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Post by Markus Hederick on Jan 28, 2020 1:10:44 GMT -5
This was all that Markus needed to see. He paused everything to take a look at two things: the guy who was clearly enhanced with something, and the knife itself. He eyed both things closely.
"...I'm nowhere near an expert on biology, but this looks wrong...very wrong," Markus clearly recognized.
"His body was failing, and it wasn't because of the stab wound," Gargulion could see. "Usually, when injuries like this happen, the soul instinctively fights to keep it's shell - his body - alive. In rare circumstances - like the body failing - the soul tries to reject it and abandon ship. That's what Maurice's soul was trying to do."
"So...for example, the Hurranians could cause something like this to happen."
"That's what has happened from what I've experienced."
"This would happen when the body is no longer functioning the way it's supposed to as opposed to being hurt."
"Yes."
"And we have this guy here with a blue tentacle growing out of his arm... Reminds me of the Maverick that Alana got infected with. I'm thinking this is something similar." Markus pressed a button on his BrawlX to activate the DNA Stimulus. With this, his vision was improved to the point where he was able to see exactly what was happening inside of their bodies.
"...Good news...it's not a virus..."
"..."
"...It's a parasite..."
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Post by Markus Hederick on Jan 28, 2020 14:40:34 GMT -5
Once Markus and Gargulion finished their analysis of everyone else on the scene, the robed Gargulion scanned Maurice's body to find Sprayzer. When Sprayzer was found, Gargulion picked him up to see how he was doing.
"Looks good to me," Gargulion confirmed. "Also, we believe this gang is using a parasite."
"A what!?" the flabbergasted Maurice exclaimed.
"If it wasn't for Vladitor, you'd be long gone," Markus noticed. "I'm not exactly sure what this parasite does, but from what I saw, it seems to be spread like any other parasite. That means it's not as bad as the Hurranians and the Maverick virus in terms of how it's distributed. Still, I have a problem with how this could be handled by these kind of people, especially when it comes to infecting other people for money...or even for free. We've seen it with the Hurranians. This could be the end of our careers as we know it if any of them show up at the Showcase."
"So, what do we do? If we tell the cops or the FBI that this is happening, that gang may come back to finish Maurice off," Gargulion speculated.
"Don't worry about that," Maurice insisted. "If those guys aren't stopped now, then they're not only going to ruin brawling forever, but they're going to reverse everything that the Resistors have done for this community. I wouldn't be able to live knowing that protecting me caused all of your hard work to go down the drain. You all do what you need to do. I'm fine."
"...Maurice...are you absolutely sure this is what you want? You know this situation is bad, very bad," Markus reminded him.
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Post by Alana Cortese on Jan 28, 2020 15:10:37 GMT -5
"You seem to have a good idea of what happened. You know what they said. They'll try to kill me regardless of what I do, so I'm gonna do the right thing," Maurice declared.
"...Okay," Alana accepted.
"I respect your courage, but you need to be that way out there as well," Hydranoid believed. "I understand you've had some...difficult moments, but this is a matter of life or death for you now."
"...Alright," Maurice understood.
"Is there anywhere you can go where you won't see these guys?" Alana wondered.
"...Nah," Maurice sadly denied. "I've been cut off from the family. They want nothing to do with the gangbanging. Even though I've been out of it for two years now, they still won't trust me. Doubt they ever will."
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Post by Markus Hederick on Jan 29, 2020 14:57:28 GMT -5
"Makes sense," Markus unquestionably understood. "Hold still." Maurice and Sprayzer got sucked into a small stone ball out of nowhere. He got put in the same place Gargulion kept his other 'prisoners': within Gargulion's own being.
"Great... Eaten by flowers, and now getting sucked up into some ball...Pause," Maurice muttered.
"Shut the fuck up," Makoto ordered.
"...Okay..."
"Great...now there's two of you heathens..." Orloth sighed. "I shouldn't even be here!"
"I agree. You should've been erased from existence," Makoto believes.
"You should've been scalped just like your forefathers, damn redskin," Orloth countered.
