[InterZone Chatter] Agent 3D0 says, "They're not smart enough to actually calculate odds."
[InterZone Chatter] Lady A says, "What is this?"
[Z-Palace-GM] Station's voice is subdued. "Shaun went into Mazeon, Lita."
[Z-Palace-GM] Station says, "He's goin' after Otto."
[Hero-IC] The Dragon Warrior says, "Well, it's not just for you. I need to find some general term for things like robots, androids, reploids, and such."
[Z-Palace-GM] Lady A says, "..."
[Z-Palace-GM] Lady A says, "He did what?"
[Z-Palace-GM] Station explains patiently, "He went after Otto."
[Z-Palace-GM] Lady A says, "I said for no one to go there. ... That includes him. Shaun. Can you hear me?"
[InterZone Chatter] Jim Raynor says nothing larry says, "Chill man chill the odds are 2:1 for DC."
[InterZone Chatter] Lady A says, "You are BETTING on this?"
[InterZone Chatter] Ganon says, "Why not?"
[InterZone Chatter] Albedo Piasora says, "And?"
[InterZone Chatter] Jim Raynor says nothing but Larry saysm
[InterZone Chatter] Ganon says, "If your lover dies, I make money. It sounds wonderful to me."
[InterZone Chatter] Lady A stutters.
[InterZone Chatter] Gades says, "I had a batch of cookies I did not needed. They tend to explode prematuraly."
[InterZone Chatter] Apollo says, "That high? Double my bet. The name is Apollo. Mr. Apollo. - Of course. I doubt I would be able to go to Mazeon no matter which I preferred to help, if either. I have no other way of showing support."
[InterZone Chatter] Jim Raynor says nothing but Larry says "Err i tend to run betting on any major fight... err... I'm and got that Mr Apollo. Your bet has been doubled."
[InterZone Chatter] Agent 3D0 says, "You know, Lita. I actually hope he wins."
[Hero-IC] The Dragon Warrior says, "I'm just trying to find a term to use for when, say, I inform someone that a Hero of mechanical origins wishes to join forces with us. I can't just say 'Some person wants to join our cause'."
[InterZone Chatter] Mewtwo hmmms, ~ I believe Albedo put it best. Betting on Dreamcaster... either way, we win. One. Dreamcaster dies at the hands of Evil Otto. Two. Dreamcaster defeats Evil Otto and we gain profit. ~
[InterZone Chatter] Mewtwo speaks, ~ Either way. We win. ~
[Z-Palace-GM] Lady A says, "Shaun?"
[InterZone Chatter] Dark Link says, "Wonderful situation, is it not?"
[InterZone Chatter] Ganon says, "Hrrm. Now I regret my bet, almost. But if Dreamcaster dies, I get twice the enjoyment you do."
[InterZone Chatter] Apollo says, "Oh, I wouldn't say /that/. Barbaric. No point to it. But I can't do anything about it in any case."
[InterZone Chatter] Gaignun Kukai Jr. isn't saying a single thing.
[Z-Palace-GM] Dreamcaster sounding rather staticy, "Did ... ... say ... thing?"
[InterZone Chatter] Cody says, "On whether DC can beat the big bouncin' head that's obsessed with Lita, from what I hear."
[InterZone Chatter] Gum says, "... Woah. Dude that's sooooo bad mojo right there."
[InterZone Chatter] Chen Stormstout speaks, ~ The Dreamcaster versus Evil Otto in the corridors of Mazedon. 2:1 in favor of The Dreamcaster. ~
[InterZone Chatter] Albedo Piasora says, "I'm disappointed that Otto isn't being more -clever- about this. --He should have Lita watching."
[InterZone Chatter] Chen Stormstout says, "OOC: ...Mischar."
[InterZone Chatter] Mewtwo speaks, ~ The Dreamcaster versus Evil Otto in the corridors of Mazedon. 2:1 in favor of The Dreamcaster. ~
[InterZone Chatter] Lady A says, "Watch nothing. I'll kill him."
[InterZone Chatter] Albedo Piasora says, "The plot thickens."
[InterZone Chatter] Gum says, "Maybe he is? I mean, like, if her boy-toy's in there then she might try to go and drag his rear end out right, and naturally that'd put her in the place he wants her which is within his reach. Right? That makes sense, right?"
[InterZone Chatter] Jim Raynor OOC notes Larry will keep taking bets etc but I'm going to chill for a bit afk so see ya in like 30.
[InterZone Chatter] Ganon says, "Who? Dreamcaster or Evil Otto? Or both?"
[InterZone Chatter] Chen Stormstout says, "At times like dis... there be only ONE thing you can do. ...Have a drink!"
[InterZone Chatter] Agent 3D0 says, "Lita, I hate to say this to /you/ after saying it to Shaun, but I want you to win."
[Z-Palace-GM] Lady A asks, intensely: "Can you get OUT of there?"
[InterZone Chatter] Albedo Piasora laughs. "Given your -record-, she's doomed now."
[InterZone Chatter] Lady A says, "Why? Because you've BET on me?"
