[April 23rd]
[This day has multiple songs. If you'd like to prepare them now: "Collective Consciousness" and "It Has To Be This Way", both extended. I prefer the original vocals on the second, but it's all fine. I don't think there's an instrumental extension, unfortunately, as preferable as it'd be.]
["Collective Consciousness."]
Kirihara had been quicker to respond that day to a mech-infested city, and knew as soon as she stepped in one avenue of buildings -
- one metal leg the size of skyscraper stomped through a building hundreds of feet ahead; she turned her eyes up -
" - here we go." she muttered, sixlegged beast up ahead the height of a skyscraper & the width of two. Two enormous cannons were at the center & attached to the cockpit overhead, two enormous swords jutting out -
- and it started stomping towards her; Carve spun readied as she glanced right -
- and saw one of its six legs smash through one avenue; she glanced left -
- and saw another two smash through another avenue; with no time to waste, she leaped up on Carve and started riding towards them, figuring she'd slice it off at the legs first. Ahead, the two cannons started to rumble -
" - LET LOOSE THE FLAMES OF JUSTICE!" shouted a male voice from the cockpit, and in the next instant -
- two plasma jets burst out of the cannons and towards her -
- and she leaped down & off of Carve with the speed of light, main section of the beast up ahead but Kirihara peeling left; a metal slide formed in midair, and as she started to slide down -
- the cannons' aims followed her as she slid & slid; one piece of Carve flew back -
- and disintegrated without a single ash left once the jet of plasma hit it, cannons still chasing after her as she kept sliding, hundreds of feet to go before she'd land; she glanced behind herself as she slid -
- and saw one jet disintegrating through the metal as it chased after her; she set her eyes forward again -
- just in time for the second jet to swoop in ahead to try to meet her -
- but the next scene was instant. A metal arm formed at her back -
- and threw her with the strength of a million off of her slide & down; seeing one building two hundred feet below, she winced and braced as she fell -
- and crashed right through one ceiling -
- and another -
- and another -
- and another, gritting her teeth as she hit the bottom and stood again. The floor started shaking as soon as she stood -
" - SO YOU LIKE PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK, YOU LITTLE BITCH?!" shouted his voice; Kirihara swept with the speed of light back -
- just in time for one 2,000-ton leg to smash through the ceiling -
- and stomp her right leg clear off in a shower of gore; a horrific shriek erupted from her as she staggered back, new steel limb forming as the rest of the beast came up & over the building. Above, one of its blades swept down and towards her -
" - C-Carve -" she grunted as it sought her right; Carve spun with the speed of sound to meet it -
- and she nodded as the two sparked against eachother with no progress made on either end, Carve & blade fighting at her right as she staggered left, hundreds & hundreds of sparks erupting from their metal as one spun & one shoved -
- and she leaped up -
- just in time to dodge the second giant blade coming from her left, landing right on it as she glanced up, Carve still caught with its foe at her right.
"I COULD CRUSH YOU LIKE A GOD DAMN BUG!" shouted his voice a thousand feet up, and in the next instant -
- one of its legs rose above Carve & its own blade, and as it started to stomp down -
- Carve disappeared -
- but it pulled its leg back before it'd stomp its own blade, Kirihara still standing on the second. With no time to waste, she started rushing up it, coming quick to the 1000ft metal arm that kept it attached to the rest of the beast, saws forming on her boots as she ran but unable to damage it yet. She heard him shouting "IMPRESSIVE, MOST IMPRESSIVE!" as she rushed up to one section of the metal arm, and as Carve's chainsaw formed in her hands -
- she leaped with the speed of light left -
- and the plasma jet that'd tried to stab her in the back entered the arm of metal -
- disintegrating it without a single ash left, blade falling limp & useless to the ground. Below, Kirihara landed and hit the ground running, rushing left & out of the building, and as she came out to the street -
- another enormous leg stomped ahead of her -
" - CARVE!" she shouted -
- and one Carve-spear impaled it from below; another dozen stabbed through its foot to trap it there, and with no time to waste, she leaped up to the leg and started to climb. It started thrashing as she made her ascent -
- but more spears of Carve jut out of the road to keep it there; behind, she heard its two cannons rumble -
- and the next scene was instant.
