And Now... our friends little adventure in Dynamo's Cyber Maze Begins! I'll try and update this a little faster next time, Enjoy!
"Such misfortune!" Is what escaped Touma's lips as he ran, with Mikoto and Stiyl were not far behind. Behind them, a pack of rabid wolves ran, barking and howling up a storm, trying to hunt down their pray. "S-Stiyl! Try it again!"
"It didn't work before, what makes you think it will work now!?" Stiyl shouted back.
"And you have a better idea!?" Touma replied.
"Tch… fine!" Stiyl stopped for a moment and turned around, gathering a large flame in his hands before blasting it down the hallway toward the wolf pack. Like many times before, pained howls form them could be heard, filling the area. Like many times before, the wolves bodies burned, smoke rising into the fabricated sky. And like many times before, green lights started in front of the pile and eventually formed into yet another pack of wolves, ready to start the chase again. "I keep telling you! The only way to get rid of them for good is to hit them with the Imagine Breaker!"
"And I keep telling you, there are too many for me to hit!"
"Stop arguing and start running you idiots!" Mikoto shouted as the wolf pack started again, causing the trio to start running again. "What can we do about this!?"
"Beats me; there are way too many for me, and outright blasting them apart isn't working!" Touma replied. The Imagine Breaker in question was running a tad bit farther ahead than his associates, and saw something, came to an abrupt stop, skidding along the ground. Just a narrow escape from what would be a rather… dark-looking drop. Below him was a pit that led into darkness. However, his associates didn't see his sudden stop and crashed into him, causing the trio to fall down the pit. The sounds of the wolves slowly faded away as they landed with a loud thud. The area was dark, but the pulsing lights from all the symbols lit it up somewhat. Unlike before, which was a straight forward path, a corridor filled hallway is what was ahead of them.
"Is everyone ok?" Touma asked.
"Yeah… I'm fine." Mikoto answered.
"I hate dogs…" Stiyl replied, climbing to his feet.
"We landed somewhere else… good thing the wolves didn't follow us…" Mikoto said.
"I'm more worried about the hall ahead of us… so many hiding places along the hallway." Touma said. Slowly, they started to make their way down the mostly-dark hallway. The constant darkness gave a much more creepy feeling than the blue over world. What made it even creepier, however, were the occasional sounds of footsteps… that weren't theirs. They always sounded far away , but seemed to be getting louder, closer. This gave a bewildering feeling of dread; not knowing of what was coming. Their answer to what the mysterious sounds were came quickly, as a red dot of a laser scope aiming towards them. On instinct, Touma and Mikoto ducked away into the side corridors, and Touma pulled Stiyl whim him just in time as gun-shots rang out from an assault rifle.
"Soldiers…!?" Touma asked.
"There are probably more of them… making use of the darkness; possibly with night vision…" Mikoto whispered. The only thing to aid them was the occasional flashing lights of the walls. When the soldier that shot at them passed the corridor they ducked into, Touma charged and decked the solider across the face, the soldier letting out a loud yell as he dissolved into nothing. This was just a make-shift solution, however, as like Mikoto said, there was more than one soldier down the dark halls, and they quickly started running toward the location of their fallen comrade's scream. The trio quickly shuffled down the corridor to avoid being caught until the footsteps stopped, and then started again. The soldiers seemed to be out on an active patrol of the area.
"Any idea how many of them there are…?" Touma asked.
"There are three of them; I can see them." Mikoto asked. Her extra-ordinary sight abilities thanks to her Esper ability came in handy.
"What's the plan…?" Stiyl asked.
"They won't let us pass until they are all down… Misaka, can you be my eyes? The flashing lights don't help me out very well…" Touma asked, slipping his left hand down Mikoto's arm and grabbing hold of her hand. This act made Mikoto blush hard, but it couldn't be seen in the dim darkness.
