Q-Bee - Buzz off, Momoko!
[Toggle Names]Description: Momoko the ADVENTURER goes forth to see all the good things in life! Of course, all the good things in life may be a bit hidden behind a bee or two. Who likes bees, anyways? Not Momoko! Q-Bee however likes Momoko, and things get a little complicated... fight, Momoko! Fight for your dreams!
[MOMOKO]
When Athena had informed her that their next match would take place all the way over in Africa, Momoko had immediately begun to dream about grandiose adventures as she and her idol roamed about the great savannahs in a safari the likes of old English game hunters. She has only been outside the country once or twice and the chance to get out and see new places is one that the city-born girl enjoys a great deal. While she's quite a home in the concrete jungle of Southtown's metropolis, it never hurts to broaden one's horizons - especially when someone else is paying!
Judging by how things had gone the last time she journeyed abroad with her new team, Momoko had wanted to be sure that she was better prepared this time around and had seen to it that her supplies for this wild trip were suitably appropriate: clothes that matched the weather, cooking pots and kettles, one of her mother's old cooking knives which she had declared to be a machette from that point onwards, spare bottles of water should they get seperated from the group, a collapsable fold-out tent just big enough for two people to huddle together for shelter against the cold and dark of the unknown terrors of the African night, and one of her stuffed lions who she was sure would serve as an excellent guardian. By the time she had gotten it all stuffed into the massive camping pack it was practically as big as the girl supposed to be carrying it. Not that she let this burden dampen her enthusiasm, she was ready and primed for adventure and a little extra weight wouldn't hold her back!
Which is why when they had finally arrived and had been politely told by the tournament staff that no such trips into the wilderness had been planned or would be paid for by the company Momoko had deflated like a popped balloon, her heart wounded beyond repair. Sulking, she had left the others to go and secure their lodgings, foisting her absurd pile of camping gear off onto Kensou before heading out to explore the nearby city. She might not be able to go traversing the jungle but she could atleast take in some of the scenery before heading back to prepare incase she got called out to fight.
That had been her plan before she found out that the jungle wasn't as far off as she might have expected. Upon arriving at the outskirts of the city, she quickly found herself wandering out beyond the edge of the buildings and into the trees. At first it was just a mild curiosity - an interesting plant here, a strange looking bug over there - but before she knew it the young adventuress was diving headlong into uncharted territory, eager to see what she could find next.
"And thus begins the adventures of Sir Momoko III!"
The teen hops atop a large boulder, thrusting her chest out proudly as she rests her fists on her hips in an adventerous and heroic pose. A sudden desire for a scarf to billow dramatically in the wind overtakes her but that would require there to be wind first. Instead the small girl is clad in a simple combination of t-shirt and shorts, the former a plain thing of white cloth while the latter are ofcourse made of khaki. Her feet, though usually bare, sport a pair of shiny new hiking boots and a pair of socks that extend up to the mid-section of her thighs. She had initially worn much smaller socks but had quickly discovered the ever present threat of insect aggression and found the slight discomfort of concealing clothes are more palpable defense than smothering herself in repellant. Likewise her arms are sheathed in a pair of arm-socks from wrist to elbow leaving only her face exposed to suffer the wrath of the hungry mosquitoes and a pith helmet puts the final bit of flair on her modern safari/dance club ensemble.
"Explorer, Scholar, Psycho Soldier and...", she says, leaning forward to rest an elbow on her knee as she bends down towards a rather large and slimey toad, wiggling her eyebrows as she speaks in a deeper, more sultry tone. "A hit with the ladies~"
[Q-BEE]
The adventures of Sir Momoko III! But there was a subtitle...
And the mysterious case of the Africanized Killer Soul Bees!
Hives, small however they were, were slowly being built around the world. A dozen or so bees that would rarely attract attention and were almost more for scouting for Tall Hero. A hive-mind that controlled them and allowed, nay, prevented the total extermination of the Soul Bee hive. While they were not large in number and incapable of sustaining themselves or growing without help from the Queen, there was one specific location that lacked this 'weakness'.
Africa : Where Tall Hero managed to help turn the battle between humans and the Soul Bees around, leading to a dangerous change.
It is after her travels through Metro and Southtown that Q-Bee required a return to Africa, recuperating and also tending to the hive she had left to take care of itself. It was not doing particularly any better than when she had left it, but it also had not been doing any worse. The slow growth was expected - any exponential growths and problems were reacted to by humanity in explosive fashion. Quite literately, if Metro City was any example. It certainly was.
A large bee would buzz past Momoko, easily about six to twelve inches in circumference. Then another. Yet out of the entire oddities would be the tail end of the bee 'swarm', which were carrying a single human away. A strange bee about a foot tall, shaped far more like a human - a pixie almost, which stopped to stare up at Sir Momoko III, almost like a giant. There would be a moment that the bees continued to buzz off, though the human was quite weak and not a fighter - far different than what Q-Bee senses in Momoko, as she leans over and talks big to the big toad.
If Momoko doesn't notice her, she would also not notice the lip lick, the tongue on her mouth moistening her lips - a prelude to the slight drooling she does. Clearly a hit with the ladies.
Buzzing would be more than obvious, heard about, "(You look like you would be a good meal!)" But to no avail, that was not /language/. Her fake mouth would speak afterwards, "And also a good meal!" She suggests - only a foot tall, still as she floats still a ways away.
