Re: Intense Struggle Season 2! (Round 1: Training Facility ONX)
08-21-2010, 02:52 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by MalkyTop.
They rested. Marcus was milking this break for every second he felt he could. Spraining your ankle and having to carry around a (admittedly light) bird lady had a way with making you a tad lethargic.
Sarika still wasnt very comfortable with it, though she couldn't argue much. If he wanted to rest, well, it wasn't like she could just go off on her own. And to be honest, getting her broken arm all knocked around back there didn't really do it much good. In fact, it was still throbbing a bit in a way that warned her not to do any acrobatics for a very long time.
The small maintenance bots wheeled around, some of them actually looking quite idle, unneeded at the moment as others did vaguely important-looking robot stuff. There were always a number of robots going in or out that hallway the two had just gone through. Sometimes they would wheel into her, sending numb aches throughout her body, and she would have to move slightly for them to pass or else they would wheel continuously into her side, completely baffled why it was moving its wheels, yet not moving forward. It was especially hard when they ran into her leg. Sarika wasn't exactly willing to move her broken leg for these rather simple-minded robots and just kicked them away. They would then spin off wildly in a random direction, get confused about what just happened, then simply forget it and move on.
Marcus seemed content to let his mind wander but she persisted in being a suspicious bitch. That rumbling was just too overbearing to ignore. Or, well, she supposed it wasn't overbearing, but just sort of in the background at the moment. It wasn't too loud, just made itself known. But that was loud enough to put her on edge! Any sort of rumbling was a suspicious rumbling and this rumbling was especially suspicious as it was definitely getting louder, although maybe that was just her.
She knocked aside another small robot and listened so intently that Marcus eventually noticed and chuckled a little at her serious expression.
"Is it that sound?" he asked, trying not to smirk too much.
"Yes," Sarika snapped back, her nerves feeling a little overworked now. "It's getting louder." Marcus stared at her. "I, er, I think."
He couldn't help but think that, though some suspicion was healthy, there was such a thing as too suspicious. "If you don't backpedal a little, your brain'll fry."
"No, look, haven't you noticed that there's a bunch of robots coming back here instead of going out? Huh? They're fleeing from something!"
Marcus looked back to the field of robots. They almost looked like a flock of sheep, milling about randomly. Their limited AI was probably on a sheep's level, even. He could even see two robots running straight into each other, neither budging to let the other aside. It was a little depressing.
"I'm not seeing it."
Sarika seemed to stare at him for an uncomfortably long amount of time before continuing the conversation in a hauntingly slow and low voice. "It's dark. Things are sparking. It's the dead bodies of dim-witted maintenance robots. Some wheels still spin in a vain attempt to escape what has befallen them. This room is completely destroyed and it can be inferred that other parts of this base is in the same condition. Something unnatural covers the walls."
Marcus didn't scare easily, however, and wasn't quite impressed. "That's your future vision, I take it."
"Yes," Sarika snapped again, grounded back in the present. Her impatient snappiness was actually getting a little annoying. He could imagine her being an overbearing, bossy wife. The image of her in an apron, holding a rolling pin and brow-beating an unfortunate man brought a small smirk to Marcus's face that Sarika didn't appreciate.
"And can you even be sure that in this disasterous future, we're even still in this place? That we haven't moved on to the next round? To a new arena?"
He could tell that he got her there. Sarika stuttered and reluctantly conceeded that no, she couldn't be sure. "But I still think--"
"Yeah, I know, we should get going. I'd like to get healed soon anyways." With a grunt, Marcus was back on his feet again. The various robots that had been constantly running into him were now free to roll forward blindly. With another grunt, Sarika was back in his arms, slightly covering them in slime, which didn't matter too much because they had already been covered in slime in the first place.
What he did mind was the sudden, unwelcome jolt that shook the whole room and swept him in the air for a short moment before he landed roughly on the metal floor and some metal robots. Sarika landed on her arm again and let out half a curse, something that had to do with her weird religion. The power stuttered and went off.
And then went back on.
‘Attention all personnel! A mining frigate has collided with Facility ONX 5! Critical damage to the main reactor sustained! Repair teams deployed!’
As the room bathed in red light, Marcus painfully got onto his feet once more and waded through very frantic maintenance robots until he found the bird woman. The first thing she said when he picked her up once more was, "'Mining frigate'? What do ships mine?"
