Chapter 44: Kill it with fire

Depressedcoper - Good.

Xian0451 - That'll be answered next chapter.

ArashiNokitsune - I mentioned Ultimate Wildvine earlier, calling him Pan after the Greek god. I like The Ink Tank's interpretation of him, so that's what I use. He's got the whole growth thing that Sylvanus has, but weaker compared to Sylvanus.

ShadeslayerX - It's a mix of Jack's Master Power fucking up her mind, Stockholm syndrome, her mind substituting Jack and the rest of the 9 as her family, mainly due to the former two things, and her current personality being tailor made to enjoy what she's doing. All of that would end up making her actually care for Jack in some ways.

[Present]

Scowling, I raised my arms, digging my roots into the ground as I did, and ordered my branches and vines to clamp down onto the... Thing, that was pushing itself against me. My vines and branches responded to my will, snaking around the thing's legs, lower body, and chest. I tried to squeeze it, have my thorns pierce its flesh so I could get started on having it bleed out, but the metallic portions of its body kept the thorns from piercing it, while it outright resisted being crushed. Hell, its skin felt tough as shit, which Annoyed me. "You're so lucky I can't kill you." It be sort of easy too. I'd just have to make a big enough hole in the thing's body, pump it full of methane, then drop a fuckton of my pods into her body, then boom, the bitch dies. (But nooo, bitch has to be a living plague.) While we were transitioning to whatever the fuck we were growing into too, disease would still fuck us up until the transformation finished, so killing Vacuous Bonesaw would fuck us both over.

"DIEEeEEEeE!" I grunted when she screamed so close to my head. I didn't have ears but loud noises at point blank range were still something that got to me.

"Shut up and fuck off." Throwing my weight around, I pushed the blob of flesh and steel onto the groun...- The sudden rippling of the blobs' skin was the only warning I got before buzz saws grew from the thing, the additions whirring as Bonesaw cut through my vines and roots, shrieking at me as she flailed at me. Because of her current height, I was mostly fine, but the bitch was in range to slice through the roots I was using to ground myself, and a bit of my hands.

I couldn't feel pain in this form, I actually could but that'd need me to be frozen first, so the loss of my 'Leg roots' didn't bother me. No, it was the fact that without my legs, the bitch managed to use her own non negligible weight and put me on my ass, a tremor going through the earth as my body crashed into it. With me down the bitch started to crawl onto me, but before she got too far I opened my vents, releasing the Growth Gas as I ordered most of my seeds and everything around me to grow.

While I could do all of that without the gas, with it everything affected by it would be both stronger, and bigger if I did it normally. I was pretty sure it was a 2x buff to all stats, but I hadn't exactly been able to test that given my size in this form.

Anyway, considering I was pressed against the ground, and the blob was climbing into my chest cavity, catapulting myself with a collective of two building sized roots resulted in the both of us flying forwards a bit. Me less then her because I was still a massive conglomeration of wood, while she was smaller then me and also still fleshy. The mass that was Bonesaw ended up crashing through a bunch of buildings, which was hilarious to me, but I couldn't let myself get distracted. (Now, into the ground, and re-root myself.) My remaining leg roots did just did, easily piercing through the asphalt, while some from my hands made the issue easier.

When I came to a stop, I ordered my body to speed up the regrowth of my legs, which was nearly done thanks to the gas, while I shook all the current seeds I had off of me. Letting Bonesaw get close to me would be stupid, she was not only capable of cutting my body apart, but was also able to put me on my ass. To beat her I would need to keep her away and beat her into submission with my plants. So, expelling even more Growth Gas, I started my plan of action while I had the chance. (Grow, weave together, reinforce each other.) From the earth beneath me, a sea of vines burst out, each as wide as bus and as thick as a centuries old tree. Following my orders, those vines intertwined, rows and rows of thorns layering upon each other like a staircase.

By the time they were all done, I had multiple rings with 15ft thorn walls surrounding me, I still needed to see above them to attack the bitch after all. (Since I can't fucking skedaddle, I'll have to turtle up and make it so she can't reach me.) Was it scummy? Yes. But I didn't care, so fuck off.

