soul_logs | [OPEN] Mission 156

Entry tags:

[OPEN] Mission 156

Characters: Open to participants who signed up here.
Location: Lake Tahoe, CA
Rating: Various.
Time: March 27th, late morning.
Description: The second of the three Madness emitters outside Death City is the target for this mission. Bundle up, everyone -- it's gonna be a cold one.

The mission begins late in the morning, to allow the mission-goers as much sunlight as possible in the warmest part of the day. Not that it'll help much… Temperatures are well below freezing already -- unnatural even for early Spring in the mountains -- and a howling snowstorm threatens to blot out the sun, beginning up the mountain where the slope just begins to rise sharply.

The slopes themselves are fairly barren: a windswept-looking tree here, a cabin that may have once belonged to the snow patrol there, maybe a Madness-crazed bear or mountain lion. Those braving the storm are lucky enough to see five feet in front of their face in these conditions!

Those brave few who manage to make it to the top (enduring falling temperatures and defeating the corrupted fauna and hulking kishin yeti along the way) may come across their goal at the very summit of the half-mile-high mountain: the Madness emitter itself, in the eye of the storm… And one last obstacle: the Witch guarding it.

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Bakura sighed softly, shoulders slumping. Why did he get the feeling that nothing he ever said was right? Even more reason to want to be careful when talking to Yuugi...

"Fine..."

He didn't reply as he fired the engine of the snowmobile's motor on once again. This time their start was slower as he led them in a big turn back in the direction they had come from, opting to go first down and closer back to the rest of Shibusen's forces were before directing them mountain upwards again.

His face was set in a scowl, eyes gleaming with unspoken dissatisfaction as he reflected on this talk and what it would mean for his ability to make his next moves. While he had managed to move his host somewhat in the direction he wanted him at, the push hadn't been half as effective as he would have liked it to be and trying it again or applying more force were out of question - showing too much care would make his true motives obvious. Should the wimp think that he was having a strange case of melodramatic and misdirected jealousy, that would at least increase the effectiveness of the impact of the messenger-bomb when it hit.

Thinking like that, he let his instincts decide where they were going, increasing their speed slowly back to max again as they did. The plan for the rest of this 'mission' was boring: find some shit and kill it, then make up a reason to keep the souls for himself.

Bakura clung tightly, shoulders hunched in. There was no panic this segment of the ride, the wind being an almost welcome distraction. Really, if it were anyone other than the Ring's Voice he were clinging to...

He paused, blinking. "Aaa!" he exclaimed, eyes widening as he spotted a form in the distance that was all too large to be another person. "Over there!"

"I'm seeing it." Without further notice he changed their direction once more, aiming for what turned out to be be a kishin egg that looked like a giant heap of snow with glowing red eyes from afar. The closer they got, the more of its details could be seen, though, and it quickly revealed itself to be a humanoid kishin egg with a ape-like, leathery black face, a crown of white antlers and more teeth than fit into its maw. Most of its body was covered in thick, shaggy fur and its finger ended in claws that were not unlike that of bears, if bears had fingernails the size of Freddy Krueger's.

Aiming right for it, Bakura revved the motor to max as he reached for one of the weapons that he had brought along - a long, curved scimitar that would do nice things with the beasts legs.

"What are you doing?!" Bakura exclaimed as it seemed the Voice was aiming right for the monster at high speed. Should he transform? What was the Voice planning?!

"Get ready to attack the moment it goes down!" It was an order, given with the voice of a leader that didn't allow for any questions or thoughts of refusal. Bakura was going to handle this and Ryou was going to assist him, it was simple as that.

The kishin egg had noticed them by now and had turned in their direction with lumbering steps, arms stretched out and ready to strike as soon as they were in its reach with their collision course.

For a moment the kishin egg yeti and the Meister and Weapon on their snowmobile were coming at each other like a pair of medieval knights. Then Bakura tore the handlebars to the side at the last moment, leaning far to the side as the snowmobile started sliding and the kishin egg's claws missed his shoulder and Ryou's face by a hairs breadth. The motion wasn't only for keeping them from keeling over - the same moment the kishin egg had attacked the thief had done so as well and unlike the monster the spirit's blade found its goal, digging deeply into the back of the yeti's knee and back muscles of its lower leg. Blood gushed and it howled in pain as they kept skidding past and out of its reach within seconds, Bakura's manic laughter merging with the howling of the wind.

What was-- Was he really going to....?!

Bakura let out an utterly undignified scream as his hood snagged on the edge of the egg's claws, ripping as it jerked back. Too close, too close!

His fingers dug into his double, heart pounding insanely loudly in his ears. "Take off your gloves before you tell me to do that, you idiot!" he yelled, adrenaline making him far too aware of everything at that moment. "I need something to grab on to!"

