Chapter 31 - Top of the Food Chain
Riding the Vultures was now a newfound favourite for the Party. Not only were they fast, but they were also easier to handle than normal bikes. With their hovering technology, the Vultures easily made it across rocky terrain without loss of traction or speed. It made for great escapades down cliff faces, something Neptune did quite often, nearly giving Nico a heart attack every time. It helped that their sole male member was a decent coach in how to utilise these new vehicles. He had explained that they weren't ready for practical use yet, meaning that this was likely going to be a one-off until he had received permission from the WDD in Planeptune to utilise them with the same freedom his other Gadgets had.
Still, even if they were riding Vultures, this didn't stop them from being randomly attacked by Monsters.
These random encounters were the bane of every adventurer out there, even Guild Agents found them deplorable at times. Fortunately, their Vultures had weapons on them, and under Nico's instruction they could fend off the attacks without losing much of their momentum. Usually Random Encounters took a while to deal with considering the Monsters tend to be stronger than the prey they were actively hunting. However, the Vultures were an equivalent to a mid to high levelled boss, making them last little more than 10 to 5 minutes. Much shorter than otherwise.
Neptune and Noire both liked the Gattling Guns the most, the former remembering the strong 'DAKKA-DAKKA-DAKKA!' they had back at the Abandoned Factory. it would take a while before she would forget that one, it was freaking fun! The latter liked the Gattling Guns because, while weak in attack strength, their rapid fire capabilities more than made up for it in her opinion. It helped that she was kind of starting to develop a thing for rapid firing guns, the way they easily shredded through monsters like weak tissue paper was a real stress reliever to her. It honestly felt like therapy, by this point.
IF and Compa preferred the Missile Launchers though, mostly because they required less control to use for their missiles locked onto targets. IF liked them for their destructive capabilities, trying to hold her snickers back that she thought the others didn't notice. The others did though, and it explained a lot actually, like how IF didn't object much to the use of Miniguns to shred those Zombie assholes apart.
Someone was a pyromaniac, huh?
By the time they arrived at Lastation's Capital however, their worst fears were realised. They arrived at the gates, which looked to have been broken from the outside since they were in pieces, with scratch and explosive markings on them to signify the damage that had been done. They parked just before them, their faces pale with horror and morbid realisation as they overlooked the carnage taking place in the Land of Black Regality.
The buildings were either toppled, reduced to piles of rubble, or slanted with their supports damaged significant. Their windows were cracked, their walls had holes in them, and dozens of scratch, scorch and bullet markings gave a full history as to what was going on here. In the distance, they could hear the screams of the dying, the groans and growls of the already dead, and the sounds of conflict raging throughout the entire District. Fires roared in twisted brilliance as smoke rose to the skies above, darkening them to the point where they blocked out of the sun. The Scent of blood, guts, gore and death filled their nostrils. Moreso, the sounds of gunfire and tank rounds could be heard in the distance, soldiers barking orders and others dying at the hands of the source of the growls, shrieks and snarls.
It was a nightmare.
"The City…" Compa whimpered, tears in the corners of her eyes as she tried her best to suppress as scream of horror and revulsion, seeing the corpses of both Zombies and humans. "It's in ruins…"
IF growled, her feelings of disgust undermined by the rage she felt towards the one who started this mess. She'd rather feel rage than anything else now, for it gave her purpose, something to focus her mind and energy elsewhere than the gore fest around them. "This must be what Ganache meant when he said he didn't have long. He must have been planning this from the very beginning."
Neptune's eyes shrunk to the size of dots as she shook, and it was so noticeable that even a blind man could tell how much revulsion was coursing through her system. "Dude… this is messed up. Seriously, like urgh!" Neptune stuck her tongue out and pinned her teeth on it, making an expression of 100% disgust. "Avenir's 'bleh' rate has gone through the roof! It's reached MAXIMUM!"
Her opinions were shared by the rest of the Party as Nico glanced around at the chaos and destruction. It seemed so much like Racoon city that he felt a sense of nostalgia, looking at the toppled buildings and decomposing corpses. Some of them he could recognise as fallen Lastation Soldier patrols however, which sent a small wave of relief through him. It meant that they had heeded his warnings after all, and judging by the sounds they could hear in the distance, Nico realised that the fighting was escalating, yet not completely swallowing the City into a vortex of war, pain and death.
Quickly, Nico used his Bracer to look up the local news network on the Guild's website, and found some information that caught his attention. "Hmmm, judging by this news report its confirmed that we have a mix of BOW's, Zombies, and J'avo here. Reports also say that a pack of Abnormals have used the chaos as a chance to invade the southern district. The Spec Ops Agents of Lastation Affiliation have begun to engage them, so we should leave the Abnormals to them." He explained to them all.
