Description: "Dear Diary, Today I encountered two of the famous Shadaloo Dolls while on a spying mission. They were a good example of behaving with absolute loyalty to their master. I learned that I might save myself a major headache in the future if I just get clearance to identify myself quicker. I noticed that the two dolls cared for each other, and that hurting one would make the other angry at me. I wonder if this is what it is like to have a sister. I guess I will never know for myself. -Kula"
The first clue that something was amiss was when the dolls began to appear again. Entering Neo League matches, showing up on SNF, visiting school campuses... Shadaloo, thought dead since the collapse during the end of the Thailand War, seemed to be up to something. The question remained - were the dolls acting of their own free will or were they directed by the one who would be the most capable of doing so?
Into the jungles of Thailand a number of NESTS agents were sent. Operatives of various rank and file dispatched into the wartorn nation, sent to visit various old sites where Shadaloo bases were known to exist during the time the Cartel and the country siezing faction were allies. If Vega really does exist, Igniz wants to know. And if it doesn't, then perhaps there might be something left behind to benefit NESTS. Perhaps the dolls would be looking for a new master?
Kula wasn't left out of the mission. Though hardly a crack shot investigator, her innate NESTS training do still make her useful enough in the field for reconnoissance. And besides, she just might get lucky, right? Maybe it's acting only on vague memories of the times the two organizations were working toward mutual goals that brought Kula to the statue at point 48106. It was something different from the trees, streams, rocks, and plantlife she's been surrounded by during her treck through the humid environment, so it's hardly a surprise the auburn haired girl approaches the new sight with some curiosity.
A hand comes up to brush some of her long hair up out of her face and over her shoulder as she gazes at the stone monument. "It looks like a statue that's lost its museum," she muses out loud, stepping up to run her glove covered hand over the stone surface. In fact, she spends some time walking around in circles about the large object, even taking time to climb up on it a little. And that would have been the extent of it as she readies herself to leave if she hadn't remembered to check the scanning device dangling from a strap on her belt.
Drawing the device up to her, she flicks the side of it, refreshing the LCD display, only to blink as it indicates the proximity of electronics in the vicinity... Careful triangulation seems to point directly to the ground right at the base of the statue. This might be worth radioing in...
In spite of the illusion of all that vast, empty space, and the lush, green vegetation that covers it, there have always been those who knew better, or could see through the rouse. After the Thailand debacle, the number of unexpected visitors experienced a sharp increase, only to drop off again for whatever reason. Some reports say it's because there was nothing left worth writing home about. Others have said it was still too heavily guarded, but /those/ reports could never produce even a single photo or video capture of sort of guard or other military personnel posted at the site.
Regardless of any of that, however, it doesn't take very long after Kula looks down at that scanner before she's met with resistance. There's a dart of some kind fired from a trajectory that would place the shooter high atop the Buddha's head, and then there's a dark form faded into view from out of nowhere just in front of her, their face all but shadowed and with two glowing red eyes. The figure raises an index finger and waves it back and forth, clicking their tongue and making a 'tsktsk' sort of noise.
On closer expection, they're most definitely wearing the uniform of a Psycho Doll. This was still the home of the Dolls, after all. And of the psycho drive. It only makes sense that there would be at least one left behind to protect it at all times, doesn't it?
Oh, there's more than one, always. And with the hive stirred, there sometimes are two! Or more. But that is not what Kula gets.. she gets exactly.. two.
A hat pokes out of the ground as someone does a rather poor job of hiding themselves. Kula would see it rather easily before the wearer SPRINGS into action.. and another doll flips up and onto her feet, saluting Decapre!
And then she points to Kula.. and waves! "HIIIII! See it's nice you've seen us and all but do you think you could leave? I mean it'd be so bad if we have to fight you and then you or us get hurt.. and then if WE get hurt then I'll have to do more work and he'll be mad if I can't and .. Oh! Maybe if you just leave now we can avoid it!" The doll smiles happily and moves closer.
FOR NEFARIOUS PURPOSES.
Skipping, she does seem to be rather violent, dressed as a doll, with quite alot of heavy objects on her!.... But she's a medic. And those are nice aren't they!?
With the skills of a deadly fighter ingrained into her psyche, Kula looks harmless enough on the surface. A young girl, long, brown hair. Fairly lithe, she's in her mid-teens at the oldest. But when that dart flies, she steps to the side with what seems instinctual timing, avoiding being hit. But there's company, that much is clear, and the girl drops the scanner, letting it go back to dangling at her belt. Her right arm comes up in a defensive position in front of her as she hops back from the figure that appears so close in front of her.
"Shadaloo," Kula states matter of factly. The uniform is unmistakeable but her purpose perhaps not. "My fight is not with you... but I must investigate further. Please step aside." The NESTS agent is calm, violet eyes glancing back and forth quickly as if to make sure she isn't being surrounded by others like the shadow-concealed female in front of her.
"If you were left all alone here," she continues, "You don't have to stay alone. There's no reason to defend an empty base and I'm afraid I will have to use deadly force to get past you. So please," the girl continues, tightening her glove covered hand before waving it in front of her, "Step-" And that's when the second appears. What Kula had dismissed as merely debris in her first cursory scan turns out to be the hat belonging to a second. So there isn't just one after all.
The red-orange haired girl speaks up, her voice cheery, awfully loud in the jungle after so much quiet for so long. "Two..." Kula speaks, pointing out the obvious. "That doesn't change anything. I have been trained to contend with more than one opponent at a time..." She tightens her hands, her insulated leather gloves creaking as she does, and then she steps forward. A change comes over her, her auburn hair shimmering before becoming a light, icy sky blue. A glance is cast toward Aprile, a girlish smile crossing her lips, "You seem really nice. Hopefully you understand that by simply letting me finish here I won't be forced to hurt you both."
A step forward is taken toward the figure who first greeted her, the girl's eyes taking on a slightly red tint in contrast to her now blue locks of hair. In spite the stiffling heat, blue particles of icy chi swirl around her lightly. "I'm going to just move you aside," she states firmly, her hand snapping out in an attempt to grab Decapre tightly by the shoulder and do just that - if she gets a grip, she'll pull her forward by that surprisingly tight shoulder hold then shove her off to the side, adding force to the shove with the help of a small blast of ice into her back in hopes of knocking her over and making her point that she is in fact too dangerous to be triffled with!
COMBATSYS: Kula has started a fight here on the right meter side.
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Kula
COMBATSYS: Decapre has joined the fight here.
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Decapre 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kula
COMBATSYS: Decapre blocks Kula's Quick Throw.
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Decapre 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Kula
COMBATSYS: Aprile has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Aprile 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 0/-------/------=|
It's true, they work better in pairs. And thus, whenever possible, they do. But wasn't one or the other supposed to stay hidden until it looked like their partner needed backup? ...well, whatever. Decapre wasn't going to be cross with Aprile for it this time. She had this sinking feeling that they were both going to need all the help they could get with this one, just from looking at little Miss Diamond.
True, she didn't look like much on the surface, but Dolls, being infused with psycho power as they are, have a certain amount of empathy And basically, Kula has this massive aura about her that isn't exactly being concealed just because she hasn't turned down her internal... (or is it external?) temperature enough to freeze the air around her just yet. "No, I'm afraid that won't do. You're still not authorized to be here.
Now, the Masked Doll would really like to say more than that. Something more omnious and threatening, since terror is her specialty. But with Aprile here it doesn't seem like such a great idea. And anyway, the Anti-K' is soon trying to push her aside so she's got to deal with that before saying anything further. It kind of hurts. Especially the part with the ice.
