Chapter 52 - Abnormal Guests
With the addition of Tekken, the party acquired the Quest involving the Necromorphs and MS Mountain. Afterwards, they headed out for this Dungeon, taking a couple hours to get there. Along the way, the girls were asking questions to Tekken, getting to know her better. If they were going to be an alliance, it would be good to at least know the one helping them, that was their thought processes. Tekken was more than happy to answer, as she got more comfortable with being around them.
"So, you see I'm kinda... from another Dimension." The girl began as they walked down a country path. IF walked from the rear, with Neptune and Nico in front, while Compa was to Tekken's left. The young Martial Artist had been questioned by the curious Nurse-In-Training about where she came from, but had been thinking about how to answer. In the end, she decided to just go with the truth, even if they didn't believe her.
IF raised a brow at this as she hummed thoughtfully, a hand cupping her chin as she pondered her answer. "We met someone like that before, in Lastation. She said she was from another Dimension, too." she remarked. "So its not surprising ad much to see someone else from another dimension."
Hearing this, Tekken quickly turned her head to face the brunette Guild Agent, her eyes twinkling with a hope that honestly caught IF off guard. Se had even grabbed her hands and was holding them close with her own. "Was it MAGES.? Was it a girl with blue hair and a witch hat?!" she questioned, leaving forwards slightly as she pestered IF with one question after another. "Please, tell me, tell me, tell me!"
"Whoa girl, calm down!"
"Oh ho-ho, what do we have here?" IF mentally groaned, knowing what was coming, when she heard a familiar voice as well as the teasing undertone behind it. Looking over to the front of the group, she saw that Neptune was standing there looking at them with a Cheshire cat grin on her face, eyes twinkling with mischief while Nico stood not far off, raising a brow in curiosity. Meanwhile, Compa looked like she was an embarrassed schoolgirl hiding her red face from something perverted, but making a small hole with her fingers to peep through. "Is this a declaration of love for our dear Iffy? Is there a new ship being set to sail in the future?"
Already, IF felt a headache coming on as Neptune once again got a bad impression of what was going on. "Shut it Nep, its not like that one bit! I hardly even know this girl, plus I'm straight!" she yelled, pulling her hands away from a sheepish Tekken, who was smiling in apology towards her while laughing nervously. Seeing this caused her temper to calm down somewhat, but only towards her for her accidental slip-up. Neptune remained as on thin ice as ever, and this wasn't even Lowee. "Anyways, yeah, we met with MAGES. before. Why do you ask, do you know her?"
"Um, well, uh..." Tekken made to say something, when she soon got this awkward expression as she shifted uncomfortably. "Not personally, no, but she and I attended this science convention back in our home dimension. She wanted to present this new teleportation device that would help soldiers transport their troops to the battlefield, an wanted to test it at a Convention first. Lots of officials were there, so word would have spread fast about it, you see?"
'Interesting...' the lone male of the group thought while already getting a picture of what had happened next. He had heard there was a similar incident at a Technology Expo in Planeptune one time, but it was way before he was even born, about 30 years ago if he remembered correctly, so he didn't know all the details. "Let me guess, the machine malfunctioned and you were teleported here?"
"Eek!"
Tekken jumped slightly, startled when the male spoke. Everyone looked at her in surprise and confusion when she did this, for the martial artist to soon realise what had happened and once again chuckle nervously. "Oh, s-sorry, I just forgot you were there. You were so silent that, well..." she began to say, scratching her chin while the male in question sweat dropped. He wasn't that silent, was he? Maybe he should think about looking into that. "A-Anyways, there's a bit more to it, but that's basically what happened in a nut shell. I don't remember much, but when I woke up after the machine malfunctioned, I was in a forest surrounded by animals. I didn't mind what happened though since it would help me grow as a Martial Artist." she explained, beaming at the end.
'That squeak just now... something tells me she has little positive experience with the opposite gender... or at least a phobia of them.' Biko commented, much to Nico's ire. It wasn't at his demonic personification per say, but more at the fact that he was the one to cause Tekken discomfort, even though he was someone who she wanted to spar with. He didn't say anything though, just let the conversation go on. It was probably for the best that way.
Everyone hummed in understanding at this, from what she told them it seemed that MAGES.' slip up was responsible for her becoming sent to their dimension. Thus, it would make sense that Tekken would try to find her to see if they could somehow get back. However, one of them remained confused if the expression on her features was any indication. "Um, this is all very confusing to me..." Compa muttered sheepishly. "I'm not good with hard stuff."
"Don't worry about it, then." Tekken said in a consoling manner, smiling in comfort at the Nurse-In-Training as she gave a thumbs up and a confident grin. "Just take it as 'I'm here and ready to kick some butt!' or something along those lines. Anyways, I stayed with the animals in the forest, honing my Skills until one told me about Spec Ops Agents, so I wanted to see what they were like, possibly spar with one."