Mazeon
Dark, twisting corridors, Mazeon is a nightmarish labyrinth of electrified walls and killer robots.
Contents:
Automazeon Sentry
Dreamcaster
Evil Otto
[Live Broadcast] Evil Otto says, "I suppose I should broadcast then... I would not want to disappoint the wagerers." The feed dissolves into a scene on Mazeon, with Shaun leaping at one of the blue electrified walls... and being electrocuted. He falls to the ground with a thump. "Do tell Lita. The humanoid did not escape.""
[InterZone Chatter] Albedo Piasora says, "No, because he wished you luck."
[InterZone Chatter] Agent 3D0 says, "Actually, no, Lita. It's for one /simple/ reason. Even /you/ should be able to understand it."
[Z-Palace-GM] Dreamcaster, still staticy, "I ... hear ... ... all. Cutting ... ... ...missions."
[InterZone Chatter] Ganon says, "It seems I won 600 Rupees. Excellent."
[InterZone Chatter] Apollo says, "You weren't involved in the betting. Good luck. - Ah, the first wager is over. In that case I can speak freely. Go and succeed. I'd rather not have a giant face thinking he's king of the world."
[InterZone Chatter] Agent 3D0 says, "You're /mine/."
[InterZone Chatter] Lady A cuts off transmission.
[Hero-IC] The Dragon Warrior says, "Electrified walls? Jeeze. That makes navigating the maze that much more difficult. Especially if it's in the darkness."
[Hero-IC] Solid Snake says, "...Damn. Did he even make it to Evil Otto?"
Shaun lays there, sputting for a little while, a few tenacious bolts of electricity still sparking and dancing across his fallen frame. Already finding himself trying to fight off unconciousness he bites into his lip, as his thoughts suddenly fill with a reminder that he's in a very, very dangerous place, and that he really can't have nap time right now. He shakily plants his hands on the ground and tries to pick himself up.
Rising a few inches, before falling back down again, his entire body seems to be giving up on him. All the while his mind and heart screaming for just a little bit of compliance right now. Shaun's not gonna let it end like this, not without a real fight, not until he gets to Otto. He tries to pick himself up again.
This time making it all the way up with one arm, the other collapsing shortly back down to his elbow. He spits out a little bit of blood from the blow to his face as he fell and turns his head slowly to observe the advancing yellow robot. He grimaces and pushes once more, he's got to move, he's got to survive. He won't let a threat to Lita go unanswered.
With a rather pained and scratchy exclaimation of pain, Shaun finally brings himself to his feet, his body wobbling slightly, but quickly begining to catch a second wind. He raises one slightly shakey, but steady enough hand to fire at the encroaching sentry.
"The game isn't over yet!" he screams down the halls of the giant maze, before turning his attention back to the rest of the sentries, who are sure to begin their advance once more.
Evil Otto is nonplussed. The yellow sentry is destroyed, and the rest begin to descend upon him, heedless of their own well being as they have him up against a wall... rather literally.
"Brave, but ultimately futile. Your game is over, Gamemaster. KILL IT."
The yellow sentries raise their arms, striding zombie-like at Shaun as they draw closer and closer, giving him little room to escape... to do so, he'll have to blast his way out. Meanwhile, at Shaun's entry point, a sphere of energy begins to coalesce from the floor, its front marked by the appearance of... a smiley face.
"THE HUMANOID WILL NOT ESCAPE!"
Suddenly, one of the advancing sentries rezzes over. Internally, it combusts, and, with the sound of an explosion, it disappears altogether.
A visible shot, a pale white beam, flies out toward the second sentry, and, it, too, disappers as it's instantly destroyed.
Behind the advance of their line, a woman steps forward, her left hand still raised straight in front of her body. In it, she is holding the still-charged weapon: the simple black gun that is now doing precisely what it was designed to do.
"That's where you're wrong, Otto," says Lady A... her voice surprisingly strong over the hum of the electrified walls.
Dreamcaster pops off a few more sentries himself, before he notices a few more dropping in the background. He blinks, could it be another one of the runners in Mazeon? The poor souls who were destined to be born, run, and then die here? A fate that Shaun has pondered before, and one that makes Shaun think, that in Videoland, perhaps the greater power was just as wrathful in his early days as the Christian God in his world was.
As he drops a few more, he blinks as he spies Lita. What is she doing here? He thinks to himself, but before he even asks, he's sure he knows the answer. If not for the imminent threat all around him, he'd probably delve deeper into the kind of trouble his brashness has once again landed him in with his lady, but for now, there's business to take care of.
Blasting a pathway through the sea of yellow robots, Shaun starts to close in on Lita's location, a somewhat pensive look on his face.
Evil Otto rises fully from the ground, a being of white electrical energy, his smile everpresent on a face that doesn't technically exist. He doesn't seem to mind that another of his yellow sentries is destroyed. He doesn't seem to mind that Shaun has recovered somewhat. He even doesn't mind that another intruder has arrived on Mazeon. He's just happy. Always happy, and you can almost hear it in his robotic voice.
"Lita Marshall! Welcome back! We've missed you."
