The Nightmare Years

While he wouldn't like to admit it, by this point Xavier had just been standing there slightly dumbfounded but now he actually had opportunity and he was damned if he wasn't going to take it.

Almost before being told to do so, Xavier darted through the area, trying to get to the cave and, if possible, dart inside it and go as far in as he must to get something to happen.

Cosmo took the chance to take a step back when the woman was distracted. He wasn't much for fighting, save the occasional fistfight, but he had to do something, even if the woman would probably kill him. But he couldn't let her kill the others without trying to do something. He pulled his crowbar out of his backpack and charged forward, trying to smack the woman with it.

When the chick with the wings said to kill them all Larry figured he might as well go down swinging . He charged robo-wolf while pulling his switchblade out.

"AHHHHHHHH!," he yelled as he charged. Then he saw a hot girl in armor and bearing a frikkin' sword come out of the cave and yell to get in there. he changed trajectory and aimed for the cave.

Assuming he isn't shot or eaten and doesn't bounce off the invisible shield he would enter the cave at a full run and still screaming.

edited 31st Aug '12 2:34:50 PM by tricksterson

Adam Smith

Well, this was it. It was a trap. And they were going to die.

...And then, the girl that literally crawled into the cave earlier, emerged again, this time clad in a full armor, created some kind of force-field and attacked the winged woman…

…There is a limit to humans ability to be surprised or shocked, and this broke Adams. He did not think about how impossible or science-breaking the situation was. Those three were allied with Nightmares. Somehow. That girl reached a cave, gained weird powers and now was trying to save them from certain doom. Somehow. And if you did not worry about the unnecessary Why’s and How’s, figuring out What you should do was pretty easy.

Adam leapt forward, sprinting towards the cave as fast as he could, while his side-arm spewed suppressive fire aimed at the winged woman. He bellowed.

"COME ON!!! WE HAVE TO REACH THE CAVE!!!"

edited 31st Aug '12 5:27:50 PM by Drakovicz

Cave

Kyris made her way through the cave surprisingly easy. Nothing was here. And yet for all the blatant alarms that should be ringing in her head about danger, there was only peace. Only tranquility. Only a need to touch what lay before her. A voice rang out in her head to take hold of it and despite hating being told what to do, despite wanting to flinch away from authority she did exactly what it wanted. She stretched a unsure hand toward it, something inside pulling before she could stop herself. Whatever comes now, whatever consequences there would be, she would embrace them as she did everything- head on and unrelenting.

He had no idea what was going on. None. All he knew was, right now, get him and the others to safety First there were nightmares and now winged people and now people with bikinis and caves and swords...

Oh for the creators sake. Instead, he made a dash for the cave, wishing he could perhaps do more.

"We can't just leave her!" called Ryan, not wanting to leave the girl with the sword to fight alone.

Damn it, what the hell was happening?!

But before he could go back to help, he was swept along by the others towards the cave...

Become a Knight

The voice in her dreams came to her at that moment when she saw the girl coming out of the cave clad in armor and wielding a sword like a figure out of legend. The voice was right... The voice held promise.

Knowing she was not on a wild chase gave Jane courage as he stuck back to support the swordwielder. Everyone still had to run into the cave... share in their hope. But for now, until they came back it was just the swordwielder against three opponents. She raised her rifle and shot at the figure, warning shot to at least draw their attention.

Blank

edited 31st Aug '12 8:24:45 PM by RagnaTheSaviour

Darrel - outside the cave

Things started to happen as Darrel's mind caught back up to the situation at hand. The lady in the armor and her two 'comrades' were clearly hostile; in fact, it almost seemed like she was working with the shadows.

They were stuck between these three hostiles in front and the approaching shadows from the rear. There was no way-

And then there was another lady in armor, also wielding a sword, leaping and swinging at the first while shouting at them to get to the cave. Huh.

It was about then that Darrel's military training and discipline kicked in; the situation may have been bizarre and Darrel still wasn't sure what was going on, but not acting was still clearly a bad idea. Darrel made a sprint for the cave, coming at it from a slightly different angle than the rest of the group.

Jerome chastised himself as the woman barked out orders. Why had it never occured to him that she might be an enemy? Controlling the Nightmares was a new twist to be sure, but any in-depth analysis could wait until he wasn't in danger of having his head blown off by some sort of cyborg monster.

Running toward the cave mouth, he was temporarily stunned as the girl from earlier emerged from the cave not just with new garb, but with a sword. Even more inexplicably, she was somehow generating a force field. In all his years he had never seen something like this, and it was almost too much to grasp. Only the imminent danger spurred him on through the forcefield, but Ryan's call gave him pause. "If we wait around, there won't be anybody to save her - and I doubt she can hold this force field forever. Get in here and she will be able to get to safety sooner!"

He prayed that the man would listen to what he had said; he had seen far too many people get cut down because they didn't stop and think about the greater implications of what was happening.

Cave

Kyris, like Sophie before her, was suddenly in the empty void. No matter which way she looked there was nothing to see. The only difference between this and being blind was instead of darkness everything was white light.

