NOVEL NEXT Aggro 4.5
Aggro 4.5
– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –
Monday, April 11th 2011
The Docks
12: 20 AM EDT
As Greg landed, a current of air displacing around his body as he instinctively lightened his fall, he took off again in a flat-out sprint, easily out-speeding the downtown speed limit without much effort. Although, he doubted there was much point to a speed limit when he wasn't even on the street.
Reaching the edge of another rooftop in no time at all, the slight blue aura surrounding his legs thickened. The instant Greg kicked off the ground, the aura quickly exploded, a burst of air shooting from Greg's legs propelling him up into the air. "Wooooooo-hoooooooooo!"
It was like flight, inasmuch as the essence of flight was simply the effect of controlled falling. His falling was controlled, albeit slightly less so than what someone capable of flight could achieve but aerokinesis could be leveraged for a lot, considering how versatile the power was. The exhilaration from leaping and letting the wind carry you even the slightest bit was unable to deny, Greg's face splitting into a massive grin as he leapt from building to building.
Acrobatics Level Up!
15→16
Tilting forward, Greg aimed himself at the front of a building and twisted his body so that his legs would be the first things to meet it. Cloaking himself with wind, his feet met the brick wall of the abandoned tenement and he kicked off, exploding into the air again with the help of his aerokinesis.
Arms held behind his back, Greg intermittently shot out powerful, yet tightly compacted bursts of wind from his palms, each burst extending his leap just the slightest bit further. As he neared the edge of the next roof, which was much farther than he expected now that Greg gave it some thought, he relaxed his aerokinesis and fell forward, allowing his hands to catch on the edge of the roof.
Pulling himself up with ease, Greg continued his roof-jumping activities, a grin on his half-masked face. After an entire week of his mom taking time off work for the two of them to spend more time together both in Hershey's Park and at home, Greg finally had some modicum of freedom, far more than he had expected he would get for a while.
With Susan Veder announcing that the trip to Hershey's Park taught her that she missed spending time with Greg, she dropped the bomb that she was going to start working night shifts. The reason being, so that she could be there for Greg more during the day. She had described things as if they would go back to the old days, "before I started working again, you know, sweetie? Didn't you miss that?"
Greg hadn't said much in response, simply smiling and hugging his mom. He wasn't sure if there was anything even to say. Although, he had found himself wondering exactly what his mom thought there was to miss of the "good old days." In the several-year period between his dad moving out and his mom actually renewing her nursing license, all he had to come home to was a lot of crying, sleeping and drinking on his mother's part.
It wasn't a fun time for anyone, really. Although, it might have been kinda fun for his dad, now that Greg thought about it. Probably why his mom cried for so long, anyway. Even now, he wasn't sure if his mom was actually okay or if those pills in her nightstand were just doing their job.
Shaking his head, Greg pulled himself out of his own head, pushing those uncomfortable thoughts to the side rather than dwell on them. Flipping off another building, he kept his gaze on the growing sight of the water reflecting the light of the first quarter of the moon quite visibly.
The Boat Graveyard was his destination tonight. With his improvements in meditation and his general awareness in both Mana and Willpower (+1 to Meditation, +2 to Mana Awareness, + 1 to Willpower Awareness), Greg was finally going to try and create something that he'd wanted to try out for a while. Seeing as how the general display of the skill might be hard to explain to his mom, Greg had decided to wait until she had left for her first overnight shift before sneaking out in full costume to head to the collection of derelict ships.
The urge to improve his skills had kinda eased up over the past few days, after he leveled up Structural Analysis a bit and especially after he broke the threshold for Reinforcement, prestiging the already impressive skill to the next level, as well as gaining several bonuses from it.
Reinforcement (Apprentice) Lv 1 (XP: 30%)
A discount version of the Kaio-Ken for the squishy wizard.
Increases your effective strength, speed and health by 5% per level with this technique from a base of 50%. Does not increase actual points of vitality or willpower. Improved control means that weaker usages of Reinforcement is within your grasp for lower costs. (50%)
Cost: 5 Will every 2 seconds
Warning: Overuse will lead to HP damage.
Subskill: Layer Reinforcement
Increases the quality of non-living items, increasing their sharpness, durability, and hardness.
This form of reinforcement can be used on non-living substances for a base quality increase of 250% Each level improves this by 25%. (250%)
Cost: 2 Will every 5 seconds.
Like, if that was not the definition of awesome, Greg didn't know what was. As it was now, he wasn't even using Reinforcement, satisfied with using Aerokinesis to supplement his movement. Considering that his normal state was now about as strong as his reinforced maximum last week, Greg didn't see the point in wasting the Willpower.
Either way, with aerokinesis lightening him and boosting his jumps, he was plenty strong and undeniably fast. His grin widening, Greg pushed off another rooftop again, spinning in the air like an acrobat, his body covering so many yards in one single jump.
The cloak of wind around his body flared with each leap, Greg having gained enough skill to instinctively burst it from his lower body with each leap. The mana use was negligible, really, considering that Greg wasn't using the full power and wasn't even keeping the wind burst effect active for longer than a half-second each time.