"Whoah...I didn't come in here for all this," Maurice instantly regretted. Sprayzer hissed at the thought of being trapped in there with all of these idiots.
"I'll figure out what to do with him later," Markus decided. "So, with that out of the way, how are things going? Everything okay with Noland?"
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Post by Alana Cortese on Jan 29, 2020 17:28:51 GMT -5
"Yeah. I'm good," Alana answered. "Noland though... I checked on him after the situation. He said he doesn't know if he's okay or not... He looked and sounded like he was still sane, so that's a plus. I'm more worried about what can happen later on though. These type of things really hit you when enough time has passed..."
"What about you? How are the Angels doing, if you know?"
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Post by Markus Hederick on Jan 30, 2020 14:39:51 GMT -5
"They can't be good," Markus guessed. "I haven't noticed anything for the last couple of days. Things got ugly out there, but what Noland did obviously worked. Now we just have to see if it worked as we intended... They're probably going to come at us with people far worse than the Angels. We'll just have to be ready for them whenever they decide to show up."
"As for me, I'm now stressed out thanks to these goons trying to ruin brawling again. I just want one good year in this league. I'm tired of being tempted to just run away with my money and be done with all of this for good."
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Post by Alana Cortese on Jan 30, 2020 14:56:23 GMT -5
"I mean, that's bad and all, but I'd take all of that for millions any day," Alana figured. "But yeah, I can see why that'd get on your nerves. Let us know if we can help in any way. We watch almost every match on the daily, so if you guys got closed down, that'd really suck for us."
"Hey...um...random question, but how's Tank and Gladion doing with all of this?" Hydranoid wondered. "They seem more withdrawn than Noland and Drago right now. I haven't gone this long without hearing about them since Katherine died."
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Post by Tank Stryker on Feb 6, 2020 3:49:27 GMT -5
Tank was at a cemetery with robed Gladion. He placed a flower on the gravestone. It was obvious for anyone who knows Tank that it was Katherine's grave, but in case it wasn't, her name was written in gold. Hers was right next to John's. He fist bumped John's gravestone like he usually does. After he did it, the look he had showed someone who was clearly confused and in pain. He sighed as he continued to be there.
"What's wrong?" Gladion wondered.
"...They're probably screaming at Steve and I right now," Tank figured. "I just...don't understand why we're acting like this..."
"The talk didn't go well, huh?"
"...No... I...got angry..."
"...About what?"
"He finally spilled the beans on what he was really on about. Dasia and I hanging out was only a part of it. He thinks - or someone drilled into his head - that he's going to be the next one to die if he continues being around me... I guess Dasia was just an excuse to try and distance himself from me."
"...Are you serious? He said that?"
"I don't want to believe it, but yes, that's what he said... I started to tell him off about being a bad friend, blah blah blah, and then I heard even more interesting things like: you should've said no to doing this, you shouldn't have been there at all, it was Markus' fault that Katherine got put in that situation, he can't trust that he's gonna be okay the next time since both John and Katherine died around me-"
"Enough," Gladion immediately cut off.
"When will it be?" Tank suddenly asked. "When are we going to get cut a break? Losing the whole household, losing your father, getting hit by a drunk driver, losing your whole career when you had nothing to do with what was going on, and now people want to stalk you for literally no reason. I just...I don't know. I really don't know what to feel from this."
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Post by Tank Stryker on Feb 19, 2020 4:47:06 GMT -5
"Take your time to figure that out, but know this," Gladion started to advise. "I don't care what Steve or anyone else says or does. What we need to do is exist on our own terms, not by what Steve, the gods, Silver Knights, or Eden is trying to make us do. We can still do what we want to do. That's a blessing, isn't it? You're getting your education, made it as a professional athlete when most people said you wouldn't last a second in the PBL, and we're getting stronger by the second. I'm good. You're good. We're all good. We just need to play it cool. Enough with the constant anger and frustration. Our clocks are ticking with all the shit going on. Might as well have as much fun as you can. You understand what I'm saying?"
