2019-02-12: Saving The Holy Berry
- Log: Saving The Holy Berry
- Cast: Heal Berry, Zed, Catenna, Ratatoskr, Ashton Anchors, Jacqueline Barber, Carina Wynne, Gwen Whitlock
- Where: Berry Cave
- Date: 2019-02-12
- Summary: The Drifters confront the Hyadeans that threaten the Holy Berry.
===============================<* Berry Cave *>=============================== The Berry Cave once held an underground grove, where the curative berries found throughout Filgaia grew. However, monsters moved inside of it, which made the cave dangerous. The tenders of the Berry Cave relocated to Surf Village, located nearby. Since then, the cave has become a nest of the monsters known as Wels. The locals advise against entering these cavernous depths, but nonetheless, the Berry Cave's namesake lures people in: those berries still grow on vines in the depths and sell for a pretty penny. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C55flOnlXMg <Pose Tracker> Heal Berry has posed.
LAST TIME, IN BERRY CAVE...
After eluding an enemy sniper, Catenna, Ashton, Gwen and Jay found themselves in the heart of the Berry Cave, where a group of strange people were trying to harvest one of the rare, invaluable Holy Berries. Thanks to their quick thinking and quick action, they've managed to approach from an avenue the strangers hadn't considered, preserving the element of surprise. But suddenly, one of the intruders left to reinforce someone who started shooting. The sniper?
After a well-deserved break for Locus Fruit Pies(tm), Zed, Ratatoskr, and Metal Digger Locus encountered a gunwoman, who fled the moment they saw her. The trio caught up with her in a tense tunnel chase, and Zed recognized her as a Hyadean operative. Unfortunately, the sniper got backup in the form of one of her allies, who threw down a smoke grenade and enabled her escape.
AND NOW...
Holy Berries grow deep within the Berry Cave, and one of the best gathering sites is a natural wonder in its own right. The cathedral-like cavern has pale white walls, and stalactites and stalagmites have grown together to form column-like structures. Light plays off crystalline formations in the walls. A small underground stream trickles past, in the distance.
The intruders' banter kind of disrupts it, though.
"Why is it even attached to the ceiling? That doesn't make any sense. You'd think if it was so important the humans would ensure it grew on a wall, like one of the others."
For the past five or so minutes--probably longer, but that's how long Team Jay has had to prepare--two of the intruders have been trying to clip a Holy Berry from its vine. A crackling, humming field surrounds them, just barely visible to the naked eye as something akin to a chi aura, but electrically charged. Whirling about in the field is a folding fan of some sort, made of glimmering quicksilver. It's come dangerously close to the Berry, but hasn't so much as nicked it, or its vine. The third intruder sits on a boulder, something halfway between a lance and a longarm leaning against his side. He's the one who's been doing most of the banter.
"Careful," says one of the two figures, a wall, well-built woman in what is unmistakably powered armor. "You've done more complex tricks in the dojo, Gunther, just breathe, and--"
Smoke begins billowing out of one of the side-tunnels. The man with the spear rises to his feet. "Mother's corpse," he snarls. "I told you I heard something! Max? Max, is everything all right? Is the Tainted still alive--?"
A few moments later, a woman in a black cloak and body armor stumbles out of the cloud, followed by a veritable titan of a man, at least seven feet tall and about half that across the shoulders. "We're compromised," the woman spits--
DC: Heal Berry switches forms to Some Random Hyadeans?!
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"If there is evil in this world... It is I who will seek it out...!" The smoke billows ominously out of the hallway, continuing to flow and filter out even after the small woman and the huge man stumble out from within. A shape appears in the haze, casting a shadow against the grey-black fog. "When there is injustice afoot, it is I who give chase...!"
It's a man, definiitely a man, though nowhere near as massive as the seven-foot-tall behemoth he's chasing. But... he is not alone. He's flanked by two others. And moreover, that shadow's shape is unmistakable...!
A shock of messy hair, just barely identifiable as mossy green through the haze.
A great, orange scarf that seems to billow in an unidentifiable breeze...!
And then, as if he were not walking into a den of potential, heavily armed hostiles, the figure emerges confidently into the open air...!
"WHEN VILLAINS HIDE IN THE SHADOWS, IT IS I WHO LIE IN WAIT! I FEAR NOT THE DARKNESS! FOR I AM--!" That can only be...!
--==THE DARK HERO==--
Z E D
"AND I HAVE COME--!" Zed points at the enormous Holy Berry, "TO SAVE THAT BERRY!"
His finger points accusingly at the figures poking at the great, miraculous plant.
Those people... threatening to uproot it entirely...! They're...!
"HEY, I RECOGNIZE YOU!" Zed... is pointing right at some nerdy-looking lab rat in way too unbloodied gear. "Hmph, I should have figured that there'd be more where the one came from...! Get down from there before you hurt yourself! That goes for all of you! You should be ashamed, skulking around in the dark! Why, you made such a ruckus that even the local villagers know you're down here!"
"Now, tell me what your business here is before I have to get rough! It better not be anything that'd bring even more hate down on the rest of us!"
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
They're trying to cut down a Holy Berry, Catenna realizes with a little frown.
A second later, she realizes something else: They're probably not humans. The ARMs they're wielding are just a little too advanced.
With a frown, Catenna remains bunkered down in the little side passage. She tries to keep sound to a minimum, simply drawing her bow and an arrow, setting the latter to the former and taking stock of things.
Mother's corpse. 'Hyadeans,' she mouths, and it's more with sadness than anger.
Then Zed comes in and makes a big goddamned scene. Catenna's mouth opens a little.
The Moon Shaman closes her eyes, shifts her grip, and pinches the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger.
Moving discreetly, Catenna takes advantage of the distraction to hop from the cave mouth and duck down behind the nearest piece of cover, attempting to skulk her way to a concealed firing position. She doesn't shoot yet, though - she just takes the opportunity to set up.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
There is a burst of compressed air, a loud, poppy one that clears away some of the smoke. This can be mistaken for as being part of Zed's dramatic pyrotechnics. It sort of is, by proxy, because it seems timed to Zed's dramatic pontification and challenges as some crimson-hued bipedal horned squirrel-like guy just happens along behind Zed's ^darkly - see me after class rat! heroic introduction. In fact, what Ratatoskr says next might count as a genuine interruption as Zed drills for details on why some of the Hyadean remnants are kicking about here.
"...That's a Holy Berry? That's a Holy Berry!" Not that the Hyadeans within need that retold by their fellow eighteen- to twenty-four-year-old alien kin, as Ratatoskr flicks out his squirrel tail in excitement as he comes atop a dramatic rocky outcropping off to the side. "Do you know the legend? I do..."
His grin goes wider, arms crossed, into storytime no one asked for.
"I hear there's some kind of terrible monster that this very thing keeps at bay...! Just this fruit, hanging off of that one vine, keeping something so big, so powerful, so deadly at bay..." Hearing it from Ratatoskr, who must have earnestly eavesdropped about murmurings and tall tales around the area - no place is too obscure for his curiosity, it would seem, not even Surf Village - it seems like as good a sign as any that maybe this isn't such a great id--
"What're you waiting for?! Come on! Get it! Get it! I want to see what it's holding back!" Ratatoskr calls, posture hunching over to appear more feral as motes of energy flicker from the horn, fingers waggling. "Hyahaha--!"
He does not appear aware that a) they're trying to, and that b) it's hard with the tools at their disposal.
This won't end well.
<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.
Normally, Ashton is not particularly strong when it comes to things like sneaking around. However - he also understands there is a time and a place for things. That Holy Berry is kind of important. Moreso than just merely beating up a few intruders.
So he sneaks. Or at least attempts to. Just need to get close enough to handle that... cutty... thing. Some kind of Hyadean, uh.... Okay, Ashton has no idea what that fan is but he's certain he doesn't want it to continue to do what it's doing.
So when Zed arrives to provide a rather potent distraction? Ashton tries to stay low and close the distance. With that field around them he knows that just tossing a knife at it or something isn't going to work. Have to wait for the right time...
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline had never personally been to this chamber of the Berry Caves. It was breathtaking, truly. She just wished she could take the time to appreciate it properly.
Nearby, several people are trying to retrieve a Holy Berry - a rare variety of Heal Berry with incredible curative properties. Unfortunately, they're going about it in a rather risky way. Jacqueline can only assume they're the ones responsible for the damage done to the vines at the entrance. It doesn't fill her with much confidence in their ability to retrieve it unharmed.
She sighs, shaking her head. Well then. She'd have to intervene, now.
She sends Catenna a glance. Judging from the way her friend moves, they're in agreement. Jacqueline follows her carefully, taking the time to remove some of the Crests from her gauntlets and swap in new ones that might be more useful for the situation at hand, as well as draw out a bottle of lavender liquid from within her bags.
Fortunately, Zed and Ratatoskr of all people arrive soon enough, making a rather potent distraction. That'll hopefully make their job a little easier.
<Pose Tracker> Carina Wynne has posed.
Carina did yell at Zed about coordinating entrances. This one is an improvement.
One of the backlit dry ice silhouettes next to Zed is striking a pose, ponytail fluttering in the wind.
"ENEMIES OF JUSTICE!"
The smoke clears to reveal Carina out of costume, which might be an odd sight even to her friends. She doesn't usually venture into dungeons without the Locus armor, and her intensity as her superhero alter-ego makes her civilian identity look downright chill by comparison. And so, seeing her yell at villains like this...
"YOUR REIGN OF TERROR, BERRY THIEVERY AND SHOOTIN' AT MY FRIENDS HAS ENDED! I HAVE LEARNED THE WORD OF POWER, AND SO, OPEN YOUR EARS WIDE TO HEAR IT, AND OPEN YOUR EYES WIDE FOR A GOOD LOOK AT... MY 'HENSHIN'!"
She strikes another, different pose.
"HENSHIN!"
LOCUS ON_
Light explodes out from Carina's belt, engulfing her body and being doused gradually, as pieces of armor snap into place. Here she is, the warrior of love! With compound eyes to find evil wherever it lurks, and antennae tuned to the frequency of JUSTICE!
METAL DIGGER
~~~ LOCUS ~~~
"Haha, that was pretty cool..." she says, about quietly enough that only she can hear. But wait, hold on.
"Ratatoskr, whose side are you on?? After all the fruit pies we've shared!" She points. It's very foreshortened. "We don't wanna unseal some special monster! Think about all the people it could hurt!" She hasn't entirely wrapped her head around, just yet, about what the squirrel-tailed Hyadean is about, exactly.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
There's several questions floating in Gwen's mind right now. What would Hyadeans want with a Holy Berry? Do Hyadeans manage well with heal berries in general? Has she ever seen someone like Zed eat a heal berry and go 'this is delicious, and it is healing me!'? Gwen doesn't know, she didn't pay attention. Maybe they need heal berries to make more of those really cruddy ration bars? And why, oh why, are they here? ...Then again, how is that any different from, say, the Cascade Gang, coming in to steal something because stealing? This could mean that the Hyadeans are fitting in already!
