Description: Rose travels into Akira's mind, battling her dark side -- and capturing it in a red stone from Asia?! (Success here means Akira is no longer in the Thrall of Evil, although I guess they could put the evil back in. The stone was mostly a macguffin, although if you guys have an idea of what to do with rocks full of inert evil Psi, I'm open!)
To die, to sleep, to sleep perchance, to dream.
Of course, Akira is just sleeping. Even Psycho Soldiers need to do that. Where she is sleeping is fairly irrelevent, but she seems to be dreaming about things Akira likes to dream about.
Akira Man is running out of lives. She uses her powerful buster cannon to blast away drones, but the motorcycle conveyer belt stage is the easy part--it's the boss Akira Man has been having trouble with. She hops repeatedly on the conveyer belt for a few moments to catch up to some sort of giant leaping frog.
SHE PAUSES!
And then equips the Top Man Dancing Cyclone Kick Spin attack! She leaps forward and shatters the frog drone in a single strike, coming upon the garage doors. Taking in a deep breath of dream air, Akira Man advances past.
CHUNKA CHUNKA CHUNKA!
Akira runs down the hallway and bounces against the other set of garage doors.
CHUNKA CHUNKA CHUNKA!
She lands onto the ground and is frozen in place for a little while while her opponent makes her own appearance--a helmeted version of herself, glowing with Psycho Power! Some dialogue boxes appear over their heads.
"Oh no!" Akira Man says, "A copy of me...but evil! The Evil Doctor Douyobi. has gone too far!"
"Bwa ha ha!" Psycho Akira cries, "You cannot hope to defeat Lord Vega! No matter how hard you try!"
Life meters fill up.
Rose has to credit Akira's dreamscape for having the most imaginative and specifically unique representation of things she can imagine. She can clearly sense meters, reflecting life? Inner strength? Does this represent, Rose muses, a desire to quantify things? To make the world a thing which may be controlled?
Rose stopped playing video games after spraining her wrist on a Pong game, back in Italy. She tries not to think about it very much.
She does not enter the dream directly; from the perspective of Akira, the boss-battle room's background may have developed a figure with distinctive violet hair, which seems to be looking up at nothing in particular!
Until the health meters start to flicker in and out. Maybe the system's overheating somewhere?!
Akira Man points her buster arm at Psycho Akira, "You're going down!" She cries out, firing a set of yellowish bolts after her Doppleganger... Who BRACE INTERRUPTS with a quick telekinetic and purely imaginative throw against the back of the wall! "Agh!" Akira Man cries out. For a moment it seems as if neither are going to notice Rose's presence. It's a dreamscape after all. You don't always notice the weird things that happen.
And maybe she wouldn't have, but Psycho Akira does notice. The portion of Vega's power undulating and controlling Akira looks towards the figure with violet hair as she pins Akira Man to the wall, flutes (?!) for some reason forming through Akira Man's body and pinning her there. It's not gory, but it is sticking through her and she seems pained.
Psycho Akira peers at the flickering life meters, and then back to Rose. "...What are you doing here?" The voice sounding less Megaman Cartoony and more inhuman.
The momentary projection of force hardens. The meters flicker, flash, and then vanish completely. "A girl's heart," Rose says...
She steps out of the background. There is no special effect accompanying this; she does not appear in the form of a Reploid warrior or a battle machine. She is wearing her usual dress - the only real change is that the hem is shorter, perhaps for the sake of easy mobility.
"Is no game," Rose concludes, tilting her head back as she looks at 'Psycho Akira.' "Is this all that you are, then? How do you feel, to be only a projection, brought to life to serve as a chain?" She glances for a moment towards 'Akira Man' herself, before telling her quietly, "Be careful." This representation may not be everything Akira is, but it comes damnably close. If it (she? he? Rose really cannot tell) is slain, it could wreck Akira's mind for a long time.
It might be better than serving Vega, but perhaps not by much. Rose's attention goes back to the Psycho Form and she raises one manicured hand, beckoning the flute-covered figure forwards with a fingertip. "Come on..."
COMBATSYS: Rose has started a fight here.
