They were eerie creatures, monstrous beings, skin flaking off and glimmering in a spark of electrical flashes as the systems they were created out of recalibrated for the loss making a new batch appear where the old had occupied. From far away Jake could only make out a few details, like the way the fake skin stretched in all the wrong places, looking tight and dry, how their eyes where hollow; a deep darkness that even from such a distance sent chills down his spine. They resembled skulls and despite his love of the calcium rich hardened structures these were skulls he'd rather not tinker with. He made eye contact with one, if you can even call it eye contact considering they lacked the one variable nessicarry for such an act…eyes. To his horror he watched the creature double over, it's grayish brown skin, could he call it skin?, turned pale and in utter terror he witnessed the blond hair sprout from the tight bald head. The thing had morphed, shed its original skin and emerged a carbon copy of Dirk Strider. God did they pull at his heart. He tried to keep from looking at any others, but as they approached closer it was near impossible,each turned into recognizable face, Dave, Jade, all of those he loved and cared for, even Nana. Jake felt at the brink of insanity, dread and sorrow, every wrong he'd ever commited to each replica filled his mind.
"O-oh blimey…I'm sorry.."
His hands tore through his hair, their voices screamed in his head asking why demanding to know how he could go about his life so naïve to what he'd done. Strong hands where there when he sank to the ground, a groan escaping.
"Jake no. Don't look at them, don't listen dude, they aren't real."
Shit. He could not handle comforting Jake and trying to keep himself calm. Already he'd watched those….moldy zombie-like bastards cause all sorts of bullfucker, turning into Bro, Jake, John just everyone. They called to him, spewing such hateful words it made his heart break. The air around him filled with dread. They were the nightmares before a cold night alone after watching a shitty horror movie; the fears he held locked deep in his mind, the cold sinking feeling that made him feel sick and hot despite the clammy chill on his skin increased. They made him feel so terribly wrong, they weren't even just loved ones they were him as well. they were everything he never wanted to be; things he was afraid to become. They were him and they weren't, he wasn't sure how to describe it other than horrifying.
Jake sat in Dave's arms for a moment, the creatures drawing closer, hobbling against taught skin, normally he'd go into any battle guns hot, shooting with skilled fingers and practiced precision, but not now. A cold sweat beaded at his forehead and although he knew it was just his namesakes fuckery, he swore he could hear them; mechanic mouths tight with rotting flesh of thousand years too long, tendons creaking as the nuts and bolts worked with whatever black magic Caliborn had used to propel them forward. God he could hear it paired with a horrible thudding, so deafening he could feel his whole body react; tensing, tightening, making him ready to defend himself. Blast it, this was too much, it was getting faster they were coming for him, his friends, his best mate and there was nothing he could do there were so many. Louder, so loud, and faster and…and wait that wasn't what he thought, that was…his own heartbeat.
Soft coo's and pats brought him back, the earth wasn't shattering and those odd beings were still meters upon meters away. Jake was glad it was only Dave and himself, he'd would've been utterly flustered had anyone else seen his façade destroyed by none other than his own mind. He sniffed, eyes pricked with tears and an apologetic look plastered on his face.
"A-ah…why, yes it…appears you are correct. Heh, I must say this is quite embarrassing."
Jake looked away cheeks red, just to hear a soft chuckle, arms wrapped around him tighter and there was a weight on his head.
"You dumbass, don't be embarrassed just c'mon get up so we can win this."
With his head resting atop Jake's it was easy to lie. There was no eye contact, no looking into that face and being blinded by a hopeful grin, just easy air to space himself in. Jake nodded, shifting to hug him back and stand.
"Right then," He wiped his eyes, Dave standing as well uncaptchalogging Caldescratch, "I do think it's time for a breathtaking display of two young riotous studs such as ourselves taking control of this rather hectic situation."
Dave let a weak chuckle, nodding in reply. They were less than two hundred meters away, so close and so far. He looks at his sword, putting back in his specibus for later, you could never be too safe he may need to jump back…instead he pulled out the Scarlet Ribbitar. It looked odd, felt nice in his hand so it worked for him.
"Let's go."
With a nod they were out the door, the sunlight pouring down on them, in any other circumstances this would have been a lovely day. Jake used his powers of hope, wonderful things really, dropping pianos upon the front line of mechanical-face shifting zombie freaks. This in turn getting him a look of approval from Dave.
"Now Strider, I can only drop so many pianos…"
"Chill man, I've got this.."
Before Jake could stop him, Dave was dashing into the crowd of monsters, weaving and slicing, blipping through time to end in different positions. Sparks and flashes light up the world as he cut through the hard metallic bodies. To Jakes horror, red stained the ground, it was still an odd thought to him that striders were in fact human, and could actually be harmed.
Dave had spent so much thought choosing his own weapon now it was time for Jake to make the decision, pulling out his signature Twin M9 Barettas. His charge was more animalistic, less of a dance and more of a bloodlust driven attack, leaping into the chaos. Images of people in his present and his past, even a few of himself, flashed before him each blown away by a single accurate bullet. The ones that startled him, made him pause and think getting a few painful blows in his hesitation, were the replicas of Dave. Jake had to take a moment, get physically close and feel the hardness of metal beneath the fake skin before shooting.
The fight dragged on, skin split and poured with red, staining the ground with pieces of fake flesh and steel. The skeletons of bullet riddled, cut apart robotic corpses littered the ground, zipping and zapping as they short-circuited. Both boys were wary and tired, pulling each other out of harm's way with damp hands, shooting and darting to avoid their own attackers.
"Jake!"