[MOMOKO]
The toad meets her gaze with a dull-eyed glassy stare, unmoved by her powerful introduction. Slimy membranes flick closed over its eyes a few times as if to relay its lack of being impressed upon her, however, as the bees zip into view behind the girl its focus shifts and it quickly begins to hop away, vanishing into the underbrush.
"...no respect, hmph," Momoko says with a glower at the retreating amphibian, reaching up to adjust her hat with a dismissive flick. However, her false disdain is quickly forgotten upon turning around and finding herself face to face with a swarm of... DEAR SWEET ATHENA LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THOSE BEES!!
The blood drains out of Momoko's face and she remains very still trying not to blink or breath or twitch in the hopes that these terrible abominations will simply buzz on past her without noticing. Which seems to be working for a few moments right up until the tiny human-bee hybrid stops and stares right at her. The teen goes rigid, eyes practically as big as the soul bee's at the sight, but the look of clear hunger and the buzzing suggestion that she would make a good meal right as some other poor schmuck gets carted off by a cloud of the massive insects working in tandem is too much.
"Noooooooo! Getawaygetawaygetaway!"
Practically stumbling over her feet in an effort to back pedal, the girl instead ends up tripping over a large fallen branch. Seizing the stick in a panic, she swings it back and forth at the mutant thing, her psychic aura pulsing feverishly with the sudden surge of unchecked emotion.
COMBATSYS: Momoko has started a fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Momoko 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Q-Bee has joined the fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Momoko 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Q-Bee
COMBATSYS: Q-Bee blocks Momoko's Light Random Weapon.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
Momoko 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Q-Bee
[Q-BEE]
The bees mostly ignore Momoko as they are programmed to 'return to home, don't pass go, don't not collect the food stores' and thus must return their future to the hive to survive. Yet it is no surprise that when Q-Bee, a bee/human looking fairy hybrid sets her eyes upon Momoko that the bees that are not picking something up and carrying it suddenly veer off for a second package to deliver, beginning to buzz into the treetops - high enough that they will not be affected by random flailing.
At least until the unchecked psychic aura starts and one drops straight from the air. You'd think they perfected that, by now!
It is only then that Momoko, yelling and screaming, flailing the branch wildly in an attempt to beat back, batter and break the bee hybrid onsets Q-Bee! With no surprise, the stick does wonders! Why, it thwacks and it whacks into Q-Bee, the smaller form quite easily beaten against the ground and rocks underneath of the jungle, chitin plated 'armoring' mostly taking the brunt of the blow but yet not preventing the pain that comes from it! Buzzing, somewhat angrily, Q-Bee shakes herself off. That's when it gets worse! With a pulse in the space of a heartbeat, the bee glows and grows, spinning, up until she hangs in the air before Momoko in a larger size than the smaller psycho soldier! Q-bee isn't massive, herself, but the wings and abdomen and massive stinger lend her a bit of size to the shape!
"Oh, you are a fighter as well! Then you'll be very delicious!" Q-Bee remarks, "Do not swat me or my hive, though! You have caused enough trouble, already." She suggests.
A suggestion that is followed by the bee lancing forwards with her legs, the ends growing sharper as the chitin hardens around them - and they stretch a bit!?
COMBATSYS: Momoko dodges Q-Bee's Medium Strike.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
Momoko 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Q-Bee
[MOMOKO]
Her eyes wedged shut as she flails away, Momoko only stops when she finally feels the branch snap in half from the abuse of being used as a make-shift club. With the brunt of her momentum behind the swing she spins in a circle from the unexpected lack of resistance and twirls around to fall on her rump in the dirt.
Hurriedly, she pushes the brim of the pith helmet up, which had fallen down over her eyes during her wild antics, frantically searching for the oversized little bee-monster, expecting her to be doing what bees do and buzzing around like a kamikaze dive bomber. Instead, she finds that the thing has grown consdirably. Like... bigger than she is.
The teen stares at the Darkstalker in dumb-founded confusion for several long seconds as she goes through her transformation and re-iterates her intentions to devour her. It is as this point that she stops trying to make sense of the situation, her mind falling back into defenses she had erected to protect her should yet another horror leap out of the darkness to steal her soul.
Eyes narrowing, Momoko pushes to her feet and throws herself to the side just as the sharp bladed legs dart down to skewer her. She hits the ground rolling and pops back up in the same motion, deftly displaying the skill that earned her a place among the stars. She takes a long deep breath, steadying herself. The hum of her psychic presence dims a little at first but it quickly surges once again this time in a controlled and steady pressure as she prepares to battle this horror with the same courage that her mentor would.
"This really needs to stop happening to me," she laments under her breath. Ofcourse, tis an empty wish. The entire purpose of the Psycho Soldiers is to combat such darkness. She just kind of expected to have help most of the time!
Leaping into the air, Momoko lets out something that's probably supposed to be a ferocious battlecry but ends up closer to a high-pitched girly yell. Close enough. Momoko the Third, Explorer, Scholar, etc etc, will strike terror into her foes the old fashioned way! Whipping around as she soars through the air, Momoko brings her booted foot out in a wide swing at the flying bee-woman, swinging it like a club as she falls in an attempt to swat the pesky thing out of the air!
"Have at thee, knave! I mean, have at bee!"
COMBATSYS: Q-Bee dodges Momoko's Spin Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
Momoko 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Q-Bee
[Q-BEE]
The Darkstalker floats there for several moments, looking down upon the Momoko. The delicious - savory Momoko. Why, yes, what a plump specimen of Momoko! Such flavoring must be within the Momoko that... well, Q-Bee cannot think more than to feast. It's a buzzing thought that invades her mind the closer the feast is, a thought that permeates and spreads throuh her conciousness. Hive this. Hive that. Food this. Feast that. One could wonder if there was ever any more! Momoko sure wouldn't, however.
