2019-05-18: Rumble on the Rocky Road

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<Pose Tracker> Elvis has posed.

It is a partly cloudy afternoon in the far lands of Spira. The sun is just now starting to cast yellows and hints of orange over the landscape. The scent of briny seawater carries on a gentle breeze that howls through the pathways around Djose Temple.

One specific thoroughfare has been scored into the sheer cliff faces over who knows how long. It resembles a cave path in which one wall has merely eroded away. Tons of stone lay overhead, and water occasionally laps over the rounded edges from crashing waves into the path.

It looked to those unaware of the area like a great worm had burrowed a rounded path, like an ant farm against the glass.

But it wasn't all beauty. Fiends often lurked and prowled among the rocky shore, waylaying those making pilgrimage to the temple. The fearsome Basilisk being keen in this area, which could turn hapless travelers to stone in but a simple gaze.

Merchants of course made quite the bit of Gil on selling Softs, an oily salve that cured such a heinous condition.

But lately, that threat has simply ceased to be. And while this sounds like a great change of pace, another hazard has appeared!

Summoners and their Guardians are being targeted. Assaulted by an unknown force and handily defeated. Even worse, the Summoner is always kidnapped, and...

...Just sorta appears back in Luca. It is always the same story. Some sort of fiend-like creature, and a massive sized man absconds with them, brings them back to Luca, riddles them with questions, and turns them loose.

Besides a beating, no one is gravely injured, but this sets Summoners back large amounts of travel time! How awful! WHO CAN STOP THIS TRAVESTY?!

"Shhh, I think I hear more coming!" Elvis whispers to his partner-in-crime. Upon one of the largest stalactites, a ledge has been formed with earthen ether magic. Enough of one to support two individuals who lay in wait for their next prey!

Elvis' bulky figure doesn't... hide too well behind the hanging rock formation.

"Same as before! If it is a summoner, we get them and get the information! It is really important! And I know you want to learn your share of history too!"

Yes, the flawless plan is afoot...!

Speaking of feet, one of his is kinda hanging down now. Since when did stalactites grow feet?! 

<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

        "I can't wait... I can't wait...!" Just the sound of that voice might ruin any attempts with stealth, as Ratatoskr lie clasped against the stalactite formations. The very yellow of his eyes might be a give-away, but can you ask someone like him to 'close' his eyes? He wants to see them!! He can't even keep his big ol' armor-plated tail still. Injuries inflicted from the recent battles have since healed, and the means in which they have been inflicted are myriad. Freezing, burning, drenching, along with the usual suite of physical traumas.
        Even with Odessa's activities and ambitions as regards slowing and stopping the return of ARMS and other Drifters to Filgaia, there are just some interests and ambitions he can never keep in check. The desire runs strong in this one.
        Such as the desire to be reminded they're trying to be stealthy, which may be just as pronounced, as a sharp-toothed grin looms in the (not-so) darkness. 

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

There is, indeed, someone else coming. There was, indeed, a rumour that a Summoner was on the way.

On soft steps, a slender figure moves along the pathway, quiet and attentive. It's easy to make her out, but mainly as a shape, with some details visible, but faintly; she didn't bring a light with her. She's dressed for Spira, the motif black at its base with colourful patterns dancing through it, and she's probably even got her Aeon with her, if you consider a cat-man to be close enough to an aeon. Slowing, the woman flicks her long, dark hair back, then clears her throat.

"Goodness gracious! I sure do hope that we do not get attacked by large men and their monstrous compatriots," the woman opines.

Catenna won't outright call herself a summoner. She's not going to go out of her way to offend Lulu now that she knows it's heretical in these parts. But she's certainly going to keep Cyre close at hand and allow herself to be mistaken for one in the low lighting cast by the overhanging roof of the half-tunnel.

"Perhaps we should rest, my faithful and extremely fluffy associate," she recommends a little too loudly, laying her hand on Cyre's shoulder. "I am sure nothing will happen to us."

Riding along discreetly in Catenna's hip pouch, Saarda-Shanta rolls her eyes and opines silently, <<You should stick to dancing. It does not require you to act.>> 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline had heard a rather unsettling rumor starting to grow along the path to Djose Temple - one of the many important paths along a Summoner's pilgrimage.

The Fiends have all but disappeared, but an even worse danger is afoot - someone is assaulting Summoners and their Guardians, and abducting the Summoners. There haven't been any casualties so far, but...Jacqueline can't help but worry.

Well, Catenna had a plan to deal with it, it seemed, so for now, she decided it would be best to trust her. While Catenna and Cyre pretend to be a Summoner and her 'Aeon', Jacqueline sticks to the shade, ready to jump in if it looks like they need help.

...Deception wasn't really her strong suit, though. She hoped the culprits would appear soon, she's not sure how long she can stay hiding. 

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

The UNKNOWN SUMMONER remains alone save for her 'aeon'. Owls non-withstanding. She certainly does not have a foreign sellsword following her.
 
A tree, sure. There's one of those following her. An ugly one too, with only two branches extending off of the main trunk. Branches that seem to be moving in directions entirely incompatable with the wind.
 
Behind the facade of bark and leaves, Ashton assures himself this is the best plan ever. Nobody's ever going to guess this is a person. After all, his silhouette is nothing like that of a person! People don't have large things sticking out of their shoulders.
 
This is absolutely going to work. 

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei has a brilliant plan. He is going to hide behind a tree and then strike when the enemy reveals itself! Fei crouches down near the tree for a moment, waits for a bit, frowns when he sees the tree ... is moving away from him.

His expression suffice to say is perplexed.

He quickly stands himself back up and chases after the tree to hide behind it again. And uh. Again. And again.

Fei's face is a little red. The tree really isn't making this easy! 

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

There IS indeed a MYSTERIOUS MYSTICAL FIGURE standing next to the would-be-summoner in the shadows of the darkened tunnel, judging by the glowing golden eyes peering through the murk. He looks... abundantly mystical, wearing an outfit made of distinctly impractical white furs and other assorted monster bits that reveal an abundance of bestial stripes and other parahuman markings that mark him as something... Other.

Or, you know, just as something extremely... deviant.

For the record, he's wearing a more feline variant of... this: https://img00.deviantart.net/7ecf/i/2016/284/d/3/kirin_armor_wallpaper_by_substance20-dakpp5c.jpg

...

Yeah.

"I don't know if this is the best place," the summoner's companion says with more than a little bit of practiced gravitas. "I sense danger on the wind...!" 

<Pose Tracker> Violet Salazar has posed.

Violet approaches the Djose road cautiously. She'd heard about Summoners being abducted and interrogated -- but returned unharmed, rumor had it by a gigantic man and his monstrous, or perhaps Fiend, companion. She keeps her ARM concealed but within reach. No telling what the kidnappers were capable of...or what they would do if they found out Catenna was trying to deceive them. She's glad they're in a group; there was safety in numbers. She raises a quizzical eyebrow at Ashton's disguise and hopes he'll be able to move effectively in there, if it comes to it. She is expecting to have to fight either way. 

<Pose Tracker> Bera has posed.

        Coming along the trail from Djose, Bera's arms are crossed and hidden in her haori in front of her. The ivory sheath hangs from her left hip, and a clay jub hangs on the right. A simple pack is slung over her back.

        The blonde samurai looks supremely unconcerned with traveling a fiend laden road alone, even as she reaches one of the more dangerous stretches and begins walking through the overhang. As she does through, her steps slow.

        And she starts to look around visibly frowning. She doesn't look up, she's looking at the cracks and crevices and holes that all to often are home to besalisks and other fiends lurking on the path.

        Then she looks to the fair side of the overhang, the group making their way to the Djose Temple as if to considering they may have something to do with the lack of fiends. 

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

        Some merchant, priest, or some other sort of profession needs protection through an area plagued with some type of ne'er-do-well or bandit. Gwen, being part of a trade, understands this. She understands this problem so well that she is certainly willing to offer her services of protection to such a group, if but for a fee, since without Gulliver, it's been hard to really make her chosen profession work on a consistent basis. Which is mostly an excuse, really, since she'd ask for money anyway.

        Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme.

        Unfortunately, she's too late to meet the newest batch of pilgrims before they went on their journey. And just *two*? They definitely need her help! She'll just run up and catch them! But will she be too late?

        She might be too late, as the quick sound of footsteps sound from far off the summoner(!) and her protector(!). Dauntless, unceasing, indomitable, never stopping, some more adjectives describe the mystery assaulter's pursuit, danger rounding around the corner to spring on the innocent couple!

        "Heeeeeeeyyyyyyyyy!"

        It's gwen, it's gwen guys, are you even surprised

        "Hey! Uh-" She slows to a stop, breathing a moment with her hands on her knees. "Uwhew... Uh, hey guys! I'm sorry, uh, t'startle you, but I was, uh, just 'bout to ask... if you'd be willin' to have me escort ya along, as I'm- uh." She squints through sweaty locks of pale red hair, looking up at the two in front of her. Those... are very familiar backs. "... Wait...." She squints in the dark of the cave, breathing. "Do... I know... you two?"

        Everyone has a few seconds before Gwen just screws everything up. 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        A third figure walks alongside the 'Summoner' and her feline companion, a woman wearing a brightly-patterned cloak with a collar high enough to hide most of her face. A broad straw hat--the kind worn by many Spiran travelers, and really, anyone who wants to keep the sun off--rests atop her head. The rest of her clothes are largely hidden by the cloak, but she is wearing plain straw sandals. She looks vaguely like a samurai who decided to forego the traditional black-and-white, except she's not carrying a sword.

        "Danger?" The woman--Ida--clenches a fist at her side, the rattan handguard creaking. She looks at Catenna, grave concern on what little is visible of her face. "So much is at stake here. If you need to rest, then we will carry you--we can't afford to linger in this place."

        Beneath the brim of her hat, Ida scans the cave floor, and then the ceiling. Where is the most advantageous place for someone to hide?

<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

"Dude, are you okay?"

Claude C. Kenny's voice emerges from Claude C. Kenny's face, which is located about five or six inches behind Fei F. Wong's back, which is located about the same distance from the tree that is secretly a man with two dragons on his back.

This is the greatest sentence ever written.

The boy from Earth gives Fei a quizzical look, then continues speaking in a conversational voice, unaware that a stealth mission is going on. "I was just trying to practice the blitzing balls," he says, spinning one of said balls on a finger, "Then I saw you hiding over he-- oh!" he says suddenly. "Oh, you probably are trying to take a whiz. Go ahead, go on the tree," he says, turning his back. "I won't look." 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        "Eh--?!" Ida says, her cape swirling around her as she turns towards Gwen. "...Generous." She gestures further up the path. "But forgive me my suspicion." That is definitely Ida's voice. She's trying valiantly to suppress her accent. "Would you lead the way?"

<Pose Tracker> Elvis has posed.

Elvis nods strongly toward Ratatoskr, a free fist is clenched tightly. THe voices get closer and converse. One seems even lulled into a false sense of security and doesnt even THINK she will be ambushed by a large man and creature! What luck! And yet, another can sense there is danger! Was their cover blown?!

...Is that a walking plant?

Wow, this was a large walking party. No matter, they would stand down or recieve a thorough lecture*!

  • Lectures are delivered with fists.


He hears voices, familiar ones. He pinpoints out Gwen's voice easily. "This might be a little harder than expected, but no turning back now--!"

There is a loud crack above the party. Stone splitting crack.

That stalactite drops suddenly and crashes onto the ground, silt and stone flying around all over!

"HAHAHAH!" Laughs a large man, stepping out from the cloud. "BEHOLD, I AM... Uh."

Wow that is a lot of recognizeable faces. "...What are you lot even doing here?" he asks, curiously. "Whatever! Its fine! You all can GO HOME." A large finger is pointed right toward Catenna, unrecognizeable save for she is obviously wearing Summoner's garb*!

  • She may not actually be wearing Summoner's garb.


"You! You shall be coming with us. We have things to ask of you, and you must come with us! I won't take no for an answer!"

The giant man takes a metal heel, and stomps the floor with all his might. The entire path tremors. Hexagonal pillars rip out of the ground in a very dense vertical pattern, preventing getting past*!

  • You can totally walk around on the rocky beach and go around.


 
The man wraps his hands in synthetic cloth, and assumes a battle ready position after flexing! "I'll make it a point in my opening arguement that Summoners have to go through me to continue their travels!" 

<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

        "Little harder than expected? Little harder than expected!" Somehow, Ratatoskr can get an exclamation mark through a whisper. He's that good at it. The lights of his solid yellow eyes glow a little more. "...Harder...? Easier...?"
        As Elvis decides there's no turning back now, there is no doubt or concern in this horned squirrel Hyadean's very being, as Elvis prepares to split the stone with his very fists.
        "...I want to fight them all..."
        (and thus, a plausible reason why the fiends went away)
        As the stalactite drops, a liquid metal patagium emerges between the limbs of the Hyadean fighter to allow himself to hover down behind the large man, coming to a stand with arms crossed and an arrogant sneer.
        "Oh, cool..." This is a complication that delights him. "Summoners are something great... I hear them saying 'they're the only ones that can defeat Sin,' and I saw some really strong warriors before... so that means they must be really, really strong... and you know what? You know what! They are!!"
        As Elvis stomps the floor, the posture of the Hyadean leans forward, as if more feral, raising up his arms and one leg in a familiar combat stance.
        "Come on...! Hyahaha--!" 

