Back to Part Two.
Part 3: Personal Battles
The Battle at the Park
A lot of things happened all at once. As Reens and Splice rushed towards Hikari, he stepped back for a moment, before returning to his signature smug smirk. "You think that you can get the drop on me that easily?" He asked, tilting his head to the side. As they moved close enough to strike, he seemingly vanished into thin air, reappearing alongside Fuwa. Kiko had also managed to make his way over there, without making a single sound.
"The real fight begins now!" Fuwa roared, powering up his aura. Him, as well as the two agents, all entered fighting stances. The area around them mysteriously got about ten degrees colder all of a sudden, with the creeping feeling of a hidden presence.
As Splice reached the apex of his jump, he swung his arm and fired a stream of sharp icicles down on the battlefield. They continued to rain down on his foes until he was close to the ground. Once he landed, his left hand burst into flames; he held it behind him as he prepared for his next move.
Reens readied her plasma cannon and fired a series of short bursts of energy, followed by a single large burst of energy. She also allowed the vortex to turn onto its side, sort of like a hurricane. She pushed both hands out in front of her, making sure she pressed as hard as she could. Jumping back, she fidgeted on her feet.
Melissa had summoned shadowy tendrils from the darkness enveloping the group, and attempted to slash and/or impale her opponents with them. They'd be difficult to see, as the area continued getting darker, and could come from almost any direction. The bird herself was completely monochrome, with everything in the area not too far behind.
The three agents each made their way through the barrage in different ways. Fuwa opted to simply expel his own energy to make a barrier whenever an attack got close, Kiko practically danced around the various icicles and energy blasts, and Hikari dashed forwards, seemingly vanishing and reappearing somewhere else whenever an attack got close to him. As they made their way towards the group, each moved to attack a different person: Fuwa dashing towards Smash, readying an energy blast, Hikari running towards Reens with a punch ready, and Kiko attempting to jump kick Static.
"Get ready, you guys! They're gonna hit us head on!" Reens grunted as she tried blocking the punch with one of her own, using her robotic arm as leverage. She then ducked another punch and lifted her right leg, attempting to kick Hikari in the head. "Is that all you have? Punches and kicks? 'Cause if it is you're not making this very fun for me."
Just as Kiko began to breeze by him, Splice turned and thrust his palm forward, unleashing a burst of flames that would blast him off course. His other hand began to catch fire as well.
Meanwhile, Smash beckoned his opponent, gesturing him to "bring it". He could see the energy Fuwa was building up and braced himself for whatever kind of blast he was going up against. He slid his left leg back slightly, getting in position. He was waiting for the right moment to make his move.
Taking advantage of Splice knocking Kiko off course, Static quickly cracks his whip at the fox, wrapping the end around one of his ankles. Static would then send a pulsing electric current through it to shock Kiko while slamming him into the ground. He would then fire a bolt of lightning at Fuwa, hopefully stunning him and create an opening for Smash.
As Reens began to kick Hikari, he grinned. Her foot would end up meeting nothing but air, and Hikari seemingly disappeared upon contact.
"Behind you." Hikari aimed a kick at the center of Reens's back, but before he could hit her, Platinum leaped towards him with a punch, Hikari quickly moving backwards to avoid it.
"Not on my watch, buster!" Still blue-quilled, Platinum followed up by shooting a whiteish energy ball at him, similar to the energy of the crystal. "I think I remember now. About his powers. He can manipulate light, so he can make illusions, as well as turn invisible. But if we stay back to back, he can't get the drop on us!"
Although Kiko was knocked off course by the fire, he seemed to not have been greatly harmed by it. Upon being hit with the electricity he winced in pain, freezing in place for a moment. However, he managed to break out. It was almost like the whip moved by itself. Deciding not to strike yet, Kiko returned to a fighting stance.
Fuwa grinned when Smash beckoned him, placing his palm out. Before he could fire, Static's attack hit him, which did knock him to the side, but seemingly unaffected and annoyed.
"You can all try to hurt me, but you cannot win. Give up before it's too late!" He roared, as a beam of energy shot towards Smash, though it was moreso an unstable mass of color than a straight beam.
"Right," Reens agreed with Platinum. "Thanks for the save!" She readied another series of short energy blasts, followed by a larger blast of energy. "Smash, look out!" She had just noticed the large, unstable mass of color. "Damn, my scanner's going nuts! Do you think they could be using some of the crystals they already have?"
Hikari took advantage of Reens' temporary distraction, dashing towards Melissa. His expression was somewhat strained, as although he disappeared and reappeared when stray attacks flew by, it was moreso a flicker than him actually disappearing.
Well, it would have been an unstable mass of color, if only there was any color left. It was more a mass of white and light-gray light at this point, but it would likely function the same as normal.
While Smash was confident that he could dodge with a mere step to the side, a wall of darkness rose up between him and Fuwa's attack, shielding the echidna from harm. That same wall then began moving towards the abomination of a hedgehog at great speed, and would hit with the force of a truck if it collided. Smash considered chasing after the wall for a follow-up strike, but he held his ground; he intended to observe and learn what his enemy was capable of.