Though Momoko was right about a horror planning to 'steal her soul'. Q-Bee wanted to feast upon it!
The chitin blades pierce into the jungle dirt, digging in and then retracting as Q-Bee stands on the ground, wings fluttering behind her as the two sets of eyes stare at Momoko. A single set of human eyes seem distant, though the more bug-like ones are quite focused. Antennae as well pointed directly towards Momoko. The bee stands attentive but unmoving as she digs out, "It has happened before?" Apparently the senses are keen for the bee, as Momoko barely gets it out. Why, what a surprise an insect like darkstalker could detect such a minimum of inputs!
The most pressing thought that invades her mind is that of the girly yell and motion of Momoko, who twists and shouts right towards Q-Bee, the booted foot swung out in a wide swing towards her, clubbing at her body as she moves to take to the air! Yet Q-Bee does take to the air... backwards! Kicking off the ground and buzzing backwards, Q-Bee spins away, just out of reach of Momoko's rash offensive, soaring towards her! It's quite the attempt! Pushed backwards within the air, Q-Bee reverts the momentum, however, spinning backwards awkwardly - and Momoko would find out why!
The bee's stinger is now facing her, aimed right towards her midsection as Q-Bee lances towards the psion at high speeds, abdomen first, almost shaped like an arrow, and would keep going until she hit the ground!
COMBATSYS: Momoko blocks Q-Bee's Delta A.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Momoko 0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0 Q-Bee
[MOMOKO]
Well... darn.
Momoko had been sure that her sudden counter-offensive would have proven too amazing and unexpected for the weird creature to anticipate but it seems that its annoying insect-like nature is intact enough to be adapt at narrowly avoiding the swat. Despite her whiff, the girl hits the ground gracefully and dances back on her toes put some space between her and the bee. However, the sudden conversion of the monster's rear-end into a lawn dart is a little too fast for her to entirely avoid. She snaps a leg up just as the stinger plunges downwards, the long needle missing her thigh by centimeters. It's a risky move but she doesn't have time for anything else. Twisting to the side, she nudges the deadly thrust off the centerline of her body, but the brunt of the charge itself still slams into side and she goes sprawling into the dirt.
"Ow ow... you little... I mean... big... oversized... bee-jerk!"
Bruised but not punctured, she ignores the darkstalker's question and scrambles back to her feet, dusting herself off for a moment. Hey, these clothes were expensive. Rushing foward to chase after the queen, she dives right into the fray once more, perhaps a little more recklessly than would be advised considering her situation. Nevertheless, her fighting spirit is up, adrenaline surging through her tiny body, and she's not about to give an inch to the first monster that hasn't instantly smashed her into the floor. This is payback for all those other times! Yeah...!
Momoko lunges upon drawing within range, driving the heel of one foot out in a sharp kick at the creature's big fat stinger butt, hopefully before she can recover from their collision.
"Not this time, evildoer! Hyah!"
COMBATSYS: Q-Bee interrupts Heel Kick from Momoko with Intercepting Strike.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Momoko 1/-----==/=======|===----\-------\0 Q-Bee
[Q-BEE]
The leg is missed by the skewering slam as Q-Bee slams into Momoko abdomen first, then body afterwards, the needle - thick as it may be - only digging into the land once more! However her body is lead into close quarters with Momoko, being dragged along through force and gravity, before ending up nearly clinging to Momoko, impacting and rolling with her. That is until Momoko nudges away, sprawling into the dirt. The Bee itself instead manages to stop naturally as Momoko bails, having not been crashed into. Naturally leading to Q-Bee laying on the ground, legs spread and abdomen between them before her. A little dizzy, of all things!
Bzzz? "I am not a jerk. I am hungry." Q-Bee corrects Momoko, "If I am hungry, the hive is hungry. If I feed myself and the hive, we will grow. Then .... then the hive will be happy!" Q-Bee remarks, explaining it to Momoko in a way that a fish might explain water. Yet Momoko does not answer her first question. Q-Bee doesn't think to not even ask the second, or explain it. Prone, on the ground, Q-Bee doesn't recover as quickly as she had before. Momoko, meanwhile, is setting upon her. A heel of one foot driving towards her juicy abdomen. A very popular, and perhaps smart, tactic.
It happens in only a moment, but Q-Bee recovers just before Momoko's strike. The entirety of Q-Bee's body hardens in way can only be described as some sort of external skin, an exoskeleton of chitin that Momoko's heel slams into heavily - it cracks with the powerful force of Momoko's strike! Clearly Momoko will destroy Q-Bee and ... !? Even though the heel slams hard into the squishier body underneath, bruising and damaging the abdomen, knees and stinger extend outwards as if Momoko hit a button to make them do such a thing.
The rest of Q-Bee's body extends as well, wings buzzing as she and her body shoots into the air, knees and stinger needling into Momoko as she extends upwards and outwards, pushing herself and Momoko away from the ground, lancing upwards before Momoko would be let off the terrible ride, to fall a bit to the jungle ground. She does manage to get off, however, before she would be pinned to a tree. If such a thing happened...
No, it is best if it doesn't! "I do not know if I want to eat you." Q-Bee remarks, off hand, "But I know I should if you taste delicious. I am sure you do!" How conflicting!
Crunch. Crunch? Huh, that's not the noise she expec- agh!
