damned_institute | Nightshift 25: Discplinary Therapy Room Hallways

The intercom's message was the last of Sora's concerns at the moment. The good news was that his plan seemed to have worked. The bad news was that that meant he was in imminent danger.

Still, he was more than prepared for the clawed hand coming for him, and leaned back at the waist in order to avoid it. Normally, he would have been able to arch his body forward again and then attack, but he couldn't move as agilely in Landel's.

Which meant that he ended up losing his balance and falling back onto the floor. However, he felt a stirring in his heart and before long, he had his Keyblade. Now he was just at a serious disadvantage, so he did his best to scramble to his feet again.

Renji was ignored. Artemis was ignored. The creature's sole focus was Sora, Sora who had been knocked backwards. The glowing gold creature bent, one shoulder jerking down and then the other following as though controlled by some mechanism. Again it swiped at Sora, either uncaring or unaware that the boy was now armed.

"Move it, Sora!" Renji shouted, then clamped the knife between his teeth and dropped to a three point crouch. The monster was bending down. Which meant, he hoped, that it was off balance. Rather than wasting a lot of time randomly poking it in the back with his knife, he thought it'd be better if he could simply help it overbalance and fall. Maybe they could keep it from getting back up. Maybe it'd reveal and obvious weak point, maybe it would give them a chance to search for one. Maybe...

Knife clenched between his teeth, he launched himself at the knees, throwing his shoulder against them and all of his weight behind it.

Artemis drew his hands up to his face as the monster turned its sights on Sora. Wait... it wasn't going to attack him? Why? Sora and Renji were both armed, he would have been an easy target. He pondered this, taking it in for a few milliseconds, then came back to the battle.

He wasn't doing any good standing in front of the thing, that was certain. And the way Renji was crouching now, it was impossible for the boy to tell where his supposed shield would be next. So for the time being, he stood there, scalpel in hand, flashlight in the other. Should he try stabbing it? Should he do anything at all, really?

Wait for the moment... you'll need every scrap of wit you can muster, that's certain.

And so he waited, and continued to stare dumbly into the face of the beast.

Sora wasn't one to hesitate in the middle of battle. Renji's order combined with the monster coming for him was enough motivation to get him moving. He scrabbled backward on the floor, his weapon held clumsily in his right hand.

Then Renji went for a tackle, and it seemed exactly like the sort of foolhardy thing he would do. (Hadn't he just charged the monster unarmed, after all?) Still, the distraction was a welcome one, and it gave him enough time to get standing again.

He glanced over his shoulder at Artemis, who looked a bit out of place, flashed him a grin, and then turned back to the fight at hand. He needed to find an opening so that he could join in the assault...

The tackle from Renji caught the creature completely off guard. It went down with its mouth twisted in a soundless scream, flinging out its arms in an attempt to slash anything within range. It rolled and bucked under Renji, attempting to throw off the attacker. There seemed an almost desperate rage in the thing now, now that it had been knocked onto its front.

Renji hadn't expected it to work that well, but he didn't pause to thank his good luck. He was on the downed creature's back, scrambling up to plant his knee firmly between its shoulder blades and bear down with all his weight. The other leg was over the side, foot firm on the ground as the creature twisted beneath him. It would - hopefully - be enough to help him keep his balance, stay on the thing's back, and thus keep it on the ground.

He yanked the knife from between his teeth and took an experimental cut at the back of its neck. "While it's down!" Renji yelled. "Gotta find a weak point!"

The radios turned on in the confusion; he caught little of what the man said, but he did hear the demand that they listen, and the comparison to children - the doubt. For someone that claimed to be helping them all, the man had a funny way of doing it. Emotions riding high in the battle, his first urge was obeyed. He yanked the radio out of his waistband and smashed it on the creature's head.

Artemis was startled when the thing fell forward--so startled that he took a step backwards. He still had his scalpel in had, but was still unsure of how he could help.

The only obvious weapons this monster has are its claws. If those are disabled, defeating it should be child's play. Artemis was hesitant to act though, as the monster was flailing wildly. Right at the moment Renji brought his radio down on the monster's head, Artemis aimed a wild swing of his flashlight at the monster's right claw--putting as much strength into it as possible. The boy was hoping to injure the thing's arm or hand or whatever it was.