There was something else as well, something just as important to the situation at hand. "It appears that the Military and the infected are fighting fiercely, but have contained it mostly to this section. The rest of Lastation have already been evacuated to the underground shelters, which means that civilian casualties will be minimum from this." While he said this, the sounds of artillery being launched and detonating resounded in the distance, unholy shrieks and roars of pain echoing throughout the battlefield.
The girls looked at him, momentarily stunned by the lack of disgust on his masked features, but soon stopped that when they remembered that he was a Racoon City survivor, stuff like this would have been bound to have happened to him a whole lot. It only made sense that he would have gotten used to it, although that was not a positive thing to get used to. They each felt their own emotions on this information about their sole male member, but pushed them aside to focus on the task at hand. "What about the Soldiers? Please tell me that they're alright…" Compa pleaded with him, her tears just seconds away from falling down her cheeks. Wit how her hands were occupied by the armour and handles of her Vulture, she wouldn't be able to stop them from falling if the news was bad.
"Well, while a lot have been killed and added to the Zombie horde, it seems that The Military's holding it's own so far, they've fortified positions early, and are holding back the infected horde, guarding the underground Bunkers, built to survive atomic attack." he explained to her after looking up the safety measures that had been taken. Despite everything, Nico couldn't help but smile underneath his Mask at how, while things did look bad for the City, it could have been a whole lot worse had the Military not heeded his warnings. The entire city could have been swallowed, and this time there would be no Nukes to save the day. "The boarders have been sealed to limit the chaos to the southern District as well. With these out of the way, the Lastation Military will be able to take the fight to the enemy."
That didn't seem as bad as she thought, but it wasn't the ideal news she wanted to hear. However, Compa was aware of the harshness of reality, she was aware of it since she had lost her Grandfather. While her heart broke for those that had been unlucky enough to have fallen victim to the Zombies, Compa also felt relief flood her system that there would be survivors of this tragedy.
Up ahead, the Zombies were prowling the Streets, shambling, groaning, moaning and hissing in a passive manner. Their senses wouldn't be able to detect them in time for them to attack since they were on their Vultures, but they weren't what caught their attention. Amongst the Zombies, were several additions that they remembered seeing from the Files they had taken from the Factory.
They were mostly human at a distance, though upon inspection their faces were horribly mutated. Their skin tones were heavily discoloured and faint, blue-violet veins were seen coursing through their faces. Their teeth appeared uneven, jagged and discoloured. The most notable mutation they had was their large, rounded eyes with small pupils. The irises were filled with tiny specks of colour, and ranged from an off-white or pale yellow to a darker yellow or brown.
These creatures had more than two eyes, scattered along their faces and foreheads. These eyes appeared in different patterns, positions and sizes such as large vertical eyes or clusters of four smaller eyes. The newly formed eye-sockets from their mutation caused the skin around these areas to appear ruptured and bleed profusely. Some had covered up parts of their faces with bandages while others wore decorative ceramic masks to cover their faces.
With this information, it was easy to realise their identities as the 'J'avo' that the File had talked about.
"Looks like we have some new friends to play with." Nico remarked, before the sound of engines being revved was heard behind them. His eye widened when he realised that one of the Vultures was being operated once again. It didn't take him long to realise who it was when a black blur drove off through the masses. "Noire, what are you doing?! Get back, it's dangerous!"
His yell made her look back at him while driving the Vulture, its blades and Gatling Guns coming online as they began doing their thing. Any Zombies near her were shredded to pieces while their buddies were filled with many bullet holes. "Screw dangerous, Ganache is nearby I'm sure of it! I'm not letting him get away with what he's done here! Don't try and stop me!" she yelled, before doing a wheelie as she drove off towards Passé.
A Tsk came from Nico's Lips as the remains of the Zombies and J'avo ahead turned to them, noticing their presence. "Tsk, that idiot! C'mon ladies, let's go. Mrs suicide wants to play the heroine today." He remarked, his tone thick with distaste for Noire's actions. While he could understand why she was like this, it was foolish to just ride off ahead like that! It was likely going to get her killed, Goddess body be damned! Revving his Vulture, the male activated the Missile Launchers and launched a large volley at the remains of the horde.
Missiles came crashing down on them, blowing the Zombies to smithereens upon impact. Their remains were sent flying through the air, while some of the J'avo managed to survive the initial attack, only to be gunned down by the Gatling guns. This provided the opening for the others to rev their Engines and follow suit. Just before they could leave, Neptune bellowed out. "ho Silver, away!"