"...Yeah..." Tank realized. "...I just... Everything was much better when she was here... I didn't have to think like this at all."
"Things can get better. It's not over for us yet," Gladion reminded him. "People died so we could live. It's better that we honor their sacrifice by making this life meaningful. This back and forth with Steve isn't what I'd call a meaningful experience. We may as well have died if this is how we'll waste our time. We just need to let it go."
"..." Tank sighed. He sounded like he didn't want to just write Steve off like that, but he had to think for himself here. How much more needs to be said before he gets the idea of where this situation is going? There's practically no going back from where him and Steve are now, not after what he said...
Tank knelt down to lay hands on Katherine and John's gravestones. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, said a prayer, and then walked away with his hands in his pockets. His eyes flashed over to his right and left, almost like he saw something in both locations...
"Hmph... I guess you're right... Things are starting to get interesting..." Tank came around. "I need to train just in case I end up facing Hardy or Silva, if they show up that is."
"That's the spirit," Gladion celebrated. "What about Alana and Hydranoid?"
"Them? Only strategy is don't get hit," Tank laughed off.
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Post by Seiki Maki on Feb 20, 2020 2:59:53 GMT -5
When Tank and Gladion got far enough out of the area, Seiki and a robed Ahio revealed themselves from the same places Tank looked at. Ahio loudly sighed when she came out.
"How did he know? I stood still the whole time!" Ahio complained.
"You were probably breathing too loud. You know Tank and Noland hear everything," Seiki reminded her.
"Me? What about you? I was hearing very loud heartbeats, and it wasn't from me," Ahio retorted.
"...I was nervous..."
"Mhm..."
"But he saw you too, so it's not my fault."
"I was caught by proxy. I'm the best example of stealth that anyone's gonna find. You all should learn from me."
"Mhm... Sure..." Seiki stepped up to Katherine's gravestone. She placed a flower next to the one Tank had there. "You know...hearing Tank say that brought back some bad memories... I wonder if he ever blames me for Katherine sacrificing herself for me... He did tell me to leave..."
"There's no use thinking about that now. If you hadn't been there, Tank would've croaked when Markus went bat-shit crazy on us," Ahio figured.
"Since when did you start talking like that?"
"Oh...uh...you didn't hear that. But still, I'd rather not think of what could've happened if we weren't there. Remember, us being there changed what was about to happen. And if the timeline would've remained the same with the Hurranians going after Tank, then us distracting Krakix kept it from being a slaughterhouse. That's how I see it anyway."
"Hmmm...that makes sense... I guess you're right." Seiki brushed her hand over Katherine's name. "Thank you, Katherine... We've gotten a lot stronger since the last time I was here... I have to admit though. I never would've thought I'd be where I am now back when you saw it. You encouraged me to believe in myself... I wish it didn't take you dying for me to fully accept that..."
"Don't we all?" a familiar voice rudely interrupted. Seiki and Ahio looked up out in front of them and saw...
"...You're Steve...I think?" Seiki guessed.
"You interrupted a deep moment...and that sounded rude... Apologize..." Ahio insisted. Seiki looked Steve up and down. He had some snazzy gear on, but...it didn't have a Legion logo on it...
"So...what's up? Am I in the way?" Seiki innocently wondered.
"Never. I just wanted to ask you something. It's about the Tank situation. I'm sure you've heard."
"Well, no. I haven't," Seiki lied.
"Hmph...I find that very hard to believe."
"Tank usually keeps to himself if he's going through anything. He's not one to air out his business in front of others."
"...Can't argue with that."
"So...even if you do tell me, how could I help?"
"I'd rather you not take this the wrong way, but you and I now have the luxury of being around people that attracts all kinds of danger. I was wondering how you dealt with that."
"...Wasn't Tank your best friend, or at least one of them?"
"Yes. And?"
