PHASE I [ day one ] Bright and early - very early - on April 1st, everyone will receive texts to their CereVices from one Yu Narukami that reads: Today’s the day, everyone. Let’s all plan to meet by Ardeo’s shrine as soon as possible. We’ll head over the wall from there and set out.
Regardless of when you arrive, Yu (and Yosuke) will be there, ready to greet you and hand out the supplies that Yu has been collecting for the past several days. Now is the time to mingle and get familiar with the other members of the expedition provided you don’t already know them. This is the last bit of calm you’ll get before a motley crew of fliers helps to lift you off the ground and take you over the wall: a dragon, a robot, and whatever these two are. Buckle up.
The jungle, once you arrive on the other side of the wall, is as humid and uncomfortable as ever, though you’ve all come a little more prepared this time. Your CereVices continue to fail to function (and, for some reason, they still play that song when you try to access the internet. Seriously, why did you even bother…?), and monsters of all kinds still lurk the trees amongst all the strange bugs and odd flowers from before. Better be on your guard; you might think you know what the jungle has in store for you, but you’d be wrong.
PHASE II [ day two ] By the second day of travel, this band of explorers has made it a fair way into the jungle, especially with a number of fliers between them to speed things along a little. The air is starting to get a little uncomfortable to breathe, but that’s no big deal, right? You can press through that.
What’s not as easy to simply press through is the strange things you’re starting to see in the trees. Is that … is that your sister? Your brother? Your father, your mother? Are they injured, are they bleeding? Either way, you seem to be seeing your family, and they seem to be terribly hurt. This may be a familiar effect to certain characters. That’s not all; the trees are moving, too, and if characters aren’t careful, they’ll get dragged down along with them. Stay still amongst these patches of trees, and you’ll turn into one yourself. Better keep moving and not dwell too long on what isn’t really there.
If you need some encouragement to keep moving, perhaps the sudden and untimely arrival of this friendly fellow burst forth from the moving trees which had unfortunately camouflaged it will convince you to run.
PHASE III [ day three ] Pressing on despite growing dangers, hallucinations, worsening conditions, and ever-more urgent fears of suffocation will be rewarded. Provided characters have figured out their way around the three day breathing limit (and you have figured it out by now, haven’t you?), they’ll finally see their first sign of the planet’s natives - the first glimpse of actual people that anyone has managed to catch. And it seems these people are willing to talk, especially once they catch sight of Hiccup and Toothless. They make it extremely clear they want everyone well away from their village, though. How, you ask? Well, that spike-lined pit you just fell into (hopefully you caught yourself on the edge!) might have made it clear. The pack of monsters they just sent your way might also be another hint. Survive all their traps and deterrents and make it clear that all you want to do is talk, and not approach the village proper, and they’ll become … well, less hostile, at least. Take the time to speak with them and decipher what little they learn of the language of Cerealia, and you might learn a few interesting things.
Taking the third day to gather information and simply rest might be for the best. You’ve all been pushing hard, and who’s to say what else awaits out there? Yu calls for a night of rest, and no one will go anywhere else on day three.
PHASE IV [ day four ] Hopefully you took that time to recover. Because on day four, you’ll find yourself saddled with a whole new world of trouble. A new friend will show up to spoil your plans whatever they may be, and he’s even less friendly than the last guy.
With two major monster attacks and a dozen minor ones, plus traps, bugs, hallucinations, and the very real threat of suffocation to contend with, with members of the group injured and supplies and healing spells dwindling, Yu will make another decision as leader of the group: we’re going home. The risk of staying out here has just become too great.
PHASE V [ day five ] Did you think it would be that easy?
The trek home is hard, even with fliers scattered between the group to speed everyone back the way you all came as quickly as possible. All the injuries still mean everyone has to touch ground in order to rest occasionally. And no matter how vigilant you are, no matter how careful, the best laid plans can still go awry…
[ Or they can be ripped entirely asunder. ]
When the battered, broken group finally reaches the walls late on the 5th day of April, their number will be two less than what they started with, and they will risk losing three more unless they get medical help immediately.
Such are the dangers of testing the jungles of Tellus.
BONUS [ day ??? ] Everyone’s least favorite bugs are still hanging around the jungle. Well, it’s not like they’d go away after just a few days of you all being gone, would they? Get bit, and you’ll find yourself hugging the nearest unlucky sap. Or maybe you’re just suffering some uncomfortable, sudden swelling. Yikes.