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

"Surely not danger!" Catenna gasps as she looks up at Cyre, then back to Ida. A deep frown creases her face as she sets her hands at her hips, making a show of considering. "...Then we should carry on, yes. I do not know what I would do without such trustworthy companions with me."

She's even trying to dampen her usual light accent and replace it with another one. She ends up sounding oddly... twangy.

Then Gwen comes gallumphing up. Catenna opens her mouth slightly. Then she sags a little and sighs, lowering her voice and glancing over her shoulder. "Ah... yes. Hello, uh. Y'all."

Which is when someone laughs. It is a large, familiar laugh.

Catenna keeps herself turned towards Gwen so that whomever it is can't see her face right away - but the voice is clear enough. When the huge man stamps his way into the middle of the path, the alleged Summoner turns a little to face Ida and Cyre. "...It would appear you were right," she murmurs.

Then she turns, slowly. The face she turns towards Elvis and her loud Hyadean friend is all too familiar.

"Are you sure that you want me to go home with you?" she asks with a dip of her lashes as she slides the Spiran half-cloak from her shoulders. "I suspect you could've had your answers if you'd just come to my lunch-and-learn with Lulu a few weeks back...."

Drawing herself up, Catenna gestures towards Elvis with a flick of her palm and an uttered word of power. Gravity amplifies, attempting to anchor the enormous Veruni to the floor of the rocky road - or at least to make his body so much heavier that movement will take a lot of effort.

"Please stay put. We have some questions, too." 

GS: Catenna has attacked Elvis with Encumber!
GS: Catenna has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Catenna has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

Oh no.
 
The Ash-ton tree freezes in place. He recognizes Claude's voice. It's behind him, where Ashton can't see. Claude's speaking to someone. Someone who is apparently taking a--
 
Oh NO.
 
Panic sets in instantly. He has to get away. But if he does that the ambush is going to fail. But he's about to be--
 
It is at this moment that Elvis springs his ambush, leaping out and commanding everyone but the Summoner go home. A part of Ashton's heart leaps with joy, because now he can counter-ambush and avoid the person behind him without messing things up.
 
The tree suddenly EXPLODES in a harmless shower of bark and leaves as ASHTON ANCHORS, THE DOUBLE DRAGON DUELIST leaps from his hiding place!
 
Hurling himself into the air, he does a (heavily magically assisted) backflip, silhouetting his form against the sun as it momentarily peeks out through the clouds. He lands in a crouch, blades extended out to the side dramatically.
 
"None shall leave here as you command! For home is where the heart is, and our hearts are upon this battlefield!" He rises, pointing a sword towards the ambushers. "And upon this road we wal--" A pause. A beat. "--Wait, what are you two doing here?" Another pause as he notices just who's being 'saved'. "...What are YOU all doing here?" A longer pause. "What is going ON here?" 

<Pose Tracker> Violet Salazar has posed.

Violet observes coolly as her opponents take center stage. Yes, just as reported, it's an absolutely titanic moustachio'd man and a...red humanoid-squirrel thing with a horn sticking out of its(?) forehead. It takes a lot to ruffle the horse-beastwoman, but horned-squirrel does it. She's never seen a being like that before. He(?) seems eager to fight -- at least now she assumes he's a he: the voice is masculine. Violet swiftly takes her ARM out of its wrappings: she wants to be ready. At her age she's not going to take anyone on hand-to-hand anyway. There are old Filgaians and bold Filgaians but no old, bold Filgaians. Caution is one thing that's kept her alive for this long. She takes a long, measured breath as she carefully gauges where his vital organs are likely to be -- at least if the "humanoid" aspect of his form holds true. She slips a wildcat cartridge into her ARM...and fires! 

GS: Violet Salazar has attacked Ratatoskr with Wildcat Cartridge!
GS: Violet Salazar has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Violet Salazar has completed her action.
GS: Ashton Anchors has attacked Ashton Anchors with Crescendo Stance!
GS: Ashton Anchors has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ashton Anchors has completed his action.
GS: Ashton Anchors takes a solid hit from Ashton Anchors's Crescendo Stance for 0 hit points!
GS: Ratatoskr critically Guards a hit from Violet Salazar's Wildcat Cartridge for 20 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Bera has posed.

        At the sudden appearance of a large man, Bera stops. Her head tilts but her arms remain crossed hidden in her hakori. But it's soon clear enough he's hostile. And targeting summoners. She doesn't wait for him to finish, she's dashing the length of the overhang at his back since she came into from the opposite side.

        By the time Elvis stomps, the rising pillars of earth form partial under Bera and she uses them to launch herself at Ratatoskr's back as she draws a blade that explodes with flames and the heat to match at the strange creature.

        The fire wreathed blade strikes once, the flames disappearing right after as water begins to form where the flames were before she sheathes it into the held sheath adopting a new stance as she prepares to guard or strike again. 

GS: Bera enters a Counter stance!
GS: Bera has attacked Ratatoskr with Burning Blade!
GS: Bera has completed her action.
GS: Elvis guards a hit from Catenna's Encumber for 53 hit points!
GS: Break! applied to Elvis!
GS: Ratatoskr takes a glancing hit from Bera's Burning Blade for 38 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

A stalactite drops from the ceiling, sending up a cloud of dust. And out from behind it drops...

"...Elvis??" Jacqueline remarks, surprised. Of all the people she expected to be responsible, she didn't expect him.

(She may not know him as well as she thinks she does.)

And what's more...Ratatoskr. An unamused frown crosses Jacqueline's face. She can't help but feel that she had summoned him somehow - he had come up in her conversation with Solanine just the other night.

A large man, and a fiend-like creature...there's no doubt that this must be them.

"You have no right to obstruct anyone's path! If you want to learn, you need to ask nicely!" Jacqueline says with a glare toward Elvis and Ratatoskr, her tone scolding. "You two have caused quite a bit of trouble, I'll have you know!"

As she steps out into the open, she removes one Crest from the slots on her left gauntlet, places it back into the deck, draws another, and sets it in the now empty slot.

"I would prefer to avoid violence, but I can't condone your abductions, either." She states. Her eyes scan the crowd quickly, eventually settling on two of the people gathered here.

Violet and Bera...she wasn't incredibly familiar with either of them, but she knew enough to know they were both capable.

"Allow me to assist you!" She requests. With a gesture of her left hand, a lavender light that sparks periodically settles over their weapons, giving their attacks an additional electrical punch. 

GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Violet Salazar with Mage Armory!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Bera with Mage Armory!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei jumps as Claude speaks up behind him and he says, "Oh hey Claude! Uh---n--no, I'm just trying to--"

His eyes widen as the tree explodes into Ashton. "Gahh!"

Fei blinks several times and then looks towards Ratatoskr and Elvis. "Huh?"

He points towards Elvis," What are you doing here?" He lowers his hand. "Uh."

He rubs the back of his neck. "Man, I thought it was bad guys," He tells to Claude. "But it's really just these two weird--"

The path tremors! Hexagonal pillars rip out of the ground! "Gahh--" Fei says again. "We probably should stop them from kidnapping more summoners," He asides to Claude. "Uh." Pause. "I wasn't going to piss on Ashton okay?"

And with that he leaps for Elvis in a double footed jumpkick.

"Whadaya think ya doin'!?" He shouts. 

GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Elvis with Headstomp!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
GS: Bera takes a solid hit from Jacqueline Barber's Mage Armory for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper! applied to Bera!

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"Indeed. Dangerous danger. Peril most perilous. I can feel it in my bones..." The Catman Who Is Totally Not A Ronso says with that same GLORIOUS GRAVITAS. Cyre seems to have a distinctive Priest Voice, and he seems to be using it to... dubious... effect...? "Keep your eyes open, summoner. We must be cautious--"

GWEN APPEARS!

Cyre's back may look a little less familiar than it usually does. You know, what with the whole... Out...fit.

Can it even be called an outfit?

It's more... Primal hunter cosplay???

But then! A laugh! A laugh that Cyre recognizes as belonging to a particularly muscular punchwizard. "You...!" Cyre stares, apparently stunned. "What are you doing? Have you become a kidnapper now...?"

Is he really stunned? Or is he just playing along with the beat of the conversation?

Well, one way or another, he has a summoner to protect! The MYSTERIOUS CATMAN gestures, conjuring a frigid mist into the air around him. It accumulates and coalesces into lances of razor-sharp ice. "I'm disappointed! I thought you were a decent man!" Cyre hurls his frigid projectiles right at Elvis! "What would Carol think about this!?" 

GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has attacked Elvis with Freeze Arrow!
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has completed his action.
GS: Violet Salazar takes a solid hit from Jacqueline Barber's Mage Armory for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper! applied to Violet Salazar!
GS: Elvis guards a hit from Fei Fong Wong's Headstomp for 51 hit points!
GS: Elvis guards a hit from Cyre H. Lorentz's Freeze Arrow for 75 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

Claude C. Kenny finds is a little weird that Fei's so shy about peeing, but he figures not everyone has had the benefit of military training. Somehow, even after ten thousand years and a couple hundred species, communal showers are still a thing.

But then the tree explodes, and Claude turns around, chunks of bark bouncing off him as Ashton Anchors advances forward. "HOLY CRAP!" the boy from Earth shouts, because that is sort of remarkable; he brushes pieces of Ashton's disguise out of his face and hair, his head swiveling left and right as he tried to track the action. Which is suddenly... all over the place, actually. People are fighting people, and other people are fighting... not-people. What even is going on?

Eventually, Claude sighs and gives up trying to understand things. (This comes easy, thanks to much practice.) Fei's jumped off into who knows where, so Claude zeroes in on the dude with two dragons on his back, then acquires Ashton's target for his own. "Hey!" he shouts, a grin sliding onto his face as he swings his right arm back. "Think fast!" Claude steps forward, body surging as he hurls the blitzball forward, screaming toward Ratatoskr at high-velocity. When it hits - flesh or stone - Claude holds out his hand expectantly and...

....watches as the ball bounces off in a completely random direction, away from him.

"...huh," he says, fingers twitching. "I sort of figured it would..."

...

"Dangit, you owe me a blitzed ball!" Claude shouts angrily, drawing his sword. 

GS: Claude C. Kenny has attacked Ratatoskr with Foul Ball!
GS: Claude C. Kenny has completed his action.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        The technicolor samurai braces, planting a foot and raising both fists. The floor trembles beneath her. Adrenaline flows through her, preparing her body for conflict--

        "...Professor?" Ida reaches up and pulls down her collar, letting Elvis see her face. "What are you doing here? Don't tell me you were behind this--" Elvis admits, more or less, that he was behind this. Ida's face falls. "Well, then. We have Summoners to defend!" Cyre might be going full ham, but Ida can't quite commit. The best she can do is 'grudging acceptance of what's happening'.

        As Fei leaps in, Ida flashes him a two-fingered salute, and rushes Elvis. She springs into the air as Fei descends, whipping her right leg up and around in an acrobatic roundhouse kick. Chi glows around her foot, a flame-like inner light surrounded by a corona of golden-white.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Elvis with Boot to the Head!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
GS: Ratatoskr guards a hit from Claude C. Kenny's Foul Ball for 27 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

        SECOND TICK BY as Gwen hears Catenna's strangely twangy accent and looks over Cyre's getup, a faint blush on her freckled cheeks. That's got to be-

        And Ida saves the day.

        Thankfully, Gwen is a very reasonable person, when it comes down to it. And perceptive, as it takes a scant few moments from briefly recognizing Ida (despite her supressed accent) to realizing just what's taking place. "-Of course, as I *am* a Super Courier. I'd be the best person t'help yooou- w-whoah!"

        And there's.... someone who can also be very reasonable, in certain circumstances. Certain, very specific circumstances. Gwen cheerily waves a hand. "... Oh, hey Elvis. You here t'help?"

        This isn't one of those circumstances. "Wait..." Gwen's face falls. "... I 'spose you n' your friend're not doin' this to help protect the summoners from whatever's kidnappin' them, right...? Augh, just like a scholar. When information's at stake, all ends justify the means. Or is it... the other way around?" Gwen itches with the right hand of her ARM, which, arguably, could be considered a big example of such a process. "Okay, well-"

        Elvis isn't recognizing Catenna, is he? Or Cyre. Would he even know them? "Y'mean well, but there's better ways of gettin' info than force. Buuut, we can chat 'bout all that once we have our brawl, eh?" A low stakes battle with Elvis, just the way Gwen prefers things! "You're 'bout one of the few people who can possibly beat me in a test of strength, so let's see if I've improved since then!"

        Fei will remember that Gwen did promise him to warn her if she tried to battle a being of, uh, well, Sin's rank. Elvis isn't that for sure, but she definitely seems to wait until Fei throws the first attack.