"Kyris, this will be painful for a moment. Please accept my apologies."

Kyris, again, like Sophie, felt a thousand needles enter her body from every direction. Shoes did not protect her feet, hair did not shield her head. Everything seemed life it was on fire and ice at the same time.

Then it was over. It couldn't have taken more than five seconds even though it felt so much longer. Kyris was back in the cave, flat on her back. Once the nausea wore off she would realize her clothes had completely changed.

And on her arms were a pair of gauntlets.

" Kyris Grant, Knight of Power." The voice proclaimed, "You must go and help the others. One Knight cannot handle the Hexra!"

Outside

The voice had identified the the winged woman as Daalye. And it was she who felt Sophie, who found herself able to jump unnaturally high, especially considering Saffron's gravity, coming at her. Those wings might hint at something birdlike about the woman, since she felt a shift in the air as Sophie came at her and acted accordingly.

With speed no normal person possessed, Daalye leaped to the side and moved to strike at Sophie. A shot from Jane's rifle zoomed past her, and the winged woman glared at the offender. Distracted, she missed Cosmo coming up behind her and slamming a crowbar into her head. This didn't have the effect Cosmo had probably hoped for. Daalye did not go down like a normal person who had taken metal to her head would. Like a Nightmare, the physical object didn't really make contact with so much as go through her, faintly resistant like water. Where the crowbar struck her head the hair and flesh became distorted like smoke before returning to their original state. She did stumble though and slash wildly behind her in defense. Her blade made contact and a slice across Cosmo's upper chest began bleeding profusely.

Daalye did not seem overly concerned with the man though. Recovering, she set her sights on Sophie. "Little Knight thinks she can match Daalye, the Sky Blade, does she now? You're in over your head!" She returned Sophie's prior attack with a stab of her own. "Now die, like those who came before you!"

Notob, momentarily confused by the mass movement of everyone, finally settled on the firer as his target. From his arm barrels a hail of bullets struck at Jane. One hit her in the side, and another in the left leg.

Bushuda aimed his cannon at the top of the cave and fired. What looked like a small rocket struck the energy barrier. It held, but Sophie felt a jab like someone had hit her on the head.

Xavier, Larry, Adam, Byron, Byron's passenger, and Ryan made it to the cave. Sophie's briefly lowered shield allowed them all in and they could see Kyris lying on the ground in a daze. It was at that same moment the armored man fired again. This time he hit the rocks above the cave. Whatever explosives those rockets contained, they were more powerful then they would seem. Shield or no, the entrance was blocked as boulders and gravel fell to the ground and trapped the others inside.

Darrel, who was too far, and Jerome, whose pause and age slowed him down, narrowly avoided being crushed by falling rocks. But now they were on the outside with the Knight of the Sword and Shield, the wounded Cosmo and Jane, the three Hexra, and a pack of invisible monsters about to close it.

Bushuda aimed his weapon at the two men.

Notob stopped firing and advanced on Jane.

Cave

Everyone inside the cave found themselves in the dark except the oval stone glowed faintly like a beacon. The same voice they'd been hearing, the one that had already directed Sophie and Kyris (who was still on the floor), gave them the instructions they needed to hear.

"Go! Reach for it!"

edited 1st Sep '12 9:25:26 PM by Parable

Sophie — Outside, Vs. Daalye

Die like those who came before you?

"I'm only one Sophie Roberts, you idiot." she said to herself, quickly summoning yet another shield to protect against Daylee's attack. The transparent, white energy expanded outward and covered Sophie's entire body. The blow struck the shield, pushing Sophie back a little further. A white platform appeared at her feet, functioning the sameway as all of her other magic did. Alright, this was starting to take a toll on her body but she couldn't stop here, not now!

"Flock off feather-face!!" Sophie swung the sword down, again in a perfect arc, in an attempt to deal some damage to Daylee's upper-body.

edited 1st Sep '12 9:48:47 PM by RagnaTheSaviour

Agony flared across Cosmo's chest, the blood staining his clothing as it poured out, the pain blurring his sight. He would have fallen over if he hadn't been able to use the crowbar to keep himself up - or at least on his knees. In the haze of his vision, he saw the winged woman attacking again. "...no..." he whispered to himself. He knew couldn't stop her, but if he didn't, she'd hurt that little girl. "No, no, no, no."

With all the strength he had left, he put his might down into his crowbar as he used it as leverage to charge forward. He dropped it as soon as he was on his feet, and held out both of his hands to prepare a large bear hug, charging towards the flier in a mad, dazed, rush, grunting loudly in pain, "RRRGGG!".

Byron hated this, not being able to help the others but the injured man took priority over anything else. I Nto the cave. Salvation. And strange voices telling him to do so. Okay the last one was strange but he wasn't about to question it. Or maybe he should?

Dammit, Byron, now's not the time to THINK! It's time to ACT!