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Rose 0/-------/-------|
Akira Man seems to accept Rose's appearance easily. This is a dream after all, and it's only going to stay a dream if she doesn't stress the details. The meters vanishing? Well, Akira has stopped paying attention to those in her dream. Akira Man says, "Roll!" in surprise, "You should be back at the Labs, it's dangerous here!" All the while she strains against the flute pinning her to the wall--but she doesn't seem to be taking any SAN damage at the moment. Her life meter, before it vanished, was still fairly high. Rose has some time. But if she saw, this is her last life. And perhaps Rose's last chance.
Psycho Akira says, "I'm more powerful than Akira, you won't beat me as easily as you beat her!" She cracks her knuckles before throwing herself forward in a quick kick for Rose's stomach. Naturally this is a battle of evil will and normal will rather than physical battle--but that probably just makes it only more dangerous for everybody.
COMBATSYS: Akira has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Rose 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Akira
COMBATSYS: Akira successfully hits Rose with Light Kick.
- Power hit! -
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Rose 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Akira
Rose's eyes narrow as the kick comes towards her. She makes no move to evade it beyond leaning slightly forwards, eyes watering as the foot hits her - as so many strikes seem to - right in the sensitive flesh of the breast. Her lips draw back slightly from her teeth. "Oh?" she asks, arching an eyebrow, before raising one arm...
The scarf whirls into seeming existence with a coruscant flash of light, Rose herself dashing forwards to slam the weight of the thing into 'Psycho Akira'! She does not seem, at least for now, to be holding back. The very touch of that thing - the Soul Power flowing through it - may be agonizing to the manifestation's very existence!
COMBATSYS: Rose successfully hits Akira with Soul Spiral.
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Rose 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Akira
The manifestation screams as the Psycho Scarf... Soul Scarf? Well, whatever it is the point is is that the manifestation is in clear and obvious pain. It lets out a terrific and agonized scream, sinking to its feet as the power flows against her. And then, in a burst of speed--throws itself at Rose, attempting to slam into her and drag her into the ground. If Psycho Akira manages to so much as touch Rose, she may take damage and flash for a few moments as her nonexistant lifebar goes down! "Lucky shot!" The beast insists.
"Way to go, hit her with your Broom!" Akira Man cheers.
COMBATSYS: Rose dodges Akira's Rolling Slam.
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Rose 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1 Akira
Rose stands there as the psycho figure approaches her - and then she isn't there any more.
She's standing up on the side of the battle arena. She spreads her scarf with a flourish, and calls down, "A lucky shot? Are you, then, so jealous? Where did you come from?" She reaches into a purse, still improbably at her side - and draws out a stone?
The stone seems to be an unusually shaped and uncut, but very deep red, stone. Rose raises it, light seeming to flow out from it and into her body, violet and green and blue. "Tell me!" she says a moment later, her tone commanding.
COMBATSYS: Rose gathers her will.
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Rose 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 Akira
For some reason Psycho Akira jumps up, lands, and spins. The meters may be gone but this doesn't mean the behavior is unusual. "Lord Vega brought me here," The Psycho Akira sneers. "A gift to this warrior so that she may serve him." She does not immediately charge after Rose and instead breathes in, focusing her strength--and throws herself back at Rose in a flying jump kick for her side. "Even if you defeat me, you'll never defeat him! He is too powerful!"
"Don't succumb to the evil energy, Roll!" Akira Man cheers.
COMBATSYS: Rose blocks Akira's Heavy Kick.
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Rose 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\1 Akira
"Hmf," Rose says as she raises an arm, the scarf fluttering as she strikes at the incoming foot. It twists away, even if Rose herself seems, for now, to be unharmed! She narrows her eyes and makes a long graceful leap -- don't look up -- over the incoming Akira, landing and twirling around as she does so.
She raises the stone again. "Do you exist independently, then?" she asks the Psycho Akira, ignoring (sadly) Akira Man for now. "Nothing that lives is pure evil - do you wish to live, then?" The stone glitters!
Rose does, too, the radiance in her getting more prominent yet. Why isn't she striking? Is she trying to /convince/ this construct of brainwashing or raw Psycho Power? Perhaps she's gone crazy in her old age...
... or perhaps this is also a trial run.
COMBATSYS: Rose gathers her will.
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Rose 1/--=====/=======|=======\=====--\1 Akira
Psycho Akira hesitates at the mention of whether it is a seperate identity--or not. Perhaps it's both seperate and not seperate. It seems to feed off the identity that Akira has constructed herself long ago, Powered Akira!, but it's not exactly a split personality. It's more like a personality within a personality--and changed to suit Lord Vega's whims.
