Ton of Fun (mission: Pyxis, Akira)

[Tristan Carter]

Tristan had taken his first "hard" mission, and what a mission it was. He had given the blond woman a dumbstruck look when he first saw it. It was unusual, even for a world filled with monsters. After all, a giant ogre-thing? That was a first for him.

Still, he had accepted the mission. He wasn't sure why it hadn't been killed yet, given that there was a gem that could slay the beast in one blow. With a look down the crater, Tristan became worried. He had never been down there. He had no idea what to expect. He could only hope that the others he was expecting would know more. Otherwise, this mission would not work out well.

[Akira Nakajima]

Partially because he had taken the first two missions that included that one ogre, partially because nothing else- that was free- caught his interest, Akira had set out on the third, and hopefully final, mission involving the lardass ogre. First, he ran from it alongside Alisa. Then, he lured it out into the open, where gravity clawed into it, with Vice. Now? Now he was hopefully going to kill it. With whoever the mission would include at his sides. The boy in drag relaxed his “sword arm” as he strolled towards the crater. It was only when he drew closer that he noticed someone there. Must've been one of his partners. Upon taking a closer look, he recognized him as that one dude from the last major battle- the one that had stepped up for that larger-set woman that tried to play leader before doing a one-eighty and deriding her. Fun times! Hopefully, the mission would be a lot simpler than that ordeal.

”Fancy meeting you here. Up for some ogre-slaying?” The crossdresser asked simply as he drew closer. His tone was light and relaxed. No animosity or annoyance was there- after all, he didn't really care about the past so long as it didn't prove to be a recurring issue. Pushing up his glasses, Akira took a look around. No one else yet. ”Seems like we still need a third player for the party, though.” He noted lightly with a slight shrug. Patting down his skirt and sitting on a nearby mound of dirt, the boy relaxed and laid his scissors across his lap. No need to pace about. Nothing to lean against, sadly, but the dirt at least seemed sturdy enough to not rub on his clothes. Then again, with a predominantly gothic color scheme, it didn't matter.

[Pyxis]

Pyxis had seen the mission pop up before. Something about a "lardass ogre". But at the time, she didn't feel confident with going that deep into a castle she had never actually managed to get into before. But now, here it was again, and it had rolled all the way into the massive sinkhole the local Users called Devil's Descent. This time, it was open and she was more than capable.

Wearing a fresh and undamaged maid uniform, Pyxis made her way out towards the sinkhole. As she approached, she noticed a boy and a girl already present. The boy, she was unfamiliar with save for the fact that he had been at the last couple major battles. The girl, Pyxis had seen at the same places as well as at the bar after the battle at the school. Her name was Ran, if memory served. If they were just standing around, then they probably were her partners for this mission. "I hope I'm not late," Pyxis said, approaching the two of them.

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

As you enter the crater, you seem to hear a distant noise from down below. Perhaps it is just your imagination though. Armed with the gem that the blonde woman gave you, you all head down into the depths of the chasm.

Nothing immediately comes out to fight you. Instead, you simply hear a rolling noise from nearby. Realizing that it might be your target, you decide to head that way! Sadly, you found the wrong set of rollers.

Hot Wheel

• Agidyne
• Gigantic Fist
• Power Charge
• Auto-Taru

Absorb: Repel: Null: Fire Rs: Wk: Ice, Pierce
Edgy Wheel

• Death's Chill
• Rainy Death
• Power Charge
• Auto-Taru

Absorb: Repel: Null: Dark Rs: Wk: Light, Strike
Broken Wheel

• Ziodyne
• Gigantic Fist
• Power Charge
• Auto-Taru

Absorb: Repel: Null: Fire, Ice Rs: Wk: Wind, Elec

[Tristan Carter]

Tristan grinned when he saw the first girl. He remembered getting into a practical shouting match with her, but at least he knew she could more than hold her own. She sat down, and shortly after a second girl appeared while donning a maid's outfit. The boy recognized her as well but only remembered her vaguely. He knew she utilized guns, but that was about it. Still, everyone was there so it was time to head out.

He stretched before climbing into the pit and immediately heard something. When he continued to hear the noise, he went to investigate. He toyed with the possibility of it being the ogre, but he doubted it would be that easy. It was far too early in the day for that, so the boy wasn't surprised when he instead came across a trio of Wheels. 

