Member
Izurich
Michael, Din and Agoston
Collab with: @Stekkmen, @Stern Algorithm
EXP Gained: +3, -1 for Michael
Location: Scrapyard - Bridge
Wordcount: 1312
For a moment, Michael simply stared into the barrel of Franklin's gun, watching his life flash before his eyes. Was this it? It almost seemed fitting, in a way. After all the times he had screwed over the people that were closest to him, his life would be ended by one of his closest friends. Maybe this was what he deserved. Looking up, he still couldn't see any emotion in Franklin's eyes, just the haze that signified Galeem's influence. He didn't know why he hadn't just pulled the trigger already. Maybe there was some part of his friend that was trying to fight back? Either that, or whatever was controlling him just wanted Michael to suffer.
As Franklin's finger began to push down on the trigger, Michael could hear a familiar voice shout in the distance. As Franklin turned his head to face the direction of the noise, a ball of white energy shot forward, landing at his feet. "What the-" The approaching ball of magic caused Franklin to take a step back, causing him to slip as the ground beneath him turned icy. He fell backwards, hitting the ground with a thud. Groaning, he lifted himself back onto his feet, leaving blood stains on the ground. He used his left hand to hold onto his chest, trying to slow the bleeding from his multiple gunshot wounds. Despite his increased strength and endurance, being shot several times clearly hurt him. He steadied his right hand in the direction of Din, trying to line up a shot.
Meanwhile, Michael fell onto his side, clutching his wound. Oddly enough, as he lay there, he could feel the bleeding slowly decrease, almost as if it was healing itself. He took a few moments to catch his breath, trying to build up enough strength to keep fighting on despite the pain.
Noticing Franklin's gun trained on her, Din looked for something to hide behind, suddenly noticing Magnumus Agoston, who was standing by, ready to help. She didn't understand the difference in power between guns and bows, and assumed a man in full armor was strong enough to block a bullet, so she dove behind him and said, "Hurry! Michael's fighting his friend and they both look pretty hurt. His friend's got one of those 'guns', so be careful. I'll support you from behind."
The Centurion looked down at the dancer as she hid behind him. "Right!" He glanced up and tried to examine the situation. Michael's friend, or rather, his current enemy, was a young man who seemed to have similar gear to Micheal. Guns and the like. The man had trained his gun to retaliate against Din, but now it seemed Agoston was interposed between the two.
"Right." He said, a little deflated. But his instincts told him to stand his ground. The man lined up his shot, and Centurion took a few steps forward. The shot rang out, and Centurion raised his fore-arm before him in a position that would have once command a legion to prepare for a rain of arrows. The shot, suddenly, exploded into vibrant orange light as it glanced off an amber transluscent shield that cracked from the impact and then vanished into thin air.
"Haha!" The man in armor exclaimed, clearly excited he had achieved new power. The man seemed surprised, but quickly fired off another volley. Some of them missed, but most of them made contact. The Centurion rushed forward as the bullets pinged off his novel defense, but the shield was more and more cracked each time it appeared to deflect a shot. The Centurion was close, but the shield shattered as the fourth bullet slammed into it. He was a few feet away but not close enough to get a hit in. Running full speed he would take at least one or two more shots before colliding with Franklin.
Tilting his head up, Michael could see the Centurion approaching, and Franklin turning to face him, firing his pistol several times, with the shots being deflected by some kind of orange barrier. While he wasn't sure where the warrior had gotten the power from, he could tell that it wouldn't hold up forever. The shield seemed to weaken as multiple rounds struck it, and as it was hit a fourth time, it shattered.
Michael's regeneration had helped him tremendously, stopping the bleeding and healing his wound somewhat. While he was far from full strength, he felt strong enough to get back in the fight. With the Centurion's shield down, he would be vulnerable to Franklin's shots, but if he could distract his possessed friend for a few seconds, his allies could rush in to take him down. Stumbling to his feet, Michael felt a rush of adrenaline as he lunged at Franklin, grabbing the man by the arm and trying to pry the gun from him. Franklin, not expecting the sudden attack, stumbled as he tried to regain control, attempting to get Michael off of him.
As the Centurion approached, he braced himself to be shot by a gun for the first time in his life, and fight through the pain. Instead, Michael, regaining stability, rushed their possessed enemy. Encouraged, the Centurion smacked Franklin hard across the face with the back of his left gauntlet. Then, he brought his left hand down upon Franklin's left shoulder, and with his right hand pulled by Micheal, was easily able to hit him on the forehead three times with the pommel of his Gladius. After stunning the gun-toting foe, the Centurion attempted to wrench him off his feet and pin him to the ground.
"Dedere, dedere, dedere!" He shouted, trying to subdue Michael's friend. To be forced to fight against one's own free will truly is an abomination of the rules of battle.
Even with three times his usual strength, Franklin had a hard time fighting off two opponents that were grabbing him at the same time. He was left unable to defend himself as the Centurion grabbed him, striking him three times. He soon fell to the ground, momentarily incapacitated while the Centurion held him down. Michael looked on as Franklin struggled momentarily, attempting to break out of the Centurion's grip, but eventually fell limp, unable to continue fighting.
If Michael was going to rescue his friend from Galeem's influence, now was the time. But how? He had seen others summon Friend Hearts, but he didn't know how they did it. From what he could tell, it seemed to be something instinctual. Closing his eyes, he thought about his friend, about saving him...and he felt something. When he opened his eyes, to his surprise, a glowing heart was in his hand. "Woah..." Putting aside his awe for the moment, he motioned towards Franklin, and watched as the heart entered his chest. There was a pause, then he heard a cough, and saw Franklin opening his eyes. The haze and the blank look were gone, as his eyes darted between Michael and the Centurion. Michael put a hand on the armored man's shoulder. "It's alright. It's over."
"Ugh..." Franklin groaned, closing his eyes and putting a hand on his chest. Judging by his facial expression, he was in a severe amount of pain, as the increased strength faded away. Fortunately, Blazermate was nearby, and her healing dealt with the worst of his friend's injuries, as well as helped close up Michael's wound. Franklin took several deep breaths, before sitting up, looking over the group in front of him. "Man...what the hell just happened?" He looked down, noticing the blood staining his shirt. "How...how am I still alive?"
Michael reached out, grabbing Franklin's hand and pulling him to his feet. "It's a long story, kid." He turned his head, looking towards the castle in the distance. "But we'll play catch-up later. There's something more important we have to deal with first."