"… don't ever do that again."
"Hehehehehehe. Sorry."
Driving through the streets showed the Party just how badly the District was damaged. There were countless Zombies and J'avo wandering the streets. The streets were a warzone, with a mix of military and Zombie/J'avo on the streets or in the buildings, guns blazing and bullets flying. Soldiers made a mix of war cries and shrill screams as they fired upon the undead monstrosities. Tank rounds flew by, some almost hitting the Party as they travelled the streets at high speeds, hitting larger undead abominations like the Whoppers. The soldiers up inside garrisoned buildings provided fire support, taking out the regular Zombies while trying to avoid the J'avo's counterattacks.
Some of them had gotten the idea into their heads to take over several Garrisoned Buildings, and for the undead masses that was a major plus on their ends, considering how the J'avo in those buildings were able to take pot shots at the soldiers in the other buildings. This led to the Military being weakened with the increasing lack of supporting fire from their soldiers in the buildings, whom had to change targets lest they get brutalised by the onslaught of J'avo rounds.
Said monstrosities aimed weapons from rifles to missile launchers at them when the Party entered their line of sights, however they managed to make quick parkour stunts to dodge their attempts to blow them up. "WHOO HOO, do a double flip!" Neptune cheered as she bounced onto the top of a toppled vehicle, to get some air time, doing multiple spins before landing on top of a Zombie, smashing its brain to dust. She then slid to a low slide, knocking down a line of undead.
One J'avo managed to fire a rocket launcher behind one of her Tires, the resulting explosion sending Neptune flying like a wheel. "Woaaaaaah!" the preteen screamed as she tried to regain some form of balance. Planting both tires onto the ground, Neptune swerved widely for a second before she managed to regain her balance, much to her relief.
"Stay focused, Nep!" IF called from ahead of her, gunning that J'avo down with her Gatling Guns while slicing 2 Zombies with her blades. The sounds of flesh being torn and the clatter of bullet shells filled her hearing, making it slightly difficult for her to hear Neptune's dismayed exclamation.
Up ahead though, a Whopper stumbled out on to the streets, carrying a large Axe. Everyone paled when they realised what it was going to do when it raised the Axe to slam down on them. "Shoot it shoot it before it can act!" Nico shouted as they went and focused their fire on it, a bullet storm of Gatling gun rounds flying into its body. The Whopper stumbled and groaned in pain from the wounds, but it persevered enough to rear its Axe back and swing just when Nico was close enough, him being at the front of the Party.
The male saw the Axe coming, and in a flash his instincts took over as he balanced his Vulture on its nose and spun its backside towards it, spinning the rear like it was a chainsaw blade to catch the Axe and deflect it away from them. The male spun around and slammed the backside back down, before speeding forth and jumping towards the Whopper's body, the nose smashing into it with enough force to knock it down. With a quick burst of Gatling gunfire to the head, he managed to finish it off before moving on.
"Nice shooting, Texas!" Neptune praised as she and the others rode past the Whopper, Missile Launchers peppering the Buildings with their payloads to keep the enemies inside from attacking them.
'For some reason, I'm thinking of a famous wrestler's theme playing with a picture of Noire wearing some black shades as if she were a gangster…' Nico thought to himself, sweat dropping at the reference he and Neptune had made. Shaking his head to push those thoughts from his mind, the Masked male gave her a raised eyebrow, earning a sheepish grin from her. If his face wasn't mostly hidden, she would have seen his matching smirk.
Sounds of gunfire in the air made them look up, and they soon noticed that the skies were as silent as the war-torn streets. There were various creatures, likely created from the mutations that the J'avo underwent, flying about while dominating the skies above. Missiles flew through the skies, fired from anti air weapons soldiers had as well as the Tanks that remained, causing explosions to be heard throughout the District. They could even hear gunfire from Soldiers in squads scattered throughout the city, trying to take down the Zombies.
"Oh Goddess… this is a shithole…" IF murmured, dumbstruck as she realised just how messed up and chaotic things had become thanks to this attack. everything just seemed to be moving so fast that she had barely any time to process what was happening.
Things would get even more hectic soon enough, when a series of blurs suddenly rammed into them from above and their left flanks, knocking them down with their bodies still attached to the Vultures. Neptune quickly detached from her ride and flipped through the air multiple times, getting rid of the momentum she had gained. Her actions were mirrored by IF and Nico, while Compa flew with a girly scream, flailing her limbs like they were flails. Fortunately for her, Nico managed to catch her before she could hit a tilted sharpened pipe.
