It's Dark Outside
TETSUYA'S APARTMENT: DEN OF DEPRAVITY
Click. Click.
CHATROOM: 5 USERS
Xtr8272: haha, you're pretty cute
1<3Elves: OMG thx!!
T5UKUYOM1: kys faggots
1<3Elves: rude!
Xtr8272: fuck off retard kid
T5UKUYOM1: the only retard here is you
coolguy42: who pissed in this guy's cereal
"Fucking freaks. Whores can't stop being whores."
Click. Click. A fan stops whirring. Lights go out.
Scratch, scratch, scratch. Squeak.
"...Hungry, Yami?"
The room was clean.
Dark, empty, but clean.
Aside from a mattress on the floor, a rat cage in the corner, a particularly impressive computer rig that was set-up next to the mattress, and a single garbage can nearby, the room was completely, entirely, empty. Ah, and a TV was there, plugged in but collecting dust. He didn't pay it much mind.
...Suppose you can't call that empty. Sparse? Sparse.
Blinds were shut.
Gentle daylight wanted to seep in, but that didn't matter to Tetsuya.
Light from the early sun.
He should be in school, right now.
He wasn't, clearly.
Yami's food is the current priority; a quick trip to the closet.
Again, neatly organized; a couple changes of clothes, and then typical rat-ownership amenities in their own section. Just because he was gnarled and asymetrical, it didn't mean the things Yami needed had to be. Chords and some hardware resided on a shelf on the top. And a stupid cursed sword; picked up by Tetsuya as a novelty.
Apart from the fridge, which remained in the room that functioned as both living room and kitchen since this was not the biggest apartment, everything he ever needed to access was right here in his room.
BZZZT! BZZZT!
Oh. That other thing he had to access.
On his desk, there laid two things; a pager, and a cell phone. A radio was somewhere in a drawer. 'Necessary equipment'. Easy way to contact him. Yes, due to circumstances, it was necessary for him to contact people.
Before picking up the buzzing phone, Tetsuya put Yami's food away.
Important things come first. Voracious little thing, he was. Tetsuya would have order more food for him again soon.
RUSSIAN
A: Not in school?
T: skipped
A: We have something to discuss.
T: okay
A: Bleeding zone. Heard it might be something urgent. A student was investigating it; didn't come back. Will you be able to aid with this tonight?
T: let me check my schedule
T: no
T: try again another time
T: your japanese sucks dick btw
T: can barely parse it
That wasn't true but it was funny to say. Tetsuya turned the phone off after. Didn't need any more breathing down his neck.
"...I'm going out, Yami."
Tetsuya was booked; he had his own plans for the night.
Tetsuya laid down in his bed.
Closed his eyes.
Concentrated.
IDEA WORLD: OUTSIDE THE DOOR
Pistons released.
Tetsuya felt far more comfortable.
Awakening a good distance away from that certain door, Tetsuya stretched his new body. Of course, despite being new, it didn't feel strange. It's like he'd been using it for longer than he could remember.
Oil flowed through his chassis like ichor, and some rudimentary movement helped it to get going.
"Hm. No one's here."
Tetsuya wasn't like the other Awakened. He was different. Special. Never had to leave his room to do the important things. Superior.
Well, maybe there was another person... but he couldn't remember. Probably wasn't. And if there was, they weren't here.
Each simple leg shifted. He spun a little. A metallic hand changed shape; first a blade. Simple. And then into a machine gun. More complex.
He was ready.
And the Idea World stretched out before him; such a strange place. It looked so peaceful where he was, but it could change on a dime as you delve further.
Tetsuya had somewhere in mind; the Student Council had recently acknowledged and ascertained the existence of a Flooded Zone. Came with a pretty simple reason for why it hadn't been dealt with yet, despite being a priority: it was filled to the brim with monsterous ghouls. Tetsuya didn't pay attention to the specifics of what they were or weren't. Nightmare Eaters or something else that sounded dumb. And for this Flooded Zone, extraordinarily weak, yet extraordinarily many in amount. Suicidal to attempt to clear out without a proper plan.
Tetsuya thought on the subject of the numerous entities, and his pace quickened. Nightmare Eaters, each filled with essence and material that he needed to grow stronger. Or whatever. The important part was that they carried the needed materials. His pace quickened. He would become stronger.
It was time to grind.