        Which she follows, dashing in after Ida to dip her body low, then swing her right fist up in an uppercut against Elvis's impressive chin. "Don't hold back!"

        she's going to have those bandages on her abdomen for even longer, isn't she

GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Elvis with Shoryu-gwen!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: Elvis critically Guards a hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Boot to the Head for 17 hit points!
GS: Elvis takes a solid hit from Gwen Whitlock's Shoryu-gwen for 86 hit points!
GS: Break! applied to Elvis!

<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

        Protests are made, battles are joined... but questions, most importantly, are asked. They're very good ones to ask.
        "...Ashton Anchors, the Double Dragon Duelist is here too...?" Ratatoskr asks aloud as they emerge from their tree cover. His grin widens as the horn on his head begins to surge in anticipation, in power. "He wanted to meet with the Summoners of Spira... so do I! So do I!!" He cackles, answering the question about as well as it's going to.
        None of them have been harmed, by reports. No fatalities. Yet, right here, is one of the surviving Hyadean people who seems to just want to keep fighting... to what end?
        Just as he starts to drop again to a combat-ready stance, Violet shoots. Bullets are projectiles of a weapon - an effective one that would be the template in which future warfare would be based on - where few armors can withstand them, few bodies can survive direct hits, and even fewer would think it's a good idea to stand in front of one pointed at them.
        Ratatoskr just catches the Wildcat round right in his hand, clasping it tightly with his grin not at all receding. A dribble of quicksilver leaves the palm... as he opens it up to take a sneak-peek at what it is he just got 'shot' by. The solid yellows of his eyes intensify in...
        "Oh, wow!" Glee?! The voice doesn't lie. "I always wondered where the casings for that came from...! It was yours?" He stashes it away on his person, somehow, as though this expended round were something he wishes to genuinely keep. "It was yours!"
        Bera interrupts Ratatoskr out of his happy moment of claiming a piece of today's history. He whirls on a foot to turn his elbow away from the open flames, even seeming to overcommit to it some for it ends with him in a somewhat imbalanced crouch. The liquid metal patagium emerges again - a natural skin parachute seen on flying squirrels in nature - as he lunges backwards into her as a ball comes flying at him.
        He tries to catch it, but it's coming too fast and bounces off of his palm to go roll off somewhere else.
        "...That was even stronger than Guba...?" He mouths aloud, watching the Blitzball roll off as Claude aggressively draws his blade. "One of the legendary warriors of the Besaid Aurochs order?" (Bera may run the risk of death by laughter from overhearing this.) The words are spoken with a level of awe that should not be, as though an incredibly dumb misconception has been allowed to fester.
        "...Hyahaha--! Awesome!!" An almost childish declaration of approval as, at the end of the backwards ram, he tries to launch himself at some of the rest. He goes overhead Violet, a leg pointing downward as their foot discharges a shotgun-like blast of compressed air before continuing onward to just give Claude a big ol' flying knee.
        He comes just shy of being able to reach the confused Ashton, but instead, sizes up Jay who voices her disapproval sternly as a number of people receive electrical blessings.
        "Assist?!" He yells aloud. "Come onn...! Fight, fight, fight!" He tries to swing an elbow right for Jay, as if to goad her to do just that. 

GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Ratatoskr with Budding Yggdrasil!
GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Ratatoskr's Budding Yggdrasil for 0 hit points!
GS: Amplify! applied to Ratatoskr!
GS: Ratatoskr assumes the Avenger stance!
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Bera with Reverse Ambush!
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Claude C. Kenny with Fly Into Fray!
GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Violet Salazar with Overhead Shoot!
GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Blow By Blow It's An Elbow!
GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action.
GS: Jacqueline Barber takes a glancing hit from Ratatoskr's Blow By Blow It's An Elbow for 53 hit points!
GS: Violet Salazar guards a hit from Ratatoskr's Overhead Shoot for 73 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Elvis has posed.

"Ratatoskr! Let us disperse the hooligans and take the Summoner with us!" he calls to his Metal Demon compatriot as the battle is engaged. The first to strike is... surprisingly the Summoner. To fight Sin, they would be ready to risk it all on their journey after all! A fiend or hazard could end their life at any time.

The gravity-aspected magic does well to halt Elvis' advances temporarily. Weighing a great deal more than a Human, so too will his weight exponentially increase. "Hey! I know you!" the Sentinel states, squinting toward Catenna. "You are a Summoner? And no one invited me to a lunch! That's not fair!" he objects, stomping his way through the grav-field, leaving heel-deep holes in the stone, and exerting strain to begin his approach anew.

Feet fly toward Elvis' face, and a muscly arm raises in a counter-clockwise spiral to block it. "H-Hey! You're gonna get dirt on my coat!" he shouts toward Fei. There is a grinding feeling underfoot that definitely tells Fei some kind of damage was inflicted under the sleeve. "Fei!" Elvis grunts, and throws a series of mach punches Fei's way. "I sitll owe you for hitting me with your robot!" A pause. "Or some aspect of you." Another pause. "The same body counts as you!" Ida follows suit toward the head region, and Elvis is prepared to block it easier, though even in so doing, the chi burns the body as much as her own spirit burns in battle.

A much larger punch is raised and thrown toward Fei to make good on that promise, but javelins of ice pierce his coat and gouge his forearm, pinning it to the wall. "Ow! That is UNCALLED FOR," Elvis booms, ripping it away from the nearby stone wall and breaking those magical arrows. "I am a decent man, thank you very much! This research is paramount to my studies, and I cannot afford to waste time asking nicely!"

Another stomp, and the earth rumbles around both Cyre and Catenna. A pillar of stone just attempts to launch Cyre into the ceiling, springpad style, while the earth around Catenna attempts to grab a hold of her and secure her in place with rigid force.

"I have a job to do, young lady!" Elvis says toward Ida, now having a moment to process her question. He won't lie, with what happened to her, he actually... kinda wants to fight her. Not to the death or anything, but find out how her abnormality fares. Suppose this is a good chance!

Normally he doesn't punch young ladies, but Ida seemed to be a martial artist. She could take a hit or two, he thinks! A wrapped fist comes for her with the opposite rotation as her kick, aiming to land right at the temple, like a proper boxer! No cheap tactics here!

Of course, boxing doesn't account for multiple opponents at once, and Elvis eats it on the jaw fairly hard from Gwen! His head pops back from the hit! "Mmph! Good hit, young Gwen! But if you think I will take it easy on you, think again! This will prove a good way to test your mettle, indeed!"

A feint back, and in comes a thrown straight, aiming right for the solarplexus! "Hahah! This is a real fight, unlike all the other groups! Come on Show me what you got!" 

GS: Elvis has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Rapid Punch!
GS: Elvis has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Elvis has attacked Cyre H. Lorentz with Hi-Crush!
GS: Elvis has spent 4 Combo on Link and Gatling, including 3 on Gatling!
GS: Elvis has attacked Catenna with Lariat Grab!
GS: Elvis has launched an attack Link!
GS: Elvis has completed his action.
GS: Catenna takes a solid hit from Elvis's Lariat Grab for 74 hit points!
GS: Elvis has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Dire Haymaker!
GS: Elvis enters a Counter stance!
GS: Elvis has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Corkscrew Cross!
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz takes a solid hit from Elvis's Hi-Crush for 121 hit points!
GS: Elvis has completed his action.
GS: COUNTER! Bera counterattacks Ratatoskrwith Counter Attack!
GS: CRITICAL! Bera guards a hit from Ratatoskr's Reverse Ambush for 90 hit points!
GS: Cover! applied to Ratatoskr!
GS: CRITICAL! Claude C. Kenny guards a hit from Ratatoskr's Fly Into Fray for 76 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Violet Salazar has posed.

Violet waves a "Thank you" to Jacqueline for the assist as the magical energy flows through her. She watches in astonishment as the horned-squirrel catches her bullet, seemingly only minorly-harmed along the way. She notices the silver blood: an odd creature indeed: what kind would bleed silver? For some reason he stashes her bullet away before counterattacking with a blast of compressed air: truly an odd creature indeed! Violet is knocked back and badly bruised by the compressed air, but has the presence of mind to change tactics. She switches her ARM to shotgun mode: surely he won't be able to catch scattershot! "What ARE you?" she gasps. 

GS: Violet Salazar has attacked Ratatoskr with Buckshot!
GS: Violet Salazar has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Violet Salazar has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

"I am a Shaman, Elvis," Catenna says with a slight dipping of her lashes. "I do not think I could be a Summoner in the way Spirans are...."

Before she can get another attack off, Elvis comes stamping in, and the earth comes surging up to try and hem her in. With a quick dart, she launches herself to the left, but slams into a chunk of rising rubble and staggers back into the greedy clutch of the ground. Rock flakes and fractures beneath her feet as she sinks into the rock up to the ankles,s training to try and break herself out of the bonds of mother earth.

Or mother Moon, as it were.

<> Saarda-Shanta points out.

More critical to Catenna is the fact that Cyre just got hit with a stone pillar. With a hiss, Catenna squares her shoulders, a momentary surge of defiance flooding her face.

With a sharp movement, the Moon Shaman wrenches her leg up - and rock crackles as she manages to yank her right leg free in a spray of debris. Shards of it cut her legs, but she brings her heel down nevertheless, leveling her hand as she waits for an opening as Elvis lays in blows against her friends and allies.

"What do you even want with Summoners? Is this some mission of yours and Kaguya's?" she asks. "What possible job could require you to kidnap summoners and bring them home?"

She lets another spell fly with a ringing word of invocation. A source of gravity manifests, invisibly - and an inexorable force begins to try and pull on Elvis. It's as if his body no longer wants to stick to the ground so much as it wants to fly back and up.

Catenna's trying to hurl him into the ceiling, and then back down to the floor. 

GS: Catenna has attacked Elvis with Grav!
GS: Catenna has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Catenna has completed her action.
GS: Elvis critically Guards a hit from Catenna's Grav for 22 hit points!
GS: Ratatoskr takes a glancing hit from Bera's Counter Attack for 47 hit points!
GS: Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Elvis's Corkscrew Cross for 51 hit points!
GS: Disrupt! applied to Gwen Whitlock!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey completely evades a hit from Elvis's Dire Haymaker!

<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

"GO AUROCHS!" shouts Claude C. Kenny reflexively - he didn't get to watch much of the game, being poor as heck, but he admires their spirit and also how one of their fans was so excited to meet a fellow Aurochs fan that he bought Claude a steak.

These were in the pantsless times. The dark times.

At any rate, Ratatoskr is suddenly hurtling toward the head of the boy from Earth, and he has but a split second to react to, y'know, a talking horned squirrel trying to claw his face off. This is one of those moments where it pays to be from space; Claude's default reaction to a talking squirrel is 'yeah, okay,' because he's not some sort of spacist. This allows him to twist slightly out of the way, though Ratatoskr manages to clip him in the shoulder instead. The impact sends the blonde-haired swordsman spinning backward, and he nearly loses his grip on his sword. Nearly, but not quite; experience has finally managed to teach him what actual teaching could not.

Squaring himself off in the direction of the darting creature - fast, he thinks absently - the boy from Earth pulls Ashton's old sword back and executes step one of Flowchart Claude Style.

"AIR SLASH!"

"AIR SLASH!"

"AIR SLASH!"

(this goes on for a time) 

GS: Claude C. Kenny has attacked Ratatoskr with Air Slash!
GS: Claude C. Kenny has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Claude C. Kenny has completed his action.

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"Pretty sure it's exactly called for. If you wanted to learn something, you should maybe TRY A LIBRARY FIRST." Cyre looks like he's about to continue being a horrible, sassy cat when a great big stone pillar erupts from underneath and catches him right on the chin. He's launched straight into the air, toward the roof of the cavern, where...

...Where his headpiece's horn immediately gets stuck in the ceiling.

...

That's... That's awkward.

Cyre struggles, choking briefly before slicing through the straps connecting him to his helm. He falls, cut free, revealing that the MYSTERIOUS AEON is none other than... Cyre Lorentz...!?

"Damnit Elvis! You're being a real jerk about all this!" He growls, sweeping his hand through the air in front of him. A series of glimmering portals materialize all around him before unleashing a barrage of deadly prismatic beams...! "What kind of studies require kidnapping people!? Are you probing them or something!? I'm PRETTY SURE that's highly frowned upon in most* academic circles!"

(*Cyre has no idea, he's a shaman not a scientist. Ida back him up here.) 

GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has attacked Elvis with Valkyrie!
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has completed his action.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"Asking nicely isn't a waste of time! It's a common decency, that any scholar should -" Jacqueline shouts back to Elvis, but before she can finish her statement Ratatoskr comes flying toward her with an elbow.

She steps back, bringing her cloak around her to provide some cushioning from the attack as she tries to backpedal away from it. His elbow collides with the steelcloth garment somewhere around her collarbone, getting a wince of pain out of her as she stumbles back.

And the whole time, he goads her on - entreats her to fight. That made things even more difficult. He wanted her to fight - even if they manage to overpower him he gets what he wants, but if they don't fight him, they'll just keep abducting Summoners.

"These people already have enough troubles on their plate without the two of you making things worse - so why don't you just calm down?" She stresses that last bit as she draws a bottle from her bags, hurling it at Ratatoskr's feet. It erupts into a plume of lavender flame, but the real danger is in the smoke - the more of it someone breathes in, the sleepier they get.

