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Lieutenant Carnallite

Band of misfits, indeed. When Carnallite joined, she was not expecting… this.

She remained close to Bloodstone, observing their surroundings as she went. There was something pooling along the ground, dark and slick, with a putrid smell. Carnallite found more of it smeared along the walls and reached out a cautious hand, working the grainy feel of it between her thumb and first two fingers.

Only seconds away from bringing Bloodstone’s attention to it, Carnallite was interrupted by the loud crack, clanging metal, and sharp cry. She turned too late to determine the cause of the commotion, but assumed it had something to do with the General King’s sudden disappearance. That she could still sense his aura was a reassuring sign, but that it quickly grew distant was decidedly not.

Avoiding as many of the rocks as she could, Carnallite glanced at Bloodstone again and said, “This doesn’t bode well.”

Which was, perhaps, an understatement.

---

Corrupt Sailor Cymophane

Circumstances did not seem favorable for gossip.

Cymophane tried. He thought Kamacite could use the distraction (and also because he was interested, but it was mostly to keep Kamacite from freaking out about where they were and what they were doing), but the Rift, despite being relatively kind to them so far, did not seem inclined to continue being kind.

They probably should have expected as much. They didn’t go into this assuming there’d be little to no danger.

“I’m okay!” Cymophane reassured Kamacite. He let the other Senshi take his arm and had nothing against being dragged to safety. Kamacite had far more experience than he did, after all. “Are you okay?”

He glanced back the way they’d come, spotting the Corrupt Senshi he and Kamacite had been walking with before. Taenite was his name, wasn’t it?

“Is he the only one who fell?” Cymophane asked.

Well.

That was unfortunate.

---

General Aquamarine

I don’t have anything against Axinite, Aquamarine argued. I was just pointing out that he’s being weird and sent the rest of us in first, which may or may not be good for us pawns if we’re attacked, depending on where it comes from. I was hoping you weren’t oblivious and actually noticed.

No sooner were the thoughts out of his head and through the earrings than Jet pointed out the oil. Aquamarine glanced at the ground, then the walls, making a face at the smell.

Like hell was he going to touch that s**t, even if doing so might help them determine what it was.

The attack, when it did come, came from behind.

Clearly, Aquamarine should have given Axinite more credit, but it could have just as easily been his shitty luck rather than intentionally placing himself in the way of danger.

He got only a brief look at the creature that did it, enough that he knew it was large, and it was responsible for both the rock fall and Axinite’s disappearance, but it was gone too quickly for Aquamarine to notice anything more than ********>,” he joined Jet in his cursing, ducking out of the way of a few rocks and shoving Jet out of the path of another one when it seemed like Jet didn’t notice it.

A large hole in the ground remained where Axinite had just been. Axinite’s energy signature, while still present, seemed to indicate they wouldn’t be able to pull him out of it so easily.

After assuring himself that Jet was okay, Aquamarine stared around for a moment and tried to figure out who was in charge now. Eventually, once they’d avoided a few more rocks, he said, “Not it!” and slapped a hand against Jet’s back.

“You’ve been a General longer than me. I give you my unquestioned loyalty.”

((Will fill this in sorry!)) - Taiyangshou is clueless and I have to brb to write this out sorry!

The energy storm crackled again above them and the last of the rocks fell from the cliff walls above them. There was no movement from the hole Axinite disappeared into, but there was suddenly an overwhelming energy signature from above them.

The great pile of debris made it difficult, but not impossible, to cross from one side to the other. It may have been easier for some to jump over, or for some to climb or push, but one thing was certain--they’d agitated something.

Above the mound, huffing in great breaths, the form of a dark, blue youma rose. It was a fierce looking thing that stretched its claws wide--four symmetrical claws, completely capable of scratching the cliff face up to three inches deep, and with such long arms, easily explained the three foot lengths. Its head appeared almost horselike, but it had a tail with four foot long spikes that danced wildly behind it.

It’s feet were cloven, no doubt of great assistance when climbing the rocky terrain, and its body seemed to ripple with sheer muscle mass.

It watched them with white, glassy eyes that seemed to spark as much as the crackling chaos electricity above them--and then it roared, with such ferocity that a few more rocks were knocked loose and plummeted below. The noise was horrible, painful in the best case scenario but deafening in the worst.

It was already sliding down the mound of debris it had landed on.

There was no recognition in its face; it was territorial, and did not seem to appreciate the intrusion--Negaverse Agent or otherwise, it gave no indication it would obey any command--which meant there was just one option left: destroy it.

Captain Sylvite

Sylvite got distracted, just for a few seconds, by the fact that what had just looked like crystal sheen on the walls appeared to be some kind of magic goo. She was poking at that, super thankful for her gloves, when everything shifted.