FLOODED ZONE: BLACK AND BLUE CITY
Towering onyx buildings, dotted with azure lights, as far as the eye could see. Creatures made of bluish fog shambled across the streets, and pride seemed to emanate from each and every one. A skeleton, still in the formal suit it once wore on its flesh, was crushed underfoot by the horde of those made as the poor soul's mockery.
And how could there be a mockery of wealth without the farce of poverty?
In an alley way, two shadowy blots huddled together. If you were to look closer, you would see their disfiguration; small, twisted limbs painted the shape of a humanoid. Two slinking, disgusting beings, like their superiors that roamed the streets. Yet, they had solace in each other. Hard to say why they were huddled together; some sort of bond? Companionship? Maybe they empathized with one another? They suffered too, after all. Distressed and starving... each wanting a single dream to satiate their addiction.
At the moment, they were identical in every way.
The first way you could begin to tell them apart was a spiked bullet that was lodged where an eye would be.
The second blot raised its head, as if it felt confused at the sudden noise. It's partner slumped.
POP!!
And a sudden burst lead to inky black fluid and shards of metal enveloping them both. Sizzling and simmer, both creatures writhed.
And then stillness.
Two inky tendrils descended from above, and dipped into their melted being, huddled together far more intimately, and far less solid. Each pulsed and throbbed as the essence could visibly be seen draining the melted pile, each thirsty gulp going towards a figure cloaked in shadow.
Attention was already drawn by the burst of metal and oil.
SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAHH!!
Suited and masked, faceless Nightmare Eaters loomed the streets, and some in the crowd howled as they loomed towards the noise. Most stayed quiet.
The alley couldn't fit them all, and as the flood of salary-man caricatures poured into the crowded space, the puppet descended from his strings to greet the audience.
The writhing monsters stopped. Purely instinctual, if you could say they had those, on their part. Before the swarm was ready to pounce, it dramatically paused. And as this was the World of Ideas... simply because it was dramatic.
Ten limbs extended from the metal shell as it lowered itself to meet the sea of monsters.
Four tentacles of ichor emerging from uneven holes in its hull; two attached to the buildings above, and two still drinking the remains of two victins.
Four claws acted as legs; uncharacteristically humble, yet steady.
And two arms ended in guns, loaded with bullets of carapace and fluid.
The shell had a mouth, and it smiled.
"Delicious trash!"
The crowd surged towards the threat.
Tetsuya raised his weapons, and fired into dual crowds.
One charged forward; the other had already been charging.
TATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!!
Blue murk sprayed and limbs flew as bullet after bullet after bullet pierced and tore through targets, and anguished howls reverberated through the streets.
That was for those in front.
The unlucky ones fell limp or writhing, and the rest trampled them to get to prey, who they reached in record time.
"AW, SHIT!"
GGGGGGGHHHHHHNNNKKKK-CLAK!
Tetsuya had greatly overestimated his ability to deal with the density and durability of the crowd; for this he paid the price of an arm and a leg. Zero exaggeration, as an arm and a leg were torn off by grasping hands as he pulled himself into realm above.
"FUCK OFF, GARBAGE MOBS! AGH, YOU LITTLE SHITS...!"
Tetsuya's right gun-arm rose to where its opposite once remained attached, and inky black blood spewed from the socket. A claw-leg and its socket played that same tune.
Yet Tetsuya was not alone in his retreat, his free tendrils took a parting gift! A total of two creatures were impaled on each tendril, and toxic fluid turned them and their very core into slurry, which was promptly absorbed - in more ways than one.
Ichor stopped spewing from his wounds, and the blood that stained his shell morphed into spikes. He seethed with rage.
"FUCK! Two didn't have enough life for even one arm!? Bullshit! Gaahh, looks like I'll have to dish out some more then, huh!? SUCK MY LEAD!"
A second flurry of bullets flew into the asssembling tower of monsters, each scrambling over the other to reach the heights of their opponent; a successful strike! Otherworldly gore splattered the otherworld as limp bodies fell to the street. Screams and moans echoed while the impromptu plan formed from instincts and monster fell to pieces.
Yes, the creeping tower of babbling beasts fell apart... and yet some clung to the sides of the buildings. Shoving fists and feet into the walls, withered suits tearing from movement, they climbed ever upward.