Momoko's eyes widen in shock from pain and surprise as the bee does a sudden reversal, its body once more shifting and twisting in a way that no human could ever do. The stinger lances into her stomach along with the bladed exoskeletal barbs of the creature's legs and it is only with the greatest of effort that she manages to avoid being run through. The girl's hands slam down around the offending spear and she pushes with all her might. The strength at her disposal is not great but desperation combined with a little psychic might prevail and she throws herself away from the terrible thing to tumble heavily to the ground.
She hits hard and rolls, somehow having enough focus to use her training in order to break the worst of the fall. Immediately her hands go to the hole in her flesh and she winces, letting out a shrill whimper. Her breath quickens as her body, already flush with adrenaline from her fear and excitement, reacts to the new stimulus, her fight-or-flight instincts sounding like klaxons in her mind that she needs to get up. Run or fight, it doesn't matter, just get up!
Gritting her teeth, the psion reaches into her mind and draws on the power residing there. Her skill is in manipulating emotions, sensing the pain and happiness in others and using that to determine the best path forward. Sometimes the answer is to soothe wounds that others cannot even tell they have. Sometimes it is necessary to inflame latent passions, draw forth resolve that people never knew they had. This time, she does both.
The pain of her wounds dulls to a faint throb as she pushes it into a small corner of her mind drawing her focus instead upon the danger at hand. Her fear goes with it; fear of death, fear of suffering, fear of failure, all of it. She empties that turmoil into a single burning flame and uses it for kindling to stoke something else, something more useful to her in this moment - anger.
Rising to her feet, Momoko turns to face her would-be captor once more. Her hands fall away from the wound they clutch so desperately, blood-stained fingers curling into tiny balls as her expression grows dark and stormy. The Bee would likely be unable to sense the shift in her prey's flow of energy, the sudden and unexplained darkening of her soul as if a black cloud had begun to escape from somewhere within. The look of determined hatred that the girl gives her, however, is much less subtle.
COMBATSYS: Momoko enters a meditative state.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Momoko 1/---====/=======|===----\-------\0 Q-Bee
It would have been enough to skewer most humans. Momoko proves she is not like most humans. Not at all. Especially as she places her hands about the spear that is Q-Bee and pushes herself off of them, even against gravity, tumbling towards the ground in a victory that ends in a heavy, and hard, stop. Q-Bee, immune to things like 'gravity' due to her wings, does not falter, nor does she fall. At least not now. Especially not now. The whimper, of all things, was the mistake.
Q-Bee's buzzing is a bit heavier now. Bees that were staying in the trees are spoken to, which begin to crowd around them all closer. They all watch the little 'girl' curling her hands and closing her eyes. Is it all over? "If you are hurt, I can end it for you faster, so you will not hurt anymore." Q-Bee offers in simplistic, focused terms. No one ever said hives had to be sadistic. They are, if nothing else, quite focused in their endeavors. Not just simple - direct as well.
The gaze is obvious. Even a simple one like Q-Bee would not be foolish enough to miss such an obivous outwards expression that is made by Momoko, the girl not even bothering to respond. "Am I speaking correclty in your language?" The Bee asks, no response gained in multiple attempts. There is a buzzing followed after, as if she is attempting another channel. Yet, with no acceptance of the 'please make it quick', Q-Bee's response is brutal and simple.
Legs fold backwards, as does her body, as she shoots towards Momoko who stands there so defiant. Arms aim to clasp to her, legs the same, and hold her still for a moment as her abdomen twists to face towards Momoko. The stinger erupts shortly after, trying to dig into her flesh and past her guard once more, a rather direct, and almost careless, attempt at it. Unless the bee knows something Momoko doesn't!
COMBATSYS: Momoko interrupts Crushing Strike from Q-Bee with Ohashi Samaninacchae EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Momoko 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1 Q-Bee
[MOMOKO]
There is indeed no response from the small girl as she stands there fuming, waves of invisible power coursing around her body in an aura of emotional focus. There are many things she could say to this creature, insults she could shout, threats she could level. However, it has become abundantly clear to her in the short time that this creature has been assaulting her that it neither fears nor respects her enough for such words to have any meaning.
It's time to change that.
The soul bee's body shifts as she alters herself to rush forward upon the fluttering massive wings and that small telegraph is all that Momoko needs in her moment of terrible clarity to see an opportunity. She stands there, fists clenched, face defiant as the creature lunges at her with its arms outstretched in the mistaken belief that the teenager has simply chosen to accept a quick death.
It is not until the last few moments that something changes. Momoko's hands snap up, palms laying flat against the air as if her simple gesture will stop the queen bee from slamming into her with sheer will; amazingly, that is exactly what happens.
The air distorts visibly before the girl, swirling with ethereal energy in a shield of raw psychic power. The creature slams into it at full speed receiving naught but a breath to react and even its amazing agility is not capable of that. Her aggressor left suspended in the field for a precious few seconds, Momoko's fierce scowl turns into a snarling glower and she leans forward to speak, hissing out, "Can you hear me now, BUG?!"
Lifting her hands up with a dismissive jerk, Momoko seizes the entrapped bee with her mind and hurdles her into the nearest tree with no more effort than throwing a baseball, ensuring that she hits several branches on the way up as she drags the fiend along the outer surface before slamming her hands back down giving it an equally unpleasant return trip to the ground.