"I know what you're getting at when you asked me that. I just don't get why that would bother you when you and Tank have been through so much together. I assume you have anyway. Plus, you were still around Tank when the Pack was running through here, when the Hurranians popped up in the pro circuit, when a pro almost killed Gladion in the arena, and even after that. Now it's suddenly a problem for you? Tell me what changed."
"I sought you out for some advice, alright? You were the best one to ask for obvious reasons, again, no offense. I didn't come here for all this."
"You sure you don't need a wake-up slap too?"
"Did you get one?"
Seiki pointed down towards Katherine's gravestone to illustrate her point. She didn't have to say anything.
"Let me guess. I'm an asshole of a friend who doesn't deserve a straight answer from you."
"Your words, not mine. Accurate assessment though. Maybe you could answer most of your questions that way. Keep going."
"No...I think you've done enough..."
"Cool."
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Post by Seiki Maki on Feb 20, 2020 5:18:33 GMT -5
"...I got a bad feeling about this... Something's not right..." Ahio began to think. "This just isn't in his character... Not that I'm qualified to say that... It's just...the nonsensical reasoning, the bad haircut, a team's logo that's definitely not Legion's, the rude way he just barged in on what was OUR scene for once...""...You've been in some trouble?" Seiki suddenly asked Steve. "What do you mean?" "Your left hand. The wound hasn't healed. Looks recent." Indeed, there was a wound on Steve's left hand... "I don't think it's supposed to have that color." There was a cyan mark on the wound. It was hard to miss. It was glowing even. "I noticed it earlier, but I thought you'd tell me it was something stupid you or Tank did, and that's why you two are having your hissy fits." "...I don't think you want to know..." "Eh...maybe you're right, but I can't just ignore it now that I've seen it." "Then you die." "Okay... Wait, what?" Without showing signs of movement, Ahio swatted a metal object away from Seiki. The projectile was aimed towards her head. The projectile cut down several trees until it lost its power a couple of miles in the distance. "Baka." "I really tried, Seiki... I thought I could handle it... I said to myself, 'Why bother trying to move forward with Tank when John and Katherine died? Surely, I'm not safe in this environment. Get out while you're still alive.' Of course, I still value our friendship, but I got things I want to do. I have my legs back now. I also have a parasite and a virus. Forgot to mention that." "That's sad and all, but...what parasite and virus are you talking about?" Ahio inquired. "I don't know what the fuck they're called. All I know is that I have the sudden urge to kill you. In fact, I want to kill every last one of you Resistors, because you've been nothing but trouble ever since you all showed up and played heroes." "This sounds awfully familiar... Like when Tank said this to Noland... Be original for once," Ahio scoffed. "Well, if you're going to kill us, can you do it somewhere else? People are trying to rest in peace here," Seiki asked him. "Oh, well, yeah. I don't want to deface Katherine and John's gravestones, so... Hey! Don't distract me from the issue here! I'm serious!" A couple of more projectiles were sent Seiki's way. This time, Seiki saw them coming in slow motion with Ahio's help. She dodged all of them with ease. She also saw the direction the projectiles were coming from. "Seiki, I think he means it!" Ahio screeched. Seiki put her left wrist behind her back. With the BrawlX on there, she had it scan one that landed not too far behind her. This was something special the CIA let the Resistors have in case they encountered any dangerous substances. "Warning! Hazardous organisms detected! 30% Maverick Virus, 70% unknown organism.""..." Seiki was nearly speechless. She knew that Steve was infected with the same virus that Alana had at one point, but the unknown parasite was bothering her the most. She didn't know how she was going to approach this, but to make sure she was ready, she prepped her BrawlX for battle. ( Infected Strong Challenger)
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Post by Seiki Maki on Feb 21, 2020 2:58:39 GMT -5
"Wait a minute... I'm fighting?" Ahio screeched like she didn't see this coming.
"Ability activate! Meta Force Alive!" Steve shouted with some excitement. A loud buzzing sound was blasting everyone's ears off within the area. Energy waves were plentiful, but invisible. Seiki and Ahio could feel themselves getting an enormous boost in power not unlike Hydranoid's Pulse Head ability, but this one lacked the finesse he had. Instead, it was just a straight shoot to the top. It felt like this was supposed to overboost someone's power level to the point where they can't physically or mentally handle their power. It causes them to go crazy. It causes them...to blow up. It was unknown how much the Maverick or the unknown organism was contributing to it, but it was causing some discomfort...