The impact of the wall seemingly destroyed Fuwa, liquefying his entire body. However, the flecks of liquid slowly clumped back together, before fully re-forming into a solid being. He seemed a little bit injured, and a lotta bit angry. Silently, he gathered energy in both of his hands.
"Smash can handle himself for now; focus on the enemy in front!" Splice reminded Reens, placing both of his palms in front of him. Switching back to the icy aura, he suddenly began rapid-firing sharp icicles at Kiko like a minigun.
Reens nodded again. "Right!" She pulled out her sword from the sheath at her side and crossed her arms, slashing an X-shape into the air. She followed that with forming multiple orbs of water and blasting them in the enemies' direction. I just hope the guys at the warehouse and the other building are having good luck with their missions...
Kiko smirked, and seemed to barely move, yet dodge the onslaught of icicles, opting to walk and bend over to get out of the way of the projectiles shooting towards him. On close examination, it seemed that anything that got close to grazing him simply was diverted around him. As he continued to dodge, he grabbed two of the icicles straight out of the air, using them to block the spheres of water, before throwing one at Reens and one at Splice himself, both moving at significantly fast speeds.
Meanwhile, Hikari had gotten close to Melissa, and once he could see her directly, he created a large beam of light and pointed it at her, in an attempt to blind her.
Melissa screamed as she was hit with the blinding light, and the darkness surrounding the area and draining it's color almost instantly disappeared as the avian princess fell to her knees, clutching at her eyes.
Static turned upon hearing Melissa scream to see the princess drop, with Hikari ready to follow up with an attack. Without thinking, Static dashed forward towards Melissa's assailent, slamming into Hikari before he knew what hit him. Despite the distance, Static covered ground almost instantly, like a bolt of lightning, sending both Hikari and himself tumbling several meters from the momentum.
Secrets of the Building
The receptionist flinched when she saw the magatama embedded in the sphere. "Wh-whaaat!? Where did you get that thing from!? I thought Tama was the only one that... Ugh! Nevermind! Listen, I've never seen your stupid mug before, okay? The only reason why I came up here is because you guys looked suspicious!"
'Is that really the case, though?' Clock thought. If I can prove that she followed us up here for a different reason, then maybe I can break one of these locks!' He turned to Max, realizing that he couldn't see what he saw. Clock's eyes glowed silver for a moment, and Max would see the locks and chains materialize into view.
Max stopped himself from flinching. "Whoa there. What are these?" He felt stupid asking, but he thought it would be vital information worth learning. He inched closer to Clock and whispered, "Are we gonna strangle her or something?"
"Nah, nah." Clock whispered back to Max. "These things are called Psyche-Locks. They're subconscious barriers people put up when they tell a lie, and with this Magatama, I have the power to see them. However, they're mostly useless if I can't break them by exposing the flaws in the lie. If I can, however, I might be able to get her to tell me the truth. I need to prove that she didn't come up here to see us because she thought we were suspicious if I want to make any progress."
Max's eyes opened wide once again and he smirked, impressed by Clock-Watch. "Ooh... very nice, Clockwork." He gave Clock-Watch a genuine grin before whispering to him again. "Though I'm tempted to ask something stupid you test it out, I'll let you handle this one on your own, Private. But if you need a way to make sure she can trust you..." Max had pickpocketed his identification card from the private investigator long ago, and he had it dangle in his fingers. "I can make up a teenage story sound like a believable story real fast."
Clock chuckled. "It's good to know that I'm not the only good ad-libber here." He gave a sheepish grin. "You'd be surprised how useful bluffing can be in court."
Max gave Clock a chuckle back, shuffling to the clockwork hedgehog for the last time. "I'll leave the rest to you, Clockwork. If you need some help with your accusation, I'll be right over there by the door." Max walked over the wall next to the door and leaned on it, relaxing.
On the other side of the room, Transford stood at the end of the table flipping through the contents of a blank white folder that he'd found under one of the chairs, Occasionally looking back in Clock's direction.
'Hm...' Clock thought. 'Her reason for following us seems fairly solid, but there's gotta be a hole in it. I haven't been here before, so it should make sense that I would seem suspiciou- Wait! Even if she wanted to follow us, how did she know what floor we went to?'
"Are you going to make me stand here all day?" The receptionist asked, disinterestedly looking at Clock. "I have a job to do, you know."
"Before you go, let me ask you one question." Clock said, smirking. He pointed the Magatama at her. "Even if you knew I was a suspicious figure you'd never seen before, how did you know what floor we went to? There aren't any stairs that lead here, and it doesn't display on the first floor elevator!"
Upon finishing his sentence, one of the metaphysical locks rattled, and then shattered into pieces. The receptionist was visibly startled, but she collected herself, and returned to her previous expression.