It’s funny, though. Is it just you, or is it just a little bit easier to breathe now that this totally random person with no particular elemental affiliation has been hugging you for a while? Huh. Must just be your imagination.
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estoria2015-11-04 10:53 pm
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It's hard not to watch them fight, his attention halfway divided between the fight with the monster and the minions still darting at him. One divebombs at him, and he jumps back, swatting it down and spearing it with his makeshift weapon. For a triumphant moment, then, he glances back towards the group. The more they attack, the angrier the monster gets, and while his heart skips a beat when Hiro gets knocked down, a moment later his friend is back on his feet, and the assault continues. ]
It's working! [ He doesn't let himself feel relief just yet - that monster is far from dead. But they might just do this. They might just defeat this thing that he brought upon them, and then they could all go home, safe and sound, heroes, fending off monstrosities, because they could do this, he could do this -
A splinter of a tree, smashed to bits by the monster's tail, whistles through the air and impales his right shoulder.
He falls backwards, a choked cry of pain cut short because it's like he's forgotten how to breathe. He can't see. He can't hear. He can't think. He can't do anything but feel, like ice and fire, and the blood soaking his shirt. ]
no subject
I'm the one who brought them here.
A whisper of it floats through his numbed mind as he whips around just in time to watch Dipper fall back. It happened so fast- how do you- how could he have stopped- could anyone have- he's--
He doesn't even have the air in his body to curse or cry out Dipper's name. He just moves, unthinking, dropping his sword, and manages to catch Dipper before the younger boy hits the ground. But Dipper's weight drags Yu down, too, and they end up tumbling haphazardly together, Yu trying to buffer Dipper against the fall as best he can. For someone who isn't always terribly expressive with his emotions, the look on his face right now is pure, painful horror.
It's not like his friends falling in battle is new to him. He's seen it before. Bodies getting tossed around battlefields like rag dolls, broken bones and lacerations and too much blood to care to remember. But they'd always been just prepared enough, hadn't they, always had one last spell left or a Goho-M to get the hell out if they needed to. This time he wasn't prepared enough. He took too many risks. People are starting to pay. Dipper's just a kid and he can't even fight and Yu brought him here.
There's no time. The monster's been waiting for weakness, and seizes upon it with a rattling screech a thousand times worse than claws dragging down a chalkboard. It thrashes, throwing itself out of Baymax's grip, and skitters over to the two boys on the ground with frightening speed, opening its jaws wide wide wide. Izanagi is too far. Everyone's too far, aren't they? All the other sounds of battle have dulled to a buzz; he's lost track, for the first time, of where everyone is. All Yu can do in the heartbeat of a moment he has is twist to shield Dipper with his body.
It won't be enough. But it's reflexive.
After all, the dead come back, don't they? ]
Warning for gore... 1/2
This will be over in seconds too, Dipper and Yu being ripped to shreds by its sharp teeth and everyone else too paralyzed to move, making themselves easy targets for everything that remains.
Tick.
There's an almost triumphant glint in the serpent's eye like that of a cat toying with its prize, certain that it's proven itself to the victor over the intruders that dared invade its feeding ground. It roars deafeningly as it opens its jaws and rears its head before lunging for the kill.
Tick.
Two, maybe three seconds left before an inevitable bloodbath happens. Minato's too far away to push them out of the way or to block the attack like everyone else, but if they could have just seen his face as he gets up he would have seemed painfully alien in that moment, calm and determined in the face of odds no one could hope to beat.
Tick.
It would be a lie to say that Minato's ready for this moment or that he predicted it, yet it's truthful that he's been retaining his strength over the past few days for this reason, one and only-
It all goes back to the text Yu sent him about the jungle trip and Ket returning before it. He had spent so many days feeling guilty about what had happened by that time, hating himself and his petty feelings for causing so much grief by that time, only to see that no one blamed him for it. He doesn't blame them for that since no one could have known the true reason why he hated himself for it: It wasn't at all for not being there, for feeling he could have done better...all of them acceptable reasons, but hardly the entire truth.
