Ongoing: Resonance [Ch. 5]
In the silent hallway adjacent to the Grand Hall, Yoona skipped merrily down the corridor, humming a cheery tune while Yuri trailed right behind her.
“Oi Yoong, slow down, will you? You’re going to hurt yourself if you don’t pay attention! Aish, how much wine did you drink?” the older girl exclaimed, not paying too much herself as her eyes randomly scanned the ceiling.
Yuri suddenly collided into something, not registering what it was until soft lips covered hers. Yoona pulled away soon after, wrapping her arms around the older girl’s waist and giving her a wide grin. Yuri could only chuckle at the girl’s intimate act.
“You must be really drunk.”
“I didn’t kiss you because I was drunk…” Yoona managed to blurt out without slurring her words, “I just happened to be drunk when I did kiss you.”
The ground soon violently shook, causing the two girls to teeter around, affecting mostly the intoxicated Yoona who collapsed to the ground with a brief cry.
“The hell?”
Yuri quickly walked up to the nearest window, wondering what could have caused such a giant rumble. Her eyes widened at the sight of millions of Noises down below in the city. She also noticed the influx of commanders rushing down into battle. However, what caught her attention the most were the monsters that were ten times the size of the average Noise; they appeared like Noises, but were tremendously larger and appeared to be made of black mass.
Those must be Shadow Dons…
The older girl’s mind suddenly flashed to the image of Sooyoung in the jail cell, and Tiffany’s words about her encounter with said monsters echoed throughout her system.
“Crap, that rumble just gave me the headache of a lifetime…” Yoona groaned as she placed the palm of her hand on her forehead.
Yuri examined her partner, and mentally thought, There’s no way I could go into battle with Yoona against them. Especially when she’s like this…
An idea popped into her head, leading her to assist the younger girl into standing up.
“C’mon Yoona, stand up. I’ll take you to Seungri for some painkillers.”
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“Yuri? Yoona? What are you guys still doing here? There’s a battle going on you know!” Seungri stated from the infirmary desk as the girls entered the room.
Yoona gave him a questioning look, and was about to ask what he was talking about, before Yuri quickly interrupted, “WELL, more importantly: do you have any painkillers Yoona can take? She’s got a bad headache.”
“Yeah, they’re in the bathroom in the back. Think you can take medicine on your own?”
The younger girl lazily nodded, distancing herself from the two, and closing the door shut as she entered the bathroom.
Giving a three-second safety silence, Yuri quickly slammed a hand on the desk, which caught Seungri totally off-guard, and hurriedly said, “Listen, I need a favor from you.”
“And… what exactly is this favor?” Seungri stuttered, intimidated from Yuri’s hardened stare.
“Be my partner for this battle.”
“WHAT,” Seungri shouted as he stood from his chair. Yuri loudly hushed him, eyeing the door behind him, “Yuri, you know I don’t go out onto the field anymore, I’m a doctor!”
“I know you don’t, but I need you to go out one more time. You’re the only other Armed Resonator I think would help me!”
“Why? You have Yoona; I don’t see what the problem is!”
“The problem is that I can’t afford the lose her!!!”
The doctor flinched from the sudden, desperate tone. Searching her eyes, he could see tears forming in the corner of her eyes. After a moment of silence, Seungri exhaled and ran a hand through his spiked hair.
“What, so you want me to lock her in here?”
“…She’ll probably be safer in here.”
Seungri merely shook his head, as he grabbed a set of keys from the desk and made his way to the exit.
“Yuri, you are one crazy bitch. Although, I might be even crazier for even agreeing to do this…”
The raven-haired girl followed suit, her eyes quickly glancing at the closed bathroom door before the door shut behind her with a click! as Seungri locked the door.
Several seconds passed before Yoona emerged from the bathroom, rubbing her temples with her index fingers. She immediately stiffened when she noticed the empty infirmary.
“Yuri? Seungri? Where are you guys?” she called out, hoping for a response.
In return for her yell, she heard a loud crackle outside, as if a building had collapsed in itself. Startled, Yoona quickly ran up to one of the windows, gasping loudly when she saw the chaos wreaking the city.
“Oh my god, what’s going on?!” she rashly whispered.
Her hands pressed against the surface of the window, bringing her face closer to the glass. There Yoona saw her girlfriend Yuri and Seungri running across the courtyard; just before the two passed the gate, Seungri had shifted into a double-edged sword which Yuri swiftly grasped.
“Yuri…” Yoona uttered, but then her panic began to heighten, which resulted in her to make a dash to the door, hoping she could catch up to the older girl. She violently pulled at the door, soon noticing that the knob wouldn’t budge. Frustration flared as she began pounding the wooden door with closed fists.
“YURI!” she cried, repeating the name over and over again as if the word would magically summon her girlfriend to her.
After several failed attempts at trying to open the door, Yoona felt her knees buckle, her body sliding down the door, and head drooping. An overwhelming wave of confusion, anger, and hurt caused her headache to flare up again. She grasped her head in pain, feeling tears running down her cheeks.