"S-sure… J-just follow me and k-keep close…" Mikoto stuttered. Slowly they made their way forward, sneaking up on a soldier from behind. Like before, Touma punched the lone soldier, causing a scream and the soldier to dissolve. The remaining two soldiers turned and opened fire, but Mikoto discharged a large blast of electricity, the force deflecting all the bullets, as well as the electric discharge lighting up the area. Touma rushed one of the two guards and punched, the soldier dissolving. The final man turned to open fire, but a massive fireball struck his side, the resulting explosion knocking the soldier off his feet and lit him on fire. Quickly, Touma hit the soldier with his Imagine Breaker to permanently end the last assailant. All sound ceased after that, and Touma let out a relieved sigh.
"Close one…" Touma said.
"This place can even fabricate human lives and give them the notion to kill us on sight…" Stiyl said.
"We were told that they could do make living things… but able to go this far; just how powerful is this system?" Mikoto said.
"If it can fabricate the complexity of human existence, and control that existence… its potential is limitless." Stiyl replied.
"I wonder how far deep into this place we are… seems like we were running from those wolves for ages." Touma said, starting forward.
"No idea… let's see if we can find a way back up." Mikoto said. After a few minutes of walking, they eventually came up to a staircase of sorts, leading back up. They were in an entirely new area, with absolutely no sign of the wolves from before. With a relieved sigh, they pressed on down the path given to them by the cyber maze.
-Accelerator's Location-
"Pain in my ass…" Accelerator said; an odd array of corpses in his wake. The bodies he struck down kept repairing themselves and getting back up, but each time they went down just as fast as it took them to get back on their feet. And simply, they eventually stopped getting up. Among the bodies lay some teenager with orange hair dressed in black with a giant cleaver, and some ninja dressed in orange, these two were probably the toughest out of the assailants, but they fell just as easily as the rest.
"What's wrong? I thought you'd like a free excuse to rip people in half." Worst asked from a distance; far away from the battlefield.
"Like I could enjoy even the slightest bit of tearing a fabricated person a new asshole…" Accelerator replied. "More importantly, why the fuck are you staying back there? Fucking scared?"
"I'm having fun." Worst replied with a snicker. She discharged a blast of purple lightning into a random body, and it flashed then vanished. "Misaka's lightning seems to fry these guys; hits an off switch and deletes them."
"And why the fuck didn't you try that earlier?" Accelerator asked.
"Tou-san looked like he was having fun." Worst replied.
"Tch… clear the field already. Don't want any of these fuckers suddenly coming back like they think they stand a chance." Accelerator said. Worst discharged an electrical pulse over the area, and as it traveled outward the bodies started to vanish, eventually leaving a clear area. Afterward, Accelerator began to silently walk away.
"Not even a little thank you? Misaka is hurt." Worst joked, following the albino esper.
"If you're fishing for compliments, you can fuck off." Accelerator replied.
"Tou-san is being all mean… maybe Misaka should suddenly forget about her powers and let Tou-san do all the fighting~" Worst said. Accelerator was about to retort, but suddenly a large mob of various warriors and animals came charging toward the duo, straight down the path. Just as quickly as they appeared, however, a large explosion of energy decimated the mob.
"Tch… what happened to trying to make me do all the work you bitch?" Accelerator said coldly. Worst, however, was giving a look of confusion.
"Misaka… Misaka didn't do that." Worst replied.
"Huh? Then who the fuck did?" Accelerator asked in a sarcastic tone. He got his answer however, as a large eight-armed man wielding a large golden blade burst from the smoke from the explosion, charging the number one esper.
-Gilgamesh's Location-
"S-slow down Sir Gilgamesh!" Enkidu cried out, still chasing after her master.
"N-n-no way! I'm not giving any of these bastards a chance at killing me again!" Gilgamesh replied, keeping up a full speed run. He had transformed into his eight-armed form, and was running around with Excalibur in hand, slashing occasionally at random people or creatures that would approach him. Unlike his other weapons, Excalibur seemed to kill them outright, while they would revive eventually if hit by his other weapons.