Leaping again, Greg twisted in midair until he was fully upside down, his hands angling down. Fingers meeting the top of a vent, he pushed off, a burst of wind exploding from his hands and propelling him off the roof and down to the much shorter roof below. Twisting, spinning and pulling off acrobatics that he doubted anyone but a crazy person would pull without having the comforting reassurance of powers to ease their stress, Greg prepared pull off one more daring move when...
"Arrrgh!"
In the middle of his spin, an undeniable roar of loud, raw anger cut through the relative quiet that filled this side of the Docks. Losing control of his aerokinesis at the sudden surprise, Greg dropped to the roof in a semi-hard landing, his fist meeting the ground at the same time as one of his knees.
Not even having the time to applaud himself over his picture-perfect superhero landing, Greg spun, searching for the sound of that guttural sound. The search for the sound was interrupted by several other, more varied sounds. Screams, shouts, and yelps of pain from the street below filled his ears, as a multitude of Asian men ran down the street emitting sounds of pain as they swatted at their clothes. What the hell? ABB? What are they running from?
Distracted again by something else, Greg's eyes found themselves drawn to a large, flickering orange light down the street from the rooftop he currently stood on, the first thought passing through his head being, They started a fire?
The second was, The ABB lit that guy on fire?
His eyes widened as he heard the skittering of hundreds, maybe thousands, of insects on the street below, the low light provided by the moon just enough for him to spot the living carpet that filled the street below and the buzzing haze that hovered above even that, all of them swarming towards the man on fire.
The man on fire and not dying, who was now raising his hands into the air to shoot fire into the sky...
His third thought was, … That's Lung.
His voice was less than a whisper, the sound little more than an idea on his lips as he vocalized, "Observe."
Lung Lvl 85
Overlord of the ABB
Title: Dragon King of War
HP: 1528/650 [-12 HP every 5 seconds]
Status: [Mild Poisoning] x 120
As the mighty Dragon of Kyushu, Lung has tangled with the CUI, the Protectorate and the Endbringer of Water itself, Leviathan. A suicidal opponent to face for even the most veteran of heroes, Lung gives no quarter and holds no real standards of honor, only interested in appearances and being in power. Also, if you somehow can't tell, he is a boss level baddie.
Blinking, Greg took in what he just read, a dull look on his face. The fourth and frankly, the smartest thought he was sure he'd ever had in his life was, Fuck this whole situation. I'm out.
For making a very sound decision based on self-preservation, you have gained 1 WIS.
Didn't need you to tell me that, but I'll take it. Backing away slowly from the angry, burning, soon-to-be-dragon so as to not make any noise that would draw attention to his rooftop, Greg's eyes caught a hint of motion from a slightly taller rooftop just a few alleys away.
It was a cape. Hero or villain, he couldn't really tell from where he stood but from what he could see, their costume looked vaguely creepy and rather insect-like with a head of long, thick hair. Or, rather, the insect comparison was what made them look creepy in the first place.
Probably a bug-controlling Master with that costume, Greg thought to himself, lips pursed in thought, and considering they're going after Lung, they can't be a bad guy… or girl, I guess. At least, I doubt they are. "Observe."
[Unnamed] Bug Girl Lvl 11
Title: Queen of the Swarm
HP: 125/125
A rookie cape out on her first night. Controls bugs. Wears a creepy costume. Stupid enough to attack Lung, but smart enough to realize she can't take him in a straight fight and she should never have done this in a million years because death awaits those who fuck with the rage dragon. Also not a big fan of gingers.
Observe Lv Up!
8→9
Blinking in confusion at the last bit of info from his [Observe], Greg decided on how to proceed rather quickly.
I choose life. Shaking his head, Greg continued backing away from the ensuing cape fight, not feeling in the slightest bit convinced that this was a situation that needed his intervention. Even if it was, he wasn't really feeling up to it, anyway.
That's when Lung exploded.
Literally. Exploded.
Detonating in a blast of flame that cloaked his body for an instant, Lung walked forward, the area around his body entirely free of the rolling carpet or floating haze of insects.
That's pretty frickin' cool, actually.
The method of pest control didn't last long, as the bugs continued on their path toward Lung, swarming him in seconds. With a roar of frustration, Lung burst into flames again, this time staying on fire, the flaring light from his body adding some brightness to the street below, bugs and all.
A part of Greg wanted to know how Lung could breathe with the fire using up all the oxygen around him, considering all the speculation that had surrounded that aspect of his powers on Parahumans Online. The rest of him wanted to know why he hadn't gotten the fuck out of dodge yet.
Scales burst from Lung's back, a silver ridge appearing from his spine, Lung hunching over slightly as the transformation began. Greg's eyes widened and he began to creep away just a bit faster, his interest at seeing Lung's transformation in-person not at all strong enough to overcome his fear of an early death.
On the street below, Lung suddenly whirled around, his flames spinning with him to create something of a light show and let out another roar, this one far from human.