"I must admit, that was somewhat unpleasant. But it doesn't change my mind at all. You must leave." the blonde states grimly, shrugging the cold off surprisingly fast and stepping right back into Kula's personal space before attempting to assault her with a quick flurry of axe kicks.
As Kula points out the obvious, and then goes on to smile at her, Aprile smiles back, nodding. "Oh I'm certain! Every good warrior has to learn to fight against more than one!" She comments, nodding happily. And then she notices her happiness. Oh! Goody!
"Oh .. I know!" Aprile's head bobs up and down in understanding as she stands nearby. "I understand compleeetely!" She exclaims, saluting to Kula. And then she watches as Kula simply walks by, the doll not making a motion to stop her as the blue particles of icy chi swirl.. and then goes to grab at Decapre before throwing her to the side. It seems she has quite a bit of control with such icy icy things! Aprile doesn't like to be cold, but she doesn't like making her master angry either!
So she must do what she must. And the nurse skips after Kula as she assaults her sister in arms, and doesn't immediately strike out. She might not, either, from all Kula might notice! But that's when Decapre goes on the offensive, Aprile tilting her head a bit as she notices .. oh! Kula's personal space is assaulted. And that's when Kula might have a .. .. sense.. of what's up!
"I'm really sorry but .. you just hurt someone I have to care for so..." The doll behind Kula leaps into motion, spinning around in the air, an outline of white and red as she suddenly thrusts at Kula, launching herself straight at the icy girly!
"I can't really let you doooo that! Okay? So I guess we'll have to fight! You REALLY shouldn't have done this~!"
COMBATSYS: Decapre successfully hits Kula with Heel Terror.
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Aprile 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Aprile successfully hits Kula with Peleative Care.
- Power hit! -
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Aprile 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 0/-------/-----==|
Things start to go wrong the instant Decapre proves to be harder to budge than Kula had expected. Her briefing on Shadaloo Doll capabilities could have been more fleshed out, but Vega had done well to keep their true potential hidden during the war, keeping them to behind the scenes activities that not even NESTS was fully privy to. Still, in her mind she had an idea of where they fit roughly, and this most definitely was not it. The twin-tailed blond comes back at her with a flurry of kicks and Kula is forced to try and retreat to avoid them.
Only she realizes too late that she's sandwiched by the two girls and in that moment of realization she finds herself being kicked hard, her shoulder banged, her stomach struck as she's just about driven to her knees by the force. It only gets worse when Aprile comes in swinging, smashing into her with an impact laced with red and white energy. One arm comes up, an attempt to defend herself, but she's too flustered by the first Doll's kicks to manage anything at all and in the end she's smashed to the ground, landing hard in the baked dirt, barely defended at all by the leather armor worn over her body suit.
Landing on her side, the girl draws herself up onto her elbow, red eyes fixing both of Vega's minions carefully before fixing on the shorter haired one. The nature of her energy has her pegged as the greater threat all of the sudden and so it is toward her that the ice weilding clone focuses her attention next. "Maybe you're not so nice," the girl mutters, kicking herself up to her feet then, spinning around once, a shimmer of aura unleashing immediately around her, decreasing the temperature in her immediate vicinity by a noticeable amount.
And then she's leaping toward Aprile, spinning in the air, one foot sticking out with the intent to strike the other girl. And the moment she lands, she'll follow up with a second kick, this one laced with that icy chi. She follows up by kicking straight up, unleashing with that final strike a significant surge of ice intending to blast Aprile back away from her.
Well, there are really two sides to using such a tactic. It's true that in using Seven Days for most of the Thailand dirtywork, Vega was able to conceal what may be one of his greatest trump cards, but in doing so he also deprived them of a lot of the kind of intel and combat experience that could not be otherwise gained. Basically, Aprile and Decapre here have no real idea what someone like Kula is capable, and they're left just winging it. This could be different if they'd met on the battlefield before, and on the same side. But it isn't.
"Hmph. You can't say we didn't warn you. But there won't be any turning back now..." Probably not for either party. And when Decapre sees how seriously Aprile takes things after seeing Kula attack her, the December Doll decides she ought to take returning the favor just as serious. She unsheathes the claws from one of her gauntlets and gives them a little flick with one finger, causing them to vibrate like a tuning fork as a curent of unseen psycho power is fed into them, causing them to ripple and buzz through the night air as their thrust toward the NESTS agent sometime after she lands, aiming low for the ankles and cutting quite a bit of the tall grass along the way.
COMBATSYS: Aprile interrupts Ray Spin from Kula with 10th Floor Transfer.
- Power hit! -
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Aprile 0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 0/-------/------=|
As Kula draws herself up, Aprile, having bounded off, is leaning over, looking down at the girl, and shaking her head at those bright red eyes. "Heehee.. Oh come on.. are you really hurt by that?" The doll asks of Kula, smiling wide. "At least give us a nice fight before we get rid of you for Masters sake." She exclaims.. only to have Kula kick upwards.. as well as bring up a very interesting point!
"Nope! You're right .. at least you catch on quick!" She says this before giggling, the smile still on her face. But then there is Kula, crashing through the air.. as the entirety of the area grows cold. Deadly cold, as it were.. a foot slams towards her as well, a freezing kick only followed by another.
But the doll never has plans for it to make it that far. "Ooh yes, come! Because.... you're going to go home crying~!" Aprile exclaims, spinning around, opposite to what Kula's spin is, after the first kick breaks through her defenses... it suddenly stops, and yanks Kula upwards, Aprile spinning upwards as well, the psycho energy, a trail of red and white drawing Kula upwards with it, a tingly, unpleasant sensation, before PUNTING Kula towards the ground with an eruption of it.
Landing on her feet.. not that worse for wear, the doll, leans forwards, ending as she started..
And of course, just smiles. "Little girl.. this isn't a place for youuuu."
COMBATSYS: Decapre successfully hits Kula with Rippling Razor.
Glancing Blow
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Aprile 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 0/-------/----===|
Her attempt to connect with an attack against Aprile is rebuffed frightfully well as Kula is knocked clean off her feet, up into the air by the rising, counter-spinning assault from Aprile before suddenly driven right back down to the ground, landing hard on her back with a pained gasp. But she isn't still for long, rolling backward without even taking time to catch her breath, leaving a strangely frozen patch of dirt behind her as she moves. Decapre's resonating energy slashes graze her leg, but her armored chaps manage to absorb a portion of the intended pain, leaving her ankles unharmed and letting her continue to try and put her speed to use as she comes out of her roll into a low crouch.
Red eyes widened a little as adrenaline floods her bloodstream, just as engineering intended for it to at times like this. She's got to deal with one of the two decisively so that she can focus on just one instead of being double teamed. Her gaze shifts back toward Decapre, her mouth pressed into a tight lipped, neutral expression, then back toward Aprile as she reminds her that this really isn't where she's supposed to be. They both weild that same kind of power Vega has at his disposal. If anything, it defines them. Of that she is certain now that she's seen it from both. That makes them both the same priority targets. But one must be the higher rank...
Decapre is the one she decides is the superior of the two. Reserved, more calculating, sinister without the blood chilling cheerful chatter that the other doll is utilizing... Her right hand clenches as she rises back up to her feet, a halo of sub-zero energy emanating out from it before congealing into a basketball sized sphere of solid ice around her hand.
When she darts forward next, it's as if skating over dry earth, feet slipping over the surface as she speeds in toward Decapre, drawing her right hand back. And then she swings her arm forward and the sphere suddenly morphs - as strong as steel but fluid as water under her control as Kula causes the side nearest Decapre to suddenly lance out as if a large spear aiming to skewer her straight through the chest with the sharply pointed ice.
