itsjustcambot | Fourth Theft

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Fourth Theft

[When Cambot catches up to him, Zidane is still a pony, but ...different. He's plodding along the hall where he would have trotted or flown, his neck and head nearly parallel to the floor instead of being held up proudly. Worst of all, though, is the fact that he's lost all color from his body, from the tip of his tail to the end of his nose. Anyone who knows what Discord does can take that as a bad omen... and anyone who can guess what the opposite of Zidane's personality is can take that as a really bad omen.]

Get away. [He's snapping at the Cambot instead of performing for it, but as it starts to move off he gets second thoughts.] Hey, wait a second, come back here. You guys downstairs - you're trying to take over the world, right?

[His eyes are hard as flint as he speaks to the Cambot, not caring who hears.] Get me out of here and I'll help you. Bring me down to where there's more souls and we can disrupt the cycle completely. It will be chaos such as you've never seen in all your lives and the world never shall see again. The souls of Terra need a home to go to, and this world will do just as well as Gaia.

I'll start up here... When I'm done, I expect you'll be ready for me.

[And with that, he turns and walks off again, purposefully. Cambot hovers, not at all sure if it should follow him, letting out a series of chittering beeps that sounds rather apprehensive.]

((ooc: encounter him anywhere starting from deck 8 down and try to stop him, but be warned he can still fly and has all of his acrobatic tricks up his sleeves.))

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[Dr. F just watches all this. And then...]

...I haven't the foggiest clue what you're going on about, strange pony. Monkey. Boy. Guy. Soul?

[He's really not too impressed with you either, Dr. F.]

War and chaos, that's what the Angel of Death is supposed to bring. If you want to take over the world then there's no better way. Do we have a deal?

I'm more of the take over the world by enslaving it to my will type, not the take over the world by blowing it up type. I mean, blowing it up is fun and all, but when everyone's dead who gets to clean up the mess? Me, that's who! And let me tell you, cleaning up charred, radioactive corpses is not nearly as fun as it sounds.

[Lazy. Impatient. Not willing to do his own dirty work. His opinion of you is going lower and lower, Forrester.]

Then I'll just have to do it myself. Starting with here, and then your home.

Yeeeeahhh. You. Have fun with that.

[He nods to Frank off-screen] Fraaaank! I need your opinion, here!

[Frank pops up.] I gotcher opinions right here, sir!

[He motions up to the screen.] You think they've finally cracked, here? This definitely isn't their usual annoying cheeriness, but I was expecting more wailing and blubbering than threatening planetary genocide kind of insanity.

[Frank nods as if analyzing things.] I'll admit, that is unusual. Maybe it's a horsey side effect?

Uuuuh, guys?

It's something a little more serious than that!

Oh, is it some REAL insanity?! HAHAHAHA, at LAST! Quick Frank, write down the day and time! The rest of 'em will soon follow!

Oh, and whatever experiment we used this week, too!

Uh, no.

Its a bad guy who's trying to usurp your place as the bad guy.

What?! Why wasn't I informed on this? I got here first! Geez, you come in with a great idea to rule the world, and suddenly eeeeverybody waltzes in with their knockoffs!

[Squall doesn't know anything about Discord, but he knows that's nothing like the way Zidane ought to be acting.]

Zidane!

[He's completely ignoring you, Squall, heading for the stairs and the lower decks.]

[Yeah, that's definitely anything that fits normal Zidane behaviors. As soon as it's clear that nothing good is up, he goes bolting for the stairs Zidane is heading to, newly-acquired tail streaming behind him.

With any luck, he'll get to the stairs before Zidane does.]

[He's about halfway across Deck 8 when Squall catches up, though he still doesn't acknowledge him, heading for the next set of stairs.]

Zidane!

[He's hoping Zidane will at least turn to the sound of his name, if nothing else.]

[Nnnnnnnope. He keeps walking.] Back off, Squall. I've got something to do.

What?

[Squall's keeping pace with Zidane, as Zidane heads on into the ship.]

Kuja was right. It's all meaningless. What's the point of staying if nothing is permanent.

[...The complete opposite of his actual philosophy. He keeps walking.]

[Yeah, yeah it is and without so much as missing a bit, Squall reaches out and grabs Zidane's tail, only because it's the closest thing he can reach.]