"I feel 'alive' all right... You gave me an itch around my feathers that won't go away," Ahio complained. She took off her robes and went into monster form. When she did, she started to feel even worse. "Owwww! What's going on over here!? There's this burning sensation all over my body! I feel like I'm on fire!"
"Huh..." Seiki was a little amazed by this that she almost forgot she had to defend herself. Steve took note of this. Another metal projectile was launched for her, but to Steve's surprise, it went through Seiki's body like she was never even there.
"What...?" Steve asked in bewilderment. "Is that a speed mirage...? Did she phase through that...?" It was a speed mirage, Steve, and Seiki and Ahio weren't physically present at that time either.
The two of them were at the limits of the area Steve's ability worked at. It didn't extend beyond the sidewalk that was very close to the entrance of Six Flags. They were trying to figure out where Ziperator was. They knew he was here.
"So...are we sure we don't want to just run? He's got two things that may or may not infect us on the spot. We've only ever dealt with Hurranians before, not a combination of two similar things!" Ahio proposed.
"Maybe, but...I don't want him to get cocky and try to go after Tank," Seiki rationalized. She visualized a plan where she can have a bird's eye view of the battle and maintain a foothold on the battle. "Those metal thingies were thrown at me from within the trees... Maybe we can spook Ziperator by flying through there to see where he is, and then we can setup at the same time... Try Agile Seeker."
"Alright... Here it goes then..." Ahio generated a green ball in her mouth and shot it in the sky. The ball went back towards the scene of the battle to look for Ziperator.
"So she ran huh?" Steve figured. "This is what Katherine died for...? Disgusting..." Unfortunately, he was going to eat those words very soon. An invisible Ziperator hiding within the trees in ball form had no idea what was coming his way. Ahio could see the surroundings of where the energy ball was. She noticed that the gust of wind generated by a fast moving object brushed up on something. So, to show that Ahio was paying attention, a fire-clad avatar of Ahio was launched from the ball and collided with Ziperator's ball form. This forced the sneaky bastard into monster form. Steve was lucky he saw Ziperator coming and got out of the way. Ziperator would've landed right on top of him.
Luckily, the hit nullified the earlier ability, so there was no more danger of being there.
"What the fuck was that!?" Steve complained. Seiki decided to remain where she was at the sidewalk. She was going to deal with him from long-range for now.
"How about we finish this?" Seiki intended as she got an ability ready to go.
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Post by Seiki Maki on Feb 21, 2020 3:30:30 GMT -5
"We let them get away from us. That was our biggest blunder right there," Ziperator realized as he slowly got up. "She can strike from any angle now."
"That's right... We gotta set up a perimeter or we're goners," Steve knew. "Ability activate! Power Construct!" The metal inside of Ziperator's body began to enlarge. It grew to massive proportions to where it essentially swallowed him. All he was now was an airborne, spiky stronghold. Steve was at the top. He used his BrawlX to bring up his camera so he could zoom in on Seiki and Ahio strategizing from the sidewalk.
"...Since when could he do all that?" Ahio asked in disbelief. A huge shield was erected around it as well.
"Now everyone's gonna see it... This is very bad for him..." Seiki groaned. All of the nearby drivers were booking it to get as far away from there as possible. Some stupid ones decided to stay and watch.
"This should slow you down just fine then... You wouldn't want those poor people down there to get crushed, would ya?" Steve asked knowing Seiki couldn't hear him. Tiny blue strands of energy started protruding from his skin. His skin color was progressing towards gray. His two 'ailments' were starting to make their mark on him.
Shadow particles poured towards the top of the structure. It formed into Ziperator, but he didn't look all that protected. In fact, he looked just like his previous evolution, if you could call it one. It seems like this ability takes away those features in exchange for a mobile battleship of some kind. Not too bad of a tradeoff if it covers his bases. Let's see what it can do.
