[IC] - All the World's a Game

[Koishi]

Battle of Gensokyo

---

"If you're trying to provoke me, it ain't working. Actually, it's quite a compliment." Koishi replied.

[wonderweiss]

"Hmph. How revolting, for my admirers to be singled out by a single child. Quite unsightly."

[S121]

Battle of Gensokyo

< 20m >

As John approached the Extractor, a wave of grunts and a Wu Lord got in his way. They all began to attack John as he sprinted towards them.

The plasma spearguns hit their mark, but thanks to John's overshields, coupled with the new Titus reinforcement, they didn't pierce his shields.

As soon as John got within range, he created an enormous blade out of darkness and spun as he entered the group, killing all of the grunts in the area.

Next, he created a "Dark Plasma Grenade" and threw it onto a a charging Wu Lord. The grenade stuck onto the faceplate of the charging hostile and exploded, sending the searing hot blackness into the Wu Lord's wounds. From there, John made the darkness dig it's way into the crevices of the Wu Lord's skull and detonated his darkness, killing the Wu Lord instantly.

The excessive magic use was taking a severe toll on John. The blade of darkness and the Plasma Grenade caused him to become winded, but he still kept sprinting.

(I.. can't stop now...), John thought as he forced himself along.

[Koishi]

Battle of Gensokyo

---

"Ya know, i'm probably older than you, so I would reconsider that whole 'child' thing." Koishi said.

[wonderweiss]

".... Hehehehehehe, hahahahahahahaha! That, my child is where you are wrong. By the way, you really think that just because you're 'older than me, you have an advantage? Don't make me laugh."

Then, with the little bit of arrogance Koishi showed in trying to tell Zommari that she was older and had no right to be called child, his sword glowed purple. With one powerful swing, he cut off all vines and sent a blast of energy towards John at a rate where if John didn't notice, he would be cut up within the 5 meter mark.

[S121]

Battle of Gensokyo

John heard a pop behind him and looked towards Zonmari, only to see a purple wave of energy coming towards him.

In that moment, John jumped out of the way, barely dodging the attack.

The wave of purple energy grinded against John's shields and caused them to fail, but other than that, John was safe.

reacting quickly, John then pushed himself back up to a standing position, but could no longer run. Him dodging the blast took even more energy away from him.

John stumbled towards the hole the Extractor had made, tripped, and fell down the hole.

[Koishi]

Battle of Gensokyo

---

"Hm." Koishi simply replied, pulling out a notepad and writing something on it.

[S121]

Battle of Gensokyo

John fell further and further down the hole, quickly picking up speed as he got closer to terminal velocity.

John could see that the hole went for miles, all the way down to the Earth's mantle. At first, John couldn't muster up the strength to move, but despite his physical state, John made the armor move for him.

John pulled out his Carbon Steel Combat Knife and jammed it into the shaft of the mining drill. In one sudden jerking motion, John was pulled as the drill shaft continued to spin. John was physically, mentally, and magically exhausted. How was he supposed to keep going? He had gone three days without sleep, fought nonstop against countless enemies, created two colossal shockwaves, pushed his magic to his very limits, was stabbed, poisoned, shot, hit by a tank, and had his limbs forcefully controlled.

John held on to his knife, rotating in a circle as the drill's shaft spun around, trying to find the strength to keep going.

John knew the world was at stake. If he failed, then there would be no hope for the Earth surviving. There would be no hope for the 7 billion people living on it. His friends would die, or be taken by the Devourer. Perhaps they would be tortured, or worse, if that was possible. Yukari would probably suffer a fate similar, if not worse than Ran's due to her being the one behind it all.

Up to this point, John was the soldier everyone needed him to be. He gave everything he had to those around him. He gave up his childhood, his family, even his humanity.

John gritted his teeth and let out a yell of frustration.

"Aargh!!!"

John was angry that if he couldn't make it to the reactor, then everyone was dead, just like all of his friends back in his universe.

John slammed his free hand against the side of the drill shaft.

(Come on, John! Don't you dare let them go, not without a fight!)

John recalled a phrase that his deceased friend, Avery Johnson once said to him.

("People need heroes Chief, to give them hope...")