Dave's voice cracked with strain as he held back a particularly difficult zombie. Zombie? Could it even be that seeing as it was never alive? Fuck it, he's calling them zombies. Dave held back this zombie, that bared a striking resemblance to his brother causing a bit of hesitation, slicing across it throat sparks flew burning his face and neck.
"Yeah mate?"
Jake took two shots, one up close directly beneath the jaw of a Dirk replica, the other about 400 meters away. He grinned, proud of his long distance shot when the explosion of metallic skull rained down. Jake was breathless, bloodied, but ready for more.
"I got an idea, get as ," He's interrupted by another zombie bastard, to which after getting a few good punches in leaving a hell of a good bruise on his shoulder, he slices its head, "…get as many to the middle of the yard as possible."
"David, I'm not John I can't just," He too is interrupted, letting loose a series of frustrated shots, "I can't just windy them over!"
"Then fucking block in as many as possible with pianos, shit man be cr-" another zombie, damn these guys didn't let up. Dave flashstepped behind it, pressing his blade through the cold metal torso and ripping upwards, "..be creative!"
Jake nodded, trying out this idea although curious as to why he did so. It took a lot of energy, an excessive amount that he really didn't have. He was tough, not willing to give up to mere fatigue and, with a few escaped monstrosities, managed to block the bulk of them inside a fort of grand pianos. He sighed, really enjoying the way each musical giant fell.
With most of the zombie fuckers in one place, working fast as they began to climb the mounds of pianos, Dave switched back to Caldescratch slicing a rip so large he could hear Jake cry out in surprise. His plan of attack was to send them all to his planet, Heat and Clockwork. So large was the rip that when it sucked in the creatures, Dave went as well being pulled away with nothing more than the raise of an eyebrow.
Everything was quiet. Jake was too exhausted to even scream as he watched Dave disappear with a multitude of monsters. The silence was broken only by the grunts and cries of a few remaining fiends which as he sank to the ground in despair he promptly shot, heads flying clean off. But no his torture would go on, not only did he have to deal with the loss of his best friend, but now the sky ripped apart revealing even more enemies. This time though, it was not a plethora of replicating monsters, but rather trolls persuaded to follow Caliborn's orders. They were that mainly of low bloods who knew no better than to trust the promise of not being harmed and high bloods who had nothing better to do than follow and promise not to harm any low bloods who swore allegiance..
With wobbly legs he stood up, blood dripping off, slow like honey, down his arms and legs staining the white of his shirt. He tried to put up a fight, guns out of ammo and his reserves completely void of any spare bullets. It took them no more than a few blows to the head, a couple of blocks at his feeble attempt to kick and punch, before Jake was limp and cuffed. He spewed his hatred, cursing and weakly thrashing as he struggled against the cuffs. Cool metal dug into his skin as the henchtrolls snapped them on far too tight, but this was all on purpose of course their main objective to make him as uncomfortable as possible.
Oh and of course as if losing him wasn't enough, Dave had to reappear, bloodied, burnt and bruised at the entirely wrong time blipping exhaustedly in front of one behemoth of a troll.
"Don't worry Jake," he paused leaning forward, eyes shut as he panted, "…They're all dead…sorry for the sca-oh…"
He looked up only to be punched square in the face, just above the bridge of his nose sending shaded glass exploding into his face. The sheer, raw pain of it all made his mind reel back, blinding him with red and black splotches as he tried to get his bearings. The world was tilted to the side and for a moment he was totally confused, how did the tree turn crooked? Wait. The tree wasn't crooked he was falling, the thud of his limp body hitting the ground was enough to reassure him of this fact.
Something cool was snapped on his wrists, tight and cutting into the pale, bruised purple flesh of his wrists. Jake yelled something, but he was too busy fighting off unconsciousness to really pay attention. He would be damned if he would pass out and give these bastards the satisfaction of not only being alone to toy with Jake but to have any sort of added victory.
"Damn dude," He spit out a good load of blood that had pooled in his mouth from the hit, "…it's a good thing those freaks came before you, or this would have been a very different fucking outcome."
He let out a defiant chuckle, wobbling as he tried to sit, glass jutting out at different angles of his cheeks while the bent frame of his glasses hung to one ear before slipping off to the ground. Jake stood mouth gaping, Dave gave him a wink to which he slowly returned with one of his own, finally getting the memo.
"Whoa nelly Strider, isn't that a sad fact. Had these blokes came first we surely would have wiped the floor with their disheveled carcasses!"
Jake too let out a, honestly fake because he was scared out of his wits, laugh. His comment earned him a good, unexpected, punch to the gut. He grunted, the wind knocked out of him, but the same shiteating grin plastered on his face.
"Oh, Jake that was a good hit," He paused feigning fear, before laughing, "… a good hit for someone half our age, maybe some tiny child, all fucking new and spongey or some shit, maybe pissed because mommy wouldn't let him watch the end to his favorite movie. Yeah that's what that hit looked li-"
He got a swift kick to the side, biting his tongue until it too was bleeding to keep from yelping. The troll was furious, which only egged them on. Jake, now getting his breath back, his voice a bit ragged continued off Dave's interrupted comment.
"Cheese and fucking crackers Dave! It looks like this bonehead is really upset!" He made a mock look of surprise, earning a growl from the already pissed troll, "By golly we'd better get him that movie for fear of the tantrum that is surely brewing."
From the ground, Dave snickered, Jake too finding humor in this mutual riling up of trolls. Their malarkey only went so far until each got a shockingly hard blow to the head, one of the high-blood trolls nearby found he was unable to stand watching the obviously losing battle between the two and the discombobulated troll. The world hazed and faded to black as both boys lost consciousness.