"What?!" His eyes snapped back to give his host a fittingly shocked look. "Why are you telling me that now?!!?"

Behind them the kishin egg moved to give chase, but went down to its knees instead as its injured leg failed to carry its weight. Good, at least it didn't seem to be of the fast regeneration kind. Forcing the snowmobile to go in a wider bow than he had originally intended, Bakura cursed as he started to try and fiddle one of his gloves down without driving them into a tree.

"I thought you knew that was how it worked! Else I'd just go flying and that would be it!" Bakura exclaimed, eyes focused on his double's hand. The instant there was even enough wrist showing to cling to....

"How the hell should I have-?! Fuck!!" He cursed as Ryou made the connection, putting as much concentration as he could afford to spare into letting the resonance happen while he built up a thick, black, oily screen of Darkness between their souls in a clear display of 'until here and no further' as well. He didn't want the other one to go snooping into things that were privately his again.

Even if Bakura had been planning on prying, he was far too keyed up to even think of it now. It was only a matter of time before the injured Kishin started after them...

He leaned heavily into the resonance, pulling energy to himself as they overlapped, the red thread clinging tightly to his double's wrist.

'Ready!'

Edited 2012-10-04 03:23 (UTC)

"Good! Then- HOLYFUCKINGSHITNO!!" The outburst of eloquence was a reaction to the dune of snow they had been speeding up only seconds ago and which was now in the full process of standing up, revealing itself to be another kishin egg like the first one that had lurked hidden beneath a thin layer of snow.

Thank whatever gods that were watching its strategy had ended up working too good as they they had driven right over its head and back. Unfortunately this didn't change the fact that their fast ride had suddenly turned into a fast nosedive almost straight into the ground as the yeti tried to get the prey that had just literally driven it over.

"Jump!"

Bakura's mind was suddenly very full of colorful expletives that most people would not think that he would even know. No, no, no, no this was not how it was going to wind up! No matter what he felt about his doppelganger, this was not what was going to do either of them in!

His die form was already tumbling in the air, jerked out of his double's grip. If he could just---

'Shield!'

He wasn't sure how well it would work. He'd barely tested it at all since Vash had had his own...! He could only hope that it would do something!

Bakura was already on the jump (literally again) when his host suddenly came up with the shield. It saved his life as the backwards slash of the yeti was stopped shortly in front of his face and the spirit of the Ring landed in the snow with a hard but ultimately harmless impact.

"Son of a-" Not finishing the growled curse, he picked up his scimitar and, yelling a "Shield! Down!" to Ryou, dove forward and brought it down hard against a certain part of the vehicle's motor and - nothing happened.

The kishin egg had used the chance to turn around and attack them again, landing a kick against Bakura's side that sent him flying to the side with a gasp as the breath was kicked out of his lungs.

Then it stepped over the still running wreck of the snowmobile and he snowmobile exploded in an unspectacular but nonetheless painful way.

It was almost a reflex, Bakura instinctively doing what he was told even has he had no idea what on Earth his double was planning.

Another expletive escaped him as his double went flying, and yet another at the sudden explosion. 'Are you okay?!'

Stupid question. He could feel the damage his double had taken, knew exactly what was wrong and what was hurting. Shit! This wasn't good at all! The shield had taken a lot out of him. If he was lucky, he'd have maybe 3 good shots before he was exhausted, not likely another shield...

'We need to take them out, fast! Before they can attack again!'

He gritted his teeth as he forced himself to get back onto his feet as if nothing had happened even as he was inwardly cursing from the pain.

'Tell me something I don't know already!'

At least the yetis still had to get their bearings properly back. Baring his teeth and narrowing his eyes, Bakura all but threw the die down just to jerk it right back into his palm again, already aiming its effect at the first yeti that was less busy with being on flames. 'Right at his head!'

Silently, Bakura took stock of his double's injuries. It was far easier than it ever had been with Vash or Leo since he knew far too well his own body's limitations, even if the spirit never seemed to mind them.

The die glowed brightly as Bakura pulled energy from the spirit, all of his focus on the monsters before them.

'Holy!' The shouting of the attack, the overlapping of his White Mage self in his mind's eye... he didn't know if it helped, but it felt as if it did. The energy from with in him and from the spirit blending together like two similarly colored twisted strands as the white light blazed out, slamming into the yeti with a blinding flash.

When he felt his host try and draw from his reserves, he opened the gates to them without reserve, letting his power that was purely fueled by emotions - hate, longing, pain, desire, rage, thirst for something more than just life - flood their connection.

The light color of the energy of his own soul was almost perverse for a being whose core was that dark and its light worked itself into Ryou's like a lens that bundled something that was originally meant bring peace into a scathing ray that carried oblivion of another kind.