Two jets of plasma disintegrated the road underneath its trapped leg; sudden support lost, Carve's spears couldn't trap it any longer; she braced herself as the beast's leg kicked -
- and launched her with the strength of a billion in to the air. A sinking feeling came up in her heart's bacterial colony as she sailed through the air and touched the clouds, completely losing sight of her foe and of anything on the ground as she flew. Ahead, random plasma jets were blasting the air.
"ASHES TO ASHES, MOTHERFUCKER!"
After a minute of sick flight, she glanced down as she started to fall. Another town was thousands of feet below. Once she dropped out of the clouds, poles of Carve formed below to slow her descent -
- but she decided against it as one plasma jet narrowly missed her from ahead. She knew she'd reached terminal velocity and could survive the fall. A forest was ahead of her & the town, and she'd land right at the town's entrance road -
- and a steel sacrophagus formed as she crashed with the strength of a million in to the road, leaving a crater in her landing & concrete still blasting outward even as she escaped and stood on her feet again. Ahead, two plasma jets were clearing through the forest, beast still stomping towards her and thousands of feet separating them. She glanced back and saw civilians fleeing down the sidewalks behind, buildings in their rightful places -
- and one plasma jet disintegrated one storefront to ashes & ashes.
'His sight isn't that good. Would've gone for me.' she thought, nodding as she ran back down the road and in to the town. She'd used civilians as bait before, and as she passed by one woman -
" - enjoy!" she shouted -
- and a spear of Carve went through her all the way from below, swift saw of Carve forming over the woman's shoulder as she shrieked & screamed. One corner was ahead, and Kirihara cut left & around it, still running even as she glanced back and saw the beast stomping in to town. Its one blade swept through another three avenues on the other side, ripping the buildings up by their roots.
After another minute of running, she felt its jet of plasma hit her bait, but she'd managed to get behind the six-legged monstrosity. Steel claws forming, she came up to the back of one backleg, and up she climbed, bracing herself every few seconds as the beast still stomped through town, oblivious pilot in the rectangular cockpit above still shouting - " - COME ON! FIGHT LIKE A WOMAN!"
Kirihara glanced right once she'd come to the beast's knee. Another backleg was stepping in tune beside her, and the cockpit was still a thousand feet up -
- but the next scene was instant. Two saws of Carve formed in the gap between the beast's legs, spinning with the speed of sound -
" - SONIC SHOCK!" shouted Kirihara as she leaped up; two shockwaves erupted out of the saws & blasted each other away -
- and the keen twin ends tore the beast's back legs off the rest of its body in a shower of wires & electricity, cockpit shrieking as its gone-legs collapsed; sudden support lost, it was already starting to stagger even as Kirihara kept climbing -
- until it dipped its one blade left in to the dirt to keep itself steady. Above, the cockpit & two cannons turned towards her, only a hundred feet separating them now; she leaped -
- and landed straight at the tip of one of the cannons. She saw her muscular & male foe sitting in the cockpit ahead as she rushed up the cannon, only fifty feet separating them now -
- forty feet separating them, saws formed on her boots as she ran and readied for a repeat of her kill with the armyman -
- thirty feet separating them, she lurched forward, boots aimed for the cockpit as she leaped -
- and crashed through the window with a stomp to her foe's chest -
- whose skin hardened black & absorbed her momentum completely to stop her cold in her tracks; his muscular grip shot to her left leg -
- and ripped it clear off in a shower of blood&gore; she screamed terribly as her metal leg kicked herself off & out of the cockpit -
- and back in to the air outside; she heard him shouting as she flew, two Carve saws forming between the two cannons -
" - S-SONIC SHOCK!" she shouted; the saws cleaved the cannons clear off again as she fell, hearing him shout -
" - I'M NOT ONE OF THOSE BELTWAY PANSY HOSTS! I COULD SNAP THE PRESIDENT LIKE A WISHBONE!"
