Bombs Away! (Litmus Test AT SPLIT)

"You're thinking about it too much." She'd say simply, tapping stray ashes off her smoke. It wouldn't ever be acceptable in his eyes; her words had merely intended to convey the absent need for urgency. People like Marrow and Russ weren't in danger. The girl stared at Russ strangely as he declared the negatives of smoking, perhaps unaware that basic chemicals couldn't harm an enhanced person's lungs. "Mhm." While this was the perfect chance for most people to make a witty reply, Marrow didn't have the need (or creativity) to do so.

Russ found the energy to spring back into action, Marrow anticipating some sort of action in response to her apparent murderous intent. The quad arms were back. A little annoying, but nothing she couldn't handle. Her grip on the blade loosened, allowing it to be disarmed and dissolve into nothingness. Marrow had already proven herself to be far more skilled than Russ, and even as he tried to exploit a perceived weakness, she stood firm. The first set of punches met hardened ink as Marrow whipped it up from the floor, reinforced to an impossibly hard point by an influx of energy. Continuing her defense, the hybrid evaded the secondary set by a hair - Russ' upper fist grazing her chin.

Pushing the initiative, Marrow moved to plant a gut punch square in Russ' stomach to disorientate him, following it by rushing IN instead of kiting away from his arms' reach. Despite her slightly smaller size, the criminal aimed to harshly grab her enemy by his throat, lifting him up for a split second before THROWING him into the ship's floor with enough force to send him through to the one below. "I didn't plan on it."

It appears things are progressively looking grim for the happy-go-lucky blue-haired Saiyan as a whole, not only does Rosy seem to be immune from his incessant babbling, she learned to adapt to his four-arms style of combat and countered effectively. Either Russ's performance is getting sloppy or his attacks are becoming too predictable, maybe he should've thrown some kicks in, or at least bob and weave. Her hand clutched his neck threatening to sever the essential link between his lungs and oxygen. He could easily break free and counterattack, but he was too dazed from a punch to the gut to make such an attempt, thankfully she isn't interested in taking his life the easy way and slammed him through the floor.

A loud thud can be heard from below, Russ's body smacked the lower floor, stunning him for about three seconds. He sat up rubbing his neck to ease the pain and groaned, there are finger marks on each side of his neck, he wouldn't know that unless he looked in a mirror. Oh, how he longed to take a well-deserved rest in the ship's bedrooms but reality wouldn't allow that, reminding Russ to get right back into the fight. The young adult sensed a newcomer approaching the combatants and he is almost relieved someone finally came down here but skepticism had its way. He didn't know if they are on his side or Rosy's and it's worth investigating.

He leaped upwards through the hole and landed on the ground, he saw a human calling out to the murderer and then he blurted out her name, something Russ sought after when they first started fighting. "Marci huh? I thought you look more like a Margaret." he lied as he quipped, it may not be her real name at all given the other guy isn't sure himself but it's a start.

The dude pleaded with Marci to stop what she was doing and disarm the bomb, confirming he's not here to cause trouble and that's great. Russ isn't too keen about what he said right after, taking her elsewhere to lay low without facing consequences didn't sit right with him. Those people she killed lost their lives for no reason, she had no right to take them away from their loved ones. Russ was about to protest but kept his mouth shut, it seems these two have history and the last thing he needed is for this guy to turn against him due to familiarity or association. He suspected he was the one who "Believe me I tried to talk her out of it and she wouldn't budge" he shrugged his shoulders. He did make an effort to beg her to stop and all she did was have a smoke.

"The good news is if the bomb goes off we'll survive, we're too strong for the blast to kill us" there lies a silver lining of hope in all this carnage. It's taking Marci's words at face value sure though he has a hunch she is not likely to lie "The bad news is the average joes will still die and we lose Battle Island, a word about the incident will spread all over the news, eventually it will reach the president and he will investigate what happened here and all of us will be in a load of trouble." stating as a matter of fact.

Marrow questions why he's still on the ship, saying he should be dead or gone. "Yeah, I probably should. Guess I'm a little more stubborn than you gave me credit for! Heh... Heh..." Yogu chokes and coughs up another glob of blood onto the floor. "Ya know... I really hate swords now. Used to think they were cool." Discussion of his newfound dislike of swords didn't seem to hold the murderer's attention for long.