As he speaks, more sentries begin to appear... no more yellow Sentries this time... but white ones. Fast, deadly robots, lasers humming with power on their arms as they file into the maze. Their eyes are set on Shaun and Lita, the drones moving to surround Lady A, and, in the process, Shaun, as Otto bounces behind them all.
"So you have returned, at long last. Again you find yourself in my maze, and this time, neither of you will escape." He sounds almost smug. "Destroy the intruder!"
Lady A moves her arm only slightly, and, squeezes the trigger on her gun, blasting one of the white sentries directly in front of her. It expires easily, and, then, Lita is standing face to cheerful face... with Otto. Lita's demeanor fades, that face reflected in her eyes. She reaches out for Shaun's hand, and grabs onto it firmly. Fear leaking into her voice, she warns. "You have to run."
And, then, she turns around, facing the hall behind her. She nearly runs right into one of the encroaching sentries, and it explodes at the tip of her gun.
Dreamcaster blinks at the grab of his hand and turns to look at Lita, honestly a tad bit startled at first, but there isn't much time for reacting as he stumbles to catch up with Lita's pace, one of his pistols firing off a few shots at some approaching drones, the other already holstered to conserve ammo. The only pauses coming from his utilization of his Activator shield. As he catches up to the girl, he notes in a surprisingly stern voice, stating a rather simply stern fact, "We can't run away forever, Lita. At some point, we've gotta take a stand, and overcome them." He pops off a few more shots before adding, "He won't stop until he's got you, Lita. That much is clear. That's why I came down here. If someone doesn't stop him, then he /will/ come for you. Anytime, anywhere, we've already seen him at some pretty wild locales."
"If we don't stop him," he continues, "How many more are going to have to suffer in this Zone? I know it might not be our right to dictate the morals and cultures of zones, but... it isn't right. You've heard Otto himself, no one escapes Mazeon. I think it's time you broke that rule again, Lita, only this time for good."
The Automazeons begin toward Lita and Shaun, their robotic voices in unision as they start to fire, the air filling with laser bolts as they advance. "CHICKEN, FIGHT LIKE A ROBOT!"
Otto, for his part, just laughs, starting toward the pair as he advances. "There is no escape, and if you choose to stand, you will die where you stand. Either way, I do not care, fight as you will. It will make this all the sweeter. Run and die or stand and die!"
Lady A blasts another sentry easily, but... the sound of the familiar threat almost makes her fall. She's still running: out of reflex, out of fear, or out of training imprinted on her brain from long afternoons at a dusty arcade. "I can't beat him. I can't even hurt him. There's nothing..."
She runs full-speed, her breath already catching in her throat, and she pulls Dreamcaster forward. She skids, turns a dangerous corner, and, seeing it blessedly sentry free, even if for a mere heartbeat, she turns and faces Shaun. She looks down...at her right arm, and her paddle-weapon. Suddenly, she remembers. She glances to her gun, and the hand that holds it. And she turns the hand, to see symbol still imprinted there. A pulse of energy feeds up her arm. She looks at Dreamcaster again, and it's as if another pulse of energy feeds into her eyes... steeling them. "All right. Let's..." She listens down the hall, ready for another sentry, getting ready for Otto. She swallows. "Let's do this."
Dreamcaster nearly ends up on the floor after nearly going down the wrong hall, and as his body flails a bit he finds himself up against wall, standing face to face with Lita. He's managed to keep his stern look going however, but it quickly brightens in an almost too happy smile, "That's my girl."
He reaches into his shirt and pulls both of his pistols once more and says to her, "I'll worry about the sentries, you focus on smiley. If you need help, just call my name...," he trails off and looks down at the side of his hip, "Nomad, what's my meter at?"
"83 Percent, chief. That jolt of electricity shot you straight up in short order," the virtual AI responds.
Dreamcaster steals one last glance at Lady A before he taps the side of his head, causing his VR Visor to materialize around his eyes, after he pulls his glasses off and tucks them into his shirt. Giving one final check to his ammo reserves, he peeks around the corner, chuckling, "... showtime."
Evil Otto pauses in mid-bounce, floating in the air as Lita and Shaun make their stand. "I see you have made your decision," it says. "How enchanting. Instead of running, and preserving your lives for a short while, you have chosen to die. Predictable, I suppose, but not without its own special charm. I must confess that I will be at a loss without you tormenting my processors, but all good things must come to an end. The status quo shall be maintained, and Mazeon will be flawless once more." He begins to bounce once more, and at a silent command, the White Automazeons begin to march again, their lasers again beginning to fire as Otto bounces toward Lita. "Destroy the humanoids. Do not let them escape. But... save Lita for me."
Lady A levels her gun toward Otto as he bounces nearer. She aims him right in the sights...and squints, before realizing: there's no chance in hell that's going to work. "Just cover me," she says to Shaun, giving him a glance that she hopes won't be her last. Then, she flips the gun around in her hand, pointing it barrel-down, and slipping it to her side, holstering it in her belt.
She digs her heels into the ground, and forces herself to glare at Otto... as he slowly, cheerfully, approaches.