As she does this, she sends Violet a nod in response to her wave. 

GS: Jacqueline Barber has spent 1 Combo on Poison, including 1 on Gatling!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Ratatoskr with Apothecary's Fire!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Bera has posed.

        As the squirrel like hydaen throws itself backwords at her, Bera doesn't flinch. She takes the hit and then slightly flows with with using the sheathed katana to take the brunt of the attack so it doesn't knock her down before she lets it spin her.

        Hearing it's comments, Bera makes a face of digust and annoyance, thena foot comes up off the ground in that fast spin, the back of a metal plated heel of the unique sandals she wears under the hakori visible as she tries to slam that heel drop kick into Ratatoskr before it can get away in response to his attack.

        Then the blonde samurai drops into a draw stance as the Ratatoskr rockets off. As soon as he starts to slow she burst forward drawing her blade again this time ice forming on along the metal blade as she strikes with a single slash, letting her movement carry her past him before turning to ready a follow up. 

GS: Bera has attacked Ratatoskr with Ice Strike!
GS: Bera has completed her action.
GS: Fei Fong Wong guards a hit from Elvis's Rapid Punch for 97 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

Things have very clearly gotten entirely out of control. Not that things don't generally go entirely out of control when Ratatoskr is around. (To say nothing of when Elvis is.)
 
But things can probably be handled in a calm, reasonable manner. This is all obviously a misunderstanding.
 
And then the crazy Hyadean squirrel-monster goes to latch onto Claude's face. "HEY! NO! GET OFF HIM!" He shakes a blade - impotently. As tempting as it is to try and take a swing, given the close quarters he'd stand a chance of hitting Claude. And that would be.. rude. And maybe a little disagreeable.
 
Oh no. Ashton has a MUCH better thought.
 
There's a thin vertical slash of light where the swordsman disappears from where he was standing. In the blink of an eye, he's across the field and - wait, what's he doing over there?
 
The blitzball that Claude tossed is coming right for him.
 
"Creepy! Weepy! As we practiced!" Ashton shouts the command to his companions.
 
On cue, Weepy darts out, striking like a snake. A toothless mouth grabs the flying blitzball and redirects it. The ball rolls down Weepy's long blue neck - across Ashton's broad shoulders - and then down Creepy's red neck. At the far side, the second dragon bobs its head at the right moment, lobbing the blitzball upwards. It's a picture-perfect set, and the ball almost floats in the air.
 
Ashton leaps upwards. The ball reaches its apex just as he does. Both swords are raised high - flats forward. Then they come slamming down, spiking the ball forward. And at Ratatoskr. 

GS: Ashton Anchors has attacked Ratatoskr with COME ON AND SLAM AND WELCOME TO THE JAM!
GS: Ashton Anchors has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ashton Anchors has completed his action.
GS: Claude C. Kenny used Defend! He takes Ashton Anchors's attack on Ratatoskr on himself!
GS: Claude C. Kenny takes a solid hit from Ashton Anchors's COME ON AND SLAM AND WELCOME TO THE JAM for 100 hit points!
GS: Claude C. Kenny has gained 1 Combo!

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"What--" Fei begins before he barely brings up his arms to block Elvis's strikes. Of course they are Elvis's strikes so each blow feels like it might shatter his limb, but at least his technique is solid enough to not take hits like that to his face. He grimaces as he skids across the floor. He can't even get a strike in edgewise--but luckily a javeline of ice pierces Elvis's coat and gives him a chance to back off a bit.

"Oh uh--hey Gwen." He says. "And.... Ida? Elvis is kidnapping the summoners right?"

He sounds kind of vaguely uncertain.

He still has his pants. He may have better luck than Claude. He never even lost--

--well there was that one time where Gobs stripped him clean but--

--yeah let's not think about that. Instead of thinking about that he says, "Oh yeah I guess Id fought you? Did he win?"

He throws another punch, an eruption of ice bursting out from his hands towards Elvis! 

GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Elvis with Suikei!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
GS: Elvis critically Guards a hit from Cyre H. Lorentz's Valkyrie for 28 hit points!
GS: Elvis guards a hit from Fei Fong Wong's Suikei for 78 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        Ida's foot glances off of Elvis's arm. The impact travels up her leg, and the force behind it sends her sprawling to the cavern floor. Ida hits rock in an unsteady three-point crouch, her fingers scraping across the stone. "There's no Summoner here," Ida says, through gritted teeth. Unless Gwen somehow became a Summoner without her knowledge. She picks herself up, raises her fists. "Is your research so important that you can't--"

        Elvis swings a fist at Ida's face, and her eyes are suddenly the size of saucers. The naturalist's reflexes are one step ahead of her conscious mind. The instant her brain registers the blur of motion, tendons and muscles pull tight in her back and neck and torso. Ida's upper body whips backwards with lightning speed, leaving behind a faint golden afterimage. Elvis's fist misses her by inches, and the wind of its passage blows her hat clean off.

        Ida snaps upright, lets the momentum drive her fist forwards, towards Elvis's torso. Chi gleams off her knuckles, but so far, there's no sign of the graft Elvis knows is there.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Elvis with First Method - Calling The Demon's Name!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Violet Salazar's Buckshot for 115 hit points!
GS: Ratatoskr completely evades a hit from Bera's Ice Strike!
GS: Ratatoskr completely evades a hit from Jacqueline Barber's Apothecary's Fire!
GS: Elvis guards a hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's First Method - Calling The Demon's Name for 73 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

        "Oh, it kinda just spread around by word of mouth. I really should've passed th'word onto you, Elvis. They had some pretty good snacks there, too." Cyre's rhetorical question causes Gwen to open her mouth, her expression mildly disturbed as she raises a finger.

        She decides not to.

        Fei's comment gets a very prompt reply from Gwen, who is still grinning like this was all just a fun little fight between friends. "Yeah, I think he's kidnapping the summoners so he can question him. His heart's in the right place, at least." Elvis's comment about the fight being more 'real' than the previous ones causes Gwen to wince slightly, and she opens her mouth again to comment-

        But whatever words were there are gone, because one of those massive fists have planted themselves into Gwen's midsection, planting a very healthy seed of Big Hurtin'.

        At least she's not completely taken off guard. One step backward, a squelched yelp falling out of her open mouth, Gwen rubs her stomach. "... Whoah... glad I padded myself extra well there, eheh..."

        this is still going to hurt like hell in the morning

        "Okay, Elvis, let's try this on fer size!" Flexing the buckle off of her right hand, Gwen backsteps as Ida moves in with her much more polished moves, delivering a shot of plasma from her ARM as Ida is out of range. 

GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Elvis with Coil Cannon EX!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has gained 3 Combo!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Ashton Anchors's COME ON AND SLAM AND WELCOME TO THE JAM for 95 hit points!
GS: Elvis guards a hit from Gwen Whitlock's Coil Cannon EX for 48 hit points!


<Pose Tracker> Elvis has posed.

"You still sound like you know something I dont," Elvis posits toward Catenna. "I require that information! I will keep taking Summoners until I am satisfied with their knowledge!" He phases it like he is eating their brains. Which is ridiculous... Right?

Veruni don't eat brains... right?!

"I require any and all information on their abilities and how they are acquired, but all they give is religious nonsense! I need formulas, breakdowns of the process!" As for why, he doesn't say. In this action of gravity, Elvis' weight plays into his favor. Lifting him takes a great deal more effort. Slamming him into the ceiling causes him to sharple exhaly, but otherwise shows little signs of damage.

The man is riddled with some kind of light beam as he falls, forcing to raise his guard as he comes down. "The only thing I am probing is their mind!" He fumbles the landing as it dawns on him that... that didn't sound too great. "I AM ASKING THEM QUESTIONS."

"Miss Jacqueline, I asked four different Summoners on their travels, and they all told me to go walk off the cliffside when I asked soem questions! It clearly wasn't working!" The heck was he asking?

Close quarters combat starts getting cramped. Fei and Ida are both in Elvis' face now. "Come now, where is your addition, Miss, Ida! It's not like I am fighting you to not see how you have adapted!" Both massive arms are brought together To guard a wave of Chi, frost and flame. Together they destroy the sleeves of his fancy coat. Oh the horror!

"Oh come ON!" the Sentinel gripes, ripping the tatters off like a MAN. "And I don't remember! You knocked me out! He knocked me out? Someone knocked me out!"

Gwen gets a straight shot at his chest, which causes him to skid back a long ways and leaving a singe mark on his pectorals. "Okay, okay, fine! You lot really are quite strong! But how fare you against the forces of nature?!"

With cracking of the floor, Elvis LEAPS to the ceiling, and grabs another stalactite. With a conjuring and wave of a wrapped hand. a massive surge of water comes from the beachside, and barrels right for Ida, Fei and Gwen!

With a leap and skid from that position, he lands right by Cyre, who has a downward hook lobbed right at him, the fist not ending whether it connects or not, and strikes the earth, causing it to tremor all around, particularly in Catenna's diretion.

Elvis seems strangely content in just keeping Catenna preoccupied and for the most part, unharmed by direct force. Everyone else is a FIGHTING TARGET. 

GS: Elvis has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Hydro Pressure!
GS: Elvis has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Elvis has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Hydro Pressure!
GS: Elvis has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Hydro Pressure!
GS: Elvis has attacked Cyre H. Lorentz with Dropping Straight!
GS: Elvis has attacked Catenna with Hi-Crush!
GS: Break expired!
GS: Elvis has completed his action.
GS: Catenna takes a glancing hit from Elvis's Hi-Crush for 61 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Elvis's Hydro Pressure for 155 hit points!
GS: Fei Fong Wong takes a solid hit from Elvis's Hydro Pressure for 167 hit points!
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz takes a glancing hit from Elvis's Dropping Straight for 52 hit points!
GS: Shieldbreak! applied to Cyre H. Lorentz!

<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

        Somewhere in that sequence where Ratatoskr hurls himself at the others, Bera's counter-striking heel catches on their back but doesn't seem to do much to alter his trajectory. Her follow-up icy fast slash comes up just shy, ice crystals forming across his side where the blade passes in its wake without harm but a fair reminder of the narrow margins involved. Pointing a palm out to the passing samurai, compressed air escapes to try and blow her back.
        It is Violet's own shotgun blast - using pellets! - that hurl the Hyadean off his feet and down to a kneel as quicksilver dribbles down the point of impact, the pellets having shredded through armor and into flesh.
        "Huh? What am I? What am I?!" Ratatoskr asks, incredulously, as if to pick the older Drifter up in both hands. "You fight with that... and you don't know...?" He's never really grappled with the idea too much about someone he knows has fought against Mother's hordes not really knowing/understanding what she's up against, but nonetheless both hands discharge with compressed air to throw her back.
        Jay throws down an exhaustion-inducing bottle of medicine whose vapors waft up and--
        One of his knees bends inward, already kneeling, just expels compressed air and blows that sleepy mist away. Huh. It goes to float over and coat a part of the battleground in lavendar smoke that doesn't include much of anyone.
        "Calm down? Calm down! Hyahaha--!" He laughs as he rises up. "These people of Spira... they never stop fighting. I see it in their eyes! I see it in how they move. They don't know how to rest... they always just keep fighting..." Jay gets, for her trouble, a few knee attacks at gut level.
        The Air Slashes start flying, and Ratatoskr leaps back and forth between them. In this distance, he doesn't advance, happily(?) hopping back and forth between them as though curious to see how long Claude could do it for.
        Ashton shouts - 'as we practiced.' As someone who has met and fought with the Symbological Swordsman, the solid yellow of his eyes trail to where they are preparing some great new incredible technique - and they do something cool with a Blitzball. He is compelled to challenge it. He is compelled to experience it.
        A palm tries to slap itself against Claude's face, but he finds himself out-shoved by the Boy From Earth. He gets so fixated upon the super-shot that, unluckily, in his attempts to go back there and claim it, he turns his back to Ashton. A great time to strike.
        Until he shoots compressed air shotguns from his limbs all the way behind him for a boost forward back towards Claude, threatening to toss Ashton aside. 

GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Bera with Hand-ARM-To-Hand Combat!
GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Violet Salazar with Skyward Scatter!
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Gut Check On Getting Kneed - No Need!
GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Claude C. Kenny with My Ball Mine Mine Mine... Ow!
GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Jacqueline Barber critically Guards a hit from Ratatoskr's Gut Check On Getting Kneed - No Need for 24 hit points!
GS: Bera critically Guards a hit from Ratatoskr's Hand-ARM-To-Hand Combat for 25 hit points!
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Ashton Anchors with Concussive Exhaust!
GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action.
GS: Ashton Anchors critically Guards a hit from Ratatoskr's Concussive Exhaust for 25 hit points!
GS: Claude C. Kenny completely evades a hit from Ratatoskr's My Ball Mine Mine Mine... Ow!
GS: CRITICAL! Violet Salazar completely evades a hit from Ratatoskr's Skyward Scatter!
GS: Mighty! applied to Ratatoskr!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Elvis's Hydro Pressure for 162 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

After half a dozen Air Slashes, Claude C. Kenny sees moment, and seizes it - he suddenly dashes inward, chi pulsing out from his feet, propelling him forward toward Ratatoskr. He draws his sword back, preparing to cut deep into his opponent's belly---

---but then a Blitzball bounces off of him, and straight into Claude's face.

