With boat stored and new fancy blank card in hand, it was once again time to roll the gacha. Rose laid the blank card down on the table and sat down quietly, her eyes shining as she anticipated what wondrous manner of creature could appear today. Would it be a legendary Vassal in the same vein as Titanica, a great warrior from another world like Henry? Or would it be the last thing you expect to be powerful, a small fairy with unlimited durability? The possibilities were truely endless, but it was almost guaranteed that any new addition would only add to the crew.
Ami meanwhile, was counting her coins with a sour look on her face. All these cheaters had gotten crazy amounts of these stupid Bee things, racking up 120 thousand just from something dumb like prior planning. Meanwhile she had only managed to get 300, even though she had scored the biggest hit on the boss! They should be splitting their cash with her, without her they probably all would have died! She idly glanced over to the pirate chick as she did something lame with the cards, a gimmick Ami refused to participate in. She was gonna make it through the Tower with her strength alone, no ghost pals needed.
And with a bright flash of light, Rose's Serei card appeared. And in that exact same moment, Rose's look of anticipation drained into one of sheer unadulterated fury and horror. "GOD FUCKING DAMNIT!"
Shimmering light revealed in full a black cat made flesh and real. It plopped atop the table with a low thud and thunk, the great and almighty Noire curled up in a cat nap without a care in the world, or for her summoner. Well, not quite. She raised open a single eye, noted who it was who just took time out of her day to play around, before yawning. "Oh it's you. Lame." She closed her eye and went right back to sleep like the cat she was.
Rose's eye twitched as Noire sleepily dismissed her, a vein on her head bulging as she clenched her fists on the edge of the table, immediately splintering the wood with her rage fueled strength. "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN IT'S ME?! I SHOULD BE THE ONE SAYING THAT YOU STUPID GOOD FOR NOTHING FUCKING CAT!" Rose screamed, slamming her hands on the table in front of Noire to make her pay attention. Her breath was heavy with fury as she glared at the damned cat who continued to torture her, idly thinking about just selling the card right now and trying for a new one.
A choked laugh from the next table over had Rose's head snapping to the left as Ami tried to suppress her laughter, the aura of smug rolling off of her practically palpable. "What's wrong, had a bad draw?" Ami snickered, covering her mouth with her sleeve as she leaned forwards towards Rose.
"Oh fuck off you edgy goth bitch, you have no idea just how bad of a fucking drop I got. This stupid perverted cat has been torturing me for entire floors now, and I keep fucking RUNNING INTO HER!" Rose roared as she grabbed the table Noire was on and flipped it in Ami's direction, an uncharacteristically violent action from the normally relaxed and happy go lucky pirate.
".-."
Whatever wink of sleep Noire was trying to get was ruined by the extravagent and unneeded outburst by her summoner. She opene dher eyes, looking up at Rose's seething features and expression with an exasperated look of her own. BUt up and before she could do anything about it, some second party joined in on the screaming match; less of a match though when Rose was doing all the screaming. Noire blinked from one girl to the other, even as she felt the table be lifted up by Rose's rage-fueled tangent before promptly flipped forward towards the other girl. "<.<" Noire promptly dropped off from the wooden slab and onto the ground before she was carried with it. "Rude >.>" The slab didn't go much further before a blue blur dashed across both girls's sights and caught the massive chunk with a screech of boots on the floor, just before it hit Ami. Slowly, carefully, Cait popped her head out from the other side with a yawn, paused with her bout with Clair.
"Eheh, no rumbling in my bar please. If there's a problem or disgression, please either take it with the shopkeepers or in the sheets upstairs, thank you~" Despite her cheery demeanour, the barkeep flashed Rose a glinted warning. With a huff, she slowly cradled the table above her head before waddling off to the side to either replace it or fix it, whichever was cheapest. By the way she moved, it was clear lifting such a thing was an easy enough effort for her.
"Wow, you really are a screamer. You need to be quiet more >.>" Noire mused from her spot on the ground. Her tail was already lashed around Rose's throat in a collar of spiny needle and fur mixed with wire as she tugged Rose along towards the upper floors. "Ahhh, so much better. No screaming in my ear. Oh hey, I guess you can come along too you know, nyah." Noire casually split open the ends of her tail for wires to snap along Ami's neck as well, the black cat tugging and almost dragging the two up the stairs. "Don't worry, I'll keep them from breaking more stuff, the two girlfriends ^-^" she called out to anyone who cared to listen, bounding up the stairs-only to pause and sniff at a certain door.
"Eww, smells like dead whales and Kanbaru <.<" she mused before finding an empty room to drag her meals into.
It really did make Rose feel better to vent her frusturations, even if she knew it would ultimately do nothing in the long run. Ami reached for her sword to slash the table apart, but such an action would prove unneccesary as she sliced into empty air, the table already having been snatched by the surprisingly nimble owner of the bar. She blinked dumbly as the cat girl yawned and carried the table away, she was a lot stronger than she looked.
