towerofanimus | Endgame: Eyes I Dare Not Meet in Dreams

Entry tags:

Endgame: Eyes I Dare Not Meet in Dreams

Characters: open
Setting: floor 101/hidden floor; June 2
Format: action brackets, please
Summary: Something arrives.
Warnings: psychological horror, physical horror, violence

[The thing arrives on the twenty-third floor where no one is around to see it. But even if there was anyone except the retrieval units there, they would hardly have a chance to spot a single shadow, as the Tower pushes around and caresses the thing, hiding it away. The Tower ripples, then, and delivers the thing up and up, skipping floor after floor.

Floor one-hundred and one goes dark, and the glamour fails entirely. There's a thing lurking about in the darkness, approaching the way to the hidden floor. It can't be seen in this gloom, but it can be heard taking heavy, laden footsteps.]

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[He frowns, before he dismisses Cu Chulainn and bring Throne out again for a cautious defence buff on the entire group.

Until they can confirm Riki's defeat and/or death, he'll assume their opponent is hanging off--or attached?--the edge. Most of them couldn't tell without going over to check, which have its obvious risks. Unless...]

Chidori-san, can you sense where is Riki?

[It'd be too much to hope for Riki to tall out of the tower completely, as horrible as that might be.]

[Chidori starts slightly at hearing her name, but once Minato's request registers, she nods slightly, fingers tightening in the fabric of her sleeves.]

I can certainly try.

[And try she does, extending the awareness that Hecate gives her over the edge of the tower, trying to see if she can sense Riki there at all. She hopes, more than anything, that she won't be able to sense him at all.]

[Chidori's hope is not misplaced, in this case. There is no presence visible to Hecate's eye over the edge of the Tower. Riku's Thundaga jumps along the rippling metal briefly before the floor ceases its wave-like motions, falling still beneath their feet.]

[...that seems too easy. Feferi steps up to the edge of the floor and looks over the side, just to confirm that they actually did knock Riki off for good.]

[Feferi will get an eyeful of Riki--literally, if she doesn't step back, as he's warped the Tower to catapult himself back up and he'll barrel her right over if she doesn't get out of the way.]

WHAT THE FUCK --

[The yell comes as she jumps back; Riki will take a chunk of her film-hair with him as he catapults back up. Feferi doesn't stick the landing; she lands hard enough to knock the wind out of her.

[The film loses its shape and drips right off of him as soon as it's detached from Feferi. The floor once again warps as Riki lands, bending and buckling around him to prevent him from skidding across it.

He turns, his eyes glowing blindly, angrily bright.] Good trick.

[Behind him, from where he emerged back onto the floor, metal tendrils shoot in from the outside of the Tower and through the open wall, sharpening as they dart for Riku, Patchouli, and Minato.] Not good enough, though.

[David's been spending most of this time trying to recover from that blow he took from Riki. The blow sent him too far to be affected by Minato's invocation of Throne—but he's not so banged up as to be completely out of the fight. By the time the Persona users knock Riki off of the floor's edge, David's managed to roll over and push himself up and start looking for wherever that Orcish sword lay.]

[After a bit of stumbling, he finds it and picks it up just in time to see Riki erupting from the tower's edge and back toward the assembled multicolor souls-in-a-jar fighting the Administrator.]

Got a full-on archvillain here ...

[That's said more to himself since he's still rather far away, but it's all the motivation he needs to start hurrying back into the fray.]

[Ryoji quickly deflects the tendrils heading for Minato, and lets out a frustrated grunt as he sees they're also heading for Riku and Patchouli. He'll attempt to get close enough to defend them as well, but it's not clear if he'll be able to make it in time.]

[The metal creaks as Ryoji deflects it away from Minato--he's fast enough to take Patchouli's tendril off course, but not Riku's.

For getting in the way, the floor bubbles before surging up under and around Ryoji in thick spikes, trying to either imprison him or impale him.]

[Thank goodness for Ryoji's quick reactions. Minato dismissed Throne for another Persona, calling forth Suzaku for a group speed buff.

They got both their offence and defence, that simply leave their own speed left.]

Ryoji, move!

[Unfortunately, after he ordered Suzaku to cast the spell, he noticed the floor bubbles forming around Ryoji. Hopefully, the speed buff would help.]

[Ken jumps back, and presses his Evoker to his head.]

Tetrakarn!

[A shield of shimmering light appears over Ryoji, Minato, and Chidori. He can deal with his own protection later.]

[Ryoji is almost fast enough to avoid the spikes, but would have been nicked by one if it wasn't for Ken's spell. He exhales out slowly and nods his thanks to Ken, before casting Megidola, hoping the explosion will knock Riki back without harming anyone else.]