Quickly summoning  Ifreet, Tristan cast Maragion. When it only affected one of the shadows, the boy cast a currently unused spell, one that seemed to weaken the first Wheel's resistance to fire. He wasn't about to complain, so he cast Maragion again, damaging the first two Wheels. The first one, which seemed extremely strong for some reason, tried to cast a fire spell in retaliation. When hat didn't work, the second one attacked with a Pierce attack.

Tristan cried out in agony, but was able to keep himself on his feet by utilizing his scythe. He needed to get rid of the middle shadow if he wanted to be able to get to the ogre. He cast Hamaon in hopes that he was lucky enough to hit a weakness, and he was rewarded. The shadow reacted wonderfully to the light, which brought a grin to the boy's face. He then cast Hamaon again and again until the shadow shrieked and disappeared. 

He wasn't a fan of shadows anymore.

[Akira Nakajima]

"Yo." Akira waved with the arrival of the third member of their little ogre-slaying team. It was that maid that typically popped up during the bigger battles. He'd never really bothered to get to know some of the more. . . unique members of the raid party, but things would just occur naturally, he figured. Case in point being this mission, as he was with two relatively unfamiliar strangers. "You're just in time. Let's skip to it." The crossdresser pushed himself up, dusting off his skirt, before skipping down the path into the pit. Despite the stirring of noise below, he wasn't too worried. More mooks before the major event. Always happened. What he hadn't counted on was the boy jumping into the fray and engaging the full party of wheels.

"Uh, hey?" He started before just staring and sighing as the mini-skirmish unfolded. Oh, yes. This was going to be a blast, wasn't it? Well, healing the team would be a waste if it was just one target. Rather than that, he pulled his evoker out and summoned Alpha Elma. Regardless of whether or not the two knew about Alma Elma, the newly-enhanced dominatrix succubus appeared, spreading out her four wings and crossing her arms just under her impressive endowments at the chest. The demonic tail swishing behind her was plenty of evidence that things were going to get bad very soon.

"Elma, Heat Riser, please." He sighed as the succubus released an empowering wave over the trio. That was just after the boy had finished off the first wheel. That was when Akira began to press into the mix. "You're eager to fight. I can respect that, but try to consider your well-being. That, and the fact that you're not alone right now. Divide and conquer. Don't draw their full attention unless you're confident in your endurance." The crossdresser stepped in front of the scythe-wielder before taking in what he had seen. One nulled first. The other's resistance had been broken. Therefore, fire would be a waste. Instead, it'd be better to try other avenues of destruction.

"Elma, Arrow Rain." With the order, the succubus strode on forward, leveled her tail, and spit a metallic ball from her tail, which immediately exploded into a hail of spires that rained down on the targets. The one with the broken resistance to fire seemed to have been badly wounded by the piercing attack. A weakness seemed likely. The other one was still in relatively good condition. The second wheel pelted him with lightning- he didn't want to dodge until the other boy had been healed- but the damage was immediately fixed by the first wheel's blast of fire. Good job, enemy! As the Agidyne impacted with him, the crossdresser seemed to absorb the flames, effectively recovering what damage he had taken from the lightning.

"Lady, I don't know your name, but feel free to take zapper over there! I'll heal the group after this." With that, the crossdresser pressed on further and leveled his scissors. Then, charging into the blazing wheel, he slashed, the empowered attack ripping through the front of the wheel and causing it to disperse into nothingness. It had been lightly weakened by the other boy. The weakness to pierce also did a great deal. His scissors just snipped the thread of life for that one.

Even if it was used more like a sword.

He waited just a little bit, enough for whatever actions the maid would take, before finally healing the group. Hopefully, they'd be a bit more organized for the second round.

[Pyxis]

"Well said," Pyxis said to the girl. They would probably have a long trek to get to the bottom of the crater. Pyxis wasn't counting on the two of them taking the short way down, after all. They did still manage to keep up a quick pace heading down, right up until they heard rolling noises down below. One might think that would be their target, but Pyxis instead detected three smaller shadows heading their way. And sure enough, there they were. All Wheel types, at that. Nothing serious. A short encounter before the main event. But...what the hell was that boy doing?