Marcus shrugged. "Fish?" That got a little smile out of the prophet.
Taking the situation a little more seriously now, Marcus turned towards the elevator. Apparently, the maintenance robots were needed elsewhere and were piling up quickly on the lift. He waddled through the sea of robots again, overtaking them quickly, trying to reach it before the doors closed. He even shouted "Hold the door!" and felt stupid as he did so. Still, he managed to squeeze in before the lift left and shuffled uncomfortably as one robot took it upon itself to press a floor button.
They ascended. Marcus tensed despite the laid-back atmosphere. The soft red light just made him feel on-edge, as if just with different lighting, something horrible would happen. And being in an enclosed space such as an elevator made him feel unprepared to deal with whatever might transpire. Either that or Sarika's prophecy actually did get to him.
Nothing happened for a long time. The robots stood still, waiting to do their job. Sarika started tapping her staff on something and eventually switched to fiddling with her necklace. She apologized hastily when she accidentally nudged him in the head with the wooden staff.
And then there was a rather explosive sound below them. As the robots muttered something nervously in loud, audible monotone, Marcus tried to peer through the glass door to see what was happening, but found it difficult to see anything besides a wall and part of the floor. But he could definitely see something moving down there. And it was pretty big.
"Oh shit." he said. And the lights went out.
By the terrifying sounds of shredding metal, he assumed the giant whatever-it-was was barrelling its way up towards them with no regard for the fact that the walls simply couldn't fit it. Which meant it was tearing easily through wires, indifferent to what the wires did. Like power emergency lights to the maintenance bot docks.
"This may be about when my vision took place," Sarika commented in a way that sounded so calm that Marcus was sure she was scared out of her wits.
"Don't be smug about it," Marcus shot back, not feeling very optimistic himself. As he thought, inside an elevator, he couldn't really do much. It would be nice if he could shoot something and make it die, preferably the thing chasing them right now, but that would involve somehow forcing the doors open and then jumping down towards it to get a good aim which was probably a tactical no-no.
"Can't this elevator go faster?" the mercenary shouted in frustration. The maintenance bots huddled closer together as if thinking, but whatever plan they would come up with was interrupted by the elevator breaking apart underneath them. Every part of it, the metal frame, the glass doors, the buttons and the occupants inside, fell between the pincers of a giant worm.
----------------------------
The large group of six contestants did not have to wait long when a low rumbling sound started up beneath them. It shook the floor slightly, almost the same as the recent frigate crash, but this rumbling grew as did the shaking.
"I think we should--" The back-up lights flickered as the shaking became strong enough that Karen toppled over and had to remain on the ground. The others did likewise, though Reduic just floated and looked as nervous as a plant could and Charlie merely stumbled and dug its leg determedly into the floor. Dekowin, not particularly fond of feeling so useless on the floor, took to the air as well.
Lillian's Kindred Spirit was disconcerted. It spoke to her of a beast beneath them. Something gigantic and coming towards them very quickly. It advised her to move towards the wall and, though the floor shuddered violently and she wanted to close her eyes and try to block out the noise, she repeated the instruction to her new friends. She wasn't sure if they had actually heard her, but the little girl started trying to drag herself towards where she thought a wall might be.
The floor seemed to be pushing her aside now. It was bulging near the middle, straining, straining, until something erupted forth, knocking everybody aside and taking most of the floor with it. It looked to be a huge worm, slick with green slime that came out of its mouth. Pincers adorned each side of its head, which currently was rocking about in apparent confusion and agitation. Beady eyes stared blankly at a wall as it seemed to wobble drunkenly before spewing a mess of green goo that stung the flesh and softened the wall. The worm spit splashed against a wall before sloshing down to what was left of the floor. Within the mess, several things could be seen, such as miscellaneous rubble, half-digested glass, long-twisted metal, a group of panicky and excited maintenance bots, and two rather recognizeable figures.
Marcus carefully stood up, wondering if he would ever feel clean again and trying to shake some of the goop off before it started to coagulate while Sarika settled for lying down and gasping, clutching her staff as though it were her lifesafer, which he supposed it was. Giant worms, like many other creatures of the universe, did not like things getting stuck and/or forcibly jabbed into its throat.
It wasn't quite the reunion anybody had expected, but that wasn't much of a concern at the moment. The giant worm was recovering very quickly and it seemed as though it would like to regain all the food it had just lost.
