[Episode 3, Part 2] Marshmallows and Campfires

Archives of Occultus Magica's beginnings, ten years prior to the current story.
CadetNewb
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Re: [Episode 3, Part 2] Marshmallows and Campfires

Post by CadetNewb »

Duncan did not look pleased. Not only was he already aware that the thing wasn't fully perfected, someone already exploited its flaws! "Stop whining and go get something from the cooler for that already," he barked at the Yeti, walking towards it menacingly. It scrambled up to its feet to stand at its full height- a majestic five feet, a little shorter than Duncan himself. The boy pointed over to a blue plastic cooler sitting by the wall, to which the little Yeti waddled over before opening up the lid. "Hey, hey! Not the mango! Go use one of the cokes," Duncan ordered the whimpering being about, finally sitting back into his command chair himself.

It seemed content just sitting on top of the cooler and holding a pair of cokes; one in its hand, and one in between its legs.

*****

A rock bounced off the muscled back of the Yeti like a pingpong ball, the creature going about smashing into Miyuki's shelter with the runty attack unnoticed. And then the lightning bolt struck. This time, the charge stuck and shocked the Yeti where it stood, fur crackling and rising with energy from the blow. Slowly, very slowly, it turned and set its small and beady eyes on him. As it roared and charged, a blue and orange-red blur came in from above and slashed the creature across the back with an icy cold blade - a flash and bang went off as lightning arced in between both the Yeti and Miyuki. The shock caused the Yeti to be forced down to one knee in an utter daze, incoherently waving a paw at the ice-sword wielding Mahou Shoujo as she went and crashed landed in the soft snow.

Meanwhile, the illusion was loosing - the Yeti's strength was slowly overwhelming the great jaws of the spectral dog, the end result being apparent as the jaws were spread wider and wider. It was then that the man successfully grappled onto the Yeti's back, burly arms grasping at the base of the skull and neck, wrenching hard. With a loud pop, the Yeti went still like a statue, releasing the dog. And it then reached back to tear the man off of itself, holding Miller out to stare in silence - it roared. Just then, a massive hand grabbed the Yeti by the face and stabbed fast and hard. Blood spurted everywhere as the blade tore into flesh, covering the man in the steaming red as he was thrown away.

Both Yeti and Phantasm smashed their way through the forest, grappling for control of the knife that had bounced off hardened skull and bone.

Percy's roar sounded across the battlefield as he rushed in towards the downed Yeti; the boy dodged past a swiped claw as it tried to get up, then brought his mighty staff to bear and gave the Yeti true pause! It simply stared at him after the blow struck, a dull thump having sounded from the stick having bounced off of rippling hard muscle. For the first time, a Yeti simply looked confused. Horribly, horribly confused. As Coco watched, it finally decided to reach down and hang Percy from a great pine tree like a Christmas ornament. Stifled, girlish laughter could be heard in his ears as fire suddenly started raining down; yelping in surprise, it quickly scooped up a massive ball of snow and tossed it right at Sakura in an attempt to extinguish the firebug!

"C'mon dumbasses, everyone's got their weaknesses! Theirs is out in the open already," Duncan's voice goaded, the sound of a lid being popped of a mango Ramune easily heard over the set.

The marble jingled as he drank.
Last edited by CadetNewb on Sat Sep 29, 2012 7:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Kokuten
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Re: [Episode 3, Part 2] Marshmallows and Campfires

Post by Kokuten »

"Augh!" Percy struggled, hung by his collar to the tree behind him. The Yeti had chosen to instead leave him in some other place, for some odd reason. That rush hadn't been thought out at all, and it only dawned on the boy then, as he was hung, that this had been a bad idea. So, for a moment, Percy swayed, trying to figure out what to do, before struggling helplessly. He tossed and turned, before he began to slip out of his shirt.

The snow flecked outward from his feet as they disturbed the white blanket on landing. He was now shirtless, and a little panicked, but thus feeling much better off once he found his beret again. Direct charges didn't work against these things, so Percival had to think of something else. Duncan talked about how their 'weakness' was already out in the open, but he had been too flabbergasted at the beginning of the fight to notice. He thought hard on it, creatures with built muscle's like the Yeti were susceptible to lightning, but magic creatures in particular were weak against opposing magical elements, which was why Zulan was always able to keep Aurus in check. He thought about his missing minis, and how he regretted calling Modeka back in. It felt ironic that the bell that tolled when he called back the gods was what tolled his failure.

Or did it...?

Perhaps he could use that sound against the Yetis, perform a reverse summon with a bell pitched 'just' right. That was it! He just needed to get close, catch one of the Yeti's unaware.

