"Then we'll have to move fast," Hugo said, also studying the gears. "Soma. Can you jump that high?"

"Yeah," Soma said.

"Good. When R.D. slows down time, you and Helena jump up. Ileyna, you'll carry me up there. Matt, jam the gears with boulders as you go up. That should buy us some time if R.D. loses Chaos Control."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Helena said. "Let's do it."

R.D. nodded and dug into his satchel again, this time pulling out the red Chaos Emerald the Hartnetts had liberated from Sheena's lair during their search for Chronoscepter pieces. "Everyone ready?" he asked.

Alasea nodded. "Punch it."

The gemstone flipped through the air and came back down, and R.D. snatched it as he activated its power. "Chaos Control!"

Energy flared out in a subtle array from the Chaos Emerald, painting the walls in wavering hues of yellow and gray and purple. The gears slowed down, the incoming medusa-heads slowed to a crawl, and the sounds of machinery dulled. "Go!" he shouted, causing them to spring into action. Ileyna snatched up Hugo and bolted for the ceiling. R.D. swept his free arm around Alasea's waist as she swung her arms around his neck, and jumped up onto the nearest horizontal gear as he followed suit.

Helena smiled, flashing her fangs. "Race you up!" she taunted to Soma, bounding up onto the first gear.

"Hold on!" Soma called, following after her. As the two leapt between gears, Matt jumped up after them. A cast of his wrist and a massive boulder smashed between the little spaces between gear teeth and wall. He kept doing this as he scaled. But R.D. had better keep Chaos Control together, or shit would get nasty.

Luckily, the group had managed to make it up to the top of the chamber only a moment after R.D.'s slowing with Chaos Control came to an abrupt end.

"That was close," R.D. noted, looking over the ledge. The last boulder soon shattered, and an equilibrium returned to the turning of the gears.

"Everybody okay?" Matt asked, turning around and briefly scanning the party. No obvious injuries jumped out at him.

"We're fine," Hugo said.

"You almost caught up with me," Helena said to Soma, who had definitely kept right behind Helena during their little bounce race. "A little bit more and you would've won."

Soma smiled. Barely. "Well, I think if I was a little faster, I could've made it."

"I still beat all of you," Ileyna teased, still hovering in the air with her power.

"So everyone loses, basically," Matt observed. "That's life for you, I guess."

Good thing the hallway they entered in next wasn't full of gears, even though Matt could easily hear them clanking and rolling outside. This hallway was cast in dark gray marble, with loopy, fancy designs chiselled into the walls. Of course, the atmosphere was immediately ruined with a massive suit of red armor lumbered into their sight from a curve in the hallway. The armor was also brandishing a very large, very active bomb.

"I guess they kept the enchanted armors elsewhere," Alasea commented dryly, watching the armor heft up the bomb in one hand.

"Guess so," R.D. replied. "We could probably shoot that thing's hand off and let the bomb take care of it."

More clanks echoed from behind the enchanted armor, and one by one, armors wielding bombs entered the hallway until the corners were choked by their gathering.

"Get back!" Hugo shouted, throwing out his Barrier Option as the armors tossed their bombs at the group all at once.

The resulting explosion was loud. White and orange. Walls were crumbled, Matt felt his body lurch back, land on something hard in a chaotic mess.

For several agonizing moments, sound didn't exist for Alasea. Blearily, she looked up from where she had been flattened against the floor, her entire body aching, and slowly she was able to hear sounds again--namely, the rumbling of rubble settling from the explosion.

Her body screamed as she sat up, looking around. "Everyone okay?" she called out.

Matt rolled over. White void cleared as details faded back in. Helena lay crumpled next to him, but before he could cry out, she pushed herself up with a groan. "Damn it!" he shouted, his voice ragged. He sat up - Hugo's barrier must've gotten knocked out, since he didn't see any kind of shimmering blue wall left. The armors remained in rank.

"Well, what're you waiting for?" a voice demanded. "Attack again!"

Ah, hell. It was that bitch Persephone.

"Mass Effect!" Ileyna's voice shouted over the settling din. The others couldn't see, but suddenly the plates on the enchanted knights' armor began to weaken as the Stand unleashed its power on them.

A blue beam streaked out and slammed into one of the arms of the Bomber Armors as it hefted up one of its explosives. Though her attacks were weak, the force of the beam was enough to punch through the weakened armor, and the gauntlet was crumpled by it. The lit bomb tumbled through the air, towards the ground.

"Oh, dammit," Alasea swore, curling herself up again and generating as powerful a shield she could muster.

