🚀 go-pugleaf

[Continued From Part One]

     Ever have one of those dreams in which you're running as quickly as
you can, but no matter how much effort you put into the task, you don't get
anywhere? Then of course, you wake up to discover that your legs have
become tangled in the bed sheets. In her moment of transition from pure
soul to corporeal form, Dianna felt as though someone caressed her cheek
with the tenderness of a lover. But, like all dreams, such romantic
thoughts quickly vanished as she grew more 'awake' and realised that the
Task's cool hand was closing around her mouth, fingers and thumb on her
cheeks for best purchase. With a muffled scream, Dianna jerked her head
backwards, somehow evading the monstrosity's grip.
     "Wha-- Dianna?" murmured Sabrina sleepily, as she rose up on one shaky
arm to look at the commotion. By the moon's light she saw her friend
crab-walking frantically away from the determined Task. Other moaning
voices sounded around Sabrina - her friends, obviously - but at that moment
she was far too angry to pay attention. Strengthened by this anger, Sabrina
jumped to her feet and looked around for something to use as a weapon.
Grabbing up a long branch, the young woman rushed at the Task with intent
to brain. Almost lazily, the silvery creature's arm reached out and caught
the branch, crushing it to splinters with one hand. However, Sabrina
reflected ruefully, she had accomplished her goal to a degree. She had
managed to cause the Task to lose interest in Dianna - by targeting it on
herself. Sometimes you had to be careful for what you wished for, because
you might just get it.
     A hand lashed out at Sabrina, then two and the first again. With her
peripheral vision, Sabrina noted that Dianna had managed to scramble free
of the creature's attentions and was now moving towards the rest of the
recovering group. So much the better, thought the young woman as she tried
to avoid having her oesophagus mashed by a not-so-friendly neck rub. Then a
hand shot out at Sabrina, coming closer than any had before. The girl
danced backwards, calling on her ballet training to keep her from
stumbling. She hopped...
     ...and watched as the world slowed, almost to a standstill. Sabrina
gasped, but then the dance caught her up into its embrace, coaxing and
teasing with her to follow. She did, spinning and twirling, leaping and
hopping, following the dance where it would lead.
     Dianna looked up from the just-recovering Kayle and gasped, putting a
hand to her mouth as she saw Sabrina. The necromancer had seen her friend
dance before, showing off the effortless grace of which she was capable.
She had also seen footage - very briefly - of superguys who could move like
the wind, running almost more quickly than the camera could catch. But
never before had she seen the two combined into the flawless performance
which Sabrina was now putting on for an audience of just a few. As she
twirled, winds played about the dancer, supporting and enhancing her dance
but never buffeting her. A leap took a mere eye-blink, allowing the girl to
land next to her slow-but-graceful assailant... then came a series of
twirls, causing Sabrina to spin so quickly that she blurred into a
miniature dust devil of wind and motion. On each spin Sabrina lashed out
with another stick that she had picked up, soundly impacting on the Task's
head with every strike. Dianna was not in the least surprised to see
splinters and fragments of the stick fly off in all directions, whirled
around by the rotating dancer. The Task found his measure and lashed out at
Sabrina with surprising quickness; Sabrina was faster. A low bow, a
flourish, and she blurred under the construct's arm, jump-kicking into the
air and snapping her foot into the Task's head.
     "Oh.... my...." gasped Kayle, beside Dianna. She tore her eyes away
from Sabrina's performance to check on the young man's condition. He seemed
almost wholly enraptured by the dance of wind and speed, his eyes wide and
staring.
     "Please Kayle, help her," pleaded Dianna quietly, holding onto the
young man's arm for a moment. Not turning from the sight of his friend's
dance, Kayle got to his feet and walked towards the deadly waltz, picking
up stones as he went. He was not sure what good they would do, but Kayle
knew that he had to try something.
     "Don't go without me, buddy," whispered a voice to his left. Kayle
nodded slightly to Grant, who had moved to join him.
     "I'm in too," muttered Shyrose from Kayle's right. The three touched
hands for a moment, exchanging comfort and determination, before rushing
towards the Task with improvised weaponry at the ready.
     Sabrina spun out of the construct's way, throwing out her hands into a
beautiful, awesomely fast cartwheel. Half-seconds later she was behind her
friends, standing still, her speed in abeyance until the dance resumed.
     "He's armoured and just plain tough," noted Sabrina, not taking her
eyes off of the Task. "I don't think stones will do it."