At least he was trying to help now.

Renji's tackle had worked! It seemed like they wouldn't have too hard of a time overpowering it now, unless the monster still had something under its sleeve. Sora was going to do his best to stay positive, though. The sooner they killed the thing, the sooner he could get to Kairi. She was so close now, behind one of those doors...

Focus. Renji was telling him what to do, and he was more than ready to comply. He watched as Artemis stepped forward and made a swipe at one of the monster's hands, and decided he would go for the other one. He swung his weapon around and sent the teeth of the key into creature's hand.

He hoped the other groups were doing all right, but he didn't have the freedom to check on them just yet.

Every blow seemed to strike metal, causing no damage to the creature. It twisted and writhed like some great, grotesque fish, or a corpse shot through with electricity. Its claws rose and fell in stilted movements, striking out against those who tried to harm it.

Renji twisted and bounced with the creature, determined to keep his weight on top of it. His knee was starting to feel rather bruised, but it was the least of his current worries. So much of his attention was taken up by simply just trying to stay on the creature and keep it down that he couldn't really see what Artemis and Sora were up to.

He did have an idea - rather than a point by point check of the creature's back, which would take a long time, he set the edge of the knife slightly to one side of its spine and dragged down, searching for any place that felt different. It covered more area, and would make the search faster - assuming there was something to be found.

He just hoped that it would have a vulnerable spot somewhere. And on its back, preferably, since that was all they currently had access to. At least having it face down was making the creature's attempts at fighting far less effective.

Apparently, Artemis' flashlight wasn't strong enough to injure the whatever-it-was. The boy winced as the shock of the impact ran up his arm. It felt as though he were beating a tank with a flashlight!

Before he could back away, the monster started flailing, trying to get up or get rid of whatever was attacking it. And in this instance, being in front of the monster was the worst place he could be.

The first swipe got his leg--cutting through his sweatpants with no effort at all. Artemis yelled in pain, collapsing to grip his injured leg. The other claw came forward and sliced open the boy's coat, shirt, and shoulder.

"AGHHH! Agh...!" Artemis spouted off a few of Butler's most creative phrases, grit his teeth and dragged himself away from the swiping claws with his good arm. Blue sparks were already teaming on the wounds like shining maggots, trying to repair the damage.

"I need that..." Artemis muttered through gritted teeth. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to make the magic flow stop. With the extent of his wounds, it could take a while.

The strike with his Keyblade just caused a hard, scraping noise--it really was like hitting metal. What was this thing? It didn't move like it was as heavy as it should be, and yet it seemed impenetrable to any attack! There had to be some way to finish it, though--that was how it always worked!

Unfortunately, Sora wasn't able to avoid getting hit by its thrashing, either. When it flailed with its claws, he was close enough that they ended up hooking into his skin slightly below his knee. The boy let out a cry and then instinctively tried to wrench himself back and away from the pain.

He was able to keep his footing, at least, though it seemed like Artemis was out of commission. And he had that blue stuff around his wounds again, like when they had gone to the bathrooms... Weird.

Maybe it was the creature's legs that were the weak spot. Seemed like a long shot, but nothing on its back was seeming to work. Ignoring the pain, Sora started to get around to the other side of their foe.

Renji's knife hit a point near the lower part of the creature's back and everything changed. The knife sank in as though into flesh, thick golden blood spurt forth from the wound, odorless and flowing heavily even from so small a wound.

The creature's struggles renewed with a tenfold, it writhed and bucked and twisted as it tried to escape, no longer trying to harm but only trying to flee.

Renji took that as his cue he'd done something right. He sank the knife into the creature's back to the hilt, barely staying in place, his hands quickly becoming slick with the golden blood. As he began to slip off the creature's back, he viciously twisted the knife, the effort combined with the broken bones in his hand drawing a rage-filled yell from him.

"Lower back!" he shouted, loud enough to be heard over the sounds of battle. "Near the spine! It's got no armor there!"