Rose huffed as she sat back down in her chair, only for the air to get caught in her throat as Noire did what she did best and began choking Rose up the stairs. Of course her first instinct was to merge with her little fairy card, though that would ultimately be a futile effort as the wire simply tightened harder around her now small neck. "H-help me, don't let her take me!" Rose choked out, earning naught but a smug smile from Ami.
That too would be rewarded as the cat looked at Ami and decided on a whim to bring her as well. "H-hey what the hell do you think you're doing you bitch!" Ami cried as she immediately grabbed at the wires choking her, attempting and failing to slash them apart with her black fire sword. "What the fuck are you made of?!" And screams of such a nature would be the last thing the rest of Rose's crew heard as the dastardly cat dragged the two troublemakers into what would surely be hell.
And just like that, they were in an empty room. Absolutely horrific, this room would almost certainly haunt their nightmares for years to come. "Y-you managed to grab her card right? I left it on the table-" Rose squeaked as the wires tightened further, though Ami had done no such thing. The card was just lying on the floor outside, their only hope for freedom basically miles away.
"Hm, Hm. Oh hey, you turned into your fetish fairy form. FFF, nyahah~" Noire was much too busy wiring the door knob completely shut with more sprays from her tail to really notice the plight of her prey. But once she did, there was a mischievious glint in her gaze, specifically directed at Rose first. "You're looking kind of cute with your little fairy boots. Boop~" Noire flicked out a claw and poked it against Rose, not enough to skewer her, only a friendly little boop; as friendly as the cat could get though. "Oh I'll deal with you soon hottie~" she called out to Ami, making sure to tighten the wires around her throat enough to make sure she didn't get any funny ideas of escape. "Though....hey wait, aren't you that blonde from Miso City? Yeah, yeah, I think I ate you out one time. Er, well, one of you. Look, there's alot of blonde weirdos in that place but you were spicy so trust me, I'd really remember <.<"
Rambling aside, she leapt atop the nearest bed, purring filling the air. Her tail let go of Rose's throat, waiting just a bit for the fairy to have some preconception of escape and freedom reach her face. Noire lowered her haunches, tail swiveling behind her like a predator, completely uncaring how that would affect Ami in the long run. Then, as if she was hunting a fly, she pounced in the air, snatching Rose in her paws before bringing her back down to the bed. When the world would eventually stop spiining, there Noire was, trapped Rose under her paws, and leering above like the apex predator she was. "So you messed up my nap. That's rule #1 in keeping me around; don't mess up my naps >.>"
"S-shut the fuck- urp!" Rose cursed as Noire sprayed the door shut, each wave of her tail yanking her tiny body around like a rag doll. And then Noire started paying attention to her again, poking and prodding at her with a very sharp claw. This seemed familiar, which Rose really hated. "You're dead cat, you hear me? Dead!" Rose screamed as Noire turned away from her nonchalantly, now paying attention to Ami.
Ami quirked an eyebrow in confusion, she definitely didn't remember any kind of event with this obviously suicidal cat. If this had happened in Miso City, the cat wouldn't be around because Ami would have dedicated the rest of her days to skinning this moron alive. Like she was planning on doing after she got free. "I have never met you before in my life." Ami deadpanned as Noire leapt away, yanking her into the bedframe as her tail dragged behind her. "Oh you are so fucking in for it once I get out of this!" Ami yelled as her body began to heat up, her hands gripping the tail and pulling with all her might to tear it apart.
Rose knew Noire was playing with her as she loosened her noose just enough to escape, she knew that Noire was just waiting for her to run. But her other option was to stay in place and just let the cat do whatever she wanted, at least if she ran there was a miniscule chance she could outtrick the feline monster, maybe slip under the crack of the door! It was actually also a zero percent chance, but Rose was staying positive as she darted off at the speed of a bullet.
And then was promptly pinned down by two very heavy paws that covered her whole body. "I'm going to get your card and shove it in my boot." Rose spat, fury and hatred very clear in her face. Something that was no doubt amusing to the cat.
"My my, flirting with me already. That's so much like you little Primrose, nyahaha~" Noire leered down with a cat's grin, only to pause and sigh as she felt something warm up her tail. "Hey you, I thought I said I'd get to you in a minute <.<" She snapped her tail once, tightening up Ami's collar but everyone in the room knew that wasn't going to be enough. That was why the end of her tail suddenly sprayed out gush after gush of long, thick wires that looked almost akin to a fire extinguisher. And much like the comparison, they stickly plastered themselves to Ami's form as such, a cold and hollow sensation immediately spreading from contact, creeping up from her chest and throughout all her body. "You a demon now? Sheesh, I liked it better when that other you was still a Magical Girl, nyah." The spray of thick coolant wires continued to shoot out, very eager to completely coat Ami from head to toe until she looked more like spider food than anything else, coocooned and cooled off.