No, no, that wasn't going to work. Pyxis hung back, and would continue to do so until he realized that fighting all three of them at once was a bad idea. He'd have to learn that the hard way. She'd step in once the tables turned, possibly with some area saturation attacks of her own. But, after the boy finally managed to finish off the first wheel, the girl stepped in, empowering all three of them and chastising the boy for his recklessness. That worked too. Pyxis also noted that the girl's Persona seemed different from how she last saw it. Still a succubus, but a different-looking succubus that now screamed 'dominatrix'.

As Pyxis's weapons charged up, the girl took on the remaining enemies, but left the one that shot lightning for Pyxis. Yes, great idea. Oh well, so long as she was healing afterward, it would be fine. Pyxis called back to her, saying "It's Pyxis," then turned her attention on the remaining wheel, summoning Elpis for her own attack. A gleaming crescent blade appeared in the Persona's hand, and it rushed forward to slash at the wheel. Though it hit no weakness, the power charged slash attack, on top of hers and the girl's offensive enhancements and the girl's own arrow attack, shredded through the wheel and putting it in critical condition. It retaliated with a bolt of lightning, striking Pyxis's weakness.

She would definitely have to get some kind of electricity nullifying armor installed. She had the parts, she just needed the armor itself. For now, though, she would just have to deal with it and push forward. Raising her arms, she fired at the shadow, punching holes through what was left of its wheel body until it dispersed into particles.

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

With the source of the rolling noise defeated, you decide to continue looking for the rolling tub of lard. Honestly, it wouldn't be that hard would it?

You progress a bit farther into the chasm until you reach what appears to be a recently dug tunnel. You can tell that it is in no way natural and must have been created by something rather large. Perhaps the ogre passed through here? You decide to investigate the hole a bit.

After advancing a bit of the way in, you hear a rolling noise. It seems to be approaching as well. You brace yourselves as the next opponent burrows its way through one of the walls as turns to fight you!

Platinum Drill

• Primal Force
• Power Charge
• Ziodyne

Absorb: Repel: Null: Physical Rs: Wk: Fire

Scarlet Turret x2

• Agidyne
• Gigantic Fist
• Rainy Death

Absorb: Repel: Null: Fire Rs: Wk: Ice, Pierce

Scarlet Drive x2

• Garudyne
• Brave Blade
• Gigantic Fist

Absorb: Repel: Null: Wind, Slash Rs: Wk: Elec


Rather than a fat ogre, you find some sort of underground shadow army. That's cool I guess.

[Tristan Carter]

Tristan watched as the other two made short work of the remaining shadows. He didn't realize- no, at first he didn't care- that his fighting style needed to change since he was in a group. He simply followed his tried and true attack patterns. They might not be the best for his eventual survival, but it worked as long as the shadows continued to die.

Still, the boy needed to apologize and introduce himself. He might wait until a better time for the second one, but the first was needed as soon as possible. He started to walk deeper and said, "Sorry about that. Still not used to working in a group, I guess. I'll try not to do something that stupid if we end up in another fight."

Of course, why wouldn't they get in another fight?

When he came across a new tunnel, Tristan turned to the girls with a slight grin. "Shall we?" he asked, already starting to enter the tunnel. After going on a bit, he heard a rolling noise like before. He suddenly wondered if that was going to be a recurring theme here. With a sigh, he readied himself for a fight just before the shadows came crashing through into the tunnel.

The shadows appeared to be: a drill, a couple tanks, and a couple large-as-hell robots. The boy had no idea what to do in consideration of his team. His best guess was to try to focus on one, or a group of one type. After a quick search, he decided on the Turrets. "I'll tank the tanks," he joked. He then smiled widely as he summoned Ifreet. 

"Let's see..." he said mostly to himself. "Which element should I use to cause you pain? Oh, I know! Let us try on a Light attack! Hamaon!" As he was saying all this, Ifreet had been waiting for an attack to be chosen. The moment one was, the djinn attacked quickly and without hesitation. The light enveloped the first tank, damaging it but not killing it. Shameful.

The boy dodged a blast of something sharp that originated from one of the tanks. He wasn't sure what spell the one girl had used, but he loved the feeling. It felt like a Sukukaja with even more boosted. It was great! However, there were still tanks to be dealt with. He cast another Hamaon at the first one, causing a fir bit of damage. But it could be more. 