What are you saying?

You heard me.

[And Squall barely gets a hand on that tail before Zidane's lashing out - and he's good with his pony body - putting all his weight on his front hooves and kicking out behind him hard and strong. If Squall doesn't move immediately, he's getting a facefull of hoof.]

[Squall is not really familiar with horses, but he notices the shift in weight, and drops Zidane's tail in preparation to move... and is just a moment too late to entirely dodge the lashing hooves and he goes down hard.

He'll be sporting an impressive shiner too, in short order.]

[And he doesn't care. He just kicked one of his best friends in the face and he doesn't care. He's definitely not Zidane right now, and he breaks into a run as Squall goes down.]

[Yyyyyyep, that's definitely not Zidane, and Squall slowly sits up as Zidane runs off. This is not his day.]

[Nope. Down to the Servo deck!]

Uh, Zidane? Think you could take a sec and explain what you mean by "disrupting the cycle" and "chaos such as you've never seen" and all that? Because right now, you don't really sound like yourself very much. You sound... evil.

The cycle of souls, Terra to Gaia. Clearing the souls of Gaia from the planet so Terra can finally take the world as it should have done millenia ago. Death and destruction are the only way to open the door. Terra will not be trapped anymore by the blue.

[You want evil? You got it.]

[There's a few moments of stunned silence before Kit manages to reply.]

...I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. [Except for the doomy bits, but that kind of goes without saying.]

What's gotten into you? And how is killing people going to help save Terra from the blue, or whatever? Terra and Aqua are friends! He isn't trapped by her!

[By now, she's started running to try and intercept Zidane in person--er, pony.]

Terra isn't a person. [His tone is bitter, almost venomous.] Terra is a planet, the first planet, the one that rules above all. The blue planet sabotaged the red, the blue planet must pay. Terra needs to find a new planet... The one below will do.

[Yeah, he's not stopping for you, bitty. So sorry ;.;]

[Wilykit twitches as her expression shifts from concerned to infuriated. Hey Zidane, guess who's got a bit of a sore spot about dying worlds?]

Is that so? I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with you on that.

[Yeah, you probably should keep moving, Zidane. You may be Wilykit's friend when you're in your right mind and all, but you've just drawn enough bitty kitty aggro to put one persistently annoying little delay in your plans if she catches up with you.]

[Normally he would, too! This is so not him, you've gotta believe him Kit! This is the exact opposite of him! He'll apologize so much later.]

[She can catch him on the Servo deck or the weapons deck, take your pick.]

[It's Link who catches up to Zidane, on the Servo deck, having overheard some of his conversation with Wilykit. He's not a hundred percent certain what to do now, though. He can't fly and while he could normally deal with a flying foe courtesy of some items on hand, he'd been relieved of everything when he'd come to this place. On top of that, he was a pony and only well enough accustomed to the form to get around. He wasn't so sure about fighting like this, but he felt he had to try.]

[Don't worry, Kit knows it's all Discord's fault. She just wants to make sure Zidane doesn't do anything he'll regret once he comes back to his senses. Forcefully, if need be.

Wilykit reaches the Servo deck shortly after Link does and sighs quietly with relief now that she knows she's not the only one still trying to chase Zidane down. Two against one may not be very fair, but given the circumstances, Kit's not about to complain.]

[He's already done that, even before kicking Squall in the face. This whole thing is going to be one giant regret for him, and the only consolation he's got is that this wasn't happening because of his own corruption. But it is still happening.]

[He keeps walking through the Servos, not touching anything - yet. But he does hear the approaching hooves.]

Go away.

I don't think we can do that.

[At the moment, Link is just hoping that the Servos are content to ignore them until they pass by and reach the next deck.]

Zidane, come on. Don't be like this! You're not a killer!

[Wow, that's a lotta Servos. Normally, Normally, Wilykit would be tempted to start poking one of them, but she's got bigger things to worry about right now.]

She's right.

[Yep, that's Squall, finally having caught from earlier.]

I'm the Angel of Death. If you don't want yours to come upon you right now, then you'll leave.

[Of course, if they do leave their deaths will still come upon them. Just in about ten more minutes or so. He keeps going, but he's veering closer to the Servos. Just because he doesn't have his abilities doesn't mean he doesn't have his brain.]