Percival swallowed his fear, and got his legs moving again, and started running towards yeti that Riley's illusion was in combat with. Her animal was having trouble, but perhaps a stun would help. As he neared the dangerous fight, he carefully planted himself a few feet away, stabbing his staff into the ground. He closed his eyes, and with a whisper began to practice the desummoning. His staff began to vibrate, but in a different way, more violently. A quick glance upward in the middle of his whispered incantation revealed that the head of his staff was glowing a violent orange.

And then it rose, in his stomach. His insides felt unusually warm, and it made him feel sick. Percival grabbed his stomach, dropping his staff, looking as if he was going down for good. Most noticeable was that his stomach, bare for everyone to see, had something glowing inside of it, the light permeated, and began to rise. Percival on the other hand, appeared as if he were going to vomit. He put his hands in front of his mouth, as the glow and the heat rose higher. Then, something miraculous happened.

Percival threw up.

Though, he didn't throw up just anything, he threw up molten slag and fire onto the back of the Yeti in front of him. It was a sharp, bursting gout of Fire Vomit, that left Percival on his knees, liquid slag glowing and dribbling out of the edges of his shocked mouth. The bits fell onto the ground, melting snow, but leaving his skin unharmed.
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Straken
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Re: [Episode 3, Part 2] Marshmallows and Campfires

Post by Straken »

“Oi, good job there,” Ruarc cheered as Miyuki landed a solid blow and dazed the large beast. The Irishman took a moment to be impressed by Miyuki’s ability to alternate her magic style, and it gave Ruarc an idea for continue the chain. “Time to swap out lightning.”

The Druid flourished his staff by tossing it up a bit and letting it flip before catching it again on the way down; a sign that he was feeling rather smug with how well handling this yeti had gone aside from Miyuki’s initial stumble, and now his fire rune proving to be a dud. Staff once again in hand Ruarc charged forward, angling himself towards the yeti’s exposed back. Then as he drew close he began to recite the spell for his Dragon Fire spell, but due to Miyuki’s proximity to the beast he would have to keep the spell contained to the end of his staff and go for a physical hit. Now within range, Ruarc swung the fiery staff in a wide arc aimed for the creature’s midsection.
Luca
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Re: [Episode 3, Part 2] Marshmallows and Campfires

Post by Luca »

Clearly there must be some holes in my train of thought. The teacher thought as the now familiar sensation of him flying through the air on Air Yeti came to a stop on the snow, rolling into a tree. His glasses fell off again, and he searched for them, gave them a wipe with an available square of non-bloodstained hanky he was keeping in his pocket, and tucked them back where they were supposed to go.

He watched the others for a moment, seeing that they were having an easier time with the Yeti than he was. He stopped to reflect on the tactics of each person and caught his breath, as well as wring the blood out of his beloved sweater:
Miller's Mind wrote:Ruarc: Lightning. Didn't quite work as expected. Fire worked; Miyuki: Fire. Worked like a charm; Percival: Fire again. Hope he isn't feeling hungry after; Adrienne: No comment.
Me: Punch it until it falls over. Not working. I'm too small.

Conclusion: Need fire.
"But I don't have fire, so..." He contemplated his hands for a moment, seeing if something could manifest, by means of 'thinking really hard' about it. Nothing really manifested, aside from a warm feeling in his hands. He then blinked in surprise as something clicked. "I'm too small!" He made the sudden revelation before turning around and looking at the tree he was resting behind. It looked like and smelt like a pine tree. He grabbed onto the tree, squatted down and attempted to uproot the tree, heaving and groaning. Nope! It was too firmly rooted for the teacher to uproot, since it seemed to stretch about fifty to sixty feet into the air and was about a foot thick.

He had to find something skinnier, and after having a walk through the winter wonderland he stumbled across a younger pine tree that looked to be about ten to fifteen feet tall and about three inches thick. Rubbing his hands together and grabbing it by the base, he squatted down again and pulled it out of the ground. He held it for a few moments to weigh it in his hands, it was unbalanced at the top thanks to the greenery sprouting further up the tree.

What he had in his hands was a big, slightly pointy stick - better than bare hands at any stretch of the imagination. He readjusted his grip and grasped it with both hands and rested it on his shoulders, as though he were wielding a short caber with a rooty base. He then asked a simple question to the others: "Anyone got a light?" He shook the tree in his grasp a little, making snowflakes fall down onto the teacher's back.
Kalshion
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Re: [Episode 3, Part 2] Marshmallows and Campfires

Post by Kalshion »

Sakura caught a glimpse of the snowball out of the corner of her eye and had only barely managed to doge it by jumping backwards and nearly tripping over her own two feet as she landed. "Meanie!" she shouted at the Yeti and turned her attention toward it and created another fire rune when she took into her bow and created fire-arrows in its place. "You wanna throw stuff at me, fine, I show stuff at you!" she said and began to let loose a flurry of fire arrows toward the Yeti, some aimed at the head, chest, and lower parts.
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Kai
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Re: [Episode 3, Part 2] Marshmallows and Campfires