Noire stretched a hind paw back to tip her over to the ground with a claw, uncaring for how loud the thunk was. Only when she was sure Ami wasn't getting out to ruin her fun did her tail snap away completely. "Pssssh, betcha wish your friend could do stuff like that. What was her name? Tico? Taco? Tuuka? Eh <.<" With the firelight taken care of, Noire looked back down on the fairy, jaw opening unnaturally. "Ok, time to discipline you too~ Imma eat you up now and save firecracker there for the main course~" She dipped down, feline tongue bristling over Rose's face as she lapped the fairy once. Then, from the darkness that seeped out the abyss that was Noire's throat, more wires shot out, eager to snap along whatever it could find of Rose's body before slowly dragging her into the black cat's maw. "Yuummy, yuummy ^-^"
Ami ignored Noire completely as she continued trying to wrench the tail off her throat, the yank of the appendage further tightening it's chokehold around her neck yet not deterring the firebrand in the slightest as she continued to heat up. And then just like that, she got a metaphorical bucket of ice water dumped on her head. Ami's struggles intensified at first as she jerked in surprise and confusion, a scream of "WHAT THE FUCK WHY IS IT SO GODDAMN COLD!?" piercing through the walls as Ami kicked her legs wildly. But there was nobody to answer her question as she started shivering, her struggles dying out as her entire body was encased by foamy wires.
The cocoon was tipped over without a care in the world, a muffled "Ow" being heard through it as Rose continued to spit insult after insult at the psycho cat. And then Noire's attention was back on the fairy, unhinging her jaw and giving Rose a nice good look into the blackness. This shut her up. "H-hey, you better fucking not!" Well not completely. Noire's tongue was like rough sandpaper, rough wet sandpaper as it scraped along Rose's body, the fairy tasting distinctly of cherry as the cat savored her flavor. "H-hey, fucking stop it! I'm not some fucking snack for you!" Rose yelled, though she was wrong. All she was to Noire right now was a snack, a snack she would swallow whole as a multitude of wires shot from her throat and tied themselves up around Rose's body.
She struggled fiercly, though even her strongest of wiggles was hardly enough to even budge the wires as they dragged her into Noire's mouth, only stopping once she was lying down on the cat's tongue, inside the wet cavern. She was surrounded by sharp white boulders, her floor was a wiggling pink muscle, the ceiling dripped onto her form. "I swear to god Noire, if you fucking do this I'm going to shove your card into the first monster I find and leave you there!"
"Sorry, can't hear you," Noire said, though it was more muffled with Rose waggling on her tongue. There was the distinct notice she could have dragged the pirate faster with her wires, but chose instead to be as slow and precise as possible, if only to drum up any theatrics. Thus, it was with a slow burn Rose was shoveled into Noire's mouth, the cat still having it open. Then, those sharp teeth that made up the ceiling descended down, lower and lower, light fading away into only hot, wet darkness as Noire closed her mouth completely. Funny. Her tongue immediately bounced Rose up and about, shaking her around and around as she crashed into warm walls, the wires jangled in a mess around her. Then, the cat upturned her head, letting gravity and her wires do the work as she felt the fairy slide down her throat into a hollow gut. Indeed, the cat's body lacked proper flesh and blood but there were organs stitched together in metal and fur sticking out. Whether she had just made those organs just to emulate a true experience for Rose was hard to say, but they made heavy crashing obstacles as the fairy peetered down and collided with them.
"Soooooo. What to do with you." As the fair had fun in getting close and personal with her new Serei, Noire leaned a cheek on her paw, looking down at Ami.
Each syllable that rolled off Noire's tongue waggled Rose around, her slurred speech slamming the fairy pirate into the ceiling and then letting her plop back down onto the tounge with a wet slap. "You can totally hear me you fucking bitch!" Her tiny voice echoed in the cavern of Noire's mouth, though she was silenced as the cat closed her mouth and sealed her away into darkness. And just as any cat would, she played with her food. The tongue was as big as Rose, maybe even a little bigger, and it was certainly much stronger. Even if the wires had unwrapped from Rose's form she wouldn't have been able to do anything as Noire used her tongue to press Rose into every corner of her mouth, rolling her along her teeth and pressing her against her cheek without a care in the world.
And then gravity shifted once more as Noire tilted her head back, a scream echoing all around Rose as she fell into the bottomless pit that was Noire's throat. It was not a fast fall either, each and every milimeter of Noire's throat carressed and squeezed her as Rose was slowly squeezed down, dragged down by unbreakable wires. The bulge in the cat's throat disappeared past her breasts, and soon after Rose plopped down into a hollow fascimile of a stomach, pulsing metal and fur all around her as Rose wiped the drool from her face. The first thing Rose noted, was that she could see in here, total dark vision. Wonderful in any other case, awful here as she was witness to every squelch of Noire's wire stomach.
With a roar of rage she got up and bashed her shoulder against the stomach walls, knowing it would do nothing yet having nothing else to do. And she would go again and again, giving the Serei what amounted to an internal massage as she vented her frusturations.
Ami of course had no idea what was going on outside, more preoccupied with shivering inside her cold cocoon. It was so goddamn cold, a very new experience to the girl who had been nice and toasty for the past... god knows how many years of her life.