They soon recovered enough to see what had attacked them. Their attackers turned out to be A group of 10 J'avo, each of them wearing Hockey Masks to cover their faces. Each of them howled and growled, looking at each other before making a series of hand gestures to each other. IF's eyes widened in recognition at this behaviour. "They're making use of conventional warfare tactics, using hand signals! These guys ARE intelligent!"
"No time for that right now, IF! Contact ladies, Contact!"
2 of them moved back with their Rocket Launchers, 4 of them carried Machetes so they went in front while the remaining 4 took cover with various pieces of wreckage. They were quick to act, with the last four sporting Rifles and firing upon them with the Machete wielders acting as support by sticking to defence.
The Party was quick to respond, IF quickly taking out her Pistols to return fire, while Compa hid behind some wreckage to do the same. Neptune rushed forwards with Nico, which prompted the charging of the J'avo wielding Machetes. The two sides clashed, Nico staking on 2 while the same applied for Neptune. The former her jumped into a double kick, slamming into two of them while Neptune just charged normally.
On Neptune's end, she wielded Murasama and clashed with one. J'avo #1 swung rapidly at her, trying to cleave her head off only to be parried or blocked every time. She eventually saw #2 try coming at her from behind, but she ducked under her swing and tripped him up, spinning into a backhanded slash that sent #2 flying away before blocking #1's sword. "Urgh! These guys have some fight in them!" she cursed, jumping back to get some distance.
Her sword began to glow as she Activated one of her Skills. "CROSS COMBINATION!" she charged forwards and unleashed a barrage of fast slashes. The enemy before her could keep up with them all however, much to her shock. "What?!" #1 then hopped back to avoid the kick she would have used to launch him into the air, and raised its Cleaver to block her overhead slash. "Oh, come on! these guys are too OP! well then, how about CRITICAL EDGE!"
Once again, Neptune swiftly activated a Skill, her CRITICAL EDGE was stronger too so it should have more of an effect on this enemy. J'avo #2 however interrupted her before she could make the first move and shoulder tackled her, knocking Neptune to the ground making her gasp as she was forced to deactivate her Skill.
Quick to react, Neptune flipped onto her hands and pushed, propelling herself backwards to avoid #2's Cleaver. Bullets fired from J'avo #5 and J'avo #6, who were hiding behind the middle of a destroyed car, flew at her left flank, but at that moment Neptune was still moving so she merely flipped again, time slowing down as the bullets went between and outside her legs.
"Hey, no switches, wait your turn like in a normal Neptunia game!" Neptune yelled with an angry pout although she was aware it wouldn't do anything to them. #1 and 2 moved in for a cross slash, one coming from the left and the other from the right. For some reason Neptune got a surge of de ja vu as she jumped into the air just before they could bisect her and splatter her guts everywhere.
Across the multiverse, Neptune fans sighed in relief, some even hugged their human sized Neptune body pillows while kissing the areas which would have been her cheeks. Their Goddess wouldn't be dying today!
Back to the story, we shift over to Nico's side, where J'avo #3 and 4 had been hard pressing him with hit and run tactics. One of them would attack him from the front, then would switch with the other to circle around and attack from behind, the partner speeding to wherever he moved next. Add in how he had to dodge gunfire from J'avo #7 and 8 as well, and he was in a particularly big bind.
'HAHAHAHAHA NOW THAT WAS HILARIOUS!'
Oh no, not that, anything but that. Nico's eyes widened as he felt something within him change. He knew what that was, he so knew what that was, but he didn't at the same time. He had first heard that voice through his nightmares, his hallucinations of images he did not understand. But there were times, times where this pounding in his skull, pounding that felt like something was trying to rip his head in two, would manifest in the real world.
A cold, dead hand grasped his shoulder, its grip both strong and painful to him, yet Nico did not turn around. He didn't dare, or need to as he already knew what it was that was behind him. Its icy breath raced down his neck, accompanied by the chills that went down his spine with them.
Normally there would be little that he would be afraid of, and that didn't include all the shit he had dealt with in the past. There were few things that he feared, but none of them would be what one would expect. His body's physical abilities were well known to the others, true enough, but there were others that weren't know, nor did he ever want them to know. This was his deepest, most zealously guarded secret, a secret that very few know about him. That circle did NOT include Compa in any way, ad if he had any say she would never know this secret he hid, for it tied to his inability to eat human foods without throwing it up later.
'COME ON, WHY SO GLUM? ALL THIS MAKES FOR A BORING SHOW, YA KNOW. WHY WOULD YOU WANNA LIMIT YOURSELF TO THESE PEONS' LEVELS?'