- and one pole crunched Kirihara's skull as she landed & smashed right in to it; stars lit her vision as she shrieked, agony filling her eyes -
- and she saw him leap out of the cockpit a thousand feet ahead, bits of saw still stuck in him as he staggered forward, blood oozing. One hand ripped it clear out, and Kirihara barely saw his skin blacken & harden. She had landed in an 3-way intersection, in the left & south section, line of buildings at her right and open road left.
"I have a dream." he said as he started stepping forward. "That one day every person in this nation will have their own Revenant. A land of the truly free, dammit. A nation of action, not words! Ruled by strength, not committee! Where the law changes to suit the individual, not the other way around. Where power and justice are back where they belong: in the hands of the people! Where every lesbian is free to think - to act - for herself! Fuck all these limp-dicked lawyers and chickenshit bureaucrats. Fuck this 24-hour Internet spew of trivia and celebrity bullshit! Fuck American pride! Fuck the media! FUCK ALL OF IT!"
Fifty feet separating them, she dragged herself up. A parked car was at her right, and in the next instant -
- a metal arm threw it towards him -
- but one punch shattered it as his body took the rest of the hit dead-on; in the next instant, he leaped up and on to a building at her right.
["It Has To Be This Way."]
Ahead, the six-legged beast staggered to the left and collapsed, 1000ft-blade still embedded in the ground at the town's entrance. She rose to her metal feet.
"You should try fighting for what you believe in, sometime, Carve." he said, fifty feet to her right & above. "Not for a company, or an academy, or anyone else."
'This guy is batshit insane. Sheesh.' thought Kirihara, and with no time to waste -
- she started rushing left just as he leaped down to the ground at her right; she heard him stomp -
- and a fissure shot through the ground and towards her -
- but a carpet of spikes filled it just as she dodged away from it, keeping her run going, still running west with the beast north; she glanced back and saw him a hundred feet away, suddenly glowing red -
- and a wall of spikes burst up behind as he rushed with the speed of sound towards her -
- and in to hundred of spikes went him; he screamed in agony as the wall impaled right through him, and Kirihara kept her desperate run going, shoving down her worry as her metal limbs shortened to give her any extra speed she could get -
" - i-impressive, C-Carve!" his impaled body gasped behind - " - m-most impressive!"
Even she winced as she heard him peel himself out of the wall of spikes, still keeping her rush going as she ran north & on to a new road. As she glanced back, she saw five cars thrown towards her -
- but Carve's saw chewed them to bits as she kept going -
" - o-oh fuck." she panted, realizing she'd lost sight of him.
Carve's saw reformed ahead of her, and she leaped up and on it, metal limbs melding with the steel to allow her to move faster and with it. She flew forward, and saw the beast's wreckage still thousands of feet ahead, but peeled left and over another avenue of buildings; in the next instant -
- nothing happened as she glanced below, trying to keep her nerves down.
'Where the - where the fuck is he?' she thought -
- and the next scene was instant.
In another avenue, she thought she saw a glowing green light, but decided not to investigate it. Carve turned north, and she came in to the road where the initial damage had been done. Lines of ruins flanked her as she rushed down the street -
- and he burst with the speed of a million through the rubble right and at her -
- but one blade of Carve sliced his right arm clear off with the momentum; the two grunted as they clashed, his gone-shoulder hardening & turning black, his left arm hardening as he blocked her sword -
" - nice knife." he grunted, left hand gripping the blade right -
- but two spikes burst out of the hilt -
- and impaled clear through his eyes in a cloud of red & white; as he staggered back, one sweep of Carve sought his neck -
- which hardened to black & caught her blade like it was indestructible; his gone-arm formed a new black blade -
- that sliced her right arm clear off; agony filled her eyes as she staggered back, blade of Carve replacing her third&gone-limb, and in her one sweep seeking his black arm -
- that couldn't even penetrate through it; his kick aimed for her stomach -
- but a crotch-high wall of spikes blocked it and the two stumbled back.
"NANOMACHINES!" he shouted; his decapitated right arm was still on the ground beside, and in the next instant -
- it flew towards her -
- but the next scene was instant. Her blade-arm turned to her saw - " - SONIC SHOCK!"