COMBATSYS: Kula successfully hits Decapre with Critical Ice.
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Aprile 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 1/----===/=======|
Decapre is... not so fast. She doesn't have quite the same get-up-and-go as Aprile, which is kind of obvious, given her demeanor. How this applies here, well, it can be seen in the fact that, despite her best attempt at making a sneak attack, Kula is still able to get away with little more than a graze. This being the Masked Doll's favorite and most well-honed attack, that's not a real good sign.
And it would seem that this lack of speed is not limited merely to her offensive speed. It applies to her reaction speed as well. Scar tissue will sort of do that to a person. That, and all the frostbite, which was there long long before Kula got here!
"...!" Even just through the narrow eyeslits of her mask, the brainwashed blonde could see this was bad. So she made an attempt to dive out the way, even knowing the limits of her own speed. She felt she had to at least make the attempt, because there was just no way she could stop an attack like that. And she does get impaled the same way she was going to *anyway*, but the difference is that, since she's not guarding, she's at least free to stand there and try to grasp at the icy manifestation while hissing and narrowing her eyes at the ice princess.
COMBATSYS: Decapre focuses on her next action.
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Aprile 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 1/----===/=======|
Smiling. It is a potential state for Aprile which generally never leaves unless something really bothers her. She could be helping orphans ( unlikely ) to hurting the elderly ( likely ) and she'd smile all the way! But here, Kula makes a fatal mistake.. perhaps one that will cost her .. HER SOUL.
What is it? The medic bounces, waiting for the ice girl's assault! But it .. never .. comes?
Aprile's smile stays, even as she turns towards Decapre.. oh where oh where is she going.. and is she being ignored?! Aprile doesn't mind that at all, and skips a bit more, the grass giving way to her skipping as she moves forwards, noticing the halo of energy .. and the size sphere of ice .. ohhhh that's no good.
And then Kula simply skates away. "Wow.. that's pretty. You can skate? Oooh so cute!" Aprile comments, happily, as she suddenly watches as Kula .. is lanced with sharp ice. her eyes widen. "Oh THAT'S no good!" It's a happy smile still, which isn't hard to believe. But what Kula might notice is .. the doll moves nearby her sister in arms, sliding about Decapre a bit.
Sliding a bit about Decapre, the medic opens that medkit.. and then takes out a roll of gauze, wrapping it about the wound that has been so grievously inflicted.. and then cover it.
The drugs don't have such an effect under heavy bleeding as simply covering and treating the wound.
She skips from behind Decapre, and waves to Kula, winking. "Better not hurt her like that again. I'd really prefer if you .. didn't." She adds, a bit of a threat behind it. But nothing like Decapre's!
The intended skewering accomplished, Kula keeps the jagged spear in one piece for a long moment, red eyes fixing back on Decapre's mask. "Why do you hide your face?" the girl asks seemingly calmly as she stands there, arm extended, the steel-like ice lance piercing the other girl. "Is it something scary?" she muses, perhaps to herself, not expecting an actual answer. But then she springs into action, hopping back, the icy manifestation cracking into smaller pieces and falling to the ground where the chunks land and begin melting - some of them laced with the blood of the other girl.
She watches Aprile move over to tend to the other Doll and Kula looks confused for a moment. Combat medics are not exactly presence in NESTS ranks, and their training simulations on how to deal with such things are not quite as robust as a lot of her other combat training. "I can skate, in a manner of speaking," she admits quietly, referring to her trick of creating the small, localized ice patches for her to slip over when bursts of speed are needed.
"He." the girl states, perhaps finally hinting at the nature of her trip here. "Is 'he' alive?" There has been nothing but silence from the warlord's empire since the collapse of his efforts in Thailand. Has he just been recovering all this time?
Still, she suspects they aren't going to be forthcoming and that it's up to her to confirm things for herself. Aprile tells her to not her her partner again and Kula glances toward her. "I'm sorry that I am going to have to disappoint you in that regard." Closing her eyes, she draws an even larger flury of icy chi around her before drawing her hand up to her mouth, palm upward, fingers toward the girls. A quick intake of air is followed with a forced exhale as she breaths over her palm.
It may seem a harmless enough gesture at first, but that very air becomes laced with sharp ice sharpnel that whirls about with powerful force, the entire plume of frigid power blasting toward Decapre frighteningly fast.
COMBATSYS: Aprile successfully hits Decapre with Cut And Paste.
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Aprile 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 1/----===/=======|
COMBATSYS: Decapre slows Diamond Breath from Kula with Crimson Cascade.
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Aprile 0/-------/----===|=======\=------\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 1/--=====/=======|
Decapre gives something of a nod moments after Kula asks her about her face. Normally, she wouldn't care to answer, but seeing as Kula has been slinging around all this ice, the Doll feels like this is a special case! "It was... frozen off." she explains, saying it all dramatically like it's some big deal. Because for her, it really is. It makes life really difficult. But the drama doesn't end with just that! Because as soon as Kula allows the lance of ice to melt and fall to pieces, giving Aprile a chance to bandage her wounds, the December Doll leaves them on for all of about thirty seconds before reaching up to just *claw* them away. Sorry Aprile, but she had to do it. She just doesn't feel like the intruder is afraid of her yet. And when those bandages are ripped away and the wound is reopened? There's this sudden exaggerated spray of blood like everyone is watching some over-the-top horror movie.
The blood spurts just in time to meet the frosty shard-laced air that Kula blows at her, too, which logic would lead one to believe would freeze as well. But only a very small part of it does. Because it's not all liquid. More of it is energy, which weakens and disperses some of that ice before fading away. "Rrruaahhh! You won't kill me that way! Your heart isn't in it at all!"
The nurse pays close attention. OOh. She can skate! On ice, apparently. And sliding away from Decapre, Aprile puts some distance between her, before tilting her head at Kula and stopping. Is he alive.
Is that a trick question? The doll knows that if they don't know, then he isn't! But if she knows they know that they know or don't know then should she know or shouldn't she and ooooooh.
She almost had to sit down for a moment. "Who's he?" She exclaims, simply, and shrugs. "I don't know who he is!" She simply smiles back to Kula .. before Kula AGAIN assaults Decapre, a... that's what? She's BREATHING at her sister. Aprile blinks for a bit, the frigid icy power blowing right at Decapre.. and while that happens, is .. oh .. oh my.
But Aprile smiles, shaking her head as the spray of blood goes off, and then running straight at Kula.. springing off the ground and spinning in air, attempting to lead with a back hand .. right for Kula's mid body while she's busy!
"Hi again!"
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Aprile's Power Strike.
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Aprile 0/-------/----===|=======\=------\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 1/----===/=======|
As her icy breath is countered with a gout of... energy laced blood, Kula's red eyes blink twice, but for the moment she shows no sign of fear. She still has her ice mastery to draw upon and as long as that serves her, she'll remain confident. The power of the kicks, strikes, and psycho power she's taken has taken its toll, even if she doesn't look too injured on the surface. She doesn't have crimson blood sprays going anywhere, at least, even as she shakes her head to try and dismiss some of the latent energy still giving her a headache.
"Vega," Kula remarks, slipping back out of the way of Aprile's incoming spinning strikes, tucking her tummy backward just in time to avoid the combat nurse's knuckles, her other hand coming up to brush some of her long hair back out of her face as she slips backward, skating over the ground so that for a moment she keeps both of the dolls lined up. "He must like you a lot to call you all Dolls," the NESTS project observes. Maybe Igniz should call all his ladies Dolls too, she ponders.