The headache gradually got worse, and he could see that his enemies were heading closer to him. He pushed the headache aside and barely blocked one Machete with his Rebellion, while directing it away from him by tilting his blade to a diagonal angle. He then spun around to try and deflect the second attack, but a sudden spike from his headache made Nico wince, which stopped him from intercepting the second attack on time.
As a result, Nico got hit across the chest by the Machete, being send flying backwards to a piece of debris from a fallen building. Nico groaned in pain and discomfort, though not from the external damage but the damage the headache was inflecting on his mind as he held it in a vice with one hand, Rebellion in the other as the J'avo advanced on him.
His instincts, which were already clawing their way out of the chains he restrained them with, briefly took over and made him summon Ebony in his left hand, his free hand which had been holding his head to try and somehow stem his headache, and blast most of the two J'avos' heads off. This looked like a good shot to him at first, until he saw what looked like Tendrils and flesh seeping out of the wound and beginning to restore the head to its previous state. 'Tch, their regeneration abilities are on point, eh? What else have they got under their sleeves…'
Just as he thought that, many grotesque sounds began to resonate from J'avo #3's left arm while #4's right arm became the origin of its own sounds. These arms, they soon began undergoing an… admittingly disgusting, warped transformation. For #3's arm, the arm exploded into a gory mass, extending between the joints in a sickening manner, causing the length to increase greatly as the hand mutated into a crude and brutal sickle. The result was a limb that greatly resembles the arms of a praying mantis in the way it folds.
#4's Arm has a different transformation, but no less disgusting. The arm ruptured and split apart as additional organic material grew, covering the gaps from where the sections of the arm extended. The outside of the limb became covered with layered pieces of armouring, resulting in a human sized armoured shield.
Nico cursed as he realised what just happened. The enemy had undergone a mutation, which had been said in the files regarding their regenerative abilities. Apparently, they were so whacky that they had a chance to undergo specific evolutionary changes to make them stronger, and they could go through more than one. stronger ones could even mutate at will.
'WHY RESIST IT? LET ME OUT ON THESE JACKASSES! SHOW THEM JUST WHO THEY'RE MESSING WITH…. WHO IS IT THAT IS MEANT TO BE ON THE HIGHER PLANE ON THE FOOD CHAIN, AGAIN?'
That did it, the headache was too much for the male as he swiftly dismissed Rebellion and Ebony back to his Void Storage and ran towards #3. It brought its sickle-like arm down on him but Nico sidestepped to dodge it, then twisted his body to hook his leg around the limb before pinning it to the ground with his calves, kneeling on the limb and pressing against it tightly. #3 screeched and roared as it struggled to remove its limb from his grip, for its efforts to be in vain.
#4 saw that its buddy was in anger and ran to its aid, thrusting the shield forwards like a bashing tool for Nico to rear his fist back and throw a punch… a punch that sent #4 down to the ground from the strength and impact. It fell to the ground with a grunt, quickly rolling to its feet again.
Nevertheless, Nico twisted his lower body and ripped the limb clean off the creature's body. #3 screamed in agony as it stumbled back and flailed about, its regenerative ability kicking in immediately to repair the damage, to regrow its sickle arm. Nico wouldn't let that happen though as he swiftly raced to its position, smashing his fist through its chest with little to no resistance against it.
The sudden sure of strength that Nico was showing caught the transformed J'avo off guard and it showed from the bewildered expression on its face as its many eyes darted around, looking for support. A hailstorm of bullets found their way to Nico's position, but to its horror… the bullets merely bounced off his skin. He didn't even flinch or make any notion of noticing the bullets as he grabbed the regenerating creature by the head, lifting it to the air and then crushing the head within his fist.
Not stopping there, Nico made sure it wouldn't be able to regenerate by repeatedly throwing his punches, piercing through the shoulders, stomach, and what remained of his legs. In the end, there was barely anything left, and the regeneration ability would no longer work to heal it. Thus, J'avo #3 was killed.
The male didn't bother looking down upon the dead creature as he emotionlessly gazed at #4, which had grabbed its Machete from the ground, having dropped it during its mutation. It then shrieked as it raced towards him, using its Machete to swing at his head. Nico caught the offending limb wordlessly in his hand, his expression blank as he glanced idly towards what he had caught. #4 grunted and snarled as it pulled and tugged, trying to break free from his grip. However, like its comrade these efforts proved to be futile.
Nico then scoffed, before wordlessly gripping the J'avo's shoulder, giving one mighty tug and tearing the arm from its body. While it shrieked and screamed like a banshee, Nico swiftly pried its Machete from its hand, discarding it wordlessly before stabbing the creature straight through the brain… repeatedly.
STAB-STAB-STAB-STAB-STAB-STAB-STAB-STAB-STAB-STAB!
