07-19-2017, 03:45 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-29-2018, 12:59 AM by Kelly MacAryn.)
The air grew thick with the scent of sap, pollen, and the musk of imminent violence.
Standing beside his android ally half-way between the entrance to the clearing and the trunk of the titanic tree that ruled it, Kelly gripped his quarterstaff and set his stance. The black grasses and crimson undergrowth of the clearing rustled around his ankles. His lacerated shoulders twinged, an itch he dimly recognized as the telltale tingle of vastly accelerated healing - but there was no time to dwell on it. X leveled his buster-cannon, and together they watched with growing trepidation as the darkloid emerged and made its decree.
The traveler's mind was racing, latching onto every pertinent detail: every rustle of the forest, every twitch and tell. He sorely missed his higher senses.
This one moves very precisely, but it doesn't look terribly sturdy - of course, that doesn't necessarily mean it isn't... And the way that vine lowered it to the ground is more than a little worrying. Assuming those thorny tentacles on its back are weapons, that would seem to suggest a reason why it hasn't approached any closer - I certainly hope so. A preference for ranged combat is something we've already turned in our favor once today.
Still, unless they've suddenly gotten a lot more subtle, this is clearly the center of their operation - which means this is probably the most dangerous opponent we're going to face.
Also, we're surrounded by what I'd guess are probably terrifying mutant forest-creatures. If I keep holding back, one of us is going to get killed.
Kelly synced his physical awareness of his tall, wiry body more deeply with the power burning in his mind, complementing his mental map of himself with a force-vector sketch. A whispering wave of psychic enhancement rippled through his form like a soft tide of potent tension; Stray force-harmonics blew twigs and soil from the traveler's matted hair and clothes in a brief moment of swirling debris, setting the remaining leaves and the fabric of his camouflaged shirt flapping as though he were standing in his own personal hurricane. The grasses, ferns and creeping ivy that crowded his boots shuddered and swayed, lashed by an invisible storm. The psychic's hair tore free of its tie and streamed sideways, twisting and writhing.
Plant Man attacked!
It happened so fast, both Liberator's were caught completely off-gaurd. The thorny vines emerging from the darkloids shoulders uncoiled with lightning speed and shocking force, shrieking as they tore through the air. Even with his enhanced speed, Kelly managed only the slightest sideways flinch, the slightest motion of his weapon, and in spite of his best efforts the psychic's side was ripped open, baring his ribs to the crimson air and sending an arc of purple ichor spraying across the dusky weeds. Off to his left, sparks flew as a section of X's armored chassis buckled with a hideous clang, knocking the reploid to the ground.
As though the sudden assault had been a signal, the scuttling creatures creeping down the trunk of the veritable world-tree which dominated the enormous clearing leaped to the ground and charged forward - ape-like knuckle-walkers with the bodies of African gorillas, brilliant rainbow plumage adorning their shoulders, and the heads of snarling black panthers.
Kelly didn't allow himself to be shocked, either by the injury or the spectacle. He couldn't spare the time - vines had suddenly erupted from the ground, growing explosively in an instant.
The psychic flexed his legs and leaped, tearing free before the grasping black tendrils could tighten their hold. Hanging in the air for a moment, twenty feet off the floor of the clearing as he reached the apex of his leap, Kelly clocked upward, increasing his cerebral processing speed in order to take stock of his rapidly deteriorating situation.
X was kneeling, firing his buster-cannon at Plant-man, who was in the process of sidestepping, one of his thorn-laden whips coming around for a vicious counter. The darkloid was so fast that to Kelly he appeared to be moving normally, even while everything else slowed to a crawl.
The tree-dwelling panthropoids charge had nearly reached him, seven of the beasts circling wide around their boss to close in and encircle the liberators.
From the forest, other creatures were emerging. Three-headed frogs the with vicious fangs, the size of labrador retrievers; Wild boars with enormous ridges of bone spikes on their shoulders and scorpion-tail stingers. There was even an extremely sinister-looking moose, mostly normal save for its glowing red eyes, but plenty worrying. The hideous zoological vanguard advanced from behind with a grim sense of evil purpose.
Kelly frowned.
I think I can take those panther-headed mutants, and X could probably handle the rest - but their leader is lethal. As if his strength and speed weren't enough, if that attempted snare just now is any indication then he can probably control plants at a cellular level.
If we can't put him off his game, he's going to murder us. It won't even be a fight.
