Backtracking [Mod]

[Holly Mason]

Originally, Holly had just come here to work on her (very terrible) map; to finish up making the places she had already been.  Much to her surprise, when she came back to the executive building the path that was once blocked was now open.  There were less shadows around too.  Normally she couldn't get through this area without encountering at least a couple, but this time she made it to the stairs without encountering any effortlessly.  Did something happen?  Confused, she made a note on her map stating her observations.

Cautiously, the girl made her way up the stairs and onto the new floor.  It didn't look that different from the lower floor.  There were pictures thrown everywhere, broken pots that likely once held potted plants, rubble everywhere...she was pretty sure she made out a fallen water cooler as well.  There were also several holes in the floor that she would have to watch out for.  Most importantly, she could hear signs of shadows.  There were more up here than there were down below.  So whatever eliminated all those shadows down there didn't up here?  It made sense if this path just opened up.  This means it was likely that their efforts to eliminate the shadows was actually doing something?  They didn't just respawn?  This was good news!

Grinning, Holly kept her head low and started exploring and making out this area, noting everything she found significant.

[Erithania]

Beware the Squiggly Darkness!

Macho Maya

Skills

Viper Smash
Agi

Resists: Fire, Strike
Weakness: Ice, Pierce

Nacho Maya

Skills

Agilao
Dream Fist

Resists: Fire
Weakness: Ice

[Holly Mason]

Holly smiled slightly when she saw signs of yet another group of shadows.  It looked like there were only two this time.  Good, now was the time for yet another experiment.  Her persona learned yet another new trick recently.  It was similar to the one she learned before, but instead of decreasing the enemy's defensive power it increased her own attack power.  Using them both together sounded very powerful, but was it worth the time it would take to use both against enemies like this?  Well, maybe not for the weaker kind, but there had to be some stronger ones out there.  That's where she was sure skills like this would shine.  But for now, she just wanted to see how effective they were.  She was lucky, the shadows looked very similar and about equally as sturdy.  If neither of them had any kind of an affinity or weakness towards wind it'd giver a good baseline as to what to expect.  First, she used the debuff she was familiar with.  The enemies were surrounded by purple rings that gradually closed on them until the rings disappeared.

As usual, that's all she was able to do before they started firing off their attacks.  The...less 'tough' looking shadow, for lack of a better term, charged towards her and spawned a hand from the amorphous mass that was its body.  It socked her in the jaw before she even realized which direction the hand was coming from.  Normally, Holly could shrug off such attacks, but this time she felt really strange.  Almost...sleepy.  Her vision blurred and it became difficult for her to keep her eyes open.  She staggered a bit, but before she could completely fall over, a large blast of fire hit her straight on.  It hurt more than any attack she had ever felt before.  Most of the time, she was able to hide her pain.  She did this mostly out of habit rather than out of an effort to trick the shadows because once a leader starts to falter the morale of the entire group will fall.  Even if she was alone she still thought like that.  She had to be strong at all times.  This time, even she couldn't hold back a scream.  It wasn't a shrill scream either, it came from the depths of her stomach.  She could still keep on fighting, but she had to be careful nothing like that happened again.  It was a terrifying combo: one to immobilize and one to nuke.

Determined to continue her experiment, Holly launched an attack on the one that punched her.  Hopefully if it was injured it wouldn't be able to catch up to her quite as fast.  The blast of wind pierced its body and it..wiggled a little bit.  Pretty much what she expected from these guys, but it looked like it was hurt.  It didn't seem to have any particular affinity for wind either.  Good, if the other guy was using fire it probably didn't either.  Before she even finished casting the spell, she ran towards what used to be a bathroom.  She didn't really care what kind of room it was, she just wanted to use the door to hide from their attacks.  She felt a thump against the door as she braced herself on it, and then it predictably caught on fire.  It was hot for a moment, but Holly got off of it fast enough that it did little more than burn her hands.  All things considered, she really should have seen that coming.  Seems the door wouldn't hold against more than this volley of attacks, and she had to survive one more...at least one more that is.

Holly still wasn't going to give up on her experiment.  She could use one of the stalls to absorb the next attack.  These were made of metal, so they might survive an attack?  She couldn't count on that though, the metal was probably cheap and not meant to hold up to such an intense open flame.  Still, it would have to do.  She dove for the first stall and stood the surprisingly in tact toilet.  Her persona quickly cast the spell on her and she was enveloped in an orange light.  She crossed her arms in front of her chest and stared intently at the door.  As expected, first a large shadow-shaped dent appeared in the door and then it started melting.  She could probably dive underneath the wall of the stall and move into the next one, but she hoped it wouldn't be necessary.

Now was the time to see what both of these working together could do.  She fired a blast of wind at the uninjured macho maya and it simply faded into smoke.  Holly smirked.  Good they did work together.  Before she could appreciate her handiwork further, the remaining maya punched her again.  However, this time she was ready for it and caught.  She grunted as the shadow's fist rammed into her burnt hands, but she didn't experience the same sensation she did before.  In other words, it was going down in this next blast of wind.  Holly simply grinned at it, and once she summoned her persona, Anaisa Pye did the same.  A moment later, the shadow was no more.

[Erithania]

And the day is saved!



Thanks to the Powerpuff Girls!

[Holly Mason]

Another day, another small group of shadows defeated.  The best part was she could normally make it home without any unexplainable wounds thanks to her persona's ability to heal.  These wounds took a couple of casts to heal, leaving her more tired than usual, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle for the time being.  It was a sign that she should go back home before she gets herself killed, but what was the fun in that?  Holly decided to explore the rest of the floor for now at least.  However, her exploration was cut short when another small group of shadows appeared.  She wasn't really in any shape to fight, so she quickly dove out one of the nearby broken windows and made her way back home.  It was sad and a little embarrassing, but she supposed that was better than being dead.