But now Aprile has her attention and Kula fixes her with a solid stare now that she's the one in closer. "You care about your friend a lot," the girl remarks, "You should spend more time helping her or she's going to bleed." Especially since she seems intent on MAKING herself bleed. Her eyes dart toward Decapre for a moment. The youngest of the trio gathered doesn't seem quite shaking by the masked fighters words, though she does regard her thoughtfully, "Getting too cold is very dangerous. I tried to warn you two now..."
And then her focus is back on Aprile. In she darts, ducking low as she slides over the dirt before coming up in front of the nurse, her yellow gloved hand snapping out toward Aprile's neck. If she gets a grip, she'll introduce the girl to a world of hurt as a pulse of chi storms down her hand and directly into the face of the held girl before Kula will finally let go and slip back a little.
Decapre is probably more hurt by the girl's lack of being dismayed than anything her ice powers have done up to now. But it's not like anyone can see the way she pouts behind that black steel mask of hers. It's always got the same neutral expression. Neither smiling nor frowning. But if she could make it frown she'd probably make it do that more often than now anyway. It's just how she is.
As to the matter at hand... ah, it's probably not a good idea to take one's eyes off of her at a time like this. It seems like the next time Kula looks, the other Doll is gone from view., having left behind only a small flicker of red residual psi in the spot she occupied moments ago. And when she reappears, it's directly behind the Anti-K', and she seems to be making an attempt to backstab her at about kidney level with both wickedly-sharp sets of claws. "Even if you do get past us, I'll make sure you're in no shape to go more than a few steps...!"
COMBATSYS: Aprile fails to interrupt Medium Throw from Kula with Random Strike.
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Aprile 0/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 0/-------/------=|
!!! As Kula remarks the name, Aprile stops for a moment, the strike easily avoided anyhow thanks to Kula's rather amazing reflexes. As she stands there, a bit dumbfounded, Aprile .. blinks. "I never thought of it that way. I just thought Master called us dolls because he preferred to." But maybe he really did mean that were 'doll's, as in.. really nice young women!
She can believe that, she's insane. And brainwashed.
"Oh.. I couldn't do anything but care for her." She exclaims, as Kula stares at her.. and more time helping her? She'll try. As Kula tries to warn them once more, even darting towards her and grabbing for Aprile's neck.. the nurse tries something crafty again. The bag on her back is slid off, and as Kula darts, the heavy object is swung about once, Kula coming in and ..
Hrk.
That's all to be said. HRK. Hands grasp her neck as the bag in her hands hits the ground, a pulse of chi storming into her face and neck, jolting about for a slight bit before she slips from her grip, staggering back and onto the ground.
She stares upwards, blankly for a moment.. before pulling herself up, a slow, staggering to her feet. "G-gah..... Heehee.. s-so feisty!"
COMBATSYS: Kula blocks Decapre's Psycho Stalker.
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Aprile 0/-------/=======|=======\===----\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 0/-------/------=|
Unfortunately for Decapre, Kula doesn't spook easily. While she might not be brainwashed like the two Dolls of Vega, her mental tuning over the short years of her life has been very... careful to keep the fears one would expect in a girl with only a couple years of life experience in check. They can't have their Anti-K' running away at the first scary person she encounters... So to scare Kula, Decapre has a hard, uphill battle to fight, to be certain. Though as the outnumbered girl continues to try and contend with the two dolls, her senses begin to realize that she's in a lot of trouble if she falls here.
She glances toward the masked doll, then away to focus on Aprile, finally lunging in to get her gloved grip around the other girl's neck. It isn't a graceful attack. It's an assassin's attack - simple, but brutally effective. Aprile is shoved backward as soon as the burst of chi is unleashed into her directly, leaving her a little frosty around the face no doubt. Kula would have maintained the grip as long as she could to suffocate the other girl were it not for her partner appearing behind her.
With a surprised gasp, the girl whirls around on her toes just in time, her left hand leading, fingers splayed, a sheet of thick ice left in its wake. Her right hand comes up next as Decapre's claws pierce through the ice, only to stab directly into Kula's leather armored arm. They cut right through, for certain, provoking a wince on the face of the stoic girl, but the ice barrier and armor do their job in mitigating a lot of the intended damage... and at least her kidneys are fine for now!
Kula draws her arm back, blood pooling around the slashes in her leather jacket. But as the blood flows out it seems to freeze in place, solidifying almost instantly as it comes in contact with her skin. Some kind of wound mitigation was engineered into this little science project, it would seem.
"I have been taught well," Kula remarks. Diana and Foxy saw to that. Her right arm becomes encased in a crystaline gauntlet of sharp, jagged ice. "I must complete my mission..." she states as she steps forward without the sliding movements of before, drawing her hand back, the ice crackling as her limb moves. "... to find out if Vega yet lives." And then her hand slams forward, aiming to puncture directly into Decapre's torso not far from the same place that her ice lance from moments before did. Striking savagely... the look in her eyes suggests she feels not the slightest remorse.
COMBATSYS: Decapre blocks Kula's Fierce Punch.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Aprile 0/-------/=======|=======\===----\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 0/-------/----===|
Decapre certainly wasn't expecting a shield of ice. And even though it looks a lot like a pane of glass, it doesn't shatter or become gouged all that badly. And this is perhaps a little distracting for the unprepared Doll, as she seems to forget to twist her arm and really dig in with those claws even when she does pierce the frozen-haired teen's arm just enough to cause some damage. It's almost like she doesn't even realize until it's too late and they've been dislodged. Then of course comes the retaliation.
Lacking something as handy as instantaneous deflector shields, the girl formerly known as Natasha crosses her arms up and blocks with those rubbery gauntlets the Dolls wear, and the resulting impact is enough to make her arms feel pretty numb afterward, but at least she didn't get that ice-cast shattered against her stomach or something. That would've been ow. However, since her arms are so shaky after that it's kind of all she can do to try and lash out with one of them haphazardly, trying to cut the clone just any old place. "I don't care! You aren't supposed to be here!"
Cold cold cold. Especially as little snowflakes dot her face, and make it very VERY uncomfortable. But that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because Aprile is not very important in the scheme of things. Far from how important Cammy was before .. well, we don't talk about that. But frozen in the face with a bit of rosy cheeks, Aprile looks over to Kula.. who is apparently quick enough on her feet to be a problem for them. That's .. very very bad!
With Decapre's assault failing.. perhaps due to one reason or another, Aprile takes not of Kula carefully, eyeing the icy girl .. before she strikes out at Decapre again!? "Hang on! I'll help .. in a moment!" Which means Aprile probably can't help right now, as unfortunate as that may be to Decapre.
Instead, hanging, Aprile begins to glow, the frost falling off as a reddish glow spreads from the ground, before mostly whitish psycho energy surrounds it, pulsing as she spins once. "I just need a bit of time to prepare for the operation!"
Oooh.. Decapre is getting aaaaangry. Aprile better hang back unless she is to be cut too!
It could happen!
COMBATSYS: Aprile gathers her will.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Aprile 1/----===/=======|=======\===----\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 0/-------/----===|
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Decapre's Medium Strike.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Aprile 1/----===/=======|=======\===----\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 0/-------/----===|
Kula's defenses seem to be allowing her to hold out as she rapidly gets up to speed with fighting the likes of the two Shadaloo dolls. Her strong strike toward Decapre is met by the other girl's last second but very effective defenses, forcing Kula to draw her arm back, the ice around her arm shattering and falling to the ground like so much of the other ice shards she's brought to bear. Most have melted by now, leaving damp spots in the dirt.