Even so, he needed to focus. He tried a Mudoon, which did the same amount of damage, and  the tank finally died. The other one was still running, though, so the boy started in with his newly strengthened slash attack. When that did little more than the spells, the boy sighed. He was starting to wear down. Suddenly, his state of being was taken advantage of and hit with another Pierce attack. 

Tristan raged, casting Hamaon and Mudoon in rapid succession of one another. When the shadow still didn't die, he tried the slash attack again. When he was hit again, Tristan needed to fall back on his own healing spell. He started to drain the life force of the tank, who screamed in agony before finally disappearing. Tristan felt wounds close, but he wasn't fully healed. Even so, he readied himself to assist if need be.

[Akira Nakajima]

The maid had an odd name. Well, whatever. She was probably some teen otaku with problems grasping on reality, or something. Either way, they had managed to tackle the first bunch with few issue. The other boy had apologized and seemed to promise that he'd try to handle things a bit better. That was good. With his healing having already taken root, there was absolutely nothing getting in the way of their procession. Then the next group popped up. More mechanical mayhem seemed as though it would follow. The other boy seemed to want a tank battle. So long as he could take them, Akira didn't really care. Instead, he willed for a second Heat Riser. The group's overall combat efficiency improved further.

"I'll take the excessively large drill, then. I'll heal when we're good." The crossdresser noted before pressing forward. The drill charged itself up. That was all well and good, but the didn't see many issues coming up. He charged forward while willing for an Arrow Rain. The hail of spires seemed to do absolutely nothing to the machine. Okay, that was fine. He'd just have to cut it down! Or so he thought. The scissors similarly bounced off of the drill with no effect. Well, if a barrage of needles and his own super-powered scissors did nothing, he doubted his fists would, either. Likely, it nullified physical attacks. Seemed like it'd be time to try fire. If nothing else, he could just drain the thing to death.

The drill revved itself to life and charged forward, trying to pierce the boy. He just stared as the massive drill did jack despite bouncing into him. Meanwhile, he willed for Elma to unleash a Maragidyne on the drill. It blew the giant tin-can back. It fired off some lightning. The boy didn't bother dodging, but the effects were limited due to his double stack of Heat Riser. He was going to heal the group after the fight, anyway. So! Time for a second round of Maragidyne. The blast forced the drill back further, and the boy and succubus just pressed on. Whether the drill was panicking or just stupid was beyond him- could have been both- but it tried to drill him again. The boy just shook his head and willed for the next Maragidyne. The rain of fire from the succubus' tail melted the drill down into a mixture of metallic blackness. It eventually faded from reality.

Once he stepped back to the group, sure that all the skirmishes were over, he unleashed another Mediarahan to take care of everyone's condition before their next encounter.

[Pyxis]

"I suppose that leaves me with the robot shadows. Fitting, I guess," Pyxis said, turning towards the Drive types. Though their means of transportation were unusual, they were clearly decked out with weapons and prepared for battle. Like with the wheel, she couldn't count on them being weak to anything she had. She'd just have to deal with them the same way, then. With sheer, unrelenting force.

The shining form of Elpis materialized behind Pyxis with a thought, already charged up for a massive attack. Burning chunks of rock fell from the sky, slamming into the robotic shadows with incredible force. Pyxis watched their armor dent under the onslaught, leaving both shadows in bad shape despite not actually hitting a weakness. One of the first machine's weapon arms fell off and rolled away, deeper into the pit, but it still managed to attack with a blast of wind. Enhanced by her female teammate's boosts, Pyxis easily evaded the attack and leaped clear over the slicing gust, landing next to the second Drive type. Though its 'foot' wheels had locked up, its weapons were intact, and it used the close range to slam a massive spiked bar of a weapon arm into Pyxis's body. She didn't even bother to dodge this one, though, and the arm collided with her to absolutely no effect.

She turned, pointing an arm towards the shadow next to her, and opened fire from the guns in her fingers, finishing it off. Meanwhile, the remaining Drive type seemed to remember that it had a working weapon arm still, which it used to slash at Pyxis. Again, she didn't bother to dodge, and while it did manage to damage her, the effects of the girl's Heat Riser softened the blow. This put the Drive type in close range, allowing Pyxis to shoot it without any worry of her shots going wide. Conserving both energy and ammo was slightly more of a concern at the moment, with the prospect of more battles like this ahead of them.