Dreamcaster nods his head at Lita's imperative and quickly gets to work. He's got a lot of ground to cover and he doesn't waste much time in getting to it. Gun's pointing every which direction in quick succession, each time firing off a few volleys at several of the larger groups of drones. The gun he was favoring earlier however, shortly runs out of ammo, and Shaun finds himself in a bit of a quandry.
Sliding the now-useless gun into it's holster he takes inventory of what he's got at his disposal. He brought a pretty heavy weapon set for this, so at least he came prepared for the worst, but even still, he doesn't carry as much of the big stuff. At least there's always the sword.
As he continues to circle around Lita and Otto, a yellow sentry decides to try and impede his progress by simply blocking his path. Shaun just smiles, shrugging his shoulders lightly as he eyes the wall behind the robot, and then proceeds to shoulder tackle him into it.
Eyes now darting around to assess the situation anew, he frowns, he doen't even have enough bullets to take out what's in the room right now, let alone what reinforcements may arrive. This is gonna take something drastic. Something crazy...
Automazeons explode under the volleys from Dreamcaster's Menacers, several of the tight clusters of robots cascading into multiple explosions as the tightly packed robots explode, causing their neighbors to join them. But where some fall, more arrive, filling the room, white drones, blue, yellow, green, red, violet... all the colors of rainbow, all moving as one toward the defiant pair.
Otto pauses at Lady A holsters her weapon, wondering what kind of trick the female Gamemaster has in mind. His thought processes are fast, blisteringly so, and Otto begins to move once more, bouncing toward Lita with a deadly urgency.
"Interesting, Lita. You have already given up? Your acceptance of your fate... it is not what I had expected at all. Are you so intent on depriving me of even this last act of defiance? So be it."
He bears down on Lady A, chortling with a robotic laughter as he surges, intending to electrocute her where she stands.
Lady A scrapes her heel on the ground, and, clenches both her fists. She actually calls on the Triforce...for the first time. She was afraid of doing so in a place where there were innocents to hurt: she was afraid of doing so after others had difficulty controlling it. But here and now, its power...and her own wisdom, and Dreamcaster's courage...might be enough to stop this cycle.
The symbol glows red, and Lita's fists grow tighter, as power like fire hits her veins. And she shouts, and charges. She doesn't have far to run, right now, and she never thought she would want to run...directly -into- Otto. Her paddle-arm, however, is what leads her body, and she strikes it against him, swinging backhanded into his grinning face.
Shaun just stares blankly as dozens upon dozens of sentries continue to flood into the room. His eyes darting back and forth in desperation for some kind of idea of what to do. He'd pull out the 32X but that'd put Lita in danger too. He's not going to waste his Pause this early into things, not that it would really do any good in this situation. He's low on ammo, and while the Chu Chu's are powerful, he was hoping to use those later. Oh if only he could maybe summon in his dragon or his mech, things would be going a lot smoother. Or if only he had a few more energy clips.
"Nomad," he starts, going on to say, "Gimme a heads up when I'm at 95." The AI barks back, in his vaguely Brooklyn accent, "You got it, chief."
Shaun then gets That Look (TM) in his eyes. You know the look, you know the smirk. Shaun just got another bad idea. Running right into the middle of the flustercluck of sentries, he reaches into his shirt, and tries to draw them away from Lita and Otto for a moment. After reaching a safe enough distance. Shaun snaps a finger and suddenly, Mazeon's speakers crackle to life once more, but not in Otto's use, for now, he's been hijacked by Dream Set Radio.
As the masses of robots crowd around and decend upon Shaun, he snaps a finger once more, causing a spotlight to shine down on him. He bows his head, a wide smile already creeping across his features. Soon thereafter, a rather upbeat Ska beat flows through the halls of Mazeon. The utter chipperness of it all almost completely offsetting the unsettling aura of Mazeon itself. The horns join in, the guitar strums, and then comes the singing voice, singing a song that even Lita herself may remember, but certainly not in this form.
By now, Shaun has retrieved his weapon of choice for this particular portion of the battle, and in his hands rest two bright orange and quite festively decorated Maracas. And as the vocalist wails the lyrics, "Taaaaaaaake meeeeeee oooooooon! I'lllllll beeeeeeeee goooooooone!"
Shaun proceeds to bust it down. Hoping to captivate the sentries into a dance of doom.
Take that Moonwalker.
The sentries turn to follow Dreamcaster as he leads them away from Lita, they're, to say the least, not expecting what the Dreamcaster does. As the spotlight hits Shaun, dozens of sentries are caught by the power of A-ha, spinning around, raising their guns in the air, and moonwalking back as they're helpless to do anything but dance. They spin once more as the chorus of the song hits, and the dozens caught in the music simply explode into showers of metal and electricity.
Otto notices the vergence in the battle, the use of a completely irrational act... but he doesn't care and doesn't notice, he's set on reducing Lita to glowing ash. So intent is he on this, he fails to see what's really happening... and is caught.