Literally.

At least, the floor was rumbling and rocks were falling way to close for comfort. Sylvite had to stumble-sprint out of the way to avoid getting squished, and then to catch up with the group. It wasn't some short lived thing, either. The rocks kept coming and coming. Her breath caught. She was weaving in and out as best she could.

Then, half the ceiling collapsed.

She saw the youma peeking out from the other direction. She saw a few people running to attack it already, and yeah, she understood that, this one wasn't going to see reason. It was so big, though. She needed some advantage. Anything.

Seeing a pile of fallen rocks, she scrambled upwards for some height and she summoned her knives.

---

Corrupt Eternal Cybele

Cybele glanced back towards where Axinite had fallen through, jaw tensing. Logically, she knew they likely should go after him. A General-King was more important to the Negaverse than some Lieutenant. Still, the thought of jumping down some hole after him sent a chill down her spine, and made her breath quicken in a way she could not explain.

"I don't-" she murmured, but the rest of her thought was cut off by the rockfall getting worse. Within a few seconds, much of the pathway was blocked off, which made that decision easier.

She wasn't surprised to see the youma. She wasn't surprised that it attacked. It was larger than she'd expected. That was all.

"Careful," she said to Versailles, stepping half a pace in front of him. "I'm not sure if this thing will be impressed by your trinkets." It was enraged, and as senshi, they were easy targets.

"Hunter's Strike!" she called out, wanting to use her strongest magic before the beast got too close. She drew the ethereal bowstring and released a flurry at it.



---

Lieutenant Jadarite

Jadarite had never been particularly close to a youma before. She'd seen one or two around the city, from a distance, and of course there had been more that they'd passed on their way down here, but she'd always kept at least twenty feet apart.

She'd heard horror stories of lieutenants merging with beasts too powerful for them. She had no interest in that fate.

This was the first time she'd been face to face with a youma, and the thing was giant, blue, spewing lightning, and only about five feet from her face. She winced at its roar as it slid towards them.

Her ears rang. Her head spun. Something deep inside her mind seemed to register that this was actually a dangerous situation, especially as the youma got closer, then closer.

It was far too close. With a small grunt, Jadarite summoned her stapler and swung out.

General Aquamarine

Aquamarine did not like youma.

He did not like small youma, he did not like medium youma, and he did not like large youma. He didn’t like them feral or humanoid. They were useless to him, and, to be perfectly honest, a PR disaster for an organization attempting to brand itself as the good guys. Youma were a nuisance around the city, unless they were being used to attack Senshi and Knights directly.

Of course he expected to encounter youma while they were in the Rift. This was, after all, their domain. Even so, he’d hoped they wouldn’t encounter anything too terrible.

Like this one.

Very much like this one.

The last time Aquamarine was face to face with any sort of large, menacing creature, he got himself whacked against a tree, knocked unconscious, and locked in a cellar with several broken ribs and various other injuries, and a very annoying Corrupt Senshi — truly a traumatic experience.

Was he afraid?

Yes. Yes, he was.

But he had Jet to worry about and couldn’t exactly act on that ********>!” he said again, just because he could.

“Oh, yes, great idea! Let me get the big ugly horse monster’s attention with a fireball!” Aquamarine shouted back at Jet instead of using their two-way link through the earrings. “I’d be perfectly fine with it taking out those newer recruits, you know. They’re probably useless anyway. We’d be better off using them as bait while we going look for the idiot who got himself lost!”

But, even as he said it, Aquamarine tightened his grip on his rapier and aimed it at the youma, launching the aforementioned fireball in its direction.

Lieutenant Carnallite - Party on the Feldspar side of the rubble, heading to find the aforementioned Lieutenant

Carnallite gave a slow blink of what could have been surprise at the looks of the youma, but other than that she didn’t seem too disturbed by its presence, or its proximity to them on this side of the rubble.

She knew better than to take Bloodstone’s protective placement in front of her as any sort of indication that he questioned her ability to defend herself. The youma was large and dangerous and she had a plastic boomerang for a weapon, and the lower ranking officers seemed to be garnering the most attention from the creature. Whatever sort of martial arts training she might be able to boast, she could not take on the youma alone.

Or, perhaps, at all.

While several others chose to attack the youma, Carnallite followed Bloodstone in his attempt to move further down the path to find Feldspar.

---

Corrupt Sailor Cymophane - Trying to see down the hole to wherever Axinite went

Cymophane cringed over the apparent loss of their General King. He might not be dead, but he also probably wasn’t anywhere close to being able to help them.

And now there was a youma attacking a section of the party.

Thankfully, it was not near them.