With the gas in the air, my seeds refilled nearly instantly, and I was about to let out more, when I felt my Other Half dropping in from the sky. Surprised at that, I angled my head up a bit just in time to see her drop onto it. While I was all for this, I was still a little Confused about what she was doing here. Sensing it, she answered. |You didn't think I was going to let you fight alone, did you?|

I mentally shook my head at that. [Well, no, but I just wasn't expecting for you to mount me for Titan Fight: Wooden Boogaloo edition.]

Taylor took a moment to process that, before shrugging. |Fair.| Turning in the direction Bonesaw was in, I felt her frown. |What the fuck is that?| An image was sent over to me, and I blinked when I saw it.

At the moment, Bonesaw was getting up from the last building she'd been knocked into, and aside from growing a bit more, but not enough to get over my thorn walls, she had a more detailed form. Still on all fours, her flesh took on the form of corded muscle, no real skin, just the muscle, and had what looked like liquid steel coursing through her. Though in some places, that steel was turned into armor/weapons.

Her shoulders, front part of her face, her mid section, and knees were protected by metal. Her shoulders, claws, and sides of her face had the buzz saws she had earlier. Meanwhile, her face had what looked like a plague doctors mask... But fleshy, and with buzz saws... [Yeah, I dun...-] We both paused when we heard music filling the air. "Born For This?"(The Score) I loved the song, and while a part of me was living for hearing it now, I was still Ba...-

'Boss fight equals Boss music. You're welcome.' That answered that... And I was welcome, I just wasn't going to say it.

Shaking it off, my Other Half and I took a moment to take in the situation, then shared a mental nod. Yes, the music was nice, but there was a crazy monster bitch ahead of us that had to be taken down. |How are we doing it?|

Looking over to where the fleshy thing was, and seeing it/her charge forwards with a mad shriek, I scowled. [I want to kill her and be done with it, but we can't. So I'm going to try and bind her, it'll take me a minute or two to make plants with paralytic properties, so I'm going to let you take control of the existing forest and plants around us. Just let me know if you need me to shake off some seeds.] Ceding control was easy to do, it was like I just toggled everything around me 'Off', which would let her pick them up on her senses and use them.

My Other Half nodded, and I felt it when she allowed herself to go into her full Methanosian form. |I'll see if I can burn off a limb or two.| I mentally nodded at that, and watched as the thing Bonesaw had/was turning into slammed into the first wall, her buzz saws spinning and cutting into the vines. As that happened, she jumped off of my head, extending an arm to hook onto the nearest tree, which was sticking out of a building, and swung ahead. While she did that, I felt the roots that I used to propel myself forward untangle themselves, branches and vines from the surrounding forest growing and lashing out towards Bonesaw, while the vines from the wall she was cutting through whipped the unprotected portions of her body, tearing bloody chunks out of her form thanks to their thorns.

With her going to do that, I focused on editing my seeds. Paralytics would save me the hassle of fighting Bonesaw, and make it so I won't time out during the fight. (Ugh, if only I had those sleep spores.) This form didn't have them, I was pretty sure they left them behind when they evolved, and I doubted Taylor would be able to put the thing Bonesaw had become to sleep without shoving the spores down her throat. (Ugh, ignore it for now, just make the plants.) That decided, I stopped thinking, letting myself connect to my seeds and sink into the music.

~Feeling the rhythm inside of my chest, all I need is just a pen, I knooow. I was born for this. I knooow. I was born for this.~

This would take a bit, but the music made it easier, and I was pretty sure Taylor would be able to handle this.

[Taylor's POV]

Swinging as a Methanosian was almost the same as doing it Human, the only differences were that I could sprout vines from anywhere on my body to catch myself or latch onto other branches or other vantage points. Really, Methanosian's had the capability to be so mobile, it was crazy to think, especially when we remembered they were plant people.

That aside, I pulled myself up onto one of the nearby trees, positioning myself above and across from where Bonesaw was. At the moment, the Bio-Tinker turned massive Brute, was about halfway through the first thorn wall, and was turning into a massive bleeding wound. (Let's see if I can take more from her.) Commanding some of the massive roots my Other Half grew earlier, I made them shoot towards Bonesaw, aiming towards the areas around her back that weren't covered by the metal.

Using my bugs to keep track of where to send the roots, as well as keeping them away since she seemed to absorb a few of them without noticing, and maintaining a feed to do just that, I watched as they pierced just above where her lungs would be. "OWOWwWWW!" Bonesaw's screech was ignored in favor of me narrowing my eyes, noticing that the moment the roots pierced her flesh, and dug into her body, I lost control of them. I could control the root's body, but not wh...- "MINEmINE!"