With how much Rose was bumping around and sliding down her gullet, it was a miracle on the pirate's part that Noire didn't immediately hurl her back up like a hair ball. Instead, their fairy found herself plopped into an interior that resembled more of a puppet than anything else, fur and wire stitched together in some mock and crude representation of interior. The "digestive tract" was really nothing more than a conjoined mess of wires and strings pulling on each other, roughly shaped into organs. Much like flesh and bone, they shifted and grinded against each other like clockwork, Rose having wandered into an internal factory of sorts, though one could liken that to any living creature's internal organs. One of the wires holding Rose yanked suddenly, having been caught on one of the many shiftng organs, dragging Rose out and about until she was eventually crushed between what looked like a kidney and a pancreas.
If there was supposed to be a massage happening, Noire didn't much feel it, as artificial as she was. No, instead, her sights were plastered on Ami, the cat droppong off the bed until her entire body was atop Ami's coccoon. "You make a nice pillow, nyah <.<" The only source of warmth and heat would come from the cat resting atop her, Noire eager to plant her ass directly where she thought Ami's face was, smothering and waggling.
Rose yelped as she was suddenly pulled into the mosh pit that was Noire's internals, being whipped about all over as the cat moved and did things that people do. Yes, even the normal and unconscious movements of Noire were enough to disrupt Rose's attempts at... whatever it was she was doing. Certainly not escaping, that wasn't a possibility at all for the pirate. Maybe being an annoyance? Even that was questionable when Noire hardly even acknowledged her presence, so really all she was doing was venting her frusturations about her current circumstances. But of course that was interrupted as Rose was dragged further into the body, squished between two rough masses of wire that were probably supposed to be organs. Rose had never been swallowed alive before, but even she could tell that this was a very poor job at recreating what the inside of someone looked like, whoever made her really needed to brush up on their biology. She angrily punched and kicked Noire's "kidney" to push it off, though not much success on that part.
As for Ami, her situation was still as unknown and confusing as before. A weight had settled on top of her cocoon, something kind of warm and annoying sounding. She furrowed her brow as she glared at the wall of her prison, mustering up the energy to buck up and try and kick Noire off of her. She needed heat sure, but she'd be damned before she accepted heat from this fucking feline.
"Oh no, no, no, no bucking me off." Noire weighed her ass down directly on Ami's face, tail curling somewhere behind her head until it snaked around her throat. With a yank, it pushed Ami's face up as much as her coccoon allowed, giving her a pristine view of the cat's rear in all notions. "Oh hey, you're like, the best seat warmer ever ^-^" Noire purred, a motion and noise that rattled bones and sank into flesh as she grinded her ass into the fire girl's face. At the same time, her internal organs reacted just as any would to being punched; well, perhaps not anyone's, but the cat's creator had no notions to care for any true biological aspects. As thus, the kidney being so poorly abused lashed out in similar kind, wires unfurling to smack around Rose like a whip before once again dragging her to be place between two random organs. This time, they vibrated, shaking the interior roughly as Rose was trapped between a rock and a hard place, each organ being just as solid as such despite their wirey composition.
"Sooooo. Are you two gonna be my playmates from now on~ We have to establish a pecking order here," she called out, enjoying the treatment of both girls.
Ami's struggles were stopped summarily as Noire exerted her strength, wrapping her tail around her throat roughly and shoving her face directly into the cat's ass where it belonged. Her temper flared as her internal furnace roared in indignity, however the chill of Noire's cocoon was enough to absorb the heat before anything meaningful could be done with it. And then she started grinding, that cocky little bitch started grinding her ass in Ami's face and purring. Purring! If she could move her arms right now, she would be beating the shit out of this dumb cat for even daring to think about doing something so humiliating! Only her senpai was allowed to treat her like this!
And on Rose's end, things were much the same. The organ unfurled to smack Rose around, the rough hit of the wire whip sending her flying into another set of organs, before dragging her in between them and trapping her once more. The lashes left angry red marks on Rose's skin, but even still she was still just as boiling mad as before, unwilling, no, unable to stop thrashing around in righteous indignity.
"Hell no!" The two cried out in unison, unaware of each other yet united in their goal to defeat this cat... eventually. They were more similar then they knew. The vibrations of Noire's purr shook them both, though it shook Rose much more as the two heavy organs shook her around like a rag doll. Ami certainly didn't appreciate it either, but at least she didn't have to feel her very organs vibrating from something as simple as Noire expressing her satisfaction.
Their ascent through the ceiling was turbulent to say the least, each jolt and swing sending red hot spikes into her injured leg as Utena held onto Schrodinger for dear life. Things were a bit blurry for her right now, probably the shock from the bullet wound settling in. The screech of a giant cat, electricity screaming through metal, a blur of green flying through the roof before shrinking and falling into Schrodinger's mouth. Did Terrorkeat get hurt somehow? She was hurt too, maybe they could bond in the hospital... NO! No hospitals, not an option! The first thing the MFF would do is send soldiers out to every hospital in the city, they wouldn't even have five minutes of freedom before they were all thrown back in cages. "No hospitals..." Utena mumbled, unsure if Schrodinger even realized she was there as she went towards... somewhere. Maybe they were going to that place Terrorkeat said they could go? Did Schrodinger even know where that place was?