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Miyuki lay stunned for a few moments after landing with a bang in the snow once more, having been zapped by Ruarc's lightning rune, accidentally. Little did the Irishman know, that his flame would have done little harm to Miyuki at the moment, and may have even helped her, but, he would continue to his own attack as the Japanese girl shook the spots out of her eyes and righted herself within the small hole she had made in the snow upon landing. Swiftly, however, she regained herself, but, figuring she wouldn't like to chance getting zapped again- and that Ruarc could likely handle himself, she went and looked for something else, using the increased mobility granted her by the Ruby, she leapt high into the air, alighting upon the branches of a tree, and began hopping from one to the other, before she found another Yeti- This time, it was Near Percy, but at the moment, she couldn't see him.

Miyuki gripped the frosty ice sword better in her hands, and thought about the battle before, when Adrienne and Coco were demonstrating for them. "Okay. Theatrical isn't good. Must be efficient. What's an efficient method of attack?" she mumbled to herself, then realized that she could use nature to her advantage- from up in the trees, one force came to mind- Gravity. Miyuki again Yelled as she leapt high into the air, springing off of the evergreen branch, and, with her Sword pointed tip-down, she sought to ram it into the Yeti's head or back or wherever she could hit, aiming for a finishing blow.
CadetNewb
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Re: [Episode 3, Part 2] Marshmallows and Campfires

Post by CadetNewb »

The volleys of fire and snowballs and snowballs with rocks in them were traded between Sakura and Yeti, the two skillfully weaving in and out of the undulations in terrain. The Yeti itself even quickly set up a defensive mound against her fusillade using its incredible strength to entrench itself with Percy as its hostage. Out from its cover, unfairly rocked snowballs were cast out at the girl as she tried to melt the snow - it merely melted quickly and refroze into hard ice as the Yeti quickly piled more onto it, building it higher and higher as the two went. Small fires burst to live upon the Abomitable's white fur as some of Sakura's spells hit home, while she took a Yeti-Sized snowball to the face and a stony one to the gut.

With a defiant roar, a snowball in one hand and the other patting out its flammable coat of fur, the Yeti stood up and took a step towards the stunned Magical Girl, but before it could so much as chuck another icy sphere at her - it reacted as though someone had put an icecube down the back of its shirt, jumping about in a panic. And then it burst into a walking inferno of flames as Percy's molten vomit lit it up its fur like tinder. The poor Yeti ran about flailing its arms around as its back was afire, incidentally swatting Percy off his tree in the process.

It was also right about then that Miyuki came in from above in a red blur, her red costume granting her incredible speed - blade angled down, she descended from above with the tip aiming right for the vitals!

And then her moment of victory was snatched away - both she and it froze in place for a moment before the Yeti simply fell. Up. Up, up and away from their little skirmish.

*****

Duncan stood over the frosted over tank with a glass of water held upside down; strangely enough, none of the water spilled. His mastery of gravity was also superb, as proven by the flaming pinprick that fell up and into the glass of water, extinguishing itself with a 'hissss' appropriate for its size. Satisfied the fire was put out, the boy merely tossed the contents of the glass out onto the floor, a full sized Pigmy Yeti growing into existence in an eyeblink. Slightly charred and tired, it slovenly walked over to the other Yeti atop the cooler of drinks and sat down beside it, prompting the first Yeti to hand the newcomer the extra coke it had.

Opening it up and taking a drink, the slightly burnt one coughed as a it felt a few hairs, suddenly growling at the other one in anger.

"Hm. She's being sloppy."

*****

The Yeti wrestled with Riley's Phantasm for control of the dagger, the two rolling about in the snow in a fight for dominance. Coco's head turned left, then right, then left again as the two rolled back and forward across the snowy ground as Riley seemed to be stunned and indecisive, her efforts so far being less than stellar - when Miller shouted for help however, the little girl quickly turned about and watched as he hefted the massive conifer. "Huh? Me? But, it's still alive and fresh! Dead wood burns better Mister Miller!" she shouted to him, pointing this fact out. "Haven't you gone camping before?" the little girl asked, waving her finger about in a series of loops.

In a blink of an eye, a thin, concentrated stream of fire gouted from her fingertip and hit the tree, first melting and vaporizing the snow clinging to its needles before finally drying out and lighting the wood on fire.

"There! Next time a fire needs to me made, your making me smores!"