To his surprise, she was giving him an out again. An out that, despite what that voice in his head was telling him, he wasn't going to take. Instead, he offers her help. The blue-haired guy pops back up, much to Yogu's relief. The kid's senses were rattled. For all he knew, the guy was killed when he went crashing through the floor. Yogu takes a moment to focus back up and get a sense of Russ' power while Marrow tells him to give it up on the peaceful resolution. She had a point, it was ultimately a wholly unrealistic notion. As far removed from the reality of the situation as Yogu felt in the disorienting haze caused by his wound. His newfound ally seconds his kind-of-but-not-really friend-turned-foe's notion of giving up on talking out of this.

Russ reassured Yogu that if the bomb went off they wouldn't be disintegrated. Only the weaker people on the ship. While there was a slight bit of relief knowing that he would, apparently, not get blown to bits, the part about the president finding out about this and launching an investigation was a problem. There was also that part about the weaker people of the ship totally getting annihilated by the blast, which should probably have been the first thing to come to mind as the major problem. 

Hearing Russ casually mention the involvement of the President in this hypothetical post-explosion investigation shocks Yogu. Even still, he found himself being surprised by the gravity of the situation. Marrow seemed to revel in the idea of everyone being branded as criminals with her. It was clear now that the fight was about to start up again, and Yogu had no clue what to do, other than of course do everything in his power to stop that bomb. He could tell by the tension in the room that being of any use was far outside of his limits. At best, he could be a punching bag long enough for the blue-haired one to do something. He looks past Marrow and over at the guy that would hopefully be getting him out of there alive. Yogu felt that being brutally honest with Russ was the best way to go about this, "Hey man, I really hope you got somethin' good up your sleeve 'cause I got, like, nothing. ...W-What's with the extra arms, by the way? Is that just a thing people can do?" Weird.

That wasn't entirely true. Yogu having nothing, I mean. Russ' extra arms was definitely weird. Back to the point, Yogu did have an attack for times like these. Bad wound, bomb nearby, running into a fight he knew from previous experience he couldn't win. Yeah. It felt like the time for a last resort. With any luck, if he was able to actually use the technique it might give Russ some kind of opening to finish the fight.

Yogu's face becomes somber, him now coming to terms with the fact that what he'd thought of Marrow really had been wrong. She was no friend. There was no connection, regardless of how small of one he'd imagined there was, even that didn't exist. He accepted now that even the hesitation she'd shown earlier came from some sort of pity more than anything else. She was just some remorseless killer. "I would've tried to help you run and hide. I know it probably would've just dragged out what you're bringing down on yourself. But yeah, I would've been complicit in what you've done if you just tried doing the right thing one time and disarmed the stupid friggin' bomb! If you just tried to stop! It ain't like I'm afraid of runnin' from the law! I know it sounds stupid and pointless now that you've gone as far as you have already, but why couldn't you have just tried, Marci?!" There was a hollowness to his words, Yogu knowing now that any attempts to sway her were meaningless and ridiculous gestures. More than anything, his words were fluff to buy him time for his attack and for Russ to figure out his next move.

Yogu's hair begins to stand on end, and a low electrical hum could be heard coming from his chest, his last resort beginning to charge.

---

Yogu's getting ready to do his funni big move

KP: 6/6
MP: 5/6 -> 6/6
Damage: 124%

Total WC: 3,743

Why couldn't she have just tried? "You know the answer to that already. Now, stop stalling and attack me already, if that's what your grand plan is." She had no idea WHY her faux allies were so wrapped up in fighting the singular Saiyan outside - if they were actually trying, he'd have been long gone by now. And yet none of them had come to her aid, even with Yogu slinking away to join Russ' side. The boy wasn't powerful. That didn't matter. She had started multiple legs down on Russ. Fought and clawed her way with skill and grit, bringing them to a standstill. And now he received an extra warm body to distract her for free. What was supposed to be a quick mission had turned into a slog, and even the people who weren't trying to stop her certainly weren't helping.

Russ' sudden four-armed barrage of blasts forced a defensive response, Marrow's lips curling into a half-snarl as she raised another wall of inky energy to protect herself. She needed something. An advantage to leverage against the now unfavorable odds. "If you kill or wound me too grievously, the bomb is rigged to detonate early." It was a bluff, but one filled with Marrow's ice-cold confidence and demeanor that didn't betray a single hint of falsehood. "Of course, it wouldn't be enough to destroy the entire island, but seventy percent is large enough to wipe out most of the people you're trying to save."