All these questions tumbled about her mind with no answer as she fell into the throes of unconsciousness, blood loss, exhaustion, and shock finally taking their toll on the now fugitive MFF member. When she next awoke she would either be dead, behind bars, or in the hands of whoever was helping the GMGs. Things were not looking good for her in any of those cases, but such was the price of betrayal. Hopefully they'd be gentle... and GMGs.
Rose landed on the bow of her ship with a triumphant look planted firmly on her face, coins and wealths spilling over the deck of the vessel as it took up literally the entire bar. "I return! With great wealth and an even greater ride!" She called out as she front flipped off the boat and into the bar proper, arms outstretched as she showed off her great new boat. She was in a great mood right now, great enough that she could even ignore Emilia's cocky look as she waltzed up to the shopkeeper and slammed her hands down on the counter next to Akiko.
"Alright so! I have approximately 124,240 pieces of gold to spend, plus whatever is on that boat right now that isn't cold hard cash! Akiko has the right idea here, so I'm gonna copy what she's doing for the most part! I want two new cards and the ability to carry four Serei! The fifth card is for the boat obviously, I don't think that should count as a Serei." Rose explained as she hunched over the table to get closer to Emilia. "Also, I'm willing to sell whatever is on that boat so I can trade it in for some real firepower. I'm talking laser cannons, missiles, jet boosters, the works! I wanna turn this into a real skyfaring vessel if you know what I mean." And now she was behind the counter, elbowing Emilia in the side and throwing an arm around her shoulder. "It's your lucky day shopkeep, I've got big bucks to spend and I'm a big spender!"
Rose wasn't worried as the floating debris and buildings suddenly began to fall, nor was she particularly worried as the giant demon stopped in midair, staring into space and exploding into various treasures and riches. She knew that Akiko's Serei would pull through, or whoever the hell that Serei belonged to anyways. What she was concerned with however, was the mass riches pouring down on her vessel, hers for the taking now that the demon had been defeated! Rose crossed her arms and smiled in a rather smug manner as the treasure piled up on her ship, not needing to scurry around with bags and crates like everyone else surely was. Her entire ship was her container, so everything that landed on it was hers! She had the biggest container of them all!
Rose's chest heaved as she tilted her head back and roared with laughter, she was the biggest winner of them all on this floor! Not only did she have Suparna out all this time to rob the city blind with her army of bodies, but now she had a fine vessel, and all the riches she needed to customize it to her heart's content! A wonderful beginning for any aspiring pirate, ignoring the capture and lewd antics she had gone through her first floor! Because of course she would ignore it, who else was gonna talk about it? Definitely not Kanbaru. She was a good 2nd Mate, she would never do such a silly thing. She raised her left arm into the air triumphantly, swiftly catching a falling blade in her outstretched hand and twirling it in circles to show off her prizes. A golden sword, encrusted with a great many jewels along it's pommel, some type of scimitar maybe? Whatever it was, it was worth tons of cash, and it was a nice status symbol if she decided to keep it! Yeah, Rose was the best.
Ami nodded in a sagelike manner, it really was like that sometimes. One sec you're in bed, exhausted after a long day of training and killing, the next you're in a mysterious video game tower with guys in black cloaks spouting meaningless bullshit at you as they threw blank cards arounds. It really was like that sometimes. Ami had of course thrown away that card immediately, she didn't need some lame cards to get strong in the Tower. She operated off of pure muscles! And fire magic.
Ah, Kanbaru always understood just what Ami was thinking. She patted Kanbaru on the back as she disengaged the hug, pulling off her jacket to use as a makeshift bag. "Alright then, you have fun with all that lame counting stuff! I'm just gonna dump it at the counter to make them count it all. It's in the name after all." Ami said cheerfully as she jumped into the air and took off like a jet to collect coins and jewels with her jacket, using it like a basket to catch whatever fell out of the sky.
Well the cage was broken in the end, even if Utena's help hadn't been strictly necessary by any means. The cage was smashed open in one fell cleave of Schrodinger's claws, sending shrapnel and frost flying into the crowd and nearly maiming Utena's beautiful face if she hadn't thought to curl her wings around herself as a shield. A few pieces of metal did manage to slip through her hasty guard, but they were dulled by the thick padding around her limbs. No the main concern was the rampage Schrodinger was going on, swiping and clawing at the crowd around Utena. "Hey come on, there's no time to start wrecking the place! Reinforcements are on the way, we need to get going now!" The turncoat officer yelled as she rushed closer to Schrodinger's body, a common tactic she employed to make sure a GMG couldn't smack her out of the air.
Thankfully it looked like the twin GMGs were just about done with their revenge as Terrorkeat chirped something to her sister and took off into the air, crashing through the bridge above as she headed straight for the ceiling above. Ah, so that was the plan then! Utena grinned as she unfurled her wings once more, aiming the tips at the ceiling Terrorkeat was heading for and unloading a volley of missiles to open a path for the great bird. Sure it wasn't strictly necessary, she could probably bust up the ceiling no problem herself, but Utena liked helping.