The Pong Paddle catches Otto, the nigh-mystical nature of the simple block affecting even him, the power of the Triforce kicking back against him. Otto does not scream precisely... but there is a horrible, painful noise as he's thrown back, rebounding off one of the far walls of the maze. The smile... is gone. Where Otto's ominpresent grin was is a straight line, an unhappy expression to match his confused and injured self. "No. It is impossible! DESTROY THE INTRUDER!"
"Yes." Lady A articulates this single word, filled with triumph that even one attack had actually worked. She wasn't dead just from the contact... which meant, she had a chance. She falls back from her charge, into another low stance, and glances at her paddle. So intense on her own enemy, she only -now- hears the music...and it does give her a kind of strange strength, in its ability to break the mood of an otherwise terrifyingly bleak place.
A smile crosses her own face, even as Otto's fades...for the first time. It can be done.
Lita starts to run back toward Otto, approaching him where he stands near the wall. Her eyes flash with fire as her feet pound against the ground...
Dreamcaster nods in satisfaction at the dropping robots, his eyes glittering with almost childlike glee as his tactic comes off a lot more successful than he thought it might. Now pulling his katana, he starts at the nearest resisters of the call of the dance, charging and slashing with a great amount of efficient enthusiasm. Shaun may not like to fight, and in a lot of ways, he's not as good as any of the others in any one thing. But once you get him onery, there's a certain chance of humanoid typhoon-like behavior. So maybe Ike /was/ right about Felton being more Vash-like than he'd like to admit.
"Ninty five, boss," Nomad suddenly pipes in, "... your Pause charge is full, ammo is currently at forty percent. I discovered a flaw in one of the Chu Chu's while running maintence on it tho, so you're down to two."
"Got it, bud, thanks," is the Sega Gamemaster's reply, as he dashes around the area, he finds himself passing near Lita and Otto, and as he notices Lita strike the beast, he smiles. But as Lita charges at the giant smiling face once more, Shaun notices a sentry sneaking up on her, and moving quick. Out of options, the Gamemaster goes for his last resort, his Pause.
Borrowing a page from the Zach Morris Handbook For High School Success, Shaun skids to a stop and holds up his hands, forming a T-shape with them as he says in a rather calm tone, "Time out!" Immediately thereafter, the entire room is washed over by the effects of the Pause, all but Lita of course, who has always seemed to be immune to them. Suddenly with a rather svelte smile on his face, he makes his way towards Lita, tapping the side of his visor, causing it to disappear once more, and slides his glasses back on. As he arrives in her immediate vicinity, he wraps an arm around her tightly and dipkisses her, one eye peeking open as they lean over, as his hand extends, popping off a blast at the sentry that stood not but a few feet behind the Atari girl.
He then pulls her back up with him and gives her a little squeeze, noting with a wink after taking a brief glance at the large frowning face behind him, stuck motionless for the moment, quipping nonchalantly "Boy, he looks pretty pissed." Savoring the visage of the frowning Otto for a moment, he turns back to the girl, knowing that his pause is about to run out, and notes to her, "Remember, if you need a little help, or some quick cover fire, just call my name."
Shaun then starts running off towards another group of sentries, as the Pause suddenly washes out just as abruptly as it came in.
Evil Otto pauses for a moment. She hit him. She /HIT/ him. "Impossible. You should be dead, Lita. You cannot do this to me. It is impossible!" Otto charges Lita, sizzling with electricity, his only tactic having failed... but he'll break that toy shield, he'll bring her low and make her beg for death.
His Automazeons fall under the Dreamcaster's Katana, it can't help but come to his attention that they seem somewhat... distracted. The damage to Otto seems to have affected them all, and Otto is concentrating on his own fight. Still, they fire, catching their own in some of the crossfire, but they are intent on catching Dreamcaster and slaughtering him.
Otto continues to bound toward Lita, taking large strides as he tries to get around her paddle. "You will die, Lita Marshall. I am not going to let you escape. Not now, not ever."
Evil Otto doesn't even notice that he was Paused for a moment. He's that singlemindedly focused.
Lady A is, needless to say, taken aback by this manuever. She was just about to charge her enemy when she's grabbed, and then left, standing, stunned, in the center of the maze. She blinks after him.
And as the pause wears off...she shrugs, and sighs. She looks over to the last location of the destroyed sentry. "Shaun... I can't take you ANYWHERE."
She hasn't moved much...when Otto speaks up again, his time frozen already over. She sighs, and then, she considers...remembering another old tactic. One of the best old tactics. "You'll have to catch me first."
And, surprisingly, she turns and runs again, her sneakers skidding around a corner. A blue sentry faces her down just around the edge, and, using one advantage that the old game never had, she takes to the third dimension, jumping up and leaping over it.
Dreamcaster just goes right back on to slicing and dicing his robotic opponents, calling back to Lita in reply to her statement, "Aw, c'mon, don't I at least make your life a little bit more exciting and unpredictable?" He chuckles a bit and turns back around to get back to his slaying, when he finds himself staring point blank at a sentries gun, "... hi there."