Tetsuya climbed faster himself as each tendril worked as fast as it could; the stolen stamina meant more of Tetsuya, and he allocated this resource for the production of more blood! His machine heart worked into overdrive as it pumped out toxic oil to spill from the wound where his arm once connected; black ichor coalesced and took shape into something new -introducing tentacle number five!
Light flickered from ethereal eyes - a monster vaulted towards Tetsuya without regard for life or limb.
SMAAAAAAASH!
One huge swipe connected with the monster; that new tentacle was already sent out to prove its use!
Toxic, dark power emanated from the tentacle, and the unfortunate being already began dissolving into bluish murk as it crashed into a darkened window, coming apart in more ways than one. Shards of glass rained down across the creatures who climbed ever higher, and yet they were not deterred.
Concrete crunched as Tetsuya set pointed tentacles into the roof of the towering building, and he lost no time in his next move.
Stretching his newly singular arm outwards and into the streets below, poisonous fumes exited through vents that were newly opened along its length, yet no fumes left through an opening newly formed on his hand.
He charged his power.
"DIE!"
BAAAAAAANG!!
A flash of light and the smell of chemicals heralded a small rocket flying through the air, and it burst into putrid smoke!
Tetsuya shivered as he felt the jolt of relief from the pain he inflicted wash over him, and that pain caused the swarm of countless beasts to piercingly cry in pain. Each one climbed further into the cloud of the killer smoke as it seeped down lower, burning the near-mindless creatures - granting them insufferable pain, and an agonizingly miserable death.
Flesh and fabric just as integral to the other dissolved and melted away, leaving foggy residue in the air and echoes of screams to mix in the air.
"HYA! How does it feel?! Cry some more!"
"BOoOoOOssSss... rAAAAiIissEe..."
Zombie-esque moans caused Tetsuya to turn, just to see more salary-creatures of the night to charge towards him. And fast. For his next words, panic was his tone of choice:
"ACK! Get AWAY FROM-"
Too late.
They were quite fast when they felt motivated.
GGGHHHHHHNNNNKK-SPTZZZ!!
Tetsuya was now in the market for a new eyeball as black ichor ran down his face. A mixture of crunching and squishing offended Tetsuya's ears(?), and eyeball purée oozed sluggishly from a not-so-sluggish creature's clenched fist, reeling backwards.
Naturally, Tetsuya was more than a tad upset.
First, a defensive maneuver - metal shards, screws, and rebard erupted along the inky black tentacles, wrapping around Tetsuya like a coccoon and tearing into think-flesh that wasn't his.
GGGGGGGGHHHHHSSSSSSHHHHH!
Careening backwards towards the edge, a quick tantrum erupted from Tetsuya as he wildly swung the tentacles into the crowd, and the sickening sound of tearing flesh happily filled Tetsuya's ears. Globs of blue murk were kebabbed onto the variable spikes that emerged from the tentacles, and quickly melted as they slid into dark depths.
"THAT'S WHAT YOU GET! THAT'S WHAT YOU GET!"
A lone tentacle lashed behind him, and stuck into walls of the building next door.
A grappling hook-esque movement occured as it pulled Tetsuya to safety... and shaping metal shifted in his eye hole along the way.
"HERE'S A FUCKING PRESENT! ENJOY!"
A small splash of oily blood and hunk of worthless scrap ejected from his eye socket to reveal a small minigun, newly formed.
And already primed.
Before Tetsuya set tendril or claw-leg onto the next roof, cancerous bullets had turned numerous members of the horde into Swiss cheese. The landing was rough, and yet the firing never ceased. Bulletholes sprinkled around the walls, and windows shattered. Tetsuya's head pounded as he tumbled, or maybe it was his heart- lots of things leaving your head very fast tends to leave the feeling that something is pounding.
Well, at least it apparently did for Tetsuya.
"HA! HAHAHAHA! I'M NOT DONE! I'M NOT FUCKING DONE!"
Tetsuya righted himself, and prepared another noxious attack: he found that these were quite effective at crowd control.
He needed a moment to breathe; a rare instance of sensibility.
A morphing arm gave birth to a canister, fumes and smoke pouring out of vents and pipes-
Clunk.
-and that canister proved itself to be effective. A cloud of haze engulfed the rooftops, and Tetsuya breathed in deeply.
More screams and groans of pain echoed into the night as the gas seeped into the beings of ghouls who had not yet made it to the rooftop ruckus, and Tetsuya took the time to take in the moment- the euphoria he got from the combination inflicting harm and regenerating his form was something to savor.