Her musings were interrupted by the sound of a gunshot ringing through the air, followed by a lance of pain shooting up her leg as it buckled out from under her. They were using live rounds already! Utena panicked as she rolled onto her back, looking in the direction where she had been shot and seeing a group of very angry soldiers aiming straight at her. She looked back over her shoulder and up at Schrodinger, before activating her wings with a rush of energy. She took off from the ground at a low angle, colliding with the cold GMGs stomach and clinging to the thin string of clothing that covered her. "Time to go time to go time to go!" She yelled, much more urgently now as the soldiers aimed for another round of bullets.
Rose didn't even bother to turn towards CC as she began swearing and fighting with Lorelai, though she did present a good idea. Killing the summoner would be way easier than killing the actual demon itself, if there even was a summoner in the first place. Though the fact that CC had brought up the idea did line up nicely with that weird speck Rose had noticed falling from the demon's hand during their initial skirmish. Not the several other gray specks that kept falling from the Demon, those were just buildings. The weirdly colored one that actually looked kind of important.
"Random stranger, you bring up an amazing point! Go find the summoner and kill them and you'll be allowed to join the crew!" Rose shouted as she dragged Clair and Akiko off. And soon enough CC was off to do just that, though it definitely wasn't by choice as Lorelai forced her to walk the plank and threw her headfirst into the skies below. "And nonsense Clair! You just haven't gotten your sky legs yet! They're like sea legs, but for incredibly radical maneuvers through the wide blue sky!" Rose patted Clair on the back as she ran off to go do... something. Probably trying to find someway to contribute to killing this demon permanently, but Rose wasn't gonna bother with that nonsense. She knew what she was good for, so she wasn't gonna try and punch outside of her weight class.
And now Akiko was stepping away to "go find a way to kill the demon". Jeez, these guys weren't fit to be pirates at all! Fighting giant monsters and defying the odds was all well and good, but only if you actually had the strength to do so! Otherwise you were just needlessly martyring yourself so you could be the coolest corpse on the block! "Fine. Guess I'll get first pick of the haul. Gonna go find Kanbaru and we're all gonna be cool pirates without you." Rose mumbled as she ventured below deck to check out the stash of treasure this merchant vessel was surely carrying.
Ami raised an eyebrow at Kanbaru as three wide slashes appeared in the earth just before she took a step forwards, silently beckoning her to explain why some unknown force had just tried to tear her apart for approaching her childhood friend. The silence was rather deafening, only the distant sound of fires burning and buildings crumbling left to fill the aural void as Ami stared down Kanbaru. Ami was dumb to be sure, but she wasn't an idiot either. The empty look in Kanbaru's eye, the tinge of iron in the air, the way her fists absently clenched. It was a feeling Ami was all too familiar with after a major meltdown, that unsatisfied hunger after your prey slips through your grasp. Yet she showed no sign of defensiveness, managing to pretend she hadn't even noticed as Kanbaru relaxed and bounced up to her friend.
She hated when people looked at her like a monster, especially when they were people who were supposed to be her friends.
"Kan~ ba~ ru~ chan~!" Ami sung as she hugged Kanbaru back, squeezing her arms around her lower back and smiling as if nothing had just tried to kill her a moment prior. But... "It is soooo great to see you! But..." Ami's eyes opened with a red gleam as she separated faces with Kanbaru, her smile sickly sweet as her grip on Kanbaru tightened suddenly. "You ever pull that shit again and I'll pull out your spine." She giggled as she said this, her threat hovering between them for a moment that felt like it lasted much longer than it really did. But a blink later and her eyes were back to normal, perhaps a mere trick of the light? "So like, what have you been up to lately? You just wake up and get pulled into the weird floaty sky Tower too, or did you like, break in? I could totally see you doing something crazy like that."
Yep, this was not a great plan. Actually calling it a plan was really an insult to plans in general, this was more of a snap decision with little to no thought put into it, maybe a bit of daydreaming while eating lunch if she was being generous. But it was what was happening now, so all that was left to do was to go through with it and hope she didn't end up in a cell somewhere. Maybe if she was lucky they would throw her in the cell with Terrorkeat. That wouldn't be so bad really. But that wasn't going to happen! Because they were all going to escape, every single one of them!
The entire base was surely on high alert now, dozens of soldiers already surrounding her with more surely on the way, but these guys were grunt soldiers, bottom rung fodder that was only good for putting bullets into GMGs while the trained professionals kept them occupied. And that was also important to note, they were trained to take on GMGs, not humans. The hesitant expressions on many of their faces, the fact that most of them hadn't even put their fingers on the triggers. This was one of their commanding officers going turncoat, it was enough to make everyone think twice before firing. And those few seconds of hesitation would cost them as Terrorkeat screamed.
It was enough to rattle her skull as Utena's knees nearly buckled, her eardrums shaking and her vision swimming under the force of Terrorkeat's audio assault. She distantly heard monitors shattering one after another, all electronics in the area shutting down as their delicate internals shook themselves apart and were torn apart by broken shards of glass. Many soldiers dropped their guns just so they could cover their ears, some began firing with reckless abandon, shakily pointing in the general direction of Terrorkeat to try and silence her. There was a lot to focus on in the room, Utena honestly being the least of their worries as they turned on the escaping GMGs.