*Enoch spent the time Riki was out of sight edging closer to the edge but not nearing the patch of rippling metal. He knew better than to approach an enemy that was about to get up; he'd learned his lesson from the Watchers.

He couldn't even warn Feferi away from the edge in time, he was so focused on not mistakenly falling off the edge himself, in the dark. When she yelled out and there was suddenly a flurry of activity, Enoch held his Arch closed again and rushed at Riki, along the edge of the floor and turning sharply to try to come at him from behind, aiming for his ankles with a low, sweeping slice that will send him skidding out in front of Riki via momentum. It's not the safest move. But it's like felling a tree - if the impact comes to his joints from behind, he should start to fall backwards and that's the direction he'll have to correct himself.*

No-!

[Chidori casts a tetrakarn that covers Ken and whoever else he hasn't gotten, and then follows Ryoji's Megidola with an Agidyne, gritting her teeth and moving closer to Ken's side.

Riki cannot win.]

[David is now finally in among the group, though he skirts the outer edge of it. He can see that Enoch's trying to do the same thing he'd attempted earlier, attacking Riki in the joints in an attempt to hobble the beastly Administrator.]

[So the best course of action would be to approach Riki from his other flank. Keep attacking where he's not expecting it, while he's too busy with everyone else. Since when did he become a Stalker rather than a Blaster—? No matter. David makes his way around the other side, ever mindful of how close he is to the edge of the floor here, and with a still-tender gait from the way that blow from earlier roughed him up.]

[With a grunt, Riki slides back along the groove he's made for himself in the floor, but the architecture of the Tower bends to cushion him. The blast of fire gleams and glows off of his metallic limbs, though Riki shows no evidence of being particularly hurt by it.

As for Enoch, Riki doesn't move to dodge him--he might not need to, given the way the floor rises into a ledge in Enoch's path, just high enough to trip him up, should it escape his notice.]

*He does notice it, but too late. His attempt to jump clear just catches his toes on it anyway and his attack is thwarted. He's sent rolling between Riki's legs without so much as a hit.

Immediately, he scrambles to get away, off to the side again. He won't do much good from here!*

[That's David's cue. David quickens his pace into as much of a run as he can manage, until he's close enough to Riki to try and make a play for one of his joints as Enoch was about to do. Since he's coming from the other side, maybe he won't have to worry about Riki popping a ledge up in his face ... or worse.]

[If he can get that close without Riki reacting, he's going to make another attempt at the back of one of Riki's knees—this time with a more stabbing motion, as if to try and dislodge and break apart the "bones" forming the leg rather than simply slashing at them. He'd seen enough of Riki's form from the light of the Persona powers to get an idea of what he really looks like. So ... maybe this is the better bet.]

[When the spike comes flying, Riku coats his Keyblade in flames and attempts to deflect the blow before sliding out of the way. As best as he can, he tries to keep moving-- if Riki's gonna start going nuts with the tower, the best he can do is try to evade while waiting for an opening. Is it enough to slip by?]

[Another snarl and Meiling is darting ahead as well, trying to drive back or break the 'bones' that she throws a heavy ki laced punch at, on the opposite side of David.

At this point it's pushing back, keeping their defense line wide as they could. Riki could not be allowed to pass them. If they did?...Even the feral side that had taken over didn't want to think about what could happen.]

[Despite being occupied with Enoch, Riki and the Tower seem just as ready for David and Meiling.

Film snakes up from the ground to surround David's weapon and Meiling's fist as they connect, trying to keep them in place and in range as Riki slashes at them with blades of metal.]

Thank you --

[That's all she can get out before Meiling and David's attacks are met the way they are. There are two ways Patchouli sees to handle it: fire and water.]

Phlogistic Pillar--

[Fuses will appear, floating above at a safe distance.]

Someone hit it with fire magic -

[She wheezes, but she's determined.]

[ooc: video of what she just did is here]

Edited 2014-06-18 02:48 (UTC)

[He doesn't have fire, but electricity might help. He summons Dike again and zaps at Riki again, trying to keep him distracted.]

Come on come on!

*If he had time to reflect and think on this, he might be insulted that Riki is reducing his attack attempts to comedic tumbles without retaliation.

But this is the middle of a battle and it is all too rare for him to ponder on such things when his adrenaline is flowing. It's only the presence of other people that makes him hesitate, size up the situation but not think of much beyond that.

He hurries towards Riki but veers off, leaping instead into the fork of a film construct that should be a tree and begins to climb.

Maybe it's a stupid idea. It wouldn't be the first time.*

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