[Q-BEE]
There has not been at all. That is until Momoko makes her do so. It is a very apparent attempt, as well, where Momoko's hands snap up - managing to slow the movement of the Q-Bee. It does not make sense to the Darkstalker. It doesn't at all - yet it is obvious with what happens that it is bad. The raw psychic power washes over Q-Bee like the sudden jolt from a bug zapper, coursing through her in a matter of seconds. It is clear that yes, Momoko CAN hear Q-Bee. This is obvious based on the words.
Yet the response may be not what Momoko is expecting.
"Yes. I was not sure. Now I know you will not surrender."
Whatever hatred Momoko has for her is not reacted to, as if the Darkstalker simply does not /get/ her emotions. Momoko will, however, enjoy the smashing of the Queen of the Soul bee hive against multiple trees and branches, Q-Bee slamming into one, twisting only to slam into a second as the psychic energy swallowing her propels her faster than the gravity that grips her, dragged through branches until the ground becomes her destination with a quite heavy SLAM.
Q-Bee impacts hard. It is less than pleasant, the damage done quite numerable. The impact quite obvious from the way Q-Bee looks, ragged. Wings are clearly made less effective, tarnished. Chiton is cracked, broken. Part of her antennae is bent. Yet it rises, wings beating slowly as it pushes off the ground to its feet.
Wordlessly it stares at her. That is before she leaps towards Momoko like a ballerina, bladed in all things and ways, knees and stinger - and even hands, sharper than they should be. A twirl through the air like a buzzing wheel, Q-Bee attempts to dive her potential meal!
COMBATSYS: Momoko dodges Q-Bee's Armed Combo.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Momoko 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1 Q-Bee
[MOMOKO]
Her point made, Momoko lowers her hands and watches silently as the creature picks itself up from the dirt in the same fashion that she was forced to do. That makes them even. Both fighters have been wounded, both given a taste of what the other can do should they let their guard down. An understanding seems to have come between them now, a silent agreement on the type of battle this will be, neither one willing to back down.
The girl remains quiet and still, almost statuesque, while the Queen rises but the moment that the monster is in motion she too begins to move. The whirling buzzsaw of black and yellow bug spins past her in a frenzy but she easily avoids its rending path ducking into a sideways roll that carries her just beyond its reach. Not too far, however.
The moment that she gets clear of the initial pass, Momoko springs to her feet, quick as a cat, and dashes after the darkstalker. She drops into another roll, ducking the final few cuts from the deadly insect tornado and aiming for the exact moment as which the momentum of the attack falters. As soon as the insects limbs begin to revert to their human form she lashes out, her boot slamming towards the side of Q-Bee's knee as pink psychic stars erupt all around it.
COMBATSYS: Q-Bee dodges Momoko's Phoenix Arrow.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Momoko 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\1 Q-Bee
[Q-BEE]
Q-Bee oh wait uh
That is perhaps what Q-Bee thinks, as nothing is between her and blades.
Neither willing to back down... and one because she may view Momoko like a pizza! A big bowl of jello! Something... something like that! Q-Bee sees that spiral power and wants to eat it /right up/. Maybe she really does. Maybe she really /doesn't/. Yet it doesn't matter at this very moment due to the nature of what Momoko finds herself in front of. Which is why Q-Bee also has such difficulty! Momoko ducks to the side, carrying her away so she can follow it after, dashing towards her, rolling and ducking before becoming a wonderful arrow of light, stars, and prettiness.
A flash of light is all Q-Bee needs to immediately /get away/. That's right. To get away as soon as possible. The flash of light has become a klaxon of terror and fear and Q-Bee's instinct is, immediately upon seeing it, bail and pull away. It is no wonder that the buzzsaw of blades folds up in a way that would make a multi-tool knife jealous and beats upwards, wings taking her up, shooting skywards the moment that Momoko grows close.
This also gives Momoko plenty of time to react for what may be a very bad situation.
As her arms swing out, the chiton on them becomes longer, tonfa like, as she seeks to be as direct as possible. The upwards flight is followed by a rather simple downwards charge, intent on slamming Momoko into a tree to hold her still!
COMBATSYS: Momoko interrupts Random Strike from Q-Bee with Aumada Materu.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Momoko 0/-------/--=====|=======\=======\1 Q-Bee
[MOMOKO]
Her attack whiffs, the bee once more proving too fast for her strikes to land home. Momoko grits her teeth in frustration but the anger she gains from this only fuels her further as she feeds on a self-destructive loop, her emotions growing more unstable and turbulent with each passing moment that the creature continues to harass her. She wants to see it break, wants to watch it fall, wings shattered, limbs crushed!
The girl regains her feet as quick as ever and feigns an attempt to dodge as the bee rises high into the air and comes crashing down. Momoko crouches down, clearly preparing to leap away as has done many times; instead, she leaps directly into the oncoming bullet. Shimmering psychic power erupts around her feet turning them into a pair of dazzling meteors as the two combatants meet in midair. One of the girl's legs crashes into the chitinous tonfas and fresh pain lances through her mind, dancing up her side to crash like a bolt of lighting into her brain.
The sacrifice is necessary, however. The darkstalker twists to the side from the force of the spinning kick and the real attack is then free to slam home. Momoko's other foot lashes out in a crescent kick that catches the creature square in the abdomen. Intense psychic power radiates through her foot and those pretty twinkling sparkles become hot coals of raging fury as they burn into her mutated flesh with almost sadistic glee.
A final kick of her and a twist of her hips whips the capoerista out of her sudden fall as gravity takes over and she lands on her feet with no apparent difficulty, save a slight favoring of the leg that took the brunt of the blow. What pain it may cause her is unimportant. It is temporary and fleeting but the fear that she will drive into this beast shall be complete and everlasting.