Gwen points to the barrier, barely visible in the cave light. "They got a barrier up. I can try to short it out. Best t'get them away from the berry. With luck, we can at least have a nice little moment with them and get them t'explain what the heck they're doin'."
And then-
"... Zed?" Gwen manages to squeak. Nono, wait, this is *perfect*, he'll distract them all, maybe get some information a-
There's another... uh... Zed? No, that's not Zed. Someone else! And now, it's that annoying squirrel guy, and whichsideisheon
It takes Gwen a few tries to turn her attention away from what may be a precursor to a dramatic wrestling match. "... R-right." Sneaksneak.
<Pose Tracker> Heal Berry has posed.
'If there is evil in this world...'
"Him," growls the man with the spear. And indeed, Zed launches into his dramatic speech, and the Hyadeans' whole operation grinds to a halt. The youngish man in the labcoat startles, and the little metal fan just drops out of the air as half of the electromagnetic aura vanishes. The woman in powered armor seems less openly perturbed, and affixes Zed with a stony glare. One hand moves towards a handle of some sort at her hip, like a throwing axe... minus the axe blade. The vaguely nerdy Hyadean scowls, bends down to retrieve his fallen fan, and pushes his glassy lunes up on the bridge of his nose."
"Zed." The woman in the cloak tries, in vain, to talk over Zed's entrance--and Carina's, too. Does she have no respect for heroic traditions?! "I told you, this isn't your operation. Get lost, and take your idiot friends with you, or--"
Or Ratatoskr could suddenly decide that stealing the berry would be more fun than keeping it here.
"Okay," says the cloaked woman. "Keep them busy and we'll give you a--what's the term, a cut of the take?" She glances at the big Hyadean, who nods.
"You owe me for Adlehyde!" the man with the spear cries.
If nothing else, none of them have noticed Team Jay. The time to strike is now.
GS: Heal Berry has attacked Catenna with Dramatic Setup...!! GS: Heal Berry has gained 1 Combo! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Ashton Anchors with Dramatic Setup...!! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Dramatic Setup...!! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Dramatic Setup...!! GS: Heal Berry has completed its action. GS: Jacqueline Barber takes a solid hit from Heal Berry's Dramatic Setup...! for 0 hit points! GS: Catenna takes a solid hit from Heal Berry's Dramatic Setup...! for 0 hit points! GS: Ashton Anchors guards a hit from Heal Berry's Dramatic Setup...! for 0 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
"...Side?" Ratatoskr asks. His grin hasn't faded. Now that he is standing over almost everyone here, there's something inherently sinister with the way the darkness accents the glow of his solid yellow eyes, highlighting that sharp-toothed smile of his. "Come onnnnn. As if you didn't already destroy Mother? As if you didn't already destroy Mother!!"
He spreads his arms apart in the beginnings of a martial arts stance that is not unlike that of a Muay Thai kickboxer.
"I can see it now... a tremendous threat, emerging from the cave... the greatest fighters of Filgaia, all coming here in one great. Historic. Battle." Ratatoskr daydreams with his mouth as he is offered a brush with capitalism for his services. His tail swishes out again. "If they don't come? If they don't know? If they don't care... hyahaha--! More for me!! I'll fight it too!"
Well, that kind of tears it then, doesn't it...
"Forget 'cuts'! Forget 'sides'! Forget 'Adlehyde'! Forget 'justice'! Forget anything else..."
Ratatoskr launches himself down off the raised rocky outcropping he was using for dramatic posturing to touch down before Zed and Locus, his grin never fading. Oh, quite the opposite. That is a smile that doesn't how how to stop.
"If there isn't even one behind the Holy Berry, do we even need a reason?! It's the one thing that all living things have in common!!"
Fighting.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
And then, before Catenna can even fire off a shot, another of those who came with them suddenly... turns and sides with the other Hyadeans? Catenna blinks once, then once more, frowning from behind her sheltered spot.
Glancing towards Jay, Catenna presses her lips together for a moment, suddenly a little anxious about this whole thing. It's not even clear who these Hyadeans are working for - after all, Mother's not aroud anymore, is she? Even the only Quarter Knight left seems to have given up the cause.
But they can't let them take the Berry. They've already done enough damage to the Cave. It's too important to Adlehyde.
Rising from behind her rocky hiding place, Catenna notches an arrow, then lets it go with the sharp twang of a bowstring. The arrow arcs a little as she sends it sailing on a path aimed for one of the Hyadeans.
It's the woman in the cloak. Catenna's aiming to put an arrow in her leg and hopefully take her out of the fight before things get overly heated.
"I'm sorry," she says as she straightens with a flick of her head. "I know you are just trying to survive, but this cave is too important to the people of Adlehyde. Please, stop what you are doing!"
GS: Catenna has attacked Heal Berry with Moonlight Archery! GS: Catenna has gained 1 Combo! GS: Catenna has completed her action. GS: Heal Berry takes a glancing hit from Catenna's Moonlight Archery for 53 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline is a litte surprised to see Carina here - particularly unarmored. A part of her feels the urge to rush out and cover her until she's armored up...but much to her surprise, Carina seems to knock exactly what she's doing.
Jacqueline stares, blinking, as Carina gives her speech and then transforms.
Well, she certainly has to give her marks for dramatics, at least.
Jacqueline listens as the other Hyadeans bicker with Zed, and as she does so she plans her entrance. Her expression darkens a little at the mention of Adlehyde, however, and that, if anything, is what urges Jacqueline forward with a single nod toward Catenna.
The bottle of lavender liquid flies out, erupting into mist as soon as it crashes into the ground. Anyone who breathes it in and is unable to resist it will find themselves generally weakened.
"What was that about Adlehyde?" Jacqueline asks with a frown, strolling out from her hiding place with her arms folded in front of her and a frown on her face. She spares a glance toward Ratatoskr as he says the words 'forget Adlehyde', her expression becoming a little more grim for a moment before she returns her attention to the other Hyadeans.
"And what is this 'operation' of yours? Does it involve mangling every Heal Berry vine you come across and shooting at people requesting a ceasefire?" She asks. "I'd still prefer to avoid violence, if possible. Stand down and we can settle this peacefully."
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Heal Berry with Sapping Solution! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action. GS: Gwen Whitlock takes a solid hit from Heal Berry's Dramatic Setup...! for 0 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.
Normally right here, Ashton would strike from hiding to occupy the Hyadeans and work together with the others to save the Holy Berry. However...
Wow.
What is it, child?
Do you SEE her?
Oh no.
Ashton's eyes go wide as he sees Carina step out, call out and HENSHIN. He must know this woman. At the very least, her style is impetuous.
So when the weird squirrel person starts shouting back at her, Ashton suddenly leaps atop a small rock nearby and levels a blade at Ratatoskr. "You seek monsters? You seek battle?" Creepy and Weepy - the two snake-like dragons - burst out from under his furred collar and rise, hissing above him. "You should concern yourself first with the one in front of the berry! AND!"
Fire crackles along the blades in his hands. "THE ONE WITHIN YOUR DARK HEART!"
It's a pose-off!
<Pose Tracker> Carina Wynne has posed.
"Hey Catenna, hey Miss Jay!" Locus says, waving frantically to the other end of the room. "People were gettin' worried that you weren't comin' out, so I went after you with those two guys!" And so... that explains what she was doing here.
But Ratatoskr has just performed a heel turn! Or maybe it wasn't much of a turn, and Carina was just bad at noticing. Oh well!
"Fudge, I thought you were cool! Ugh. If it's a big fight you want, I'll give you one!" She punches the air, fists crackling with electricity. "But leave the people outside outta this! There are people who don't wanna fight at all, y'know?"
'It's the one thing that all living things have in common!!'
Carina pauses, putting a finger to her chin. She seems to consider this a legitimate riddle.
"Wait, no!!" She steps back, as if recoiling, "you don't mean...!!"
She whispers, horrified, "Poopin'...?"
"Eww!!" She extends an arm forward, holding it up with her free hand as a large, junky-looking motorized fist flashes into existence. "Guess what I had one last of in the tank! ROCKET-O PUUUUUUUUNCH!!"
And the fist rockets off, towards RATATOSKR'S FACE.
"Haha, nice one," she tells Ashton.
GS: Carina Wynne has attacked Ratatoskr with Rocket-O Punch! GS: Carina Wynne has completed her action. GS: Ratatoskr critically Guards a hit from Carina Wynne's Rocket-O Punch for 23 hit points! GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo! GS: Carina Wynne has lost 1 Combo! GS: Ashton Anchors has attacked Ratatoskr with Crescendo Stance! GS: Ashton Anchors has completed his action. GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Ashton Anchors's Crescendo Stance for 0 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Well. They should have known... That there was no way in hell that any of this was going smoothly! Of course, while Zed could have predicted that this would end in battle, perhaps he might have overlooked just how battle-happy a certain squirrel man could be! "Ratatoskr!" Zed says, aghast! "Ratatoskr no, we must have some level of restraint!" This coming from a Zed-- is kind of a Thing in and of itself. But...!
But it seems as though Carina has it covered.
Well, Carina and some dude with totally rad dragon heads growing from his shoulders. Wow, he's like some kind of Dracerebrus or something. What a cool dude...!
Speaking of Cool Dudes.
Zed... Has to deal with some very UNCOOL dudes.
"Hrmph. Operation!? There are no more operations! The war is over! It's time to pack it in! Unless you have a good reason that you're endangering a bunch of innocent hillbillies and also all our good names! We have a chance to start over fresh, and a decent excuse for all the nonsense we've been through! To throw it away now... Is foolhardy! And I!" Zed... draws his sword! "Will not stand for it!"
Oh no.
Zed is calling them fools!
What kind of weird backwards twilight zone is this!?
"As your senior, I must set you all straight! All of you... Skuld and Magnus and Max and Fran and Soup Coat! I'll bring you all in alive, and then it's a stern lecture for all of you! Here I go-- Opening move! TORNADO AIR SLASH!" Zed leaps!
Zed strikes! Not merely to deliver a blow... But dozens of them! All whirling out from his spinning form like deadly guillotines of air!
Thankfully, none of them are aimed at the berry...
GS: Zed has attacked Heal Berry with Dark Horse - Supreme Tornado! GS: Zed has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Ashton reveals himself as among those who would put a stop to the acquisition of the Holy Berry, and Ratatoskr freezes where he stands as his eyes track towards the twice-bedragoned (this is a word now) twin swordsman who carries with him the strength of technique and conviction that's seen him through some of the greatest battles of anyone's lifetime.
