[video/action]

[fearmylaserface]

[He knew what Wash had said. Wash had damn well warned him not to go alone.

Did Epsilon listen? Of course not. When he wanted to see something, he was stubborn.

That's why he's currently somewhere on the Mother of Invention in spite of the warning, holding his head. At first... It wasn't terrible. It probably would have been fine if he hadn't been alone with Allison and his memories. The Alpha's memories.  Being tortured to the point of breaking over and over again.  Now? He couldn't really tell where the memories ended and the world began.

And that's why Allison has his communicator, pressing buttons to turn it on with the camera on her person.  The camera isn't steady...  Someone needs to talk to him for her.  She's making anxious noises and trying to comfort him... It's not helping. Especially as she knows there should be Nightmare Dream Eaters somewhere here. It's a matter of time before they're noticed, and her person in no shape to run or help. Not that he isn't more likely to put a hole in the ship than help.

Allison would die before she let him down in a time like this.

The background of the shaking camera isn't various obvious, but it appears to be a hallway.  Epsilon managed to get further than the bridge before he was overwhelmed.  Not by a whole lot.]

[Edit note:  Added last paragraph]

Comments

[seasaltkeys]

[Roxas stirs when he gets the potion, but doesn't wake up just yet. He was hit pretty hard after all.

It's unfortunate that the first spirit to wake up is Flipper. For all his mischievousness and misbehavior, the R&R Seal does have a loyalty to Roxas. And also isn't one to ask questions first.

There's a ball heading towards your head, Wash. You might want to duck.]

[yabigfurball]

[Ammy halts in her tracks when Wash aims at her, instantly on edge. She knows enough about weapons to know that these things fire real quick projectiles. It's a real good thing that he puts it away quickly, too. She still approaches with the fur on the back of her neck on end and a bit of a growl in the back of her throat. What's he doing with Roxas, anyway?]

[Apparently Roxas's Spirits aren't that sure about it, either, considering the newly-revived seal decided to chuck a ball at Wash.]

[In the meanwhile, Susano takes a bit of interest in Fang, and bounces up to see him. He's still being a little cautious and sticking behind Ammy, though.]

[unrecovered]

[He's actually trying to help Roxas, for all that anyone seems to care. He's too preoccupied with keeping one eye on Roxas and the other on the wolf to notice the ball, and it blindsides him completely, connecting with his visor and snapping his head back.]

[Instantly, Melody pounces on Flipper, doing her best to pin him to the ground and scolding him angrily. Her person is just trying to help your person! What's your problem?]

Son of a bitch.

[Wash slowly tilts his head back forward and fishes another potion out of his storage compartment, administering that to Roxas as well. He'd never seen an injury require two of them; then again, Roxas had been banged up pretty badly. He'd need to keep an eye out for whatever Nightmare could do that.]

[Fang squeaked at Susano. Hey! It's okay! His person is just trying to help Flipper's person, that's all. He probably thought your person wasn't a person at all. Sorry about that!]

[seasaltkeys]

[Flipper starts flailing as Melody pounces on him. How was he supposed to know that? he's chattering back angrily.

The second potion seems to have an effect and Roxas starts to wake up. His head hurts and he's a bit groggy, not sure about what's going on.]

Flipper, stop it.

[It's more of a mutter, but he doesn't need to look at the seal to know he's getting into trouble. Sparkle's woken up by now as well and is immediately in Roxas's lap, checking him out and wanting attention.]

What happened?

[yabigfurball]

[Ammy relaxes some when she sees Susano happily chatting with fang. Okay, maybe it was just mistaken identity. She's just real particular about weapons being drawn on her and everything. Susano squeaks back to Fang that his person just wanted to help, too!]

[And then...ohhh ouch, that probably hurt. She barks at Flipper and Melody: hey, stop that fighting! That wasn't going to help! She's had a little success communicating her wants with Spirits the way she does animals back home, so maybe it'll work here, too. If not right away, time to break out the treats.]

[But first things first, the potion seems to have made Roxas better now! She walks over to him and sniffs, giving him a concerned look.]

[unrecovered]

[Melody doesn't move - she's not getting off Flipper until she's absolutely certain he won't attack her person again. Maybe if Flipper had paid attention for two seconds before attacking, he would've seen that Melody's person was getting a potion for his person. Try thinking for once!]

[Oh! Well, Fang is sure his person will be okay with that, once his person knows.]

[Wash gives a quiet sigh of relief. Kid's awake. Good. That's not going to stop him from keeping an eye on the wolf, just in case.]

I was hoping you could tell us. We found you and your Spirits here, unconscious.

[seasaltkeys]

[Roxas rubs his head, wincing since it still kind of hurts, before reaching out to pet Ammy.]

You came to?

[He has to think for a minute before answering Wash's question.]