The boy from Earth is knocked backward, starts flashing in his eyes and a sharp ringing noise echoing in his head. "Wh--- th---" he sputters, blood spraying from a split lip. The young man sways backward drunkenly, blinks as he looks for the culprit... and then spots it.

That stupid ball.

Scowling angrily, Claude C. Kenny hauls his right foot back. Blue energy flickers around his leg, chi empowering his muscles. Ratatoskr hurtles toward the boy from Earth---

---which is when Claude kicks a blitzball toward the squirrel's face at roughly 137 miles per hour. 

GS: Claude C. Kenny has attacked Ratatoskr with Boot to the Head!
GS: Claude C. Kenny has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Claude C. Kenny has completed his action.
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Claude C. Kenny's attack becomes clear!
GS: Ratatoskr guards a hit from Claude C. Kenny's Freestyle Combat Arts for 99 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

"You could have just come to meet Lulu like everyone else!" Catenna huffs back at Elvis with a touch of indignation.

But what Elvis wants - she won't admit - is something she can't give him. For Catenna, explanations of faith are enough. Science is virtually meaningless to her. As she darts back to make room for her so-called Guardians to take up the battle, she clicks her teeth together, listening to the huge Veruni explain himself.

Until he slams his fist at Cyre again. "Cyre, be careful!" she calls out - but she can't coddle him too much. The earth is trembling and it's sending its bad vibes towards her. The Owlet in her hip pouch hoots with surprise and flutters away, Catenna herself lunging back, but landing on uneven ground and staggering, dropping to one knee with a painful scrape. She winces, setting her jaw.

The pain isn't the worst part. It's the way he's fighting. Together with his words, they wind together into the implied threat that Elvis wants to take her too - and while he's brought his victims back, a small, old part of her heart quails at the prospect. She grew up in Elru. She knows the stories about what happens when the Veruni take humans.

Things get entirely too serious to her. She swallows a lump in her throat, just staring at the huge man intently and slipping back to put distance between Elvis and herself.

"They can't explain it to you with math," she opines, her voice quieter. "Some things cannot be reduced to equations or alchemical recipes. You must learn that for matters of spirit, sometimes the religious answer is the only answer you will get."

Her actions are less mild than that - and indeed, her tone tightens quickly enough. "But I cannot let you continue to kidnap people whose work is important to defeating Obsession!" Gravity surges.

The air around Elvis contorts, light warping as gravity magnifies. It pulls inward. All of a sudden, the force levied on him is intense and shocking. It's like his body is trying to compress itself all at once. Catenna lets the spell off in pulses, spikes of compressive force attempting to crush the huge Veruni. 

GS: Catenna has spent 3 Combo on Gatling, including 3 on Gatling!
GS: Catenna has attacked Elvis with Quantum Spike!
GS: Catenna has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Violet Salazar has posed.

Violet throws herself to one side, avoiding Ratatoskr's air blast entirely. "Huh? What am I? What am I?!" he cries, not answering the question. None of the Metal Demons Violet has fought were squirrelly, in any sense of the word. In fact, most of them were Metal Beasts or looked a lot like humans, though taller and with a metallic sheen to their bodies. At least Ratatoskr has that in spades, reflecting redly even as she reloads her ARM and fires once more. His yellow eyes gleam with battle-light and an eagerness she should recognize, if she has time to think about it. And the silverblood is a dead giveaway. A Metal Demon, though with an unfamiliar morphology. No wonder he's shrugging off her attacks so easily! 

GS: Violet Salazar has attacked Ratatoskr with Look of Eagles!
GS: Violet Salazar has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

"HA! GOT....hi...m?" Ashton stops cold, blinking uncomprehendingly at what just happened with the blitzball. "But... how.. but I... what?"
 
There is only one viable response to this. The sellsword stomps the ground in petulant anger.
 
"Damn my luck!", says the man who did not just get hit in the face with a blitzball.
 
It's about at this point that there's a loud PFHOOT and a barrage of squirrel-shot comes streaking in. The angry ranting about the woes of fate is (thankfully) interrupted via shotgun, causing Ashton to throw his arms up for protection. It works - more or less.
 
Lowering his now bleeding arms, Ashton growls. This is a bit less silly now that he's actually been shot at.
 
In a burst of anger, the Symbological Swordsman whips his swords around. Thin lines of pale blue-white follow the tips, drawing a cross in the air - then squaring it off to a diamond. A wall of ice forms between the lines. "I said get off him you filthy little monster!"
 
Later, Ashton will deny that Claude is his friend and that he just wanted to prevent Ratatoskr from causing more blind bloodshed. He will also be huffy when someone describes him as tsundere.
 
At the current moment, he is busy as the wall of ice shatters, converting to a barrage of icy flechettes that fly at the Hyadean. 

GS: Ashton Anchors has attacked Ratatoskr with Northern Cross!
GS: Ashton Anchors has completed his action.

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

        "You're expecting them to know formulas about the magic they use!?" Cyre is actually! Flabbergasted! So flabbergasted that it necessitates the use of multiple sentence fragments separated by exclamation points! THAT'S HOW FLABBERGASTED! "I love the Spirans to death, but damnit Elvis these are people who hate all machines. As far as I can tell, their faith IS how they magic! Has it occured to you that they might just not know how their stuff works? They've kind of had stuff to deal with that makes it hard to find time to sit down and figure out how they shoot fireballs!"

"Things like giant deathwhales, Elvis!" Cyre growls, shrinking back just in time to avoid the catastrophic impact of Elvis' gigantic fist drop-- but not in time to avoid the crater and explosion of stone fragments. Blood drips from fresh wounds, red-lines cris-cross his arms and chest, .

"I've seen what that thing can do. It can obliterate cities just by getting angry enough at them, Elvis! All you're doing here is getting in the way of these people solving their problem in the only way they know how!" Cyre lands, slamming his palms together. The air stirs, gathering above and below the Veruni Sentinel. "What is even the goal here? What are you going to do with what you intend to learn? Are you trying to help these people in your own weird way, or something?"

Suddenly, from below, a vortex of razor wind begins to shriek and churn, surrounding him in a tornado in miniature. From above, a shining gate opens, disgorging blast upon blast of brilliant energy. It's like being trapped in a pillar of supernatural pain-- one that just keeps following him, no matter where he goes...! 

GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has spent 1 Combo on Poison, including 1 on Gatling!
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has attacked Elvis with Celestial Lore!
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has completed his action.

<Pose Tracker> Bera has posed.

        As Ratatoskr strikes back with what appears to wind like a fiend, Bera shifts first her grip on the katana. Then she uses her blade to catch and guard against it, the attack forced to give way around her as it blasts at her hair and clothing drawing a small scratch. Then the blade is sheathed, and the sheathed blade pulled completely from her sash.

        "Everyone fights, it's how we survive." She says in annoyed tones, as she balances on her feet and grasps the hilt of her katana in her right hand, the sheath in her left holding Edge of Four Elements in front of her perpendicular to the ground.

        The sheath begins to glow with red, yellow, white-blue, and blue-green light as the elemental carvings on the ivory sheath seem to move in a fashion similar to the element it depicts. Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Water. "And your interference in our traditions and safety is unacceptable." Her voice turning to steel.

        The four lights merge into a pinkish white light, and then Bera launches her at Ratatoskr. Fire, lightning, ice, and water magic swirl around her for a moment and then implode into the blade as she draws with a shout of "Midare Setsugekka!" it leaving an after-image of pinkish-white light tracing the slash horizontal across Ratatoskr. And then at an angle as she skillfully weaves the blade back from hip to shoulder before sliding away as her attack carries her momenteum, sheathing the blade. 

GS: Bera has spent 1 Combo on Link!
GS: Bera has attacked Bera with Trust in the Elements!
GS: Bera has launched an attack Link!
GS: Bera takes a solid hit from Bera's Trust in the Elements for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper and Shield! applied to Bera!
GS: Bera has attacked Ratatoskr with Midare Setsugekka!

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"Oh wow!" Fei says. "Id beat you? That's pretty--" He pauses. "Pretty horrifying actually. I'm glad you're okay, man, but like that sounds like it's between you and him. I'm sorry about it but it's not like I can do anything to stop him from doing what he wants to do, you know?"

He is promptly splooshed with a large amount of water and goes flying out of his shoes like a newspaper comic character. Water even gets into Fei's shoes and it's like totally flooded now.

Fei crashes to the floor and says, "Owwww."

He slowly pulls himself up and makes his way towards his shoes and he frowns deeply.

"Rrrghh---"

Fei promptly leaps up again and tries to lash out at Elvis in a series of barefooted feet strikes for his body.

It's just not the same shoeless :(.

He looks to Gwen briefly, "He's not thinking about consequences again huh? I guess this is how ultimate power and control can corrupt even well meaning intentions into unjust criminal behavior!" 

GS: Ratatoskr completely evades a hit from Violet Salazar's Look of Eagles!
GS: Ratatoskr enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Bera has completed her action.
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Elvis with Hagan!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Ashton Anchors's Northern Cross for 118 hit points!
GS:  Dispel reduces positive status durations by 3 rounds each!
GS: Elvis guards a hit from Catenna's Quantum Spike for 74 hit points!
GS: Healthy! For entering Condition Green, Elvis receives 50 temporary hit points.
GS: Elvis enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Elvis guards a hit from Cyre H. Lorentz's Celestial Lore for 92 hit points!
GS: Elvis suffers an additional 28 from Poison's Combo effect!
GS: Poison! applied to Elvis!

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        "Perhaps they don't know!" Ida says. A moment later, she realizes that probably goes off in a bad direction, and adds: "Perhaps Summoning is inseparable from its religious and cultural contexts!" For a few seconds, Ida is not just a martial artist fighting a man at the pinnacle of martial power--she's a student making a polite suggestion to an academic senior even though she's all but certain he'll brush it off. It comes all too easily to her.

        'Come now, where is your addition, Miss Ida!'

        A droplet of sweat dribbles down Ida's forehead. She glances at Bera, whom she's fairly certain is a native Spiran.

        A booming tidal roar echoes off the cavern walls. Ida whirls to face it, and the onrushing column of water slams into her, knocking her off her feet and sweeping her with it. It carries her across fifty feet of cave before it meets the rock wall, crashes against it, and retreats the way it came. Ida slides down the wall, and sags to her knees, coughing violently even as her lungs refuse to work right. Her entire torso is a single mass of pain. Her cape is soaked, and the water pulled it away, and plastered it against her back. Both of her sandals lie elsewhere on the cavern floor.

        Irregular metal plates gleam against the skin visible at Ida's collarbone. Those weren't there a second ago.

        "Very well," Ida croaks. She sucks in a pained breath, and rushes back at Elvis, veering to the side so she doesn't slip on the wet floor. As she reaches Elvis, she pulls back a fist, and reddish-silvery fluid wells up from the pores in her skin, solidifying into layers of armor...

GS: Elvis guards a hit from Fei Fong Wong's Hagan for 66 hit points!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Elvis with A Practical Demonstration!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Ida Everstead-Rey's attack becomes clear!
GS: Elvis guards a hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Devil's Draw for 93 hit points!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey assumes the Avenger stance!

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        It's a feint. Ida's hand darts behind her back, and comes up with something metal--something tinted dark blue-grey, instead of the greenish finish of normal polished Demonbone. Ida levels Devil's Due at Elvis's right knee at point-blank range, and pulls the trigger.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline opens her mouth to speak, but Catenna puts it far better than she could have. This is just as well, as Ratatoskr soon disperses her cloud of smoke and is upon her again.

Right as he closes in, Jacqueline gestures with her right hand. A pillar of earth rises up to intercept that first knee strike, giving her time to get into position to defend herself from the rest of them.

"The people of Spira..." Jacqueline says, in between knee-strikes. Air Slashes soon fly in, giving her space to back away from him. She soons find her back against the wall, however - literally, having backed into one of Elvis's obstructions. "...fight because they have to! Because if they don't, it means surrendering to Sin, and to the Fiends. They don't rest...because they can't rest, because IT won't let them!"

Bera puts it best, however - of everyone here, she is the only native Spiran. She knows how they'd feel better than anyone.

"This isn't...how to go about it, Ratatoskr." Jacqueline says, shaking her head.

"Bera, ma'am, catch!" She draws out a pair of bottles this time - each one a pale green liquid, and tosses one each to Bera and Violet - the latter of whom she doesn't know the name of yet. They're speed-boosting tonics, to give them a bit more an edge against an opponent as quick as Ratatoskr. 

GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Bera with Swiftness Solution!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Violet Salazar with Swiftness Solution!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Bera's Midare Setsugekka for 155 hit points!
GS: Violet Salazar takes a solid hit from Jacqueline Barber's Swiftness Solution for 0 hit points!
GS: Quick! applied to Violet Salazar!
GS: Bera takes a solid hit from Jacqueline Barber's Swiftness Solution for 0 hit points!
GS: Quick! applied to Bera!

