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

[comefadeaway]

Yoite wasn't exactly used to keeping track of people in his usual day to day combat, but when people begin to gather, he makes his way over there, brandishing his stick and whacking mongeese back out of the way.

He landed next to the group and looked towards the east, positioning himself hopefully in a way that demonstrated he was trying to help keep the creatures off of them.

If he didn't make it to the tree, he didn't particularly care, he wasn't sure what he'd do when he got there. This part he at least, had a sense of what he was doing.

[bakegarasu]

"I can't feel pain, it's fine." He can bleed out, but he's doing his best to avoid the stupid things. He throws a bright flash at the ones following him, following it up with a fireball as he keeps pace with the kids.

"Almost there, come on." A little further still... but he's trying to be encouraging.

[melodiouspacifist]

Demyx's luck appeared to be holding out as he continued to avoid roots and tree branches, using these strange powers to cut through the mongeese.

"All this is missing is a real good song, you know?"

What could he say, he preferred music if he was going to be in any battle.

He kept his eyes on those who seemed to be a little less prepared for combat as he was. He ducked suddenly. "Watch out for branches!"

[gentle_jim]

"Somehow I don't think these guys'll appreciate my beauty," Jack scoffs at Cassie's suggestion, referring to the giant mongeese.

He doesn't have a shield either- so the branch coming towards him hits him square in the chest, knocking him away from the other two.

He lands hard next to someone with a loud groan.

"...Ugh... mind helpin' me up?"

[adropofsunlight]

Rapuznel held out her hand for him to take. She was more than happy to help them up.

"Let me help you and maybe we could work together. As for a song..." she was now focused on her friend or at least whom she considered as such.

"You can always sing one."

[melodiouspacifist]

Demyx laughed, quite amused by the suggestion. "I'm not much of a singer, I don't think. I'm more the instrumental kinda guy."

He was probably passable, but most of the music he knew didn't have lyrics really.

[10billionpercent]

On his end of things, Senku had been on the ground, and he scrambled to get back on his feet, narrowly missing being caught in them again.

He stepped closer to Gen out of habit and set his freezing spell on the roots that were still coming after him.

"If we keep this up long enough, do you think we can get to the centre?"

[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.