~Don't care for the critics, my words are like physics a force that they can't stop. They just don't get it, I think they forget I'm not done till I'm on top.~

Disregarding the music, I watched the points where she was being stabbed by the roots ripple, a flash of steel later and the tips were removed, sinking into her flesh... And being broken down? The punches kept coming though when her body seemed to grow a little larger, and her lower half seemed to develop rudimentary wooden armor. (Oh shit.) If this went how I thought it went, then Bonesaw was too dangerous to be left alive. |Flood the air with methane! I'm going to bomb Bonesaw!|

As soon as he got it, my Other Half started to blast methane out of his arms, the brown gas flooding the area. Using the roots and branches from the trees growing through the buildings around him, the entire block and the ones surrounding us were basically turning into one massive forest, I fanned the methane forwards, opening parts of the thorn walls for the gas to slip through. Opening my own vents, I secreted my own methane, which might not be as dense, but still good enough for what I needed.

Raising a hand, I ignited a fireball above my palm, a fireball that I kept feeding in order to make this really hurt. When it was about the size of my base form, I tossed it towards Bonesaw.

~We are the broken ones, who chose to spark a flame. Watch as our fire rages, our hearts are never tame.'Cause we were(4x) born for this, we were born for this.~

With those scarily fitting lyrics, the air burned, and when it impacted Bonesaw proper, the street exploded. Surprise flickered from My Other Half, and I felt him mentally turn an eye to me. [This has to be a record.] I ignored that, keeping my focus on keeping my roots wrapped around the branch I was on, letting the flames wash over me. Thanks to my Methanosian physiology, I was 100% flame resistant, and basically free from any negative impacts that came from being in/nearby an explosion. .

When said explosion petered out, I had no idea how many seconds it took but the cloud definitely took a minute, and the dust settled, I narrowed my eyes. The street, surrounding buildings, and a bit of the first thorn wall were decimated, rubble and charred pieces of things were everywhere... And in a crater where the main explosion occurred was the lower half of Bonesaw. Well, the lower half of the thing that Bonesaw had turned into... Though... Squinting a bit, then mentally checking the feed... Then remembering I fucking killed said bug and all others in the general vicinity with the explosion, I focused on the crater.

Bonesaw's lower body was covered in enough wood that the only explanation for it still being there was that she assimilated the fire resistance that came with Methanosian grown plants.(I don't think this is canon but I'm pretending that it is) That aside, I also noticed something else. (Is it..?) The wood seemed to ripple, the legs and chunk of her body left turning back into the blob for some reason... Then it compressed and started reforming into its previous form, just smaller... (Needs more fire then.) I was wholeheartedly in the camp of 'If fire wasn't working, you weren't using enough of it.' So, raising both hands, I ignited a pair of fireballs in them.

It was right when Bonesaw finished reforming into an 11ft tall wooden/metallic/fleshy version of her previous form, that I was ready to rain fire on her. [Ready.] Hearing that made me pause, looking out of the corner of my eye as the massive form of my Other Half slowly shook. Seeing the seeds fall, I turned back to the creature Bonesaw had turned into, tossing my fireballs at her to cause a distraction.

~I believe, I believe we can write our story. I believe, I believe we can be an army!~

Without the massive amounts of methane in the air, there wasn't an explosion, though my fireballs still slammed into Bonesaw, momentarily staggering her. (Her size probably.) Putting that aside, I clutched a handful of seeds that grew on my shoulders, throwing them as I manipulated what was left of the first thorn wall, the remaining trees, and the seeds themselves to latch onto Bonesaw and restrain her.

Unfortunately the psycho saw that all coming, and now that she was smaller, was able to avoid most of those. "NoT NIcE!" Rolling my eyes, I pulled some mor...- The ground shook as my Other Half slammed an arm down, thousands upon thousands of seeds falling off his back and into the ground. I didn't bother paying attention to what he was doing, knowing this would be the end of the fight so long as Bonesaw didn't esc...- "BAD mAN DIE!"

I was fucking dumbfounded when Bonesaw charged ahead, her buzz saws spinning at maximum speed as she charged through the vines and roots of the last remaining bit of the first thorn wall, slamming right into the second one. (What the fuck?) That had to have been the dumbest thing she could've done. Sure, she was tearing through the second wall faster then before, she was sturdier now apparently, but the smarter option would've been to try escaping or something. (Doesn't matter. Crazy bitch will be a crazy bitch.)