When it hit the yeti a backlash of exhaustion hit Bakura as well and he staggered before dropping down to his knees. Laughing under his breath, he watched the kishin egg limp closer despite having lost half of its head and part of its right shoulder. Its right arm was completely missing. Glancing backwards from the corner of his eyes, he saw that the other kishin egg was drawing near as well, also limping and all the more intent to kill them both.

"Tough bastard..." 'An attack from both sides, huh? That's clever.' Despite his words he still sounded proud and haughty rather than worried, even if the strain of the energy he had just given reflected in his 'voice'. He turned his attention towards the die in his hand. 'How much more attacks like that can you do?'

'Two more... maybe three, but that's pushing it.'

There was a note of exhaustion that had crept into Bakura's own voice, but there was also the presence of something else. A firmness and resolve that was growing more steady and solid. There was always a rush that came with the blending of energy that an attack from a strong resonance formed, something that filled him with very unfamiliar emotions that he couldn't quite label, but that the spirit wielding him was all too familiar with, even if not quite in the form that they took in his host.

For someone who for all his life had been powerless and at the mercy of those who puppeted him like an empty shell and to fate itself... the rush of power and the realization that he could defeat those who were endangering those he cared about was enormous. It was the steel that had been behind his resolve in Monster World when he had faced down his double, that small pillar of strength that his will solidified into when one of his friends was in need...

Not in his pretend worlds, but in reality, he had the power to help create a world where his friends were safe. This was where he could be strong, the heady feeling of the raw, emotion fueled power from his double all but transforming him into a proper hero character in his mind's eye, the missing parts of him finally complete.

He could do this. They could do this. With a proper common enemy that they could agree on needing to defeat...

They could do anything.

'Ready?'

'.....'

It were exactly those feelings, barely sensed through the thick curtain he kept trying to maintain through their connection, that had Bakura remain silent and partially recoil even if he still made sure that the umbilical cord of their resonance stayed strong. It was too familiar, too heady, too much the way he already felt - the circumstances might have been different, but it was a feeling like the one that he had felt shortly before he had been killed. He hadn't realized it when it had affected himself up until now, but he did recognize it within his double and it was enough to make the spirit stop dead in his tracks.

He knew where being this way led. He was a living example.

The whole thing felt like a bucket of cold water had suddenly been emptied over his head. This wasn't Egypt. They were fighting together, it wasn't like how it had been with Diabound or the rare and short-lived human companions he had had. This was reality after reality, the grit after the dream. ...and there were still two beasts trying to kill them.

Forcing himself back onto his feet with a sigh, he stood strong, waiting for them to reach him. He was going to dodge in the last moment and hopefully their size would hinder them and keep them in an easy to hit heap shortly after. Dodge, hit, strike, kill. Just as always.

... what had that been about...?

Bakura couldn't tell anything what his double was thinking, but the sudden flux of emotions was like shifting sand under his feet, throwing him a touch off guard. 'It should be enough...' he insisted, suddenly unsure, almost hovering.

He didn't send any message of approval as he kept watching the kishin eggs draw near. Only seconds before the first one could slash him he leaped to the side and rolled into a crouching position as fast as he could. At the same time he had already thrown the die, calling it back by the red thread that connected them as he opened up the gates to the power that was his soul once more.

'Shoot!

It was a relief when his double finally sprung into action and Bakura could as well, this attack more blinding than the first, almost as if Bakura were trying to prove that everything would be fine.

...why he felt he had to prove that to the Voice was something far too befuddling to really even think on, however.

He kept his attention a touch inward, trying to judge his double's reactions.

He barely registered as another part of his soul was chipped away to fuel the attack. The attack was fine and hit the first monster straight in the neck, beheading it except for a thin strip of flesh instantly, but he already knew that things wouldn't be okay the second he saw the second yeti move.

"Shoot!" This time it was a curse rather than an order as he and the yeti raced for who was able to react faster. The second monster had barely leaned out of the way of the attack and was now swinging its claws arm down at them again. It if hit it would drive those claws right through Bakura's head like a pike!

It was fast enough that running or just moving back and out if its reach would be impossible. Realizing that within split-seconds that felt like a small eternity, the thief did the only thing he could think of: rather than away he lunged forward and instinctively sucked in his breath as the claws still managed to graze his scalp as they tore some of his hair out and dug themselves deep into the ground. Much too close above him the kishin egg let out a surprised grunt. It was obviously not used to any of its victims fleeing towards it.

Crap! There wasn't enough time for Bakura to form a shield, even if he had had the reserves for it, so he could only wince, horrified as the claws scraped his double.

But with the second yeti so close...

'Roll! We can get this one form here!' And then, if he had anything left, he could try healing the spirit.

..wait. Why did he care about something like that...?

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