forward. Maybe if they both scrambled and flailed together - they could manage to avoid getting impaled by tendrils. How did they get drawn into this battle?

"That's unfair, Senku-chan, you looked good in that dress," Gen pouted a little before grimacing and pulling them out of the way of more laser fire. Crap crap crap. "And also unfair, since what you're wearing now is basically a a skirt anyway, and looks good on you too."

[voidtreckernpcs]

It really is the last defence efforts because as the tendrils are fought off and more attacks are fired into the mass in the centre it pulsates one last time before inverting, pulling back into itself and dissaperating.

The dome disappeared, as did the red unformed creatures, vanishing into nothing. In the centre was a blue plinth, dull for a moment but once it was free beginning to pulse, emitting blue terndrils of light outwards towards the pipes and wires.

Thank you. The voices of the Great-Seasons sounded from all around them.

/plays victory fanfare

[unfavorableinstigation]

From red to blue.

Interesting.

Nita tentatively tried to reach out to her power once more - not this new ice-focus, but her wizardry.

'Anytime,' she responded, voice a whisper as she looked up and around at the nearby Voidtreckers - her compatriots - and began walking towards the plinth.

[subcircuits]

Even through the chaos of that last extinction burst of violence, Devero stands steady against the onslaught. He keeps his feet planted and his hands sunk into the virulence, his faith in Koumyou's ability to defend him absolute--

So imagine his surprise when one of those tendrils lashes him across the back and actually drives him into the struggling morass of wire and amorphous malevolence. He swears aloud, staggering and grabbing with one hand for a handhold--on wires, on what's beneath, on whatever-- as that same cable wraps around his arm and shoulder and tries to yank him away and up. There is absolute (if now pained) focus on his face as he tries to maintain his connection, to soothe the infection.

The wires around him, anchor and aggressor alike, pulse red once and then... disappear? All that force of Devero's strength versus the malevolence has to unload somewhere, and Dev actually pitches into the plinth while it's still dull, the impact rattling him much more than it does the structure, before he bounces back and falls on his ass.

He stares at the revealed structure, then looks around. "Did... did we do it...?"

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin walks near to the blue plinth, staring at it as it pulsates with blue light.

He offers Devero a hand up, out of politeness as much as anything. "Looks like we succeeded, somehow," he answers. "All the red is gone. Let's hope that means nothing else is going to attack us."

[its_dad_sanzo]

Koumyou's had a chaotic last few minutes himself, grappling with multiple wires in each hand and getting yanked off his feet more than once--

And then it's fucking over, and the priest drops back to his feet from a few feet up. Naturally, his first instinct is to glance back at Devero, he knows one got past him. But the big man seems to be okay, if planted on the ground, and already being helped up.

He'll shoot him a thumbs-up if Dev looks his way, but otherwise he's just going to stay right where he is and just try to catch his breath.