[CLOSED] the woods are lovely, dark and deep

[telewarped]

Who: Shoka Sakurane, Narciso Anasui, Conrad Achenleck
What: Exploration of the Northern Forest
When: Late April
Where: Northern Forest
Warnings: Violence against plantlife



More accurately, the woods are lonely, dense and dank. The deeper Shoka ventures with Conrad and Anasui close behind, the more hostile it seems to grow to their presence. The foliage blocks out any shred of sunlight, the ground becomes slick and uneven, and the air turns thick and heavy, smelling strongly of rot.

Not much for leadership, Shoka is only really leading the charge because none of these things bother her much. She can see well even in pitch darkness, and her amorphous body molds easily enough to the unpredictable shapes the terrain takes on as they move. This combined with the goggles she's strapped onto her body (per Akechi's advice), she has the look of a confident, seasoned adventurer... But she's also small—as is Conrad—especially compared to Anasui. Their progress is slow going.

Out of the corner of her eye, she thinks she sees something move for a split second, slithering along the forest floor like a serpent—but when she turns to look, ready (and inwardly almost hoping) for a fight, all is still again.

"Stay close," she pipes up. "But keep those antidotes the doc gave us even closer, got it? If either of you get spore'd and turn on me, don't expect me to hold back."

She isn't being entirely serious, though she still expects her teammates to operate on the same assumption. Trusting Conrad to keep Dr. Denne's medication on hand is easy enough, but as for Anasui... She isn't sure what to make of him at all yet, really—but, if nothing else, he seems determined to get the job done and claim his reward. It's exactly why she brought him along, despite him being a near-stranger.

So she continues guiding them onward, taking her own advice and staying close... Even if that means a slow trek for the whole team.

Comments

[dripdrive]

Anasui is the sort of guy who enjoys learning random trivia (even if he won't admit it) so he's ready to ask about the Chocobos. However, he immediately locks in when he hears the alert. His eyes flash over to the vines that Conrad spots and then flick down to where Shoka points. Those certainly were vines. Anasui instinctively steps back to avoid the vines and scowls.

"Shit! Hold on!" Anasui can't see much beyond their immediate field of view so Shoka's hand is a huge help. He can't charge at his full speed but he can certainly move quickly, weaving through the trees to avoid the vines.

"Where are these things coming from?" He yells as he moves.

[conradachenleck]

Conrad would have been quite happy to discuss Chocobos and where they come from, but... Yeah, their current situation isn't going to allow them that. In an instant he's basically holding on for dear life as Anasui dashes across the forest floor to avoid the vines that abruptly appear out of the earth and the darkness of the woods.

At least it seems they can outrun them. Or some of them. The three of them seem to be making a pretty clean break when Conrad spies even more vines springing up out of the dirt right in front of them.

"OH FU-! They're everywhere!" he half yells, half grunts, stating the obvious as they run upon the vines.

What do they do now? They can't go back the way they came, so their options are pretty limited. Pretty soon they'll be surrounded as the vines reach out for them. He has to assume they want to ensnare them and drag them off into the dark and his panicked mind tries to think... What can he do? He can't Sing vines to sleep and he lacks sharp claws and teeth to cut them down. This has definitely become a real nightmare scenario and he feels the impending doom as the vines close in on them.

[telewarped]

Shoka holds on tight, the ears of her disguise flapping behind her in the wind as Anasui speeds ahead. This might have been fun, actually... if not for the countless murderous vines.

Anasui makes a fair point. Where are they coming from? Shoka squints through the gaps between the reaching, serpentine shapes, searching for an origin point... But there's nothing.

"H—hell if I know," she replies, unnerved. "I can't see any—..."

Conrad makes a fair point, too. They are everywhere. Soon, they have the team surrounded, forcing them to an abrupt halt.

"I noticed, thanks!"

A pair of vines move to strike in tandem, winding their way toward Anasui's neck—and suddenly, inexplicably, Shoka finds herself thinking of Ayano. Ayano's Noise form, rather, and the vines she produced to subject her attackers to Punishment. There was only one way to get through it, when one member of the team found themselves cornered and trapped: the rest of the team needed to attack those vines head on, as fast and viciously as possible.

The memory stings—and then it makes Shoka angry. The rage puppets her upright, makes her release her hold on Anasui's feathers and take a flying leap at the vines approaching him, swinging her glowing tail-stick at them like a hatchet.

"Back—" Slice left. "—Off!" And another slice right.

She doesn't even expect it to work, really—and yet it does. When she lands on the ground before her teammates, the heads of those two vines land with her, lobbed clean off. What's left of them continue to writhe about in the air, but it's proof enough for Shoka: they can fight their way out.