This makes it angrier and it snarls, "You can't destroy me, a useless question!" and throws itself after Rose once more--bringing it's elbow back... and slamming it upward for Rose's chin!
"Watch out for its Elbow Technique!" Akira Man calls out.
COMBATSYS: Rose endures Akira's Gate Elbow.
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Rose 1/=======/=======|=======\====---\1 Akira
Rose /leaps into the elbow./ It digs into her soft, almost womanly stomach, drawing the breath out from Rose as she stares towards the manifestation. It hurts, but she does not seem afraid. The hand holding the red stone spreads out to the side and the other jerks forwards. Rose speaks - and time seems to distort, to let her words come clearly.
"I can destroy you," she says, her voice seeming to echo, "if I choose. But if you are a thing created, and not a thing drawn out, you are worthy to exist - even if I can only do so much..."
Time resumes. "Just a moment," she says, before jerking her other arm around to wrap around the manifestation's waist...
COMBATSYS: Akira fails to interrupt Aura Soul Throw from Rose with Skull Slice.
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Rose 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 Akira
... and blue flames, brighter and cleaner than those of Psycho Power but likely no less painful, erupt around the simacrulum as Rose sends it rocketing into the cold and brutal floor of the 'arena'!
Akira shouts, "SKULL SLICE!" and--is a moment too slow. The Psycho Akira crashes through the blue flames erupt around and through it, sending it crashing to the ground and against the back ground. Somehow, all this damage brings back the lifebars back and indicates that one technique did about as much as a Cutarang would to Elec Man.
"AGGGGHH!!!" The creature screams predictably.
"Way to go, Roll!" Akira Man cheers.
Rose lands, with a toss of her hair, and takes a deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth. A faint hint of steam seems to gather as she focuses power, even if it's the power that is not there. She turns her head to look at the new being, again. "You are created, and you have been created to be a force for evil, haven't you?" she asks it, raising that mysterious red stone again.
What IS it for?
COMBATSYS: Rose gains composure.
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Rose 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1 Akira
Akira starts struggling against her bonds, but Psycho Akira merely seems more annoyed as it pulls back into a standing position, slowly, psychic fire erupting out of portions of its body.
"I am to serve Lord Vega. I am to give Akira power when she calls upon it. I am her armor, her shield." And so saying, she charges again--trying to tackle into Rose and send her sprawling to the ground--fighting with desperate intensity.
COMBATSYS: Akira successfully hits Rose with Strong Throw.
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Rose 0/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Akira
"Nf," Rose says as the tackle slams into her. It does in fact send her sprawling, falling to the ground for a moment beneath the foul thing's body!
That thing might feel the warm power that fills her body. It seems to ripple out through the imaginary ghost of all-natural fabrics, enough, perhaps, to be unsettling to the creature. "It is a sad life," she says, "to be used as a tool. I swear to you, that whatever else happens -"
She slams the red stone down, and the construct of Soul Power starts attempting to draw off the anti-Akira's very energy and self! If it isn't careful it might end up trapped! Strangely, this doesn't seem to interfere with thinking (much.)
"You will not be used as such again!"
COMBATSYS: Akira blocks Rose's Random Weapon.
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Rose 1/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Akira
Anti-Akira chooses to be careful. As an entity of the mind, it might be smarter than Akira is in day to day life. It succeeds however in drawing off some of the creature's power, and it slides back, grabbing its chest in pain as it stumbles into a crouch. It grunts briefly and looks back at Rose, taking time focusing on recovery. "Can't...give up." She insists.
"Wow, is that her weakness?" Akira Man asks.
COMBATSYS: Akira gains composure.
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Rose 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 Akira
The red stone gleams slightly as Rose straightens up, still holding it out like a talisman. "Give up what?" Rose asks, quirking an eyebrow. "Do you really think that Vega will do anything other than destroy you, the moment you are more of a nuisance than a benefit?"
She then nods once to Akira Man. After this, with a cry, she lunges forwards, sweeping the stone-bearing hand over her head down towards the psycho-Akira again. She does not honestly care where she hits. It is, it seems, all good.