Decapre takes another swing at her, but this one is a little shakier than her earlier strikes, and the swift child slips out of the way, ducking low and sliding backward to put a little distance between her and the blonde. "Are you the last two? There were so many before... maybe they all died..." the red-eyed girl ponders, switching her attention back over toward Aprile as the combat medic starts talking about an upcoming operation. That doesn't sound good at /all/.
Inhaling softly, she leans forward, covering the distance between her and the healing doll swiftly, her own hair trailing out behind her as she draws in near. "Whatever you were planning to do I must stop you." A leap into the air seems to indicate that she's going to try the attack that failed to work against Aprile earlier, but Kula drops down early, a small ice slick forming right where her feet and hands touch, allowing her to spin into a really swift crouch with almost no friction, a blur of motion as one foot swings out, aiming for Aprile's ankles - a swath of frigid energy trailing behind the limb as she tries to take the cheerful doll off her feet!
Decapre may've missed her mark that time, but at least she got Kula to back up a little. Her arms have got the whole pins-and-needles thing going on right now and she needs a little time to get the feeling back in them. And let's not forget she's still bleeding out all over herself from being stabbed through the chest, and that the wound, while hastily treated by her partner, was further aggravated by her own claws shortly after. But the how's and whys are really beside the point now. Suffice it to say, even someone as reckless as she is knows when they need to take a minute or two to pull themselves back together before rushing headfirst into an icestorm.
And so, she starts shaking her hands out and beating them against each other, being quite a bit more violent about all of it than is probably necessary and shaking her head at Aprile. "Don't waste your time with me. I can handle myself. Focus on making sure you don't get caught off guard like that again!" It's not really that she scolding her partner. She's just worried. And Kula's constant queries certainly aren't helping her manage her anger any.
"Last two? Don't be foolish. Why would *we* be the last?"
COMBATSYS: Decapre gains composure.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Aprile 1/----===/=======|=======\===----\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Aprile endures Kula's Medium Kick!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Aprile 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\====---\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 0/-------/-----==|
!! "No no they didn't die!" Aprile immediately pleads, as well as somewhat arguing, as she tries to push away such thoughts. "Ah ... I make sure to take care of them all!" She exclaims once more, somewhat angry that Kula would ever ASSUME that .. that.. THAT!
It just won't do at ALL.
And Kula finally faces her, to tell her she must be stopped. It's fine and dandy to Aprile that she be targeted, instead of Decapre, but as Kula comes in, a blur of motion with a foot leading, the doll.. leans towards the strike.
It's a risk, but Aprile attempts to simply weather the strike, the frozen leg, before grasping. The strike comes...and Aprile slams into it, crashing against the strike, rolling with it, despite the burning that goes with it. It hurts, and how.. but Aprile doesn't let it bother her as she follows through with the strike, grasping Kula's leg and rolling under at the end before..
"SPIN DRIVE SMASHER!"
Red psycho energy burns as she spins upwards, attempting to drag Kula into the white tinted, red energy psycho power filled spinning legs, and continue to drag her upwards, before attempting to flip around and slam Kula back to the ground with both feet.
Landing from the assault.. with Kula or not .. Aprile attempts to really ... DRILL the problem!
COMBATSYS: Kula blocks Aprile's Spin Drive Smasher.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Aprile 0/-------/=======|=======\=====--\1 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 0/-------/-----==|
Even with their annoyed retorts they're giving the seemingly naive girl tidbits of information. So while the dolls have been reluctant in answering the question about Vega's livlihood, they have revealed that there's more about than just the two. Maybe Shadaloo WASN'T so fractured in the end after all... Kula isn't that clever but she'll report back what she heard all the same. Let the labcoats back at the base make sense of it. But right now she /really/ needs to find out what these two are so determined to guard from her.
Decapre calls after her, telling her to not be foolish, but in that moment Kula is sweeping into Aprile. She can feel the angrier vibes coming off the other girl. It seems she hit a nerve but she really doesn't know why. No time to apologize though, she's trying to sweep her to the ground! But Aprile isn't to be taken down so easily, it seems, the Shadaloo doll rolling with the painful kick and blast of chi into an /immediate/ retaliation. Her leg is caught as Kula tries to rise back up to standing and take control over her positioning once more...
Only to find herself unable to slip away. In comes the nurse with a powerful surge, her entire body infused with red and white psycho power. With a panic, Kula waves her hand out in front of her, creating another one fo those icy barriers to protect herself. Aprile smashes through them as the girl brings her right hand up again, her leather jacket scorching around the points of impact as she's driven back hard by the force the doll brings to bear. Shadaloo makes them /tough/ it seems.
Her barriers are gone but Kula remains standing as she slips away, the ice falling to the ground into a steaming puddle, red eyes gazing back at Aprile as the blonde one catches a breather nearby. Well, she can't be having the masked one getting stronger again. While she hasn't been spooked by her exactly, she isn't taking her lightly either. It's time... to take a big risk in energy expenditure. "You forced me into this..." comes the warning as at last the temperature around Kula plummets drastically.
The surge of chi would be impossible to miss, especially for anyone trained to spot it, as Kula raises her arms up over her head slowly, clasping them together tightly as she draws a tremendous amount of power around her. A localized flurry of snowflakes starts out innocuous enough, but begins to build. A pillar of concentrated, freezing ice swirls up around her next, nearly blocking Kula from sight for a moment with the miracle storm in the middle of a hot jungle.
And then it comes, the girl lowering her arms then pushing her hands out toward Decapre. "FREEZE!" she exclaims, the first time she's raised her voice the entire encounter. And in that instant all of that built up power around the girl blasts away from her, blowing her hair out backward as it rushes toward Decapre with the intent of entombing her within a cocoon of thick, painful ice that will crush and squeeze before finally exploding into a whirlwind of ice shrapnel and crystal shards flying in every direction with the targeted doll at the heart of it all. This is no longer a skirmish, it has taken on the nature of an execution.
COMBATSYS: Decapre blocks Kula's Freeze Execution.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Aprile 0/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 0/-------/--=====|
Well, one never knows. The Dolls might both be telling a lie. The kind of lie one tells to save face, or... to deny a harsh reality. They both responded pretty negatively, didn't they? It's something to consider, whether Kula realizes it yet herself or leaves it up to whomever she reports all of this too. Assuming she makes it out of here okay and everything. Which, seeing as she just fended off what can be considered one of the most powerful techniques these girls have at their disposal, is still looking like a possibility.
"Those shields again... That's bothersome. But they can't really be that strong.. They look so thin and fragile.." Like Kula herself! But again, that's something beside the point. Natasha may want to break the leather-clad girl too, but the shields come first. So, she's all ready to rush in and go crazy with another series of axe kicks like the ones she punished the Anti-K' with earlier on, but in mid-step, she's told to freeze! It's not that she takes this as a command, but it does cause her to give some pause and sort of blink those glowing eyes of hers. Why does it feel like this girl is pointing a gun at her when she's clearly not holding a weapon? She's got all of this icy chi that chills a person to the bone, sure, but could she really kill someone in an instant with it, the way a bullet can?
"You... WHAT ARE YOU?" the masked blonde ultimately shouts, stopping cold and raising her arms and putting her elbows up as she clutches her head the same as someone caught in a storm. Oh no she can't lose her hat...!!
But she gets completely iced over from the looks of things, so her hat is going to be staying, frozen to her head along with her arms. Or so it seems for one tense moment. Decapre goes quiet, and she's not moving, and--- Then there's this loud crack and a huge gout of blood comes spewing out! Only it's not blood, it's just angry red energy, and it's lashing out toward Kula like it's somehow still being controlled.
Oh no! The icy girl was able to see it coming just in time.
