Here it is folks. This chapter is the defining point of no return. Here's what you all voted for: Going OFF the Rails! (See what I did there?) I think you all will LOVE what I have planned.
ALSO, for the sake of combat, I have decided to change how I had it arranged earlier. The Player can provide support and advice on what to do, which the Batter will follow, but he is free to act on his own in battle. It's a tad difficult to have someone controlling someone else in text during a non-turn based battle system.
Warning: Contains Dedan, so swearing. Also, graphic battle sequence. As such, Rated M. Reader discretion is advised.
"Okay, so the music gets louder as we go toward the correct door." The Player put her hands on her hips, looking put out. "I really should have noticed that before. Sorry, Batter." The Batter shook his head. His kind Player, always taking his worthless self into consideration. She was more than he deserved. That said, the Batter could not hear any music. He could only feel the itch, growing stronger as they progressed. It drowned out the tingles that his Player's innate purity always sent down his skin.
After at least ten rooms, the duo stepped back out into the plastic rain. The Player went to the red box and began messing with it as the Batter examined the closed courtyard. There was a chest, which the Batter smacked lightly with his bat to open. A Joker card was inside. Coming over the Player picked it up to examine it.
"A Joker card, huh?" She hmm-ed quietly, before putting it away and pulling out a bottle. Taking a swig of water—the Batter held back his shiver of awe, that she was so pure as to drink water—she looked up at the building ahead of them. "I'm going to take a wild guess and say that this is Alma's Central Command building."
The Batter looked up at the impossibly tall building. It seemed a safe assumption. Entering the building, there was only a long hall, filled with stairs as it climbed up. At the top of the stairs was a tall doorway, and the Batter paused. He was on the other side; he could feel it. His Player looked at him quizzically, before moving to go around him.
"No, wait." The Batter held his arm in front of her. How conceited he was to order his perfect Player around, but it was for her own good. That filthy upstart was inside. If his Player went first, she could get hurt or worse, Dedan could try and take her from him. The slithering thing in his chest tightened. That was unacceptable. Dedan would never replace him. His Player thought about it, before nodding and moving back. So trusting, so accepting of his position as her guardian.
The Batter stepped into the office, his Player right behind him. Two meatfalls poured into pools behind the desk where Dedan paced, snarling and snapping. Papers lay scattered across the floor, the apparent cause of his ire. Dedan froze, back to the duo. He could feel her, her aura creeping across his skin like ants. He turned his head, looking out of the corner of his eye. The Batter stood possessively in front of her, as she peered out from behind him at Dedan. He fought a smile. Perfect.
Turning his body fully, he fixed his eyes on the interloper. "…You." The Batter shifted, readying his bat. "By the Queen's thousand faces!" He took notice of how the Batter flinched slightly. So, he had a history with the Queen, hmm? What a lovely excuse to get rid of the annoying obstacle.
Dedan leaned forward, huffing smoke out of his nose. "Are you crazy? Are you just completely retarded?! What part of 'I'm gonna kill you' didn't you understand?" The Player moved back slightly, into the doorway. Dedan's eyes fixed on her, holding her in place.
The Batter bristled, moving to block Dedan's view. He lifted his bat. "I'm here to eliminate you." Dedan looked at him, before bursting in to loud laughter. He knew why the Batter was here; it was plainly writ upon his face. Dedan was a threat to his position with the girl, and he was here to remove that threat. He was jealous.
How cute.
"You think you stand a chance against me? Me?!" Dedan chortled at the Batter, taking another drag from his cigar. "You're insane." He gestured around him, eyes glowing with mirth. "I'm the guardian of zone 1. It ain't nothing without me! What mental disorder got your blind faith to hide even the slightest bit of evidence from yourself?" The Player focused in on what Dedan had said. The Guardian?
"Wait," she spoke up, drawing both males attention. "What do you mean you are the guardian of zone 1?" Dedan leaned back, eyes focused on her through the smoke. She was so small, he thought, tilting his head as he examined her. So pure.
"I'm the lynchpin for this zone." He sighed out another smoke filled breath between his teeth. "Guardians keep a zone stable, by providing a central point of reality convergence. Without us…" He shrugged, leaving it to her imagination. The Player got the idea.