He heard that you were supposed to rest your body while it heals from someone, once. Maybe he read it in a comic?
...
...
...
Alright, that's enough resting. What a waste of time.
Tetsuya thought ahead about his next move, and decided the best course of action would be to scrounge for corpses and soon-to-be-corpses-that-need-just-a-little-push for liquidification. After all, it seems like this horde has been dealt with quite handily, and all problems in this area are out of the way-
"Well! Well well! Well well well! Seems we have a competitor on our hands... perhaps a meeting is in order?"
Well- ahem- Huh. That voice was different from the usual moaning and groaning Tetsuya had become accustomed to over this short bloodbath. Sure, clearly there was something wrong with it, and a ghastly echo hung on every word, but it sounded... vaguely human? ...And kinda geeky?
Ah, and it came from directly below where Tetsuya was standing. Obviously, as any functional(?) human being with a functioning(?) fight-or-flight reaction, Tetsuya pointed a gun-arm directly below where he was, ready to eliminate the threat.
CRAAAAAASSSSHHH!!
He was not fast enough on the draw.
Something had taken ahold of Tetsuya: for a moment.
Then, after pulling him through the roof, it let go.
By chucking Tetsuya's entire body at a high speed so that he'd be sent flying into a nearby filing cabinet on the other side of an office room, of course.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHH!"
"As you can see... profits are through the roof."
Tetsuya stopped his eyes- eye from spinning in place, and sat his gaze upon his next intended target: and... uh.
A massive, towering man of pure muscle, skin a shade of blue a tad paler than the salary-creatures, and... a geeky looking face that looked like it got mounted there by accident. Small in proportion, a pale of rectangular glasses shone with pale light as they rested on his face, obscuring his eyes, and his haircut was not winning any awards, nor hiding the fact that he was clearly going bald. At least his practiced smile looked perfect? A dark suit seemed like it was engraved into his flesh, leaving little to the imagination; veins visibly strained with every movement he made.
"Who the FUCK are you!? You got a fucking DEATH WISH!? I'LL FUCKING MELT YOU!"
He sensibly chuckled, and then he brushed debris off of his shoulder.
"Kid, I'm the boss. And I gotta say... I think you got a future at this company."
Tetsuya snarled- less like a wild animal, and more like a gear in need of greasing. Still a snarl.
He complained, in his head.
("Fucking joy! Another retarded creature spouting nonsense!")
"Don't be like that! Freakish growling is unbecoming of a profeshional. This is a good position, and many would kill for a job offer like this."
The towering man turned his back to Tetsuya, who was still getting his non-mechanical bearings in order, and walked over to a glass window.
He resumed.
...He did a lot of motioning with his hands.
"Look at what I have to work with, here. Raise this. Raise that. What kinda obnoxious schmuck only thinks about their next raise, and not what they can do for the company? Moreover- what they can do for themselves? Begging gets you nowhere."
BANG!!
Tetsuya used his immense tactical intellect to shoot his opponent while his back was turned for his monologuing- a stunning display of ingenuity, certainly not brought about by perpetually itchy trigger-finger or barely contained bloodlust.
The bullet somehow came to be lodged in a clipboard that was most certainly not in the hand of the towering man a moment ago.
He resumed without missing a beat, and even brought his attention to the bullet! Clearly, he's held a presentation before.
"That. That is exactly what I am looking for. You are a go-getter. Someone who never lets an opportunity go to waste!"
Tetsuya erected himself upright. He was beggining to fume, in both meanings.
"What the FUCK do you want?"
"I have aspirations. I have a feeling that you just may have met my kind before... but I? I am one of a kind. I decided to listen, to understand. Before, I felt like I was just spiraling through a nightmare. But now? I understand, I realize... I am the nightmare. And I can become so much more. I won't just spread misery. I'm going to turn it into an empire, stretching across all worlds."
Tetsuya breathed. Slowly. Not very focused or intentionally, though. Far more rabid.
"Shut up. I do not care about what you're talking about, and I am going to fucking enjoy every second of what I am going to do to you."
Stretching out a hand triumphantly, the odd Nightmare... shrugged.
"Alright, alright, I can tell you're getting antsy."
And then he put his hand on his shoulder, and stretched.