Finally, the creature could endure no more, and at that point its head was so full of holes that not even its regeneration could take care of it. it fell backwards, landing on the ground dead with a THUD!
The THUD served to snap Nico out of his trance as he gasped and began breathing heavily, clutching the centre of his chest tightly as he hunched over, eye wide with stunned dismay. What had happened to him, well, it was something that couldn't be described with words. Hs instincts were powerful, yes, but they weren't what he was most afraid of. Something else, something that is determined by instinct, clung to it, that was what he feared. No, that wasn't right, what he feared about it wasn't it itself, but what would happen once his companions would do when they saw it. It was a dead giveaway to his identity, and everything he tried so hard to keep hidden from the world.
Fortunately, when his instincts took over here, only bits and pieces of it were used, not enough for a full manifestation but enough for enhanced physical abilities, something that wouldn't be too suspicious since he had already shown that he was capable of a lot of shit. While it favoured him today, luck would eventually run out, a part of him said, and when that time came…
He didn't want to think about it.
'PFT! PATHETIC, YOU WORRY ABOUT THOSE WEAKLINGS? WHAT A TRULY SICKENING NOTION.' He heard the voice scoff inside his mind, the headache greatly lessened. Thanks to him using THAT he had managed to satisfy it for a while, and if he did so discreetly he could still maintain his secret. 'NEVER FORGET, BRAT, YOU ARE AT THE FOOD CHAIN'S PEAK, AN APEX PREDATOR. YOUR INSTINCT IS TO KILL AND DEVOUR YOUR PREY WITHOUT REMORSE! THAT'S YOUR FUCKING NATURE, SO ACCEPT IT ALREADY! YOU CAN'T ESCAPE YOUR FATE!'
'Shut up!' Nico shouted in his mind, and the presence gave a dark, twisted chuckle that sounded like grating pipes in his ears as it retreated to the shadows of his mind, where it had resided within him since when he first woke up with amnesia. Always there, waiting. Waiting for the time to come out whether he wanted it to or not.
Now that he had that problem dealt with, Nico looked to where Neptune was, and saw that she had her situation in the bag so he decided to take to the supporters behind the cover. He smirked behind his Mask, lone eye narrowing into a predatory gaze as he took out Ebony and Ivory, before jumping into the air and coming down in a bullet frenzy.
Back on Neptune's side, the preteen parried a Machete and kicked its wielder's brethren away from her. #1 and 2 swiftly shrieked and cawed at her, anger at them not having killed her yet. Bullets hit them in their faces, curtesy of a supporting Compa while her allies dealt with the remaining rifle wielding J'avos.
Their staggering was enough for Neptune to get the drop on #1, jumping at it and slamming her body into it with enough force to send it off balance. The J'avo she had hit screeched in alarm as it fell onto its back with Neptune straddling on top of it. 'I'd much rather do this with Nicky, but hey.' She thought in her mind, too into the fighting to realise what she had just admitted to.
Before it could react, Neptune had raised her Murasama and sliced the top of its head off, not giving it a chance to regenerate as she slashed at the rest of it to stop it from doing so. 3 minutes later, she was sure she had done it, so she stood up and observed her handiwork for a few seconds, considering that #2 was already charging at her. She caught the sight of its head being in shambles and the body laid motionless, a sign of its death.
Stumbling back when the creature collided with her, Neptune pushed it back when she got her balance right before jumping into the air, and with a battle cry came down with a slash to its head. The enemy managed to block the attempt with its Machete, but not for long as the combined attacks from every slash from Murasama had weakened it to the point where it broke, allowing Murasama to pass freely and slash through the creature.
"Hah, I did it, I won!" Neptune cheered as she stepped back, watching the wound cut right through the enemy's head. The creature began to fall backwards, looking like it was defeated much to the preteen's joy. However, that would not happen as its right leg stomped on the ground, restoring its balance and kept it from falling.
Slowly, its hunched over, its head already regenerating from the damage it had taken. Neptune turned and saw this, her happiness now replaced with annoyance. "Oh, come on, really! You guys are like those annoying enemies' players wish the developers hadn't put into the Game's software!" she complained, heaving a heavy groan of dismay at the sight before her.
Things got worse though when the J'avo began to undergo a transformation, just like the ones Nico's foes had done. This time the transformation started at the head, unlike the arm ones. The head seemed to erupt in a mass of gore and red, before it began to regenerate. However, as it did so, it changed the head into something else, something that resembles what could be considered some form of twisted larvae that split the torso and back skin apart, forming a twisted looking membrane with legs and a mouth, which held a web shooter. It took only seconds to complete, but it looked no less revolting.