Dropping the floor and just barely avoiding the blast, he drops a Chu-Chu and sets it to timed explosive mode. Rolling backwards now and springing back up he makes his way off to another group of sentries, hoping the Chu-Chu does it's job.
Evil Otto bounds for Lita, who does the one thing he isn't expecting at this moment. "CHICKEN! FIGHT LIKE A ROBOT!" He bounds after her, lost in his rage for perhaps the first time ever as he takes off after her commanding several of his Automazeons to fall into line behind him as he charges for where Lita is running, passing through the wall she just ran behind as he tries to catch up with her (the Automazeons go around... well, except one of them, which slams into the wall and dies).
Dreamcaster carves through the other sentries like mincemeat, and they are torn apart, the arriving sentries having a hard time mounting a good offensive, blaster bolts flying every which way as they try to gain ground on the Sega gamemaster, shots flying everywhere, the air smelling of ozone as they pierce walls, robots, ceilings, and floors.
Lady A was hoping that Otto would carve through more than one of the sentries in his dash. She underestimated his control, maybe... But she was mostly hoping that he would charge. The minute he closes in on her back, she leaps up again, letting the increasing speed of his bounce charge right beneath her. She hits the ground hard just behind him, her knees bending. Yet, there is almost no sound as her shoes strike the floor--it being muffled by the everpresent electrical hum, and the sounds of dying sentries. There is, however, the sound of her breath catching in her throat, as she winds up for another strike with the paddle. Striking, this time, at Otto's back, she flings her arm forward, to propel him into striking another electrified wall.
Dreamcaster just keeps on slashing through robots, but his second wind is failing him now. The electric shock he took earlier on in the fight is finally starting to bear down on him once more. His pace slowing a bit, and his swings losing their strength gradually, he visibly starts to run out of steam. He keeps pushing himself as much as he can however, but as the swarm around him grows larger, his chances seem bleak.
"Nomad..." he starts, but before he can even finish, his AI replies sharply.
"Ninty nine percent, chief, just hang in dere for a little longer."
Automazeons continue to fall, but as Dreamcaster falters, they begin to mass once more, closing ranks and pouring more direct volleys of laser fire at the Sega superhero. A few more file in, but the wave seems to be slowing, as Otto is forced to pull sentries from farther and farther in the mazes, and it seems like there may be some breathing space for Shaun... if he survives the ones that are already here.
Otto, on the other hand, is fast... almost faster than Lita, but still he's caught, the white sphere hurtling toward another wall, slamming into it with a crackle of electrical discharge. The straight line gives way to an outright scowl, but he seems to be having other problems, his electrical projection sparking and faltering. "INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!" He falls back on his old standby, turning toward Lita once more. "You... will not defeat me. I will not let you escape again."
Lady A takes a deep breath, feeling the power of the Triforce continue to energize her body. She electricity of the maze crackles into her ears. "No, Otto. I won't...let you threaten my friends. I won't...let you threaten me. And I won't... let you leave here alive." She raises the paddle hand, and points it out toward Otto, as if daring him to come closer. "In Videoland... You're the intruder."
Mr. Felton stares this way and that as the robots close in on him. He swings his katana futily for a few more moments, and then the swarm is upon him. And he disappears momentarily underneath the growing pile of robots. Could this be the end of our brash young hero? Was his super meter too little, too late? Is his player trying to buy some time so he can figure out exactly what he's going to do?
Find out all of these answers and more next time, same Shaun pose order, same Shaun MUSH.
Evil Otto laughs, short and brusque, no humor in the noise at all. "You are wrong, Lady A. I may be the intruder in Videoland... but I am God here. AND YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE ME!" Otto charges, bleeding electricity along his path as he bounds for Lita, keeping an eye on that deadly paddle, trying to get around it, to find the defenseless flesh and fry her where she stands.
The Automazeons descend on Shaun, lasers firing in deadly waves. They've got him now, and they will not be stopped.
Lady A gets ready for the charge. And when Otto grows close, she shouts, all she has time for: "OTTO... GAME... OVER!" She swings her paddle arm downward, putting her body into the strike. She's aiming to strike the blow on the top of this weakened target, hoping to disperse his electrical body with this power strike. As she does this... red energy surges up the paddle, lighting it with a glow. And, as she does this, her own hand scrapes against the electrical surface of the bouncing ball... Otto finally finding his opening. She shouts aloud, as the pain of his touch hits the core of her body... and presses on anyway, striking her whole hand through the deadly surface.
Suddenly, there is a stirring within the dogpile of robots. At first it's a simple shifting, most likely from the robots closest to Shaun laying siege to his now vulnerable defenses. Then... nothing... almost eery silence. But then, in the distance, comes another song over the loudspeakers. An inspirational ditty, an asian themed song of seemingly epic proportions.
The calls come, the song drones on, demanding the presense of the fabled champion of Sega. The mysterious man who Dreamcaster has searched for in the past few months. As the male voices cry out the verse to the Japanese language song, the music only grows louder and louder. But where could he be? And what of Shaun?