Fortunately, one bomb's explosion splashed across their generated shields to no harm. But then the others hefted new bombs, and Matt figured he had enough of that crap. "Take 'em down!" he shouted, pointing his finger at the armors. He let loose with a barrage of energy fire, sweeping bullets across the armors. Joined by Hugo's gunfire and Soma's lasers, the armors easily folded.

R.D. pulled himself up from the rubble, glaring irritably.

"That's it," he snarled, holding his right arm out. His dirty, matted hair began to rise up.

Prismatic light erupted around him, and the destroyed armor disappeared, consumed into individual particles of matter. His right arm split into thirds before rings of light bound them back together--and then red and orange and gold armor covered them, forming a clawed fist at the end. Curved spikes of red appeared on his back, and R.D. lowered the Shell Bullet.

"She's dead."

"Me first," Helena growled, sweeping rubble off of her shoulders.

Of course Matt wanted to beat her up too. Might as well show her they were coming. "You hear that?!" Matt called down the hallway, cupping his mouth. "We're comin' for you, kid! Oh, and by the way, you know your stupid little garden? When I get back down, I'm gonna BURN that bitch to the GROUND!"

Persephone wisely stayed hidden in the corner of the hallway, but that didn't mean she wasn't ready to shout back. "If you touch my garden, you'll pay!"

"Should've thought about that before you tried to blow me up, bitch!"

"You know I HAVE to kill you! If Celia didn't want you dead, we wouldn't have to fight each other like this!"

"Too bad!" R.D. shouted back, prowling down the hall. His armored hand slowly clenched into a fist, one finger at a time. "We gave you the chance to surrender! When I get my hands on you, I'm sending you back to Hell, right where you belong! Permanently."

"Get her!" Hugo shouted. Matt heard Persephone utter a very loud "EEP!" before they scrambled down the hall, taking the sharp turn into another room layered with gears and pistons. Already the maid demon was hopping up the steps.

"Help me help me help me!" she cried, waving her arms like she was signalling down a plane. Something heavy came down, all right - a massive demon with tentacles drizzling from its head burst from a portal above them all. Screeching, it dropped in front of the ground, seperating them from Persephone by smashing through the staircase.

"It's a Malachi!" Soma shouted.

"It's practice!" R.D. roared, lunging for the demon. "Shocking First Bullet!"

The first spike on his back disintegrated away, causing an explosion of emerald power to erupt, launching R.D. forward. With a yell, he spun about and thrust a fist at the demon's chest.

Edited by RisingDragon on June 15, 2010 at 17:12:35.

Shocking First Bullet smashed home into the Malachi's hide and sent it through the remaining staircase. Bricks scattered in all directions. The Malachi then burst out of the crater it had formed and swung its heavy claw at R.D..

"She's getting away!" Helena shouted, watching Persephone dart up the last bit of stairs into a new room. With a mighty leap, she sailed up, over the Malachi to give chase.

"Helena, don't be stupid!" Hugo shouted. Electric Option armed itself and the Mettaur unloaded a bolt of lightning at their enemy. "We need your help here!"

"Shit!" R.D. said, eyes going wide as he rebounded off the demon. The claw quickly smashed him out of the air, slamming him hard into the floor.

"R.D.!" Alasea exclaimed, seeing the demon's attack. Luckily he was already recovering. "Ileyna, go after Helena! You can still stop Persephone with your Stand!"

"Got it!" Ileyna complied, flying up out of the Malachi's reach and taking off after the demoness and the weredragon.

R.D. got back to his feet and clenched his right hand into a fist. "Alright, I'll hold the bastard off," he said to the others. "Get ready to blast him!"

R.D. leaped at the Malachi with his fist swinging.

The blow struck clean across the Malachi's face, and the demon responded by swinging back.

"Get in closer!" Soma said to Matt. "Fighting a Malachi at long-range is a bad idea!"

"Got it!" He had a good idea for a close-range attack to get the Malachi to sit up and take notice. Switching to the power of ice, he shouted, "Hugo, restrain that thing!"

The Mettaur swung his pickaxe back, changing Options before lurching it forward again. "Capture Option!" The bolo-drived net spanned out, coiling around the Malachi's legs.

***

Persephone had poorly chosen a room to run into - now she was trapped, back against the wall. A large window above streamed in moonlight, framing the maid demon.

"You've got nowhere to run anymore!" Helena said, going down the two steps that led into the room proper.

Undeterred, Persephone brandished her fists. "I can take you just like last time!"

Helena bared her fangs and leapt at Persephone, and the two entered a slashing, flailing melee.

The Malachi's attack nearly laid R.D. out again, but he quickly recovered and retaliated, grabbing the monstrosity by one of its writhing facial tentacles. "Perfect," he growled, chambering his right fist back before pistoning it forward at the demon's face.