The Batter smirked. This was perfect. He could not purify the zone without killing Dedan; the zone would continue to exist in its current state with him here. It was the perfect excuse to kill him. "I'm the one who's going to purify the world," he said, his voice filled with barely contained glee. "And you're the pest that eats away at the purity of this land." He shifted stances, drawing his bat up to fight. "Prepare yourself."
The Player shifted uncomfortably. She liked Dedan, he was interesting…but the mission came first. If Dedan was the stabilizing point of this zone, they had to remove him to purify the area. She sighed, flipping down the visor. This was why you didn't get attached to enemy characters.
Dedan snarled and flipped his desk out of the way and into the meat pond. "You'll taste the pain, you sick spirit." He clenched his claws together and roared. "I'm gonna cut your face to remove this insufferable smile. He dove forward, under the Batter's swing and slashed his claws down his front. His head next to the Batter's, he whispered "And I'll take her from you". The Batter swung again, a wide swing to drive him back. Dedan gave a screeching laugh as he leapt back, hands coated in the Batter's inky black blood. The Batter snarled; he hated seeing his blood, so filled with taint that it was like soot and ink.
Dedan
Royal guardian of zone 1.
HP: ? / CP: ?
First Boss
The Player grimly nodded at the information. She had thought so. Dedan looked like a powerhouse, so it had followed that he would be a boss. "Hit him for a HomeRun." The Batter swung viciously, striking Dedan in the side of the head. He let out a hiss, before snapping his fangs down on the bat, tearing chunks out of the wood. The Batter yanked his bat back, growling. "Drat. Batter, see if you can't get a status effect on him. Try the Saturated Chain!"
He swung his bat over his shoulder, and pulled the chain out, swinging wide. Dedan ducked, the toxic chain passing harmlessly overhead and made his own attack. His claws dug divots into the Batter's leg, who roared in pain before bringing the chain down on Dedan's head. It wrapped around tightly and the Batter pulled.
The Player tsked , stepping back slightly to give them more room. "No effect." Dedan clawed at the chain, ripping it off his head and out of the Batter's hands, tossing it behind him. Black blood dripped down from his head as he grinned. Blood just as tainted as the Batter's own.
"Come on, you can do better than that," he taunted, darting forward to rake his claws down the Batter's side. The Batter swung his bat, connecting with him solidly and forcing him to skid back a few feet. "Come on, I've seen Tiburce with harder swings, you pansy!" The Batter snarled, whipping Alpha off his wrist and tossing it at him. It wrapped around him, pinning his arms down in a Long Awaited Embrace. Dedan began struggling, snarling at the white band. "You think I can't fight still, you little shit?! I'll fuck you up!" He kicked out at the Batter, hitting him in the back of the knee and forcing him down. Dedan brought his leg down in a sweeping kick, like an Hour Hand, smacking into the Batter's face and sending him into the wall next to the Saturated Chain. He slid down, slumping slightly, dazed.
Dedan took those few seconds of distraction to free himself of Alpha, who flew back to the Batter to make passes at the military man. Dedan chortled at the limp man, moving forward to deal a final blow while he was down. "Crap," The Player said, fumbling in the menu. "Luck Ticket!" She crushed it in her hand and tossed it at the Batter. He stood up, shaking his head as he regained a bit of strength, chain in hand. The Player watched anxiously. They were getting their asses kicked.
Batter moved forward, smacking Dedan under the chin with his bat, sending him back. Alpha darted at him, slicing across his chest. Dedan swatted at Alpha, smacking it down onto the ground. The Batter swung the chain, wrapping it around Dedan's neck and pulling. Dedan snarled, grasping at the chain around his neck while Alpha resumed slicing his skin.
Dedan finally ripped the chain from around his neck, panting. Both Batter and Dedan were badly hurt, black blood pouring into pools at their feet, leading into the meat fountains, which were turning murky. After a long moment, Dedan began laughing.
"Heh heh. You little shit. Look what you have done." He gestured toward the Player, who was watching quietly. "She's kept you alive this long, but what is it worth? You can't kill me; I'm a guardian." He sneered. "Even if you could, what good would it do you? She's seen how vicious you are. You think she'll accept you?" The Batter growled, running forward and swinging. Dedan dodged, laughing. "You think she'll stick around?" The Batter smashed his bat into Dedan's throat.