As the flow of events caught up with him and Kelly arced towards the ground, several possibilities flickered in rapid succession through his mind. Hoping that X would hear him over the building din, he bellowed "X -CHARGE A SHOT!"
Plant Man looked up at him, and suddenly the hazy air was filled by a shotgun-blast of ivory-yellow razor-sharp thorns, streaking toward the traveler's face and chest. His quarterstaff whirled and rang as he deflected frantically, but he could barely protect his eyes. Several of the thorns bit into him, lodging deep in his hardened flesh and tearing violet furrows in his face and neck. The traveler took note, but focused on other things. He hit the ground and rolled, feeling slimy vegetation crunch beneath his body, scraping at his bare arms. The scent of soil and sap was practically overpowering.
As he came up, he reached out with his telekinesis; it was weak, in this dark and twisted place, and the range was limited, but his jump had carried him closer to the enemy, and with the resonant properties of his vector-sketch amplifying his power, it was enough for what he had in mind.
The psychic struck with his thoughts, grabbing hold of the weeds, grasses and flowering plants that surrounded Plant Man's feet, and violently uprooting them. The sudden burst of flying plant matter, sap and soil blinded the Nebula general, obscuring his vision and disrupting his balance.
Kelly raised his hand, and snapped off a psychic force-bolt, even as X came through. A charged buster-shot pierced the cloud of now-falling debris at the exact same time.
Even with the distraction, Plant Man was fast and skilled enough to dodge the psychic force-bolt - but the buster shot caught him off guard, eliciting a scream of shock and pain as it tore and burned at his fragile body.
Kelly smiled thinly- then dove out of the way as a panther-headed mutant brought both of its fists crashing down where he'd been just a moment before. A whisper of flower-scented musk rankled his nose as the psychic burst to his feet. X joined him, walking backwards as he fired his buster at the advancing wall of hopping, stomping, squealing monsters. He barely sidestepped the charge of a bony-shouldered boar, its stinger skittering off his damaged armor as it passed.
Plant man scowled. The darkloid's right side was a mass of burned flesh and sparking wires where the androids blast had struck. His arm had been completely destroyed, ending in a ragged stump just below the shoulder.
All around his, feet, with a hiss and a sigh plants withered and died, turning brown and brittle. In a burst of amber sap, a new arm erupted from the wound.
The liberators had scored a solid blow, but the fight was still stacked against them.
Standing beside his android ally half-way between the entrance to the clearing and the trunk of the titanic tree that ruled it, Kelly gripped his quarterstaff and set his stance. The black grasses and crimson undergrowth of the clearing rustled around his ankles. His lacerated shoulders twinged, an itch he dimly recognized as the telltale tingle of vastly accelerated healing - but there was no time to dwell on it. X leveled his buster-cannon, and together they watched with growing trepidation as the darkloid emerged and made its decree.
The traveler's mind was racing, latching onto every pertinent detail: every rustle of the forest, every twitch and tell. He sorely missed his higher senses.
This one moves very precisely, but it doesn't look terribly sturdy - of course, that doesn't necessarily mean it isn't... And the way that vine lowered it to the ground is more than a little worrying. Assuming those thorny tentacles on its back are weapons, that would seem to suggest a reason why it hasn't approached any closer - I certainly hope so. A preference for ranged combat is something we've already turned in our favor once today.
Still, unless they've suddenly gotten a lot more subtle, this is clearly the center of their operation - which means this is probably the most dangerous opponent we're going to face.
Also, we're surrounded by what I'd guess are probably terrifying mutant forest-creatures. If I keep holding back, one of us is going to get killed.
Kelly synced his physical awareness of his tall, wiry body more deeply with the power burning in his mind, complementing his mental map of himself with a force-vector sketch. A whispering wave of psychic enhancement rippled through his form like a soft tide of potent tension; Stray force-harmonics blew twigs and soil from the traveler's matted hair and clothes in a brief moment of swirling debris, setting the remaining leaves and the fabric of his camouflaged shirt flapping as though he were standing in his own personal hurricane. The grasses, ferns and creeping ivy that crowded his boots shuddered and swayed, lashed by an invisible storm. The psychic's hair tore free of its tie and streamed sideways, twisting and writhing.
Plant Man attacked!
It happened so fast, both Liberator's were caught completely off-gaurd. The thorny vines emerging from the darkloids shoulders uncoiled with lightning speed and shocking force, shrieking as they tore through the air. Even with his enhanced speed, Kelly managed only the slightest sideways flinch, the slightest motion of his weapon, and in spite of his best efforts the psychic's side was ripped open, baring his ribs to the crimson air and sending an arc of purple ichor spraying across the dusky weeds. Off to his left, sparks flew as a section of X's armored chassis buckled with a hideous clang, knocking the reploid to the ground.