Artemis heard Renji's cry, saw the blood pouring from the monster, and knew that they had done something right. The armored thing was now moving with a sense of panic--as though the only thing on its mind now was escaping the death that Renji's knife was swiftly bringing upon it.

And he turned his head just in time to see Hitsugaya shout about the group not having a weapon... and then fall. It was a lot of blood, but compared to sewing up Renji's arm, this was nothing. He felt the scalpel against his leg. They would need it--badly now. And he was, after all, the on-call medic.

The boy stumbled to his feet, the magic ceasing with his renewed bloodflow. His pants were soaked, and so was the back of his coat and shirt. The room shuddered as Artemis' knees threatened to buckle under his weight. But he was determined. He drew the scalpel out of his pocket. "RENA!" He shouted, lifting it above his head, then lobbing it towards her.

He didn't see if she caught it or not--his attention was on Hitsugaya. If he could use the magic that was already swimming back onto his wounds on the small captain, perhaps it would be put to good use. He stumbled over to the white-haired boy and fell beside him, ducking the claws by a near-miss. He lifted his hand and knit his brow in concentration. Artemis imagined the sparks abandoning his leg and shoulder and coming to his hands. He opened his eyes, and one spark darted quickly back into his palm.

"Dammit..." Artemis cursed and resumed his concentration. He had to hurry, otherwise Hitsugaya could bleed to death on the floor.

It was a good thing Renji was there, as Sora hadn't been able to contribute much of anything to the battle. Already, the older man had found the weak spot, and now the monster was gushing blood. Sora stared, his hand which had been clutching the Keyblade so tightly falling limply to his side as the weapon disappeared yet again.

Gold blood? It was a little gross, actually, and the boy put a hand over his mouth. He had seen black blood, but gold was just another step closer to completely abnormal. What was this thing supposed to be, anyway?

Though none of that mattered. The other fights were forgotten about, too, when he quickly recalled why they were here. He turned to Renji.

"Kairi! Where's Kairi?" His eyes skated over the doors on one side of the hall, hoping he could somehow know which one she laid behind.

The creature was in its death throes. It flailed weakly, spasming, jerking in unnatural rhythms as the knife twisted into it's weak spot. It presented little threat now, writhing and dying beneath Renji's knife.

Its blood continued to flow thickly.

Renji slid the knife from the creature's back when it stopped moving, more of its blood flowing thickly over his hands. He made a quick mental assessment of the situation. Artemis was seeing to Hitsugaya. Artemis had also provided the other team a weapon that they could use to destroy the monster they fought. He knew that Hitsugaya's team had at least one other competent warrior, and possibly two since Artemis seemed confident about Rena. He was not needed there. The other team, with Ed and Homura, would be able to deal with their creature as well. Both monsters were good as dead, objective achieved. Which meant that the rescue was the most urgent thing now. First Kairi, then Adel. He and Sora would see to it; he wasn't going to let Sora run off alone, in case there was another of these monsters waiting; it took two to kill them, one to distract, the other to strike from behind.

Again, these thoughts and decisions were made in a bare instant. He began to close his eyes, preparing to locate Adel and Kairi.

The stickiness on his fingers, though, made him hesitate. He remembered the taunts of the man on the radio - had he told them how to kill these creatures before? And it brought up more words, yes, he had mentioned golden gods, taking them from behind, though Renji hadn't paid attention at the time; he was no good at the man's puzzles. And one other thing...

Renji looked down at the thick golden blood on his hands, frowning. Then he lifted his hand to his mouth, licking the blood from his fingers. It tingled, and for a moment he wondered if he'd been poisoned, but then the sensation moved to his wounds, which started to itch...

He yanked the bandaged off from one of his arms; the deep scratches left by the necrits closed up.

...that could be very useful.

Renji closed his eyes and concentrated, bringing up the spirit threads. He traced them, opening his eyes to see which doors they went to. As soon as he had them located, he let it go, and was rewarded with only a brief wave of dizziness. He staggered to his feet.