Losing control over the second thorn wall, I watched as my Other Half made the thorns came alive, shooting towards Bonesaw and the wall turned into a massive cage. It didn't take long for Bonesaw to be wrapped in what looked like a straight jacket of vines, her buzz saws uselessly s...- The saws retracted, regrowing underneath the vines and tearing through them as they spun again. "HEheHEEeH!" That was unnecessarily creepy.

Now that she was free, Bonesaw kept charging through the wall, her buzz saws retracting and reappearing all over her body as she tore through the thorn wall. I was ready to move in, get closer so I could lay into her with fireballs and all that, but I was stopped. [When she passes the third, I'll bring her down.] Humming in Interest, I tried to figure out why he would wait for that.

So, using my senses as a Methanosian, and my Multitasking, I mentally flicked through all the plants in the area, which was alot when you remembered a forest with trees as tall as a skyscraper were suddenly here, and searched for... (Ah.) While I couldn't control them, I could still tell that an amalgamation of modified plants were tunneling towards the third wall, being primed to shoot out when Bonesaw was in place. |Anything I should do?|

~These words that I write are for someone like me, to know that you're not alone. The moves that you make ya they come with mistakes, don't ever lose your hope. Just knooow, you were born for this. Just knooow, you were born for this.~

I was starting to Understand just why my boyfriend's Future Self was playing this song. It was an Annoying thing, the ability to just bring up music that resonated with me or the current situation was one I Loved, but it could still be Annoying.

He mentally looked for a second, his physical face turning towards me for a moment, then back to the walls in front of him as Bonesaw finished tearing through the second wall. [When she's paralyzed, I'll be turning back into Swampfire. When I do, we're going to drown her in sleeping gas... So just wait for that I guess.] I mentally nodded, stretching my arm towards a nearby branch. I was going to need to reposition so I could be close enough to help with that, so preemptively moving would be a good idea.

It was when I managed to latch onto a branch across from where Bonesaw currently was, when the trap was sprung. The idiot had slammed herself head first into the next wall, her body leaking blood from the wounds she'd taken from the last wall, and let out a surprised yelp when the ground burst open as thousands of interconnected vines latched onto her legs, mid section, arms, neck, and even around her head. From where I was, I noticed how the vines were a yellowish green, their thorns purple and seemingly secreting something orange onto Bonesaw's body. Naturally, the crazed Bio-Tinker recreated her buzz saws, struggling as the saws began tearing into the vines.

Too bad for her that it was already too late.

Thanks to the aforementioned wounds, whatever they were secreting had easy access to her bloodstream. And even when her buzz saws tore through the vines, they spilled enough of the substance to practically coat her form in the orange substance. With Bonesaw being bathed in the paralytic, she slowly began to lose steam, her body becoming sluggish as everything besides the saws began to slow to a halt. "NoNNooOO!"

~We are the warriors, who learned to love the pain. We come from different places, but have the same name. 'Cause we were born for this.~

Thankfully, she ended up coming to a still after a bit, the only things still moving being the buzz saws, but even then they were slowing down. |Think now's good?| Sylvanus stared at Bonesaw over the thorn walls, the last two starting to writhe for a second, before the bottom opened up a bit. With that open, he raised a massive fist to his head, tapping the dial.

In an instant, I shifted to my Dryad form, while he went back to Swampfire. [It'll do.] I nodded, then fired off a grapple towards one of the nearby branches.

As I made my way over, my feeds returned thanks to my suit helping me process the information, and I heard both Panacea and Narwhal calling for me... (Well shit.) Putting that aside, I ordered my bugs to create another pair of Swarm Clones. I could fill them both in now, there was a reason my Multitasking was something my Other Half was Envious of.

[Phoenix's POV]

Walking up to Bonesaw, the vines keeping her constricted her as the paralytic coursed through whatever she had for veins, I hummed. (She kinda looks like Overhaul a bit. More feral though considering the whole four leg thing and the annoying shouting.) Shooing that thought away, I met the crazed eyes of Bonesaw, who was letting out these raspy grunts and squeals. Apparently the paralytic was keeping her from moving her mouth... (Is it stopping her from breathing?) I felt the vines constricting her chest, then blinked when I couldn't tell if it was expanding and contracting or not... (Eh, whatever.) Ignoring the thing in front of me for now, I turned to my side, my Other Half landing without much issue. "That's still bullshit."