"And you know what? Youthful thinking like that... enough talking, more action... I mean, it's genius, really. We should just get the fun part of your interview going already. I sincerely hope you pass."
TATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!!
A stream of molten, rancid metal flew across the office.
The Nightmare stuck out a single hand. A sickening, sizzling sound of reacting flesh was out of place with the lack of reaction from him. Like blocking a spray of water, he marched closer to Tetsuya. Unflinching, unwavering.
The stream of bullets limply died down.
"W-WHAT!?? Fuck!?"
A different approach- two barbed tentacles lunged, stretching far past Tetsuya's reach as the Nightmare inched closer.
One jab missed; breaking his stance to twist out of the way. In the same fluid motion, the outstretched arm caught hold of the other tentacle.
SQUELCH!
Those hands weren't just for filing paperwork. One mighty crush, and Tetsuya's tendril came loose.
"A bit disappointing on the offensive front."
"I- I'LL- I'M GONNA SLICE YOUR FACE OFF!"
Metal contorted as much as Tetsuya's tongue twisted- a chainsaw-esque mechanism distended from his arm, nails like teeth whirring, connected to a wire track.
Two other inky limbs hoisted Tetsuya to the ceiling, and he launched himself onto his opponent, blade plunging down.
The titan's bicep came to intercept-
GGGGHHHHHHHHSSSSHHH!
Pallid blood splattered on Tetsuya, giving him a moment to relish- and far too long of a moment. Up close, a moment frozen in time as he hanged in the air, the flesh of the Nightmare didn't just seem veiny; it squirmed. Despite a slight geyser of blood obscuring Tetsuya's eyes and blocking his view, he could fully tell that something seemed to worm around under the skin of the blue man.
Subsequently, Tetsuya was given the lifetime opportunity of a close inspection of the newly-cracked office floor; slammed into the ground, his blade lodged into the muscle of the Nightmare.
"That's better!"
One massive swing, and Tetsuya was dislodged- rolling into the glass window panes, he stopped before plummeting into the street below, back against the clear wall.
The minigun in his eye was almost ready to be used, and before even regaining his stance, it was already preparing for a volley-
CRUNK!
No volley, but a sudden spurt of black blood.
Tetsuya's working eye stopped rolling, and he noticed his opponent, proud as ever. Or, a little extra proud...
The Nightmare smirked, and showed off an empty pencil holder.
A writing implement was lodged into Tetsuya's eye, forcefully replacing his minigun upgrade.
"G- GHK- GO TO HELL!"
Desperation is the mother of invention; Tetsuya aroused the unbelievable amount of vitriol inside of him, and spewed a toxic cloud of smog, removing the offensive man from his sight.
For about a second.
The first thing that emerged from the smog, as Tetsuya was in the midst of repurposing cracks in his chassis to vents from which toxins could emerge, was a boot.
"GO LONG!"
KSSSSSSSHHHKKKK!
Tetsuya himself had been repurposed into a flying metal football.
THWAP!
Disoriented and defenestrated, leaking clouds that marked his launch path and oily ichor that merely served to pollute the ground. Tetsuya flailed around until he splattered against the building across the street, sticky tendrils latching him in place.
Several thoughts raced through his mind.
("What the fuck is happening?")
("He's too strong.")
("I should be stronger. I'm not.")
One thought took the most precedence.
("I need to get out of here.")
Tetsuya examined his surroundings; although previous carnage had left the local population of salarymen in decline, a few more zombies shambled into the streets in the meantime, as previously determined by relatively recent villainous ranting.
("I need their lifeforce. Now.")
Tetsuya's brain felt like he'd gone without sleep for a week, everything felt oddly warm and cold at the same time, the lack of an eye was really getting to him, and there was a ringing noise in his head that was incredibly distracting.
All in all, the best course of action would be an attack that he couldn't miss.
Forming a canister within his mouth that seemed extra loose due to boot-related trauma, he felt the toxic gas swell to fill within.
"HEY, KID! YOU FORGOT YOUR GOING AWAY PRESENT!"
Tetsuya, gaze fixated on the streets below, redirected his vision to the shattered window from which he flew.
A few unremarkable burns from the toxins, there stood the Nightmare.
With both hands, he was carrying an entire table.
SMAAAAAASSHHH!
KRNCHH!
Tetsuya's panic did not make him any faster: the table reached Tetsuya faster than the canister ejected from his mouth. A cloud of smog filled the new office room Tetsuya was added to against his will, and a broken table laid on top of Tetsuya's ruined body. Black ichor seeped out of his shell, pooling around him.