Utena capitalized on this as she grabbed a gun off the floor, firing off several rounds into the crowd as she fought her way to Terrorkeat and Schrodinger, and I do mean fight. Punches were thrown into the crowd to move people out of her way, she body checked several grunts onto the ground as she swung the butt of the rifle into the heads of those less willing to move. The world wasn't wobbling nearly as much as it had been before, looks like her training as an Aerial Diver was coming in handy in regards to recovering from Terrorkeat's sonic scream. Sonic scream, would have to remember that one.
Terrorkeat was doing a fine enough job at freeing herself from her cage, but Utena had two GMGs to worry about busting out after all. Her sword was pulled from her belt as she stood in front of the captured Schrodinger, its frost blue edge glowing as she began to carve through the metal slowly. "COME ON WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO WASTE!" She shouted just a bit too loudly, hacking away at the metal of the cage to give the catgirl somewhere to start. She most certainly didn't need the help, but Utena didn't like feeling helpless, and it really felt like she was making a difference now!
Rose frowned as some new girl just showed up and cleaved the boss, hands on hips as she was completely shown up in one fell strike. Like sure she kinda just saved their asses, was very impressive, very heroic, blah blah. But she totally had that under control! Didn't need that help at all! Nobody asked her to do that! It just made Rose look subpar in comparison, it was really quite annoying! But hey, nothing could be done about it now unless she wanted to look like a jackass and challenge their savior to a duel or something silly. The voices of Clair and Akiko snapped her out of her funk as they landed on her ship, as well as the incoming last hurrah of the dying demon. Her smile picked back up immediately, looks like she was getting her chance to show off after all. Akiko ran to the wheel to try and take control while Rose fucked up the demon one last time, but no way in hell was she taking sloppy seconds from another woman!
"No can do Akiko, I'm the captain and the captain is always at the wheel!" Rose said to Akiko as she refused to budge, already working on just how they were gonna pull this off while simultaneously deciding what the perfect words to kick this off. "Alright ladies and gent, looks like we're gonna be going through a little bit of turbulence as I absolutely style on this loser, so hang on tight!" Rose yelled as she worked the control panel of the ship in a flash, killing the power to all systems and sending the ship plummeting to the earth within moments. The clap missed em by a mile as they dropped like a stone, Rose anchoring herself to the deck of the ship with nothing but sheer willpower as she cackled like a madwoman, only to be drowned out by the explosive boom of the clap above.
"Alright, let's kick it into high gear!" Out of the fire and into the frying pan, one danger replaced for another as gravity worked it's magic. Rose restarted the engine quickly as she began adjusting knobs and pulling levers on instinct, dials and meters going wild as the altitude of the ship continued to fall. The engine was started, now all that was left was to reverse their downward momentum and bring em back into the air before they splattered all over the concrete below like a messy wooden pancake. Sure hope nobody on board was seasick, because this next part was gonna super suck. "Swing baby!"
It was a miracle and a half that Chen was able to hear their crazed captain as he got to work once more, the other half of the miracle being that he still had enough energy to keep producing so much fucking ice and greenery even after that concentrated barrage. But such was the power of the Green Relic, an eternal battery that would keep it's user supplied so long as they had the will to press forwards. Vines and ivy shot forth from all around the ship to latch onto the buildings around, ripping out the concrete and glass they latched onto while only slowing their momentum slightly. But the vines never stopped, more and more erupting from the wood of the ship and continuing to grab onto the skyscrapers, snapping and growing more and more, shifting their momentum ever so slightly. And then all at once, that momentum shifted, from straight down, to forwards. And then up.
The ship was launched back into the sky like one of those pirate ship rides you would see at a carnival, you know the ones where it's basically just a giant swing. Yeah this was basically that, but instead of stopping and going backwards Rose and Chen just launched themselves back into the sky at ludicrous speeds. "Chen you are the fucking best and don't let anyone tell you different! Fuck yeah!" Rose cheered as she stumbled out of the captain's cabin, grabbing Akiko and dragging her onto the main deck while Chen rushed in past her so somebody could take the wheel while she did a fucking victory lap. "Alright gang, let's check out our haul below deck! Best first robbery ever!" Rose stood in the middle of the deck, posing victoriously as she looked back and forth at Akiko and Clair.
Ami visibly deflated as her cool and dramatic entrance was met by a simple "Oh, hey" followed by Kanbaru taking the time to absolutely beat the shit out of this other girl dressed in some weird pointy toed shoes. The rest of her outfit was fairly normal by magical girl standards, but the pointy toed shoes? Major fashion faux paux, whichever Mascot had seen fit to dress her like that needed a major lesson in what was acceptable to wear. Soon enough the beatdown was over, she didn't kill her at the end which was quite surprising, and Ami decided now was a good time to walk up to Kanbaru. Sure she might have been in a bad mood, but that's never stopped anyone from approaching Ami! And she could get into a downright nasty mood when she wanted.