"J-just stop for a moment! I'm confused! What is this rift you're talking about!?" Enkidu shouted. Gilgamesh slid to a stop, just narrowly missing the entrance to a corridor, and slid into a wall, being brought to a forced stop. "Please… talk to me Sir Gilgamesh! What's wrong?" Gilgamesh looked around, and saw that for now, the coast is clear.
"I'm… I'm not from this world, Enkidu… I was separated from my world a long time ago because I was sucked into a cleft dimension called the void… lots of monsters... but it's also connected to just about every other dimension… so I went dimension hopping trying to find my way home and I eventually found my way here…" Gilgamesh replied; in his somewhat more relaxed state, he finally realized he wasn't in the dimension he himself was talking about.
"But… why were you so scared?" Enkidu asked.
"B-because… I don't wanna go back there yet!" Gilgamesh replied. "The people I know, the friends I've made, I don't want to abandon them just yet, especially if there is no guarantee I can return!"
"…Then don't worry! You are still very much in the hands of the people you care about! And even if you have to leave… I'll come with you! So that even if you're far away, you still have a little piece of your life here with you always!" Enkidu replied. Silence followed, and shortly, a few tears fell from Gilgamesh's glowing eyes. "S-Sir Gilgamesh…? Are you crying…?"
"N-no! I'm not crying! I'm nooooooooooot!" Gilgamesh turned his head and buried his hand into his arm, hiding the sudden flow of tears stemming from his moved heart. Suddenly, a large array of loud noises, sounding like a large group of people, came from the hall next to them.
"Sir Gilgamesh…" Enkidu said.
"Right… back to work!" Gilgamesh turned toward the entryway and charged, swinging wildly down the path. Each and every foe he slew vanished into data as he ran. He eventually came across a large mob of them, and noticed Excalibur was glowing as he swung, and a massive explosion resulted. Just as immediately as the explosion occurred, he charged straight ahead and swung his blade at the first thing he saw… which just so happened to be a white-haired albino teenager.
-Touma's Location-
"It's been… way too quiet…" Touma said.
"Yeah… no one has come after us in a while…" Mikoto said. "Kinda… lets you enjoy the scenery a bit though…"
"…I wonder how much time and effort they put into this little world just to find out their project got canned… it really feels like they put their heart and soul into this." Touma replied.
"The creation of life is always a beautiful thing." Stiyl said. "Even this fabricated world and its fabricated occupants have captured such a thing."
"Kinda makes me feel bad for having to use this…" Touma said, holding up his right hand.
"They are created in here to try and kill you… not much choice in the matter." Stiyl replied.
"I just hope we can put an end to this insanity…" Touma said. Suddenly a large explosion shook the whole area, appearing to come from a distance. Smoke started to rise into the sky.
"What the hell… is someone else down here fighting!?" Mikoto shouted.
"Don't know; let's check it out!" Touma replied, starting to run to find any sort of path to make it there as soon as possible
-Explosion Site-
"What the hell… you're not like another one of these bastards…!" Gilgamesh said.
"Tch, you're one to fucking talk!" Accelerator replied. Their attacks collided; Gilgamesh's Excalibur met Accelerator's fist, and locked in place, trying to cover-come the other fighter.
'What the hell… Excalibur was able to cleave right through all the other guys without a problem, why can't I cut this one!?' Gilgamesh thought.
'Fuck… I don't know what the fuck this sword is… the values keep changing… it feels like fucking dark matter!' Accelerator thought. Gilgamesh pulled back and swung again, hitting Accelerator on the head, the impact causing some pain to Accelerator due to Excalibur's nature, but the blade didn't pierce Accelerator's skin. Gilgamesh swung again, and this time, Accelerator stepped to the side, dodging the blade, and then smashed his fist into Gilgamesh's face, amplifying the force with Vector Change, launching the large man through a wall, demolishing it. Accelerator clicked his tongue; he needed to be more careful. If he took out the power, this little mission would get a shit-ton harder, he thought. Gilgamesh suddenly burst from the rubble with six weapons, the ones he wielded when he first transformed. He tried to attack Accelerator with all six weapons, only to have Accelerator's ability destroy all six. Gilgamesh suddenly thrust with Excalibur into Accelerator, Vector Change just barely holding off the legendary blade. Gilgamesh held up all of his extra arms, after using Weapon Regeneration and putting away his other weapons, each one aiming at the Number One esper.