"...Ashton Anchors...!" The words are choked out. Fear? Hot flames crackle across the length of the Symbology-imbued blades, and his smile widens. "You're here...? You're here!!"
...Oh, worse.
This is a fanboy.
"I even get to fight someone in the very name and appearance of Locus, too..." The squirrel-like Hyadean's grin finds some way to grow in dimension, eyes lightening up even more. There's only a momentary dip as he is met with a fact that only temporary draws him out from his battle frenzy excitement trance about something all living things do.
"Come onnn! You know what I mean!! All of Filgaia's war heroes know what I mean!" This protest comes as Locus fires off the ROCKET-O PUNCH, and then there is a ground-shaking force as the fist connects with--
Ratatoskr's elbow, which explosively expels a burst of compressed air that deflects the ROCKET-O PUUUUUUUUNCH upwards to rob it of momentum. It collides with the ceiling and then falls down into his waiting hand. A show of power? A show of how futile it is?
"Hyahaha--! I'll treasure this...!" He stows it away on his person (somehow) safely (somehow, but really stretching suspension of disbelief) in some vague manner.
Zed goes on and on about 'packing it in.' Giving it all up, and Ratatoskr just has this weird head tilt like he doesn't understand a word coming out of their mouth.
"Now!! Show me the legacies! Show me the powers! Show me the heroes of Filgaia...!" Just like that, he's off, leaping inwards at Ashton with a jumping knee attack, then trying to touch down low in a three-point stance and sweep his tail out to try and compromise Locus' footing.
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Ashton Anchors with Fly Into Fray! GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Carina Wynne with Root Cutter! GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Thankfully for Gwen, the barrier vanishes, making her next goal... something. She'll figure it out soon, promise.
Oh right. Maybe she should make sure that guy with the nice fan doesn't make it come up again.
Creeping over as unresolved conflicts and grudges are laid out into the open, Gwen keeps quiet, not wanting her more cautious, slower gait to be the one thing that gives her away.
In the end, it's Carina's shocked answer to Ratatoskr that causes a very unsneaky snort to escape Gwen's mouth.
Which may make the Hyadean with the electric fan (no pun intended) realize that he may have a contender of his own. Gwen's right arm reaches out to attempt to hook around the man's neck, as if about to give him a friendly noogie at any moment. "Heeey, got anything t'contribute here? I mean, if ya explain yourselves, you might luck out."
GS: Ashton Anchors guards a hit from Ratatoskr's Fly Into Fray for 76 hit points! GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Heal Berry with Quasar Palm! GS: Gwen Whitlock has gained 1 Combo! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action. GS: Carina Wynne takes a solid hit from Ratatoskr's Root Cutter for 70 hit points! GS: Entangle! Statuses applied to Carina Wynne! GS: Heal Berry critically Guards a hit from Jacqueline Barber's Sapping Solution for 7 hit points! GS: Heal Berry has gained 1 Combo! GS: Jacqueline Barber has lost 1 Combo! GS: Heal Berry guards a hit from Zed's Dark Horse - Supreme Tornado for 74 hit points! GS: Heal Berry has gained 1 Combo! GS: Gwen Whitlock has lost 1 Combo!
DC: MISS! Heal Berry completely evades Quasar Palm from Gwen Whitlock!
<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.
The response Ratatoskr gives to being dramatically threatened is... not quite what he anticipated. But he rolls with it after a moment of stumbling. "Yes! I'm here! And I shall--"
Wait, rocket punch? And the squirrel just caught it?
Ashton waves a flaming sword at Ratatoskr. "Hey! You give the lady back her fist RIGHT NOW. That's not yours! ...Not any more than the Holy Berry is!"
It is right in the middle of that statement that Ashton takes a knee to the face. He stumbles backwards, entirely caught off-guard.
This whole fight is already not going how he expected.
Realizing that he really should take this a bit more seriously, Ashton re-ignites his blades. "You want to see what a true warrior of Filgaia can do? Then I shall oblige! DOUBLEDEMON SWORD!"
The paired flaming blades come sweeping in - one low, one high. Ashton tries to anticipate Ratatoskr leaping over the lower and attempts to bracket the obviously agile Hyadean with flame.
GS: Ashton Anchors has attacked Ratatoskr with Doubledemon Sword! GS: Ashton Anchors has completed his action. GS: Ratatoskr takes a glancing hit from Ashton Anchors's Doubledemon Sword for 50 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Carina Wynne has posed.
"Just the 'name and appearance' of Locus??" Carina slumps. Her Locus Cred has really been going down as of late, jeez. But then...
Ratatoskr catches the Rocket-O Punch!
"W-What!! It didn't explode!" This is the part of this sequence of events she finds the most jarring. Ashton demands that he give her fist back. "It's fine, though, it's not my real one," she says, flexing the fingers on her actual fist to demonstrate. "See?"
But before she's completely done processing this turn of events, Ratatoskr attacks rapidly (imagine that) and sweeps Carina off her feet in a completely non-romantic way. "Waugh!" She goes tumbling to the ground, ungracefully.
Ashton goes on the offensive, giving her a window to stumble back onto her feet, though still disoriented. He attacks with fire, but she has another idea.
"You've got a real skip in your step, but let's see if that freezes ya in your tracks!" She produces a blue, glowing marble from seeming thin air, slotting it into her belt where a yellow one was until now. A robotic voice announces what this means.
ELEMENT: ICE_
"Chill out!" Locus announces, swinging a fist now surrounded by swirling snowflakes, and in the process projecting a wave of frost that will, hopefully, cramp Ratatoskr's style.
GS: Carina Wynne has attacked Ratatoskr with Secret Technique - Hit the Weakness! GS: Carina Wynne has gained 1 Combo! GS: Carina Wynne has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Ratatoskr takes a glancing hit from Carina Wynne's Secret Technique - Hit the Weakness for 63 hit points! GS: Hyper, Quick, and Shield! Statuses applied to Carina Wynne!
<Pose Tracker> Heal Berry has posed.
Zed's reputation, such as it is, precedes him.
"We won't be talked down to by someone who spent the last thousand years /asleep/." Francesca interposes herself between Zed and the others, arms crossed. More of those axe-handle-like rods slide from grooves in her armor's forearms, slipping into each hand. "We have no /home/, Zed! Nothing is left, thanks to that /monster!"
"And my name is GUNTHER, you rusty idiot!"
"But I've seen too much blood spilled," Francesca continues.
"Don't act like you don't know what you did!" Magnus shouts, as if Zed truly did something offensive to him at Adlehyde.
"We won't kill you. You're misguided, but this can be corrected."
None of them seem to think of him as a serious threat.
The cloaked woman--Skuld--nods to Ratatoskr. "Right, then." She turns on a heel, and strides away, towards the vine the Holy Berry dangles from. "If you could keep from--" Skuld stops, glances over her shoulder--
Well-honed instincts are all that save her from taking Catenna's arrow clean in the back of the leg. She twists away, pulling her leg forwards; rather than embedding itself in her, it glances off her calf, leaving a trail of crimson in its wake.
"More intruders!" Skuld chokes out, forcing herself to her feet despite what must be considerable pain. Her hand blurs around her back, and returns to visibility holding a bog-standard gunsmoke revolver. She shoots at Catenna, barely bothering to aim--she's just trying to keep her down, maybe?
Zed demonstrates that he's no idle threat. Francesca steps forwards alongside Maximilian, sweeping both axe-handles through a chopping strike--the blades ignite, forming axe-heads made of crackling energy. Maximilian simply stands there. The wave of Not Air Slashes breaks against Francesca's blades and Maximilian's armor, but not without cost--Francesca staggers back from the force of the impact, grimacing ever-so-slightly as pain shoots through her arms. Maximilian gives a grunt of approval, and glances at the gouge torn in his armor.
Gwen strikes next, and the way Gunther reacts is telling. The lanky man glances over his shoulder, double-takes, and twists away from Gwen as she reaches for him. The cyborg grabs a handful of reinforced overcoat, but cannot deliver the threat of hair-ruffling. "G--get away!" he shouts. Electricity leaps from his hand at Gwen, like a static charge carried by his aura.
Jay, likewise, gets no immediate answer to her questions. The potion vial erupts, spewing fumes everywhere; Gunther erupts in coughs, but the others react with instinctive precision, pulling up strange, silvery cloths that Ratatoskr and Zed would recognize as emergency fume masks. Francesca throws one of those hatchets right at Jay; the weapon arcs oddly in the air, tracing out a curve that's too precise to come from kinetic energy alone.
Magnus, meanwhile, lunges out from behind the formidable roadblock that is Maximilian, and lunges at Zed spear-first. The look in his eyes borders on rage. why?
GS: Heal Berry has attacked Catenna with Skuld - Reflex Shot! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Electrostatic Bolt! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Francesca - Guided Hatchet! GS: Heal Berry has gained 1 Combo! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Zed with Magnus - Lance Strikethrough! GS: Heal Berry has completed its action. GS: Jacqueline Barber guards a hit from Heal Berry's Francesca - Guided Hatchet for 73 hit points! GS: Zed takes a solid hit from Heal Berry's Magnus - Lance Strikethrough for 113 hit points! GS: Catenna has gained 1 Combo! GS: Heal Berry has lost 1 Combo!
DC: MISS! Catenna completely evades Skuld - Reflex Shot from Heal Berry!
GS: Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Heal Berry's Electrostatic Bolt for 0 hit points! GS: Disrupt and Jam! Statuses applied to Gwen Whitlock!
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
"Carina!" Catenna calls out with a quick blink. "Please, be careful!"
The arrow comes far too close - and Catenna's eyes widen at the sight of a flash of red. They're Tainted, she realizes with a shock in the pit of her stomach. Are they Riesenlied's people?
A shot comes ricocheting her way, and the Moon Shaman throws herself to the side and hits the turf. The bullet may be poorly-aimed, but it whistles through the space her shoulder once occupied. Catenna rolls and comes up a distance to her right, the Owlet ghosting away to take up a safe perch on an outcropping somewhere. She holds her bow across her body but doesn't draw another arrow just yet.
Mostly because it wasn't lost at her that the Hyadeans aren't answering.
"Are you doing this because you're trying to survive?" she asks, pitching her voice just enough that Skuld can hear her from this distance. "Nobody could fault you for that. But there are other ways you can."
Holding her right hand out, Catenna musters her power again - but what she casts forth isn't an arrow, nor even a crushing force. It's an unseen pressure that ripples around Skuld, sweeping out to weigh down her companions as well. The power of gravity takes hold, working to encumber their movements and make their bodies feel heavier and harder to move around.