After overcoming his initial annoyance, Nico formed a small smirk on his lips, pocketing his hands as he kicked some dirt lightly with his right foot. "Well, I have to admit, you're one badass girl, Tekken. That entrance you made at the Guild Building was priceless. You really made my day with that one." He then gave her a thumbs up of his own, his smirk widening with amusement dancing within his eyes. "So thanks, thanks for that."
"Hehehehe, no problem! Happy to help, even though I don't know what I did to help!"
Neptune, despite what happened before, skipped merrily towards the young girl and hugged her from behind, a large grin on her features. "Hehehe, well what happened isn't a biggie, so welcome to the party, Tekken! We'll kick loads of bootie together, for sure!" she proclaimed, fist pumping the air space above her. Everyone just rolled their eyes at the preteen, already used to her antics. Tekken didn't look like she minded, either, so with that the group began walking once more. That Dungeon wouldn't be fixing itself, you know.
Meanwhile, as the group of girls questioned and got to know their temporary new member, one of them hung back and shut himself off from the conversation. Nico kept himself silent, outside anyways, while inside he began to converse with Biko on... special measures. 'So, Biko, you said that Demonic Energy works well with the drugs in keeping IT suppressed?' he questioned.
'Indeed. Those cells and the demonic energy your DPU form possess repel each other, like magnets of the same type. Thus, if we keep a constant flow of energy circulating through you, it should limit the activity IT would have within you.' Biko replied.
'AWWWWW, TRYING TO GET RID OF ME ALREADY, KING?!' once again, both Nico and Biko mentally grimaced, at the sound of that aggravating voice as it echoed through their link. Even the mostly stoic Biko didn't like the way the voice spoke, as if every syllable that escaped its mouth was for the pleasure of seeing Nico suffer intensely. 'TOO BAD FOR YOU, YOU CAN'T EVER GET RID OF ME COMPLETELY! YOU'RE TOO FUCKED IN THE HEAD, NOBODY WILL EVER LOVE PIECES OF SHIT LIKE US! ISN'T THAT WHAT YOU THINK WHENEVER HOT BITCHES TRY TOO GET NEAR YOU?!'
'You stay the fuck away from my comrades, asshole!' Nico yelled, not noticing how his face was mildly twitching in irritation. He didn't deny what IT had said though, because in the end, IT was right. That was EXACTLY what he would think when girls tried to get too close to him, along with thoughts like 'Oh shit, oh shit, danger, danger!' The frenzied laughter IT made when he thought that was also NOT very helpful, it never was, bu hey, he couldn't do much about it, like IT had said. A 'King' can't force their subjects opinions to change, otherwise they would be a tyrant.
As much as he hated IT, he had to admit that even while psychotic and insane, IT did say the things Nico tried so hard to deny. IT understood him more than anything else in this world, not even Compa, Biko or Helen could understand what it was like to be in his shoes, to see the world the same way as he did. Biko may have come the closest due to circumstances, but IT was the closest by far.
After all, he and IT were intertwined to the bone, so it only made sense that IT was the one who understood him the most, right?
Finally, they reached the base of the mountain, not the actual Dungeon itself. They would have to walk up a steep, winding path through the Mountain to get there. But even as they got to the Mountain's base, concern overcame the girls when they saw that there was this strange fleshy tissue covering much of the path. It sometimes shifted unnaturally, and just radiated danger.
Compa shuddered as she watched the tissue. She clung onto Nico's arm for strength while asking him a question, fearful of the answer regardless. "Um, Ni-Ni, what's with this s-s-stuff on the ground?"
"Yeah, I'm getting some real-bad vibes from that stuff. It's kinda creepy, disturbing, and reminds me of that monster we fought in Planeptune, you know the one with all that gooey stuff that made monsters for us to fight?" Neptune questioned as well, holding his other arm as to not lose to the Nurse-In-Training. Though she too was curious about the strange tissue on the ground, and nervous too. IF was the same, but she kept her composure and didn't lose it like they did. Tekken however, was giving it a curious look, with a slight dose of fear as well.
Nico sighed as he pulled his arms to get them free, only for their grips on them to tighten. "It's called Corruption, and unlike the variant the Defiler used, this stuff is basically an encrusting mass of Necromorph tissue typically found wherever there has been an outbreak. While no threat directly, its texture and surface slow prey down when treaded upon, making them easier targets for other Necromorphs. It has also been documented to remove free oxygen from the atmosphere and metabolizing it into unknown poisonous gases in conjunction with Necromorphs called 'Wheezers', posing a long-term threat to those that step on it. Prolonged exposure usually results in things like blindness, heart failure, or in the worse case scenario, death."
IF scowled at the information, while the girls looked slightly more scared than before. "That's not good. Well, we better destroy these Necromorphs and fast." She stated, much to the others agreement. "Also, stop pulling his arms, girls, you need to get your weapons out." She quickly formed her blades while saying this. Tekken jumped back, startled by the sudden transformation. However, she didn't ask questions about it since it wasn't her business.