Just then, punctuating her demand, a fiery din emerged as Ruarc swung - the Yeti was distracted as it tried to chase after the fleeing Miyuki, so his blow connected fully with its thick matted fur and strong, rippling abs underneath, sending a shockwave of embers about. With the back of a meaty paw, it simply took him off its feet as it turned about, patting the flames that its fur had started to burst into with an angry grunt. Without Miyuki, the Druid was facing the thing down alone - it charged with a defiant roar, making for Ruarc as quickly as it could to simply pummel him into the ground with its fists like the giant, oversized gorilla-like being it was.
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Straken
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Re: [Episode 3, Part 2] Marshmallows and Campfires

Post by Straken »

The Druid Ruarc gave a wide grin as his attack hit its mark, and the grin increased in size when he saw how enraged the yeti had become. The beast charging him was a great chance to try out a tactic he had been considering for some time now. Lowering himself into a sprinter’s starting stance, he focused on where he wanted to go. “Ag mo dhroim na gaoithe,” he said quickly as he cast his Wind Step spell. Then with his braced leg he pushed off and shot forward in a blur as he shot directly towards the charging yeti, and once he was close he dropped to the ground and used his extreme speed to slide through the snow beneath the yeti.

Once on the other side of the beast, the Irishman pivoted to get an angle on the beast that was still being carried towards Ruarc’s previous spot. With a view of the yeti’s back, the Druid launched another blast of his Dragon Fire.
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Kokuten
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Re: [Episode 3, Part 2] Marshmallows and Campfires

Post by Kokuten »

Percival flailed his arms through the air as he was knocked from his hanging spot. He was still dizzy from puking molten slag, and flying through the air helped little. For a few moments, Percy had to guess at what had just happened, and as he hit the ground, he came to the realization this was no ordinary fire. Brushing a bit of white powder off of himself, the young welshman started to rub his mouth, before eying the glowing orange beads of metal on his hand. In the cold air, the metal chilled to a solid form, yet did not harm his hand. The fall had hurt, judging by the sting of the shock and cold rising up into his core, yet the fire still didn't hurt.

He couldn't think about it for too long, there were still two Yeti's left to deal with, and they were all still locked in conflict with his friends. The boy gripped Unity and got to chanting Aurus' summoning phrase again.

"Detroi! O Nyit O Ember!" declared Percy as he slapped his staff down again, trying to call for the summon.

Yet again. Nothing.

"Darn it!" cursed the boy, coming to his knees, despairing. He wasn't even sure what his fire attack had been, why it had come about, but every other movement had been useless in the fight. What was he going to-- "Ough... Aughough!" Another orange glow arose in Percy's chest, this one forcing up faster. The young boy doubled, this time vomiting slag and flames in the most shameless fashion. Hot fire and molten metal pooled at his hands, melting the ground and searing the earth below him. What was this, he thought, why did it keep happening so randomly!?

His answer came in the form of movement, movement of the fire and slag itself. The metal that been left behind from the Yeti he had fire-barfed on had curled around, and was rolling back towards him. The beads on his arms and chest began to roll about too. Even more, he began feel himself become off-balance. When he looked at what it was, he had come to a horrifying realization.

His left arm had fallen off, without bloodshed or pain, simply off.

The vomited metal, fire, and the loosed arm all began to fly off towards Miller, all three eventually combining. The arm morphed its shape, the metal clanked down in plates over it, and the fire enveloping it all heated and forged a tiny being. It slammed down on its two tiny legs, staring up at the Yeti next to Miller, and let out a mighty roar of challenge, cleaver and blade in each hand.

The Fiery God of War had arrived.
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Kai
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Re: [Episode 3, Part 2] Marshmallows and Campfires

Post by Kai »

"What in the..."Miyuki stuttered, as she was frozen in midair and the Yeti disappeared, then, a moment later, the freezing undone, she slammed into the ground, her sword digging itself into the ground from the force. Slightly dazed from the somewhat different than expected landing, Miyuki shook it off, and looked at her surroundings, only to waych as Percy vomited up fiery metal, lost an arm, and then saw that form into the mini-god Aurus. Blinking, she once more muttered "What in the..?" before realizing that Percy didn't seem to be in very good shape. She walked over to him, and placed a hand on his shoulder, the other one just next to it.

Concentrating, though she doubted it would work, yet somehow, she thought it might, She moved her free hand in an arc, creating an arm of ice where Percy's original arm had been, a full bracing structure of Ice being made to support it. Unlike a human's arm, this one was shaped more like a doll's, with ball joints instead of the normal ones. Miyuki's eyes went crossed a bit as she did so, and it obviously took her quite a bit of magical effort. When finished however, she would drop to her knees in exhaustion, but Percy would notice something- The Ice didn't feel cold to him, and and he concentrated, it would move, if not smoothly.

Miyuki Huffed, and looked up at Percy. "It's not like I forgive you for earlier, just, we need everybody to be here, you know?" Behind the cocky wall she was putting up, though, Miyuki was amazed that she had just made something like that, though she could feel her own magic being drained to keep it stable and responsive. She needed a boost of some kind.
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