     "Sabrina," began Kayle, his own eyes unwaveringly fixed upon the back
of Sabrina's head, "That dance. It was..."
     "Later, okay?" replied Sabrina, measuring the distance between her
group and the Task. It began lumbering towards them, moving more gracefully
than its size would suggest. "Any ideas, anyone?"
     "Maybe we can do what you did," said Grant, ready to toss a rock if
the Task got too close. Dianna shook her head.
     "No," she whispered, "That's Sabrina's and her's alone. But you can
all do something. Something different."
     "How do you know?" demanded Shyrose - like the others, almost
invisible in the darkness of the area in which they'd found themselves.
Dianna shook her head slightly, indicating that she couldn't answer.
Shyrose sighed and jumped up. "Well if you can't help, Dianna, I'll just
have to figure this out for myself!"
     "No, wait!" cried Sabrina, reaching out a hand to stop Shyrose, "Stay
with the group!"
     But the impulsive woman ignored her friend and rushed towards the
Task. "C'mon, c'mon," she muttered as she closed the distance between the
two. "I've gotta do _something_..."
     Shyrose felt a slight chill as she and the Task were nearly together;
nothing was happening.
     "What do I have to do," she wondered, as a silvery arm reached for
her, "Say 'hocus pocus'?"
     At this point the clever reader can be forgiven for thinking that, in
a comedy beat, the words 'hocus pocus' would activate Shyrose's power at
the last moment, something which could possibly be parlayed into a running
joke for the rest of the Spotlight run. Ha, I say ha to you. We don't truck
with those tired out, overused cliches around here. We use new, fresh,
overused cliches instead. So read on, and remember that freshness is
paramount in this line of work.
     Shyrose screamed as her chest impacted on a gleaming arm; said arm
swept backwards, throwing her to the ground. Grant, feeling his body
affected somehow by the scream, leapt up and rushed at the Task, hoping to
keep it occupied long enough for someone... anyone... to figure out their
new ability.
     "Grant!" screamed Shyrose in horror, seeing her friend moving towards
possible doom. Grant shuddered for a second as the scream seemed to hit
him, reverberating deep in his innards. Shyrose yelled again, this time
trying to draw the Task towards herself. Again, the sound seemed to roil
around within Grant, becoming a part of him. He shuddered and then looked
up at the approaching Task. Raising a hand in a futile gesture to ward off
the creature, Grant felt his entire body shake once... the sounds within
him seemed to compress and change... the roiling within him became more
acute... and suddenly, a wave of pure, destructive sonics leapt out at the
construct, shrilling in the air as it passed. The Task vibrated
momentarily, halted, and then resumed its progress towards Grant.
     "Holy crow," exclaimed Shyrose, "Grant, did you just--"
     "Sound," said Grant, taken aback. "I need more sound!"
     "_That_ I can do," returned Shyrose, clearing her throat. Friends and
family had laughed at her for having stuck with vocal lessons for so long,
despite her heavy leaning towards sciences, but Shyrose's voice was a
well-trained instrument. Facing Grant, she opened her mouth and sang out a
clear, crisp, perfect 'C'. Grant halted and absorbed the sound, trembling
ever-so-slightly as he did so. Shyrose sustained the note for as long as
she could, but eventually her air ran out. Fortunately, Grant still had a
second or two in which he could respond to the Task. Leaping backwards, he
held out a hand towards the construct and allowed the sound waves deep
within himself to set themselves free. They obeyed. The Task was knocked
backwards almost a full meter by the white noise which Grant released,
slamming it into a tree which splintered under the impact.
     "Nice amp work," commented Sabrina wryly, running past Grant. She
leapt into the air... and blurred into motion, landing on a pirouette. The
young woman danced around the Task, trying her best to keep the creature
off-balance. She suspected that the vibrations which had been set up within
the construct hadn't really damaged it, but perhaps someone else's power
could turn the trick. Sabrina realised that she had to buy the others time
to discover if they would be the saviour. And so, Sabrina danced.
     "Damn it, I wish I knew what I could do," muttered Shyrose angrily.
She paused to sing out several more notes, trying to maintain Grant's
effectiveness. Enraged, Shyrose pointed her hand at the Task, daring
something... _anything_... to happen. Her eyes bored into the gleaming
metal construct, hoping against hope that a power capable of ending its
threat to her friends would lash out of its own accord and lay low the
Task. Slowly, she began to gain the measure of the construct. Its internal
workings, mystical processes and infernal contrivances were laid plain to
her eyes and mind. Shyrose's thoughts swam with new concepts and ideas as
they stripped the Task bare of its secrets, plundering its depths.