With groans of disapproval from the two girls, they reluctantly pulled away and summoned their weapons. Neptune quickly shook herself out of it though and stepped in front of the group, pointing Murasama towards the path with her body set in a heroic pose. "Alright ladies, let's bring the pain!"
"Pretty sure that's my line, Neptune…"
"Hehehehe, sorry just wanted to say that line at least once. The protag of protags gotta look cool, ya know!"
With that, the party made sure to hasten their way through the path up to the beginning of the Dungeon. Nico spoke the truth about the Corruption slowing them down, they could feel their bodies being sluggish and more rigid the longer they stayed on the corruption. Neptune made her complaints for it all the way, much to the irritation of IF and Nico, the latter eventually bonking her on the head.
While walking up the path, the party turned a corner and cme upon a sight that the girls weren't used to: a corpse. Compa gasped and covered her mouth to suppress a scream at the sight, while the others shuddered intensely. The corpse was fused with the corruption on the Mountain side, consisting of only the torso with no arms, nor legs, just a torso and a bloodied, skinless head. The abdomen was split open, the ground being showered with its intestines. "Tch, Guardians. Things just keep getting better…" Nico snarled with sarcasm.
"Guardians?" IF questioned, just looking at that thing made her uneasy. Even a BOW like her wouldn't look like this if she could help it.
The male nodded. "Yep, the Guardians are a variety of sessile Necromorphs. They are anchored onto walls, their flesh fused together with The Corruption. As a result, they cannot actively hunt for prey, but serves as, true to their name, guardians to areas important to the infestation, or simply as hindrances." He explained, before pointing at the Guardian before them. "This one looks to be an immature one, just recently been made if I had to guess. At this stage, the newly formed Guardian is extremely weak and lethargic, easily dispatched and is incapable of performing any kind of lethal attacks. At the very most, they will play dead until approached, or otherwise alerted, when the Corruption will attempt to cause damage by flailing out the host's intestines over which the host has no control."
Now Tekken was in a similar state as she eyed the Guardian warily, clenching her fists in trepidation. "Are they um, you know… Alive?" she asked with a quivering lip. She hoped that she was wrong, because when she looked at the eyes she could see some flickering of them, as if someone was still using them.
"Yes." Nico replied gravely, his fists clenched. This caused the girls to look at him with wide-eyed horror, almost to the point of wanting to stop him from speaking as that was enough to give a horrific picture to them. However, their bodies refused to move, allowing him to continue. "Despite the severity of the body's condition, the host is still clinging onto life, still wailing in pain and agony. This fact further establishes the notion of a symbiotic relationship with the Corruption, as it would be not otherwise possible for a Human being to live for so long having sustained such extensive damage."
IF nodded, her face slightly pale as she digested this information. She was pretty sure that she was the one handling it the best out of the rest of them, since she had seen gore and fought gory monsters for longer than the rest of the Party, save for Nico. "I see. Well then, there's only one thing to do then." With that, she morphed her left arm into her 6 Tentacles and had them curve round before spearing the corpse, going through the head, twice in the torso, and four times in the arms, 2 times each. "Best put this guy out his misery now, not like he'd survive if he was freed."
The male nodded in agreement with her assessment. "Yes, that was the best decision you could have made IF. Without the Corruption, this poor soul's body wouldn't be able to survive sine it has been damaged so heavily. Be warned though, mature Guardians are vastly different. Their appearances change to the point where the human characteristics and the Corruption no longer distinguishable from each other. While the Guardians do continue to scream and moan, suggesting that at least some part of the human brain is still functioning even at this stage, their transformation is otherwise very drastic."
Raising his left Bracer, Nico tapped on the holographic screen a few times before a picture appeared in full 3D view. "This is what they would look like should you encounter them." He explained, showing them the image of a mature Guardian. The girls gave varying looks of disgust and revulsion at its grotesque appearance, and had to agree that it was completely different from the stage they saw just now.
The first thing they noticed was the apparent increase in size compared to the previous stage, a result of the fusion with the Corruption's biomass. Moreover, the human arms, that were a characteristic trait of the premature stage, had disappeared, likely atrophied or otherwise consumed by the Corruption, as they served no purpose. Alterations could also be seen on the head of the host, with the lower jaw and part of the neck completely missing, exposing the trachea and leading to a wide-open thorax and a newly created sac where the abdomen used to be. The latter two are two body structures that have been re-purposed and created, respectively, to accommodate with the Guardian's functions.
It's thoracic cavity now serves as a place for the newly created tentacle appendages to rest, as Nico told them when they asked. The creature has two kinds of said appendages. The first kind, are the appendages that are used to further anchor the creature on their spot and are instantly drawn out once the Guardian has spotted a hostile in their vicinity. The second kind of these appendages however is a single scythe tipped tentacle that serves as the creature's only means of attack in close quarters and is what makes the Guardian extremely lethal.
