07-23-2015, 06:32 PM
Athena had quickly decided that it would be useful to keep the robot around, even if she didn't have a specific task for him. She didn't keep allies nearby just for company most of the time, but the Toa of Ice had proved his worth as a combatant, and she did need some sort of protection until she had a full understanding of her surroundings and of the remnants of her mental abilities. Fortunately, he seemed to be seeking the same thing - knowledge - so the logical way to proceed was obviously to remain in the library. They agreed upon this and began (or, in Athena's case, continued) studying.
However, Athena didn't spend all that time with her nose in a book, either. She spent a few minutes focusing on creating her Muse, which she was convinced would prove just as useful in this world as it had in the last. In a short amount of time, she was equipped with the silver device around her upper arm. She spent about twice the time trying to figure out how to use it. Despite her best efforts in creating it, the controls were far from intuitive. There were exactly two round buttons and two rows of tiny rectangular ones, but unlike her old Muse, the machine wouldn't respond to voice commands or taps on the screen panel.
Eventually, she found herself sitting at one of the reading tables, holding the Muse listlessly in her hands and staring at it, utterly perplexed. On the slowly scrolling screen were a series of short, out-of-context phrases, written by some random characters way out in all the farthest reaches of the Omniverse. At the top of the screen was the title "OmniTwitter," but that did little to help her understand what she was reading. She couldn't make sense of any of it, nor could she figure out how to leave the application. She pressed the one button that she had been able to figure out how to use, and turned off the display. Shaking her head, she slid the Muse back onto her arm and picked up another book.
A few minutes later, a faint noise startled her out of her studies. She heard the monster before she could sense it, but was ready by the time it rounded the corner towards Kopaka and herself. She ducked down to safety, and then turned to her ally.
"What do you want to do?" This time, she made sure it was the Toa's decision. Luckily for them both, he seemed to have a plan, albeit not one that she would have chosen. She braced herself and then started running at top speed towards the creature, firing as rapidly as she could and fighting the urge to look away as she approached. It dipped down dangerously close to her all the same. She could tell that at her present height, she wasn't going to make it under. At the last second, she tucked her legs in and sprang underneath the angrily buzzing creature in a tight roll.
That was harder than she remembered. She missed the horrendously large stinger, thank Kiarza, but went sprawling almost immediately into the nearest bookshelf. She shook her head in frustration. Everything was more difficult to execute in this world, even simple, everyday acrobatic maneuvers. She jumped up and turned to look where the creature had gone, sniper rifle still at the ready. It was following Kopaka, who was running away in a full sprint. Both biomech and Digimon were around the corner before Athena could train her gun's sights properly. She jogged after them, albeit at a slower pace, trying to think up an effective plan before she arrived back in the combat zone. She continued to be frustrated by her lack of knowledge about her opponent, but at least there was only one monster.
Of course, irony chose that moment to strike, as she heard an ominous drone behind her only a few seconds later. Athena extended Crescent Gold to its full scythe form with a frustrated sigh and ducked behind the next tall shelf as the second Flymon approached at a moderate speed. It hadn't seen her - excellent. She had to hope its powers of perception weren't particularly acute, but with the huge, grating noise it generated while flying and its apparent lack of a nose, she wasn't all too worried. It began to pass the corridor she was sheltering in... it reached the end of the gap... and she sprang at it, bringing the curved blade of her mechanical scythe down directly on its abdomen.
The flymon released a terrible screech of pain. It had little natural armor, apparently, and Athena cringed just slightly as Crescent Gold sliced three-quarters of the way through the bug's body. It whirred its jagged fuschia-colored wings and turned to face her as she backed away, calmly pressing the trigger to return Crescent Gold to its rifle form. The flymon's stinger hung limply, unable to spear her, and the monster was forced to zoom forward in an attempt to crush her with its fearsome mandibles. Athena lifted her hand and shot a blast directly into her opponent's gaping mouth. It crashed to the ground, dead in a few seconds.
Athena had no time to work up any regret, even if she had deemed it necessary. It was time to find Kopaka, especially before any more of these monstrosities showed up. She cast around with her mind while running through the hallways, but neither her sixth sense nor her regular five caught any sign of him or his aggressor until she reached the far end of the library. Then she picked up two life forms, which she quickly determined to be the robot and the Digimon. Kopaka collapsed to the ground right as she arrived. Luckily for her, the giant creature still hadn't seen her. It was instead focused on its former attacker, approaching with a cautious buzz. Besides, the God-Soul and the beast had a bookshelf between them, blocking sight. Athena could certainly use that to her advantage, and for more than simply hiding.
She struck a shelf at eye-level as hard as she could with her forearm, sending four books flying off the other side. One of them went far enough to actually hit the Flymon - it bounced off without leaving a mark, but it distracted the creature. Confused, the mutant bug turned its grotesque head - and was greeted with rifle fire through the window left by the absent tomes. Athena squinted through. It was difficult to get an accurate shot with such little visibility, but her position was still quite advantageous. The Flymon was too large to fit over the top of the bookshelf - it would have to go around.
Except that wasn't the Flymon's view on the situation. Angered by the distraction and the attacks, it headed for the gap over the bookshelf anyway. When it hit the top, it kept right on pushing, directing all its energy into its furiously flapping bug-wings. Soon enough, the bookshelf tilted... just the tiniest bit... then further... and then came toppling down, bringing all the books with it.
Athena only had time to extend Crescent Gold and use it to block the bookshelf from coming down on top of her. She covered her head with her arms and winced as book after wonderfully dense book fell onto her crouched form. This is far from the optimal position for me to be in right now, she thought anxiously as the drone of the bug creature sounded continually in her ears. The multi-level steel shelf, propped up diagonally by Athena's scythe, afforded little cover now that the shelves' contents had spilled out, and she would have to wade out of the pile of books before she would regain satisfactory maneuverability. In other words, she was in trouble.