I...I really don't know. I was looking for Epsilon, and then something hit me from behind. I didn't see...what it was. It was fast.

[Sparkle squeaks in affirmation. The same thing happened to her and Flipper!]

Is Epsilon alright?

[Flipper isn't flailing around anymore, but he is glaring. If he could just reach his ball]

[yabigfurball]

[Of course she came! She wouldn't want anything bad to happen to the friends she's met. She accepts the pettings, and gives Roxas a bit of a nuzzle. At least he's up and speaking now.]

[At the mention that someone hit them from nearby, Ammy also looks up around. They couldn't still be here, could they? In the meanwhile, Susano walks over to Melody and Flipper. Hey, are they playing something?]

[unrecovered]

[Wash's helmet tilts downward slightly. He's not happy to hear that. Either there's a new type of Nightmare here that can do something similar to Toximanders, or they have something entirely different to deal with. Either way, it's not good. He checks his motion trackers just to be certain - nothing on them but the Roxas, the wolf, and the Spirits.]

I don't know. Carolina went to help him - I'm waiting on confirmation from her. For now, we should get you out of here. Do you think you can walk?

[No, they're not playing anything. Melody is keeping Flipper from being a jerk and attacking her person again.]

[seasaltkeys]

[Roxas nods, attempting to stand up. If he could just leaning on something or someone for a minute, he should be fine. It's too bad his keyblade has disappeared and he doesn't think to re-summon it.]

I think I'll be okay.

[Flipper raises a flipper to push Melody off. He has to go help his person. He won't throw his ball anymore.]

[yabigfurball]

[Seeing Roxas trying to get up again, Ammy comes back over and offers a furry shoulder for him to grab. She can carry people if needed, and if not, she doesn't mind being support. However, she's still sniffing around for anything out of the ordinary. It's hard to tell, since all of this machinery is foreign as far as smells go...]

[Oh, well they shouldn't fight! Not unless it was a fair fight, anyway. Susano just flops down next to the two, back to his usual lazy self.]

[unrecovered]

[Wash offers a hand to help Roxas up, letting him go once he's on his feet. It looks like the wolf's willing to help him walk; in that case, Wash pulls the rifle off his back and takes point.]

Then let's get going. Fang, Melody, take the rear.

[Just in case any Nightmares show up behind them. Melody leaps off Flipper with a warning to stay away from her person and heads to the back of the group with Fang. She's ready to go.]

[seasaltkeys]

[Roxas places a hand on Ammy, steadying himself. He should be able to walk once his head stops spinning but it'll be awhile before he can move fast. Flipper sticks his tongue out at Melody before going to Roxas's other side.]

Alright.

[yabigfurball]

[Ammy walks slowly so that Roxas won't be pushed too much, but is prepared to speed up some if Roxas starts feeling better. It looks like he's still a bit woozy, though.]

[She barks at Susano: Hey, keep up! They've gotta keep a look out! Susano bounces around the other side of her. Hey, he is confident enough in protecting his person, see?]

[unrecovered]

[They weren't extremely far from the bridge; as Wash walked, he hoped their luck, such as it was, would hold, and that they'd be able to get Roxas back to safety without incident.]

[Of course, that's about when a pack of Nightmares - giraffes, owls, and snails - showed up right in front of them. He bit back a sigh and aimed, taking down one of the owls before it had the chance to do anything.]

Roxas, get to a wall and stay there.

[He backed up a few steps to cover Roxas' movements as Fang and Melody surged forward, Fang engaging an owl in aerial combat and Melody leaping into the center of the chaos and setting off a ring of musical explosions.]

[seasaltkeys]

[As they walked, Roxas could feel himself getting a little stronger and his head was starting to clear up. It was still tough though and he couldn't summon his keyblade just yet.

Nightmares showing up didn't help. Flipper pushed in front of him, along with Sparkle.]

I'll be alright.

[He wanted to help out. He hated being weak like this.]

[yabigfurball]

[Of course they couldn't back to a safe space without running into Nightmares first. It looked like the man in armor was taking care of himself okay (although she wasn't that fond of guns), so she could just focus on the other Nightmares approaching.

[After making sure that Roxas was back by the wall where he wouldn't be hurt further, she snarled, and jumped at the enemies with her reflector swinging. She concentrated her strikes on one of the Thunderaffes, driving it back with successive hits. With how big these things were, it took a bunch of blows to take down, but it eventually vanished.]

[Meanwhile, Susano was looking scared again, and sitting back towards Roxas all puffed up in a spiky ball. She barked back at the Pricklemane: Come on, Susano! You've gotta be bolder!]

[unrecovered]

Wall. Now. It'll make you less of a target.

