Mosaic City, located along China's coast, is quite large city sometimes called the Crossroads Between Nations due to its diverse population. While it was once a large tourist spot, the city was placed under a blockade as the military appeared claiming there was a radiation leak. The true hazard, however, is much more sinister.
Layla had only been in a car factory once before. That was several years ago, back when her school thought it was a good idea to tour the (relatively) nearby Mahindra REVA plant as a field trip. Half of the class was bored to tears, while the other half were only interested because cars. And well over half got to go home to hear their parents talk about how stupid smart cars were. It was an experience Layla only recalled at all because, upon seeing the car factory in the outer circle, where that tank from an earlier trip had almost certainly come from, she came to realize that the REVA plant had nothing on it.
The key word, though, was had. The factory here was now a mess that could only produce abominations from spare parts, much like the tank. And presumably like other, similar shadows inside. Which Layla was assuming there were because this was the outer circle and there were shadows everywhere.
Climbing up onto what had once been an assembly line conveyor belt, Layla started making her way deeper inside.
Post by Layla Amare on Feb 7, 2014 18:39:09 GMT -5
Layla had only a second of warning as a massive wheel-like shadow with a lion's head mounted on the front came ripping down the same conveyor belt, charging directly at her. Without any time to think of a better idea, Layla jumped off of the belt onto a broken piece of machinery next to it. She could only assume that it was once a robotic arm, an assumption that was validated as it swung around the moment she grasped it, allowing Layla to return to the conveyor belt behind the wheel just in time to swing her training otta at it. The attack only managed to hit the edge of the tire, but that was enough to spin it off balance and break its momentum. The wheel rolled around to face Layla again, but before she could summon her persona to attack it, a mass of darkness enveloped her from behind, cutting off her vision for a second.
As it cleared, she turned around to catch sight of a shadow like a giant, muscle-bound man made of metal. It had hair like strands of gold wiring and a blue shadow mask over its face, but otherwise reminded Layla a bit of a certain wrestler.
"Well, this is a bad spot to be in," Layla remarked, summoning Yamantaka. She didn't know what the wheel was going to do, but the wrestler shadow had used darkness so... "Mahama!" Layla called out, instructing her persona to hit the two shadows with a flare of light magic. Sure enough, the wrestler was knocked to the ground by the skill, while the wheel was only thrown off-balance for a split second before recovering. As for Layla, not wanting to be caught between the two as she was, she took off down the conveyor belt to put more distance between her and them.
A few seconds later, she looked back to see the wheel in hot pursuit, with the wrestler...was the wrestler riding on top of it?! Electricity crackled within the spokes of the massive wheel, then launched toward Layla as a bolt of lightning. She was struck by it before she could get off the conveyor belt, causing her to lose her balance and fall face-forward as she dropped off. Tucking her head and arms in, she managed to roll into the landing, but got up to find the wrestler shadow standing over her. It lunged forward, slamming an iron fist into a mass of machinery behind Layla. Although Layla had managed to avoid that blow, it kept attacking with a series of punches, kicks, and elbows. No amount of martial arts training could save her from all of them, and finally an elbow caught her straight in the back and dropped her to the ground. But the wrestler's chain of attacks continued with very little direction, as though it couldn't actually stop in the middle. Actually, it looked more like it was intended for multiple opponents. But fortunately, that gave Layla the opportunity she needed to get back up, summon Yamantaka again, and hit both shadows with a second flare of light.
No sooner had the light faded than the wheel shadow was charging Layla again, slamming her against a now-dented wall and giving the wrestler shadow time to recover. It chose not to hit Layla with another ridiculous combo and instead struck a pose, pointing at her, and hit her with another mass of dark energy. As her vision cleared again, Layla made for and started climbing a nearby pile of rubble that looked like it used to be car parts. As she reached the top, she summoned Yamantaka again for another Mahama, hitting both shadows. This time, only the wheel managed to take the hit, while the wrestler dissolved into shadowy particles.
Electricity crackled again within the spokes of the wheel as it tried to charge up the side of Layla's rubble pile. Then, when it failed, it simply shot a bolt of electricity up at her, nearly knocking her off in the process. Layla barely managed to pull herself back on top, feeling the weakness in her limbs and taking it as a sign that she needed to end the battle soon. But instead of summoning her persona again, she took a flying leap off the side, landing on top of the wheel shadow just as the wrestler had before. The wheel immediately tried to throw her off, taking sharp turns as it spun around the confined area before finally ramping up onto the conveyor belt and charging toward the factory floor exit. Pulling out her otta again, Layla swung it with a snap down at the spokes of the wheel, where it jammed in place and caused the shadow to start tumbling. She was thrown off almost immediately, while the shadow continued tumbling until it crashed through a wall, fell over on the other side, and dissolved as well.
Post by Layla Amare on Feb 7, 2014 22:51:02 GMT -5
Breathing heavily, Layla made her way over to where the wheel had fallen, using broken machinery as support whenever she found a surface that wouldn't cut her. Once she got there, she pulled her training weapon back out of the still fading remains of the shadow, noting with some dismay that it had been chewed up by the wheel's spokes. She gave the weapon a test swing, only for the front half of the wood-and-rubber otta to snap off, and land somewhere in the darkness beyond what she could see.
"Well, this thing's useless now," Layla said, disappointed. She put the remains of the weapon back in her jacket, then pulled out a second, fresh one. That would do for now, but in the future she really needed something better than training weapons. Like...something sturdier that could actually cause serious injury without necessarily striking a vital point.
...Granted, that was exactly what an otta was for, but not all shadows had vital points to strike.
Calling out Yamantaka again to heal herself, Layla turned to head deeper in. Before leaving though, she spotted something else on the ground where her broken weapon had been. "Amrita...soda?" she thought out loud, picking it up. "Who names something that? That's like a European company naming a drink 'nectar.' And, for all I know, that's happened before." Letting out a small sigh, Layla pocketed the drink. She'd try it later. Possibly. For now, she wasn't quite done here.