- and the shockwave blasted him with the strength of a thousand away clear through two ruins & probably another, decapitated arm going along with him for the ride. With no time to waste, she kept her rush going north, some space created with the wreckage of the beast still, still ahead, but only a thousand feet away now. Her eyes turned back -
- and saw him rushing towards her again, his right-arm mysteriously reattached and gaining speed by the second. Five hundred feet separated Kirihara from the enormous blade stuck in the ground. She noticed all his wounds had healed, and his right fist was burning orange as he chased her, speed growing over her's.
"THEY HARDEN IN RESPONSE TO PHYSICAL TRAUMA!" he shouted, 300ft separating the two, 200 from Kirihara and the blade. "YOUR SWORD CAN'T HARM ME, CARVE!"
"M-maybe not." she grunted, rushing up and to the enormous blade. Carve's saws formed and dug in to the ground, desperately trying to uproot it from its lofty dirt -
" - I'LL BLOW YOU AWAY!" he shouted -
- and rushed with the speed of a million towards her -
- but the next scene was instant. One sawblade formed behind him -
" - BUT THIS ISN'T MY SWORD!" she shouted; Carve spun with the speed of sound -
- and the shockwave blasted him clear in to the sword that separated him in to two halves & tore through his body vertically; he couldn't even scream in agony, one final piece of the back of his skull the only thing keeping him from full separation, one half on one half of the sword & another on the other.
Kirihara stepped up behind him. Something started gurgling as she stared across that barren wasted land.
"Not getting quadruple amputated today." said Kirihara, relevantly.
"...maybe not..." his mangled halves coughed. "You've guaranteed the status quo will go on, for a while longer at least... Urasaria... Will continue as an institution. As an industry. Lesbians will fight for reasons they don't understand, causes they don't believe in... But at least I'll leave a worthy successor... You, Carve. You… er, carve… your own path, use whatever methods you see fit... You don't let legal bullshit get in the way. And if it costs a few lives? So be it..."
"…uh, okay. Sonic Shock."
Carve spun with the speed of sound & tore him in to red mist, and the lesbian fighting for a reason she didn't understand & a cause she didn't believe in nodded as she crouched down to scan.
[April 26th]
Mia got a call that day to deal with a violent graffiti artist.
She stepped up at the front of the train. A liquid entrance had been cut through the front, and in she stepped, conductor's corpse on the seat beside. Unlike most trains of the type, every carriage was only separated by one door, and she noticed they'd been transporting cans of paint as she started walking down the aisle.
'…how were they even going to transport these?' she thought, relevantly, glancing at the walls. One shutter door was ahead, and she disintegrated any paint that spilled on her, freezing the rest as she passed by it. She burnt down another three doors as she kept walking, and in the next minute, she swept against one -
- and a pillar of blue flame disintegrated it; in to the room she swept -
- and saw her male foe at the other end, fifty feet separating them with the floor covered in purple paint; she swept her palms forward -
" - Dream!" he shouted -
- and Mia's stomach punched her as she saw a familiar spraycan form; she gripped immediately her burning orange blade, deciding to keep her temperature low for this one; ahead, a blue spray hit the wall at his right -
- and turned it in to water-wall; out of the hole he swept.