The partially-scaled dragon man leapt from a standing position across the street, slamming into the second story of the building that the Bug… person was standing on top of. Greg wasn't sure exactly how Lung knew they were there but regardless, he did know.
She's gonna die, Greg thought to himself, hissing slightly. Even with his reduced pain sensation, burns still hurt like a bitch and they seemed to take much longer to fade than regular physical wounds for some reason. Unless they were a Brute, this cape was fucked.
Greg frowned as he watched Lung dig into the building with his claws, the cape slowly ascending the front of the structure even as his body was alight with flames.
Greg turned around, trying to force himself to walk away. This wasn't his problem. He wasn't the one who tried to fight Lung. He wasn't a suicidal idiot, trying to take on literally the strongest cape in the city. This wasn't his problem. In fact, it was none of his business and he wasn't in the mood to change that. This isn't my probl- fuck.
Quest Created!
WWPSD: What Would Prototype Saber Do?
Details: Save the fair insect maiden from being turned into a roasted cockroach.
Success: + 3 Stat Point, +1 Perk Point, + 5 Heat Resistance, 9000 XP
Failure: A deep sense of shame.
Fuck your shame. Hissing, he turned back and faced Lung with his teeth gritted. "Motherfuck meee… [Inventory]."
Sticking his hand into empty air, the limb vanished up to the elbow for half a second as Greg pulled out a small bottle of apple juice, a protein bar, and another bottle of Gatorade, all in quick succession. Shoving the protein bar down his throat, Greg washed it down with several sloppy gulps of apple juice and Gatorade. Wiping his lips, he tossed the bottles to the side and began to run.
"[Reinforcement.]"
Both body and costume flaring a bright yellow with his newest level of Reinforcement, Greg took off, legs slicing underneath him as he pushed himself to move just the slightest bit faster. Leaping the first alley without even a pause, Greg landed on the second roof and kept running, the cloak of aerokinesis doing it's best to ease his air resistance as he sliced through the air.
Flooding his mana to both his arms and legs, Greg leapt off the last roof with a powerful running jump, his aerokinesis boosting him from behind and launching him higher into the air as he took off like a rocket. The force of his aerokinesis in the form of compressed air shot him up from several different points, bringing him closer to flight than he'd ever been before now.
Feet meeting the wall, Greg pushed mana to his feet and began running up the wall without a single pause, moving almost as fast as he had been when he was horizontal.
He could hear Lung nearing the rooftop, the building shaking somewhat as Lung dug into the structure with his inhuman strength, tearing apart brick and mortar to create handholds. As the shaking paused, Greg's eyes widened as he realized something. He's on the roof!
Kicking off the wall, Greg poured on the mana, pushing it all to his aerokinesis as he compressed the air again to act as a thruster. With a powerful, air-assisted horizontal leap, Greg cleared the edge of the rooftop with ease, landing shakily on the gravel that lined the roof itself.
As he landed, he spotted Lung pulling his arm back, a ball of flame held in his wrist. In front of him was the bug girl trying to run away from him. "...erfucker!"
Ignoring Lung's guttural scream, Greg flared his reinforcement once more and rushed forward. His left arm caught the bug-themed cape around the waist, gripping her body tightly to his as he pivoted away from the onrushing stream of flame. He ignored her yelp of surprise as he dipped the cape to keep her long hair away from his face, twisting his focus to Lung as he prepared his defense.
Thrusting his hand out, Greg screamed the first thing that came to mind at the very top of his lungs. "COUNTERSPELL!"
In front of his outstretched palm, a convex wall of air, around six feet in diameter, directed the brunt of Lung's flames away from the both of them by acting as a diverting force, splitting the fire. Greg blinked rapidly, slight droplets of sweat falling down his brow slightly as the fire rushed away in several directions, lighting up the rooftop with an orange flare.
Ability: Ballroom Dancing Gained!
What the fuck? Greg didn't have time to consider this new development, hoisting the girl up in his arms before leaping off the roof. The bug girl yelped again, her grip instinctively tightening onto him as he held her in a bridal carry. Greg did his best to ignore how tightly she was pressed up against him, mind still focused on drawing the air to him to lighten their fall.
From his place on top of the roof, Lung let out a guttural scream of rage, the sound of raw, animalistic anger sending a shiver of intense fear down Greg's back even as he hit the ground with his guest in his arms. Glancing behind him, Greg's eyes widened behind his silver half-mask, biting down a curse as he spotted Lung's glowing eyes peering down from the rooftop, mouth open in a furious roar as metallic scales jutted out over his torso all at once.
Quest Success!
"WWPSD: What Would Prototype Saber Do?" Completed!
Gained 9000 XP
Gained 3 Stat Points
Gained 1 Perk Point
Gained 5 to Heat Resistance
Letting out a frustrated sigh, Greg shook his head at what he'd gotten himself into, the cape girl in his hands trembling as he took off running again.
The things I do for XP.
Spoiler: STATUS