(so to speak)
COMBATSYS: Akira interrupts Random Weapon from Rose with Aerial Barrage.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Rose 1/-----==/=======|=------\-------\0 Akira
Psycho Akira held off to make sure she was ready, playing on the defensive. And it works to her advantage this time. Perhaps Rose should have cared about where she hit because this time she straightens and spinkicks into the stone-carrying arm. She is grazed, and it hurts her, but it doesn't seem to have hurt her as much as it should have due to the contact being merely brief. She then continues, flipping kicks into Rose, and attempting to knock her up into the air!
Akira Man gasps and struggles harder, pushing through the flute imprisoning her. "Hold on, Roll!" She cries.
Rose steps back after that brutal chop - there was a snap, but was it just impact, or did Rose's arm break? Can it work that way here? Somewhere in the real world, there might be more evidence...
But Rose does clutch the red stone to her chest, leaning forwards slightly. Is this power too much for her? Light glimmers around her, threatening for a moment as it blossoms to drown out the entire area's ambient lighting render.
Rose speaks again, in that slightly resonant voice. "Akira," she says - or orders? - "Hold her!" She raises the stone up, waiting...
COMBATSYS: Rose gathers her will.
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Rose 1/=======/=======|=------\-------\0 Akira
"Eh?" Psycho Akira says, "Hold who?" And then there's a beautiful moment of realization, even as Akira Man says, "Sure thing!" and leaps forward, ripping herself free from the flute, and grabbing one arm--then two--of Psycho Akira and dragging them behind her. There is a gasp from the Psycho Akira, who struggles!
"Let go you idiot!"
"You're the idiot!"
"No you--shutup and let me go!"
"I'm sorry, but you can't beat... Rock and Roll!"
Oy vey.
COMBATSYS: Akira takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Rose 1/=======/=======|=------\-------\0 Akira
Rose steps forwards. The scarf falls from around her arm loosely as she steps forwards again, telling Akira, "Clear your mind. This will feel strange, but -"
She snaps the scarf forwards. It loops around the two struggling identical girls and Rose raises her other hand, despite a wince of pain, still bearing that strange red stone! "It shall not harm you if your heart is pure!" And she knows, from what she has felt, that Akira's is. Or, at least, close enough for the work.
Rose's next action is ridiculous. She may be taking control of the dream world enough to allow it to work - or else it is merely a representation of deeper laws being followed. A glow of light comes from her shoulder, sliding down her arm, along the scarf...
/Into/ Akira, sending a peculiar rippling sensation through her...
Rose lowers the stone, pressing it to the Shadow Akira's forehead as the ripple travels through the 'true' Akira's body and into her, the raw force of it perhaps intended to shove the energy and thought patterns into the captive stone altogether!
Light flares around her in this instant, hot and bright enough to white the area out completely...
COMBATSYS: Rose successfully hits Akira with Aura Soul Spark.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > / ]
Rose 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1 Akira
"Um, sure." Akira Man comments. She's wearing blue pajamas now.
The rippling sensation crashes into Psycho Akira and she lets out one last pained scream before the Psycho Aura fades around her. She doesn't GO AWAY entirely, but once the work is done she's practically see through--and then she DETONATES into energy rings! BWEEO BWEEO BWEEO!
"Wow... that felt weird... but good..." The remaining Akira notices, "Thanks Roll! Your repairs are the best!"
And so saying, Akira Man leaps up into the air and hovers in place for a moment as the energy rings ripple into her body.
"Get equipped with: POWERED AKIRA!" She singsongs before landing onto her feet. "Whew. I would've been in trouble if not for you!"
The Psycho Power is gone, however, into the stone of mystery.
"Ha ha," Rose says a little tiredly as she looks at the red stone. It glows - it would be a good idea to keep it away from people you find in a pillar.
She looks up with another smile. It's a faint one. "I don't know where you are," she says, "but I hope to find a way to do this more easily for others. Thank you for your help -" A brief, faint snort of laughter. "Akira Man."
"I have a feeling I should be thanking you," Akira Man manages before blinking a couple times, "Wait, you're... Rose..." The world starts falling apart about now. Akira may not be good at lucid dreaming.
"I am," Rose says with a small smile. She raises a hand and tips two fingers towards Akira Man as she winks, once. "Ciao!" And then the world continues to fade away -
In the darkness of deep sleep, Rose steps away, off to where she can recuperate. At least this is easier here, she thinks. Distance must be a factor...
Log created on 20:01:11 06/21/2007 by Rose, and last modified on 01:17:47 06/23/2007.