Like the other Drive type, the volley of gunfire finished this one off. The other skirmishes finished around the same time, allowing the girl to heal off what damage they had sustained.

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

And then out of nowhere, a Lard-Ass Ogre bursts through a wall like a big glass of red liquid.

Lardass Ogre

• Trample

Absorb: Damage Repel: Null: Rs: Wk:

[ ] Use the crystal on the Ogre. (Crystal takes about 30 seconds to use. Don't get trampled while you use it.)

Also, some more shadows are following behind it.

Chasm Bat x4

• Agidyne
• Death's Chill
• Mind Charge
• Rainy Death

Absorb: Damage Repel: Null: Fire Rs: Dark Wk: Ice

[Tristan Carter]

After the shadows were dealt with,Tristan heard something just before being hit with flying chunks of tunnel. He turned to face the source, only to come face to face with the biggest fucker he'd ever seen. He looked at the girls, dumbstruck, before fiddling with the gem that he had received from the blond lady.

While it was charging- which irritated the boy to no end- he started to run, as the giant shadow started to try to stomp on him. The bats that followed the ogre tried to get in his way, which only pissed the boy off.

He watched as the gem started to glow brighter and brighter over time, but it still wasn't going to do much. Tristan was glad that the buffs placed upon him boosted his speed, otherwise he would have been trampled. The gem, glowing ever brighter, looked to be nearly done. He still had everything to deal with, though.

He summoned Ifreet mid-stride and called for a Maragion, which had no effect on anything. Unfortunately, the boy was running out of room to run. Scared and being backed into a corner, the boy noticed the gem was no longer getting brighter. Out of options and out of time, Tristan threw the gem as hard as he could at the ogre's face.

If that didn't work, he was going to start running some more. He hoped he could, run underneath the shadow's feet...

[Akira Nakajima]

"There's the ugly piece of- . . . what are you doing." Akira did not even bother trying to stop the boy. He just stared on with a dull expression as the gem-carrier ran right into the midst of the very shit he should have not been in. Okay, ignoring the fact that he was essentially ignoring the advice he was given earlier, if he got his ass crushed and wasted the gem, then the whole trip was for nothing. The boy in drag just sighed and looked over at the maid- Pyxis, she said her name was- before gesturing over at the scene that was continuing. It didn't take much to guess that he was highly unamused.

"Pyxis, I'll draw their attention off of him. And maybe we'll be lucky and the gem won't break. If you could finish the bats off afterward, that'd be greatly appreciated." With his intentions announced, the boy raised his arm. "Elma, Arrow Rain, now." The tail shifted before spreading open and firing another metallic orb upwards. The orb exploded, sending numerous thin and long spires down at the bats and the ogre. Didn't seem like it had much of an effect on the ogre, but, unlike the other boy's fire, it at least seemed to bother the bats. That was some progress, at least.

"Kid, we're gonna need to discuss things a bit more seriously after this!" He announced before running through a volley of ineffective fireballs and piercing blasts. The biggest issue in drawing the attention of enemies was making sure they registered your aggravation as noteworthy. For a thing that absorbed all forms of damages, that idiot had two dim hopes- that the gem worked, or that Akira's attack drew the ogre's attention. If both proved ineffective, well. . .

. . . bad news for him.

[Pyxis]

And finally, a massive shadow came smashing straight through the wall of the sinkhole,one which the girl seemed to recognize. So that was their target, then. It was...huge, and looked like it could soak up a lot of damage. At best. At worst, no amount of firepower they threw at it would kill it, as sending them with some weird gem might have suggested.

Pyxis started trying to think of a strategy, but the boy just gave them a dumbstruck look before running off and doing an excellent job of drawing the ogre's attention. Which was...exactly what he shouldn't be doing while holding the gem that was supposed to kill it. Though Pyxis was inclined to say something, the flat 'what are you doing' from the girl summed up her feelings spectacularly. She let out a small sigh, then turned back to the girl to hear her idea. That was something she could do.

"Got it," she said, summoning Elpis. Another rain of small meteors fell from the sky, catching all of the bats as well. Already damaged by the girl's Arrow Rain, the supercharged Agneyastra easily did them in. That would take care of them, at least. But if the gem didn't work or it hadn't had enough time, there was very little she could do to stop the ogre from trampling the boy.