However, Athena didn't spend all that time with her nose in a book, either. She spent a few minutes focusing on creating her Muse, which she was convinced would prove just as useful in this world as it had in the last. In a short amount of time, she was equipped with the silver device around her upper arm. She spent about twice the time trying to figure out how to use it. Despite her best efforts in creating it, the controls were far from intuitive. There were exactly two round buttons and two rows of tiny rectangular ones, but unlike her old Muse, the machine wouldn't respond to voice commands or taps on the screen panel.
Eventually, she found herself sitting at one of the reading tables, holding the Muse listlessly in her hands and staring at it, utterly perplexed. On the slowly scrolling screen were a series of short, out-of-context phrases, written by some random characters way out in all the farthest reaches of the Omniverse. At the top of the screen was the title "OmniTwitter," but that did little to help her understand what she was reading. She couldn't make sense of any of it, nor could she figure out how to leave the application. She pressed the one button that she had been able to figure out how to use, and turned off the display. Shaking her head, she slid the Muse back onto her arm and picked up another book.
A few minutes later, a faint noise startled her out of her studies. She heard the monster before she could sense it, but was ready by the time it rounded the corner towards Kopaka and herself. She ducked down to safety, and then turned to her ally.
"What do you want to do?" This time, she made sure it was the Toa's decision. Luckily for them both, he seemed to have a plan, albeit not one that she would have chosen. She braced herself and then started running at top speed towards the creature, firing as rapidly as she could and fighting the urge to look away as she approached. It dipped down dangerously close to her all the same. She could tell that at her present height, she wasn't going to make it under. At the last second, she tucked her legs in and sprang underneath the angrily buzzing creature in a tight roll.
That was harder than she remembered. She missed the horrendously large stinger, thank Kiarza, but went sprawling almost immediately into the nearest bookshelf. She shook her head in frustration. Everything was more difficult to execute in this world, even simple, everyday acrobatic maneuvers. She jumped up and turned to look where the creature had gone, sniper rifle still at the ready. It was following Kopaka, who was running away in a full sprint. Both biomech and Digimon were around the corner before Athena could train her gun's sights properly. She jogged after them, albeit at a slower pace, trying to think up an effective plan before she arrived back in the combat zone. She continued to be frustrated by her lack of knowledge about her opponent, but at least there was only one monster.
Of course, irony chose that moment to strike, as she heard an ominous drone behind her only a few seconds later. Athena extended Crescent Gold to its full scythe form with a frustrated sigh and ducked behind the next tall shelf as the second Flymon approached at a moderate speed. It hadn't seen her - excellent. She had to hope its powers of perception weren't particularly acute, but with the huge, grating noise it generated while flying and its apparent lack of a nose, she wasn't all too worried. It began to pass the corridor she was sheltering in... it reached the end of the gap... and she sprang at it, bringing the curved blade of her mechanical scythe down directly on its abdomen.
The flymon released a terrible screech of pain. It had little natural armor, apparently, and Athena cringed just slightly as Crescent Gold sliced three-quarters of the way through the bug's body. It whirred its jagged fuschia-colored wings and turned to face her as she backed away, calmly pressing the trigger to return Crescent Gold to its rifle form. The flymon's stinger hung limply, unable to spear her, and the monster was forced to zoom forward in an attempt to crush her with its fearsome mandibles. Athena lifted her hand and shot a blast directly into her opponent's gaping mouth. It crashed to the ground, dead in a few seconds.
Athena had no time to work up any regret, even if she had deemed it necessary. It was time to find Kopaka, especially before any more of these monstrosities showed up. She cast around with her mind while running through the hallways, but neither her sixth sense nor her regular five caught any sign of him or his aggressor until she reached the far end of the library. Then she picked up two life forms, which she quickly determined to be the robot and the Digimon. Kopaka collapsed to the ground right as she arrived. Luckily for her, the giant creature still hadn't seen her. It was instead focused on its former attacker, approaching with a cautious buzz. Besides, the God-Soul and the beast had a bookshelf between them, blocking sight. Athena could certainly use that to her advantage, and for more than simply hiding.
She struck a shelf at eye-level as hard as she could with her forearm, sending four books flying off the other side. One of them went far enough to actually hit the Flymon - it bounced off without leaving a mark, but it distracted the creature. Confused, the mutant bug turned its grotesque head - and was greeted with rifle fire through the window left by the absent tomes. Athena squinted through. It was difficult to get an accurate shot with such little visibility, but her position was still quite advantageous. The Flymon was too large to fit over the top of the bookshelf - it would have to go around.
Except that wasn't the Flymon's view on the situation. Angered by the distraction and the attacks, it headed for the gap over the bookshelf anyway. When it hit the top, it kept right on pushing, directing all its energy into its furiously flapping bug-wings. Soon enough, the bookshelf tilted... just the tiniest bit... then further... and then came toppling down, bringing all the books with it.
Athena only had time to extend Crescent Gold and use it to block the bookshelf from coming down on top of her. She covered her head with her arms and winced as book after wonderfully dense book fell onto her crouched form. This is far from the optimal position for me to be in right now, she thought anxiously as the drone of the bug creature sounded continually in her ears. The multi-level steel shelf, propped up diagonally by Athena's scythe, afforded little cover now that the shelves' contents had spilled out, and she would have to wade out of the pile of books before she would regain satisfactory maneuverability. In other words, she was in trouble.
![[Image: 2WaRJHm.png]](http://i.imgur.com/2WaRJHm.png)