[He was still planning on defending Roxas, but that would work a hell of a lot easier if Roxas didn't do anything stupid. Wash threw himself out of the way of a charging giraffe - god damn those things were fast - rolled to a knee, and fired, using half a clip to take the damn thing down. He was going to have to rethink his strategy on those once he had more time.]

[Melody continued to prance through the battle, setting off explosions and generally causing havoc among the Nightmares. Having finished off the owl he was fighting, Fang flew back to Susano. C'mon, they're gonna go take down that snail! He'll confuse it and you get all big and spiky and beat it up? Ready? Go! He flew off, diving for the nearest snail without waiting for an answer. Battles were always less scary when you had backup.]

[seasaltkeys]

[Roxas glared but hung back near the wall. He focused on trying to summon a keyblade, any one would work right now. Even if he couldn't charge, he could still try to use magic.]

[Flipper, on the other hand, was throwing balls like mad, hitting all the nightmares he could see. Sparkle stayed behind to defend Roxas just in case.]

[yabigfurball]

[Susano remained in a protective spiky ball even while Fang tried to encourage him. There were a whole lot of Nightmares here, and he was just one Pricklemane! He wasn't ready! Ammy barked back: come on, he could do it!]

[Unfortunately, she was left open for a moment, and one of the Escarglow knocked her off her feet with a rolling attack. She scrambled back onto her paws, growling. How could a snail possibly be so fast?! She was barely back up when another Thunderaffe zipped by her, leaving electricity in its wake.]

[Okay, these things were moving too fast for her tastes. She pulled out her canvas, and painted Veil of Mist over the area. The instant she did, a strange, purple-tinted mist spread out in a wide radius through the hallway, bringing all of the Nightmares into a state of extreme slow-motion...at least for a couple of seconds.]

[But that was enough time for Ammy to wail on the snail that had tripped her up with her reflector, and she hit it over and over until it vanished. In the meanwhile, it seemed that seeing Ammy get hurt by the Nightmares spurred Susano into action - he started glowing red, and bounced ahead to the snail Fang tried to confuse, proceeding to strike it hard with his spikes while it was stuck in slow motion.]

[unrecovered]

[Wash's eyes snapped open as the purple mist flooded the floor. Great, that was exactly what they needed - another poisonous Nightmare. The air filters built into his armor would take care of him, but that still left Roxas and the Spirits and the wolf at its mercy-]

[Except that the mist seemed to be affecting the Nightmares instead, slowing them to a crawl. It took him another moment to take it in, but he wasn't about to look this gift horse in the mouth. He surged forward, pulling his knife off his hip and plunging it into a nearby giraffe, turning to the snail next to him as the giraffe went to pieces and kicking it over, making very short work of it with his knife. He didn't know how long this would last, but for now, he'd take it.]

Did one of you guys do this?

[Meanwhile, Fang squeaked in approval as Susano finished off the snail. Great job! Now let's go get that giraffe! At the other end of the fight, Melody was taking advantage of the slowed movements to find the perfect spot for maximum explosive damage. It didn't take her long, and another round of musical bombs went off with a bang, taking several owls and a snail with them. This was much easier when her opponents didn't move - at least, not all that quickly.]

[seasaltkeys]

[It was the weird magic again. He remembered it from the first time they'd met, although this spell was a bit different from the last. He wondered how it worked, but figured it would be a bit hard to get a proper answer.

Flipper flung his balls into the fray, hoping to help out a little bit.]

[yabigfurball]

[Unfortunately, Veil of Mist only lasts so long. The mist clears, and all the enemies resume their normal speeds. At least it's long enough for them to take out quite a few of those Nightmares. She just barks back at Wash when he questions the mist. Yes, this is her brush!]

[Susano certainly was a lot more proactive when in rage mode. He continued over to another Thunderaffe, spiking out at it and swinging his tail around, oblivious to the shocks he was taking from his opponent. Ammy barked a warning at him: he had to be at least a little careful and watch his health!]

[There was one more owl coming her way. She ran forward to it and jumped over it, striking it several times with her reflector before landing. The owl staggered for a bit before she turned around and struck it again, making it go to pieces.]

[unrecovered]

[There weren't too many Nightmares left - that was a small relief when the last ones sped back up. The bark told him that the wolf had created that mist. Probably a good thing he hadn't shot it earlier.]

Can you do it again?

[That would be one hell of an advantage, especially against those goddamn giraffes. He tried to dodge as one of them charged and didn't quite get out of the way; it clipped him, knocking him to the ground in an uncontrolled roll. Fang and Melody were immediately there, Fang hovering protectively and preventing any owls from going after Wash as he pulled himself to his feet, and Melody pursuing the giraffe, hell-bent on exacting vengeance.]

[seasaltkeys]

[Flipper falls back to protect Roxas while it's Sparkle's turn to launch a few magic attacks at the remaining Thunderaffes.]