I didn't need to see the eye roll to know it happened. "You're bullshit for turning the surrounding 5 blocks into a fucking forest."

That was fair. "Anyway," I ignored the Amusement from her and turned back to Bonesaw, whose eyes were glaring at me like I murdered her pets in front of her or something. "Gas her?" Taylor raised both hands, the fibers of her suit receding to expose the vents on her palms. Following along, I raised my own arms, my vents opening as we both started letting out the sleeping gas directly into Bonesaw's face.

It said something that we were gassing some preteen kid, giant weird chimera thing aside she was still a kid, but I just mentally shrugged. (I mean, atleast she's not Jewish...) I blinked. (Is she?) I had no idea if she was, but decided to just ignore that train of thought because I couldn't ask without sharing said train of thought.

Eventually, Bonesaw's body slumped, and we stopped gassing her.

Right in time too, since her body rippled, the wood, metal, and flesh beginning to melt off her body. In moments, the shell that encased Bonesaw was gone, deteriorating into nothing as the naked form of the Bio-Tinker flopped onto the bottom of the roots that held her bigger body. My Other Half and I blinked, shared a look, then turned back to the child... To be safe, I made the roots untangle from each other, a gap being created that her smaller body fell through and onto the ground. When she didn't react to falling onto the ground, I poked her with a root, just to be sure. With nothing happening, I nodded... Then thought what I was going to do now. "... Alright... I'm not carrying that."

Taylor snorted. "I'm not doing it either." Ah... It seemed we were at an impasse...

While I thought about how we were going to do this, Taylor brought a hand to her shoulder, her suit rippling as a pair of seeds grew from said shoulder. I watched her take the seeds in hand, then toss them at Bonesaw. In mid air, they both erupted and grew into what looked like nets. When they reached the knocked out Bio-Tinker, they wrapped around her, turning into a straight jacket, but made out of wood... (Is that a leash?) Looking a little harder, I realized that yes, she made a leash.

I turned to raise a brow at her, getting a shrug in return. "Not touching her either. This works though."

I nodded at that. "Seems legit." That said, I tapped the dial again, turning back into myself. Doing that, Taylor returned to her base form, then moved forwards.

With Bonesaw down, we had to...- Getting a message through our suits, we paused, then shared a look. "! The raid is over. Meet up with Panacea at the aide center. !" Well, at least we knew what to do now.

Nodding, we turned away, and I started looking for a spot to bring out Behemoth... Which was really hard considering there was a goddamn forest around me, upturned and melted asphalt, and massive walls of thorns all over the damn place... (Wow, Sylvanus is kinda fucking broken.) Granted, he had his cons to him like nearly all of my Ults, it was still a crazy thing to see since I hadn't really used said Ults in fights.

I wasn't really counting my use of Agni since I was going full tilt into my stereotypical anger mode, and not making fully conscious decisions in how I used the living volcano.

Anyway, the point was finding a good spot on the ground was going to be fucking impossible, so it would just be easier to have my bike materialize in the air and then drop onto the road. (Not like there's much road left anyway.) I put that thought away and called for my bike.

We had a Bonesaw to deliver, and with her, this whole shit show would come to an end.

So, how Bonesaw's Second Trigger works.

Before the fight really kicked off, she absorbed the corpses, cars, lampposts, and other stuff around her, gaining mass as she did. The organic stuff like the flesh and wood was meant to add to her size, the former more then the latter, making her an issue in public areas. I was tempted to make the fight go on longer, have her showcase that she could shed some mass to make flesh constructs like those spider bots, or plague carriers like Smokers from L4D. But then I realized that if she showed anything like that, I would realistically say fuck it and bomb the fuck out of her until she died. So that was out, but still something she would've been able to do if the fight was drawn out.

Another thing, the fight being short.

The default response to anything like this should be to 'Kill it with fire.'

Anyway, like how she used in the fight, Bonesaw was able to use the metallic things she absorbed to make tools like those buzz saws, and armor. If the fight went on for longer, she would've started to make things like the Jaws of Life or other things like that. Maybe even her spider bots, but full bot.