New Beginning 22: Once Upon a New Beginning...

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

The Mini Rustbeard dissolves into a pile of Mimic Rats, who scramble onto the Narrator and start chomping on him.

On the Deck, about half the remaining Mimic Rats form up into tight clusters, as the other half of the swarm makes a break up the stairs toward Zale.

[The Narrator]

Narrator: Time to take it up a notch!  
*Narrator begins to spin*
Areson:  Ha, someone should make a Wonder Woman reference!

The rats fly off Narrator.

Narrator:  It's a good thing I have on my boots, *he stomps down*, I'll just sit here stomping till these things stop coming.  I mean this can't possibly get any worse....

[Zaleramancer]

I stare at the incoming tide and sigh.

This is going to be a lot of stomping on things. Well, at least I was fairly certain most of them couldn't hurt me. Damn little did in this form. Almost made up for it being slower than a sleeping glacier.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Half the swarm breaks away from the pack to help the swarm fighting the Narrator.

The swarm around the Narrator backs up, eyes on the Narrator as he stomps their stupider kin. Half form into pair, connecting into crude ballista. Other Mimics sit in them, and are fired at the Narrator at high speed. They twist their bodies in midair, becoming drills in mid-flight.

Meanwhile the swarm headed for Zale scurries around his stomping boots and piles on, crawling all over him. The ones who succeed hook together nose to tail, becoming a circuit and unleashing electricity into his metal skin.

The Mimics on the deck are halfway don with their last six transformations, fusing into singular beings.

[Philote]

"Who is this fellow?" I ask the Vault "Something released from your collection?"

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

The Vault hangs back from the fight, and turns to Phi.

"Something like that. If a member of the collection is well behaved, useful, or just plane entertaining I keep them out on this ship so I don't have to attend to everything myself."

"Like me." Cervantes says, not looking away from the planet rapidly filling his window. "Even though I hate the scoundrel, it keeps me out because I'm the best at flying the ship."

"Exactly. That guy, on the other hand," he points to Rustbeard, "I keep out because he's fun. He used to be a mascot at this space amusement park, until him and his crew staged a takeover and sailed the thing around, plundering ships and planets. All his weapons are home made, you know that? Like those keys are just souped up fireworks. I like the guy, I hope he doesn't end up wreaked beyond repair."

"Those Mimics I didn't collect, though. They're just pests. A ship this big I'll never get rid of all of them. You can take out as many as you please, I'll consider it a favor."

[Philote]

"I'll see what I can do" I say as I sink through the floor to the deck below.

I maneuver myself to below where the mimic rats are accumulating and being to rapidly rise back up. As my head begins to edge back into the room the mimics reside in, I release a gust of air and try to systematically divide the largest concentrations of mimics.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

The gust rips through the 4 nearest clusters, shearing them in half across the middle. The nearly complete bodies hall to the floor and begin picking themselves up. The legs meanwhile leap into action immediately. They split up, one running around Philotes side as another leaps into the air, it's foot turning into a spike as it dive kicks him. The last two meet up, and one pair of legs flips up onto the other, connecting and becoming a pair of claws. It charges from the front.

Across the deck, the last two begin forming. One is another Mini Mimic-Rustbeard, but the other seems to have taken the shape of the hooded figure.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

(On the Stairs: The Narrator is being fired upon by a small swarm of Mimic Drills, fired from Mimic Crossbows. Zale is being electrocuted by a swarm of Mimic Rats that have leapt onto him.)

(At the Bottom of the Stairs: Big Rustbeard is still charging Wulf, bringing down his chain cutlass)

(On the Deck: Phi is being attacked by two pairs of legs and a Mimic bot made of legs. the 4 torsos are dragging themselves toward one another. There is a fully formed Mimic Mini-Rustbeard and a Mimic Hooded Figure further down the deck who are not engaged yet.)

(The Large Swarm is completely gone.)

[The Narrator]

Narrator: Not the face!  How many of these things are there?  

We have to a more effective way to fight these things. .

Narrator:  I can't think of one.  Eventually they'll stop.  

Areson:  Oh... I have an idea!

Narrator and Gnostic:  NO!

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

The Drill bury themselves in The Narrators flesh before shifting back to rats to start gnawing at the holes they made. The Crossbow Mimics meanwhile disengage and take fly leaps at his lower body.

(There are about a dozen rats on you. Half a dozen are coming at you shins. So, 18 Mimics.)

[Celadon's Penultimate]

"Oh, heavens no!" The Penultimate's eyes widen, and he jaunts out of the way of the bomb, teleporting directly behind Rustbeard. Still hovering mid-air, the Penultimate rears his hands up, and brings a concentrated ki blast down on the robo-sailor, with as much force as he can muster.

[The Narrator]

A impulse of energy coming from Narrator knocking the drills from his flesh.

Narrator:  God, why do I seem to get the hardcore things?  I guess I have to take it up another notch.

*bent over in pain Narrator regains composure*

Time to use the Lekru energy.  

Oh God, you better be careful you're more destructive in that power.  Things break and random misshaps lead to choas......


Areson:  No time for logic, doooooo itttt!

<A pair of bright red suspenders appears on Narrator>

Narrator picks up a drill, and attempting to throw it, slips down the stairs, and crushes several drills and the beings throwing them...

Narrator:  Did I do that?

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

The bomb bounces right up into the wheelhouse.

"OH CRAP!" You hear a pair of voices scream in unison.

Meanwhile, the Ki blast takes Poor Rustbeard right in the back, punching a deep hole in his homemade armor and exposing his bomb storage cavity to the world. Luckily for everyone involved, that was his last bomb. He stumbles, then adjusts his grip on his sword and swings it round behind him.

"NOTHIN' YOU DO MATTERS, SONNY JIM! ONCE ME AND MINE GET A HOLD OF THIS FINE VESSAL, 'TAINT A THING YOU CAN DO TO STOP US RETURNAN' THAT MUTINOUS WENCH TO HER FAMILY! YA-HA!"

In the sky, the red tint of atmospheric entry begins to bathe the battlefield in a red light.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

The Drill Mimic are completely annihilated by this. The lucky 2 Mimics that survive the onslaught look at one another, then run off rather than face the Narrator.

(You have defeated one Mimic Swarm)

[Celadon's Penultimate]

The Penultimate's expression is defiant, "The only thing going back, is Computress' race, to wherever they came from."

looks up, a faint feeling of dread building in his chest...

(Okay, Vault, if you can, I need us to hurry it up; gotta have time to plausibly reveal the reason Computress' race wants her back, and to build up for the finale...if I can help it, I want this all to be contained in THIS thread.)

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

(Sorry. Don't worry, I'm not going to have more bad guys show up.)

"WE"LL SEE MATE. HAVE A TASTE OF ME ROCKET EYE!"

His eye-patch flips open, reveling a small rocket that fires at The Penultimate.

[The Narrator]

Narrator:  Awesome, I can take time to heal now them things left.  

*Narrator focuses, his wounds heal*

[Ericus Europaeus (Bug)]

CONTENTS DELETED

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[Philote]

I grab the spike-legs with a palm of wind and alter its trajectory to land land next to me. As it lands, I phase it further into the deck, hopefully to leave it stuck there until someone can get around to clean it up.

While I'm busy trying to disable the first pair of legs, the second pair barrels into and we roll tangled together across the deck.