===

Only a moment into the fight between the two women had Ileyna caught up to them, speeding up into the room and stopping close to its ceiling.

There they are! she thought. She shouted to get their attention. "Helena! Move!"

And then aimed her right hand down at the two of them and fired a beam of light at the one dressed in the pink dress.

The heavy blow, combined with the Malachi's restrained legs, caused the demon to fall over and smash into the rubble with a crash. Now Matt had his chance. Slinking in from the left, he slammed his hands on the demon's beefy arm. "Flash Blizzard!"

Ice burst over the Malachi's arm and detonated instantly, throwing the demon aside. Soma followed up with a "Mandragora!", throwing a plant at the monster that screamed, releasing a field of energy that pushed the Malachi further into the floor. This caused the demon to swing wildly, hoping he could hit something.

***

Glancing briefly at Ileyna, Helena's eyes widened as the beam swooped in. She broke off of Persephone and rolled. Unfortunately, the demon maid rolled as well, and the beam splashed against the floor.

Helena and Persephone faced each other again, and Helena swooped in to attack, rewarded by a kick in the face thaty knocked her into a dresser standing near the wall.

R.D. smashed the Shell Bullet into the floor, sending him hurtling up towards the ceiling. Before he could hit, he swung again, smashing his fist into the ceiling and using that same force to launch him back down at the incapacitated Malachi.

"Lights out!" he called, driving his right fist straight at the demon's tentacled face.

===

Ileyna didn't stop with one beam after the first one failed to hit. Gritting her teeth, the child swung her right arm up again and fired repeatedly, stitching a line up the stone floor at the demoness.

Even as Ileyna fired, the dresser that Helena had smashed into rumbled before lifting up off the ground. "Get'er, Mass Effect!" Ileyna shouted. The dresser hurtled across the room as the Stand chucked it at Persephone.

The Malachi's roar was cut off by the utter crunch of R.D.'s powerful fist, forcing a crater in the demon's ugly face, splitting with blood. Instantly the monster's body shifted to total black, bursting apart into ashes that scattered on their own accord.

"Good shot!" Hugo called, disarming his weapon. "Come on, let's go help Helena!"

***

Persephone yelped as the lasers almost sliced her feet, jumping away as the dresser sailed past and exploded against the wall. "Quit it!" she whined.

Helena used the wall to crawl back up to her feet, and wiped a trace of blood from her lips. Her claws burst with flame and she raked the air, firing a streaming fireball at Persephone. The maid yelped again, ducked again and covered her head as the fire sailed over.

They quickly scaled up the ruined steps, with R.D. having to vault Alasea up before climbing up himself. It didn't take them long before they reunited with Ileyna and Helena.

"Quit moving!" the girl shouted as she kept firing beams of light at the demoness.

"... this has got to be an all time low for demons," R.D. commented, seeing the maid harried by the nine-year-old girl.

"Stop SHOOTING at me!" Persephone shouted, crouching behind a table. Matt could see the tips of her black shoes pointing out where everyone could see.

Hugo let out a sigh. "This is pathetic. Come on, Helena. Finish her off already."

The weredragon stormed in, facing the table. "Come on out of there! Let's end this!"

"No!" Persephone said. "I don't wanna fight you anymore!"

"At least fight me fairly!" Helena said. "Hugo or R.D.'s going to kill you anyway, so at least go down swinging!"

"I didn't even want to fight you! I just wanted to clean and tend to my garden, but then Celia said I had to kill you, and then you guys decided to be jerks, and if you just fell over and died I wouldn't be here in this STUPID place that I DON'T deserve to-"

Helena threw her head up, tossing her hair, and aimed it back down again, as a fiery hot laser erupted from her jaws and carved through the table, right where Persephone was hiding. When the laser cleared, nothing remained but a smouldering table and a splatter of ash against the rock.

"Whoa. Nice shot, Helena," R.D. remarked, looking at the black smear on the stones.

"I didn't detect any gateways," Alasea said. "Think she's dead?"

Walking down into the room, Soma peered around Helena. "She's dead. No weak demon could've survived that."

Helena's claw landed on an undamaged corner of the table, claws clacking against the finish. Audibly, she took a deep breath, let it loose. That didn't sound normal. "You okay?" Matt asked her.

"...yeah," she said, without turning her head. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm good."

"Come on," Alasea said, laying a hand on Helena's shoulder. Her words were as much for the rest of them as they were for her. "Let's get out of this mess. No point in staying here any longer."

"Alasea's right," R.D. said. "Let's move."