"Oi, Sid. This is bad! At this rate, this city is done for!" The brown haired girl shouted to the blond haired boy after a spike of rock erupted from beneath the feet of some of the soldiers occupying the mansion. Everyone had gotten out safe at this point, but the pair had become surrounded just as they intended to leave. There was something wrong with this men, and the light of the tower brought out the consistency with them all as the glow reflected off their faces. They were mechanical.
Sid bit his upper lip before striking down another "soldier" with his large scythe. "Unfortunately, we underestimated Exeri's influence up here." Nothing was going according to plan. "Kay, go protect the home I told you about earlier, and make sure you keep an eye out for Little-Miss-Leader. She should be snapping out of it soon, if she hasn't already."
---
"Great, I'm being comforted by a furball..." Soren murmured to himself as Natalija's rabbit... thingy appeared. His displeasure at this fact was quickly turned to displeasure as Pethalamine began to yell, quickly dragging Natalija back into the fray. Luckily, he wasn't brought up once in their little fits, somehow managing to avoid the conversation despite his multiple attempts to interject. He couldn't help but feel sorry for Dimitri, as he recognized that power wasn't always easy to control and it wasn't totally his fault that he lost control. But... wasn't the conversation getting a little off track? End of the world, anybody? Not until Natalija finally stormed off did he come to realize the problem with the results of the conflict. "OI! GET BACK HERE WITH MY BODY!" His new found panic was quick to redirect itself Pethalamine, whom was the spark that ignited the issue. "DID YOU HAVE TO START YELLING
NOW?! EVEN AFTER WHAT MIKI JUST SAID, YOU DECIDED
NOW WAS THE TIME TO START AN INTERNAL CONFLICT!? YOU-" His hands quickly shot up to his head as he was overtaken by a wave of pain.
His eyes closed instinctively, and when they reopened he was not where he had been standing before. He glanced around as the pain subsided, and realized that the rest of the group had disappeared. That, or he had moved away from the group. He could tell from the scenery and the fact that his Uncle was still in the sky that he hadn't traveled too far - maybe a block or two - and had he grown taller? YES. YES. YES HE HAD. A quick examination revealed that he had regained his own body... even though it was still dressed in the tuxedo from earlier.
Darkness formed a loop around his right shoulder as his hoop materialized from the dissipating darkness, and he glanced up at the sky. He could fight again.
---
"You're not Ailia..." Reid finally concluded after several minutes of combat with the blond haired women. Ailia was never the type of girl to do what she had been doing - he believed that with all his heart - not to mention, this person was making a crucial mistake that gave away her identity, or lack thereof. "Ailia holds a gun with her left hand since she's left handed, but you're using your right hand!" His breaths had begun to draw themselves out, as the pain from the bullet wounds came in full force. It wouldn't be much longer before he lost consciousness. There was also the issue of that tower, but he had no choice but to entrust that to everyone else.
The woman grinned maniacally, her form dissolving into darkness, which revealed the form of a young girl. More like, a young demon. She had no wings, and he could sense no mahstion radiating off her body, so just how the hell was she staying afloat? And the maniac gaze she gave made her look like she had just stepped out of an asylum after only twenty minutes of treatment - and the extra large, white straight jacket she was wearing didn't help any (even considering it was way too large for her and hung off her arms). Her fire-red locks, shoulder length, blew wildly in the wind. "FINALLY~~~~~ I don't have to worry about maintaining that fleshy form
ANYMORE. Five years in a body you're not used to causes havoc on your mind, y'know. 'Specially if you're just simulated life like m'self." Reid's eyes narrowed. Simulated life? What the hell was she, then? She was an enemy, and that was all he needed to know for now, anyways. "Guessin' that tower," she jerked her thumb - at least, Reid though so, he couldn't tell since it was buried in the sleeve - at the structure behind her, "can't be operatin' until I get what I'm s'posed to, seein' as it's operated on that thing's energy. So, yer Ophelian Core, please?"
Reid wasn't given time to react as the girl held out her hands, a dark red ray of light erupting from beneath the sleeves and striking the man square in the center of the chest. It penetrated and flesh, and Reid keeled over in the air, barely managing to stay in flight as the light began to tear something, what he knew was his Ophelia's Core, from within his soul. As the tiny white orb, no larger than a marble, was drawn towards the girl, it began to glow the same ominous colour as the black tower in the backdrop, which was quick to began shaking, until a high pitched ringing was suddenly emitted, shaking the city of Meredy.