The sac looked more like an orifice that served as a canal for the Corruption to spew out embryonic spawn, known as Pods when they asked Nico about it, which will aid in attacking and keeping detected threats at a distance.
After dismissing the image and explaining, Nico turned on his heels and began walking up the path again. "There's likely going to be more Guardians up ahead, along with who knows how many variants of Necromorphs. We should get going, killing the boss monster here will destroy the Corruption as it cannot live without its master." He told them as the girls began to follow him, digesting this information. One thing was for certain though, they now could understand that these creatures needed to be destroyed, just like the Banshees back in Planeptune. This wasn't a matter of choice anymore, this HAD to happen. That was what they swore to themselves, even Neptune and Compa.
With these thoughts in mind, the girls strode after him, a sense of purpose in their steps that wasn't there before.
They arrived at the entrance to the Dungeon, after having to kill several more premature Guardians along the way. The Dungeon layout was simple enough, starkly akin to the layouts of West Wind Valley at Lastation. There was a wide path that went through the dungeon, but ended a quarter of the way, before connecting to a bridge that led to another path on the opposite side. It went forwards, up a medium steep hill, before repeating the process to connect to another path on the left again. Left, right, left, this path leading up a second steep hill, ending at a circular platform.
Everywhere, they could see corruption, it covered literally everything, even the bridges, making them look twisted and demonic. The entire Dungeon had 10 times the intimidating factor that normal dungeons did. "Man, this is messed up…" IF muttered, wide-eyed as she stared at the surroundings. She remembered what the Corruption made by the Defiler looked like, and when compared to this... it made her never want to see this sight ever again. Though, considering the nature of their adventure, she likely would. "Never expected a Dungeon to turn out like this."
"The Necromorphs must have infested this entire Dungeon. We'll have to keep our guard up, who knows what could show up at any moment." Nico stated, swiftly summoning his Armour and deploying his Plasma Claws. Inside the shoulder pods, his Plasma Cannons clicked into place, ready to be revealed and unleashed at a moment's notice. The girls nodded as they began making their way through the Dungeon.
Not a few steps into the Dungeon later though, did they get a surprise visitor, or rather, multiple ones. The Corruption opened in several spots around them, almost like mouths, spitting out what looked like creatures numbering 20, which landed around them, hissing dangerously. The creatures all looked the same, showing that they were one type of Necromorph. They looked mostly humanoid in shape, with some human characteristics, but that was where the similarities began to wane.
They stood on 2 feet, which looked horrifically deformed with only 2 toes that allowed it to walk on an unstable gait. Its upper body had a hunchback-like shape, with the ribcage visible underneath the skin. They had 2 long arms protruding out from the top of the shoulderblades, each arm hanging downwards with a single blade of bone protruding out the palms of their bloodied hands. They had a secondary pair of arms, smaller, slimmer and spindly, hidden within the lower abdomen cavities. Finally, their heads only possessed 1 upper jaw, the lower half completely gone.
In short, they looked horrifically grotesque, and the Party recoiled at the sight of them. "And these things are?" IF asked the male as they got into battle stances. Compa quickly donned her armour while holding her Syringe, not using her Armcannons just yet. Neptune donned her armour as she held Murasama. Tekken held her fists up in a martial arts combat stance.
"Slashers, the most common Necromorph. Weak alone, strong in groups. Die via dismemberment. Get ready ladies, we got some fighting on our hands." Nico replied as he held his Plasma Claws at the ready. The Slashers each gave several shrieks and snarls, before quickly charging at them with the intent to kill.
IF acted first, slashing one Slasher through the chest with her right blade, her left arm still in its Tentacles form being used to keep several more at a distance. She saw Neptune jump onto one's head, stabbing it with Murasama before flipping through the air and landing behind another. It spun around to slash her with a reverse horizontal slash, but Neptune blocked it, sliding back slightly before jumping at it and slicing off one of its arms. The headless one kept moving at her while the armless one fell to the ground, unmoving as it dispersed into Particles. Looking back to the others, she saw that they too were engaged in battle and shouted over to them. "He's right, dismemberment kills them!"
"Got it, Iffy!" Compa yelled back for the rest of them as she rolled away from a Slasher's attack. she rolled back to her feet, turning around and firing at one of the Slasher's arms. It managed to get out the way in time though, thanks to the Corruption slowing her down enough for its slow reflexes to kick in. Compa pouted as she repeatedly tried blasting it, only for its limbs to move like counter weights and block her shots. "Mou! You're a big meanie!" she whined, jumping back to avoid its slash at her jugular, only for several more to attack her from behind. Compa barely ducked under them and blasted their arms off with her Syringe, going for one first, then the other.