Aprile stares on, looking at Kula as the air around her begins to .. woah it sure got cold. Chilly and then some, Aprile shivers a bit. She can see her breath too! And looking at that, a localized flurry of snowflakes comes as well, freezing ice swirling .. and ..
Suddenly, there's an ice storm. An ice storm that is night impossible to have been created just .. IS CREATED. What madness could this possibly be!? There's nothing that could happen in time for Aprile to think, however, and when Decapre is under assault, Aprile attempts to help her.
"No! Don't you DARE HURT H-" And that's when 'hey idiot, there's ice!' finally notes in Aprile's mind, but only as she tries to slow down, instead getting an unfortunate unstop. It would make her happy, nothing happier than to just serve Master and defeat this icy woman! But there is no defeat, for her sight is denied Kula, and her footsteps lose ground, instead, Aprile skidding along in the ice storm, hitting an uneven part of the land.
She's not hurt, but to actually assault Kula? That's somewhat out of it this time.
Pulling herself to her feet, the nurse is shivering, and she can do enough self analysis to know that as her body jerks this way and that in an attempt to warm itself up, it messes with her attempt to stay undefeated, and unfrozen.
"Y-You s-s-stay away!" She exclaims again, before trying once again to get to Kula.
But she already costed some time!
COMBATSYS: Aprile takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Aprile 0/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\ <
Decapre 0/-------/----===|
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Decapre's Crimson Cascade.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Aprile 0/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\ <
Decapre 0/-------/---====|
Decapre comments on the small barriers Kula has been creating with her very precise control over ice... only to then be introduced to a technique that is /far/ from controlled and precise. The ice weilding clone lowers her arms slowly as she sees the blonde being entombed, the rest of the furious storm dying down. Well, that's one threat dealt with, she begins to believe, glancing to the side to observe the motions of the shorter haired medic. Red eyes blink slowly as she watches her struggle against the thick snow drifts left in the wake of the localized storm.
The hot jungle begins to melt the worst of it, but that leaves the question of what happened to the girl caught within the worst of it? "I'm sorry," Kula remarks in Aprile's direction. "I didn't have a choice," she states calmly, the slightest hint of regret carried by her voice. Slowly, the girl turns to walk easily through the melting snow back toward the statue. As she moves, she speaks toward Aprile idly, offering a bit of advice, "If you get to her quickly, you might be able to save-"
And then a crack parts in the frozen sarcophagus; a surge of red, furious energy ripping through the air toward her. The girl whirls around, waving another one of those pesky barriers into existence to catch the worst of the potent force, using the split second her gesture bought her to slip to the side and avoid the rest of it that gets through, obliterating the barrier in the process.
So, it seems the masked one is going to live to remember this exposure to extreme temperatures, just like she survived the incident that marred her face for life. Unfortunately, this revelation kicks Kula back into full combat mode. These two girls haven't enjoyed enough /ice/ yet. Her eyes snap to Aprile first, her combat tactics determining that the still mobile, if somewhat inconvenienced nurse, is the threat to eliminate immediately.
The decision made, Kula leans forward into a speedy charge toward the red-orange haired girl, traversing the ice as if it wasn't slowing her down in the slightest. Her hands are raised, both of them manifesting a large halo of chi on the verge of becoming ice. Both hands slam out for the Shadaloo doll, "My mission parameters do not allow for any further interference from you," she states quietly. And if she should get that physical contact she seeks... Aprile will find herself suddenyly encased in a what is essentially a tomb of transparent ice, unable to move. The floating chamber will hold for several seconds, Kula's arms trembling as she holds her hands out, focusing everything she has into maintaining it as long as she can... Until in the end she'll close her hands and the ice will explode, releasing Aprile in the end. But by then it might be too late?
Oh god, the memories. It hurt so bad. And not just in body, but in mind. They weren't *clear* memories of the pain she had to endure as a child, but it probably hurt even more for them try to rise back to the surface when they were still this unclear. And especially with the added brainfreeze. "Uuuaggh!"
And she still couldn't get out. The doll could move her head a little inside the ice, just enough to smash her mask against her icy coffin, but that crack seemed about the best she could do without letting a bit more of it melt. Her arms were completely useless. She couldn't even feel the way her own head was smacking into them. But hey, at least they haven't shattered and fallen off yet!
"A- Aprile... " the Decapre calls out, watching as if through some frosted glass window that she's unable to break. Yet.
COMBATSYS: Decapre focuses on her next action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Aprile 0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 0/-------/----===|
COMBATSYS: Aprile interrupts Ice Coffin from Kula with Pathology Consult.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////// ]
Aprile 0/-------/=======|=------\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 0/-------/----===|
"Oh no, I don't care if you had a choice or not! You DID have a choice and that was to just lay down and die or go away, so don't give me any of that didn't have a choice stuff!" Aprile responds, shaking her head, even while smiling. It looks contradictory, perhaps. "Because you see I'm just going to .." And then HEY look at that, Decapre is fine! Or, well, sort of fine! If you call that fine. "Oh good she's okay! Are you okay?" She asks of Decapre, and Kula slips to the side. Really slippery, she is!
but then, just then, Kula chooses Aprile once more. Aprile turns towards Kula, blinking a bit, before the speedy charge is actually noted. "OH. Am I next?" She exclaims sweetly, before turning to the rushing Kula. As she rushes in, energy manifesting a large halo of chi, the doll is glowing already, a shell of psycho energy about her, the ice melting a bit as it comes into contact with it, warming things up slightly, and crashing against the hands.. meanwhile, the miniature swell also is used offensively. As Kula slams straight towards Aprile, to grasp her, that shell-ish sphere of psycho energy suddenly pulses...
Psycho energy flows about her, spreading out .. but will Kula already grab her and put a cold stop to her, or will be singed by the energy!?
She hears the words. "Don't worry.. I'll be r-right there Decapre!" But then the hand comes!!!
And thankfully, while the hand lays on, the tomb encases her.. thankfully!? Well as the hand encases her in that frozen tundra of icicles, Aprile is able to suddenly erupt that psycho energy she was surrounding herself with, breaking through Kula's assault, even if the nurse ends up somewhat frozen, like a popsicle. "Hah... T-Thank you!" She explains, cheerfully, to Kula. "N-Now I'm a-all s-set!" She says, smiling bright, and saluting, albeit moving jerkily as she staggers backwards, the ice exploding with Aprile.. even if it's not all as heavy as Kula set it out to be.
Tossed to the ground, nearby Decapre, Aprile steps up. "A-Ah... g-good you're okay! B-But soon y-you'll b-be all better!"
And about to collapse, she's .. probably unable to fulfill what she had hoped for.. but it's a chance!
That didn't work out as she had hoped. Just before she reaches out to grab a hold of Aprile, the sound of the other doll reaches her ears. Her mind determines, without looking, that she hasn't freed herself from the icy cage yet, which means she still has some more time in which to deal with Aprile. She just has to catch her within the ice, then...
She notices the pulse of energy, but she isn't sure what to make of it, convinced that it's too late to save the combat medic from the transparent coffin she's about to make for her to put her to rest, perhaps forever. "Don't speak to me about choices," the girl murmurs quietly to the doll behind the ice. "I-"
She doesn't get to finish as the pulse blasts out, smacking into her and driving her back a little as Aprile goes to land over by Decapre. A little winded now, Kula glances toward the two girls. If Aprile is able to help Decapre out of the ice prison, then she has two angry dolls again. And the way that nurse was just talking a moment ago, that... doesn't bode well for her at all.
Kula hangs back for the moment, the ice and snow all around starting to melt more rapidly, dampening the ground and turning dirt to mud. Her right hand comes up to rest against her ear, turning on a communications device hidden there. "I found something... two very skilled Shadaloo operatives on site... what do I have clearance for?"