"There's a panel on my desk, that's all! It tells me the location of all the elevators, and whether they're moving up or down. Upon seeing your destination, I followed. Why wouldn't I? A bunch of people I've never seen going to this room is certainly a cause for suspicion." It was clear she was attempting to regain her composure.
Max heard all of this and walked up to Clock-Watch, extremely suspicious. "Y'know, lady, you seem awfully jitterish if you're really as honest as you're trying to look. We're not going to hurt you if you tell the truth, so c'mon and spill it. It's pretty obvious that you're lying to us, so don't waste our time."
Into the Warehouse
"How would I have known it wasn't locked?" Xavis grumbled under his breath, following Mimic and Jewel inside.
The interior of the warehouse was dimly lit, and containers of unknown substances were stacked in rows that went all the way up to the ceiling, which seemed like it was taller than how it looked outside. Upon entering, Xavis would be alarmed to find that he would no longer be able to sense the direction that the Symphony Crystals were; the energy readings kept shifting location constantly. However, a banging sound was emanating from the back of the warehouse. There wasn't anything specific that someone could put their finger on, but something felt... Off. Anyone with psychic or telepathic powers wouldn't be able to sense if there were any living beings inside; almost as if something was muffling the power they had.
Xavis let out a brief, slightly pained groan as he clutched his forehead. It felt like he had a migraine. He staggered to the side a bit, his luminous eyes (which I don't think has been mentioned) flickering slightly. "Wh...what? No, t-that can't... nhhg..."
Jewel suddenly had a theory why there were no guards outside. There was probably no need. Whatever the warehouse was made of was most likely enough. It probably somehow caused their own powers to reflect back at them and cause them to experience excruciating pain. Which, if powerful enough, could knock them out.
And anyone without powers would remain unaffected. And then the trio would be captured.
Whether or not Jewel's theory was true was uncertain. But she did know she had a splitting headache.
"Anyone else have a sudden migraine?" Jewel asked.
"Me, but that's normal." Mimic responded, referring to his mental companions.
I think she means something else not caused by voices in your head. Tom said.
Mimic looked back to notice Jewel and Xavis' discomfort. "You two okay?" he asked.
Do they look okay? Jerry remarked.
"Sorry, stupid question." Mimic said. "What's wrong?"
"I... I... I-I can't... it just..." Xavis studdered, then taking a deep breath and recomposing himself. "I can't track the crystals. The signal keeps jumping all over the place. And I kinda feel... nauseous? I don't know how to describe it..."
"Other than the headache, I feel okay," Jewel said. "Xavis, maybe you should take a break from using your powers. I'm no doctor, but it might alleviate some of the pain..." Suddenly Jewel felt a little sick herself. "Then again, maybe not."
Hehehe... a voice sounded in Mimic's head. Tell your friends that I apologise for the headache. Maybe they should think twice about trespassing. I hope you all stay, though; I'd like to introduce you to some of my friends~
"What the. . ." Mimic muttered. "Who?" The mockingbird looked around, trying to scan his surroundings for anything out of place.
Hey, get lost! We're the only disembodied voices around here! Jerry yipped.
I don't think that voice is disembodied. Tom said. Telepathy? But, I thought we were-
"Someone's here." Mimic said. "They're screwing with you're sensory abilities. And apparently, they brought company."
Jewel let out an irritated sigh and shook her head as if to try to rid itself of the pain. "Well if they're gonna mess with our heads, when I get my hands on this guy I'm going to screw with their head!"
"Agreed," Xavis angrily muttered. Having stopped targeting the crystals certainly alleviated most of his migraine, but he still felt a not-quite-nauseous and was quickly getting agitated. "Come out here and face us, cowards!" he yelled, fire erupting up his arms before settling down by his hands.
Oooh, your friends are feisty, Mimic. The voice sounded in his head. It sounded feminine and childlike, but it was clearly malicious. You should tell them to be less volatile. They might regret it... I'd tell them, but I knew you would be the one with more experience hearing voices in your head, hehehe~ Growling could be heard in the distance. Whatever it was, it was most certainly not Mobian.
Jewel, being an empath (or partially telepathic), could somewhat sense those malicious emotions, but was unable to figure out where they were coming from. "This is why I loathe the dark..."
Xavis responded to the growl with a snarl of his own, the flames around his hands rising back up his arms and providing a decent amount of light for the trio. Something there was making him unusually aggressive...
"Uh... Xavis..." Jewel was more anxious now.
Mimic smirked. "Enough of the cliche mind games, kid." he said. "So how 'bout you show yourself, before we have to tell your parents you're out past your curfew. . . Tama?"
Jewel frowned. "Tama? Who's that?"
I am NOT a child! You... You..! Heavy footsteps could be heard, moving towards the group, and the growling intensified. Something was coming. Don't patronize me! Let's see what you think of THIS!
Xavis' own snarl intensified in response, the flames on his arms growing larger and brighter.
Jewel instinctively let electricity run from her hands, providing extra light.