HP: 1/4000
Dedan's eyes widened as he slid down to the floor. "What? Dammit, this can't be…!" He looked up at the Batter, who watched impassively as he hacked. "I…I…I…lost? Lost?" Batter raised his bat, eyes glinting red as he looked down at Dedan. "You can't fucking kill me! You can't kill a fucking guardian!" Dedan clutched at the Batter's pant leg in desperation, claws tearing new furrows through the fabric
The Batter smiled, and brought the bat down. "I say you're just afraid to die." He crushed Dedan's back, blood splattering everywhere. Dedan gave a stuttering gasp, black staining his fangs.
"hhh… hhh… hhh…" The Batter raised his bat again, black blood dripping down the marred wood and on to his shoulders. How sweet it felt. He gave a toothy grin, his back to his Player.
"You've been defeated, Dedan, guardian of the first zone. This land is now pure." He paused, tilting his head. "Now die." He smashed his bat down, Dedan's body bursting with light.
HP: 0/4000
The room began to glow red, obscuring everything from sight. The Batter spun, grabbing his Player and wrapping himself around her protectively. He lifted his head up, looking around the red space, his Player's head cradled into his chest.
"…" What was that sound? Squinting, the Batter could see something drawing closer. As it drew closer, he stiffened. It was the image of a red room, with a small child in it. Hugo. The tainted child coughed, not seeing the Batter or his precious cargo.
"That started badly…" the child murmured, fiddling with his blanket. The scene faded to black, the Batter clutching his Player to his chest. Sitting in the darkness, the Batter released his Player. What was Hugo doing here? He stayed crouched as his Player stood, looking at something in her hands.
"The Cancer-card… If I'm right, this will take us to the next zone." She looked around, noting the three doors, each marked with a respective number. 0, 1, 2. A faint niggling at the back of her head had her looking at 1. She moved toward it. "Let's head back to zone 1. I want to make sure that we succeeded." The Batter stood nodding. Now was not the time to be worrying about Hugo. He had to live up to his Player's standards, her work ethic.
He glanced down at himself, noting that his clothes had been repaired and he was no longer injured. How odd. He gave a wide smirk, fingering his tunic. Dedan was dead. No more dealing with him, no more threat to his position as protector of the Player. The victory tasted so very sweet.
He moved through the door after his Player, noting that zone 1 was now in black and white, like himself. A lack of all color—other than the boxes that floated around—it was all just pure. The Player stood, confused, listening to the banging in the distance. It sounded like a scream was tossed in once and a while, sending shivers down her spine. But that couldn't be right. All the Elsen's had been purified, moved elsewhere. Right?
Moving through the dead zone, they found a chest with an Inspiration, which was tucked away before moving on. The Player stopped, staring further down the tracks. Up ahead was a rotted being, shambling its way toward them. "Batter." He moved to attention at the worry in her tone. "What is that?"
He moved in front of her, thinking of what to tell her. He decided on the truth. Or rather, a bent version. "That is a Secretary. It is the remnants of the sin that steeped this area, made corporeal. They will fade after a bit, unable to sustain themselves without a new source." The Player nodded, and the Batter swung, crushing the mushy body of the Secretary with ease. They moved on. "Any sounds you hear will be a Secretary, attempting to trick you into allowing it in. Ignore them."
So the Player ignored the sounds of banging, the muffled voice yelling "I'm here! Please, someone, I'm here!" It wasn't real. She ignored the whispers, unable to hear them fully. The Batter could, though.
"You killed us you monster we trusted you it hurts too quiet I'm scared" it went on and on, becoming white noise in his ears. It was all lies, last attempts from sinful beings to drag his Player down. Wandering through the purified zone, the duo collected some items—a Monday, some pieces of Abaddon's meat, a Grand Finale—as they removed the Secretaries they encountered. After a long while, they had made it back to Dedan's office. There was nothing left in the zone, everything was gone. The whole area was barren.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Except the office wasn't empty.
There we go, the break. Let me know what you guys thought of this chapter, and the battle sequence. Battles are hard to write, as I can see it in my head, but making it so you can sometimes doesn't work.
Also, no one guessed what the Elsen's weren't, but that is an open offer. I dropped some hints here, and in future chapters more hints will come. If at any point someone gets it…