Both fell dead as Neptune and IF worked together to keep the Slashers on their toes. The brunette would keep them at a distance, while only letting some get in close for Neptune to quickly behead then dismember with a few quick-time slashes. IF looked up and saw a Slasher jumping into the air and fall towards the preteen as she was dealing with one of its brethren. She quickly scoffed while sending a Tentacle to pierce it through the chest and fling it towards several of its buddies.
Sounds of shrieking from behind made her turn around to see another Slasher racing towards her, swinging its arms to keep its balance. IF ducked under one slash while kicking its feet out from under it, causing it to trip over, falling to the ground before her. She then stabbed it with her blade, swiftly applying her powers to it for Cell Absorption. The creature was set alight, shrieking in agony as its body was reduced to a liquified mass, which was absorbed into IF's body, filling her with power.
Meanwhile, Nico was severing limbs left and right, blood flying in any direction his swords were swung thanks to his moves. He moved like a blur, his DEMON OVERDRIVE Skill in full effect to counter the Corruption's effects as he darted throughout the battlefield. Dealing with Slashers came easy to him, just like it did fighting any kind of monster. This was what he lived for, this was what warriors like him were made for. He may be someone who can at least hold a conversation with someone, but he truly shined whenever he was on the battlefield with his life on the line. He was a warrior and a warrior's calling will always be battle. After bisecting a Slasher in a reverse slash with his left claw, he jammed the right into its head, deploying both Plasma Cannons to fire into it, and watching in satisfaction as it exploded into a gory mess, killing it instantly.
He twisted around, firing a PHANTOM WAVE Skill at a bunch of approaching Slashers. 2 of them had the right idea of dodging to the side while the rest had their arms and heads sliced through, their forms dissipating into particles. Nico charged at them before they could recover, severing the arms of one of them before jumping into a spinning disk top spin towards the other.
The two collided, blades against purple claws as they fought for dominance. Nico deflected them downwards and away from him, before delivering a vicious snap kick to its face, knocking it back before slashing with his left claw, decapitating its head. He wasn't done yet, as he sausage flipped into the air, before coming down in a double slash that sliced through both its arms.
Power flowed through him, and he enjoyed every second of it as he bisected and slaughtered every Slasher that came his way. Most of them now saw him as a threat, greater than the girls thanks to how many he had been killing, but that was fine. He would aggro them, so the girls could take out the stragglers. A good strategy to survive in this infested hellhole.
The sounds of a female war cry reached his ears as Nico looked and saw Tekken charging at a Slasher. He saw how she moved, how she fought, and judged that she used a Boxer's stance with a variety of martial arts techniques. She dodged a Slash to her head, then the ones that followed it, until she saw an opening and launched an elbow strike to the face, knocking the Slasher back before she went on the offensive, delivering several strong punches.
Each one caused a loud BOOM on impact, as well as a slight shockwave through the air, making Nico's lone eye widen, the bloodlust of a warrior within it dulling for the moment. 'Whoa… she has obviously been training viciously for that kind of strength to be under her command…' he thought to himself, watching as she trapped the Slasher in a headlock, before twisting and tearing the head clean off. She then pined it to the ground front first, before grabbing one of its arms and heaving, using one foot on its back for balance. The arm was torn off, and the creature dispersed into Particles.
... was it strange that Nico found a cute girl tearing a monster's arm off to be kind of scary...? And... what was that slight longing look when she did so?
3 more slashed at her from behind, only for her to duck under them, grab one of the offending limbs, and toss the owner into the other two. She then clenched her right fist, and a torrent of wind suddenly encased it, swirling around It into a volatile twister. "FUJIN FIST!" she bellowed, dashing towards the pile of Slashers and delivering a hard uppercut. The winds knocked them high into the air, slashing through them all and reducing them to little pieces.
Landing, Tekken turned to another Slasher as it went for an overhead slash aiming to impale her shoulders with its blades. However, Tekken expertly weaved through them and launched a series of kicks to its face. She then reared a fist back, which became covered in lightning. She then delivered a powerful punch to its chest, releasing Lightning into the creature's body, yelling "RAIJIN FIST!" the Lightning surged through its body, ripping the Slasher to shreds.
Nico was so transfixed on her fighting, that he almost didn't notice that he was being surrounded. Fortunately, he did notice, and thus acted appropriately. 'Alright, enough dilly dallying, time to focus!' he chided, before vanishing in a burst of DEMON OVERDRIVE enhanced speed.
A moment later, the slashers were defeated, and they could continue. After they regrouped, the party continued their way to the end of the Dungeon. Nico and Neptune were at the front, with Compa in the middle, and IF and Tekken on the rear. They kept the healer in the middle, so she could heal them as best as possible, and so they could protect her from all sides.
"Geez, those guys are not nice. they made me ruin my favourite hoodie dress…" Neptune complained, puckering her lips in a pout as she gazed down at her hoodie, which had several tears through its material. Hell, even her stockings were torn in several places, which didn't sit well with the young Goddess. Her armour had been damaged in those places by the Slashers when she had gotten too overconfident, and their blades managed to rip through the clothes underneath, too. She had only noticed this after the battle, hence her complaining.