"'Wow Ami, I can't believe you showed up in the magical floating tower too! Such a small world huh, I'm so glad to fucking see you!' Oh thanks Kanbaru-chan, you know how it goes, sometimes shit just happens!" Ami remarked in an annoyed manner, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting at Kanbaru viciously, before taking a deep breath and letting it go in a sigh. "Whatever, it's cool. You obviously had shit on your plate. Bad timing. Whatever." Ami shrugged and took another deep breath, before letting it go and smiling. "But seriously, it's great to see you. It's been way too long."
Two blinks for first response. Good, communication has been established, Terrorkeat at the very least could understand her in GMG form. That had been an initial worry of Utena's that perhaps she could only understand humans while in human form. Second answer was concerning, but also somewhat relieving at the same time. Knowing that the two had nothing to do with Akari's disappearance took a load off her shoulders, not once did she consider the possibility that Terrorkeat might have been lying. She seemed too honest to lie, too kind hearted. Maybe a bit too naive as well considering she only appeared when other GMGs were around. Utena always got the feeling she was trying to help, she just wasn't good at it.
Last question, most important one of all. One blink. And then another to seal the deal. The back of Utena's neck tingled as McNair and Kusanagi watched her from above, one developed this kind of sixth sense after spending so long on the battlefield. Utena turned around and looked up into the eyes of McNair, face blank as she stared down her commanders. Her frown deepened, it was now or never. She turned back to Terrorkeat and Schrodinger, each one struggling to keep their limbs close to their bodies, lest they be zapped by that which confined them. The constant trembling from Terrorkeat, a bundle of nerves ready to explode at any moment. Yeah, it was never much of a choice if Utena was being honest with herself. "Alright, get ready then." Utena mumbled, more to herself than either of the GMGs as she walked to the nearby control panel for the cages. A scientist looked up from his clipboard as Utena approached, his smile upon seeing her quickly disappearing as she shoved him aside.
"H-hey, what do you think you're doing?! That's-" His words went in one ear and out the other as she studied the panel, unsure of what buttons did what. Fuck it, no time for any of this nonsense. Utena unsheated her sword from her side and jabbed the edge of it into the controls, sparks flying everywhere as power to the cages was cut. At this point people really started to take notice of what Utena was doing, panic quickly spreading amongst the crowd as scientists and soldiers alike realized what this meant.
A loud click heralded freedom for the GMGs as the cages unlocked. Utena turned back to the two sisters with a nervous smile. "I really hope you guys are taking me with you." Utena said as she began to run for the warehouse doors, sheathing her sword once more and warming up her wings.
With all the focus on Claire as she held back the giant boss monster's immense attack, Rose and Chen were scrambling to get everything ready for the opening strike against the giant boss monster demon. Rose held the course steady at the wheel of the ship as she weaved in and out of the clouds, always a second or two away from collision with a giant flaming fist. Seems her position as Warrior had given her some good experience with piloting though, knew that class swap from Mage was worth it in the end.
Chen on the other hand was working his ass off to get the ship ready for the opening salvo as he dashed all around the ship, creating cannons of blue and armor of green, his Relic on overtime as he fully outfitted what should be a merchant's vessel into something resembling a military class ship. Closer and closer they came, the crew worked in perfect tandem and fought for every damn yalm closer to the massive monstrosity. Rose would dodge every beam of fire and sulfur, what she couldn't dodge Claire would block against with all her might.
And just like that, it was time. "Open fire!" Rose shouted up at Chen, eyes closed as he focused on every single armament he had created in what little time he had. And then his eyes snapped open as dozens of harpoons of ice and bark shot out of the cannons all over the ship, peppering the demon's face and going straight for the eyes to blind and batter him. It was an annoying assault to be sure, but there was no way it would outright kill the demon. Chen was strong, but this thing was a veritable behemoth of hell, it was going to take more than a couple dozen harpoons to kill this thing.
She smirked as she looked down at the rampant chaos and violence of this floor, mayhem reigned supreme here as every student fought tooth and nail to "graduate" from the Umbra Academy. Yeah, this was her kind of place alright. Too bad a giant demon had to come out of nowhere to ruin the fun, really stole her thunder before she even had a chance to shine. And now we've got these other wannabe explorers riding in with an airship, shooting at the big dumb idiot with their tiny little guns. Like that was gonna do anything.
"Well, now's as good a time as any to make an entrance I guess. Who knows, maybe they'll think I'm so cool they'll immediately ask me to be their leader!"
And so she stood up and cracked her neck, hefting her sword off her shoulder and glaring directly at the demon's neck.
"TAKE THIS YOU COCKSUCKEEEEEEEER!" A burst of flame heralded her arrival as she descended from the blimp she had been sitting atop, carving through the demon's neck with her blackened sword of flame and malice like a cleaver through a fresh cut of pork. She landed on the skyscraper opposite Kanbaru and turned to the bluenette with swagger and style. "Sup Kanbaru-chan? Ya miss me?"
Member
Sho Minazuki