"Rocket Punch!" All six of his free hands suddenly shot off and slammed into Accelerator's body. The Number One esper was using all of his focus to keep Excalibur at bay, so he couldn't use his Vector Change to stop the assault, and wound up launched into a wall, very like the man he was fighting. Worst was watching from a safe distance, keeping an eye on the fight, as was Enkidu, though from across the hall. "Ha-ha! I don't know what freaky powers you got, but it looks like I win!" Suddenly a large chunk of the wall flew and nailed Gilgamesh right in the face, knocking the eight-armed man onto his back. Accelerator stepped out from the rubble, appearing hurt, but more obvious was that Accelerator was angry. Very, VERY, angry. Gilgamesh jumped back onto his feet, new hands on each of his extra arms. They were about to charge again at each other again when a voice called out.
"Hold up you two! Stop fighting!" Touma said, running toward the two from an intersecting corridor, being followed by Mikoto and Stiyl.
"Fucking hero… trying to stop me again!?" Accelerator spat in anger.
"Hi Touma! You caught up with me faster than I expected!" Gilgamesh said, waving toward the Imagine Breaker.
"…You fucking know him?" Accelerator asked.
"Yeah… and you do too?" Gilgamesh asked.
"I said stop fighting…" Touma said as he approached. "Accelerator…? What are you doing here?"
"Tch… wouldn't you like to know." Accelerator replied.
"Yeah… that's kind of why I asked…" Touma replied, and sighed when he realized he wasn't going to get an answer.
"Tou-san, stop being such a tsundere." Worst said, walking toward them. "Say that you were worried about your possible boyfriend and that you wanted to keep him safe."
"Fuck off Worst, fucking twisted fantasies." Accelerator replied with a huff. Enkidu approached the group, but remained silent, only nodding toward Gilgamesh.
"So… now there are seven of us… that's a good sign." Touma said.
"But where do we go from here…?" Mikoto asked. Accelerator pointed at a wall.
"That is the way to central processing, and further along there would be the core. The bitch behind this shit is probably that way." Accelerator said.
"Then there is only one thing to do!" Gilgamesh said, lifting up a now glowing Excalibur. Before Accelerator could stop him, Gilgamesh swung his blade, discharging a massive blue energy blast that smashed right through the walls down the way Accelerator pointed. The lights flickered, but managed to stay on. "There! The path is clear!"
"Fucking dip-shit! You could have fucking killed the damn power! Then we'd be stuck in the dark!' Accelerator shouted.
"Eh, so what? We'd just have to find the giant hole I made then go straight." Gilgamesh shrugged. The albino esper was about to say more but Touma stopped him, shaking his head.
"Let's… let's just go… ok? Get this done, so we can all go home." Touma said. Accelerator clicked his tongue, but didn't say anything more. The group of seven started their day down the path made for them, eager to end this once and for all.
-Dynamo's Location-
"Hi hi! It's little Dynamo again!"
"What do you need Dynamo?" Shurui asked over the radio.
"Well… they figured out a few ways around the DST… so I was wondering if I could borrow big shadow for a distraction… throw them off a bit, you know the drill." Dynamo replied.
"…You want to borrow the Shadow Devil?" Shurui asked. "Are you… sure that's necessary?"
"Better safe than sorry…" Dynamo replied.
"…Alright then. Just tell me where you want him." Shurui replied after a long pause.
"Understood… I'll send you the location where he'd be best sent to now." Dynamo said, typing away on the computer in front of him.
I wonder who all well get the reference to the Shadow Devil... I guess I can only wait and see!
I'll see you all next time... right? Leave a review if you liked it and tell me how I am doing! ^^