A Mimikyu possessed, she dives right back in, wildly brandishing her claws and tail-stick. She seems intent on fighting all the vines off herself, using this as an excuse to let out what seems like a great deal of pent-up rage—but there's no way she possibly could. She'll need help.

"Get—outta—my way!"

[dripdrive]

Anasui skids to a halt as he realises they're surrounded. They have a tiny patch of ground but who knows when the vines will break through and grab his legs. He could make a run for it and it's almost guaranteed that he'd be ensnared. Anasui wracks his brains at what to do but Shoka acts before him.

Oh.

Oh!!!

"I suppose this was inevitable," Anasui says with a sigh. However, not one to shy away from violence, Anasui's eyes glow and he raises his head to attack. Immediately, a strange beam of light crashes down on the vines violently, crushing them into the earth.

Still mindful of Connor on his back, Anasui spins around to attack some of the vines behind them. They're a bit too close for him to use Lumina Crash again on but Anasui uses his talons to cut through the thick vines.

"Get a torch on if you can!" Anasui calls to Connor. Whether the Jigglypuff chooses to listen to him or not is irrelevant, really though. Anasui is ready to fight blindly through the fog!

[conradachenleck]

Conrad is simply doing his best to hang on when Shoka jumps and rushes toward the throng of vines that threaten to overwhelm them. She wasn't really going to try to take on all those vines by herself, was she? He can hardly believe it, then, when she actually does a pretty good job, tearing them up left and right.

And then seemingly out of nowhere light falls all around them and as Anasui turns to fight the vines one-on-one, Conrad finally loses his grip. With a strangled shout he goes hurtling toward the ground, but luckily for him he bounces and gets to his feet no worse for wear. He's lost his mask, though, and the vines obviously have it out for him, too.

He doesn't have claws or fangs or anything that can keep the rogue foliage at bay, but as the vines try to wrap around him he puffs up and breaks them as they try strangle him. Now that his temper is piqued he body slams a mass of clinging plants heading straight for Shoka and uses Play Rough, beating the vines and tying them into knots. That's about the best he can do. He tries his best to stay out of Shoka and Anasui's way, but it's a little difficult when the vines keep him moving this way and that.

[telewarped]

It doesn't take Shoka long to see that she's overwhelmed—she just doesn't seem to care. She's lurching backward, readying a new move and realizing that attacking one vine will just leave her open to another when Anasui and Conrad join the fray, scattering scraps of plant matter into the air as they slash, smash, and shred their way through the writhing mass. Anasui levels several in one move, sending them crashing into the dirt; one briefly catches Conrad, only to burst apart a moment later.

Shoka would smile if she could. Now it's a fair fight.

She throws herself back into the fray with renewed energy then, hacking away even more savagely with her tail-stick and her claws, then zipping away with Shadow Sneak when she needs to. At one point, a stray vine she hadn't noticed nearly grabs her before she can escape into her shadow—but Conrad pummels it into submission before it can reach her, then ties it into knots for good measure.

She's... a little taken aback, witnessing that. She wasn't sure he had it in him!

"Th—thanks..." she manages to say before he's gone again, off to clobber the next plant in line.

Taking his cue, she springs back into action, watching Conrad and Anasui's backs in turn.

"Turn 'em to mulch!"

With their combined efforts, the mass slowly but surely starts to thin. Soon, the ground is covered in strips of withered green—carnage left behind by flattened and tattered vines. Some battered ones still move, but now in a harmless crawl along the ground, their ends pruned and leaking sap. Several remain intact and squirming—but now, as she's taking a moment to regain her bearings, Shoka sees a way forward opening before them.

"Hey," she pipes up, breathlessly. "Hey! That way's—"

For a split second, she's distracted; her sentence is cut short by one of the remaining vines coiling around the neck of her disguise. It cinches tight around the soft, fabric throat, until something within it snaps like the cracking of bone. As it lifts her up off the ground, her tail-stick slips from her claws and falls into the dirt below.

It's a grisly sight, her form hanging limp from its broken neck... But she's obviously unharmed—or at least alive—judging by the way she immediately starts to wriggle and claw ineffectually at the flesh of the vine.

"Lemme go—!"

[dripdrive]

Anasui, despite his claims, is used to fighting in a group. No matter where Shoka or Conrad move or are moved, Anasui is quick to shift around them so he's not on top of them. The sheer brutality and combined force of their attacks is something to be marvelled and the vines become shreds and scraps.

And then there's a crack.

Anasui immediately fears the worst, forgetting Mimikyu had false heads, and looks at Shoka. He doesn't have time to process she's still moving and talking. Anasui's eyes glow bright blue as he uses Ally Swap to trade places with Shoka, freeing her but entangling his leg in the process.

"Check if she's okay!" Anasui barks to Conrad before using his other foot to stomp on the vines around him.