They rested. Marcus was milking this break for every second he felt he could. Spraining your ankle and having to carry around a (admittedly light) bird lady had a way with making you a tad lethargic.
Sarika still wasnt very comfortable with it, though she couldn't argue much. If he wanted to rest, well, it wasn't like she could just go off on her own. And to be honest, getting her broken arm all knocked around back there didn't really do it much good. In fact, it was still throbbing a bit in a way that warned her not to do any acrobatics for a very long time.
The small maintenance bots wheeled around, some of them actually looking quite idle, unneeded at the moment as others did vaguely important-looking robot stuff. There were always a number of robots going in or out that hallway the two had just gone through. Sometimes they would wheel into her, sending numb aches throughout her body, and she would have to move slightly for them to pass or else they would wheel continuously into her side, completely baffled why it was moving its wheels, yet not moving forward. It was especially hard when they ran into her leg. Sarika wasn't exactly willing to move her broken leg for these rather simple-minded robots and just kicked them away. They would then spin off wildly in a random direction, get confused about what just happened, then simply forget it and move on.
Marcus seemed content to let his mind wander but she persisted in being a suspicious bitch. That rumbling was just too overbearing to ignore. Or, well, she supposed it wasn't overbearing, but just sort of in the background at the moment. It wasn't too loud, just made itself known. But that was loud enough to put her on edge! Any sort of rumbling was a suspicious rumbling and this rumbling was especially suspicious as it was definitely getting louder, although maybe that was just her.
She knocked aside another small robot and listened so intently that Marcus eventually noticed and chuckled a little at her serious expression.
"Is it that sound?" he asked, trying not to smirk too much.
"Yes," Sarika snapped back, her nerves feeling a little overworked now. "It's getting louder." Marcus stared at her. "I, er, I think."
He couldn't help but think that, though some suspicion was healthy, there was such a thing as too suspicious. "If you don't backpedal a little, your brain'll fry."
"No, look, haven't you noticed that there's a bunch of robots coming back here instead of going out? Huh? They're fleeing from something!"
Marcus looked back to the field of robots. They almost looked like a flock of sheep, milling about randomly. Their limited AI was probably on a sheep's level, even. He could even see two robots running straight into each other, neither budging to let the other aside. It was a little depressing.
"I'm not seeing it."
Sarika seemed to stare at him for an uncomfortably long amount of time before continuing the conversation in a hauntingly slow and low voice. "It's dark. Things are sparking. It's the dead bodies of dim-witted maintenance robots. Some wheels still spin in a vain attempt to escape what has befallen them. This room is completely destroyed and it can be inferred that other parts of this base is in the same condition. Something unnatural covers the walls."
Marcus didn't scare easily, however, and wasn't quite impressed. "That's your future vision, I take it."
"Yes," Sarika snapped again, grounded back in the present. Her impatient snappiness was actually getting a little annoying. He could imagine her being an overbearing, bossy wife. The image of her in an apron, holding a rolling pin and brow-beating an unfortunate man brought a small smirk to Marcus's face that Sarika didn't appreciate.
"And can you even be sure that in this disasterous future, we're even still in this place? That we haven't moved on to the next round? To a new arena?"
He could tell that he got her there. Sarika stuttered and reluctantly conceeded that no, she couldn't be sure. "But I still think--"
"Yeah, I know, we should get going. I'd like to get healed soon anyways." With a grunt, Marcus was back on his feet again. The various robots that had been constantly running into him were now free to roll forward blindly. With another grunt, Sarika was back in his arms, slightly covering them in slime, which didn't matter too much because they had already been covered in slime in the first place.
What he did mind was the sudden, unwelcome jolt that shook the whole room and swept him in the air for a short moment before he landed roughly on the metal floor and some metal robots. Sarika landed on her arm again and let out half a curse, something that had to do with her weird religion. The power stuttered and went off.
And then went back on.
‘Attention all personnel! A mining frigate has collided with Facility ONX 5! Critical damage to the main reactor sustained! Repair teams deployed!’
As the room bathed in red light, Marcus painfully got onto his feet once more and waded through very frantic maintenance robots until he found the bird woman. The first thing she said when he picked her up once more was, "'Mining frigate'? What do ships mine?"
Marcus shrugged. "Fish?" That got a little smile out of the prophet.