"Worldwide." muttered Mia, and a pillar of ice launched her up & out to the roof; with no time to waste, she started rushing across it, seeing her foe rushing along the train left with some speed over her. Sheets of ice formed underneath her feet as she skid & slid, and as she free thirty within range -
- a green spray hit her frozen path ahead and turned it to acid-ice -
- but another platform of ice swallowed it as she rose up and to her feet there, and as she readied to leap down -
" - Dream!" he shouted, spraying the train directly this time, and the roof started to collapse; sudden support lost, Mia's platform of ice collapsed -
- and in to the train she fell -
- smashing through a dozen cans of red paint in her landing; with a grunt and a groan, she rode to her feet again, and as a pillar of orange flame melted the train's wall ahead -
- she saw her foe rushing away & across the trainyard. Scarabs readied, she ran out of the train and in pursuit, seeing him spray randomly ahead of himself & leap over every now and then. Once she got forty feet within range, a blue spray hit below her feet -
- and turned the ground liquid; in to the sudden pool she fell, second spray hitting the liquid -
- but her body turned white and disintegrated the dirt before it could turn in to steel; she swept up and out of the hall, and a geyser of water erupted from her palm & towards him -
- but he sprayed it in midair; her electrical current tried to enter his body once the liquid hit him -
- but did absolutely nothing. He turned and started running away, Mia keeping up her pursuit behind. A fence was ahead, sidewalk & three-lane road ahead; spraying the fence to liquid, he swept through, twenty feet separating him & Mia as he rushed out to the road -
- with a truck about to hit him -
- but the next scene was instant. Mia sighed as she swept her palms forward -
- and a frozen ray froze the truck solid before it could hit him; suddenly saved, the man stopped and staggered back in to another lane -
- and the keen end of a car smashed through half his body & launched him a dozen feet; Mia rushed up as he rolled & skid & landed on his back -
" - Worldwide!" she shouted; a pillar of orange flame engulfed the man -
" - D-Dream!" gasped his burning mouth; a blue spray hit the fire -
- and turned it in to water-fire, extinguishing him as Mia caught up beside; a pillar of white flame engulfed him -
- and a gray spray turned it in to steel, locking him in a coffin of his own design but flames unable to penetrate fully. With a wince, a careful pillar of blue flame erupted at the head of it -
- and Mia nodded slowly as she heard no further spray coming. Carefully, she sliced open his steel coffin, and his headless corpse was inside. Behind, a car honked at her -
- and she didn't look back as a pillar of blue flame disintegrated its hood. She picked up his corpse, melted the frozen truck as she passed by it, and sat down at a nearby sidewalk. She cut his heart out and disintegrated the rest of the corpse, nothing but a still-beating heart left, bacterial colony she knew was Jeanne's. She breathed deeply as she set it in a pouch of ice, and checked her phone for the nearest Revenant storage facility.
(Mia) "Marisa, can you help me transport a Revenant?"
(Marisa) "what's up?"
(Mia) "I found Dream."
(Marisa) "oh no. :( yeah. I'll be right there."
Mia sat against a wall, keeping it close. Jeanne had not been much of Mia's friend, more of a colleague, but that didn't matter to her here. Jeanne was a student: Mia felt a binding to that in & of itself, and her death seemed to sadden Mia the further from it she became.
She soon heard & saw Urasaria's most violent host stepping around the corner.
"Oh, what a fucking surprise. Every time I get a call, you've already killed the host, huh?" She pointed to Dream. "What, you gonna reuse it for next time?"
Mia disintegrated a hole in the wall and shoved Dream into it, coating it in ice to keep it safe. "Get the fuck away from me."
"Hey, you're the one who's always fucking chasing me around. You and your little fanclub. I don't know what the fuck I did that stuck you up my ass so much, but you've always had it in for me for some reason, ever since *March 10th*. Yeah, you remember that shit, don't you? You think I'm too stupid to remember?"
Mia was stunned -- not because she remembered what had happened that day, no, not because Kirihara had recognized her, or because she had not realized the look she had given -- Mia was stunned because she had absolutely zero fucking clue what Kirihara was talking about.
Kirihara had developed all manners of alternative realities even she could barely keep untangled, to where she now believed several students were stalking her to kill her after fights and giving Mia their scans. Mia knew there was no point arguing about it: no hammer could flatten the wrinkle that had developed on Kirihara's mind, one whose knot only seized when its narrative was tugged.
Marisa soon landed beside Mia, glared at Kirihara as she patched Mia's wounds, and they were off. Kirihara just shook her head, sighed, and walked off. She fantasized that she was able to break both Marisa and Mia's faces until they were ugly like her own, as if a plague she needed to eradicate. She had learned what a detriment ugliness was and how those who were attractive could get away with all sorts of shit, from how her mother talked about herself, Kirihara, and any of the various ex-boyfriends she had.