"...is that all you have? Tch. I've survived worse things than you, creature!"
[Q-BEE]
Momoko's self hate sprial of destructive emotions manage to hold it together - though the interest for Momoko to tear apart the bee - to rend the wings, to rip apart the chiton, to eviscerate the insect. All of it is met with morbid disinterest from Q-Bee. Save for the dogged determination she has. With Momoko crouching to leap away, she speeds up. Q-Bee is incorrect. Psychic power erupts around the girl, dazzling meteors of energy propelling her upwards.
"Oh. You can fly." Q-Bee remarks, surprised but disinterested. The girl's leg crashes into the tonfas before Momoko crescents into her, the kick catching her in the abdomen and sending Q-Bee away, spiraling, in such an impact.
Crashing to the ground, burned by the energy, Q-Bee is ... not doing too well at all. The impact has burned the mustard 'flesh'. The chiton is cracked and seeping unknown fluids and the entire body is loathe to rise, as if it was failing, piece by piece. Both antennae are bent. An eye is bruised, closed and 'swelling' in human terms. The entirety of the the hive is calling at once. "I'm ..." Q-Bee remarks, staggering forwards, a leg pushed up, her body rising. A hand grasps a side of a tree as she drags herself to her feet. "So ..." Another leg, from knee to foot, rises. Q-Bee's other arm plants solely on a vine, which is grasped as she manages to rise once more. Wings flick a few times before a second set simply /bursts/ from her back.
Flight will not be denied, it seems to say.
"Tired... But there's a voice." She exclaims, staring intently at Momoko with her single good eye. "It's saying... prosper. Feed and prosper. Eat and grow... and spread. I don't want to.... eat you!"
"The hive will serve you up!" She beams, suddenly, as her abdomen shrinks three sizes that day! Something, a large something, rests in her hands.
Oh, it certainly is, of all things. A massive glob of honey. An absolutely massive sphere of it, parts of the jungle caught on it already - but Q-Bee doesn't care. "So stay still, and let me eat you! You're all tired now!" It's chucked towards Momoko with abandon, large enough that aiming isn't as important.
It's just getting her caught in it.
COMBATSYS: Momoko blocks Q-Bee's QJ EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Momoko 1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Q-Bee
[MOMOKO]
Somewhat hobbled by her brazen and foolish counter-attack against the much harder target of the darkstalker's exoskeleton and her excessive use of psychic might beginning to take its toll on her body, Momoko's capacity for cat-like evasion is somewhat stunted. Which is why when the giant katamari ball of golden goop comes rolling at her there is little that the girl can do other than to let out a soft and suddenly very humble, "Oh..."
Throwing her arms up, knowing it's a futile gesture, the teen hurls herself to the side to avoid the full brunt of the careening honey ball. She gets clear of it in the knick of time, avoiding a most likely terrible fate - well, mostly avoiding. The edge of the sticky projectile catches her in the side and its absurd thickness and adhesive strength grips her with crushing strength. It drags her to the ground, whipping her clean off her feet and she is pulled halfway across the clearing until the damn thing finally hits a tree.
Crumpled and battered, Momoko attempts to stand, slowly pulling herself free of the horrid gunk. That's when the buzzing, a noise that she had tuned out sometime early in this strange and unexpected fight for her life, starts to grow ominously loud.
Hey, kids, and welcome to our show - Professor Momoko Teaches You How to Smack Talk Your Enemies! Here's your host, Professor Momoko!
Welcome! Alright, here's all you have to do, kids!
Step 1: Open your big fat mouth!
Step 2: Lift your foot real high, I hope you all limbered up, and stuff it right into that giant hole!
That's it! Follow these easy instructions and you too can - OH GOD THE BEES, THEY'RE EVERYWHEREarghlghgg!@!
Beset by a veritable killer swarm, Momoko lets out a shrill and very real cry of fresh terror that overwhelms even her emplaced mental defenses. Something deep within the girl, a dark and primal thing that resides inside all humans, rises up in response to the very real idea that she might be eaten alive by these alien things. She lifts her arms, swatting and smashing and kicking at anything and everything as dozens of stingers the size of syringe needles dart in and out stabbing and pricking every where at once. Her panicked flailing does nothing, ofcourse, such a swarm of mindless creatures unfazed by her wordless pleas for an end to the pain.
They do, however, give way to the explosion of psychic fury that erupts from the girl. Bright pink flames well up into a fountain of mental power sending the collective horde flying in all directions as Momoko rises to her feet, enraged and terrified. Once more that power surges through her, feeding into her strength and driving her forward to face this threat to her life. Bleeding from countless tiny wounds, she turns to the source of her suffering and attacks. She has no energy left to hurl curses or insults or jibes, her chest heaving from the effort of simply remaining moving after such an attack.
Building up to a full sprinting charge, the girl takes to the air once more in what looks like it might simply be a flying tackle, her mind too enraged to draw upon reasoned tactics and skill any longer. At the last second, however, she whips around and swings the tip of her boot's toe at the side of Q-Bee's head, aiming for the wounded side of her face in an attempt to catch her blindsided.
COMBATSYS: Q-Bee interrupts Snap Kick from Momoko with ES R. M. EX.