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

        "*ooohhh*, okay, I think I understand what's goin' on here," Gwen starts, a determined glint in her eye. "Okay, so, the systems that we use on Filgaia don't exist here 'cause different people, different culture, different tools, righ- ohguardians-" Gwen flinches back her ARM held up to summon a protective small energy shield that deflects little of the blast of water from hitting her.

        How will they fare? "Reaaaaaal badly, looks like..." Gwen sputters out sea water from her mouth, her short wet curls now dark and flat against her head.

        She just tries again to explain, a habit that seems too ingrained in her to be anything but habitual. "Like, If you wanna mix jam n' peanut butter together, you don't just mash 'em together, you need two slices of bread, like-.... oh."

        Gwen doesn't know, like Catenna, the true horror of people spirited away by Veruni. Catenna's and Cyre's willful attacks brings up a brief flicker of panic in her chest, finally wiping the wince of a smile from her face.

        In the dark of the cave, there's also the glint of metal plates on Ida's collarbones as she moves past Gwen. "What..." Her eyes catch on the way Ida's hand forms its own armor, not looking towards Ida's left, which grasps Devil's Due.

        She startles back at the sound of gunfire. And she remembers that clear thread of fear, when she realized Sin's nature.

        "Please, Elvis, just listen to alla them! We need you on our side if we're gonna help them! These are desperate people, doin' whatever they can. You saw Sin, right? How well would the Veruni had done if every time they even seem to be making progress towards anything scientific, Sin just mows them down, over and over, for centuries? People die, knowledge gets lost, and things just keep getting reset, over and over. The people here are smart enough to keep goin, keep survivin', but Sin's taken everything else from them. And none of us'd be no different, if Sin was on Filgaia."

        She reaches out a hand. "Elvis. You're probably one of the few among alla us that could get anywhere figuring things out, just by yourself. Sin is an enemy to the pursuit of knowledge. If you care about seein' and learnin', then Sin has t'go. And for that, we're gonna need your mind, n' your knowledge." She steps up, cautiously, her hand still held out. "We need t'work together, or we lose our chance. Please." 

GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Elvis has posed.

"Who is this Lulu you speak of?!" Elvis asks Catenna back, after the wave recedes from the battlefield. Maybe he missed a memo or something. Highly possible. He was supposed to be at a meeting at Operation Mi'hen he couldn't go to.

A look between both Cyre and Catenna. They have their issues with his methods. "Look you two! Even if they don't understand the finer points of science, I can break it down to that level with their testimonies! But there are aspects of their trial they won't talk about that frustrates me!"



"Their fighting with Sin, what goes on within the deepest reaches of their trials, how the trials were established... They hide it from the uninitiated! It is rubbish, I tell you!" A look toward Cyre as they are locked in combat. "Yes! That is the entire point I am wasting critical effort here in doing! And I will pry that information from them somehow!"

Catenna's force of physics cause Elvis to bowl inward, as if struck right i nthe gut. He fights to not be curved fully into a ball, leaving Cyre a great opening to land his positioning spell in! "Augh!" The man shouts, as he is stuck in floating, pain-inducing limbo, before two big pillars to the man's left and right erupt opposite each other. It disrupts the wind, and gives the man a chance to rip a hand out of the gravity well, grab the pillar, and swing himself out. "Insistent you lot are!"

"Aren't you him or something?!" Elvis asks, kinda... confused. "Or like, partly in some wa-- OOF!" Taking time to think something out leaves openings for strong kicks to the torso. He staggers away and stomps once, regaining his stance. "Cheap hit!" he calls. "Not knowing is possible, but I must know that beyond the shadow of a doubt! It isn't like I am hurting or starving anyone anyway!"

Ida's attack maneuver works. Elvis is affixed on her forming plating to not see it coming. The shot lands clean on the kneecap, and causes Elvis to looks his footing out from under him. It gets split open, but not fractured or broken. Just what are Veruni made of? "OHHHHH That is gonna hurt later..." he seethes.

He looks toward Gwen. She seems more intent on building an understanding. Commendable. "Yes I saw it! I saw what it did to Azado. It is far too much of a threat to just leave about its own devices! But for all our effort, nothing came of it!"

The man starts stomping his foot angrily. "I will find out how to fell it! I must find out! I have my reasons for disliking the creature so much! With my mind I know I will devise a way to conquer it so it will no longer pose a threat!"

He keeps pitching his fit next to Gwen, not attacking her. But something else happens. Cracks in the ceiling form, and suddenly huge chunks plummet on the party! Including--

"OH HEC--" 

GS: Elvis has attacked Elvis with Bring the Mountain Down!
GS: Elvis has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Bring the Mountain Down!
GS: Elvis has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Bring the Mountain Down!
GS: Elvis has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Bring the Mountain Down!
GS: Elvis has attacked Catenna with Bring the Mountain Down!
GS: Elvis has attacked Cyre H. Lorentz with Bring the Mountain Down!
GS: CRITICAL! Catenna takes a glancing hit from Elvis's Bring the Mountain Down for 153 hit points!
GS: Mute! applied to Catenna!
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz takes a glancing hit from Elvis's Bring the Mountain Down for 91 hit points!
GS: Mute! applied to Cyre H. Lorentz!
GS: Elvis takes a solid hit from Elvis's Bring the Mountain Down for 196 hit points!
GS: Mute! applied to Elvis!
GS: Gwen Whitlock critically Guards a hit from Elvis's Bring the Mountain Down for 37 hit points!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a glancing hit from Elvis's Bring the Mountain Down for 92 hit points!
GS: Mute! applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!

<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

        At 137 miles per hour, nobody should ever willingly go in front of a flying blitzball, in a bid to capture a veritable artifact of technique and prowess (...which is just a blitzball) lurches forward and...
        ...Ratatoskr makes a great play for catching it, but the rest of its momentum carries over and slams him into a rocky wall, seeing it bounce back out of his grasp and roll back towards Claude. Lying prone, he should be a good bit of target practice for Violet as she reflects upon what she's fighting...
        Ratatoskr crawls low, and the ARM passes overhead as the light upon his forehead horn shines ever brighter as he lunges across the distance. Coming up uncomfortably close, the horn on his head suddenly discharges a great, energetic burst that threatens to envelop Violet's form and hurl her back.
        He starts looking Claude's way again as Ashton calls for him to get away.
        "Why would I?!" He calls back. "He's strong. I lik--" Icy flechettes pelt him, many of which seem to gather around and extinguish the built-up energies around his ARM horn. Smoke rises from him, a sense of things ebbing away. A robbed momentum, stolen breath. A new breath is not taken in rest nor reflection as he rises.
        "You know," he says, staring down Ashton, and Creepy, and Weepy, but somehow the solid yellows of his two eyes could be enough for six, "we could both fight him...!" He grins wider. "Me first!"
        He must mean 'after Ashton,' for he rushes him and starts flailing his limbs rapid-fire - punches, kicks, elbows, knees - the lot of it interrupted as Bera talks about how his interference in their life is unacceptable. For a moment, as she dashes by, his eyes lock to hers instead as silvery blood escapes where the elementally charged blade strikes. He doesn't look fearful, he doesn't look shocked, he just looks...
        ...Content.
        "It's just like the Symbological Swordsman's, but... something else? Something else...!" He raises an elbow and a knee, in tandem, to try and crash her in between in a pincer-like blow, as Jay further clarifies the position.
        "Huh? I don't want them to surrender," he says, looking to Jay, "I want them to keep fighting...! But you know... I want in on that too! I want to remember all of it. I want to keep all of it...!"
        Now he actually lunges towards Claude, the Boy from Earth, into a nondescript but no less dangerous tackle to try and get to the ball before he can reclaim it, but then there is a new complication that crops up.
        He watches as Jay throw out more buffs, at which point, he shoves off to try and shoulder check her into a wall. His horn surges again, finding new sparks of life after being chilled, tapping them into Jay if he makes contact. It's uncomfortable - as if to enervate her.
        "What's wrong...?" He asks. His voice is less jovial. "Come on...!"
         

GS: Ratatoskr has spent 3 Combo on Gatling, including 3 on Gatling!
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Violet Salazar with Yggdrasil Burst!
GS: Ratatoskr has spent 3 Combo on Gatling, including 3 on Gatling!
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Ashton Anchors with Ceaseless Conflict!
GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Bera with Cracker!
GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Claude C. Kenny with This Attack Is Nuts!
GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Jacqueline Barber with What's Wrong...!
GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action.
GS: Jacqueline Barber takes a solid hit from Ratatoskr's What's Wrong... for 106 hit points!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has been weakened by Disease! Temporary hit points tick down 1 round!
GS: Disease! applied to Jacqueline Barber!
GS: Violet Salazar takes a solid hit from Ratatoskr's Yggdrasil Burst for 143 hit points!
GS: Violet Salazar enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Bera takes a solid hit from Ratatoskr's Cracker for 134 hit points!
GS: Ashton Anchors takes a solid hit from Ratatoskr's Ceaseless Conflict for 149 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Violet Salazar has posed.

Violet cries out as the strange energies of Ratatoskr's horn strike her. The ray is enveloping, damaging, leaving her bleeding in several places. Fortunately it's short-lived, and she has presence of mind enough to strike back, selecting an armor-piercing slug from her rapidly-dwindling stores of ammunition. She fires, hoping he won't be able to dodge -- and that her shell will strike something vital! She doesn't know how long she'll be able to keep this up -- and suspects it's not much longer. 

GS: Violet Salazar has spent 3 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, including 2 on Gatling!
GS: Violet Salazar enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Violet Salazar has attacked Ratatoskr with Finishing Touch!
GS: Violet Salazar has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Violet Salazar has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Bera has posed.

        As Ratatoskr makes his strike, Bera finishes sheathing her blade and can't immediately get a proper guard up. She takes the knee to her gut, the elbow to her shoulder and grunts loudly, but she doesn't cry out in pain.
        "Just die fiend." She mutters, catching her breath quickly and rebalancing her stance as the strange creature turns to strike others. This gives her enough time to process the field, and accept the assistance thrown her way by Jay. Then she's drawing her blade again, this time water tracing it's path as droplets of magic water float through the air around the blade. She rushes at Ratatoskr's back, making a single slash before sheathing the blade again, sheathed blade raised and ready to guard again. 

GS: Bera has attacked Ratatoskr with Water Strike!
GS: Bera has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Bera has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"If you ran into a strange burly alien demanding to know the innermost secrets of your culture and faith, wouldn't you tell them to fuck off too!?" Cyre snaps back, the raw disbelief growing in his tone as he gets more and more frustrated with all this nonsense. "Seriously, I get that you're trying to do what you think is right, but this isn't how it's done! You abduct enough people, and eventually people will lie to get you to leave them alone, and then any conclusions you draw will probably be all jacked up! And if you keep doing this, someday they'll send people who don't have reason to try talking you out of this and--"

Elvis.

Throws a tantrum...!

"Woah, woah hey, stop that! Stop, you're going to--" Cccccrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack~*/" Cyre abruptly goes about as pale as the furs he's wearing. Cracks spread spiderweb-like across the ceiling... And before Cyre can so much as scream in abject horror, the entire thing begins to collapse.

But.

Then.

"You damn-fool MORON!" Cyre roars, emerald light surging out of his body in a blinding flood of power. The wind howls, blasting through and out of the collapsing tunnel. "Catenna, everyone, run!" The Nahual of Fengalon materializes out of the emerald wind, bracing mightily against the falling mountain. "I'll hold it up... For as long as I can...!

But...

What about him!? 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"If you want them to keep fighting...then help them! Don't go ambushing and abducting them." Jacqueline retorts, as Ratatoskr looks at her. "They're people - they're not machines made for fighting. They have lives beyond it, that they're trying to protect! Think about their reasons for fighting!"

And then, after tackling Claude, Ratatoskr rushes toward her. She's backed up against the wall. She wheezes as she finds the air knocked out of her as he shoulder checks her, and feels drained as the strange light emanating from his horn washes over her.

It's...a little difficult, but with a wince, she rummages through her bags for something.

"I'm not...I'm not a fighter. I'm an...apothecary. My goal is to help people." Jacqueline says, with a wince, as he asks her what's wrong. "If you're looking for something like that from me...then you'll be sorely disappointed."

She manages to get her hand free. In her hand she's holding a pair of bottles, full of what almost looks like melted gold, glowing with power. You can practically feel it radiating off the bottle - and those who drink it will feel that power radiating through them.

"Claude, Ashton... catch!" She entreats, hurling the bottles out to the two fighters.

Around her, the ceiling shakes from Elvis's immense outburst. 

GS: Jacqueline Barber has activated a Force Action!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has spent 2 Combo on Inspire and Reload!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Claude C. Kenny with Aura Bottle!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Ashton Anchors with Aura Bottle!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
GS: Jacqueline Barber heals Ashton Anchors! He gains 100 temporary hit points!
GS: Hyper! applied to Ashton Anchors!
GS: Ashton Anchors enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Reload! Ashton Anchors gains 15 extra FP from Jacqueline Barber!
GS: Ashton Anchors gains a Combo from Inspire!
GS: Claude C. Kenny guards a hit from Ratatoskr's This Attack Is Nuts for 73 hit points!
GS: Jacqueline Barber heals Claude C. Kenny! He gains 100 temporary hit points!
GS: Hyper! applied to Claude C. Kenny!
GS: Claude C. Kenny enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Reload! Claude C. Kenny gains 15 extra FP from Jacqueline Barber!
GS: Claude C. Kenny gains a Combo from Inspire!
GS: Fei Fong Wong critically Guards a hit from Elvis's Bring the Mountain Down for 35 hit points!
GS: Fei Fong Wong enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Claude C. Kenny has activated a Force Action!
GS: Claude C. Kenny has activated a Force Action!