She's silent for a moment, red tinted eyes staying focused on the two girls, giving Aprile the time she needs, but also buying herself a brief reprieve. "Understood," the girl remarks, lowering her hand from her ear. Three steps to the side take her to a rapidly melting drift and it there that she crouches down, driving her insulated glove into it. The snow seems to shift, reshaping into solid ice along her arm, until finally it disappears into her limb all together, giving her a small surge of strength, replenishing a little of the power she exhausted in trying to defeat the two girls.
COMBATSYS: Kula gains composure.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Aprile 1/-------/=======|-------\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 0/-------/----===|
Well, it takes a while, but Decapre gets her arms free. By headbutting them once they've thawed enough. A lot of good that does for her, though, because she still can't move them. They just hang lifelessly at her sides, not even seeming to shiver the way the rest of her does. % "Grr... I should've aimed for the communicator to begin with. Not that device she was holding." the masked girl mutters under her breath, stomping a foot to knock away yet more ice, and then finally looking over to Aprile. "I'm not going to lie, I'm in bad shape. I can't even make a fist. But we... we can't stop attacking, alright?"
But even saying that, what can she do? Try to get her other leg free and try to go all Tae-Kwon-Do? Use nothing but kicks for the rest of the fight? Nah, that doesn't seem like her style. So she goes for something even more ridiculous, and tilts her head down enough to bite into the sweater-like material of her uniform, right about where one bicep is, and tugs up on it, jerking her arm up until it points out straight at the Anti-K'. There's then this loud *twang* sound like someone just fired a crossbow bolt, as one of her fingers manages to move enough to pull the trigger in her glove, firing off each claw like a steel dart.
With Decapre so wounded, Aprile is somewhat sad.. but her gamble pays off, and Kula is forced to retreat for the moment! Staggering uneasily to her feet, Aprile waves to Kula and nods. "Mhmmm! ... hey are you making yourself feel better?" She asks to Kula, going to shake her head.. but there's no point to that! "Ooh.. that's a REALLY good idea miss." Aprile is a bit smarter than she comes out looking, but then, the medics never do have the evil streaks on the outside where everyone can see. Why, if she wore a necklace of skulls for every man woman and child she killed, then she'd be a witch doctor! And then she'd have to be a witch.
And witches. They're just .. so witchy!
On her feet once again, she brushes off some of the ice on her clothing, and that doesn't even begin to account for the blood that was spilled due to the explosion of icy particles, some of them rather sharp! She's rather red for a medic, red and blue instead of red and white though! But sometimes you just have to make sacrifices! And today, it's her well being as she moves forwards, towards Decapre. As Decapre explains it, Aprile nods, grinning. "Mhhhmmm... We WON'T stop attacking. That's right! And now you'll feel SO. MUCH. BETTER!"
And raising her hands up, the psycho energy that she stored up erupts towards Decapre!... And then the red and white energy begins to form, a cross under Decapre before the circle of white begins to slowly seep upwards, vanishing into the sky as the red cross spins faster..
And oddly enough, erase some wounds from the doll, replacing the flesh, blood and such, and renewing her with Master Vega's Psycho energy!
COMBATSYS: Kula dodges Decapre's Thrown Object.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Aprile 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 0/-------/----===|
The clawed girl remains stuck in place. Kula didn't expect her to even be all that /alive/ after the assault she weathered, but now she's starting to find a newfound respect for the durability of the Shadaloo doll. The girl knows nothing of the history of Vega's prized dolls. That they were once free girls, with their own lives, wills, and destinies. She barely knows anything of such things, as her own life started with NESTS and has never changed since.
As she watches Aprile move to her friends aid, she nods slightly with regards to the question about what she was doing reabsorbing some of the ice to give herself strength. She can tell that even though both girls are dedicated to their cause, they also seem to care for each other to a degree. Friends, perhaps? Kula ponders the similarities to the connections she has at NESTS. Maybe if she saw Candy in a similar situation as Decapre, she would be distressed likewise.
Aprile is going to rejuvinate Decapre. Kula can see that. If successful, she's back to two problems all over again. Red eyes blink slowly as she takes in the situation, letting her combat instincts lead the way as she goes after Aprile once again. The claw comes flying out her way, completely by surprise actually, forcing Kula into an evasive spin at the last moment. The first one slips through her long hair, taking some strands with it; the second one glancing off the sleeve of her jacket at an angle that leaves it unable to draw blood.
In darts the girl, going after Aprile one more time, "I know you are doing your best... but it's time for you to stop," she states cooly, drawing her hand back, the surface of her limb encased in jagged, transparent ice. And then the gloved fist drives forward for Aprile's chest, attempting to spear her with the sharp guantlet. If she can force her to quit fighting, it's just her and the poor refrozen blonde left...
COMBATSYS: Aprile successfully hits Decapre with Coffin Dodger.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Aprile 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 0/-------/----===|
But she doesn't. She doesn't feel better at all. Don't ask her why. Maybe it's because she just lost a nice shiny set of claws for NOTHING. Kula didn't even get knicked by a single one. Or maybe, Aprile was too tired for this sort of thing? No, there was no way Aprile could blame her sister. She'd seen her heal the others with so much greater success even when she looked completely exhausted.
"I'm... sorry. I'm too messed up. There's nothing more you can do. But don't worry. I don't die easy. And it's as I told you. This girl's heart isn't really in killing. Not like mine. I can see it in her eyes. And we... DON'T STOP!"
Shaking violently, the December Doll slogs off yet more melting frost and breaks into a run, raising a leg up when she feels she's within range and trying as hard as she possibly can to bring her boot down on the clone's head. Repeatedly. It's a wild attack, like most of what she does, with her rapid kicks looking like they have little direction to them, but hopefully that makes it more difficult to avoid.
COMBATSYS: Aprile fails to interrupt Medium Punch from Kula with Peleative Care.
[ \\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Aprile 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kula
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Aprile can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Decapre 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Kula
Kula must interrupt Aprile half way, because the work is just not done. And because Decapre just doesn't accept it .. a blow to her, perhaps. As Kula darts towards Aprile, she watches the limb in jagged ice, fly towards her chest, attempting to spear her. Aprile isn't strong enough to resist it. But she knows, if she's going to go down, it will be fighting.
Her failure at helping her sister is painful, truly, but there is little she can do now. With most of her energy into that, Aprile's chances of weathering the assault are minute, really, and so she goes with the best choice.
Which is throwing herself at Kula.
And then she tries to strike at Kula, but unfortunately, the spear of ice was coming at her. And it comes rather quickly towards her. And rather strong. And it spears her in the middle, actually going through her to a point where the blood is rather thick on the ice. She looks down at the blade and tilts her head. "I'm sorry Master.. I guess it wasn't enough."
And then she collapses forwards, wounded, perhaps to a point she won't be able to come back from easily herself.
It's simple, though. The medic certainly isn't getting back up, especially not from a wound like that.
COMBATSYS: Kula fails to interrupt Heel Terror from Decapre with Behind Slash.
- Power fail! -
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Decapre 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Kula
COMBATSYS: Kula can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Decapre 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Decapre has ended the fight here.
Aprile is dealt with, Kula's spearing fist drawing blood from the determined nurse even in the midst of trying to get a strike against the challenging NESTS project. The blue haired girl draws her hand back, the ice coated with red, before she shakes her limb and sheds the entire guantlet to the ground, along with the red tainted ice. One down, Kula's thoughts run. The girl is hurt, she can tell, but then again so is she. She's used so much strength, taken so many hits. Bruised, pained, and trying to fight back a very distracting headache left in the wake of so many attacks drilling directly into her psyche from the two girls, she knows she isn't going to be staying around at all anyway.
