whitehairedprettyboy | 02 $$ [action for anywhere] (fourth wall!)

[It's all the same with people like this. They are all bark and no bite, and when they're down they'll beg and plead that their own life be spared. Just the way Valmont says that fills him with anger, his fingers curling slightly as the pressure on his chest increases and the box lifts higher.

Just behind Nagi, his Pokemon watch, stricken. Neba knows better than to intervene, but Uchi has gotten to the point where she doesn't entirely care what Nagi does to her. But she can't stand by and watch him murder this man.

The box comes crashing down with all the force of a speeding car and strikes Valmont solidly in the head, but before it can completely fall and crush his skull, a feminine shout rings through Nagi's head so hard and so violently that he stops before he can lift the box and bring it crashing down again. Now it hovers over Valmont's head once more as the boy stands there, quietly. He doesn't intend to stop, but he's been distracted. What's more, all of his psychic energy has been focused on the mailbox, and for the moment Valmont's body has been freed.]

Edited 2014-11-29 19:21 (UTC)

[ At this point, two things happen in quick succession.

First, Valmont briefly experiences the worst pain he's ever felt in his life before blessedly slipping unconscious again. Doubtless he would have appreciated the ability to move if he were awake to take advantage of it, but alas, right now that's not happening.

Second, a Servine materializes into view, yet another talisman clutched tightly in its leafy paws (three guesses as to whether or not it's the invisibility talisman), and charges at the back of Nagi's legs. How dare you hurt his trainer, you... you jerk! ]

[While his slightly burnt leg already isn't doing him many favors in keeping him standing upright, the hit to the back of the legs is enough to knock Nagi off balance. He falls hard to one knee, the mailbox dropping to the concrete a hair shy of the side of Valmont's head. With how splintered and broken the ground has become, someone is going to have to be doing a lot of cleanup to the poor town after all this.

He wheels around to grab whatever hit him- or, at least he would if he could see it.]

What?!

[ Pleased with himself, and choosing to ignore the fact that he almost just got his trainer hurt a whole lot worse, the Servine hisses in victory. A pair of invisible vines shoot out to wrap around Nagi's arms - and, just for the hell of it, attempt to smack them against his already injured chest. Stop hitting yourself, Nagi.

Valmont, meanwhile, remains thoroughly out cold. The horse talisman is good, but it's not instantaneous. He'll be another minute or two, probably. ]

[Nagi writhes against the vines pinning his arms, unable to get himself free mostly since he cannot pinpoint the location of his attacker. Even letting his hands slacken to soften the blows against his chest helps only slightly, and he is able to bite back just a few grunts of pain before a strangled cry briefly escapes him. He could very well have a broken rib or two, but the pain is so deep that he can't tell if that's the case or not. He can still breathe, at least.

He struggles to get back to his feet, but the jostling around that the Servine is doing to him makes it impossible for him to stay upright for long. Nonetheless, he refuses to let out another sound. Whatever has him can't fight back forever against his own telekinesis trying to yank it off.]

[ Nagi may not be able to see the vines, but he is eventually successful in psychically prying them off. The Servine stumbles backward with a cry, losing its grip on the talisman - because after all, it's a bit difficult to hold onto something like that when your hands are leaves. The talisman rolls forward onto the ground. It has a snake on it. Of course it does.

The now-visible Servine growls and sends a torrent of leaves flying at Nagi. You want to play, friend? Let's play. ]

[A Pokemon, of course. Nagi has only seconds to react as the barrage of leaves come hurtling his way, an arm lifting in an attempt to freeze them in their tracks. The closer ones stop immediately before striking him in the face or anywhere else you'd want to avoid knife-like leaves, while the others skim him and tear into his clothes, otherwise flying off to either side harmlessly.

Now he turns his attention fully to the Servine, lifting his hand higher with his fingers slightly twitching, aiming to lift it right off the ground to stop it from being able to attack.]

[ It works. The Servine struggles as it's lifted into the air, too distracted and freaked out to send another attack at Nagi.

At which point another blast of flame shoots past Nagi's ear. Valmont's back in the game, and, well - it's not that he cares about his Pokémon, it's just that he's responsible for them, okay? In any event, you can keep your metaphorical hands off his Servine, Nagi. He's still on the ground, which explains his misjudged aim, but he's getting up as we speak, and you can bet he's not planning to miss next time. ]

[Nagi feels the heat lashing just inches from his face as the flames rush past him, prompting him to duck and all but hurl the Pokemon away from him. Pokemon are far more durable than humans, so the toss shouldn't hurt him- though Nagi hopes it gets him far enough away that he'll be able to focus his attention on Valmont.

He turns, feeling an uncomfortable prickle at the back of his neck when he sees Valmont rising back to his feet without a scratch. Meanwhile he's got one arm around his body while the other hangs at his side. That's blood in his mouth he can taste because damnit his ribs they're probably pretty broken, at least a few.