"Are you okay sir?" Byron didn't even sound winded as he slowed to a walk, deciding to take some pressure off the poor guy and pull him off his shoulder. "I think you're okay...we should just sit here and wait for the others, it feels safe in here, ya know?"

He sat the man down and sat down beside him, his exhaustion finally kicking in. He was prepared to strike up a conversation with the man, or even go back out and help them fight, but then...

A shiny thing.

The rock looked so...tantalizing. Why was it glowing? It was just ludicrous! The dumb in his brain caught up with him, and he released a stupid chuckle and reached over to grab it.

"Heh heh..." he said. "Shiny.'

Darrel - outside the cave

Running, shouting, bullets flying, and explosions. Fortunately, Darrel was already trained for this kind of situation; unfortunately, he was a pilot, so he was supposed to be in an aircraft for a situation like this.

Especially unfortunate was that the explosions seemed to be focused right on where Darrel was trying to get to, and he suddenly found the cave in front of him sealed just before he could get in. Darrel stopped before smacking into the rocks, but it was little comfort. He turned quickly, seeing that one other person had been unlucky enough to get stuck outside; an older man in strange clothes, looked like he might be from Seralon. Both of them were being faced down by the figure with the gun that had been firing those rockets.

In terms of options, there weren't many. Or rather, there were plenty, but unfortunately just about all of them seemed to end in, 'get blown up by a rocket'. Being in a million pieces just wasn't in Darrel's plans for the day; if he could at least throw off the guy's aim and make him miss with the next rocket, that might buy Darrel enough time to rush him. But Darrel didn't have a gun, so he'd have to make due with what was on hand.

In a decision made just a second after Darrel stopped, he swiped a fist-sized rock from the landslide right next to him, since he didn't have to crouch down or lean over to get one, and chucked it at the man's rocket launching weapon. Wasting no time to use this as an opening move, Darrel then charged for a grappling tackle.

Ryan was angry. Angry at himself for not being able to help. Angry at those strangers. They were controlling the Nightmares!

And now they were stuck inside the cave! Wait...that voice...what is...?

He reached out to touch the thing in the cave.

Maybe....it could help...

Kuh!

The pain from the impact of the bullet made Jane fall to one knee... a miracle was it that she did not drop outright. She cried out just once more before she bit her lip hard as the tried to get a hold of herself... though it was proving to be hard with her two injuries and the danger around all of the,

Still, Jane had to do her best. The bullets didn't seem to hit anything vital, so she wasn't dead just yet

The young soldier did her best to stumble and fall towards some measure of cover, holding her weapon with all her might...

Developments were occuring around him, but he couldn't help yet. For now, he would just have to follow mysterious instructions.

He grabbed the rock.

"AAAAAH!" Larry was still screaming as he entered the cave and just barely stopped before he ran face forward into a wall. Then he heard the voice. "Okay, I will", he said. Then he saw the girl lying on the ground. When he saw the other two reaching for the rock he decided he'd see what happened to them first. Instead he went up to the girl kneeled down and touched her on the shoulder. "You okay? Stupid question. Wake up!"

edited 2nd Sep '12 6:18:15 AM by tricksterson

Jerome was forced to stop to catch his breath as he scarcely avoided being crushed by the falling rocks. Fit he might be, yes, but he could not expect himself to run repeatedly and intensively without repercussions. His age had caught up with him quite some time ago. He hoped that those who had managed to get past the rock fall would be okay until they completed whatever was necessary in there. Unfortunately, there was the simple matter of being surrounded by enemies with no way to defend himself. Jane had been injured by the cyborg monstrosity's firing as well. Was this all a nightmare? Would he be struck down, only to awaken in his shelter?

Whether or not that was the case, survival was his top priority. What the hell could he do to assist in the fight? He was old, and he had brought no weapons with him, for he foresaw no need for them. He cursed his foolishness. Now he was in the very real position of being in mortal danger, and none of the choices available to him would seemingly save him. Preparing himself for what seemed inevitable, Jerome tried to retreat away from the Hexra and remained alert, ready to avoid any incoming attacks from the Nightmares or their masters. He would face death with dignity.

edited 3rd Sep '12 1:39:06 PM by Flanker66

This Post was Beaten to a Bloody Pulp by the Something of Somethingorother

edited 2nd Sep '12 5:15:17 PM by tricksterson

Adam Smith, Inside the Cave

Somehow, he mad it inside the cave. It was pandemonium: Some members of the group ran together with him, other stayed behind and attacked those three, some collapsed... Now that he was inside the cave, he had no idea what to do next. Help the wounded? Go outside and join the fight? What?

"Go! Reach for it!"

He took a deep breath. He followed those visions from the beginning. He would be a fool if he suddenly mistrusted them now. The battle outside, injured inside...They could all wait. He would help them afterwards. Without hesitation, Adam reached for the stone.

edited 2nd Sep '12 3:09:28 PM by Drakovicz

This post was thumped by the Codfish in a Derby Hat

This Post was Eaten by Cranky Trolls.

edited 2nd Sep '12 5:16:05 PM by tricksterson