Minato blamed himself for the choice of refusing to be with Ket and that mistake is why he chose to accept Yu's offer, why he's standing here right now and raising a hand at Dipper's and Yu's direction instead of using his Evoker, knowing that he can only save himself if he had opted for the latter; they'd be dead by the time he can summon his Persona, and what he had chosen on that day that he accepted the offer...
That is what he affirms now, allowing his gaze to linger on Yu's horrified face for but a split second and feeling as if his heart might break in that same moment as he utters a single word.]
Stop.
[Tick.
The beast ignores Minato's soft warning, crunching down onto something with a sickening noise, a cry resounding in the air immediately after-
Only there's no blood to be seen anywhere near where Yu and Dipper are and it's the monster that's reeling, almost seeming to cry in agony as it pulls back with some of its fangs broken from the impact of hitting a glimmering barrier surrounding the two.
Minato would have thought such a feat impossible once, but in coming to meet Yu, having his Evoker knocked away by Hyoubu and rushing through the burning village only to have been too late to do anything he's come to realize that perhaps he leans on the device like a crutch, its familiar weight a fond memory of his past and of people he'd never see again, which will only drag him down if he continues to pine and not depend on his own strength.
He would smile for everyone to see right then with the crisis averted and a miracle achieved...]
Actual warning for gore goes here 2/2
Tick.
The beast howls even louder this time, its rage and pain practically palpable in the air as it blindly seeks out the person that hurt it so. In shielding Dipper and Yu Minato's inevitably made himself the closest target to the beast and it seethes in what might appear to be hatred as it dives for the boy, convinced that he's cheated it out of its kill and demanding his life in exchange.
Minato knows this of course; the barrier he cast would only have been possible if he was absolutely committed to it, even to the point of guaranteeing his death. There's no one else to target besides him; everyone else is too far away...and just like before there's no one left to save him.
Tick.]
Ah- [And then there's no more time for Minato to say anything else, grabbed by the monster's jaws before being swallowed. It would have been a small mercy to him and everyone else if that was all that happened, but the resulting cacophony of teeth crunching onto bone, blood spraying into the air and increasingly pained cries accompanying each sound before fading away with the clatter of a spit out sword hitting the ground would be proof enough that death was never quite merciful in the jungle, nor was it particularly rewarding.
Tick.
But for the bloodied and cracked weapon on the ground and a few scraps of cloth fluttering onto a pool of blood right below the monster's open jaws, Minato might have well have just stopped existing between the minute before and the next.]
no subject
She's already moving when it goes for Yu and Dipper, not even thinking about not making it in time. And when the monster grabs Minato up instead, Yang's closer to it, and firing a largely explosive blast at its gem. The other arm swings up and right into the monster's jaws the second it staggers, followed by a second shot. It's far too late to grab Minato (or what remains of his dapper clothing), but her aim right now is to keep it the hell away from Dipper. From the others. Because there are kids here, and there's her sister, and her friends, and with her blood rushing in her ears, it's all too easy to imagine that any one of them could be next. ]
Get the injured away from here! It's still--!
[ ... Sinking its teeth into her arm and shoulder before she can yank it back. There's the sickening crunch of what sounds like bone breaking, mostly drowned out by Yang's cry of pain, and then the monster (now shrieking in rage), snaps its head up and flings her away. She lands heavily, and remains there. ]
no subject
Not when there's Yang's arm in that monster's mouth.
Not when Yang is flying through the air.
Ruby's response is immediate and distressed.]
Yang!
[And so, while she should help the others (she knows she has to look out for them, that that's what a Huntress is there for), she immediately flickers out of the space she was in, skidding to a stop at her sister's side a split second later through her semblance.
Sorry, guys. Ruby's a bit distracted for the moment.]
no subject
This keeps happening, being rooted to a spot and watching people die. It happened to Tadashi, it happened to Baymax, it happened to Soramaru and Masamune, and now…there's a flinch as some of the blood (Minato's blood) splashes on the shield of his helmet. He hardly has time to react as he watches the beast cough up that sword and the last of Minato's flesh and bone disappears before their eyes.
He hardly has time, too, to react to Yang rushing past him and he knows how her gauntlets work and he watches her fire for a one-two hit to the creature. It's almost horrifying that he recognizes the sound now just as the bone starts to splinter and even before he registers what's happening he blocks out the sound and only watches Yang fly back, Ruby dashing right after her sister.