He covered his eyes before Kamacite used his magic, motioning for Taenite to do the same. Prior to being corrupted, Cymophane had made the mistake of peeking through his fingers. He did not make that same mistake again.

“Do you see anything?” he asked.

Was it safe to uncover his eyes yet? It didn’t seem like a good idea to stand there for very long with his eyes covered. What if the youma came over to them?

Battered by attacks, the youma seemed to grow more enraged as more damage was inflicted upon it.

Cybele’s Senshi magic seemed effective; three arrows hit, though one only scratched it’s neck. Another hit its chest, and the other its arm. As soon as the arrows punctured, it recoiled with a roar. Foul smelling, oil slick black blood dripped from its injuries. Though the arrow to the chest seemed to do more damage, its arm, about chest height, seemed to give it the most grief, and blood pooled nearly three times as hard from that injury than the others. In a burst of rage at this attack, the youma sent a basketball sized piece of rocky debris hurling at Cybele’s stomach.

It may have been more distracted by Cybele’s magic, but it was not oblivious to Jadarite’s stapler. Her weapon might not have done much damage, but it was invested in her. It grabbed her arm as if to hold her in place for a second and drained, quickly enough that she might have been dizzy, but not enough to completely incapacitate her. Its tail was for that; it swung violently, and though the four spikes missed her, she took the force of its blunt force damage as it tried to smash her into another nearby agent--Sylvite.

Ferris wasn’t strong enough to do much damage in her wild rampage, but the youma seemed pleased to have another agent so close; its claws snapped around her neck and it held her in place as it drained her of energy, rapidly, and to near exhaustion in only a second. She might have had bruising on her neck at the grip alone, but she was fortunate that Aquamarine wasn’t just using her for bait. His burst of fire seared the youma enough that it immediately dropped her, and some of Ferris’ energy was rapidly returned to her.

Only, this seemed to earn the youma’s ire enough to distract from the weaker targets; Jet’s plan to distract it might have worked, but at his and Aqua’s expense; the youma’s skin was grotesquely seared and the burn dripped more of the foul, blood like substance. It hurt, and it was going to make them hurt, too; the youma let out another near-deafening screech to the area, but this one was far more targeted and the focused blast hit the ground at Aqua’s feet like a bullet. The ground splintered beneath him, and while it spread close to Jet, it didn’t quite reach him.

The pressure of the strange magic might have felt like something kicking violently at Aqua’s legs, and a small hole opened up beneath him rapidly, as if to swallow him just as Axinite had been.

The group continuing past the youma nearly avoided its attention, but it seemed keenly aware of the movement and was desperate to keep them away. Around the corner, the pathway opened up into a larger room and there, in the center of it, was a cluster of crystals. Feldspar’s signature seemed to be strongest there, but there was no sight of him--and it was impossible to look closer because a bolt of electricity shot down in front of them, sending sharp shards of debris flying everywhere.

The youma’s tail twitched threateningly behind it, as if challenging them to go further--and then it hit its tail on the ground twice more and two more supercharged electrical bolts exploded elsewhere.

Thankfully, the fighting seemed to have moved away from the group attempting to recover Axinite; though the youma’s roar was loud, and the electricity made the ground tremble beneath them. A few stray rocks tumbled down the hole; it was roughly ten feet wide and it seemed like the continued damage to the ground might cause it to grow. Still, it was stable enough that it wasn’t collapsing into itself--yet.

Kamacite’s magic was decently effective; the hole itself seemed to go down, and down, and down. There wasn’t any sign of Axinite, at first, but there seemed to be many different rock formations protruding from the sides of the hole. The ground was only somewhat hollow beneath the surface, and it looked like he’d not just been thrust through the surface, but ricocheted off of them on his way down. His axe was embedded in the wall a few yards down. It looked as if he might have tried to slow or stop his fall, but the momentum had yanked him downwards and he’d lost his grip. He hadn’t resummoned the axe, but there was the sight of something moving, far at the bottom.

Though it was difficult to hear with the noise from the fight, there was the distinct sound of something scraping. The noise echoed, and occasionally it sounded like a large chunk of rock broke and shattered.

LT. Atheneite

Atheneite watched as the great youma appeared, it was incredible. She wondered if one day she could have a creature like that at her beck and call. But it seemed like no one had this creature under their command, not even the general king. The monster turned on the collected group of agents and corrupt senshi.

She was confused why one of their monsters would attack them but that was something she would have to worry about later. Her would be partner took off presumably to go after the energy signature of the missing agent. Atheneite decided that if she had that taken care of then she would focus on helping with the rouge youma.

She charged at the thing joining the other combatants that had already engaged it. She swung her baton as hard as she at the creature over and over again. She didn't have a real weapon or the magic of a senshi but she was determined to do her part in putting this thing down.