Alma sighed as the screen went back into her headphones. She had no idea what was going on with Echo, but it was obviously something serious if it made her cry. Echo hardly ever cried. ...actually, she never cried at all. Alma couldn't remember a time where Echo had said she cried. Though, just because she said it doesn't mean it actually happened…
Alma shook her head and decided to focus on the problem at hand. Right, the imps. She saw them off in the distance, and she decided it would be easier to dispatch them right now rather than waiting for them to attack first.
Alma looked through her specibus to decide what to use. There were so many darts she could use, but she only wanted to use one right now, to see what they could do. So...which one looked the most deadly? Eventually, she decided on the drill darts. Those seemed pretty deadly.
The darts appeared in Alma's hand and the redhead shoved them in her pocket before walking towards the imps. She couldn't get a good look at them, so she didn't know if they were armed or not. She'd just have to hope they weren't, otherwise she might get a face full of bullets, and she was rather certain her darts couldn't stop bullets.
It wasn't long after she started walking that the imps had spotted her. There weren't any trees for her to hide behind, and the land was rather barren and flat. With her colorful clothes in a dry and dull environment, it wouldn't be difficult to see her.
Though, Alma had gotten close enough to get a better look at the imps, and the rifles they were all carrying. Some of them didn't have magazines, but Alma didn't pay enough attention to notice. She was focused on the rest of their looks.
She had heard some descriptions of the imps from the other players, but these guys...they looked completely ridiculous. Big noses complete with mustaches, powdered wigs covered by an army helmet, skeletal hands with pointed fingers, and huge teeth that were poking out of their mouths like a saber toothed tiger.
When the imps spotted Alma, two of them had burst into flames, causing smoke and the smell of burnt imp to fill the air. It was an awful smell and it caused Alma to gag. She pulled the darts out of her pocket and tried to spread them apart, kind of like how a ninja would spread apart ninja stars. They almost fell out of her hands but she managed to keep them from falling.
The imps then charged at her, including the ones with guns. Alma ran straight towards them with a fist full of her drill darts. The redhead was ready to kill.
The first imp approached her and swiped it's bony claws at her. Alma stepped to the side and grabbed a dart with her empty hand. She attempted to stab the imp with the dart, but the imp grabbed her arm before she could make contact.
The imp tightened it's grip on her arm, drawing blood and making her wince. Alma winced and gritted her teeth. The redhead then used her other hand to punch the imp. The drill darts were pointed right at the imp and as soon as it made contact with the creatures skin, the darts all started to drill into it.
The imp screamed in pain and Alma put her foot against the creature's chest and pushed him away, knocking him onto the dexert floor, but taking all of the darts with him, except for the one in Alma's hand. Alma spun around to find any more enemies and found one of the imps taking aim. The redhead's eyes widened and she stepped out of the way just before the imp pulled the trigger. Lucky for her. Well, it would have been bad there been something in the magazine. Instead...nothing fired. Wow. These things weren't the brightest.
Alma heard another imp scream shortly after the "gunshot", but she didn't bother with finding the source. Instead, she took aim with her remaining dart and threw it at the imp. Her aim was off and the dart had only hit the imp in the leg, but it drilled into the imp nonetheless.
Alma smiled and turned around, but when she did she noticed the butt of a gun coming down on her. It hit her right on the top of the head and she winced. She put her hands to her head and backed up. "Ow! Damn it, that hurt!"
The imp didn't take long to spring into action. It started to wail on Alma, using it's gun as a club as it didn't have an actual magazine in it. Alma turned away from the imp and ran, protecting her head from the opposing blows. Once she was what she thought was a safe distance away, she pulled out her cigarette darts. Time to burn something.
She then turned around in time to see the butt of the gun come down on her once more. The imp had swung at her while she was bringing out her weapons. Alma, though, was ready this time.
Alma grabbed the butt of the gun before it hit her. It hurt her hand, but by now she didn't care. This imp was going to die, and nothing was going to stop that. Alma pulled the gun out of the imp's hands and shoved one of the smouldering darts right onto the imp's forehead, causing the creature to scream in pain.
Alma gritted her teeth and pressed the dart further into the imps head, using all of her strength to push the dart. Eventually the imp died and exploded into grist, but it's gun stayed behind. Alma decided to hold onto it until the battle ended. The only two imps left were the ones that were on fire, and Alma was fairly certain that smouldering darts wouldn't hurt these things. Right...time to smack them with a gun.
"Well? Come at me!" Alma shouted, a cocky grin on her face. She had gotten rid of three of the original five imps, and by now the adrenaline was started to get to her head. She was unstoppable! She could fight these last two weirdos.
One of the two charged at her, dropping it's gun and readying it's claws. Alma tried to swing at the creature, but she swung too late and the imp pounced into the air before she could make contact.
The imp knocked her to the ground and began to claw at her. Alma put her hands against the imp's chest and attempted to push it away, the fire surrounding it burning her hands. The imp wasn't going down without a fight, though, and it continued to swipe wildly. It then gripped onto her hands, fiery claws digging into her skin.
Alma, ignoring the pain to the best of her abilities, finally pushed the imp off and quickly stood up. She grabbed the gun she dropped when the imp pounced at her and ran over to the imp, who tried to get up. Before the imp could get up, however, Alma took her gun and began to pummel the imp mercilessly.