Hearing her whining, IF rolled her eyes as she snorted. "We just faced a horde of deadly monsters made from dead corpses, and you're complaining about your clothes?" she remarked with incredulity in her voice as she shook her head at the preteen's priorities. Though, this was Neptune, she was the living personification of randomness. That lesson should have sunken in by now, but sometimes IF couldn't help but comment on her randomness.
"Well, I think it makes Nep-Nep loads of fun. It's exciting to guess what kind of comments she'll make next, don't you think, Tekken?" Compa had the opposite opinion than her brunette friend as she gazed at the young atrial artist. She liked Neptune's comments, though she would admit that they could come at bad times like back in Lastation before they fought the Killachines.
Tekken grinned as she pumped her fists. "Neptune really does have a flair for the humorous, but that's what I like about her." She explained. Being new to the Party's dynamic, at least in this world, Tekken had feared that Neptune would have changed a bit compared to the one she knew, however it brought a smile to her face to see that she was wrong. Despite the differences in this world, Neptune's quirky demeanour was a constant, and that was enough to brighten anyone's day.
With the way things were in this world, some quirkiness may be what everyone needs to push forwards.
The party made their way to the first bridge, where the path on the other side had more corruption on its side than on the ground. They could see faint specs of round as well, which of course Neptune commented on. "Eh? What's up with that? The freaky stuff isn't on the path as much as here."
"For once, I don't know, Neptune, no clue at all." Nico replied, frowning. "Whatever the case, having to not need my DEMON OVERDRIVE skill on will be a blessing to my reserves, plus I bet you girls are getting tired of being as slow as turtles, huh?" Nobody could argue with him there, as the girls did indeed share his opinion.
As they made to cross the bridge however…
Alarms rang from Nico's bracers, making him reflexively jump back. "Everyone, back!" he yelled, and it was the intensity of his yell that inspired the girls to do the same. It was a good thing too, because no sooner had they done this, a large form suddenly jumped out from below the deep cavern below the Dungeon and landed in front of the bridge.
The creature stood before them on all fours, growling and groaning in anger and defiance. This creature looked more like it was born from an animal than a human. It was almost entirely encased in an armoured, spiked exoskeleton made from bone and calcified skin. Its posterior was relatively unarmoured, though its structure indicated it was hiding something within. It moved on all fours, like a gorilla, and had only half the human head with the lower jaw missing. There was no doubt in their minds that this was a Necromorph.
"Okay, this sucker's not like the others, what is he?" Neptune questioned, sweat dropping from her forehead behind her helmet as the group readied their weapons. Nico had switched to his Plasma Claws while IF returned her blade arm to normal, favouring her Tentacles. Compa also switched weapons, from her Syringe to her Armcannons.
Nico was the one who answered her as they got ready to fight. "It's a Brute, large, made out of multiple corpses, and is quite literally a 'brute' in combat, with 'brute strength' being its greatest weapon."
IF gave the male a look from the corner of her eye. "I can't help but think you were making puns there… and not very good ones, either." She remarked casually, making Nico scoff and look away from her like a child disappointed in his parents thinking that e wasn't doing anything good when he was. "No matter, we gotta get through this thing otherwise we can't move on. let's go, girls!"
The Brute gave a loud roar, glaring at the with raw primal fury as it bounded towards them. Despite its size, which was easily bigger than any Gamindustri Citizen by far, it was also quite fast they all barely managed to avoid its initial charge by rolling sideways as it turned its attention on Tekken.
It gave another roar while rearing a fist back to punch her. She did the same and the two fists collided, a sharp shockwave rushing through the air from the point of impact that sent the other's skidding backwards. Tekken gritted her teeth as her limb trembled, same with the Brute's limb as they tried to overpower each other. "Heh, you're a strong one, aren't you?" she remarked, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "But sheer strength alone will not beat me! RAIJIN FIST!" She encased her other fist in lightning and delivered a fierce uppercut to its jaw, then landed on top of it and used it as a springboard to jump back.
As she landed in a crouch, Tekken looked to see if she had done any damage, but unfortunately no dice. Her eyes widened as the Brute just looked more pissed than before. her face lost a little colour when she had to side flip to avoid another fist, then did a back flip to avoid the second fist. "Uh guys? Need a little help here!"
Help arrived in the form of Neptune who ran at it from behind and tried to slash its rear. However, that did little damage to it as it kicked her away, like a fly being swatted. It then turned towards her, before running at her with the intent to ram into her. Neptune slid to a halt, glancing behind her to see a large rock formation. Looking back at the Charging brute, she got an idea and back flipped onto the rock formation, bouncing up and down and waving her arms at it. "Hey, hey! Buddy! No need to be so broody about everything, you can't get a girl that way!"