And then, one by one, robots start flying from near the center of the pile. One flying over Otto and Lita's position, another slamming against the far wall and exploding from the electric shock. Another still lands short and skids across the floor, kicking up bright red sparks over the otherwise black surroundings. Another few are thrown at the newly approaching ones that flood into the room to reinforce. Several more follow, as the area where the dogpile once was soon finds itself plunged into a sea of chaos. Something is happening, and the guardians of Mazeon are not happy about it.
Eventually, the crowd of robot backs away, spreading out, and standing there, in a plain white gi, with a rather intense look on his face, is a man of hair almost as crazy as Shaun's. He merely stands there, arms folded across his chest, unmoving. Some of the more colorful drones begin to close in again, lasers firing, and still the man makes no move to stop them. Each one piercing through his white gi, but each one just barely missing the stoic man. As if almost by will alone he detered their aim from his body.
Then the rest start to charge in once more, their situation assessed. This new threat is more dangerous than the last. This new threat is impeding the progress on their previous mision of finishing the job on Shaun.
Speaking of which, where did that trouble maker go off to? Huh, weird.
As the robots start their advance once more, the one in the front suddenly realizes something. How, even it does not know, but for some reason, it looks up at the man, and sputters in it's robotic voice, "S-s-egata S-s-sanshiro!"
The man then throws out his arms, his cue now triggered, and charges headfirst into the group of robots, hurling robots over his shoulder and putting them in nasty looking armbars. While his manuevers may lack in flash and variety, they are deadly effective. Dozens of robots are sent flying and crashing to their doom in the wake of the karata gi clad champions rampage.
As he clears the room for the time being, he comes to a stop and looks at his work around him, nods his head once, and says in a rather satisfied tone, "Segata Sanshiro."
He then begins to dig around in the rubble of the robots, possibly searching for Shaun before more robots begin to spill into the room.
The overlord of Mazeon throws himself at Lita with his full force, his face a determined scowl as Lita brings the paddle down against him, the concussive force striking the giant smiley even as he begins to consume Lita in his deadly electrical embrace. Otto shrieks with a mixture of pain and triumph as the paddle slams into him, sending him down into the floor.
Otto shrieks, every speaker in the maze resounding with the cry of the fallen sphere, which explodes into a disastrous splash of electrical energy. As Lady A's paddle slashes through him, Otto simply ceases to be... and as soon as it begins, the shriek ends with an electrical whine, like someone too close to a microphone.
As Otto falls... all of the power in this sector of Mazeon fails... casting the entire area into darkness, lit only by the glow of the destroyed and burning ruins of the countless Automazeons destroyed by Sanshiro.
Lady A gasps, and screams, as the light rises and falls. There is a glow still shining around the paddle on her arm, and, then, as the electricity fades...it fades. She drops to her knees on the floor, seeing the barest flicker of flamelight from the sentries out of the corner of her eyes. She holds onto her stomach, and.... chokes for air... taking deep breaths. For a moment, she loses track of where she even is, and, her eyes flicker between open and shut. Then, they shut.
Speaking of those fires, Segata seems to have disappeared into them... as he is nowhere to be found now. Curious...
Slumped over on the ground however, is Shaun, leaned forward, resting an outstretched arm on one risen knee, while the other leg stretches out in his seated position. Looking up with a rather exhausted and somewhat relieved look on his face as he spies the derezzing Otto, he turns his gaze to Lita scrounging up the energy to flash a faint, but meaningful smile at her, "You did it." He holds his smile for a bit longer before he rises back up to his feet slowly, rubbing at a pained shoulder with his less injured side's hand, "Looks like no one will have to run anym--oh geez..."
Hurrying over to her side as best he can, he kneels down next to her, and places an arm around her shoulders, giving her a light shake, "Lita? Hey, Lita? C'mon sweetheart... open your eyes for me. Now's not a good time for naps, let's get you back to the palace, okay?"
Evil Otto is gone. If he survived, he gives no sign, but the area remains dark. If anything, the only sign that anything's active at all is the light white noise that now pours from the speakers, sounding more like wind than anything else in the ruin of the darkness.
Lady A takes a deep breath... and struggles, fighting an encroaching sleep. The Triforce surges through her again, and, then, the dull glow on her left hand subsides, leaving the tattoo-like mark a normal shade. "I.. I touched him..." Lita breathes in, still feeling the shock that resonated through her body. "But... I'll... li..." She grabs out, and clenches onto Shaun's arm, forcing her eyes to open. "I'll live."
Dreamcaster smiles down at his beloved and gives her a gentle squeeze, "Thatta girl. You did great, Lita... once again you've done the undoable. I'm starting to wonder if there's anything you can't do." He grins at the girl and then inquires, "Can you stand on your own? Or am I gonna have to carry you back to the medbay?" He says that last part as if it's mostly in jest, but if it came down to it, he probably would.
[Fac-Palace] Defense CO, Station says, "...Shaun?"
[Fac-Palace] The Guardian says, "Yes, sir?"
[Fac-Palace] Yuko Ahso says, "Shaun? Is there something wrong?"