“Yuri… how could you?”
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Jessica panted as her lazy personality didn’t make it easy for her to scale down from all the way from the top of Hangulia City to the very bottom. She shifted her eyes to Tiffany, already in wolf form and running several feet in front of her. Her attention then turned to the center of the battlefield which was just below the ridge she was running on, where hundreds of commanders were already engaged in battle with the Noises.
The blonde spotted a hoard of Noises making their way to the ridge that would ascend to K-P Organization. She skidded to a halt, shouting to Tiffany to get ready for offensive maneuver. The sky blue magic circle emanated below Jessica as the wolf’s eyes also glowed the same color.
“Ice Drill!”
Tiffany found ice beginning to form around the furs of her body, not clinging to the hairs, but still close enough to stick onto her. The ice appeared to act as armor, extending from the hind legs to the base of the wolf’s head, which the ice was sharpened to a point. Gaining enough speed, she was nearly inches from the first Noise. She leaped into the air and rapidly rotated her body. Rather than landing the wolf continued to spin mid-air, soon rotating at the speed of a drill. The drill penetrated through the Noise in front of her, the monster exploding into dust seconds after impact. Tiffany weaved through the hoard, drilling through at least ten Noises. After attacking the last Noise of the pack, she finally landed several feet from her previous starting point, the ice armor dissolving.
Jessica made it down the ridge, and was now on the bottom level of the city, standing in the previous spot where Tiffany was before the wolf had run off to harass some Noises just ahead. She breathed heavily, knowing that using Mind Energy for another special attack in her state of fatigue would wear her down; she’d have to leave her partner to fend off the monsters with brute force for now.
A cry of terror caught the blonde’s attention. Looking towards the direction of the yell, she saw a small girl stuck in a pile of building remains, though the girl was not in distress because of where she was, but rather the Noise charging straight for her.
“Hey, look out!”
Jessica attempted to run to the child’s aid, but stopped when the Noise suddenly halted from its charge, interfered by sharp rock stalagmites suddenly extending from the ground and piercing the monster.
“Jessica! You ok?!”
The blonde turned to see Daesung running towards her, waving his hand frantically. Seunghyun, in his massive bear form, had his front paws buried in the ground. When the Noise disappeared, he pulled out his paws, causing the stalagmites to disperse into the ground once more. Jessica saw from behind the two boys a tiger running at full speed, Sunny clinging onto its back. Just as the two approached the group, the short girl leaped off the tiger, the latter making its way to the distressed child.
“Daesung, you’re supposed to be helping us evacuate the city!” Sunny scolded, peering to the side as Hyoyeon managed to pull the girl out by the collar of her shirt.
“I am! I just saved this girl’s life!”
“Whatever, you take her to the refuge; I’ll go look for more people. C’mon Hyo!”
Handing over the child to Daesung and Seunghyun, Hyoyeon made her way to the short girl. Sunny hastily mounted the tiger, and the two hurriedly ran off across the battlefield.
“Good luck, Sica!” Daesung said, as the group began to make its way to the South Gate of the city. Jessica could only nod before returning her focus on her partner’s battle movements.
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On the other side of the battlefield, Resonators were collapsing left and right. The sole reason of this was because the Shadow Dons were more in numbers around the area than the opposite side. Seungyeon knew this well, as she ran across the road, firing multiple times at a Shadow Don with Jiyoung as a machine gun. Black mass extended from the body of the ghastly monster, the outstretched limb dangerously flung at Seungyeon. She evasively ducked behind a piece of a broken wall, hearing the deafening noise of the club pound into the ground.
Back pressed against the concrete, Seungyeon pointed the barrel of the gun in the air, finger hovering over the trigger as she tried to peer over the edge of the wall.
Unni, watch out! Jiyoung frantically warned.
She swirled her head around to see a Noise inches away from her. The monster yowled ferociously as it readied its claws.
“Shit!”
Seungyeon tried to aim at the Noise, almost pulling the trigger before a blur suddenly zoomed across her vision. The monster howled in agony as it found itself split into two before evaporating. Looking up, the older girl merely smirked as she stood up.
“Well, well, if it isn’t Kwon Yuri. I believe the last time we met was when you dumped a bucket of cold water on my head as your graduation prank.”
“Damn, you still remember that?” Yuri chuckled as she twirled the sword in her hand.
Ugh Yuri, could you not do that? I’m getting motion sickness… Seungri complained.
“Seungri? What are you doing out here? Shouldn’t you be providing medical aid for the wounded?”
I should be, but Yuri insisted on helping her out with this fight.
The two commanders immediately leaped to the side when another black mass attempted to pummel them, the Shadow Don crushing the wall rather than them. Yuri found herself shaking at the sight of the gargantuan beast that loomed over her.
Don’t show your fear to it Yuri, or you’ll wind up crazed like that Sooyoung. Seungri reminded.