The look in his eyes hold nothing but hatred for Valmont as he spits, his words breathy with the attempt to catch his breath.]

I am going to kill you.

[ Well, "without a scratch" isn't quite accurate; his clothes are certainly the worse for wear, which Valmont is not at all happy about. Just another reason to put the brat in his place. His body, though? Yeah, that's utterly unharmed. God bless the horse talisman.

He has to smirk at Nagi's proclamation, though. Really, hasn't the boy realized what he's dealing with yet? ]

Oh, I'm afraid that's not quite possible. But I do wish you the best of luck in trying!

[ And he laughs. It's a very unhinged sound. Did you order some more fire, Nagi? Too damn bad! ]

[Like before, Nagi doesn't even have to think it as the fire comes blazing his way, and seconds before impact he's teleported to a different location. It's only a few feet away due to the distance but it's enough to save him from being burned alive. That mailbox is still on the ground, so he makes good use of it by lifting it and hurling it at Valmont as hard as he can manage, without moving his arms lest he hurt anything else important. It doesn't look like Nagi is going to stop until either Valmont is dead, or he is.]

[ The mailbox comes at him so quickly that all he can do is throw his arms up to shield himself. It's still definitely going to hurt, though...

A moment passes. A moment more. He's still conscious and not in excruciating pain, which is a lot more than he was expecting at this point. He cracks an eye open.

The mailbox is just kind of floating there, inches from his face. Belatedly, he realizes he's the one holding it there. Of course - the rooster talisman doesn't only levitate people, does it?

Smirk returning to his face, he takes aim at Nagi and sends the mailbox back his way. See how you like it! ]

[Well shit. He's...far too close right now to teleport, dodge, or even stop the thing properly, but he can slow it down. An impact at full force would have killed him. The curse Nagi spits is killed by the impact of the mailbox slamming into him with the force behind it of a fist aiming to punch, but the softened impact doesn't make it hurt less. He skids back a few yards on his heels before he feels his body abruptly being caught before he can fall to the ground. Uchi has him in her arms while Neba pulls the mailbox away, tightening her grip when a shudder passes through Nagi and he coughs hard, blood dripping down his chin.

After a moment he pulls out of the Gardevoir's arms with a low hiss, throwing up his own with zero regard for his current state. He sends the mailbox rocketing back, practically screaming in his head why won't you just die already.]

[ Now that he knows he can do it, he stops the mailbox easily, sending it crashing into the ground instead of his face. This is getting pathetic. The boy honestly thinks he can still win? Valmont decides it would be a mercy to kill him and get it over with. His first personal kill. No other situation could possibly have been more delicious.

His hand and eyes both glow dangerously, and suddenly Nagi has three blasts to deal with - one fire, two laser, and all pointed straight at him. ]

[The bad news is, Nagi's not going to get much help out of those three blasts coming at him; the kid's a telekinetic, he can throw up a shield for himself if he's really concerned about dying right now, come on.

The good news is, all this battling you two have been doing has made for something of a scene, and a gentleman named Brad Crawford happens to have a knack for foreseeing particularly notable scenes in space and time — especially when they deal with a member of his team.

It's hard to say how long these two have been watching this little melee; it could be seconds, or it could be pretty much since the beginning. Either way, they've evidently decided that this is the appropriate time to intervene, which comes in the form of, well.

Well.

Whatever control Valmont previously had over his limbs, it's abruptly gone now; against his will, his hands will go slack and drop anything he's holding, and the rest of his limbs will follow in turn, like a puppet having its strings cut one by one. Meanwhile, where he's trapped in his own mind watching this take place, he'll be able to feel the distinct sensation of being wildly out of control of his own body — not unlike being possessed, really — but with no real way of determining who or what might be doing it.

For the moment, anyway.

Here's your intervention, Nagi; make good use of it, because Schwarz isn't really in the mood to see you lose to a guy like this today.]

[For a wild second, Nagi wonders if Valmont has just finally snapped up there thanks to the influence of those talismans. The distraction is exactly what he needed, however, and with a sharp jerk of his arm that causes a lance of pain to shoot up his side, the blasts are sent flying to either side and straight up thanks to the barrier he creates. The instant the threat is gone his arm falls and he doubles over slightly, staring up at Valmont. From here he can still see the talismans clasped in the man's hands, hands that are currently not working like they ought.

A mental nudge is all it takes and he's Teleported one last time, just a couple strides away from Valmont now. His eyes flash and the talismans he's holding are roughly jerked from his grasp, conveniently Misters Rooster and Dragon over there. You've had enough firepower for his tastes, and Telekinesis is his thing, not yours.]

[ ...Well. This was unexpected. And very much unwanted. It's almost exactly like being possessed, except there's no one else in there. Just him, trapped inside his mind while his body utterly refuses to obey. He can't even scream, which is what he would really like to do right now, but all his attempts bounce emptily off the inside of his head. What is happening to him?