Tetsuya couldn't see it; his last remaining eyeball had popped out.
A long moment passed. Or, what felt like a long moment. Couldn't be that long, or else he'd be dead. An excruciating amount of suffering and disorientation squeezed into just a few seconds.
("I don't wanna die.")
Doesn't take long for rage to turn to despair.
...
("I'm not gonna die. I will make him pay.")
Takes even less time for despair to turn back into rage.
Blinded, deafened by ringing, immobilized; but not out of options. Tetsuya saw burns on that pale flesh, and hopefully that meant that as long as there was gas in this room, the Nightmare would think twice before entering. Just a little deterrant was all Tetsuya needed, long enough to make an escape.
The blood that pooled around him couldn't be seen, but Tetsuya sure could tell it was there. He could feel it all around him.
He needed it to boil.
Tetsuya focused.
...
It wasn't boiling.
("FUCKING BOIL! FUCKING BOIL, RIGHT NOW! YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT, FUCKING BOIL!")
...Alright, we got some bubbling! Wait, that worked!?
Oh, right. Tetsuya hadn't been paying much attention to this idea thing beyond 'kill and consume'. But he remembered something dumb about symbolism. Think it was that creepy chink whore who said something like that at one point?
If he wanted his blood to boil and melt, he was really going to need his blood to boil, and was gonna have to melt.
("Think right fucking now. Everything I hate. Think of it.")
One deep breath. Showtime.
("FIRST OF ALL, FUCK THAT STUPID FUCKING 'ROID APE! UGLY, CREEPY, BALD, LOSER FUCKING GEEK! I'M GOING TO FIGURE OUT SOME WAY TO INFLICT AS MUCH PAIN AS I POSSIBLY CAN, AND EXTEND HIS DEATH FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE! AND HIS JOKES FUCKING SUCK!")
Sizzling, bubbling, but not enough. He needed more.
...Higan students.
("I HATE THEM! EVERY ONE OF THEM! I SEE HOW THEY LOOK AT ME... I KNOW WHAT THEY ARE! I KNOW WHAT THEY THINK I AM! FILTHY! FILTHY, FILTHY, FILTHY! LYING, SNEAKING SNAKES!")
Not enough.
Specifics.
("FUCK THE RUSSIAN BITCH! ANNOYING, SNOOTY, CLAMMY FUCKING WHORE! AND THE FILTHY BRITISH APE! HE FUCKING SMELLS! AND EVERY SINGLE FUCKING CHINK, NOT JUST PATCHFACE! ESPECIALLY THE CHINKS!")
Had to keep going.
("DEATH TO THE STUDENT COUNCIL! I HATE THEM ALL! THE 'NICE GUY' SNAKE, THE DWARF WHORE, THE NOSEY WHORE, GYARU SLUT, THE OTHER NOSEY WHORE! AND THE BALD GUY! PUT A HAT ON, JACKASS!")
Even people he barely knows of... all coal must power the furnace!
("FAT, CREEPY FUCKMEAT! NO ARM CRIPPLE! DIRTY, DIRTY HOBO! DUMB, RED SLUT WHO THINKS SHE'S A 'PROTECTOR'!? HOW ABOUT YOU PROTECT YOUR LEAKING, ROTTING PUSSY, HUH!? AND EVERY SLUT WHO LARPS AS A GEEK! BITCHES CAN'T BE NERDS!")
The ground creaks, almost as much as it steams.
("THE PEOPLE IN MY FUCKING CHATROOM! FUCKING DISGUSTING! WHORES, ALL OVER MY INTERNET, AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE...")
The carpet was eaten through; just a little more...
("Y-YAMI... WHOEVER ABANDONED POOR YAMI! WHO LEAVES A PET IN A BOX ON THE STREET!? J-JUST BECAUSE HE LOOKS STRANGE!? BECAUSE THEY THINK HE'S UGLY!? I-IF I EVER GOT MY HANDS ON THEM...")
Almost there!
("AND... AND THE MEDIA! THEY... THEY RUINED ME! EVERY REPORTER, EVERY NEWSCASTER, I WANT THEM ALL DEAD! I HATE THEM! I HATE THEM ALL!")
FSSSSSHHHHHHH...