As though the sudden assault had been a signal, the scuttling creatures creeping down the trunk of the veritable world-tree which dominated the enormous clearing leaped to the ground and charged forward - ape-like knuckle-walkers with the bodies of African gorillas, brilliant rainbow plumage adorning their shoulders, and the heads of snarling black panthers.
Kelly didn't allow himself to be shocked, either by the injury or the spectacle. He couldn't spare the time - vines had suddenly erupted from the ground, growing explosively in an instant.
The psychic flexed his legs and leaped, tearing free before the grasping black tendrils could tighten their hold. Hanging in the air for a moment, twenty feet off the floor of the clearing as he reached the apex of his leap, Kelly clocked upward, increasing his cerebral processing speed in order to take stock of his rapidly deteriorating situation.
X was kneeling, firing his buster-cannon at Plant-man, who was in the process of sidestepping, one of his thorn-laden whips coming around for a vicious counter. The darkloid was so fast that to Kelly he appeared to be moving normally, even while everything else slowed to a crawl.
The tree-dwelling panthropoids charge had nearly reached him, seven of the beasts circling wide around their boss to close in and encircle the liberators.
From the forest, other creatures were emerging. Three-headed frogs the with vicious fangs, the size of labrador retrievers; Wild boars with enormous ridges of bone spikes on their shoulders and scorpion-tail stingers. There was even an extremely sinister-looking moose, mostly normal save for its glowing red eyes, but plenty worrying. The hideous zoological vanguard advanced from behind with a grim sense of evil purpose.
Kelly frowned.
I think I can take those panther-headed mutants, and X could probably handle the rest - but their leader is lethal. As if his strength and speed weren't enough, if that attempted snare just now is any indication then he can probably control plants at a cellular level.
If we can't put him off his game, he's going to murder us. It won't even be a fight.
As the flow of events caught up with him and Kelly arced towards the ground, several possibilities flickered in rapid succession through his mind. Hoping that X would hear him over the building din, he bellowed "X -CHARGE A SHOT!"
Plant Man looked up at him, and suddenly the hazy air was filled by a shotgun-blast of ivory-yellow razor-sharp thorns, streaking toward the traveler's face and chest. His quarterstaff whirled and rang as he deflected frantically, but he could barely protect his eyes. Several of the thorns bit into him, lodging deep in his hardened flesh and tearing violet furrows in his face and neck. The traveler took note, but focused on other things. He hit the ground and rolled, feeling slimy vegetation crunch beneath his body, scraping at his bare arms. The scent of soil and sap was practically overpowering.
As he came up, he reached out with his telekinesis; it was weak, in this dark and twisted place, and the range was limited, but his jump had carried him closer to the enemy, and with the resonant properties of his vector-sketch amplifying his power, it was enough for what he had in mind.
The psychic struck with his thoughts, grabbing hold of the weeds, grasses and flowering plants that surrounded Plant Man's feet, and violently uprooting them. The sudden burst of flying plant matter, sap and soil blinded the Nebula general, obscuring his vision and disrupting his balance.
Kelly raised his hand, and snapped off a psychic force-bolt, even as X came through. A charged buster-shot pierced the cloud of now-falling debris at the exact same time.
Even with the distraction, Plant Man was fast and skilled enough to dodge the psychic force-bolt - but the buster shot caught him off guard, eliciting a scream of shock and pain as it tore and burned at his fragile body.
Kelly smiled thinly- then dove out of the way as a panther-headed mutant brought both of its fists crashing down where he'd been just a moment before. A whisper of flower-scented musk rankled his nose as the psychic burst to his feet. X joined him, walking backwards as he fired his buster at the advancing wall of hopping, stomping, squealing monsters. He barely sidestepped the charge of a bony-shouldered boar, its stinger skittering off his damaged armor as it passed.
Plant man scowled. The darkloid's right side was a mass of burned flesh and sparking wires where the androids blast had struck. His arm had been completely destroyed, ending in a ragged stump just below the shoulder.
All around his, feet, with a hiss and a sigh plants withered and died, turning brown and brittle. In a burst of amber sap, a new arm erupted from the wound.
The liberators had scored a solid blow, but the fight was still stacked against them.
Quote:Kelly used T1 powerup - Somatic Vector Sketch (2 order points for this post and X's)
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