"Artemis!" he shouted. "Make Hitsugaya drink this monster's blood. It heals. Just do it." He trusted Artemis to understand and obey. The now un-needed bandage unraveled itself and fell to the floor as he stepped off the creature's body, turning to the door where Kairi was at.

"This one, Sora," he said. He held his knife ready; he would let Sora lead. Kairi was Sora's, first and foremost, after all.

Artemis looked over his shoulder, still trying to produce the blue sparks. But they seemed stuck on his own wounds. The golden blood heals?

"I'll be with you in a moment!" Artemis called to Renji, scooting over to the corpse of the monster. Looking at the engaged groups, he quickly dipped his fingers into the monster's wound and helped himself to some of the elixer. Like with Renji's wounds, Artemis' gashes began to burn and itch worse than they had when the magic was attempting to heal him. The boy moved his pants leg up, and confirmed that his wounds were, in fact, closing without protest.

He plunged his hand into the wound again, his stomach turning over as he did so, then ran back over to Hitsugaya with a fistful of the golden blood. Propping Hitsugaya up, he couldn't help but notice that the captain was unconscious. Hopefully he wouldn't choke on the stuff...

Artemis tilted Hitsugaya's chin up and, clumsily, poured what was left of the blood in his hand into Hitsugaya's mouth. Confirming that Hitsugaya's wound was starting to close, Artemis seized the unconscious boy by the shirt collar and dragged him to the other side of the dead creature. Hopefully he would be safe there until he regained consciousness. After all, Artemis could have sworn that he'd seen blood spurt out of Hitsugaya's mouth before the creature cut into him. Hopefully the gold stuff would fix whatever problem he'd had before the attack as well.

"I'm leaving Hitsugaya here!" He shouted to whoever would hear him. "The kidnapped might need immediate attention!" The boy tried to drag the dead corpse back towards Renji and Sora, but it was far too heavy for him to move. Hitsugaya was small--this thing was not.

That blood would be very useful to me... I'll have to see if I can find a jar or container or... He shook his head. The corpse wasn't going anywhere for a while--he'd have time to find a container later. Right now, there was a girl in trouble. He ran to catch up to Renji and Sora, wondering if leaving the golden blood that could help him so much was such a great idea...

Sora's face twisted when he saw Renji taste the-- well, blood was really the only word for it, even though it didn't really look anything like blood. Though if he thought about it from another perspective, looking at the liquid without thinking about where it came from, it did look like it might taste good, with the way it shimmered. It looked... rich.

Still, what had inspired Renji to do that? It turned out to be a good decision, since it healed, but... Well, he could always ask him about it later. The fact of the matter was that he needed some healing himself, so once Artemis had taken some, he bent down and dragged the blood onto his fingers. Sighing, Sora closed his eyes and licked. That bothersome, itching sensation sprouted up in quite a few places--his neck, his hands, his feet, and then where he had just gotten punctured below his knee.

It was all over fast enough, though, and in the end he felt a lot better. That was pretty handy! If a little gross.

But, back to Kairi. When Renji indicated the door, Sora took a deep breath, nodded, and stepped up to it. He hesitated for just a moment before grabbing the knob and turning...

Renji was surprised that the door wasn't locked; his grip on the knife tightened, ready for something to spring out at them.

He followed Sora into the room...

...Artemis right behind them. (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/162057.html?thread=10948105#t10948105)

(From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/162057.html?thread=10948105#t10974729)!)

Artemis ran back into the hallway. Hitsugaya still wasn't moving, the monster was still there, quite dead. He needed to hurry. Kairi was waiting for him to come back and heal her.

Abarai-san will probably throttle me when I return with a bottle... Artemis thought as he ran past the groups still engaged with the other two monsters. But all's fair in love and war--and I need that serum.

He ran through the open door.

(To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/159585.html?view=10975329#t10975329)!)

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byname-bynature.livejournal.com - 2007-08-03 18:35 (UTC) - Expand

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byname-bynature.livejournal.com - 2007-08-03 23:33 (UTC) - Expand

Nightshift 25: Discplinary Therapy Room Hallways

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And Renji goes for the rugby tackle! <3

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