Taking the situation a little more seriously now, Marcus turned towards the elevator. Apparently, the maintenance robots were needed elsewhere and were piling up quickly on the lift. He waddled through the sea of robots again, overtaking them quickly, trying to reach it before the doors closed. He even shouted "Hold the door!" and felt stupid as he did so. Still, he managed to squeeze in before the lift left and shuffled uncomfortably as one robot took it upon itself to press a floor button.
They ascended. Marcus tensed despite the laid-back atmosphere. The soft red light just made him feel on-edge, as if just with different lighting, something horrible would happen. And being in an enclosed space such as an elevator made him feel unprepared to deal with whatever might transpire. Either that or Sarika's prophecy actually did get to him.
Nothing happened for a long time. The robots stood still, waiting to do their job. Sarika started tapping her staff on something and eventually switched to fiddling with her necklace. She apologized hastily when she accidentally nudged him in the head with the wooden staff.
And then there was a rather explosive sound below them. As the robots muttered something nervously in loud, audible monotone, Marcus tried to peer through the glass door to see what was happening, but found it difficult to see anything besides a wall and part of the floor. But he could definitely see something moving down there. And it was pretty big.
"Oh shit." he said. And the lights went out.
By the terrifying sounds of shredding metal, he assumed the giant whatever-it-was was barrelling its way up towards them with no regard for the fact that the walls simply couldn't fit it. Which meant it was tearing easily through wires, indifferent to what the wires did. Like power emergency lights to the maintenance bot docks.
"This may be about when my vision took place," Sarika commented in a way that sounded so calm that Marcus was sure she was scared out of her wits.
"Don't be smug about it," Marcus shot back, not feeling very optimistic himself. As he thought, inside an elevator, he couldn't really do much. It would be nice if he could shoot something and make it die, preferably the thing chasing them right now, but that would involve somehow forcing the doors open and then jumping down towards it to get a good aim which was probably a tactical no-no.
"Can't this elevator go faster?" the mercenary shouted in frustration. The maintenance bots huddled closer together as if thinking, but whatever plan they would come up with was interrupted by the elevator breaking apart underneath them. Every part of it, the metal frame, the glass doors, the buttons and the occupants inside, fell between the pincers of a giant worm.
----------------------------
The large group of six contestants did not have to wait long when a low rumbling sound started up beneath them. It shook the floor slightly, almost the same as the recent frigate crash, but this rumbling grew as did the shaking.
"I think we should--" The back-up lights flickered as the shaking became strong enough that Karen toppled over and had to remain on the ground. The others did likewise, though Reduic just floated and looked as nervous as a plant could and Charlie merely stumbled and dug its leg determedly into the floor. Dekowin, not particularly fond of feeling so useless on the floor, took to the air as well.
Lillian's Kindred Spirit was disconcerted. It spoke to her of a beast beneath them. Something gigantic and coming towards them very quickly. It advised her to move towards the wall and, though the floor shuddered violently and she wanted to close her eyes and try to block out the noise, she repeated the instruction to her new friends. She wasn't sure if they had actually heard her, but the little girl started trying to drag herself towards where she thought a wall might be.
The floor seemed to be pushing her aside now. It was bulging near the middle, straining, straining, until something erupted forth, knocking everybody aside and taking most of the floor with it. It looked to be a huge worm, slick with green slime that came out of its mouth. Pincers adorned each side of its head, which currently was rocking about in apparent confusion and agitation. Beady eyes stared blankly at a wall as it seemed to wobble drunkenly before spewing a mess of green goo that stung the flesh and softened the wall. The worm spit splashed against a wall before sloshing down to what was left of the floor. Within the mess, several things could be seen, such as miscellaneous rubble, half-digested glass, long-twisted metal, a group of panicky and excited maintenance bots, and two rather recognizeable figures.
Marcus carefully stood up, wondering if he would ever feel clean again and trying to shake some of the goop off before it started to coagulate while Sarika settled for lying down and gasping, clutching her staff as though it were her lifesafer, which he supposed it was. Giant worms, like many other creatures of the universe, did not like things getting stuck and/or forcibly jabbed into its throat.
It wasn't quite the reunion anybody had expected, but that wasn't much of a concern at the moment. The giant worm was recovering very quickly and it seemed as though it would like to regain all the food it had just lost.