Now... just to deal with the girl that has finally broken free of the ice tomb that could have been her frozen grave were she made of less tough stuff. She's decided to come at Kula with kicks, and hell if that doesn't end up working quite well. Winded, the ice weilder spins toward Decapre, right hand raising up, devoid of ice as she slams it out, palm forward, attempting to halt the other's attack long enough to follow it up with another painful ice spear.
But her aim is off, the girl's gloved hand slamming out into empty air, resulting in her stumbling forward due to not connecting with anything at all. A gasp of surprise escapes her lips before the heel comes cracking down atop her head, driving the girl down a little from the first hit. The additional strikes only make it worse, finally forcing Kula to her hands and knees, the headache she already had made only all the worse by the bashing she's getting.
She tries to force herself back to standing, arms trembling, thinking that if she can just lash out one more time, she can keep the masked girl from hurting her any further, but she just doesn't have it in her. "W-wait," the youngest agent protests, sinking to a kneeling position, bringing her hands up and folding them over her head, clearly feeling further strikes. Decapre may be lacking her claws, but she's still a threat in every sense of the word.
She better start talking fast, which fortunately she received the authorization to do so when she radioed in. "I'm with NESTS! I was sent to determine if Shadaloo still existed as a cartel significant to renew ties with..." Yeah, it would've helped to say that up front, but she hadn't gotten authorization at that point!
As intuitive as Kula seems, you'd think she'd know better than to do something like that, right in front of Decapre. For the psychotic, brainwashed teen, Aprile just became a martyr. Whether she's actually dead or not doesn't really matter. Even just the *thought* that this unknown agent may have killed her is making her blood boil. And it shows in the way her eyes start to glow brighter beneath her mask, and the fact that she's finally able to make a fist and raise it enough to bring it back like she's going to punch the girl. It's pure adrenaline that's allowing her to do it at all though, and she knows that.
"...NESTS?" Man, it would be nice to be able to just call the doctor up right now and ask him what to do. But sadly, she'd need Marz here to get a signal out that far. "You should be aware that means little to me. You were still spying. Something you just now admitted to. But I won't kill you, I suppose. If you're finally through asking questions? I need to check on my partner..."
Her world is pain. Laying on her back, Aprile doesn't seem to notice it though, staring upwards, body cold. So very cold. But mainly due to Kula's icy enhancements. It doesn't immediately register to the doll what is going on, her bag already having been discarded, as well as her medkit, after being struck a few times. She can't focus either, what with blood dripping out the hole in her back that is slowly slowly closing.
Still wearing the blank mask of a smile up to the sky, the clouds drifting by, Aprile doesn't react immediately when Kula falls. She doesn't react either when Decapre mentions to check on her partner, but when Decapre goes on to check on her, she's breathing, even if she looks somewhat bad.
".. NESTS? ....." Maybe she realizes it? It's a labored breath, but Aprile speaks again. "I am unsure what a bird organization ..... has to do ... with Shadaloo." She finishes, still laying back on the ground.
"I feel fine .. except there's a little hole .. from making me whole." She moves her limbs a bit, testing.
Of course there's the panicked concern that it doesn't matter what she says now. She had hoped to subdue both of the girls and then hash this out when they were no longer in any condition to threaten her, but Decapre outlasted her in the end, leaving her at the dangerous blonde's mercy for the moment, if she has any to begin with.
Decpare draws her hand back, but in the end appears to relent, for the moment. As she says she isn't going to kill her, Kula exhales softly, the last of her combat strength leaving her, her hair returning to its natural auburn color, her eyes losing their redish tint. All around her the ice has nearly completely melted as the girl no longer has the power to sustain any of it. "Nn," she nods as Decapre says she's going to check on her partner.
The piercing punch that felled Aprile isn't going to be fatal, Kula's rather certain. She knows how to strike with an assassin's intent to kill, and that particular hit wasn't one. Still, she did do a number on the two girls, and it goes without saying that they have every right to be rather, ah, angry about that.
"I did't know at first for certain who you were... and by the time I did know, I didn't have a break to ask for clearance to speak about NESTS." She glances to the side, her head still mostly bowed, her hands now in her lap instead of protecting the top of her head from further abuse, "We knew the locations to check... roughly, from when our Cartel came to your aid last year. That's how I came to be here."
Aprile speaks up, proving that she's, well, alive at least, even if she doesn't seem completely coherent. Violet eyes glance back and forth between the two dolls, wondering at their attention for each other. Is that what having a sister is like? That concern about each other's well being? "I had hoped to confirm if Lord Vega had indeed resurfaced, but..." she half closes her eyes, "If that isn't to be known for now, there's nothing I can do about it."
Decapre offers a hand to Aprile after making her way over. The one that's missing its claws, while the other one, she places on her mask in something of a facepalm. "It's got nothing to do with birds. They're the people Lord Vega called to help him take over Thailand." But she doesn't have much more to say about it to her friend than that. She doesn't know an awful lot more. And anyway it's more fun to speak to Kula now that they've got her pretty much where they want her.
"Fine, fine. We can accept that. We're in the same sort of situation. We can't tell you certain things without express permission, and the doctor isn't here today. In other words, I can't tell you the Master's *status*, but I can tell you that if he were not alive, neither should we be."
Saying that, the masked girl is just about ready to throw the Anti-K' as far away from the elevator as she can get her, so that she can get Aprile onto it, and underground in a hurry. But she can't help but stop to ask, "How did you arrive here in the first place? Knowing where it is is one thing..."
So is that how it is? Aprile can only somewhat make things out, still, from the wounds, still staring upwards as Kula explains it all. The doll doesn't respond as it comes to her, but she can somewhat realize what what is being said, and what is being done, after it all. It's really quite eye opening.
If it wasn't hard to keep her eyes open, that is.
The hand, however, is taken, and Aprile limps onto her feet, looking to Decapre. "Watch it .. you're hurt." The medic immediately stares out, as if it matters, as she goes to the door with her
Kula listens to Decapre trying to explain NESTS to Aprile. It's interesting to her to see the girl with so much knowledge about tending to the wounds of her comrade isn't so informed about the affairs of Shadaloo or its alliances. Unless... Unless she's a new aquisition? Maybe she wasn't even a Doll last year. The violet eyed girl blinks quietly at the thought. She can relate, after all, since everything she remembers starts only a little over a couple years ago.
The masked blonde speaks up again, and at least it sounds like she's not going to kill her, and Aprile probably isn't in the condition to /try/... It looks like Kula is going to make it out of this close call in the end. "Planes, jeeps, helicopters... there's a lot of us here in Thailand this week. But I believe when I report back, we will leave, until Lord Vega expresses... an interest in our support in the future."
She pushes herself to standing slowly, looking over her scuffed up jacket, her mud caked pants, and her generally messy condition... All in a day's work, she supposes. She made careful note of Decapre's most critical statmeent, however. If Vega was dead, so would the dolls so tightly connected to his power. That is... answer enough. Kula watches the two girls helping each other out for a moment, knowing full well that in order to stop her from leaving, Decapre would have to abandon Aprile. And she doesn't look about to do that.
Which is why it is that with no further ado, the long haired teen lifts a gloved hand and waves it, "You two are strong, and your loyality inspiring. I am sorry for any problems I caused." And with that, she turns and begins to make her way in the opposite direction, her hand coming up to rest against the side of her head. She's got a killer headache for her trouble now!
Log created on 23:11:03 05/14/2008 by Kula, and last modified on 15:19:10 05/21/2008.