"Ewww, gross!" Neptune shrieked, stepping back as she tried to rein in her bile, her face turning slightly green at the sight. "Now that's one bug I haven't got a zapper for!" That seemed to tick it off as it raced towards her with bloodlust radiating from it. It spewed what looked like webbing at her, and Neptune had seen enough to know that getting hit by that was a bad idea so she swerved to the side.
Afterwards, Neptune barrel rolled to the side, all the while discarding Murasama back to her Inventory and patting her chest, activating her Armour Module. The black and purple armour formed around her as she got back to her feet, by which time she was fully armoured with her Armblades sliding into position. They gleamed menacingly thanks to the light from the flames on the sides of buildings around them, almost making Neptune look like a sinister demon to the enemy. "See if you like these apples! CROSS COMBINATION!"
Activating her Skill, Neptune closed in before it could retract its web shooter within the safety of the larvae-like head. She repeatedly slashed it, dealing wounds that were unable to be healed quick enough before she knocked it into the air and slammed it into the ground. Neptune landed before it and ran towards the transformed J'avo, intending to finish it off. With a feminine war cry, she jumped into the air and fell on it, slamming her elbow into its head.
This succeeded in dazing the creature long enough for Neptune to get up and activate CRITICAL EDGE, which allowed her to finish it off by slicing it vertically in half. The remains fell to the sides, facing away from each other as Neptune stepped back and heaved a mighty sigh of relief. "Whew, that was a surprise. I thought for sure that I had beaten it the first time. Good to know." She remarked, retracting her Armblades while placing an index finger on her chin and looking up at her forehead.
Sounds of something burning reached her ears, and when she noticed a pair of rockets coming at them she quickly screamed "RPG!" before getting into a stance and re-deploying her Armblades. One RPG round was nearing her position so she quickly jumped at it and slashed it in half, letting the two halves fall behind her harmlessly after she landed. The other had went to her allies, but they managed to dodge it while during their own battles.
Compa looked and saw that the rounds came from a pair of windows on the opposite street. She could faintly make out a pair of shadows moving behind cover, obviously reloading their weapons. The time was now, she had to act before they had a chance to reload. It was like what her childhood friend/ crush had told her back during their training, that you had to expose and exploit every opening your enemy made if you want to win. She went and acted, rolling out of cover and aiming her Syringe at one of the Windows, firing off a single round... in less than a second.
If Comp was a markswoman, she'd be dangerous.
The timing allowed her to shoot one of the RPG sporting J'avo in the face right when it was leaning out to aim at them, causing it to fall out the window after it got hit in the head. It was killed the instant it hit the ground by the fall. As for the second one, it managed to avoid being hit but hid behind the safety of its window, to which Compa tried to aim at but was beset by rifle gunfire.
She hid behind her cover again, prepping to fire on the other 'J'avo when the sounds of blades meeting flesh were heard in their general direction. Her eyes blinked for a moment before she looked up and saw that IF had sneaked behind them, unnoticed by the enemy, and had dispatched them with her Qatars. Their forms lay on the ground, headless while the brunette swiped her Qatars down to the side, cleansing them of most of the blood they had shed. "Wow Iffy, that was so cool!" Compa praised with a beaming grin as she gave a thumbs-up to the brunette.
IF smirked, drinking the praise as she gave a thumbs-up signal back to the young Nurse-In-Training. Stealth wasn't something often used in Gamindustri, it was usually just go up to the enemy, smack them around and then there's a happily ever after. there was little intensity to the battles in the original games, unless you're under-levelled in which case you played yourselves there. But here? In THIS Gamindustri, Stealth, Sabotage and actions performed in the shadows were going to be used to their fullest. She'd made use of the debris to hide from the enemy while she moved to get into a better position, the sounds of combat to conceal the sounds of her boots against the damaged ground, as well as their focus on her allies to ambush them swiftly.
The Last J'avo peered out and saw that its buddies were killed, and a feral snarl escaped its deformed lips. It knew the situation for it was bad enough, alone and only with one round left to take someone out. If it was going down however, it'll make damn sure to take the one who took down its brethren with it! It opted to get revenge for their deaths by aiming at IF and firing its RPG round at her.
Her ears twitched as her mind registered the round being launched, the shrill scream of smoke echoing through the vicinity. The Brunette promptly responded, and swiftly rolled out of the way while Compa managed to get into position and fire a round of her own. It passed the RPG round and hit the shooter in the head, making it meet the same fate as its partners.