A small thing. But if they can stop them and get them to listen, then maybe....
GS: Catenna has attacked Heal Berry with Encumber! GS: Catenna has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
The combinations at play are far quicker in execution than written word can ever truly give full respect to. The first of the Doubledemon Sword is deftly avoided with a short leap upwards. There is only a small miscalculation in so much that Ratatoskr is also leaping forwards, as in, intending to hurl himself right into the two dragon heads which is not at all a reasonable tactical decision to make. It's aggressive, and crazy--
Just in time to be intercepted by an icy punch that grazes Ratatoskr enough that the squirrel-like Hyadean finds his momentum redirected into a flipping that arrests his forward lunge. It's the single window of time and spacing opportunity there that allows Ashton to go through the one-two punch (...slash) as intended, one elbow bent inward with an opening exposed. He blasted compressed air out of that elbow not long before in which to parry the ROCKET-O PUUUUUUUUNCH. The blade slices into the open flank, flames dancing forward and creeping into that opening. His body rapidly rises in temperature. For the compressed air within--
*POP*
*BOOM*
Smoke rises and quicksilver splashes both out the elbow and the hand of the arm in question as Ratatoskr is launched against a rocky wall, down to a kneel while the injured arm twitches.
...He's smiling.
He's smiling through an elemental weakness hit, which appears to be fire.
"Yes...!" He slams that injured hand down, forcing it to push his weight back up to a fighting stance. "That's the power that destroyed Mother... I'm seeing it! I'm living it... I'm feeling it... the greatest warriors of history, today...!"
He runs forward, lowering his head as energy gathers into the horn on his head and fires a lance of energy towards Ashton, before appearing to turn and trip...
...where his tail appears to catch him as he turns his back towards Locus, throwing his arms outward as a liquid metal patagium fills the space between his limbs as he launches backwards in a body ram against her.
"How many more will arrive when the legendary beast awakens?!" He daydreams aloud, even as quicksilver continues to leak free from the arm that just had all its collected compressed air go kablooey.
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Ashton Anchors with Yggdrasil Arrow! GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Carina Wynne with Reverse Ambush! GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action. GS: Carina Wynne guards a hit from Ratatoskr's Reverse Ambush for 67 hit points! GS: Cover! Statuses applied to Ratatoskr!
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
They continue to bicker with Zed, leaving them largely open as they make their moves...but even so, they're trained soldiers. It'll take more than an ambush to take them down, as noted by their quick, expertly trained reactions. Jacqueline takes note of the crimson resulting from Catenna's arrow. She must be one of the Tainted, then, but she doesn't point it out. That wasn't necessary.
"Thanks for the back-up." Jacqueline replies, offering Carina a smile. She hadn't expected to see her here, but it was always good to see a friendly face. "Don't worry, everything's fine."
Unfortunately, Jacqueline doesn't get any answers - what she gets instead is an axe. Jacqueline dives out of the way...but the axe moves at an angle she doesn't expect, and there's no time to dodge. She's forced her to bring up her ironcloth cloak to protect herself. It dulls the bite of the axe, but its still enough to get a wince of pain out of her.
"...Very well, then. If that's the way you want it, we'll discuss this afterward. Sorry about this." She says. With that Jacqueline gestures with her left hand. A pillar of earth shoots up from the ground, shooting straight for Francesca.
"She's right. If you're looking to survive on Filgaia, we can help you. But only if you let us." She says.
She sends a brief glance over toward where Ashton and Carina are fighting Ratatoskr, but she can't allow herself to be distracted for long.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Heal Berry with Pillar Crash! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.
+guard 1
GS: CRITICAL! Ashton Anchors guards a hit from Ratatoskr's Yggdrasil Arrow for 54 hit points! GS: Shieldbreak! Statuses applied to Ashton Anchors! GS: Hyper, Quick, and Shield! Statuses applied to Ratatoskr! GS: Heal Berry has gained 1 Combo! GS: Catenna has lost 1 Combo!
DC: MISS! Heal Berry completely evades Encumber from Catenna!
GS: Heal Berry guards a hit from Jacqueline Barber's Pillar Crash for 82 hit points! GS: Cover! Statuses applied to Jacqueline Barber!
<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.
The sequence of events that plays out is both good and bad.
It's good because the icy combination allows Ashton's blades to bite deep and score a potent hit.
It's bad because as Ratatoskr lept at Ashton? There was a moment where both dragon heads had the same expression and thought.
Lunch!
Lunch!
Creepy and Weepy are disappointed when the lunge doesn't quite get there, leaving them both snapping at air.
Things also go poorly as Ratatoskr focuses in on one of Ashton's lesser known weaknesses: stroking his ego. The compliment stalls the Double Dragon Duelist, making him pause and miss the easy follow-up window.
One of the greatest warriors in history? Why yes, he was part of destroying Mother, that's true. And he is pretty awesome. But greatest? That's--
A horn-laser to the chest.
Being blasted knocks Ashton out of his introspection and onto his heavily armored butt. Wounded, the duelist grabs what is now a badly melted section of armor (and the seared robe that was over it). Eyes go wide with surprise, now.
"There-- there will be no awakening today, beast! Monster!" Ashton regains his feet, albiet unsteadily. "You'll have to try harder than that to get at that Berry - far harder!" The two blades trace a cross in the air now, leaving thin lines of ice that form to a wider shield. Smaller shards of ice fly off of it, filling the air in front of Ashton with pinprick needles.
GS: Ashton Anchors enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Ashton Anchors has attacked Ratatoskr with Northern Cross! GS: Ashton Anchors has entered a Reflect stance! GS: Ashton Anchors has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Carina Wynne has posed.
"Ooooh, so... fire, huh." Locus pounds a palm with her fist at this realization. She thought the ice would make it slippery, plug those air holes or something, but... Fire explosions work too!
"Actually, I didn't fight Mother," she points out, "I was too busy rescuin' people! Because guess what, fightin' isn't the only thing legends are all about!"
Dang, Carina thinks, I'm sounding pretty cool right now. At least until Ratatoskr springs into action to body slam her!
"Locus Guard!" she announces, putting her arms in an X shape, which as everyone knows is the best stance for blocking anything, up to and including giant laser beams. This does knock her over backwards, sending her flying, even! But she...
...laughs?
That's right! For in mid-air, she flips, reversing her momentum as if having kicked herself off of nothing solid whatsoever. Despite this not making much sense, here she is again, descending upon Ratatoskr with her foot extended in a flying kick!
Now, Ratatoskr might wonder if this is, in fact, the legendary Locus Kick. Now don't be silly. If this were a Locus Kick, Carina would be yelling the attack name. This is just a normal, albeit unusually cool kick.
GS: Carina Wynne has attacked Ratatoskr with Physics-Ignoring Karate Stunt! GS: Carina Wynne has gained 1 Combo! GS: Carina Wynne has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen's hand grasps at cloth, but it's hardly anything that will provide her the grip she needs. What it *does* succeed in doing is allow her to get properly shocked by the man's... hand? Almost like a reaction. Jerking back with a pained grunt, Gwen attempts to regain her composure with a hoarse laugh. "... That is quite the _opposite_ of what I was hopin' you'd do."
He may be the easiest link in this chain to break.
... Or well, not _break_, but get him on her side.
"Okay, so ya wanna tango a bit first? I'm game for that, but, like, you just seemed like t'type that might be more, uh, reasonable?" Slowly, Gwen eases the leather glove from her right ARM, exposing the metallic surface to the light. "You've got what's likely the most sympathetic group of Drifters in here. Y'sure you can't provide some context beyond whatever the squirrel guy's read into what you're doin'?"
"Though first..." She extends her hand out, palm up. Suddenly, a field of electric energy projects outwards, attempting to meet energy with energy. "Look, if you wanted th' Holy Berry, I bet if you asked someone sympathetic, you might've got somewhere a heckuva lot easier. That is, unless you had somethin' t'hide. I'm sure y'don't, right?"
Waitwaitwait. She wanted to get him on her side. Let's try that again-
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Heal Berry with St. Elmo's Fire! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action. GS: Heal Berry critically Guards a hit from Gwen Whitlock's St. Elmo's Fire for 18 hit points! GS: Heal Berry has gained 1 Combo! GS: Gwen Whitlock has lost 1 Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"Your name is SOUP COAT until such time that you've started acting like you've actually earned that soup you ate back in Arctica, Soup Coat!" Zed barks back in Gunther's general direction as ~everything goes to hell.~ "Do you think that this is making anything better? That this is somehow going to carve a home for us here? Don't make me laugh! This just looks like spite! Tell me someone's paying you for this, because I can't believe any of you would do something like this on your own!"
A spear lunges into Zed's guard. The Dark Hero snarls and... charges into it. The speartip plunges in, carving a quicksilver gash across his side, but Zed keeps charging in. "What the crap, man!? What did I even do to you!? Coming at me with a swing like that-- It's like you actually want me dead!"
There, he's cleared the glaive's most lethal strike range. He ducks down, blade suddenly surging with blinding, eye-searing light. "If knocking you jokers out is what it'll take to beat some sense back into your heads, then let this thousand-year senior of yours do what needs to be done!"
Zed... Swings for the fences!
GS: Zed has attacked Heal Berry with RayBlade - Zed Saber! GS: Zed has gained 1 Combo! GS: Zed has completed his action. GS: Ratatoskr critically Guards a hit from Ashton Anchors's Northern Cross for 21 hit points! GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ashton Anchors has lost 1 Combo! GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Carina Wynne's Physics-Ignoring Karate Stunt for 137 hit points! GS: Heal Berry takes a solid hit from Zed's RayBlade - Zed Saber for 156 hit points! GS: Heal Berry enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Ratatoskr manages to stave off the wave of icy blows with help of the liquid metal patagium cushioning the brunt of it. Some of it freezes up enough that retracting it in a timely manner in which to continue to engage in hand-to-hand shenanigans might yet be tricky.
"Of course you won't make it easy... of course you won't hold back...!" Ratatoskr challenges back as he looks over his shoulder. He temporarily loses where Carina is in all of this, eyes settling upon some of the others here. "I won't have anything less... Ashton Anchors...! Now where's--"
The High Shaman of Celesdue, the merchant leader Jacqueline Barber, a super courier in Gwen Whitlock--
--oh, there she is. He's so happy he found her! He's not sure why he had to look so hard, because in that moment it came to him!
Locus' foot is on his face! So the rest of her follows behind. It shoves him sliding across the ground, giving her the clearance to make a landing that looks as unusually cool as the kick in question.
"...But you fought," Ratatoskr clarifies, a moment of intensity rearing over the exuberance of it all as he rises again while the patagium folds back to wherever, standing tall anew with arms at the battle-ready. Even the injured one. "Playing it down...? Playing it down! I won't let you! Locus! Come onnn...!"