Perhaps Johnson didn't expect those words to have an impact on John, or to have their meaning twisted into a message of hope, but right now John needed hope. He needed the strength to climb up to the reactor core and he needed it now more than ever.

("Get to the core...destroy it!")

("Prime the nuke!!")

("Place the bomb in the core!")

("Save them! Destroy the Extractor!")


(People need heroes,.. to give them hope. I need.. to keep going... If Cortana were here,.. she would cheer me on... She would yell at me to keep going... Yukari would do the same... If she were here,... she would probably drag me to the reactor,.. even if it killed her... Spartans.. are made... to make the sacrifices no one else should ever have to make. Right now, everyone is counting on you! Just like in the UNSC, you boost the morale of those around you, just by being there for them. You give them hope! It's time for one final effort, it's time to deliver hope!)

John summoned up not only his outer strength, but his inner as well. His arms shook with fatigue as he reached up with his free hand and grabbed at a chip in the drill's shaft. John pulled his Combat Knife out of the shaft, put it away, and grabbed the chipped area with his other free hand. John looked up and towards the waypoint.

< 1.00km >

John gritted his teeth, let out a shout of exertion, and launched himself upwards with all of his might. As John soared upwards, he activated his thrusters and flew towards the base of the drill shaft.

[Kristia]

Battle of Gensokyo


Nera was tired, tired from battling, tired from the stress, tired from everything of the madness of war they had. Her body had painful injuries caused by the hordes of enemies, but she still went forward.

Seeing that the spartan fell she went down to reach for him trying to grasp on the walls created by the drill. Soon she saw the spartan coming up so the jackal used her energy to prepare for a big launch.

She just jumped forward and let the gravity do the work as her jump arched towards the soldier "Grab my hand John! I´ll launch you up!" she said ready to slingshot him with her energy while breaking the talisman Renamon gave her. The sudden charge of energy poured into the jackal´s body, it was an inmense raise of vitality. ("By Arceus.. she charged this talisman with her own energy? Oh no, she has three of them with her") she thought worried.

Nera prepared a bone staff to use as the slingshot pole so she could go up with the spartan

En route to the devourer

Sakuyamon felt the stress of the speed as she kept going up towards the flagship, her elementals boosted her protection and speed by being the point of the comet-like they formed to go up ("Almost there, time for a boost") the shaman thought breaking one of her talismans. Its energy rushed through her veins and she felt the punch of vitality as she sped up even more to the sky and then to the endless dark zone

[S121]

Battle of Gensokyo

John saw the pole and grabbed onto it, ready to be slingshotted into the space between the Extractor's hull and the drill shaft.

This moment caused John to remember when Kelly performed this same action with him, when they were trying to save Dr. Halsey from a covenant warship.

(Ready when you are...), John thought as his hand tightened around the staff.

[Kristia]

Battle of Gensokyo


Tha jackal fell on the edge of the bone staff bending it a lot as some pieces of it broke a bit, but soon the pole was about to slingshot her with the inertia. Nera extended her paw to the spartan gesturing to old it tightly as they were about go at a really fast launch

[S121]

Battle of Gensokyo

John grabbed Nera's hand and readied himself for the ride. Whatever happened next would be in the hands of luck.

[Kristia]

Battle of Gensokyo

Both the jackal and the spartan´s weight added more force to the staff almost breaking it, but suddenly they were slinsghoted upwards at extreme speed

"Whatever happens now, just plant that bomb, I got enough energy to take us out of here quickly" Nera said as they flew towards their goal

[S121]

Battle of Gensokyo

As soon as he heard Nera's plan, he looked at her.

"That's not gonna happen. The only way this will work is if I manually detonate Mimi. The result will be an antimatter/destruction magic explosion. I'm not coming with you this time.", John said to Nera in a grave tone.

[Kristia]

Battle of Gensokyo

"I may look slow, but trust me on this, lady luck is watching us at the moment" Nera reasurred the soldier boy "Just time the moment you press the button and hold me as much as you can when the bomb starts, I wouldn´t be here if there was no possible escape for both of us"

En route to the devourer

Sakuyamon felt the sudden lowering of the temperature as she was now in the dark ocean, making a barrier to keep her oxygen, the shaman kept going towards the ship at full speed feeling the stress of the force on her own body