THERE! The floor... it collapsed! Not to mention, the table pressing down on Tetsuya similarly melted into mush! A hole was burnt through, and Tetsuya plummeted! And the oil spill melted through the next! Each and every floor, melting like butter!
Tetsuya could execute his plan; as the blood melts through the building, Tetsuya would get off on one of many floors! Then, he could sneak away, and make his escape!
...But Tetsuya wasn't finished being worked up.
("No. That's not right. The media didn't ruin me. Y-You... YOU DID! EVERYTHING! IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU! YOU'RE THE REASON FOR MY MISERY! MY ENDLESS, BOTTOMLESS MISERY! MY LIVING HELL! YOUR FAULT! YOUR FUCKING FAULT! WHORE! SLUT! BITCH! HARLOT!")
With that last thought, silent seething turned to horrible wailing. Screeching, creaking crying.
Wails of anger, wails of hatred, wails of anguish.
And such an effect it had on Tetsuya's endeavors. A simple plan spiraled out of proportion. The oily blood didn't just burn, it corroded.
"Well... that is unexpected."
The Nightmare had never once moved from his position. After hurling that table directly at the subject of his 'interview', he watched as the poison gas spewed out of the building. That annoying gas stung just enough to be obnoxious; he'd let it clear a little before leaping in to check on his prey.
He expected something to wait there for him. A trap, signs of an escape, or maybe just a pleading brat.
He did not expect the entire building to begin melting into a pile of steaming goo.
CRRRRRRRRRRKKK...
Creaking is a sign of instability.
CRRRRRRRRRAAAAAASSSHHH!!
So is violently collapsing.
And as the tower of sludge sunk into the ground... it kept sinking. And growing. Nearby shambling salarymen, trying their best to keep up with the 'pinball' that had been bouncing around recently, lost their footing and got consumed by the sludge.
It was forming a sinkhole.
Steaming, stinking, noxious gas filled the air. The black smog made the black and blue city a whole lot less blue.
The Nightmare was partially in awe.
"Wow... that... that's pure vitriol... malice and hatred... I can't believe a kid like him had so much..."
And then he began clapping.
His ghoulish, deranged voice hit a peak.
"SPECTACULAR! THAT'S WONDERFUL! A+! A+++! YOU REALLY GOT A FUTURE AT THIS COMPANY, KID! YOU HEAR ME, IN THAT PILE!? WE'LL BE CALLING YOU BACK AS SOON AS WE CAN!!"
Part of him wanted to dig into that toxic, ginormous pile of mush, and give him a handshake.
The other part of him knew that it was time for a break.
And so, the CEO Nightmare turned his back on the giant mass that stopped growing, slowly vaporizing into nothingness.
And where it once stood, there existed nothing more but an empty, gaping hole- Tetsuya was nowhere to be seen-, that looked like it stretched all the way down to the other side of the planet.
...Well, that didn't really apply to a Flooded Zone. Who knows where it really went?
IDEA WORLD: OPPOSITE OF VICTORY LAP
"H-Hurts. It all hurts."
A blackened creature covered in sludge and metal sluggishly dragged itself along. That was Tetsuya. While at least the harm he caused was enough to keep him immediately alive and give him his eyes back, he was still in incredibly rough condition. Being crushed and compacted by the sludge of a melted building is not a fun experience, and certainly didn't help. Of course, he was alive. He would continue to be alive. He was done.
...At least it was tranquil.
Who knows what really lies in the Idea World, but this stretch was beautiful. Pleasant fields of a strange, wheat-esque 'plant' extended as far as the eye could see, made of strange, blocky pixels. Like, kind of a video game world.
The sky was a black, metal slab, reflecting a permanent dawn.
It looked safe.
Tetsuya looked around him, and decided to let go. His Idolon could find the way back to the Door. He was sure of it.
TETSUYA'S APARTMENT: BLOODSOAKED
Tetsuya opened his eyes. His bed was absolutely soaked. Positively encrusted. So was he. Some damage transfers over from your Idolon to yourself in the Idea World, you see. Tetsuya was alive, well, and had produced enough blood in the real world to fill a small bathtub.
And everything still hurt.
He was gonna have to clean that, while everything still hurt.
He looked outside. It was dark outside.
He was so, so tired.
He was probably going to skip school, tommorrow.
Then he checked the time. 3:00 AM.
...He was definitely going to skip school, today.