He comes in at them again, with renewed excitable vigor as he bears down upon Carina - the closer of the two - trying to lift her up by a hand, from the arm that didn't get fire-popped. A hand that contains razor-sharp claws. A hand that, if allowed to grab at her, could very well snuff the life out of her by slicing open her throat if he squeezed hard enough.
...Except... no matter where he tries to get a hold of her, he never curls his fingers inward that far.
"You're a hero...! One of the greatest... show me, show me!!" He may be outright begging, as he tries to launch her with a burst of compressed air from the palm as he leaps again towards Ashton, swinging a leg down in an overhead kicking motion. Oh, hey, at the end of that digitigrade foot of his...
...that's another compressed air shotgun. If the momentary opening isn't spied, well, the burst of compressed air will clue in enough.
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Carina Wynne with Skyward Scatter! GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ratatoskr used Mystic on Ratatoskr! Status effect durations increased by 2! Temporary HP duration increased by 2! GS: Ratatoskr has activated a Force Action! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Ashton Anchors with Overhead Shoot! GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Heal Berry has posed.
Having done her part to try and suppress Catenna, Skuld twists on her good leg, tucking her body behind one of the large limestone pillars. She twists out the cylinder, cursing for not bothering to reload after the Beast was killed. Neonate mistake. Worthless human firearms.
'Are you doing this because you're trying to survive?'
Is she kidding...? Skuld clenches her teeth, and shouts over the din. "If you can call existing in this madhouse 'surviving'! This is our take, not yours!"
Skuld reacts with surprising speed, whipping out from behind the pillar, revolver held in both hands. She aims at Catenna and fires, fanning the hammer between each shot like some gunslingers do--emptying the entire cylinder in the Moon Shaman's direction!
And then the world skews awkwardly. Skuld and Gunther sag, visibly, bracing themselves against the columns. The other three don't seem too badly-affected, but they're also not the ones relying on reflex.
"Why does it matter?" Gunther says, gripping his coat and pulling it free of Gwen's hand. "This is what--this is how this works, right?" He heaves himself upright, gasping for breath with the exertion. Gwen raises her hand, and does--
Something Gunther has never seen a human do. Is that a--it can't be an integral ARM, humans don't have those. Data plays out across his lunes, gathered by the environmental sensors in his armor. He grits his teeth, crosses his arms across his chest, and stands firm, his aura condensing into a sheath of electromagnetic radiation. Gwen's bolt slams into it, and then bounces off at a strange angle. "The Berry is the mission," Gunther says. It sounds like he's reminding himself as much as explaining to Gwen. "What is that."
"Steady, Gunther!" Francesca cries, her voice cutting through the din. "Focus!" The axe whips through the air, returning to Francesca's hand like a boomerang. Then Jay's earth pillar erupts beneath the Hyadean's feet, and Catenna's gravity-manipulation reminds her that it's still a thing. She tumbles, almost falls to the ground face-first, and only doesn't because she throws a hand out to stop herself. Muscles and tendons grind awkwardly in the shoulder.
"Sorry, Miss," grates Maximilian. He steps in front of his fallen commander as she picks herself up, and reaches behind his back for something. Armor unfolds, revealing a barrel, stock, and other essential ARM parts--all of which snap together into a large-bore energy cannon, which settles into Maximilian's hands. He sets his jaw, aims at Jay, and lets loose with a pulse of energetic photons!
"You wrote that letter!" Magnus growls. At this range, he can't dodge; Zed's energy wave slams into him, catching him right in the teeth. He spits quicksilver onto the ground; his lip is split open, and angry silvery-blue welts spread across half of his face. "Did you think it was a joke?!"
ALMOST TWO YEARS AGO, IN ADLEHYDE
Magnus stands atop the primitive stone fortification, watching the street for fleeing humans. There aren't any--at least, none he can see--and there haven't been any. Though he hasn't voiced his thought aloud, Magnus is glad for it; the idea of shooting creatures that did nothing more than scream and run rankles. The Hundred Spears might be leaderless and scattered after Arctica, but he still has his pride.
Something flutters past on the breeze. Magnus reaches out, instinctively snatching it out of the air in hopes it might be more than detritus. It's... a letter.
A letter written by Zed, to them, folded into a crude aerofoil and launched out on the winds. He's found something. Magnus frowns, and turns to Maximilian, who stands next to him. A brief discussion ensues. Eventually, they decide that Zed might have found something, and it's certainly best to check it out.
Zed never wrote that letter. It was a cunning forgery dreamed up by Ida Everstead-Rey and executed by master artist Fei Fong Wong.
ALMOST TWO YEARS AGO, AFTER ADLEHYDE
Magnus and Maximilian get reprimanded for abandoning their post, allowing humans to get through. Both are publically chastised in front of their squad, held up as examples of weakness. Both are assigned to muck out the Organic Growth Compounder. Yarobeleedt is involved, somehow. Everything is awful.
"Was I not a joke before?!" Magnus lets go of the lance. He steps forwards, lashing out with a gauntleted right fist to try and slug Zed in the face.
GS: Heal Berry has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Gunther - Why Is This Happening! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Maximilian - Photon Shot! GS: Heal Berry has gained 2 Combo! GS: Ashton Anchors critically Guards a hit from Ratatoskr's Overhead Shoot for 27 hit points! GS: Ashton Anchors has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ratatoskr has lost 1 Combo! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Catenna with Skuld - Fan the Hammer! GS: Heal Berry has gained 1 Combo! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Zed with Magnus - Unwise CQC! GS: Heal Berry has gained 1 Combo! GS: Heal Berry has completed its action. GS: CRITICAL! Jacqueline Barber critically Guards a hit from Heal Berry's Maximilian - Photon Shot for 30 hit points! GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 1 Combo! GS: Heal Berry has lost 1 Combo! GS: Catenna takes a solid hit from Heal Berry's Skuld - Fan the Hammer for 128 hit points! GS: Gwen Whitlock takes a solid hit from Heal Berry's Gunther - Why Is This Happening for 0 hit points! GS: Zed takes a glancing hit from Heal Berry's Magnus - Unwise CQC for 60 hit points! GS: Carina Wynne takes a solid hit from Ratatoskr's Skyward Scatter for 110 hit points! GS: Mighty! Statuses applied to Ratatoskr! GS: Carina Wynne enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.
It's a close in fight now - Ashton's where he needs to be. Point blank with his opponent.
Tilting backwards, Ashton angles his frosty shield to intercept the incoming kickshotgunwind blast. Now he's getting a feet for the squirrely little opponent - and he can adapt.
The shield wavers, sending off a halo of frost as a punishing hit strikes home against it. But behind that? Ashton grins.
"You speak as though I should care what you'll have, monster." For a moment the swordsman considers his actions - but he's in close. Those sharp short swords are in their prime, and he's got momentum on his side. "But if you're so eager - we'll see if your taste is the same as your Mother's!"
As the icy shield mostly disintegrates, Ashton rushes forward with blades flashing. No fancy sorcery, no blazing speed. Merely power - pure striking power. Vertical, then horizontal. "Cross slash!"
GS: Ashton Anchors has attacked Ratatoskr with Cross Slash! GS: Ashton Anchors has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ashton Anchors has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"LETTER!?" Zed barks back, the lingering light motes briefly illuminating the dueling warriors. "What? What letter!? This was Adlehyde, right? I didn't write a letter to anyone during that whole shebang! I was too busy running away from Berserk!"
ALMOST TWO YEARS AGO, IN ADLEHYDE
ZED is... not writing letters to anyone or anything. He's busy. Too busy. You see, Berserk just almost decided he was going to smash right through a bunch of people that Zed ostensibly was supposed to be killing, but even in those days, Zed was maybe too soft in the heart for the business of war. And so instead, he decided that the best course of action was to taunt the bull.
By which we mean he hit Berserk in the face with a great big beam of ZEDDER POWER.
Well! That may not have been the best plan in the world. But hey, it'll make for a real good story someday, and he's still alive, right? That counts for something!
NOW.
"No seriously though, the only letter I wrote around that point of time was when I left that note in the Guardian Temple! I've got no idea what you're talking about! Like, really guy! You think I'd be writing a letter while there was battle to be fought!?" But, the way things look... Forgiveness isn't going to be so quick to come. Magnus swings a fist for his face, and Zed... Zed shows him just how powerful the hardest head in the Photosphere really is. With a loud grunt, he slams his forehead into the Hyadean's incoming fist. The impact knocks the both of them back, but Zed... has fallen into a *peculiar* stance.
One that Magnus would probably recognize from the old holotapes. One whose last masters haven't been seen since the first war...!
"If you won't believe me," Zed growls, a trickle of quicksilver blood trailing down his face where the impact tore the flesh of his forehead. The normally violent aura that surges so often around the ancient alien... compresses, condenses, becoming something akin to a fine, frigid mist, like a warm breath exhaled into the frigid winter air...! "Then... Let me communicate the truth to you... With this blade...!"
"Saint Arts!" Zed roars, surging forward faster than the eye can follow. He swings once, twice, three times in a single fluid motion, each strike seeming to build on the momentum of the last, until Doom Bringer seems to humm with the accumulated energy, poised to explode at a moment's notice...! "Winter's Howl!"
GS: Zed has attacked Heal Berry with Saint Arts - Winter's Howl! GS: Zed has gained 2 Combo! GS: Zed has completed his action. GS: Heal Berry takes a solid hit from Zed's Saint Arts - Winter's Howl for 140 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
"We don't want to take it," Catenna starts to point out before Skuld starts shooting at her with far too many bullets than she'd really like.
Caught in mid-sentence, Catenna gasps and begins to move. A bullet flashes past her shoulder.
The next one flashes into her shoulder. Another one hits her in the side and another one just above the hip. With a choked sound, Catenna staggers and goes down hard, the left side of her body erupting with screaming knives of pain that soak the fabric of her dress around the bullet wounds.
She can feel each individual bullet, like talons burning white-hot torture into her flesh. But she can still feel them. That counts for something. She's been hurt enough times that she centers herself instinctively and tries to focus on what needs to be done. Get up. Stop them. Her leg comes out, her foot braced under her, and she pushes back up into a crouch with a pained wince she tries very, very hard to suppress.
Catenna starts to open her mouth to say something, but then a thought occurs to her: We killed their goddess. *I* helped kill their goddess. Would they believe it if we offered a hand of friendship?
With a sweep of her hand, Catenna calls up her second Medium, tapping into Lucadia's power. A surge of sea water bursts out from around her, rising and expanding, then crashing towards Skuld to try and sweep her off her feet before continuing on to try and sweep over Gunther and Francesca, too.