[ \\ < > ///////// ]
Momoko 1/--=====/=======|=======\-------\1 Q-Bee
[Q-BEE]
The massive ball of honey is enough for Q-Bee to get some breathing room, throwing out the space-taker and honey shaker. It's not just the bees, that is to say, the hive that follows Momoko but Q-Bee as well. The bees, of course, are the ones that get in close, however! With Momoko dragged along and pulled into a tree, the honey splatters about - but only partially on Momoko. Still, that buzzing noise is bad news. As Momoko finds out specifically moments later. Soul bees are beaten and destroyed. Some maimed. Others murdered. The hive will presevere. The hive will feast. Q-Bee does not seem to care as they are dashed, some vaporized and others blasted away in a concussive wave by the psychic fury that swells around Momoko.
The Queen buzzes after them slowly, resting in the air. Wings beat with regal authority now as a very real presence seems to stir within her, a mind that is swallowed by the hive that is dashing itself, and in turn is dashed, across the battlefield. The two real eyes stare down at Momoko as she still persists. Still fights on. The sprinting charge is a wise plan - but ultimately one that Q-Bee had hoped for. Be it tackle or boot, the result was to end the same as long as Q-Bee was assaulted in the sky by someone that wasn't going to change her path save for 'right at her'.
If before the spiked form of Q-Bee was frightening, now Q-Bee's form becomes procupine in nature. Chiton, cracked and damaged suddenly tears free as new armoring is 'born'. Both arms erupt forwards just as the kick slams into Q-Bee - but not to hold. They are sharp spears, aiming to dig and hold Momoko in place for a moment as the stinger elongates - Q-Bee careening straight into a tree as leg slams into her head, digging into both Momoko and the tree in the jungle to hold her there. The impact is solid and seems to tear off an antennae, causing her to almost panic, an eye danaged as well from the direct assault. To keep her from squirming free as the elongated stinger attempts to pin her to the tree and allow her all the feasting she had wanted.
Arms and stinger both tear off as she slides back, wings beating heavily as she leaves Momoko half hanging - the Queen Bee's limbs not immediately replacing where they were lost.
"Tired but ... maybe now, I can feast?" She asks herself, and perhaps Momoko, in some twisted way. Her stomach rumbles. It does not help.
[MOMOKO]
There is nothing that can be done. As Momoko hurls through the air, her anger and determination throwing her down a path that cannot be changed, something goes terribly wrong. The creature's body shifts, its form changing once more into an amalgamation of flesh and blade. The desperate kick lands home against the side of its face but it isn't enough to slow the thing down as it lunges forward through the air, dread wings carrying it forward with hungry purpose.
The blades skewer her flesh, rending through cloth and skin with equal ease. The girl would scream if she could but the pain that grips her in that moment is such that all she can do is stare in wide-eyed bewilderment. She has experienced suffering like this before - no, far worse than this. These injuries are only things of physical substance. It hurts, certainly, but the scars upon her body will heal in time. The things that have dug their filthy black claws into her soul, however, left marks that are not so easily washed away.
The tree shudders as it is converted into an impromptu cork board, curved blades of chitin and stinger sinking deeply into its surface. Momoko hangs there, pinned in an upside-down cruciform, her legs vertical pillars while one arm lays splayed out to the side, the other hanging limply below as blood drips down its slender length to stain the warm grass below.
The irony of being nailed to a board like some kind of insect sample doesn't escape her in that dark moment when sense returns to her mind. 'This is it then', she thinks, thoughts whirling in a slow churn as reason attempts to reassert control over crippling agony. 'This is where my story ends. Alone and scared. No one to hold my hand as I die. No one to call my name as the darkness closes in.'
That one truth stands out to her. Before, when she had fallen prey to the machinations of dark things, someone had always come to her rescue. A bright light to banish the evils that sought to devour her budding spark of potential. There would be no rescue this time. No one knew where she was. No one would hear her screams. This is a foreign land, a dangerous and untamed place. How stupid had she been to simply go wandering off without telling her friends?
A bitter laugh escapes her lips at the simple minded question that is leveled at her. It starts as a small thing, a faint rumbling in her chest that sends tremors of fresh pain through her ravaged body but despite this it quickly grows until the girl, half-dead and moving quickly towards the finish line of her life, is cackling with mad intensity. This continues for several seconds until her lungs finally give a sharp protest, sending her into a fit of coughing that only slowly stifles the laugh to something more managable.
"Still... hungry for more... are you?"
Momoko tilts her head to peer at the queen of the giant bees, smirking at her through half-lidded eyes. There is a strange sense of calm about her expression, completely at odds with the utter rage and fierce hatred that burned there before. Slowly, she forces motion into her only free limb, the one arm unpinned by the deadly blades, lifting it until it is level with the soul bee.
"Eat this."
Without warning or preamble the situation changes. Intense dark power floods into the girl's suspended body, a raging torrent of unchecked and terrible will welling up from somewhere deep within her soul. Where the anger that had fueled her before was a lit fuse on a stick of dynamite, an unstable and dangerous tool simply waiting for its chance to explode, the thing that grips her now is an entirely different beast. Hatred and anger of a primal nature, fear of death and a desire to inflict that destruction upon another living being, these elements swirl up around her in a palpable and physical maelstrom of black fire.
As she speaks those two words of judgement, Momoko's eyes snap open wide and that same oily black power floods into them turning her gaze into the stare of death itself, twin pinpoints of red light admist an eternal void of nothingness. Her smirk widens into a grin though there is no hint of mirth or merriment in the expression, but rather the sadistic glee of a madwoman who has finally given in to the dark urges she has been supressing for so long.