     "Whoa," gasped Shyrose, ignoring the sight of Sabrina and Grant locked
in combat against an opponent who refused to fall before them. She blinked
several times, trying to assimilate all that she'd taken in, "What... I
feel like I almost understand this all..."
     But Shyrose had another surprise in store for herself. What she'd
learned about the Task only convinced her that there was little hope of
defeating it in combat. Its skin was impervious to harm and the construct's
arms and soulforce were powerful enough to ensure that no kind of binding
would hold it for very long. If only there were some way to counter its
force... and just as Shyrose wished that, a change began to come over her.
She felt her body beginning to flow and reshape itself, transmuting and
rearranging according to the matrix which had just been stolen from the
Task. Shyrose's clothing was assimilated and transformed to help in the
endeavour, but still more mass was needed to effect the change. Through her
feet, Shyrose felt the dirt and rocks being absorbed into her skin,
reshaped and converted into usable mass. She almost giggled with the
tickling sensation of the absorption.
     And as suddenly as it had begun, the change was finished. Shyrose
tried to look down at herself, only to realise that she now perceived the
world through every centimetre of her brightly polished skin. And what a
skin it was: glistening, indestructible and every bit a match for the
Task's. Because, in a very real sense, it was the Task's.
     "Oh dear," muttered Kayle, next to Dianna, as he watched Shyrose's
transformation. He shook slightly, profoundly disturbed by the
metamorphosis which had come over his friends. And which, by extension,
would soon come over him.
     There are days when teen angst transcends Oxy and romance and
homework; usually these are the days when a teen discovers that he or she
is a superguy of some sort. On these days, a teenager can really score some
pathos points. Kayle was right in the middle of beginning what was shaping
up to be a really good angst, when he remembered just how desperate his
friends' situation was. Shoving the poor excuse for character development
from his mind, Kayle stood, smiled reassuringly at the shadow-hidden figure
of Dianna, and trotted towards the battle.
     Angrily, Shyrose rushed at the Task, trusting her newfound strength to
carry the day. Sabrina twirled out of the girl's way, spinning to a halt
while the titans tussled. Grant also backed off, feeling his vibrational
powers drained and not wanting to risk the last of them on a shot which
could accidentally hit a friend.
     "Fall, damn it, fall!" growled Shyrose. Or at least, she tried to
growl that. Nothing came out of her new Task's mouth. The form was not
designed for communication - only hunting. There was no need to give a
construct a way to speak. The other Task seemed to relax slightly as
Shyrose rushed at it. For a moment, it looked as though the construct would
not defend itself. Then, just as Shyrose was about to impact against her
opponent, the Task reached out and grasped its counterpart, flipping her
over its shoulder. Shyrose crashed through the thick foliage behind the
Task and jumped to her feet, unharmed. Her pride however, as big a target
as it was, had suffered irreparable damage.
     "Oh, no, Rose!" shouted Kayle, resisting the urge to rush to his
friend's side. The young man stood at the edge of the fight, looking on in
frustration.
     "They can't win," whispered Dianna, chewing on her lip, "They're all
going to die..."
     Sabrina scissor-kicked her way around the Task, knowing better than to
lash out at it with her unarmed skin. Instead, she drew its attention
towards herself, giving Shyrose a chance to blindside the construct. At
least that was her plan. Shyrose was not a tactical genius, but she was
also far from stupid. As Shyrose watched, Grant's last few vibrational
attacks and Sabrina's artistic speeding attracted the Task's limited
cognitive resources. Shyrose ran her new body a ways back from the Task,
jogged on the spot for a moment, and then rushed at the creature with all
of her might. Closer she drew to the Task, praying that she was moving too
fast for it to divert resources by which to deal with her in time. And
Shyrose's prayers were answered - or at least this one was, as Andy Awesome
completely failed to drop his career and fall madly in love with her - for
the Task was barely able to take a step away before half a ton of its
doppleganger rammed it at a fairly impressive clip. A loud sound rang out,
like that of a tinny gong being struck, and Shyrose imparted her momentum
to the Task. The construct flew into the air, describing an arc before
crashing down into the lake for which Shyrose had been aiming. As the
creature left her sight, Shyrose felt her body shifting back to its
original configuration, dumping a mound of rocks and earth at her feet.
