::This bastard's picking us off one at a time,:: Barry sent, regretting being Captain Obvious.
He wasn't sure how much effect this "wind blast" was having, and it seemed that he was able to use his abilities in a similar enough manner to when he was on fire. He focussed, and threw his focussed blast. Normally this meant his flame was more like a cutting torch. He had no idea what it'd be like here.
Mud shrieks like a little boy, because he hasn't that level of pain in years.
Then, his body reacts punching out from his into the giant snake.
Violet watches in horror as the snake strikes faster than any South American Constrictor she's ever seen on any PBS Nature Program. Images of "SNAKEAGEDDON 4: SNAKE AGEDDON OUTTA HERE" flash through her mind as she realizes that she's the cute cheerleader type who's definitely going to get hacked to death by the Snake Cult after a series of farcical costume malfunctions and inappropriately timed sexual encounters with the other survivors over the next three days.
"I have got to stop watching that garbage," she thinks, trying to focus on finding Pulse.
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Mud shrieks like a little boy, because he hasn't that level of pain in years.
Then, his body reacts punching out from his into the giant snake.
[dice=he turns on his damage shield]12d6
Violet locks onto Pulse's mind, finding it about 8 meters inside the snake.
As Pulse continues to get buffeted around by separate blasts, she comes over the mindlink. There are bits filtered out by Pulse not wanting to let it be too obvious how much danger she's in. ::God, it hurts. Remember training. Hit it together, not separately. I should be able to fire again on three...::. And she begins counting up, immediately; not perfectly synced with a second hand, though.
Mud starts to pry the fangs out of his body and pin the snakes mouth open.
Violet makes sure the message from Pulse is relayed out to the team.
And, as soliloquy takes no time, she broadcasts to the team:
::Right there... she's right there!:: and gives them a good solid sense of where Pulse's brain is located.
Mud grabs the snake's snout. This gives him the advantage of not being swallowed, but it also keeps the fangs embedded in his body, meaning they continue to pump poison into his body.
Mud liquifies letting the fangs flow through him. He then slides down the throat of the snake in search of Pulse.
As Mud flows down into the snake's body, the acid inside begins to eat at his fluid like body, finding it especially digestable.
Mud shrieks like a little boy again, because he hasn't felt that level of pain for a few seconds.
::Two... THREE!:: Pulse shouts mentally, before pouring more of her Buckyballs down the snake's throat. She'd already readied her concentric circles, so now it was just... letting go of more of her armor. Damnit.
Regardless of the result, she calls out mentally, ::Good job, guys! All together again in a couple seconds!:: and so, she starts to count up, again.
Aegis waits for Pulse's call out before charging at the snake, if she can she'll aim for the creatures head but if not whatever she can reach that is at the front will take the brunt of her attack.
Aegis leaps forward and brings her fist down as hard as she can!
Apparently having enough of being beaten on, before Aegis can wollap it again, the snake takes off like a freight train through the jungle, taking Pulse and Mud with it in it's belly!
[dice=Perception]13-3d6
Aegis sprints off in the direction of the snake trying to follow it's path best she can even after losing sight.
Mud continues to shriek like a little boy from the pain of the acid, "Pulse!" He looks for Pulse.
Then, his body solidifies and reacts again punching into the giant snake.
He listens to the mindlink and attempts to time his attack.
"Dammit! Who knew something so big could move so fast," Barry complained. "Now where'd you go?
"God I'm hoping I'm going in the right direction," he said, trying to pursue from above.
Aegis thinking, or more like praying, the snake would come back and try to grab someone again - would try to move near Violet hoping to be in the way when the snake came for round three.
Mud solidifies and does damage to the creature's insides, he knows he did because he can taste a coppery blood taste mixed in with the acid. Since he no longer has blood, he knows it's the snakes. However, it is still moving.
::Three!::. Pulse calls out mentally once more, as she throws more of her armor into the snake's torso, unaware that she's nowhere near anyone but Mud. ::Try again, on three!::
Having a belly full of angry food, the snake continues off to the south, racking up frequent slither miles as fast as possible.
Pulse's countdown stops.
Pulse's countdown stops.
::Two-Three!:: calls Pulse over the mindlink as she focuses her energy into tinier and tinier concentric rings. She forces all the energy she can muster as her vision goes from black to white-hot. The circles literally rip the bucky-balls out of her suit, before arcing down the giant snake's body.
A section of the snake fountains up, blood and bits of flesh and scale splattering, almost immediately followed up by an arc of electricity that sends another divot of flesh splattering up and out of the snake.
The snake immediately jerks and spasms before slamming into a tree and going limp...
Mud continues to shriek like a little boy from the pain of the acid, "Pulse!" He continues to look for Pulse while his body continues punching into the innards of the giant snake.
He listens to the mindlink and tries to time his attack.
Violet curses like a sailor when she sees a bolt of electricity arcing up out of the forest in the distance.
::Everyone target that disturbance and converge!:: she sends out over the mindlink. Keeping close to the ground (not breaking the treetops), she takes to the air to get there faster.
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::Pulse, Are you ok?:: Aegis screams through the mind link as she tramples through the forest after the bolt.
::On my way,:: Blaze sent back. ::C'mon Pulse…say something. Insult me. Call me an airhead—it'd be appropriate right now. Anything…
::I'm fine. Just get me out of this thing. One.::. Pulse replies to everyone simultaneously. Her response is cut short and terse compared to her normally unfocused, meandering mental responses.
Warning, additional hostiles in area. Unable to sense hostiles due to hostiles emanations. Estimate two to four additional hostiles. Unable to localize threat. There is a pause. Strongly suggest exiting unknown Serpentes.
Pulse manages to drag herself out of the hole she's carved in the snake. ::Mud, you can come out through the hole we just opened, just keep coming this way. We still have incoming bogeys. Two or more incoming. Probably better to stay muddy.::
Pulse is covered in burn wounds from the acid and has a pair of deep gouges in her armor. Most of her armor is still intact, but it's missing a huge chunk from her right arm and left flank. The armor itself is having difficulty holding itself in place, while it normally is form fitting, arcs of electricity, and something multicolored is filling the empty spaces and causing fissures which slowly reconcile themselves in her armor. Her helmet still masks her head and face, though it also has the cracks arcing through it. The cracks are opaque, unlike her old force field, but otherwise identical.
::How do you feel about snake-leather whips, Aegis?:: she asks, inclining her head towards the extremely-wounded, if-not-dead creature. ::I need a minute for a breather, if we can manage it.::
Violet keeps closing on the Pulse's location, defenses up and keeping an eye out. If the other incoming hostiles are more snakes, there's not a whole lot she can do. Maybe try to pick up rocks and throw them? She briefly wonders how big of a rock would she need to fling with her brain to knock out a giant snake?
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