This is it. This is really what it means to step up as a hero and protect the people he cares about. Minato's gone. Yang and Dipper are injured and he cares about getting everyone else back alive and undamaged. There's a fury written across his face and without really thinking on it he draws his gunblade again.
The problem with the being on the ground is that he doesn't have the aerial response. With Baymax's fist locked back into place Hiro darts for the robot before calling out orders.]
Baymax, palm-heel strike! [Before Baymax can react to Hiro the boy runs and jumps on the robot's back, using him as a vault to spring up into the air and flip over the monster's back. He pulls the trigger on the hilt of his gun to send the daggers flying into the back of the beast's head and neck as Baymax strikes forward aiming for the gem. He's a robot. Hiro's obviously worried about him because it's his best friend, but he trusts him to take care of himself in crisis-mode. The monster's shrieking angrily and snaps its jaws at Baymax, teeth scratching and denting his armor as Hiro hits the ground hard behind it with the blade pieces digging into its neck. Its head tilts back to snap at him, reacting in distress at the prickling it can't feel and leaving the gem unprotected temporarily.]
no subject
Yu had looked up when the beast lunged but he didn't feel teeth, didn't feel pain, and he saw the glittering barrier just in time, glanced around wildly to try and guess its source - it couldn't've been Yosuke, Susano-o didn't have Tetrakarn, and that was Tetrakarn, wasn't it, it couldn't have been anyone else, so that, that was, that had to have been -
And his eyes locked on Minato just as his friend and fellow Wild Card got eaten alive.
It's funny. Minato isn't the only one of them two to feel as if his heart might break.
In fact, this time Yu does call out, a wordless yell of horror and rage, but it's largely drowned out by the screeches of the monster and the other sounds of battle. Dipper is gasping and choking in pain in his arms, and for too long a moment, Yu finds himself frozen still. While Yang is brutalized and Ruby rushes to her side. Only Hiro snapping into action gets Yu to shake his head out like a dog. Roughly, with no time for finesse, Yu slots one arm under Dipper's knees and surges to his feet, Dipper held close to his chest. Adrenaline powers him now. Looking up, he searches the skies. ]
Hiccup!
[ As soon as the dragon-rider heeds his shout, he'll call up. ]
We need to get Dipper off the battlefield, someplace safe where he won't get hurt! Can you take him?
no subject
He's been enduring it for days now, and it's exhausting.
Everyone's shouts, screams, attacks, the way the dirt under him rumbles softly whenever the monster moves, it's filtering into his mind through several thick layers of pain and breathlessness. He knows what's happening around him, but he can't do anything about it! What an enormous fool he is. Coming here convinced these people would need his help, Link's specifically, when he's the useless one!
Trembling with anger, Link tries to push himself up with his good arm to see what's going on - he heard Personas trying their hardest, the sound of Hiro's gun, voices, but he couldn't see them - but when he opens his eyes, there's nothing but bugs in his face. Hundreds of large red beetles, skittering towards him and congregating around his body. While everyone was fighting the big threat, everyone forgot about those, including Link.
He only has a second to gasp before the insects grab onto him with their dozens of mandibles, some grasping his clothes and others biting his exposed limbs, and begin to forcibly drag him. Whether it's from adrenaline or the pain he's already in, he barely feels them biting into his skin. In any other situation, he would deal with this as calmly as killing a bug in your kitchen - a quick spin attack could blow them all away, or a dodge roll in the opposite direction, or just stomping on them individually...
But right now, he's useless. He can't save any of these people, much less save himself.
Powering through his agony, Link is snatching up the bugs one by one and ripping them away, trying to stop them.They bugs are trying to bring him to their master, this bigger creature... judging from the blood and the sword on the ground nearby, Minato's fate is about to become Link's as well. He won't cry out for help, he won't be a bigger baby than he's already been. And if that's going to be what happens here, then he'll accept it without endangering anyone else.
But the monster is distracted by Hiro's attacks. It turns to face him and Baymax, its body slithering around, massive tail pulling around behind him, wriggling like a dying earthworm. In its efforts to eat up Hiro, it inadvertently crushes its minions and Link, a much easier meal, with its tail. When it lifts again as the creature starts to pursue Hiro, Link is laying motionlessly in a puddle of crushed bug goo.]