---
"Miss? Who are you?" Rosalynne made an inquiry to the brown haired girl who had barged into her home only moments before. Kayleigh didn't give a response. There wasn't time as the ground began to shake and the ringing noise filled the air. She acted quickly, throwing a small ball at the ground which began to emit it's own ringing for a second, before a dome of what seemed to be lionus erupted, seeping outside and forming a barrier around the Davies home. Outside of the protected dome, through the window, Kayleigh watch as people grabbed for their chests in pain, before dying almost instantly after. She covered the young girl's eyes, not wanting the child to witness to eradication of the city she was born and raised in.
They had been too late after all.
---
Meanwhile, Miki had established a barrier of her own around her group, with many other white domes of lionus being seen of in the near distance - probably the surviving party guests being protected by other agents of her unit. People began to drop like flies outside, some desperately crawling towards to sphere with the last of their lives. The fact that she couldn't save everyone was just overwhelming to the once emotionless girl, and the girl began to cry as the rest of her memory returned.
---
"W-what's going on!?" Lyrum exclaimed, the ringing still loud where they were. Thankfully, they had come to a place close enough to the rescue site that the barrier protected them as well. But... the unprotected people. The city was dying, everyone was dying!"
"...Lazarus!" Ellianne exclaimed as she turned to the man, obviously afraid.
---
Soren had made a mistake. A big mistake. Unaware of what was occurring in the sky, he had dation warped to a location directly between Reid and the strange girl in order to prevent the worst possible outcome from occurring. "Uncle, you need to-" He didn't get to finish his sentence after emerging from the portal as he was overwhelmed by the pain in his lower chest created by the fact that he had appeared right in the line of red energy that grasped Reid's Ophelia's Core. The boy's eyes grew wide as the girl behind him began to shout in frustration. The core was dragged into his chest by the light, and his body was quickly paralyzed by the foreign object's entrance into his very soul. The red light severed, an uncertain factor having interrupted it's path, leaving Soren to start plummeting to the ground, his eyes glazed over and his body under severe physical stress. With the core placed in a host, however, the ringing subsided and the tower cracked down the middle, eventually dissipated into darkness having served it's purpose.
If not for Sid, who caught the boy in mid-air while leaving Reid to fend for himself, though the mysterious girl had seemingly disappeared with the tower, Soren would have died there and then. The boy was not in good condition though. If studies had proven anything, then it was unlikely he'd make it through the next hour. He had to act fast, for the boy's sake and for the sake of the core, which his people so desperately needed, but at the same time he had a duty to rescue the Leader. It wasn't hard to locate that girl though, as her energy signature was so unique, and he dove down to her positioning. Usually, he'd have to activate a small scale portal to save energy in the transference device, but that took time, so a large scale emergency transferal would have to do. It meant he'd be dragging above grounders below, but it was better than nothing. Besides, they had reason to bring these kids under their protection now.
Sid made contact with the ground in the center of Miki's group, taking her by surprise as the ground began to glow blue - a light meant to place transferees unconscious for a week, since as while in emergency use, the transferal could bring along unwanted people, and eventually collapsed into a hole that lead to unconscious down into unexplored domain.
ONE WEEK LATER
"Miss Miki! Are you finally awake!?" A girl's voice shouted loudly in the white haired girl's right ear as her eyes struggled against the blinding white light above her. When her vision cleared, Kayleigh's presence became painfully obvious, as did her location. She was in the medical bay in the headquarters of the Upper World Protection Committee (UWPC), but why? "Sid had to use the emergency gate, so you've been out for nearly a week! Exeri has been 'knocking on our door' the entire time looking for that Ophelia's Core Sid brought back, too! It's been horrible! But I guess you need to rest, huh?"
Miki weakly nodded, before having a quick glance around the room. It seemed none of the above grounders had been harmed, but Soren was missing. "What's the status on the boy who assimilated with the core?"
"He's still alive..." Kay's eyes hit the floor. "But if we extract the core this soon after having it forced into his body, he'll die for sure. Not to mention his soul has basically been crushed. It'll be a miracle if he ever regains consciousness. There are of course methods, but they're expensive and we didn't want to go ahead without your permission..."
"Hmm..." Miki pondered as she glanced out the nearby window at the city she had been away from for so long. It felt so long ago that she had agreed to immerse herself in the above world to defend it's existence, though she hadn't intend on having her mind altered. it was dusk, as the sun was setting beyond the bridge. Large buildings towered off in the distance, beyond the cobblestone square beneath her window. The sound of trains off in the distance was rather soothing after having been absent so long, as well. "Let's see what the others think. He's their comrade, after all."
OOC: LOOONG.
Basically what we're modeling the city after.
