[Episode] The Bizarre Discovery of Dr. Mira

Round 5

Doji uses MT Seventh Star Slice to buff self and damage Aloy
Doji uses LT Hilt of Tilled Earth against Aloy
Doji uses LT Two Heavens Reversed against Aloy
Doji uses UT against Aloy

Aloy uses LT against Doji
Aloy uses LT against Doji
Aloy uses LT against Doji
Aloy uses UT against Doji

Doji defeats Aloy

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Doji' has done the following action : Dice Roll

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#1 'Reflex Check' : 16, 2, 7, 20

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#2 'Reflex Check' : 14, 5, 7, 17

"...How am I supposed to know what to do about all this?"

The shuffling of clothing and carton was drowned out by a hiss of heat as the radiator burned bright. Aya's tiny form appeared in full view as the first puff of clove-laden smoke poured from her lips.

"... Look, We just have to keep calm and thi-"

She might as well have been speaking to a raging bull as it angled its horns toward the machinery.

The heat was already settling uncomfortably beneath her silky mink before steam had begun pouring into the large room. Now it was quickly becoming unbearable. A sharp grimace pulled at her features and her teeth clenched around her cigarette.

"...Nevermind, then, I guess..."

With a tiny shudder, Aya's fur fluffed. The little red panda gave a grumble and uncomfortable sigh, already exasperated by the heat. Her cigarette refused to burn properly in all the steam.

" Damn it..."

More distressing than the exhaustion setting into the temperature-sensitive mink was the sudden sounds of crying that replaced the boy's rampaging.

" ...H-hey, lighten up, big guy..." The flocculent fuzz-ball was doing her best to sound reassuring with all the tone of a practiced elder sister, her gaze trailing around the room as her mind raced to find a solution. She let the cigarette fall from her lips.

"...Youteia think... this is the first time someone has tried to... cook me? Certainly won't be the last... I can promise you that..." Aya scoffed, doing all she could to mask the sound of her overheated panting.

She scampered up to the oni in a sluggish rush.

"...just stop breaking stuff for a second and-"

Aya's sensitive ears picked up the sound of familiar voices in the distance over the rushing of steam.

"... Youteia have got to be kidding me."

The closer to the laboratory turned steam-cooker the paintings in the hallway were, the more the paint began to soften and slough from the canvases, further distorting the grim depictions.

A shriek rang out as one of the 'investigators' caught glimpse of a melting face through the steam.

[npc=pirt]"What the hell-?! This place must be some kind of demonic portal!! The fires of hell-"[/npc]

"For the last time; it's FUCKING STEAM!!!"

The little red panda glanced in the direction of the sound, then back up to her large sobbing companion and the machinery threatening to boil the duo.

Aya began a sluggish ascent up the oni's clothing as she conveyed the new information.

"...Do youteia remember the way we came in?... It sounds like those idiots from before.... had the unfortunate luck to follow in our footsteps-"

The tiny mink nearly fell from her climb, leaving small claw marks in the fabric in her wake.

"...That seems... like as good... of a route out... as any! I'd rather... handle a bunch of... dumbasses than... that crazy bitch again!!" Aya panted, managing to exhaustively pull herself up enough to swing herself to Doji's arm and cling to it like some sort of fluffy bracer.

She wasn't going to risk staying any longer in this heat than she had to and had to hope her new company wouldn't mind her hitching a ride.

"...You think you... can get enough speed... down that hall... to get through the door...?" Aya nearly lost her grip, panting and lightheaded in the rising temperature.

The sounds of the bumbling terrified humans were only becoming louder as they faced the hallway of horrors.

“I hope so…” the creature choked out with watering eyes, “... otherwise I guess we were just meant to get boiled down here, eh?” A little smile flitted across the monster’s countenance.

Inhaling a deep gasp of steam, the beast fought for the oxygen to push onwards; as the oni’s blood boiled his skin flared bright red, despite his burning insides he clung on. With a sharp exhale of steam the red-haired bull knelt down for his mink ally to jump on; and once ready, the horned monster began its charge.

Ambulating like a bizarre disjointed quadruped, Doji latched his hooks into the winding walls, pulling himself forwards as his tabi pushed him forwards. Thrown by the wayside were the painted images swept up in the rampage; painting’s heads were severed, family portraits were torn to ribbons, in the boiling pit of hell all was little more than a foothold to climb upwards.

[npc=pirt]“NO WAY! A SANKSQUATCH IN HELL?!”[/npc]

For a moment the oni’s stunned fury overwhelmed his urge to press onwards.

“You just say the first fuckin’ thing that comes into that genius fuckin’ brain of your don’t you?”

Mak stared blankly towards his companion, before blinking slowly, one eye after the other.

“WHAT DID I FUCKING TELL YOU?!” As the creature began whirling like a tornado, anybody clung to the creature’s back was liable to be thrown straight around the nearest corner.

Beneath the weight of the oni’s onslaught there was no salvation for such men but to flee; the angle of the creature’s strikes made going back the way they came look like trying to escape through a meat grinder. Surely there had to be a better fate awaiting them deeper in the pits.

It was foolhardy thinking, but Ricky hadn’t yet suffered for following his captain; this unwavering fealty is what earned him his fate worse than death. In truth, the fearless leader wasn’t much more than a rat scrambling for his next fixation; a man whose life was lived on a skinner box of adrenaline and self exaltation. This is how he and his loyal companion ended up in their trap.

I’ll make sure that idiot doesn’t choke up another word… in the depths of his anger the creature couldn’t make any sense of what it was doing, all he knew was the pain that enveloped him and the fury it had bred, … I’ll rip it all apart.

The hallway, and all the figures therein were ripped, torn, and reconfigured into a heap of ornate wreckage; by the time the creature’s anger relented, a number of stones had been shaken loose from the walls, and like the last breath of a raging behemoth a bellowing gasp of steam dispersed into clear, empty air.

The castle had weathered the giant’s attack with little injury, and the oni had all but perished in his attempt to explore the structure’s depths. Panting shallowly, and red in the face, the oni spoke out, hoping that his words would find his friend well, “Aya? You there? I think…”

The warrior winced in shame, and in burning pain as he shuffled to his feet, “... I think we’re outmatched here; if those two are just living in that little basement then I’m worried about what we’ll find if we go any further.”

As though to punctuate the monster’s concession, the sound of Mak’s screaming echoed down through the hallway, [npc=pirt]“I don’t know where they are! Please lemme go!”[/npc]

The thumps and sound of a man being pulverized into a pile of wreckage followed shortly thereafter.

“Yeah, I think we better get outta here quick…” coughing and limping back down the way the pair had come.

“... I ain’t giving up on this though; I’ll tell you what, next time I come back here I’ll make sure I take it easier on the artwork, and you’re welcome to come and take any of the paintings you’d like; I think you’ll get more outta that sort of art than I can.”

Post Word Count: 666
Total Word Count: 7,840