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

Catenna's gaze sharpens, fixed on Elvis with an almost prey-animal alertness. "Perhaps that's not for you to know!" she pushes back. "Would you come to a priest of Granas and demand they initiate you into their church, or dissect a Shaman for your science? Math cannot explain everything but sometimes faith can!"

It's all she needs to know. Math means little to her - but believing in Lulu and Yuna means more.

When Elvis stamps his foot, Catenna opens her mouth to say something - but a loud rumble cuts her off.

"Ohhh no," she breathes.

Rubble tumbles. Chunks of rock rain down around them. A jagged shard slams into Catenna's back, just large enough to hurt, just small enough to bounce away once it's done hurting. She staggers as shooting pain erupts up her spine, dropping her to her knees. Another rock pounds into her shoulder, and she rolls away, shielding her head with her arms. More chunks of rock pelt her forearms and back like thudding fists, and she lets out a thin, pained sound as she tries to make herself as small a target as possible.

Until the wind howls.

The force of it hurls Catenna backwards. Saarda-Shanta hoots with alarm as she's bounced out of the tunnel like a little white pinball.

Catenna, heavier, manages to grab ahold of an outcropping. Debris continues to descend, blown back and piling up rapidly. "Cyre, don't!" she calls out, her eyes wide. "You'll be crushed!!" She begins to claw her way forward against the force of the wind.

Another chunk of rock slams into her cheek, leaving a cut. One more hits her hand. It dislodges it. Her grip slips. Blood runs along her fingers. Ahead of her, she can see the Nahual - he's all she can see, actually, aside from the boulders. The cracks in the ceiling.

The immense rockfall that plummets from the roof of the tunnel with a sickening tearing sound. Debris plunges into the tunnel. It piles up and blocks her view of the man she's trying to see. Dust billows. She can't squint through it. It's whipped back into her face by the wind. Her other hand is torn from the rock and she's taken by the vast gale. What of it can reach her.

All she knows is that she's lost sight of him. For a second, in her mind at least, everything goes absolutely quiet.

She reaches out. Can't hear a thing.

Grasps at empty air.

"CYRE!!!" Catenna screams as she's blown clear out of the cave.
<<Characters>> Layna Manydays says, "12 is the max and 4 is the minimum, so I'd say between 7-10 would be considered fairly high, probably?"
<<Characters>> Layna Manydays says, "Someone else might have a better idea of it."
<<Characters>> Chime Isa says, "4-12 iirc"
<<Characters>> Auron says, "Thanks, that's what I wanted to know. :)" 

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

What a kind offer! Ashton, for about a quarter of a second, considers what the Hyadean is suggesting. After all, he's still annoyed that Claude took his sword. (And, you know. The dragon thing.)
 
Any potential for accepting the offer is cut short by a wild barrage of flailing strikes. Ashton tries to parry his way through it all - but there's just so dang MANY. If there's one thing he has to give Ratatoskr credit for, it's that the vicious little squirrel goes all-in.
 
Bera saves him from further pain. Ashton's a tough nut to crack, but even a brief respite is welcome. The Symbological Swordsman gives a small nod of thanks to the samurai. "A similarity there is - a most interesting one." Deeper conversation will have to wait until later, however. There's a fight to be done first.
 
The squirrel lunges for Claude again. Then to bounce away to take a shot at Jay. It's an opportunity - Ratatoskr is braced to fire and not in close proximity to any of the others.
 
The ground - and ceiling - shakes. A bottle spins through the air. Ashton fails to catch it as his hands are full of swords.
 
Creepy catches it, clamping the bottle in its mouth. Weepy's head snakes over, popping the stopper with its own mouth. The two dragon heads work in concert, tipping the bottle over and pouring it down to their human counterpart's mouth.
 
Off in the distance, the Popeye theme plays.
 
And then a huge chunk of rock from above falls, smashing down on Ashton.
 
A tenth of a second later, there's a flash of light and a ZWEE! as the Draconic Cerberus appears on the other side of the rock. He's in motion towards his foe, hurling through the air with a gleaming shimmer of Spiran steel.
 
The fish-hook twin blades swing - a vertical scissor-slash, then a horizontal one.
 
And then? Still in the air? Ashton launches into a furious whirlwind of sorcerous steel - a high-speed dance of death. "SWORD! DANCE!" 

GS: Ashton Anchors has spent 1 Combo on Link, including 2 on Gatling!
GS: Ashton Anchors has attacked Ratatoskr with Cross Slash!
GS: Ashton Anchors has launched an attack Link!
GS: Ashton Anchors has activated a Force Action!
GS: Ashton Anchors has spent 2 Combo on Gatling, including 2 on Gatling!
GS: Ashton Anchors has attacked Ratatoskr with Sword Dance!
GS: Ashton Anchors has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Violet Salazar's Finishing Touch for 176 hit points!
GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Bera's Water Strike for 123 hit points!
GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Ashton Anchors's Cross Slash for 177 hit points!
GS: Ashton Anchors assumes the Avenger stance!
GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Ashton Anchors's Sword Dance for 206 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        Ida wouldn't have risked a trick shot if she weren't confident she could pull it off. Taking such a risk on a combatant as powerful as Elvis? Well, the jury's still out. More of that reddish-silver stuff flows from Ida's skin, creeping up her bare arm, bonding with her skin, solidifying. "I have been trying," Ida says, through gritted teeth, "to avoid alarming innocent people who have suffered more than enough already." She remembers Kilika, and Operation Mi'ihen. She can no longer think of the Spirans as ignorant luddites--not after what she's seen.

        She knows that what she's seen is just a drop in the ocean.

        "I don't know how much you've seen," Ida continues, "but seeing doesn't mean you understand. And if you don't understand--"

        Something goes crack in the ceiling above. Ida doesn't look up--she springs forwards, tucking and rolling on instinct. Chunks of sandstone break loose, plummeting to the cave floor. Ida thrusts up her right arm, and armored plates unfold like the petals of a flower, forming a disk-like shield. "Are you bloody happy?!" Ida roars. The rockfall doesn't stop. Ida glances back at the tunnel mouuth, and wonders, briefly, how fast she needs to move to make it.

        Cyre answers that question for her. A gust of wind slams into her, blowing her towards the entrance; she hits the ground fifty feet later, skids, and scrambles to her feet. Devil's Due is still locked between her fingers. "Cyre!" Ida roars. She doesn't know if he can hear her over the wind. "We're clear!" But others aren't, Ida realizes, with a sickening thud. "EVERYONE, OUT! NOW!"

<Pose Tracker> Violet Salazar has posed.

"Catenna, everyone, run! I'll hold it up for as long as I can!" Violet hears from her fellow beastman, and no one has to tell her twice. The stone overhead is collapsing even as she breaks into a sprint through the howling winds, heading for the relative safety of the beach and its open sky. Buffeted by debris, at last she reaches the sands. Well, at least it will be temporarily safe -- unless and until their foes decide to continue the fight, or flying fiends attack. She looks back to make sure everyone made it out safely, ready to assist any latecomers. She doesn't know Cyre but worries about him the most. How is he going to survive the cave-in? 

GS: Hyper expired!
GS: Violet Salazar has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

Claude C. Kenny is... still a little woozy, actually, but he definitely recognizes the face of the dragonman who comes to his rescue. "Aww, thanks, man!" he says happily. "Hey, did you see where I put my blitzed b---"

  • TACKLE'D*


"Ow ow friggin GEDOFF ME!" the boy from Earth snarls, kicking at his darting opponent - but too slow to catch the squirrelly (lol) little adversary. "Geeze, this guy's fast - can't even cut him to slow him down, he just dodges the friggin' things!" Claude absently spins his sword in his hand while Ashton Anchors dances the dance of swords. It's... impressive, frankly. And this is only the second time that the blonde-haired swordsman has had a chance to see Ashton at work, to really evaluate his skills. He's... good. Better than good, really. He's faster and quicker than Claude is, maybe not as big, but... really well-suited for this fight. Where Claude.... isn't.

This is annoying.

Jay's potion is caught out of the air; Claude offers her a quick nod and then chugs the bottle's contents down, feeling the - uh - magic juice (he tries really hard not to think about the bat poop or whatever potion people put in their potions) fill him with energy. He tosses the empty negligently over his shoulder, then starts to sprint toward Ashton's fight. This is normally the part where he'd fire off an Air Slash... but Ratatoskr would just dodge it, like he dodged the last seven or eight. It's his best technique, and it's useless! There's no point in firing them off one at a time if he can...

...

¬_¬

......

o_o

.........

O_O!

"I must be a GENIUS!" Claude C. Kenny screams at the top of his lungs; he emits a loud roar as he focuses energy in the blade of his sword, just like he does for his Air Slash technique... only this time, he doesn't fire it. He just keeps charging, until there is a blazing blue-white fire dancing all around the short sword's length. Claude comes to within three strides of Ratatoskr, then two, then shouts.

"AIR!"

Claude leaps up into the sky - and coming up with him is not, in fact, an Air Slash. It's more like fifty of them - all spread in a wide circle around Claude's body, all gleaming with violent energy.

"RAID!" Claude screams, firing roughly a bajillion Air Slashes down at the squirrel creature (and probably also Ashton, if he's not super quick). 

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"Dude we want to beat Sin too," Fei begins before stalling a bit because, uh, honestly he'd prefer if Sin just...went away somehow magically but ok he does understand that he does in fact have to fight a Sin here to make that happen. Or someone does.

He rallies. "But listen, man, this isn't exactly the way to go about it I mean they're saying it's a kidnapping--"

He looks towards Gwen as she makes her heartfelt plea. He rubs at his shoulder awkwardly because it's a really nice heartfelt plea but it conflict wiht his desire to put his fist in Elvis's mouth. It's not like he hates Elvis or anything but look at this guy. He is a true martial artist. And he is huge. And he wants to fight him, goddammit!

Earth comes crashing down upon everyone. Fei's eyes widen and--there is a faint flicker of movement. Suddenly Fei is no longer there.

Instead he is behind Elvis. And he has a red aura.

"Hey asshole," He says. "You're taking the 'we're all children' thing way too literally."

And with that he aims to flying tackle Elvis (and anybody who happens to be in the way) out of the way of his own falling debris to, uh, well, somewhere where they aren't going to get crushed by falling rocks. 

GS: Claude C. Kenny has attacked Ratatoskr with Air Raid!
GS: Claude C. Kenny has completed his action.
GS: Fei Fong Wong enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Elvis with Bad At Being Gentle!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Fei Fong Wong's attack becomes clear!
GS: Elvis guards a hit from Fei Fong Wong's Ultra Idstinct for 101 hit points!
GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Claude C. Kenny's Air Raid for 213 hit points!
GS: Ratatoskr has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

        "Why the heck are you tryin' t'do this part all on your own?" Gwen shoots a quick glance back at Ratatoskr. "Well, mostly alone, I guess. Wha'd'ya think Frea has me runnin' all over the place for her? She knows the value of gettin' a friendly face t'ask questions."

        Especially when that friendly face doesn't realize where the information is ultimately going.

        Elvis, then, begins... throwing a tantrum. This man. is. throwing. a. tantrum.

        "For cryin' out loud, Elvis, you're actin' like a goddamn child! Snap outta it before I have'ta drag you off this mountain myself!"

        The mountain rumbles, as if objecting. Large chunks of rock and stalactites fall from the ceiling, smashing over the ground and heads of everyone in the cave, Elvis included.

        There's a sharp *snap* of light, and Gwen's fist cracks into a large piece of falling debris, the crumbled remains falling over her shoulders and hair. Flicking her hand to the side, as if to fling off some dirt, Gwen breathes once and just stands there, frozen in place.

        Something feels like it wants to unlock. Something wants to turn. Something wants to fl...

        Ida moves from the corner of Gwen's eye and Gwen finally takes in her next breath with a shudder, coming to from her brief motionless state.

        "... Cyre?" She looks up, alarmed. "Nonono, we ain't doin' that, please!" She spots Elvis, and then, uh, Fei. Or Id? "Fei! We gotta get Cyre!" 

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei Fong Wong is in the middle of trying to save one oaf from his own attack to save another from his heroic sacrifice. Hopefully someone else can handle it! 

