As a warning, this is your
LAST EASY BATTLE. Things from here on out will get progressively harder. Not
grimdark or anything, but the Empire won't be derping around any more. Also writing interlude, and another point knocked off debt due to Veekie-tally.
Part 24
You're a liiiiittle bit worried about hanging around the classroom - although the boards along the walls have interesting posters and leaflets on them - but fortunately, you don't have to wait long.
Pol emerges soon enough, settling a blocky bag over her shoulder and fixing you with a look that could be described best as 'sulky, wth a hint of huffiness'. It's okay! You're sure she'll understand!
She closes the door behind her while staring at you, eyes narrowed, and snaps, "What are you
doing? Coming to my
Spanish class? Shouldn't you be - I don't know, off 'Better Future-ing' or something? What
is that, anyway? And -"
"Nooooo!" You feel slightly bad intterupting her, but you're bouncing on your feet by now, careful to make sure your hood doesn't slip. "No, no, no! You can't waste time here, you have to go to Hyde Park, okay? Bad stuff is happening! Attacks! Danger! Littering!" Wait. That guy dropping his sandwich as he ran wasn't important. "Princess Deathpunch is there!"
You were quite proud that your tech had enabled you to find out what name she'd installed for herself - such a pretty name! Yet intimidating! - but Pol didn't seem that impressed. Her eyes widened, hand gripping her bag tighter.
"
What? You sent her out again? Into another- the same thing? Why are you telling me this?"
Making a moue, you consider what to tell her. Would she react well to, 'I might Seal you too! Yaaay!'? Or perhaps just, 'I thought you'd like to know Cleo was in danger!' or even, 'I dunno, I was just in the area, ahahaha~!'.
Hmmm. You don't think she'd fall for the last one.
You settle for throwing your hands in the air and brightly announcing, "Classified!"
Well, it worked on
you back at HQ, right?
Pol's eyes narrow again - just for a moment, before she shakes her head. "I don't-" She stops, biting her lip suddenly, and yanks her phone out from her coat pocket. It's all shiny and silver, and you kinda wish you had some mana so you could use tech and get her number. But you can't. Boooo.
"I need to get to her," she says, eyes on the screen. It doesn't really sound like she's talking to you, but you nod furiously anyway, because she's doing the Right Thing. Good backup! Good!
Then she's moving - quickly, shoving right past you, sending you stumbling to the side. Ow. You're starting to get the niggling suspicion, as she runs down the hall, towards the stairs to the ground floor, that she might be sliiiightly annoyed with you.
You're not sure why. So silly.
Although maybe you should figure out how to explain the 'Better Future Society' sometime...
Oh, wait. You should be going with her, right?
You start running as well.
---
Hyde Park is usually, you would think, quite beautiful. It still is! There's grass, and trees, and benches, and a biiiig pretty lake.
1d20+2 → [5,2] = (7)
It's just normally there aren't bodies scattered around it.
Oh well! Cleo - Princess Deathpunch - seems to be doing well, although Wildstrike hasn't arrived yet. Obviously the Empire hasn't yet caught on to the fact that one of your team can fly, because these ones are
groundbound - preferring to scatter and try to flee, rather than deal with Deathpunch, who's alternating between hurling Balls and sheets of spiked... diamond?
Pretty!
And maybe more importantly, it stands a chance at piercing through the thick armour plating them.
The only problem seems to be that despite the numbers of the corpses lying around - probably some beasts native to another dimension that were herded in here - not only are these dozen trying to flee (and Cleo isn't very good at herding them together), but there's probably others that have already escaped.
Pol is standing nearby, frozen still, watching as Cleo hovers high in the air, swinging metal and diamond attacks with every slash of her staff, creating small craters in the now torn-up grass, explosions sometimes drowned out by the sound of the sirens outside, and a couple of the helicopters up above. Pol looks terrified - Deathpunch just looks exhausted.
You're reeeeally kind of glad that these ones can't fly... and that you tugged Pol back from leaving the cover of some large trees that are currently blocking the helicopters' view.
1d100-10 → [66,-10] = (56)
For a second you think you hear something nearby - up a tree? - but when you glance over, there's nothing there. You were probably imagining things, with all this noise around. Were those more gunshots outside the park?
Glancing between Pol and Cleo, you tug your hood tighter over your ears and -
[ ] Take Pol to look for any of the beasts that might have got away.
[ ] Stay there and watch Cleo - maybe you can play bait to stop any more of them from escaping her before she exhausts herself?
[ ] Seal Pol.
[ ] Text Wildstrike again. Where
is she?
[ ] Something else.
-[ ] (Write-in.)