And - oh no, what is the boy doing, no, no, don't you dare, give those back, he needs those! But all he can do is watch helplessly as the talismans are wrested from his unresisting hands. And oh dear, one of those was the rooster, wasn't it, and for the second time today he crashes into the ground. Not headfirst this time, thankfully, and the horse talisman is already working to heal any new bruises, but still, that was highly undignified. And terrifying. Please let him go, mysterious body-controlling force. ]

[Alas, no, there is no amount of saying please that is likely to save Valmont now, if only because whatever fuckery has just been inflicted on Nagi here is not actually Schwarz-sanctioned fuckery in any capacity, and the fact of the matter is that these two men aren't so much concerned with Nagi's well-being in and of itself as they are making sure that it's very clear who is and isn't entitled to fuck with it.

With a wrenching twist to another part of the brain (which will likely feel like a brief stab of pain reminiscent of a really bad headache), Valmont's body will puppet itself up onto its knees, wobbling for balance as his arms jerk outwards to form a horizontal line. In the moments shortly after, his left arm bends at the elbow to bring his hand against his hip, and the other bends upward at an angle toward the sky.

I'm a little teapot, short and stout; here is my handle, here is my spout...]

[And that, that right there, tells Nagi all he needs to know about what's going on. Schuldig is here, somewhere, and he's not only rendering Valmont helpless but having fun while he does it, which is pretty much par the course. There's relief to be felt, sure, but in spite of that he can feel a hot wave of embarrassment overcome him for a brief moment. Having to be helped wasn't exactly how he imagined this fight ending, but he also hadn't gone into this expecting for Valmont to be able to heal no matter what he did to him, either.

So with his vision swimming a little he watches Valmont in silence, waiting to see where Schuldig plans on going with this...not yet realizing that he's not alone, either.]

[ He hasn't even got time to catch his breath - not that he could if he wanted to - when he feels his body pushing itself upward. Oh god, what's it going to do now -

Wonderful. This thing controlling him, whatever it is, has a sense of humor. Humor at the expense of his dignity. And the most humiliating part isn't that it's making him do a silly dance. No, it's that it's making him do a silly American dance. Really, he didn't deserve that.

He grits his metaphorical teeth. Wasn't this supposed to be the best day of his life? Where did he go wrong? ]

[And that's about the time, while Schuldig remains out of sight and keeping Valmont pinned, that Crawford opts to put in his (vaguely dramatic, this fucking guy) appearance, stepping out from the shadows and calmly straightening his tie as he advances on Nagi.]

Having a pleasant afternoon, are we?

[Crawford, this one guy's being danced around like a marionette and the other one's been beaten all to hell and may actually have grievous internal injuries.

YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR IS NOT HELPING.

He tips his head a little to the side, listening to something that isn't there, then nods amicably at Valmont.]

Ah, Mr. Valmont. I do hope you'll forgive this brief interruption of your recreational activities.

[And when things get back around to Valmont, he'll find that control over his voice has been handed back to him, because it'd just be rude to leave him incapable of reply, now, wouldn't it?]

[Whoever Nagi was expecting to see walk into view just now, it was not one Brad Crawford. That feeling of hot shame turns to ice as he instinctively moves to stand a bit straighter, even though his head is still bowed. His breath catches but he doesn't speak, instead keeping his eyes trained on Crawford as he approaches. Everything has sharply taken a nosedive and honestly he cannot place whether or not he's happy to see Crawford here, only that he knows that he's here and that means that things may very well go pretty badly for Valmont in a moment, as if they aren't on that path already.]

[ Valmont tries to growl in frustration - and finds that he actually can. Well. Suddenly growling at this (admittedly well-dressed) gentleman wasn't particularly dignified, but it's no less so than what his body's currently doing. He figures he's justified in a little more indignity. ]

Are you the one doing this to me?! I - I demand you release me! Right now!

[ It's so cute how he thinks he actually has any control over the situation. ]

Of course I am.

[Which is in a very loose sense technically true in that he absolutely condones this and has the authority to do something about it, but part of the game is protecting your team, and that includes the guy who's still going to be here three days from now when he himself is not.

So much the better to dissuade any unpleasant questions right from the start.]

And I'm not feeling particularly inclined to honor demands from someone who was just recently preoccupied with attacking one of my subordinates.

You know this brat - er, this young gentleman? [ Oh no. Did he just piss off psychic boy's psychic dad? ] I mean, I - that is - he started it!

[ That's a gigantic lie and you know it, V. ]

Look, I - I'm a very busy man, you know, I haven't got time to - will you let me go - please?

[ Ooh, he must be pretty desperate if you've gotten the P-word out of him. That ought to fix everything, right? ]

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[pre-discussed threadjack! :|b]

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