With all 10 J'avo dealt with, the Party regrouped together as they looked to their rides, the Vultures. "Tch, those bastards. They damaged our rides." IF noted as she examined the many markings on them, markings that damaged them too much to be used by them again. Their armour plating was badly damaged, and the following fighting had ruptured their fuel canisters, the fuel now spilling out onto the ground and staining it a tar-like black. The handles were cracked, and the blades looked to have been snapped off. They really had taken some serious damage, it wasn't surprising that they would no longer be usable in a fight. She went to one of the fallen J'avo and kicked it in retaliation, knowing that while it wouldn't do much it still felt satisfying to do.
Nobody messes with her beloved toys, damnit! Whoever did this was going to get her boot up their asses!
"We can't use these anymore, what'll we do now?" Compa asked the others with concern. Seeing the amount of damage the Vultures had endured didn't fill her with good spirits, and she was sure that the others felt the same. Nevertheless, despite feeling greatly saddened by their disabling for the rest of the battle, this wasn't what Compa feared the most. "Noire is probably at Chian's Factory right now. she'll need our help so we gotta get there soon."
Neptune nodded her head with puffed cheeks. "Yeah, we gotta pay Ganache back for what he's done to Lastation!" she agreed, her mouth forming a frown when she said the name of Avenir's founder. She considered him the bottom of the junkyard for doing all this to the city.
Nico ran through their available options in his mind, before coming up with a solution. "We'll have to hoof it from here sadly, ladies." He told them, scowling as he pressed a few keys on his right Bracer's interface. The damaged vehicles then disappeared back into his Void Storage, he would have some work to do when he had his status as a Spec Ops Agent back to normal. "Fortunately, we still have some tech we can use to get us to our destination quickly." Making the same motions, he brought out his Recon Drone and sent it out into the streets. "This'll check our route to Passé, see if its clean enough to proceed. If not, we'll find an alternative route."
Neptune hummed to herself as she thought about what they were doing. "Ya know, this feels awfully like a military op. Don't you think?" She remarked thoughtfully. She remembered playing several games with this scenario back in that Hotel they got from Nico's funds. That was where the familiarity she was feeling came from, at least to her knowledge. She had amnesia, so she could have felt this before but didn't remember it.
"You could say that." Nico responded. He had to admit, the preteen had good instincts since this indeed was a military op now. A whole district was now under quarantine to suppress an undead horde, this was about as military op as it could get. He'd seen his fair share of battles as a Spec Ops Agent, and Nico knew what a war zone was when he saw one. This barely counted as a skirmish, honestly, and he should know. Compared to Racoon City, this was barely a walk in the park for him.
A beeping came from his right Bracer and he checked their route. His frown deepened, showing that his words would be bad news to them. "Unfortunately for us, our route has been blocked off by debris from all the fighting, either that or Ganache is a paranoid bastard which I'm not having trouble believing." None of the others did either. "Good news, we have another route. It's a longer one, and it'll take us through some intense fighting, but we'll be able to get there in time."
Everyone crowded around the projection of Lastation. Some of the buildings had beeping red areas to show flames, while more areas like that covered pieces of the ground throughout the District. There was a highlighted path that led to the Factory Passé, and Nico was right when it was said to lead them into a lot of fighting as many black and red dots could be seen clashing with each other. What was worse, was that the route seemed to be the only way that Noire could have taken to get to Chian, something that worried them greatly, Nico especially since he knew of her identity and her situation.
There were also blockades formed from rubble, ruined buildings which meant the path had to go through some back alleyways, some of which would make ideal ambush spots for the enemy. The main streets were just as bad, as well, meaning that their trip to Passé would likely be a long, painful and annoying one. Nevertheless, the Party would do it, if it meant they would get to Chian quickly then they would do anything.
With a small Tsk sound, IF turned on her boots and began walking down the street after she examined the Holomap with the others. She took a few footsteps before she stopped. When she heard no footsteps that weren't hers, she turned her head to look at them all while gesturing to the streets ahead. "Well, what are you guys dragging ass for, let's get going immediately, Noire won't like being kept waiting." She urged them, getting everyone to follow.
Chapter end!
Whooo! Thing's are getting steamy right now, if you know what i'm sayin'! The battle for Lastation has begun, and luckily the military weren't complete idiots and actually listened to Nico's, warnings. Well, you all knew this already since you saw it in a previous chapter. Nevertheless, carnage came to Lastation and stayed for dinner, casualties are rising and they hadn't even reached the Factory yet. In the original rebirth games they would have arrived by now! Here's a shoutout to Zergface, I tried to edit this part, and the rest of the climax, to suit your reviews. Hope you can read this, and thanks everyone for all the support your views give. It's great knowing my Content is being received positively by others.
Cheers!