Her taunt served to irritate the Brute further, and like she thought it rammed into the rock formation. This turned out to be a mistake as she jumped off at the last second, letting the formation fall on top of it. Landing on the ground, she slid to a halt before looking up, seeing that she had landed bedside Nico who had been eyeing the monster heavily. "Ya got any ideas, Nicky? My Murasama can't get through its armour, which is bogus considering what it does."
"Yeah, sever its arms. There's some weak spots in its armour, if we hit those then we can sever the thing's arms from its body. Necromorphs are universally weak to dismemberment, you see." He replied, looking to IF who had jumped onto a small rock and was kneeling on one leg like a knight over it. "IF, you find a way to hold it down, me and Neptune shall try to get at its arms!"
The brunette nodded in his direction, before the Brute burst out the rubble, roaring in absolute rage towards them. It looked at the one responsible for it being buried in the first place, who merely shrugged her shoulders as if to say 'what, your fault you have a sort temper, dummy.' It began to charge at her once again, rushing at her with reckless abandon.
This was what they wanted though, as Compa suddenly stepped beside her friend and aimed both her Armcannons, firing a barrage of Plasma Needles at its face, making the Brute slide to a halt as it tried to cover its face from the barrage. "Iffy, whatever you thought, now's the time!"
IF grinned as she nodded, rearing her Tentacles back. "No prob, thanks Compa!" she yelled her gratitude as she thrusted what little remained of her mutated arm forwards, launching the Tentacles towards it. the Tentacles secured its limbs and held them down, others wrapping around its body to further immobilise it. "Alright guys, do what you need too! Tch, can't hold him for long!"
"No need, I got this remember?! CHAINS OF HEPHAESTUS!" Nico bellowed, dashing towards his prey. His hand began to glow as he placed a marker on its head and jumped back, a magic circle appearing under it to wrap its chains around the Brute's form. He then jumped onto and off the creature's back, twisting into the air and diving towards one of the arms.
Neptune had already been running at the other arm at this point, so the two shared a grin behind their respective helmets, and severed both limbs from the creature's body at the same time. Plasma Claws had dug through the bonds, easily severing and cauterizing them, while Murasama's HF enhancements cut through the bonds like swiss cheese.
The two landed on opposite sides as the Brute gave one last cry, weak and feeble, before it fell to the ground and dispersed into Particles. "Alright, we won!" Compa cheered as she and the others regrouped before the bridge. They each discarded their weapons back to their respective storage places, while those who had armour kept it on.
Nico's helmet split down the middle from te forehead down to the lower lip, the two plates sliding to the sides of his head to expose his face, a feature that was integrated into the new armour. "Looks like. There'll be more ahead though, so let's not get too complacent here."
Neptune gave the male a dry look, her earlier happiness at the Brute's defeat heavily diminished, which she was not happy about. "Mou! Nicky, no need to ruin the moment with serious talk every time we win, ya know. At least let us bask in our victory for once." She whined, making the others chuckle in amusement at her antics.
"Nico's right Nep." IF began, getting a betrayed look from Neptune that she promptly ignored in favour of continuing. "We may have won these battles, but until we fight the boss it won't be over. Let's just keep going until we get to the last boss."
The preteen groaned in dismay, but eventually relented to their words. Even she could tell they were right, considering the freaky stuff they had to put up with this time. It made what they went through in Lastation look like a cakewalk in comparison. That included Zombies, massive monsters, government agendas and past tragedies. "Oh, fine. Let's keep going and clobber more baddies…"
"Just wait Nep-Nep, I'll make you some fine pudding when we get to a Hotel."
Compa's words rung trough Neptune's mind, fading into silence like an echo. It served to refuel her up to 110%, a massive grin spreading across her face behind her helmet as she turned around and bolted across the bridge. "Come on you monsters! Face me ere so I can go get some delicious Pudding!"
Everyone sweat dropped, bribing Neptune with Pudding seemed to be the best way to get her butt moving. Though really, it shouldn't be a surprise anymore. With those thoughts in mind, the rest of them ran off after the preteen before she could get herself killed. Nobody would want that, now would they?
Unbeknownst to the Party, they were not alone, they had attracted the attention of two forces. One of those forces was watching from high atop the mountainside, hidden from view so that they could not be seen. "There they are… those little brats, thinking they would be safe in a Necromorph Infested Dungeon? They'll be monster chow by the end of it, not that I would care." The figure spoke, snarling in annoyance. "However, I must make sure they survive this, so I can deal with them myself. If Neptune or that boy were to die prematurely, their powers will be lost to me forever, and that is not allowed."
The figure, by the sound of the voice used being a woman, raised a slender, slim hand and procured a Disk, one that looked suspiciously like the Enemy Disks that the Party had found back in Planeptune. However, this one had several stark differences that made it quite unlike those Disks.