[Fac-Palace] Dreamcaster says, "I may be jumping the gun here a bit... but I think Lita just did it."
[Fac-Palace] Dreamcaster says, "Otto is... gone."
[Fac-Palace] Elsa von Spielburg says, "That's fantastic!"
[Fac-Palace] Cody says, "So we don' gotta hear that annoyin' guy again?"
[Fac-Palace] The Guardian says, "Good riddance."
[Fac-Palace] Ryu says, "Mind me saying how often we hear that 'so and so is dead"
[Fac-Palace] Dreamcaster says, "Well, yeah, that's true Ryu. But... the thing is, nothing has ever stopped him before. Heck, you can't even touch him and usually survive."
[Fac-Palace] Red Mage says, "Hey guys."
[Fac-Palace] Ryu says, "...gone... or something else? Either way, it I suppose it is a good thing. Well, how did you 'stop' him this time then?"
[Fac-Palace] Terry says, "What's an Otto?"
[Fac-Palace] Dreamcaster says, "I'm... not sure, you'll have to ask Lita, I'd suggest later though, she's been through hell."
[Fac-Palace] The Guardian says, "Is she listening? Is there anything I can do?"
[Fac-Palace] Dreamcaster says, "I sorta blacked out before it happened, and by the time I came too, all I saw was him blipping out of existance."
[Fac-Palace] Defense CO, Station says, "...you guys /won/?"
[Fac-Palace] Lady A says, "Yes. I can hear you."
[Fac-Palace] Lady A says, "I'll be all right."
[Fac-Palace] Rudy Roughnight says, "Congratulations."
[Fac-Palace] Red Mage says, "Need any healing, Lita?"
[Fac-Palace] Dreamcaster coughs hard a few times before saying, "Always expect the unexpected, kiddo."
[Fac-Palace] Dreamcaster says, "Lita was the one who took him out, so the congradulations should go to her."
[Fac-Palace] Red Mage says, "Lita, I repeat, need any healing?"
[Fac-Palace] Defense CO, Station says, "Lita--Shaun--"
[Fac-Palace] Defense CO, Station sounds choked up. "Good goin', guys."
Lady A pulls herself up to her feet. "You need me... to open a warp home." Her voice is regaining strength, but, she still seems weak as she takes a step forward. "Without Otto here... Just walk me to a maze exit. There should be one...somewhere nearby." She can't see all that well at all, and braces herself against a wall as she stands. Blessedly, its trap is still inoperable.
Dreamcaster nods his head, offering the girl a shoulder to lean on and an arm for support after he rises as well. Never know when those walls may flip back on, he takes a look around and finds the nearest exit and slowly starts leading her towards it. After a few steps taken in silence, he blinks, a tad confused, "There's just one thing I don't understand... how did I survive all of that? Last I remember I was surrounded by sentries and out of ammunition... next thing I know I wake up to see Otto dissipating. Did you take all of the robots out as well?"
Shaun sighs a bit, shaking his head, not waiting for a reply as he continues, in an apologetic tone, "I'm sorry I got you into this Lita... I, just couldn't stand hearing him talk about how he was going to kill you on the InterZone frequencies. I guess I let my emotions get the better of me."
[Z-Palace-GM] Dreamcaster says, "Hey, Corey?"
[Z-Palace-GM] Station says, "Yeah, Shaun?"
[Z-Palace-GM] Dreamcaster says, "Think I can maybe renig on that promise of makin' dinner tonight?"
[Z-Palace-GM] Dreamcaster coughs, before chuckling, "I'm not sure I'm up to firin' up the wok in my condition."
[Z-Palace-GM] Station says, "...Yeah, no worries. I'll make dinner, if y'want me to."
[Z-Palace-GM] Dreamcaster says, "Sounds good, I'm sure Kevin will be down with it."
[Z-Palace-GM] Station says, "A'ight."
Lady A shakes her head. "I...just took out Otto. I didn't see what happened with the other sentries." She takes a deep breath, and, frowns. "I'm sorry." Though she's not sure what she's apologizing for. Not seeing what happened? Or getting Dreamcaster into this personal mess of hers....
She fumbles to her side, readying the controller while still leaning on Dreamcaster for support. "And... it's all right. We're all right, and... We did something really good here, today." A smile moves to her tired face, and, she presses the button. The maze exit flares up in a white glow, something she can actually see, as a distant haze in her damaged vision.
Dreamcaster bobs his head a few times, leaning his head over to give Lita a brief kiss on the top of the head, "We sure did. Now I think we've both earned a good night's rest. You want me to write up the report on this, or do you wanna take it." Wow, you know he's in love when he's offering to do his least favorite work of all, or work period for that matter.
Lady A laughs softly. "That would be...great... If you wouldn't mind." He seems to be okay. Lita herself..wonders what happened that finished off those sentries. But she doesn't have the mental energy to contemplate it now.
Dreamcaster slouches a bit, "I was afraid you'd say that." He quickly brightens back up though, chuckling a bit before leading Lita into the warp zone, taking her hand in his and giving it a warm squeeze before diving into it.
Lady A escapes into a warp zone.