"Were you one of Riesenlied's people?" she asks as the noise of the wave quiets.
GS: Catenna has attacked Heal Berry with Tidal Wave! GS: Catenna has gained 1 Combo! GS: Catenna has completed her action. GS: Heal Berry takes a solid hit from Catenna's Tidal Wave for 135 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
ALMOST TWO YEARS AGO, AFTER ADLEHYDE, MOMENTS PRIOR TO THE CLEANING OF THE ORGANIC GROWTH COMPOUNDER
There was a bad batch of food intended for the neonates. Nobody ever knows about this problem. This is not because of the decisive action of a competent chemist on duty ensuring that Mother's great conquest will go smoothly as a new generation of soldiers are grown and trained.
This is because someone ate it all out of greed and selfishness, none the wiser, and the virtue of doing this is purely by happenstance.
A certain someone is too cowardly to own up to this because then it will reveal that he ate the baby food. He can't keep it because it is making him sick. He can't hurl it up in public because of the first point. Then, just as they crawl across the area where the Organic Growth Compounder is kept, they rub their hands together in mischief just as Magnus and Maximilian are given the dress-down about what their duties are...
"...Fu fu fu... fulp..."
...
Let us say that it took them a while to clean it out.
<Pose Tracker> Carina Wynne has posed.
"I did fight! I fought the late metal stinkman, Yarobeleedt!" Probably not someone Ratatoskr would remember as one of the Metal Demons' greatest warriors. ON THE CONTRARY. "But y'know... I... FORGOT WHAT POINT I WAS TRY'N TO MAKE!!"
Her foot has landed, but Ratatoskr grabs her by the leg and air-juggles her once more. The humanity! This sends her spinning into the air, and once all is said and done she might remain dizzy for a while, but until then...
"You wanna see 'that thing'? All right, you space weirdo, I'll show you 'that thing'!"
ELEMENT: FIRE_
Carina's spin stops in mid-air, and she catches ablaze as she is instead propelled downwards, once again, as if the laws of physics just gave up halfway and decided to let her do what she was trying to.
"Now, Ratatoskr, bear witness, with your face! To the ALWAYS-WINNING LOCUS FINAL DISTRACTING-YOU-FROM-THE-HOLY-BERRY KIIIIIIICK!!"
GS: Carina Wynne has spent 3 Combo on Gatling, including 2 on Gatling! GS: Carina Wynne has attacked Ratatoskr with Always-Winning Final Locus KICK!! GS: Carina Wynne has gained 1 Combo! GS: Carina Wynne has completed her action. GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Ashton Anchors's Cross Slash for 134 hit points! GS: Ratatoskr enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: CRITICAL! Ratatoskr takes a glancing hit from Carina Wynne's Always-Winning Final Locus KICK! for 104 hit points! GS: Hyper, Quick, and Shield! Statuses applied to Carina Wynne!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
The way Gunther gasps for breath as he gets up could at first be be excused as him being caught off guard. Or maybe because he's not used to combat. Or maybe even because of Zed's new name for him.
It doesn't matter. Something in the way he struggles to breathe causes a sharp change in Gwen's manner, a startled, subtle gasp that could only come from empathy, perceived or not. For a moment, Gwen doesn't answer him, but she doesn't attack him either.
"... It's an ARM," she answers truthfully, a smidgen of guilt in her voice. To use that as a way to unsettle him, what was she thinking? "And it matters, because regardless of the reasons why we all did what we did, n' what happened before, that don't change th'fact that not everyone's found a way to live their lives here after their Mother's passing."
Wait. The mission is the berry?
Her eyes narrow. ".... Hey. Do you or your friends need this, because you're still bein' affected by the... uh... Filgaia... thing?" She pauses. "Sorry, I didn't remember th'name for it. But, if it is, we need to know."
She doesn't attack, but her body is braced, expecting one. "If you grab that Holy Berry, and it works, that means there won't be any for any other Hyadeans. That's why I ask. If we know ahead of time, we could figure somethin' out."
<Pose Tracker> Heal Berry has posed.
Sweat runs down Gunther's face in tiny rivulets. "We were going to--" He glances back at Francesca, who told him to stand firm. He has to be strong, like her. He has to be a proper warrior. "To do what you do! Humans are so fragile, and they break, constantly! Therefore, many of them need things like this. Someone will owe us favors if we give it to them. Just--"
There's a flicker in the air, just behind Gwen. Gunther sees it, and his eyes go wide. "Jaeger!"
GS: Heal Berry has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Gunther - Uh Oh!! GS: Sneak! The true nature of Heal Berry's attack becomes clear! GS: Gwen Whitlock takes a solid hit from Heal Berry's Go For The Throat for 186 hit points! GS: Mute! Statuses applied to Gwen Whitlock!
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline glances toward Skuld.
"Filgaia may be a 'madhouse', but it's what we have. We can only survive by working together - not fighting each other at the slightest hint of a conflict of interest." Jacqueline comments, then nods toward Catenna. "It's like she says - we don't want it. We came down here to investigate the concerns of the townsfolk, not for the Holy Berry. I'd even be willing to help you - whatever it is you want with it, I'd rather it wasn't destroyed in the process of harvesting it. And this happens to be a specialty of mine."
She looks toward Gwen as she speaks. That was something she hadn't considered, but she can't dwell on it for long. There's still a fight going on, as evidenced by the fellow who jumps in front of Francesca. Jacqueline pales slightly at the sight of the energy cannon that he draws from his back and raises her hands in front of her. A pulse of energy flies at her, and in response her gauntlets produce a barrier in front of her. Sparks fly briefly as the two war with eachother, eventually resulting in a stalemate as they both disperse with a forceful crackle, sending Jacqueline stumbling backwards from the backlash of it.
In response Jacqueline draws out another bottle of lavender liquid. But there's a difference - this one is a far more potent mixture, that adds an exhausting effect on top of the weakning ailment. But as she does so...she overhears something that makes her freeze in place and think back.
Jacqueline remembers much of what happened in the siege of Adlehyde. It's seared into her mind, for obvious reasons. Magnus mentions a letter written by Zed, that Zed denies having written. It takes Jacqueline a second to think about it and then...
"Oh!" She says. ...Her face goes a little red. "...Um, sir...Zed isn't lying." She straightens up a bit.
"That letter...some friends of mine wrote it. We were trying to escort some refugees out of the city, and we needed a distraction so we, ah...we forged it. I'm sorry. If you want to blame anyone...blame me." She says, placing a hand over her heart.
Not that she was involved with the plan itself. She had been a little emotionally incapacitated at the moment.
For obvious reasons.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Heal Berry with Diminishing Draught! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Heal Berry has posed.
Something slams into Gwen with terrifying speed. It's a flicker in the air for all of two more seconds before it resolves into a shape--a great cat with bone-crushing jaws and metal teeth and a glimmering, prismatic coat. The Metal Beast's jaws snap shut, and then it's a question of what part of Gwen got caught between them.
"Jaeger, no!" Gunther screams.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Ashton's not a lucky man, but if there's any element of chance in play when it comes to Ratatoskr, it's able to be overcome with skull and pluck. Skill, Ashton displays in spades (maybe even in hearts, as far as someone like Ratatoskr is concerned) as the Twin Swordsman cross-slashes and simultaneously batters and slices the mid-air Hyadean. The vertical slash keeps him up in the air in a spin. The horizontal one sends him flying back.
In which Carina obliges, and shows him 'that thing.' That one and only thing. A finishing kick that descends across his lower back, flame catching across the other arm.
Another pop, another burst, as Ratatoskr makes an exclamation that should be... uh. Well, that sounds like a laughter, like he wants to laugh in the face of how much that hurts, as a now bloodied other arm clutches against the ground in a three-point stance.
That's both compressed air shotguns in his arms dealt with.
"Final...? Final...! No! The fight, over...? Hyahaha--!" He staggers up, shakily, both arms shuddering. Ashton's spoken disdain and resolve, the way he willingly comes at him without reservation... his eyes flicker with happiness.
"I don't want it to end...! I want it to keep going... I want to keep fighting...!" He reflects upon the mercy shown to him by Talise, Layna, and Ida, a spoken invitation to come see the world beyond the Photosphere. A world he is truly intoxicated by, but there appears to be one part of him that never could be left.
Then, there is a dramatic cut-in of him cackling, a clawed hand raised upwards. A Mystic Arte equivalent about to be dropped. A climactic blow...!
He comes rushing in with a series of blows, favoring his legs, trying to batter Ashton and Carina close together. A lust for battle that seems to transcend even a proper FINAL KICK - a taste for something beyond the sheer dramatics of a battle. Like he's just happy to keep battling, for battling's sake, communicated with every blow until he tries to throw them upwards towards the energy on his horn that is growing in such great intensity.
"Fight, fight, fight! SERPENT'S OUTRAGE!!"
A beam of energy blasts forth, trying to catch the two of them as he stands prone with both arms spread out and open, almost as though challenging them to just power through it and sword/kick him in the face. Again and again.
GS: Ratatoskr has activated a Boss Action! GS: Ratatoskr has spent 5 Combo on Gatling, including 4 on Gatling! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Carina Wynne with Serpent's Outrage! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Ashton Anchors with Serpent's Outrage! GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action. GS: Ashton Anchors critically Guards a hit from Ratatoskr's Serpent's Outrage for 36 hit points! GS: Ashton Anchors has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ratatoskr has lost 1 Combo! GS: Carina Wynne guards a hit from Ratatoskr's Serpent's Outrage for 94 hit points! GS: Carina Wynne enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Heal Berry takes a solid hit from Jacqueline Barber's Diminishing Draught for 182 hit points! GS: Weaken! Statuses applied to Heal Berry!
<Pose Tracker> Heal Berry has posed.
It's like hitting a brick wall. The impact of Zed's dense skull travels up Magnus's arm in a flash of pain. Muscles protest. Bone creaks. "Then what were you--" Zed's eyes meet his. What Magnus sees in them gives him pause. His mouth falls open, ever-so-slightly. The heat drains from his face, and from the nearby air.
"One of Riesenlied's people." There's vitriol in Skuld's voice. It wasn't there a second ago. She jams the revolver into its thigh holster, and reaches for another holster at her lower back. Light glints off the blade of a knife--Skuld's still half-hidden by the pillar, but it isn't. "She still has people? I thought she'd gotten them all killed." And then water appears from absolutely nowhere, pouring down across the cavern. Skuld presses herself flat behind the pillar, clinging to it, but Gunther doesn't have anywhere to brace himself, and has one hand locked around the scruff of Jaeger's neck. The water sweeps him off his feet, and sends him tumbling. Jaeger lets out an ugly hiss, and leaps away to higher ground.