Alma had hit the imp a total of ten times before it finally died. She took a deep breath and looked at the remaining one, who had just stood there watching while she bludgeoned the other one.
The human and the creature stared at each other for what seemed like a long time. The sun was beating down on Alma and causing sweat to get into her eyes, but she ignored it and instead simply narrowed her eyes, tightening her grip on the gun. Her arms started to sting and feel painful, but she tried to stay calm just for this.
"Well? Come on," Alma muttered as she took a step towards the imp. "Unless you plan on leaving, hurry up and get over here."
Without a sound, the imp readied it's claws and charged at Alma. She was ready and swung at the imp. The fiery creature was knocked to the side and landed on it's back. It slowly got back onto it's feet, but Alma was already next to it, gun resting on her shoulder like a baseball bat.
"Time to get a home run!" Alma said before swinging the gun as hard as she could. She couldn't see how far the imp went, since as soon as she hit the imp, he disappeared and was replaced with a pile of grist.
Alma picked the grist up and let out a light chuckle. That was fun! That was so much fun! That last part about a home run? That was so badass! Everything about that was just badass. Alma's chuckle went to a giggle as she went around and picked up the darts that she threw, which luckily didn't disappear like the imp bodies.
It was while she was picking up the last dart that the pain suddenly came in. It erupted all around her body and she gasped, eyes widening from the pain. She looked down at her arms and noticed the damages. Her arms were all cut up and burnt, and her palms were also burnt from pushing the imp away. Blood was streaming down her arm and dropping to the desert floor before being soaked up by the dry ground.
Alma winced as she noticed all of her injuries for the first time. Those things really did a number on her, didn't they? Well...at least she wasn't dead. That was good, right? ...it would be better to not be in any pain, though…
Alma sighed and pulled out the screen inside her headphones. She then went to her pesterchum app and contacted Echo. Time to see if she's feeling any better.
almandCream (AC) has begun pestering troubleTimes (TT)
AC: hey you there?
TT: Yes
TT: I'm here
AC: okay cool you feeling better?
TT: No
TT: I still feel awful
TT: Emotions are awful
AC: well sadness is yeah
AC: everything else is kind of cool
AC: what happened anyways?
TT: My sister's dead
TT: And my friend Hope is nowhere to be found
TT: I don't know what to do
TT: I think I might be lost
TT: And I have an impossible quest
TT: The more I dwell on it the more impossible I think it is
TT: Everything is spiraling down, and I'm going down with it, descending into some sort of phase of overwhelming emotions that I don't know how to react to. My emotions are overwhelming me and making it hard to think.
AC: certainly isn't affecting your vocabulary
AC: ...wait your sister's dead?
AC: i didnt know she was in there with you
AC: or hope
TT: Well now they're not with me
TT: They're gone.
AC: yeah yeah i know
AC: and that sucks
AC: look maybe you should just give yourself a chance to recover then?
AC: just cry it out and wait for the sadness to pass?
TT: No!
TT: I don't want to stay like this!
TT: I want it to go away now!
AC: woah alright okay
AC: jesus
AC: just calm down and...take deep breaths i guess?
AC: look im not good at calming myself down so im not sure how to tell you to do that
TT: Oh my goodness this is pointless.
TT: I'm going to go to some place safe before some imps come in and decide to kill me.
TT: I hope you're not too injured from your fight.
AC: actually im burnt all over
TT: What!?
TT: Are you alright?!
AC: oh yeah just peachy keen
AC: you can tell from all the blood
TT: Oh my goodness, okay. Just...go to some place safe, alright? Avoid any more confrontation and just...don't die, alright?
AC: dying wasn't part of my plan honestly so im fine with this
TT: Okay, well, I have to go now
TT: Be safe, please.
TT: Goodbye.
AC: see ya
troubleTimes (TT) has ceased pestering almandCream (AC)
The screen retracted into Alma's headphones once more and she sighed, doing her best to ignore the burning sensation on her hands and arms. Echo, even though unstable at the moment, was right. She needed to be more careful if these things could spit out flames. As much as she wanted to, Alma couldn't just run into battle like that again.
The sun continued to beat down on her and the redhead decided it was time to leave. Where could she go, though? Go back home or continue to go further into this desert? Her home had air conditioning, which was a big plus, but...she wouldn't accomplish anything while staying at home…
Alma ahook her head and brought out a water bottle from her book modus. She tossed the book the bottle came with to the side, declaring it useless. She twisted the cap off of the water bottle and took a long sip of water. Once that was done, she poured a small amount of water on both of her hands. Thankfully, the imp wasn't that hot. Not a severe burn, which was good considering there was no doctor out here.
The coolness of the water hitting her burnt hands was a relief, and she let out a content hum as she screwed the cap back on. She could just do that if the pain gets too much. Otherwise, she could take the pain. She's dealt with other kinds of injuries when working with her dad on those dumb birdhouses. Just earlier that week she slammed a hammer down on her thumb. She was just happy it wasn't broken.
Alma capthalogued the bottle of water once more before walking away from the former battleground. The heat was absolutely awful, and Alma could only compare it to a really hot summer's day, except she was sure that this heat wouldn't go away...at all.
Alma sighed as she continued walking. She knew very well that this was going to be a long game session. Especially if she needed to get to the other players...good grief, this was going to take forever…
=== Alma: Be Fate