"If we attack her from here, we'd maintain our control," Ziperator advised.
"Yeah, yeah. I see," Steve concurred. "Ability activate! Phantom Storm!" Shadow particles materialized all over the structure. A heavy rain of enlarged metal blades was about to rain down towards the ground at an impressive rpm.
"That looks like they're gonna shoot something at us," Ahio noticed.
"This would be a lot easier if all these people didn't stop to watch!" Seiki criticized. She said it loud enough for these idiots to hear her. "...Alright. Let's hurry this up then so they don't get shot and I get blamed somehow."
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Post by Tank Stryker on Feb 21, 2020 8:51:33 GMT -5
By this point, Tank and Gladion had already made it to Legion's stadium for practice. He had just walked inside of the building when the coach chewed him out for obvious reasons.
"...What?" Tank saw the look on the coach's face. He wasn't happy...
"You really have no idea what's going on, do you?"
"...I've been traded or let go because you're not gonna pay me...?"
"Of course not! We're not the Redskins! I'm talking about this!" He showed Tank his tablet. The breaking news was for he knows who.
"...I was..."
"You were just there..." the coach finished for him. "If you need to go back..."
"I can't... I can feel it in my heart. Something's not right, and I don't need to look at him to see it. That's not Steve... There's only one thing I know that'd cause something like this... It happened to Alana..."
"Well, there's another one of your friends there. Seiki was it? You think she'll be okay?"
"She'll be more than okay. We should be worried about Steve..."
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Post by Seiki Maki on Mar 2, 2020 20:39:02 GMT -5
"Ikuzo!" Seiki sternly announced so Ahio could know that they were taking this seriously. Ahio chirped in response to this. It was the last thing anyone would do when they're in a potentially dangerous situation. Ahio wasn't really normal anyway...
"Fire!" Steve wished. A bombardment of metal projectiles were released. They threatened to slice through everyone on the ground.
"Mystic ability," Seiki called out.
"Hansei!" Ahio finished. An invisible barrier of winds was erected around everyone. These winds were so strong that when the projectiles felt it for only one millisecond, they lost all of their momentum. Ziperator was continuing to shoot, but all of his projectiles were falling to the ground without doing any damage.
"Not a problem at all. Ability activate! Greth Gear!" This ability converts either Ziperator and/or existing abilities into a shadow. Unlike Markus, Steve can only do this if the shadow can be applied to someone on the battlefield. This means that if the environment makes it impossible for someone to have a shadow, this cannot be used.
Fortunately, this was a good opportunity to use it. Every shot Ziperator was making converted into shadows for Ahio and everyone else. If it makes contact with a victim's shadow, they will be damaged. The surefire way to counter this would be to eliminate the environmental conditions that makes shadows possible.
"Uh oh... Can we stop that? Please tell me we can stop that!" Ahio screeched in a panic.
"Ah shit...we're goners now... I knew she couldn't do it... Where's the rest of them when you need them?" a bystander commented.
"Chrono Reversal," Seiki calmly activated.
"Ah. Right!" Ahio chimed upon recognizing what Seiki was going for. Ahio went airborne and sped towards Ziperator. Unknown to everyone else, she was going fast enough to breach the space-time continuum. She would only reverse time around her for no more than five seconds. This was enough time to get Ziperator BEFORE he activated Greth Gear.
"Aaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnddddd gotcha!" Ahio yelled right before she collided with Ziperator. The impact resulted in an extremely loud boom that sounded like thunder. A large hole was left in the center of Ziperator's airborne fortress. A few seconds after it happened, it suddenly exploded...
A bright, purple star was seen leaving the destroyed fortress and crashing into the ground. A loud thud was heard coming from the graveyard. When the dust settled, Ziperator was seen on his back covering Steve in his hands.
"How did that just happen!?" Steve roared in frustration. This showing of anger progressed the Maverick conversion even further.
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