The water surges up around Magnus, bowling him over. The thin silver film is torn from his face by the current, and goes washing away. Zed hits him with the full force of an Arctican winter a moment later. Water freezes as the wave of icy force hits it, forcing Magnus into an awkward pose--one hand and both feet on the ground, one arm free. The fog from Jay's chemical bottle reaches him a moment later. He coughs violently, and then sags.
"You what," Magnus chokes out, turning to Jay. He tugs on the ice encasing him, but it won't budge.
Maximilian stomps an armor-plated boot into the ice next to Magnus. "Commander," Maximilian says, and then his hand flashes through a series of signals. Zed might recognize them: New information reveals itself - This may not be worth our warriors' time.
Francesca grits her teeth, and hisses out a breath through her silver half-mask. Jay's chemicals have just about worn through the filters, and the moment they hit her lungs, she starts to feel weak. That's not acceptable. She sways, wobbles, and plants both feet flat on the floor, spreading her arms. The barely-visible aura reappears around her, the electromagnetic hum underscoring it.
"Did we come here to /fail?!" she shouts. "No!" Loose metal objects begin vibrating. The axe handles mounted on Francesca's arms snap loose, followed by three more pairs, all deployed from slots in her armor. Francesca closes her eyes, and then--
--erupts into a tempest of whirling metallic violence as all of the weapons and accumulated debris whirl through the room.
GS: Heal Berry has activated a Force Action! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Zed with Deadly Orbit! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Deadly Orbit! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Catenna with Deadly Orbit! GS: Heal Berry has gained 1 Combo! GS: Heal Berry has completed its action. GS: Jacqueline Barber critically Guards a hit from Heal Berry's Deadly Orbit for 32 hit points! GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 1 Combo! GS: Heal Berry has lost 1 Combo! GS: Catenna takes a solid hit from Heal Berry's Deadly Orbit for 161 hit points! GS: Reaper! Statuses applied to Catenna! GS: Catenna enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: CRITICAL! Zed takes a solid hit from Heal Berry's Deadly Orbit for 198 hit points! GS: Reaper! Statuses applied to Zed! GS: Zed takes an additional 45 damage from Reaper!
<Pose Tracker> Carina Wynne has posed.
What?! Ratatoskr withstood the Always-Winning Final Locus Kick? Just because he wants to keep fighting?
"Oh come on!" She lands into a slide across the cave's stony floor, just in time to be swept into a series of blows again and caught in... Frick! A Mystic Arte? That's no good! Think fast, Locus!
"Locusaber!" she calls out, and the translucent-bladed scimitar appears in her hand, just in time for her to parry that blast of energy, diffusing it with the flat of her legendary (and very toyetic) blade. The usual musical cue kicks in. (It's still https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnF4eLXsDT8&t=58, true believers!)
"Okay, let's finish this for real now!" And with an appreciative nod to Ashton, she slots the red marble in her belt into the sword, now glowing red. "Brave Blade - Locusaber!"
She slashes right through the beam, turning it red as a blade-shaped wave courses through it, gathering Ratatoskr's own power and gaining in size until it reaches the Hyadean for one final swordsplosion...!
"Checkmate!" Locus announces, apparently now having a chess or board game motif of some sort.
GS: Carina Wynne has attacked Ratatoskr with Brave Blade - Locusaber!! GS: Carina Wynne has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.
Final? Not so much. Not for Ashton, at least. The Symbological Swordsman does indeed have skill - years of training in close combat and sorcery. Monsters fought and defeated. Days saved.
The series of blows come raining down. And he is prepared. Blades flash with their own drama, parrying strike after strike in flashes of quicksilver and steel.
This does not mean he isn't forced back, however. Ashton deflects blow after blow, but he doesn't stand quite firm. He gives ground to save flesh - perhaps the wisest choice.
And when the dramatic cut-in happens, the mercenary finds himself beside the vigilante. And he grins.
"To fight without purpose is insanity. To strike without guidance is idiocy!" Ashton... sheathes his swords. "You shame your Mother and all Hyades like this, beast! Feral, foolish and farcical! You deserve no honored end."
Ratatoskr cries out his attack and unleashes his greatest blast. Ashton... isn't there.
Sorcerous power surges as he teleports away - and to a spot in the air above the squirrely Hyadean. His weapon draws again... but does not.
DAYS AGO
It has happened too often now. Too many times as of late the enemy has been a friend. And as loathe as Ashton is to admit it, his toolkit is sorely lacking in those cases. Blade and blast are ill-suited to downing someone without serious harm.
But what inks to inscribe with to find the correct technique?
Frowning, Ashton's eyes drifted to his sword's scabbard. And a smile reached his lips.
NOW
The sword is in Ashton's hand - but it is not drawn. Maybe this isn't the best time to try out a new technique but too late for second thoughts now.
Up and down Ashton's arm, red-brown Symbols glow and channel raw kinetic power from the earth into the weapon. And he falls from the sky at the raging, laser-shooting squirrel.
"EDGELESS BLADE"
*bonk!*
GS: Ashton Anchors has attacked Ratatoskr with Edgeless Blade! GS: Ashton Anchors has completed his action. GS: Ratatoskr takes a glancing hit from Carina Wynne's Brave Blade - Locusaber! for 81 hit points! GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Ashton Anchors's Edgeless Blade for 118 hit points! GS: Ratatoskr has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
Through the searing pain racing down her left side like talon marks, Catenna can't help but reflect on the fact that everyone seems to be failing at diplomacy today.
"Whatever happened to you, we do not have to fight," she starts to say.
Francesca has something else to say. It takes the form of weapons and debris. Axe blades whirl terrifyingly. With a hiss of breath, Catenna attempts to vault backwards --
And her left leg just about buckles as the gunshot wounds from earlier do their part to slow her down. With a hissing gasp, she staggers - straight into the whirlwind of blades and debris. An axe blade slashes across her other shoulder and just about takes a chunk out of her, leaving an angry gash behind, before chunks of debris smash into her from behind and hurl her into the air like so much hurled fabric. Smashing into a rock, she tumbles, her legs coming up over her head before she flops the rest of the way over and ends up on her face, bleeding steadily out.
From above, Saarda-Shanta looks on with quiet worry. <Catenna?>
The Moon Shaman groans and takes a knee again, this time with significantly greater effort. She spits out a mouthful of blood, inelegantly. But what's in her expression isn't anger.
It's sadness. "You've lost too much, haven't you," she murmurs. "I'm sorry. I do not suppose it means much from us. But I feel it."
She holds her hand out and inhales, then lets it out - and, steadily, gravity begins to close in. It escalates rapidly until an invisible spike of crushing force is attempting to close around Skuld and Gunther.
If Catenna does it right, she'll literally slam them together with a violent compression, and it will not feel very good at all.
GS: Catenna has spent 3 Combo on Gatling, including 2 on Gatling! GS: Catenna has attacked Heal Berry with Polarity Clutch! GS: Catenna has gained 1 Combo! GS: Catenna has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
In the background, the water level rises. A metal storm races throughout. Emotions run high to life-changing corrections. All of it seems to wash about Ratatoskr. He treads through the water. Some of the metal shrapnel even glances off and about him, and through these environmental considerations, one thing seems to hold true above all of it -
He is just that fixated upon the two of them, Ashton and Carina.
When Ashton grins through all of that, Ratatoskr's still grinning back. He 'shouldn't' be, because that's someone powering through his greatest attack with relative ease. That should be a sign of impending demise. Fear. Anger. Frustration.
There is none of that.
He's happy.
"Hyahaha--! Mother? Hyades? You don't get it? You don't get it!! It's--"
Ashton disappears. Huh. Where'd he go?
"Finish this for real..." He turns to Carina as she comes at the tail end of brandishing her energy scimitar to diffuse the energy blade in the process of turning it into her renewed offense, watching intently as she inputs the red marble into the Locusaber. For someone who only has a solid color for the entirety of their eyes, there is - somehow - a communicated sense that he is watching this.
"Not the Locus Fruit Pie...?" Confused, but delighted. He dashes towards her in a clash that looks like it'll end in a stalemate as he raises a flying knee towards her as she dives in with the blow--
'EDGELESS BLADE'
bonk
...Well, it's more 'bonkSPLUTCH' as the interruption by Ashton allows Carina's attack to strike true, and there's a spray of quicksilver and a face-down crimson- and quicksilver-hued squirrel whose lifeblood stains the water silver. The sloshing currents carry him off further to a corner, away. The swishing of his tail is the only thing that seems to hold much fight or life. Sometimes it's like his tail is trying to reach down and bend to unbonk him awake. ('unbonk' is also a word now.)
"...This is the greatest...!"
He sounds pleased, but also straining to talk. Like even his very throat were pained at the idea it should let these words escape, as the horned squirrel-like Hyadean is, nonetheless, safely swept aside.
One less obstacle for the Holy Berry's security.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline spares a glance toward Skuld, but her focus turns to Magnus as he responds to her words. She takes a deep breath, and nods.
"I won't blame you for being angry with us. But Adlehyde is my home. We did what we had to do to protect my people." She replies. Some of the earlier anger at the mention of Adlehyde is gone, now that she has a bit more context in regard to what he's talking about.
Her eyes quickly turn toward Francesca as she starts to move, and that hum puts her on edge. It took her by surprise last time, but this time Jacqueline is prepared. As the weapons start to emerge Jacqueline quickly slots a Crest into the gauntlet on her left hand and invokes it. Tendrils of earth shoot from the ground around her, forming a protective shell. Weapons and debris crash against her barrier, chipping away at it. Some of the smaller ones still manage to slip through, but as the whirlwind subsides and the barrier of earth falls away, Jacqueline emerges - not exactly unscathed, but she managed to avoid the bulk of the harm that could've been brought upon her.
"Catenna, are you alright?" Jacqueline asks, sparing a glance her way. 'Alright'...wouldn't quite be the way she puts it. With a frown she turns back to the Metal Demons, making a gesture with her right hand. The air sparks with electricity as Catenna attempts to drag them all together with gravity, which Jacqueline aims to take advantage of with a swing downward with her right hand, bringing lightning crashing down toward them.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has spent 3 Combo on Gatling, including 2 on Gatling! GS: Jacqueline Barber enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Heal Berry with Lightning Strike! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
'Did we come here to fail?'
Did they? No. They came here for another reason. A sense of desperation. A sort of get rich quick scheme devised for the sake of maybe being able to get someone important somewhere to pay them even a lick of attention. A way to prove their worth in the quickest and most expedient way possible. It makes a certain amount of sense, if you think about it. Why not do that? Why not... Just take advantage of the greed and desperation of others? After all, the people of Surf Village don't matter in the long run, do they?
And yet...