<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

        Violet shoots. It is a reckless action were it anyone less skilled a sharpshooter as she, the heaviest-hitting ammunition available to her discharged and piercing through the crimson armor of the Hyadean rapid attacker. A clawed hand goes to his side and grabs it - less about keeping blood, one might suspect, as opposed to scraping up a piece of ammunition that doesn't quite get in there all the way, slowly turning his gaze back over to Jay--
        Bera mutters for this 'Fiend' to die. He looks like he might be some sort of Ronso Unsent, in some fashion, but that he's leaking oddly-colored blood and not pyreflies puts the use of that terminology into question as she strikes at his back with a watery explosion, further pushing him back.
        The ground is shaking. Everything is collapsing. This buys Jay time to reposition.
        "...You're Jacqueline Barber...!" He says the name as she downplays what she is - or rather, corrects. "Head of one of the most famed traveling parties of weaponmasters and engineers...!" Is that... how he sees their work? Just masters of weapons, of engineers? Attributing everything underneath the auspice of war and combat, fitting oddly-shaped pegs into desired holes, as she throws those bottles to other fighters.
        For once - the first time anyone might care to keep track - Ratatoskr looks something approaching genuinely displeased, and that's hard to gauge when he seems only capable of grinning or having the solid yellows of his eyes glow. "Come onnnn...! I know you have it... show me..."
        He says, looking to Ashton and Claude, who are about to bear down upon him with deadly force. The smile returns, watching them come at him, even as he bleeds.
        "...Like that...!"
        He makes an attempt to weave through the gleaming blades, but it is only some quicksilver that succeeds. (Wait. It's because the whirlwind struck.) Ratatoskr is a willing Sword Dance partner, even as his impeccable balance and agility starts to fail him. The only 'mistake' is when Ratatoskr leans too far in and gets bludgeoned away by Ashton's forearm, but the damage has been done.
        Claude changes up his tactics. His eyes look to the building power. He should be unconscious, but he wills himself to want to see what Claude's doing, because...
        He wants to remember all of it. He wants to keep all of it. All indistinct blobs of color, fading in and out of sharpness, as they all emerge and bombard him with a fine number of Air Slashes he has individually counted and will keep with him. Each blast carries him back, further and further across the rocky tunnel. He appears to disappear into the falling chaos all around.
        That smile of his never fades. 

<Pose Tracker> Elvis has posed.

Some of the heavy stone from above crashes down heavily on Elvis, knocking him down to the ground. It doesn't pin him for long, as it either turns to sand or explodes on flexing and standing. "Not again!" he shouts. "Third time this week!"

The whole place is coming down.

"Everyone, move!" he calls. Fei is sensed behind him, but a familiar tone comes instead. "You! I have a bone to pick with- UGH!" A strong, aura filled tackle sends Elvis far out of the way of the collapse. "Ngh, I got this!" he says, standing slowly.

"You crazy beastman!" he calls in toward Cyre, trying to save people. Staying in there still. Was Ratatoskr still in there too?! Damnit... "STAND BACK."

The man stomps forward toward the collapsing path. A deep breath or two. He takes his Power Gloves off. "It has been a while! But I don't want someone dyin' on my account! Here we go!"

The entire land structure begins to vibrate. Something powerful stirs. The stone around Elvis pulses with theric energy. purples and violets and aquamarines glow through forming cracks. Slowly, inexorably, the stone creeps up Elvis' form. It bonds, fuses with him; stone and mantled colors call home upon him. Cracks form on his skin, his head, his body. They bleed the familiar colors of Detonation.

True power ripples off him.

The party wasn't truly fighting him.

They have NEVER truly fought him.

This feeling denotes that very clearly. The land below, rise at his command. The land above will bow to meet him.

Two hands are held out, calmly. All falling rocks cease moving altogether. They hover in place, like time stood still; a haunting sight. And slowly, the course of events reverse. Every rock fallen, every grain of sand disturbed, returns to where it belonged. Fit perfectly together as though a Professor never caused a problem here.

And once the deed is done, the transofmration slaughs away as if it was never there. A singular, deep exhalation.

"They should be fine now." A pause. "...Sorry," he offers Catenna.

A look back to some of the others. "I did take the Summoners, but they are all fine. They have all been released for days anyway. Once they tell me what they will, I let them go. I don't even think I have held any of them over a day, on second thought..." He squints for a time, trying to recall something.

"Anyway, okay, okay, I'll stop now. I'll have to be satisfied with what info I got I suppose. And yeah, been trying to find a way to stop Sin too."

He still squints at Fei though. He's gonna get him in the arm one day. 

DC: Elvis switches forms to Stone Sentinel Elvis!

GS: Elvis enters a Counter stance!
GS: Elvis has attacked Elvis with Foundation of Stone!
GS: Elvis takes a solid hit from Elvis's Foundation of Stone for 0 hit points!
GS:  Restore reduces negative status durations by 3 rounds each!

<Pose Tracker> Violet Salazar has posed.

Violet gingerly picks her way back under the overhang and takes a moment to collect her thoughts, then moves among the milling survivors of Elvis and Ratatoskr's attacks, tending wounds -- at least the ones not dire enough to need magical healing -- and introducing herself to everyone who doesn't already know her. Theyre battered and dusty and bloody in spots. "I'm Violet," she murmurs as she deftly applies ointment and bandages. "Violet Salazar." There's not time for extensive introductions at the moment, though she spends extra time with Jacqueline, asking about her potions, what they do, and whether they're for sale. She'd really like to stock up on healing potions. If only she had more money!! They didn't use gella in Spira. 

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

Sweat and silver blood mixes as Ashton unleashes all the force he can into Ratatoskr.
 
Deep down, he knows what it's what the Hyadean wants. But what alternative is there in a moment like this? Do you choose not to fight a monster just because it enjoys it?
 
A last strike - and the murdersquirrel is pushed back. And Claude unleashes.
 
Ashton.... remembers the Boy from Earth. He remembers their first encounter in Salva Mine. He remembers the awkard man-child who looked as though he'd never held a sword before.
 
A part of him can't help but grin at seeing how far Claude's come from there. Even if Ashton had nothing to do with the change, it's still heartening to see.
 
Then, even as Ratatoskr falls with a grin? Ashton braces himself. The roof is still coming down, and he can only hope luck is - for once - on his side.
 
Then - it stops. Elvis halts the collapse, and Ashton uncoils with wary hesitation. And a deep sigh of relief slips from his lips.
 
Rallying himself, the Double Dragon Duelist straightens up and wipes the quicksilver blood from his swords. "Damnedest thing," he quips. And looks over towards Bera. "Little monster is remarkably tenacious, I'll give him that." The swords are sheathed - though the dragons crane up and around curiously. "Ashton Anchors," he introduces, holding out a hand to the samurai. 

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

When she lands, Catenna immediately scrambles back to her feet and runs towards the rockfall.

<<That won't do, child. You'll only bring harm to yourself,>> Saarda-Shanta advises as she straightens her windblown feathers. Catenna clenches her teeth, pressing her hands to a fallen chunk of rock - but she stops before she tries to do anything to it and slumps against it helplessly. Tears stream down her face, and she tries to sweep them away with the edge of her arm.

She doesn't say anything, but she feels it. She wants to do something to save Cyre and she has no idea if he's even still alive.

Sinking to her knees and looking at the ground feels like the only option. It's what she does.

Until Elvis does something she's fairly sure she's never seen a Veruni do.

Catenna's the only Ellurian in a group, but even she's never seen how far Veruni magic can actually go. She stares with her mouth slightly open as the massive martial artist demonstrates his command over the very earth, the cavern reassembling itself as if put in rewind. A lump swells in her throat, and she swallows it, hard. A tiny, retrenched part of her serves up an incredibly visceral, reptilian revulsion.

She pushes it to one side. They're ugly thoughts that don't belong in her mind anymore.

Whatever she feels, she doesn't give it voice, just looking up at Elvis and pressing her lips together. The Moon Shaman doesn't respond, her expression - grim and stained with tears, though no more with dust - enough to speak for her. Finally nodding, she moves past him once he's finished speaking, back into the cavern.

"...Cyre?" she calls. "Are you here...?"

Sliding a hand along the tunnel wall, Catenna sets out to walk the length of it - but it's a tunnel, and she knows what she'll find. She can't see him anywhere.

Elvis can put the world back together. He cannot turn back time.

"...Cyre...." 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline manages to get away, but she's still feeling shaky and drained from...whatever it was Ratatoskr did. Her steps are uneven and she sends him a frown as she backs away.

"...Is that all you see in us...?" She asks quietly. She meets his eyes, noting how he seems almost displeased. She shakes her head, rejecting the notion wordlessly.

And then, there are Ashton and Claude, who each utilize a powerful display of technique in their own. Someone has to do it, if she isn't.

And it's enough to send Ratatoskr flying out of the tunnel...but even though that problem is dealt with, there's still another - the tunnel is collapsing.

And then...it isn't.

Jacqueline stares, mouth agape as Elvis halts the falling stone with raw, sorcerous power - and then rebuilds it, shaping it back into the way it was before the fight began.

Not a pebble out of place.

She feels, for a moment, wholly out of her league. ...But, that feeling gives way to concern, as she remembers something she caught out of the corner of her eye.

"...Cyre!" She says, with a gasp of worry and surprise. She rushes off, though she gives Violet a nod of acknowledgment as she does. She makes a mental note to find her again later, but right now there's someone else she has to tend to.

Jacqueline follows after Catenna and opens her mouth to say something...but then stops herself short, folding her arms around herself quietly.

Worldlessly, Jacqueline follows after Catenna. That expression, the way she calls out for him...that was all she needed to hear.

For now, she just follows Catenna, to look after and keep an eye on her. A part of her deeply hopes that Cyre is alright, and wants to look for him, but for now...she knows that he'd be disappointed if she just left Catenna alone in this state. 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        "Catenna," Ida says, turning to the Moon Shaman with wide eyes and trembling hands. Elvis tells everyone to stand back. Is he going to try to hold up the mountain instead?!

        Yes.

        Ida's jaw falls open at the sight of it. Words fail her. She's seen displays of powerful sorcery, but didn't think Elvis could manage anything of this magnitude. All she can do is stare, and hope.

        "I don't think 'sorry' suffices," Ida says, to Elvis. As the shaman reenters the cave, a dripping-wet Ida follows her.

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

        After Elvis finishes, Gwen's panic finally recedes, but her concern still lingers, competing with awe over Elvis's display.

        If Elvis truly had wanted to, he could have fought at full strength. He could have defeated them all.

        "... You fought on our level..."

        But where is Cyre? The mountain was sealed back into place. Surely, Cyre will come strolling in any moment now.

        She turns back to Elvis, waiting until Catenna and Ida had left. "... Thank you, Elvis, for doing that. If you hadn't, Cyre *would* become a martyr." She crosses her arms, debating if she should say anything. Like how her ARM felt, for the briefest of moments, strange.

        And how she felt that scary urge to actually hurt Elvis in anger. "They're gonna need supplies when they get out, whether it's with Cyre or without," she says, softly. "I'm gonna go back t'town and get some things. Campin' gear, n' the like. If y'ain't busy or need t'rest, would y'mind helpin' me out a bit?" 

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Honestly it's probably not in the tone of the scene for Id to tear Elvis apart over what happened to Cyre, but if looks could kill, man, if looks could kill.

And Id does say, "When I destroy the Veruni," to Elvis. "I'll give you an apology."

"Just."
"Like."
"That."

And then the aura fades and Fei frowns in momentary confusion and then he waves a hand towards Elvis. "Uhh... just ignore him alright? I'm sure he didn't really mean it."

He laughs nervously as he follows after Ida. 

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

Searching the tunnel doesn't take all that long. It is a tunnel. There aren't many places to hide.

By the time the search is over, Catenna emerges back out the way she came in. She didn't say much once it became obvious that there would be no catman there to discover, nor even a bloody smear indicative of his demise. The possibility of his diving in the water may have occurred to her; she looked at it for a long time.

For a moment, she looks up at Elvis.

She doesn't say anything. The tearstains on her cheeks are gone. All he gets are pale grey eyes, clear and steady and focused on him within an expression of mute stoicism.

If she could hurt him with her eyes alone, the look she'd be giving him would calmly slit his throat and watch the blood drain.

She turns and begins to walk away, the Owlet coming to rest on her shoulder. She doesn't wait for Jacqueline, simply retreating back into the withdrawn, unemotive guardedness she maintained before she met Cyre, Jay and the Kinship. 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        Ida stays by Catenna's side the entire time. Perhaps, she thinks, Cyre's simply curled up somewhere, or unconscious but alive. Perhaps he'll jump out from behind a stalagmite and do a spooky voice and scare them and then everything will be fine.

        She's still by Catenna's side when the Shaman emerges. She turns, and sees that look, and her face turns to stone. It only lasts a moment. "Catenna," Ida says. Somehow, she manages to keep her voice warm, even as the bottom drops out of her stomach. "We're here." That's all she can say.

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

For a moment, Catenna doesn't say anything. What can she possibly say?

She finally turns her head just enough to look at Ida. She keeps her back to Elvis. From the rear, she presents as stoic, cold and unmovable. She clearly won't look at him because he doesn't deserve it right now. Her hair is long enough to hide even the profile of her face.

Ida gets a flash of the truth: The Moon Shaman's expression cracks for a second as her lower lip trembles and her eyes tighten at the outer corners. Only a quick breath allows her to re-establish her poise and keep from breaking down.

She rests her hand on Ida's shoulder and squeezes, firmly.

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