Vigorously shaking her head, Yuri readied the sword, grunting as she sliced through the black mass of the Shadow Don’s flailing limb. A disturbing growl erupted from the beast, but it soon stopped as the area of the damaged limb soon grew back, the black mass becoming larger than it previously was. Seungyeon ducked from the next attack, lowering her head as the monster dangerously whirled the spiked mass over her. In a split second, Seungyeon recovered from the dodge and raised her machine gun, firing multiple rounds. Dozens of energy bullets ripped through the Shadow Don, leaving the beast filled with holes. However, the holes quickly disappeared as more black mass filled the emptiness.
“How the hell are we going to defeat this thing?! It just keeps regenerating as we hit it!” Yuri exclaimed, as she swiftly dodged an arrow of black mass, while viciously cutting an approaching Noise in two.
Seungyeon eyed the ground where the Shadow Don stood, smirking when she found what she was looking for: its shadow. She made a mad dash to where Yuri was holding her ground.
“Yuri, I need you to keep slashing at the Shadow Don. Do not stop at all costs; we need to eliminate as much of its body as we can.”
The younger girl nodded, and leaped into battle. She swung the sword five times, taking out the entire Shadow Don’s extended limb. The beast howled in pain, urgently trying to regenerate more black mass.
“Let’s see how much power you got, Seungri!”
Yuri lifted the sword into the air so that it was perpendicular to the ground. The blade soon started glowing, the light illuminating the surrounding area. She lurched the sword forward with all her might, as a wave of blinding light protruded from the blade and slashed the Shadow Don right in the center of its body. The monster emitted a blood-curling cry, only little remained of the black mass.
Seungyeon carefully examined the injured Shadow Don’s shadow. She flinched when the shadow revealed a white globe of light in its center.
There it is!
The older girl lunged from her spot, shooting at oncoming Noises along the way.
“Jiyoung, Shotgun!”
The machine gun in her hand glimmered, soon forming into a shot gun. Timing herself, Seungyeon leaped into the air as she ran. Her foot planted itself onto a charging Noise, which she used as a stepping stone so that she traveled higher into the air. She landed onto the ground where the Shadow Don’s shadow loomed, her body hovering over the ball of light. Seungyeon placed the shotgun’s barrel onto the sphere.
“Die!”
The globe exploded into particles as she fired. A blood-curdling cry transmitted from the Shadow Don, its body soon de-materializing. Seungyeon swallowed in air as Yuri ran up to her, eyes wide with amazement.
“How did you do that?!”
It took a second for the older girl to answer as she tried to catch her breath. “The black mass is not the Shadow Don’s real body; it’s just a punching bag that it can regenerate. Its real form is its shadow, the source of the black mass. When it loses too much black mass in a short amount of time, the shadow reveals its heart, the ball of light, to speed up regeneration. You kill the heart, you kill the beast.”
Yuri was about to spew out her ramble of excited words, when another Shadow Don trampled by them. The younger girl readied herself for more fighting, but she realized the monster did not stop its charge. Looking at the direction it was heading, Yuri gasped when she saw her blonde friend in its path.
Starting up in a dash, Yuri shouted, “Jessica! Look out!”
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Jessica watched her wolf partner from a distance who was engaged in battle, when she heard a faint shout. Turning to the direction of the voice, her breath hitched when she found a Shadow Don looming over her. She backed away a few paces, stunned from the enormous monster that towered above her. The blonde was about to call out to her partner, the magic circle beginning to form beneath her. However, her mouth hung open, unable to shout out, and the magic circle only formed half-way.
What the hell? I can’t move!”
She tried to move her arm, but she couldn’t. She tried to scream, but she couldn’t. Peering down, Jessica shockingly realized that her shadow was jointed with the Shadow Don’s shadow; she had become possessed.
Taking advantage of the situation, the Shadow Don produced an arm of black mass, the ends sharpened with claws.
Tiffany whirled around after finishing off a Noise to look for her partner. She felt something drop inside her when she found Jessica unarmed and defenseless against a Shadow Don.
Jessica! The wolf cried as she raced to her partner, desperate to save her.
The monster lifted its massive claw into the air, taking full aim on the blonde. Jessica felt weak, unable to move or to even scream. The only thing she could do was to close her eyes and await her death. The claw came hurtling towards her, but it never made contact with her. Jessica didn’t open her eyes until she heard a loud thud on the right side of her. Looking to her right, the blonde’s eyes widened in deep horror when she recognized the lump on the ground as her partner, Tiffany.
She soon found herself freed when Yuri had suddenly flanked the Shadow Don. Jessica immediately ran to the limp wolf. She felt hot tears trickle down her face, her hand hovering over the gash that ran across Tiffany’s body. Blood was quickly pouring out of the wound, forming a puddle under the body.
“God no…” Jessica uttered, as she delicately placed a hand on Tiffany’s head. She felt her heart aching immensely; the pain was unbearable. She felt as if the pain would destroy her from the inside out, and the only way to release this pain was to simply scream.
“TIFFANY!!!”
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Super late update, I know, but hey, at least I finally updated right? :D Hopefully the next one won't take as long lol.
Penny for your thoughts? :3