And yet...
"...Francesca," Zed whispers, his tongue almost as sharp as his blade, "I'm... Disappointed."
The blades whirl out through the room like a storm of steel razors. He could dodge them. He could. He could. But that's not what Zed does. That would be the easy way. That would sacrifice the opportunity to do what he knows must be done.
"A Hyadean soldier... Reduced to grovelling for scraps," Zed breathes and walks, slowly, through the storm of blades. Axes bury themselves into his chest and shoulders, debris slams into his body, each new wound leaking quicksilver blood. And yet he keeps coming. Indefatigable. The pain, excruciating though it may be, keeps him on his feet. "Is this... what's become of your pride? Did you come here to fail? Should you have even come here at all Francesca?"
Doom Bringer is raised high overhead. The wintery winds twist around the blade, howling a deep, mournful note. "Are you really... Really letting that god-monster decide your fate, even now!? Grit your teeth! Stand up and find your footing! Prove to this world that you exist, that you DESERVE to exist!"
The winds draw tighter, tighter, ever tighter. They bind the blade so tightly that the alien steel sheds incendiary sparks into the storm as molecules split against its edge. "For all your life... All your life, you've served someone else! Dutifully, serving god and commander. And now... Now you're doing all this out of the desperate hope for-- what!? For someone powerful to take up your leash!? That time has passed for ALL of us!"
Tighter... Tighter... And finally...
No more.
It can go no further.
The critical limit is breached. The storm winds collapse into a singularity of light. Motes of garish lime and fuschia power flood into the world as Zed, covered in wounds, riddled with weapons, reaches his target.
"So come on. Keep trying. I'll shatter those petty ambitions as many times as it takes! You want to know how this world works!?" Zed... "It's simple! It knocks you down! Over and over again! And all you can do...!" ...Swings...! "Is keep standing up, as many times as it takes! The world is hard! It's cruel! 'There's no point to trying to be better, everyone else is just as bad or worse.' 'There's no hope, everything seems so far out of reach.' 'It all sucks, so I'll get mine and fuck everyone else.' These thoughts... I know them. I've felt them too. But... These ideas are no less than surrender! We are Hyadean! We never give up, no matter how hard it gets! We never surrender, no matter the foe! That is the only way...!"
The light... "To prove that we deserve to exist!"
...Explodes...!!!
And winter gives way to spring...!
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
'Did we come here to fail?'
Did they? No. They came here for another reason. A sense of desperation. A sort of get rich quick scheme devised for the sake of maybe being able to get someone important somewhere to pay them even a lick of attention. A way to prove their worth in the quickest and most expedient way possible. It makes a certain amount of sense, if you think about it. Why not do that? Why not... Just take advantage of the greed and desperation of others? After all, the people of Surf Village don't matter in the long run, do they?
And yet...
And yet...
"...Francesca," Zed whispers, his tongue almost as sharp as his blade, "I'm... Disappointed."
The blades whirl out through the room like a storm of steel razors. He could dodge them. He could. He could. But that's not what Zed does. That would be the easy way. That would sacrifice the opportunity to do what he knows must be done.
"A Hyadean soldier... Reduced to grovelling for scraps," Zed breathes and walks, slowly, through the storm of blades. Axes bury themselves into his chest and shoulders, debris slams into his body, each new wound leaking quicksilver blood. And yet he keeps coming. Indefatigable. The pain, excruciating though it may be, keeps him on his feet. "Is this... what's become of your pride? Did you come here to fail? Should you have even come here at all Francesca?"
Doom Bringer is raised high overhead. The wintery winds twist around the blade, howling a deep, mournful note. "Are you really... Really letting that god-monster decide your fate, even now!? Grit your teeth! Stand up and find your footing! Prove to this world that you exist, that you DESERVE to exist!"
The winds draw tighter, tighter, ever tighter. They bind the blade so tightly that the alien steel sheds incendiary sparks into the storm as molecules split against its edge. "For all your life... All your life, you've served someone else! Dutifully, serving god and commander. And now... Now you're doing all this out of the desperate hope for-- what!? For someone powerful to take up your leash!? That time has passed for ALL of us!"
Tighter... Tighter... And finally...
No more.
It can go no further.
The critical limit is breached. The storm winds collapse into a singularity of light. Motes of garish lime and fuschia power flood into the world as Zed, covered in wounds, riddled with weapons, reaches his target.
"So come on. Keep trying. I'll shatter those petty ambitions as many times as it takes! You want to know how this world works!?" Zed... "It's simple! It knocks you down! Over and over again! And all you can do...!" ...Swings...! "Is keep standing up, as many times as it takes! The world is hard! It's cruel! 'There's no point to trying to be better, everyone else is just as bad or worse.' 'There's no hope, everything seems so far out of reach.' 'It all sucks, so I'll get mine and fuck everyone else.' These thoughts... I know them. I've felt them too. Siegfried, too. And all of us. All of us... But... These ideas are no less than surrender! We are Hyadean! We never give up, no matter how hard it gets! We never surrender, no matter the foe! That is the only way...!"
The light...
"To prove that we deserve to exist!"
...Explodes...!!!
And winter gives way to spring...!
GS: Zed has activated a Force Action! GS: Zed has spent 5 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, including 1 on Gatling! GS: Zed has attacked Heal Berry with Split Ladle Sakura Supernova! GS: Zed has gained 1 Combo! GS: Zed takes an additional 25 damage from Reaper! GS: Zed has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gunther's words leave Gwen bewildered. "Someone? Who? The humans, or-"
Unfortunately Gwen is so focused on Gunther, as well as the very probability of him attacking her, that the prospect of there being yet another combatant did not cross Gwen's mind. Specially, _an attack cat_.
Gwen lets out an agonized grunt as the large cat *slams* into her, pinning her down with ease with its muscular bulk. If Gwen were better able to see it, she'd definitely appreciate the fine sheen of that prismatic coat, so unlike any big cat she's see on Filgaia (though not as fluffy as some Filgaian cats). She is pretty close to see it all in fine detail.
However, there's the matter of how Jaeger is _munching down on Gwen's right ARM_. If there was any indication that the ARM was simply attached to her in the same manner as a prosthetic, that goes out the window as Gwen reacts with the same pained cry as if his teeth had snapped onto a fragile human arm. Or possibly, maybe not, being she's still conscious enough to scream and yell, the ARM managing to hold up under Jaeger's teeth like any proper ARM should.
It may have been better if it had been enough pain to pass out, but there the Drifter goes, compulsively shoving her comparably puny, very human left hand hand against the cat's nose, as if it was enough to push it away.
"Git... 'em... offame... or I'll haveta... huRt'em-" Gwen gasps. "Which'd... make things wor-ngh!" This is what happens, a quiet voice inside her urges. You can't take it.
<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.
The blow is struck. The battle... complete.
Ashton sheathes his blade.
Wait. Scratch that.
He tries to sheath the blade that's already in the sheath, causing him to drop it on the ground like a complete dork.
I'm just going to pretend I did that on purpose.
Nobody's going to believe that.
Shut UP, Weepy.
Well they won't. Just pick up the sword before you make it worse.
sigh...
Ashton sourly bends down and picks up his sword. He's almost pouting at himself as he does so.
Oh, right, the berry!
GS: Heal Berry takes a solid hit from Catenna's Polarity Clutch for 178 hit points! GS: Heal Berry takes a solid hit from Jacqueline Barber's Lightning Strike for 191 hit points! GS: Heal Berry takes a solid hit from Zed's Split Ladle Sakura Supernova for 228 hit points! GS: Heal Berry has Fallen! It is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Heal Berry has posed.
The electromagnetic chaos soon abates. Chunks of debris fall out of the air, landing on the stone in a shower of clinks and clanks and crunches. Francesca sags forwards, her face colored by exertion, but she plants her foot on the ground in front of her with a heavy stomp. It's almost as if she's visibly defying her own fatigue. But it's not enough.
"Mother's corpse," Francesca grates out, as Ratatoskr collapses. She has to admire his enthusiasm, but that is never enough. Everything is falling apart. These humans are too damnably resilient for some reason, and--
'You've lost too much, haven't you.'
Francesca fixes Catenna with an intense, uncomfortable stare, her lips tight, her jaw twitching as if she wants to speak but can't, that's not how this works. Maximilian speaks for her.
"And either we carve out space for ourselves, or we have nothing."
"Get off of her! Release!" Gunther grips the back of Jaeger's neck, trying to focus through the panic. "Release!" Finally, Jaeger deigns to obey the command. The pressure and pain abate as knife-like feline teeth release Gwen's ARM. "He didn't get a vein, did hghk--"
Something grabs Gunther off his feet. That same something snatches Skuld off the floor, and grips Maximilian tightly enough to root him in place. The two smaller Hyadeans tumble through the air, Gunther's aura flaring around him as he tries in vain to fight the gravitic force. The three of them slam together with an ugly crunch, and fall to the floor in a heap next to a pinned, exhausted Magnus.
Francesca realizes that she is the only one still up, and turns to Zed. She swallows, raises herself to her full height, and looks her fellow warrior in the eye.
"Gunther spoke truth," she says. Her voice is tight with tension. "Obtain an item of great value to the humans. 'Sell it'. Use the 'funds' provided by the 'sale' to obtain necessities. Maximilian described this. This is what Drifters do. Isn't it? Or was he wrong?" Zed is getting under her skin, though, and it shows. "This world is a madhouse! Nothing is given! All we--all I wanted was to--" Francesca falls silent. As Zed's blade comes down, she rises, driving both arms up with a wordless roar. Doom Bringer falls like a guillotine. There's a mighty crash, the sound of armor being shattered, and an explosion of light.
When it's over, Doom Bringer is firmly lodged in both of Francesca's forearms. Quicksilver is everywhere. She manages to look Zed in the eye for five more seconds before her legs collapse beneath her.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline finds herself looking toward Zed as he speaks. For a while she'd thought of him as just some fight-happy goofball, but...as he speaks to them, she finds herself respecting him more than she thought she would. He's surprisingly insightful.
She still thinks of him as a fight-happy goofball, though. That part will never change.
Even so, it ends quickly and brutally. Most of the Hyadean squad is unconscious or otherwise incapacitated. Jacqueline looks it over and then sighs.
She feels...bad about this.
"...This isn't the way I wanted this to go." She says, shaking her head. She folds her arms in front of her, then looks around at the others. "We should get them out of here. They might not be happy about it, but I'll be able to treat their injuries in a safer environment."
They were just trying to make their way in the world, the only way they knew how. She couldn't fault them for that. Whether they liked it or not, they were now citizens of Filgaia, as well - a world that so often seemed inhospitable even to those who called it home. She felt responsible for doing what she could to help them adapt.