final trial

[airlockedmods]

[With the announcement, the Champions can crowd together onto the teleporter with no issues. Once that's done the process of teleporting is automatic and happens in the blink of an eye. Once second they're in the center of the cafeteria before a soft blue light surrounds them and then they're standing in the middle of a circle of podiums. It's so much emptier than it was just a few weeks ago that their voices echo when they try to speak up.

The room itself it the same shiny, chrome-covered atrocity as most of the rest of the ship save for the sections of floor that aren't the teleporter: those are thick clear glass that show nothing but empty space and stars beneath the Champions' feet. As for the podiums they're the same sort of garish chrome with a digital screen facing toward the center of the circle. More portraits and names in blaring red have been added this week. Thomas MacLaine, the Champion Accomplice, Manaka Sajyou, the Champion Mother and finally Roxy Lalonde, the Champion of ████████.

The Overseers are waiting when they all arrive, standing on a floating platform just high enough to be out of reach and back far enough toward a far wall to have a full view of the courtroom. Both are dressed well, Rox in a pressed grey dress jacket and skirt and Blaze in a black suit with the sleeves rolled up to expose his numerous tattoos. He still has the eye patch and Rox watches them with keen interest as they enter.]

Welcome back, Champions. There are six of you here but, if things go correctly, only five of you will leave. I don't think I have to explain at this point what will happen if you choose wrong.

This shouldn't take long though. We all know what happened. Anticlimactic but not everything can be a good mystery I suppose. [She folds her arms across her chest, looking down on the Champions.] Let the trial begin.

Comments

[le_mat]

[he hears Marisa die. Hears Seto scream and fall.

They're dead, they're all dead. But still he refuses to let go. He bellows, refusing to drop his knife to get a better grip, but putting all he had left into hauling himself up. He strains, his sight going splotchy white with the desire to pass out, but he's managing it- just a little more-!]

[theoverseeing]

[Oh, Akira, you've tried so hard and got so far...

And in the end you get to feel the sharp sting of a high heel digging into the back of your hand. Rox looms over him at the edge of the platform, finally on her feet again now that the explosions have stopped.]

Points for style and effort, Trickster.

1/2

[le_mat]

[the pain is sharp and hot, the tiny bones in his hand bending and crackling under the force.

He screams. He won't be able to hold on-]

How many times do I gotta tell you-

[le_mat]

My name is Akira!

[and with that his hand gives out, but not before he swings his other up. The one with the knife- intending to bury it in her ankle, her tendon, anything, as he lets go]

[theoverseeing]

[Rox screeches in pain, purple blood spraying across the platform as she jerks her foot away too slowly to avoid a deep slice across her ankle. Her face twists with pain and anger and moves to slam her foot into his face but all her heels meets is empty air this time.]

[in4apounding]

[NOT TODAY, SHARK-CHAN-]

[Which in other words means Penny's diving again, shooting through the air to try catching Akira before he hits the floor or a podium.]

[And then they can. Do something. About the airlock situation. Maybe?]

[le_mat]

[he lands in her arms with an 'oomph', clutching the knife like a lifeline]

I got her... I fucking got her!!

[playthedamncard]

She's going to get us next if we don't move!

[in4apounding]

I saw! You did good.

[She is genuinely proud of him, but also starting to panic, as she pulls him to his feet.]

NOW RUN, WE NEED TO GET TO A PODIUM OR SOMETHING-

[And grabbing her brother -or is it Seto? she's too rushed to tell- by the hand and dashing back towards the safety of the podium bubbles. It'll be slim, but they might still be able to make it. They have to. She'll MAKE them make it.]

[airlockedmods]

[The bubbles have not quite closed yet! For right now the floor is not space.]

[in4apounding]

[Okay! Clearly this will be just fine. In narrative text, no one can hear you hiccup.]

[Leading Seto and Akira, she's making a mad dash for Chloe's podium.]

[playthedamncard]

[Penny grabs Akira, and he grabs hold of Akira's other hand, just to keep them together as they run. He sees it but doesn't voice it--they're not going to make it. They're not going to make it, and even if they do, Petuu will find another way to kill them.

Deny it. Challenge fate. Will something new into existence.] Bolton--! [Heads up, apparently they're coming your way!]

[unhappylittletrees]

[From the safety of the podium space Jamie reaches his hand out toward them as far as he can.]

Hurry!

[in4apounding]

MISTER JAMIE, MISTER BOLTON-

[She can't really dive while dragging Akira and Kaiba, but she tries putting on a burst of speed, closing the distance as much as possible, grabbing at the outstretched hand-]

[dejabrew]

[Bolton reaches out for her too and grabs her hand by the wrist.]

We got you, Pumpkin!

[in4apounding]

[She grabs Bolton's wrist and clings. She tries pulling forward on the hand gripping Akira, to get him close enough to hang on himself, or to hang onto him by the waist, or anything less precarious than this-]

[unhappylittletrees]

[Jamie latches onto the same wrist, hopefully more firmly anchoring her.]

It's gonna be okay, it's gonna be okay! Kaiba, Akira, get in here!

[le_mat]

[he tries to clamber up her, but one hand is holding onto Kaiba, and the other is surely broken.

He hisses when she pulls him forward, but he tries to reach for the two adults]

Come on...!

[playthedamncard]

[And Kaiba is dragged after, robot strength a plus here, reaching his free hand out, if they can just get the rest of the way in and then they'll be safe for however long--]

[airlockedmods]

[Even Penny's super strength can't pry apart the bubble as it closes, but it does stay cracked open around her arm (and Kaiba's arm if he manages to reach in time). Once all the other bubbles have sealed tight, the floor, as usual, begins to open up.

There's a whoosh as the air gets sucked out of the room, followed by heat and weightlessness that nonetheless pulls at them.]

[in4apounding]

[Fuck you space, you're not stronger than her love for her friends and family. She's hanging on, gripping both Akira and Bolton tightly.]

[unhappylittletrees]

[No, no, no, no-]

We've got you guys, just hold on!

[playthedamncard]

[The floor opens, and the pull of endless vacuum beneath them rips at him. He hasn't got super strength; he is, as Akira reminded him often, still human. Kaiba's knife drops away, tumbling into space, so he can grip onto Akira as tightly as he can with both hands, mentally cursing because...because that was the only other way out of this, and now the only choice at all is void.

No one else has been able to hold on for long against the yawning void. He hopes to be an exception.]

[le_mat]

[he takes a deep breath, and holds it- squeezing Seto's hands tight and clinging to Penny as hard as he can.

But already he can feel this growing pressure... His brain already trying to black out and just... Let go. But not yet. Not yet-]

[le_mat]

[and he let's himself be hauled, running with them and laughing wildly]