     "You did i--ohmigod," began Grant, suddenly flushing a bright red and
turning away from Shyrose, "Clothes..."
     "Clo--EEP!" shrieked the girl, as she realised that a small portion of
the detritus which she had shed contained denim scraps and cotton thread.
Modesty took hold and she wrapped arms around herself, crouching down until
Grant could toss a camp blanket over his shoulder to her.
     "Hey," he said, grinning as she wrapped herself toga-style, "You look
pretty good with your clothes off."
     "You'd sing pretty good with certain personal parts of your body
kicked in," shot back Shyrose, "What's your point?"
     "Guys..." said Kayle, looking to where the Task had been thrown. "He's
getting BACK UP!"
     "It, actually," said Shyrose, "Y'see, the thing doesn't actually
reproduce so it doesn't have a discernible gend--crap, it's getting up?"
     "It won't stop," whispered Dianna, in the darkness, "We can't stop it.
Ever. It'll never stop. It'll just keep going..."
     "Oh wonderful," sighed Sabrina, shaking her head tiredly, "We're
fighting that battery Bunny."
     "Well, I've got a suggestion," said Grant, his eyes fixed on the
recovering Task.
     "What's that?" asked Kayle.
     "Run! Run fast! Run away! RUN LIKE HELL(TM)!"
     "Simple, easily executed, and requires no special equipment,"
commented Kayle. "I like it. SCRAM!"
     Like shot fired from a musket, the group raced chaotically away from
the now-standing construct.
***
     ...pain...
     |Target Found|
     ...tortureohthepainwhenwillitstop...
     |Body undamaged? Yes.|
     ...itdoesn'tstopitneverstopsitsalwayshurt...
     |Targeted life is running. They remain gathered together. They do not
have the ability to elude detection at any range.|
     ...wannascreamnevercanscreamwhywasIbornlikethiswanna
dieI'malreadydeadICAN'TDIE...
     |Pursue. Destroy the fleshly shells. Capture the crystal energy. Sleep.|
     ...thehuntthinkaboutthehuntthehuntmakesithurtless...
     |Terrain is treacherous. Exercising caution.|
     ...yesyesdon'tthinkaboutpainthinkaboutthehuntthehuntisall...
     |Outcome: inevitable.|
     ...huntnopainwhilehuntingbliss...
     |Creator will declare successful mission: Miller Time.|
     ...
***
     The friends rushed as quickly as they could through the forest,
pausing only to disentangle themselves from weeds and roots that did their
best to get underfoot. They ran for what seemed like hours. Finally,
exhausted, Kayle called for the group to stop so that he could sag to the
ground.
     "I can't go any further," he gasped, sinking to his knees under the
bright moonlight. "I need a rest."
     "Kayle?" asked Dianna, bending over him. "Are you all right?"
     Kayle was forever glad that he had dropped to knees before raising his
head to answer Dianna. Glad, because this had saved him from the
humiliation of dropping to said knees upon seeing his friend's face. She
had changed... and the transformation shook Kayle to the core. For just a
moment, every fibre of his being was suffused with the impulse to bow down
before this... this... Shiva and beg her to spare his pitiful life. Dianna
stood at the same height that she had before, but her bearing was now a few
orders of magnitude more imposing, causing those who looked upon her to
duck down, not presuming to stand above her. Dianna's face was still mostly
the same worried, pretty mask that she had worn her whole life, but it too
had changed, becoming as hard, distant and cold as the marble on a freshly
constructed crypt. Her every movement promised to be followed by a second
which would surely bring death to those unfortunate enough to see it. The
woman - for none would dare call her girl now - smiled at her friend, but
even this gesture did not break the image which Dianna now cast. If
anything, it alienated Kayle further by becoming a paradox: a smile on a
face which should not - no, _could_ not - be capable of such a thing. "Oh
my god," whispered Kayle, shivering as he looked up and wondered if God
would have anything more to do with this... icon who stood before him.
     "Kayle!" she shouted, her eyes creased with worry. "What's wrong,
Kayle wha--" Dianna blinked as she stared Kayle in the eyes. She stood
frozen for a moment, caught by the sight of her own reflection within
before jerking back and falling to the ground with a scream.
     "Dianna!" cried Sabrina, dropping beside her friend. As Kayle, still
shaken from his brush with Dianna, looked at his friends he realised that
he had not had a clear view of them until just this moment. Now, each was
outlined and illuminated perfectly by the bright moonlight.
     And each had changed.

[Continued In Part Three]