By the sounds of things, that'll come if we don't stop you.

[Link does have his idiot moments, but this isn't one of them. It's obvious that if Zidane continues with what he's doing, they're all dead.]

[Oh, good. Now they've got even more backup. With luck, they should be able to pull this off without needing to hurt anyone. (Aside from the impressive shiner Squall's going to develop, that is). Which is good, because Kit's exhausted and her adrenaline rush from earlier isn't going to last much longer.]

If you really are the Angel of Death, then what's been stopping you from just killing us all until now? You're a good person. You know this isn't right!

Are you even listening to yourself, Zidane? You sound like Kefka.

[...How helpful this comment is likely to be in the long run isn't clear, but it's the first thing to come to mind. Besides, if it keeps Zidane from going the same way he has been, Squall is going to consider it a bonus.

[Kit's words actually... do reach him, a little, and his steps slow as they register in his mind. He was the Angel of Death, how did he not do this before? He should have been attempting this from the beginning, not... bringing younger girls water and telling unicorns they were beautiful-]

[But oh, Squall. You mean well. In his right mind, Zidane knows you do, and agrees with you, but right now? All that matters is that Kefka is probably his least favorite Warrior of Chaos, and that being compared to him is an insult. He turns back to the group, focusing on Squall, almost spitting his words.]

I sound like that clown? The babbling fool who can't even set a good trap? I'm so much BETTER than him! WATCH!

[And that does it - he springs up into the air, pumping his wings as hard as he can, zipping straight to the end of the deck and the next set of stairs down. Kicking one of the Servos in the face, deliberately, as he zips by.]

[Enjoy your chaos!]

Edited 2012-02-18 07:40 (UTC)

[As if the fact that he intended to kill everyone isn't bad enough, now Zidane has set off the Servos. It doesn't seem like they recognize Link from before, though his change from human to pony might have had something to do with that. This is a mixed blessing, as he could have used their previous ire with him to draw their attention while his companions continued after Zidane. Or maybe he still could.]

This is going to hurt.

[Link makes his move, kicking the nearest Servo and insulting a couple of them a bit further away. It doesn't seem to take the Servos very long to realize who he is from his taunts, though whether they all pursue him or any of them still go after the others he doesn't know. Once he's drawn enough aggro, he runs off in the opposite direction from where Zidane went, calling back over his shoulder to his companions.]

Get going! I've got this! I think...

[Any case, he does have a sizeable number of Servos chasing him...]

[Midna stares at Cambot for a long moment with a blank look on her face.]

Really? Again? I'm coming to help you.

[Midna sighs and dashes off to try to meet up with Link.]

[Oh, Link. Your sacrifice is not in vain! Now, instead of all the Servos bearing down on Wilykit and Squall, there are just many Servos bearing down on them.]

Uh oh...

[Wow. Wilykit had no idea that little robots that looked like gumball machines could be so menacing. On the plus side, she's even smaller than usual right now, so she might be able to evade the worst of it if she's lucky... but then she'd be leaving Squall completely on his own against them.]

What do we do?

GUYS! I'm here! I--

[Aaaand Minakopony abruptly stops when she sees the Servos...and the Servos abruptly stop and see her.

...

Ever have a giant army of gumball machines maintaining an awkward silence? Welp, that's what's happening. Because most of them have turned their attention towards the orange pony.]

Uh...hi?

[Well, that definitely wasn't quite what he'd expected his comment to provoke Zidane into doing, but there's no sense in dwelling on that. Instead, Squall takes into account that between Link and Minako's efforts there's significantly fewer Servo's actively paying attention at the moment.]

We need to get to Zidane. He's going to be the biggest problem, right now.

[Indeed, Zidane's still zipping along there, although he can't go as fast as he'd like because of twists and turns and generally being indoors. But he does hear the rush of Servos stop, and pulls around just long enough with a look of shock on his face to see why.]

[And the why is... downright weird as music gradually begins to filter through the air. WHO CARES WHERE IT'S COMING FROM, IT JUST IS. And then, as one, ALL of the Servos start rushing for Minakopony, yelling in concert as they go.]

HUBBA HUBBA! Someone give me a water hose because you are on fire!

[DISTRACTION FAILED. Zidane curses and tries to flee!]

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