The girl formed a dagger, curved tip resting upside-down on the edge of her finger as if she were playing. "And I can't imagine you would want to test if that's true or not by going all-out on me, do you?" She only needed to buy time. Whether that was to make an escape against the increasingly tricky odds or for one of the battle-drunk idiots on 'her' side to finally wander over to help.

The ceaseless onslaught of ki blast reached an endpoint, Marci used her irritating ink to create a vertical solid pillar to absorb all of the projectiles. Disappointingly Russ didn't get to inflict any sort of pain on the sociopathic murderer, however, it was never his intention to do so. Russ is trying to buy time for Yogu to prepare a powerful attack and he succeeded. If he wasn't out of breath he might have grinned. Evidence of his plan working so far is Marci claiming if they wound or kill her the bomb will explode taking seventy percent of the island with it. It's possible Marci established a link between herself and the device as he didn't know the full extent of her powers but none of it adds up. First of all, if the bomb REALLY was going to blow up prematurely from heavy-handed injury or death, she could've mentioned it sooner in their fight.

Secondly, Marci was already hurt before he officially met her, even more from their ongoing battle and the bomb didn't explode so far. Lastly, she demanded Yogu to attack her and then suddenly advised against them going all out after Russ formulated a plan, if that wasn't a bluff then he doesn't know what is. Russ looked at Yogu in awe as sparks of electricity course through the human's arms in a raw display of power, he condensed the electricity into a singular bolt of lightning and hurled it towards their target. Yogu yelled at him to do something and Russ quietly nodded, holding up his end of the plan the boy extended a right lower arm sideways, and a yellow energy sword in the shape of a "Z" matching the currency logo is created in the palm of his hand.

He would've used a stamina-effective technique to save energy but it's time for Marci to witness something different "Actually, I do wanna test that theory and don't worry I'm not going all out." he half lied. A wide smirk curved upwards as he tightens his hold on the handle of the sword and sprinted toward Marci and swiped the man-made weapon across her chest once he got within striking distance.

It felt like it was going to work for a second there. Whether that was because for a second he was able to actually keep up, or some lie he was telling himself to feel better about the fact, it didn't matter. This was the result of Yogu giving it his all. After a year and a half of trials and tribulations, all he had to show for it was a few seconds of fight before giving up in an instant. Just like everything else in his life, to continue was too much effort for the boy. Was that it? Did he just not have it in him? Was he just incapable of putting in the effort to be like the people that flew and shot lasers from their hands? Were his attempts only some pathetic emulation, an offense to the legacy left by his grandfather? Perhaps it didn't matter how much effort he put in. Maybe he just didn't have that special X factor everyone else brawling on the ship did.

Yet again, these thoughts didn't matter.

Because he was dead.

At least, that's what it felt like. That blade of ink carved him the hell up, after all. Everything went black, at least for the moment. Then his eyes opened and all the pain came flooding back to him. He was in a pile on the ground in the rubble of a wall that had crumpled like aluminum. The groggy confusion began to wear off when he looked down at himself, his clothes soaked with his own blood. Every breath felt like fire in his lungs. Every minute movement caused some new place to begin bleeding.

"At least Russ got some good hits in... Heh heh..." Yogu looks up, once more his naivete getting the better of him, and the childish image of Russ standing tall over a beaten down Marrow, holding the defused bomb in his hands plays in the boy's concussed mind. That thought is shattered when he sees Marrow, as fine as ever, clashing swords with Russ, who said something about not going all out.

What he'd done was meaningless. His struggles were no more than a Z-plot in the lives of far more powerful, impactful people. This thought is the first tangible thing Yogu's able to grab onto, the haze starting to clear. He takes a deep, shuddering breath and begins to rise. "N-Not done... Yet..." He quietly says in a wheezing breath. At this point, being this bloody shuddering husk of a person was his new normal. He fumbles around, leaning up against a wall near them. He screams so they can hear him this time, "H-HEY! RUSS! YA PRICK! Why didn't you just go all out?! Where was the killshot?! Wh-What the hell happened to the plan, man?" His voice breaks and tears begin to well up. He stumbles away from the wall and puts his fists up at Marrow, "Gonna... Stop you..."

Spite. That's what was keeping him standing and breathing. Pure spite.

---

Yogu broken. haha what a nerd.

He eats Swatch Blade and takes 62% damage, like a chump.

KP: 0/6 -> 2/6
MP: 0/6
Damage: 124% -> 186%

Total WC: 4,664