A lance of black-pink light erupts from the outstretched hand, the greatest technique of the small unassuming girl turned to wicked purpose as she funnels her dark will into its core. In her previous fight, Momoko had unleashed this same attack upon her opponent then, another girl like herself, young and innocent and full of her own hopes and dreams. At that time the energy blast had been little more than a flashy light show, an excessive display of power meant to overwhelm her opponent but not to harm her. The thing that spews forth from her now is the very opposite of that.
Odious seething power simply for the sake of power sweeps out from her fingers. It cleaves through the landscape like a heated blade passing through blades of grass as she sweeps it around in a casual arc, trees toppling in a cacophany of groans and crashes, large sections of their ancient trunks simply gone as if removed by the eraser of some divine artist.
Though her movements are slow and purposeful, they are not wasted. The beam sweeps through the buzzing clusters of soul bees turning them to nothing more than faint bits of ash, evaporating them down to the tiniest of debris as if to destroy their very memory. And, with almost inexorable finality, that same beam of utter annihilation draws slowly closer and closer to the queen herself.
COMBATSYS: Momoko can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Q-Bee 1/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Q-Bee manages to escape Momoko's Esper~!!
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Q-Bee 1/-------/=======|
[Q-BEE]
While such terrors grip Momoko, Q-Bee is alone in her own endless hell. The hive buzzes through her mind, reverting her to a simple Queen - the one that will spread the Soul Bees and will see to it that they grow and prosper. That the creatures from the darkness who were beaten back so thoroughly had elected a 'champion' of sorts from the human world and merged with them... but they are not perfect. They are just many.
Momoko isn't as alone as she thinks, two pairs of eyes staring, one in horror. One in hunger. There would be no ability to sense the other, however. No ability to see under the hive's mind, under the swarm and buzzing. There may as well be nothing.
With the meal plastered to the tree, Q-Bee is slowly, however damaged, about to chow down. Her lips are licked once more - instinctively. "We are very hungry." She nods her head, as expected.
Momoko tells her, simply, to eat it. Q-Bee opens her mouth, teeth sharper than they should be. Yet that's ... not quite it. That's not exactly what Q-Bee had expected at all. Eyes glow bright, twin pinpoints of light that cause the Queen to pause. They are frowning. No, Q-Bee remarks. She is upside down. She is smiling.
Next comes the lance of light, sweeping across the land and air, tearing through battlefield and singing more than a few soul bees that had otherwise escaped unphased. They were not so lucky a second time. Clumps of soul bee ash scatter along the winds before it comes towards Q-Bee.
The Queen twists, attempting to avoid it - diving low and twisting up. The beam catches her legs, the Queen's face in sudden shock as the wings, singed, fail. The entire Queen seems to join the wings and legs next, falling into the beam as it outpaces her, sweeping along and swallowing her up. Reducing a creature to ash. It would have been a blessing. The hive, however, would not allow it to be so. What purpose would they have, now, without a Queen?
As the ash of the soul bees fall from the sky, piles all over, there comes the POP of a small head from a pile of ash, two antennae wiggling to ensure all is clear before the small Q-Bee, almost cute if not horrifying, pulls herself free from the certain demise she had so seemingly suffered. With an almost cuteness to her, Q-Bee buzzes up, almost fairy like, to Momoko. "(!!!??*#%&^**%$~!)" She seems to say, before speaking normally, once more. "Ah, it will take me so long to eat you now..." As if Momoko would care.
There is an upside. Another begins to trudge through the jungle, the sudden clearcutting by Momoko making it /quite/ a problem for Q-Bee to remain unknown. There are little to no Soul bees. Q-Bee is small, fragile, and now very vulnerable. She cannot carry Momoko. "No.. no! I'm hungry! You look delicious, and I am hungry!" It is not so much a tempertantrum as the hive fights amoung itself, safety against hunger. It is no surprise which comes out victorious. With drool wiped away from her mouth, Q-Bee turns once more to Momoko - and then begins to buzz off, darting away before a single soldier would come. In her current form, even that would be a great risk - and she would not be able to return with Momoko, anyhow. A net loss.
COMBATSYS: Q-Bee has ended the fight here.
[MOMOKO]
The beam continues to slash through tree and air alike, in an attempt to deforest the entire jungle, as if slaying every last tree in sight will somehow free the girl from her bindings. She pours her darkness out, bleeding hate from her soul until it is all but spent and the evil killing light vanishes with the same silence in which it was created.
Momoko exhales sharply, new fits of coughing wracking her ravaged body. When she can breath again, her gaze, once more than of a tired and frightened young girl, surveys the devastation with detached calm.
She did it... they're... all dead. And soon... so will she be as well.
Her eyes grow heavy and with a sigh she allows them to slide shut, preparing herself to embrace the darkness that will follow. It's harder than she expected, however, simply letting go. Tears well up in her eyes and she clenches her teeth, fighting back a sob.
The sound of a tiny buzzing voice snaps her eyes open like springs and, with a look of horror, she turns to find the queen of the bees once more staring her in the face. Now tiny and almost cute, the creature should no longer be anything to worry about, but to have survived such an unleashing of power...
"What... are you?!"
Her question goes unanswered as the minute monster turns and buzzes away, free to hunt and harm others in the future. Momoko feels something inside of her break, her small victory in death snatched away at the last second. She had accomplished nothing. She would die in vain.
Just before she loses consciousness, her mind too numb and distant to catch the crunch of approaching footsteps that had driven her attacker away, a faint hint of black creeps into the corners of her eyes, spreading outwards to consume her scelera like a cancerous growth.
"If only... I had... a little more... power..."
Log created on 14:21:38 06/26/2016 by Q-Bee, and last modified on 21:50:55 06/26/2016.