For starters, this Disk instead of being the normal whitish blue colour, it was completely black. Blacker than the void that those who vanish out of existence return to. It had a crimson centre, as well as a black button in the middle of it that actied more like a pupil. The Disk had been glowing with this crimson aura around it, filling the surroundings with a sense of dread and despair. A nearby insect was crawling along the mountain side when the aura from the Disk reached its senses. The Insect panicked, thinking that it was about to be attacked by a vicious Predator, and scurried back into the cracks within the mountainside from whence it came.
This made the woman chuckle, knowing that this Disk would bring about the end of those brats, either them or the Necromorphs, whichever it would be. "Now that I think about it, it would be best to set this loose on the Necromorphs ahead, so it can gain additional power alongside what I provided with it. Yes, that sounds like a good idea. Now Neptune, you along with that boy toy of yours will meet your doom, and I will once more reign over this world, to bring Gamindustri back to what it once was! Ahahahaha hahahahahaha!"
Deep within Nico's inner world, Biko was standing in the middle of the vast desert, frowning in concern.
This was bad.
Very, very bad.
He had sensed the rising amount of power that IT was gaining, not even the Suppressant Drugs in Nico's armour would be able to suppress it for much longer. The Drugs right now were only suppressing about 15% of IT's full might, and if things continued the way they did then Nico would only have a week at most before IT would be able to take over. Both he and Nico knew this, thus they had been having intense discussions about what to do about this.
On one side, they could stop suppressing IT and learn how to tame IT without the girls knowing. Alone IT was no threat at all. In fact, IT was easy for him to control for the last few years, to the point where once he had seized control over IT, Nico had sealed IT away, using both mental seals and special suppressants to limit ITS activity as much as possible.
However, the problem was that ever since he began this journey with Neptune, Compa and IF, IT was starting to break free. Nico didn't have the time to suppress IT as much as he used to, especially without drawing attention from the girls. He had already felt ITS power return to him in the form of his senses and instincts. If this kept up, then he would get not only ITS full power back, but also all the… urges, that came with IT. these urges, these terrible, terrible urges would hit Nico full force, with the impact of a bullet train. Biko feared that even with the training Nico was undergoing, both physical and mental training, that he may not be able to endure such overwhelming urges, thus he would lose the battle in the end.
NOBODY would want what would happen next to come into being. The consequences had already been witnessed once before…
For now, all they could do was train in the use of his DPU powers, the demonic energy that circulated though his system enhanced the Drugs that kept IT in check, as well as restrained IT by itself. He had a constant stream of it always flowing so IT couldn't regain ITS power that IT had lost when Nico sealed IT away. Hell, even sealing IT away didn't get rid of all his problems, for IT had bonded to him too deeply. His body was left a twisted shell of what it once was, things he could do before no longer possible for the current him. In a sense, Biko could understand why Nico would want to keep this secret from everyone, including Neptune and the others. It was a burden that not everyone could carry, but a champion of Sparda like him was more than Qualified for the task.
"AWWWWW, WHY THE LONG FACE, BUUUUUDY? AREN'T YOU HAPPY TO SEE ME RETURN?"
Biko looked behind him, his face impassive as he showed nothing to indicate the storm of conflicting emotions he was experiencing. Fromm behind him, a black mass rose out the desert sands. The mass rose till it was the height of a person, before peeling away like banana peels, revealing a humanoid figure standing before him.
The figure was Nico… or rather, a copy of him. This Nico however had several stark differences compared to the original, with his body mostly pale white, like a corpse. His fingernails were blacker than charcoal, as were his teeth. He wore a white trench coat with a high collar and a black pulsating interior, a pair of red fingerless gloves on his hands, a black polo shirt, a pair of black coloured camp pants and white military boots. Instead of the many straps Nico had, this copy had one belt strapped diagonally over his left shoulder to his right hip, and he had no weapons on him. But the biggest difference… was his eyes.
While Nico's were light blue coloured with a white scarlea, this Copies couldn't be any more different. They were blacker than the void of nothingness, with crimson irises and small black pupils, red veins went across the sides of his face, like cracks in a mask showing the true monster hidden within.
"WHAT, NOT GONNA SAY HELLO? THAT HURTS… NAH, IT DOESN'T AT ALL. THAT BOY MAY THINK HE IS KING RIGHT NOW, BUT SOON THAT WILL NOT BE THE CASE! SOON, I SHAL BE FREE, AND I SHALL RETAKE MY POSITION AS KING, WHERE HE WILL BE THE PET HORSIE I GET TO KICK AROUND FOR MY PLEASURE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA AHAHAHAHAHA!"
Chapter end!
Another chapter, ladies and gents!
Now, this one may seem intense and action packed, but that will be nothing compared to future chapters, believe you me. Also, I believe some of you are going to be wondering about IT that I keep mentioning. At least, at the end here I gave you all a look into what IT looks like, at least in Nico's mind. Hopefully this can help you figure out what it is that Nico is hiding, although its still ways away from being official.
Anyways, I gotta go, the next chapter needs editing so I'll catch you all later.
Cherios!
