Artisanquest: Taboot Camp

Artisanquest: Taboot Camp
Date of Scene:	26 April 2013
Location:	Forgotten Island
Synopsis:	Shiki and her friends begin their quest towards Daguerreo! Then Sho Minamimoto shows up within five minutes and absolutely everything goes horribly, horribly wrong. A new record!
Cast of Characters:	Lily, Priel Aylin, Shiki Misaki, Deelel, Lenn, Sho Minamimoto, Leida, Evja

---

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Forgotten Island! Just a smudge on the map, some distance off the coast of Cleyra. The huge tree can still probably be seen on the horizon.

The island is a rather rugged, red-soil land with lakes big and small, scrubby vegetation, waterfalls running down sheer stone surfaces- in fact, there are large cliffs all over the island, making entry impossible by anything but airship. Which, helpfully, we got!

It's a private rental, but it could only get us so far- the rugged terrain I mentioned means that travel to Daguerreo is going to mostly be done by chocobo and/or foot. And unfortunately it's going to be about a day and a half, even then...

Shiki doesn't care! It's almost nostalgic! She swings her arms around and cheers as they walk away from the airship

Lenn has posed:
Lenn is a little more reserved, simply following Shiki. But the elven woman has a wide smile of her own, nonetheless. Shiki's attitude is infectious. She's wearing a little lighter clothes, more ready for travel. And adventure, perhaps!

Evja has posed:
And indeed, as for Chocobos, Evja seems to have brought his along. Non directly on the airship of course, but once off, the Judge pulled a long silver whistle out of his cloak and blew on it, the Chocobo coming out of a portal that opened up briefly for him to hop onto. And that considered, he had been simply enough riding along with the rest at a lazy pace. He did have room for a second person to take a seat behind him, or in front if they preferred to have a safer perch than the backside of a Chocobo.
And today found him in full armor. It was more for the sake of 'Not sure if I'm going to need it, so might as well have it and not than need it and not' logic.

"Are you worried about Adamantoises?" he asks towards Shiki, "Or are they simply rare around these parts?"

Leida has posed:
Leida's response to finding her feet on solid ground once again after the short jaunt through the clouds is more akin to worship than enthusiasm. She does her best to retain a regal bearing as the groups files out onto the island but her facade crumbles almost immediately upon setting foot on the ruddy soil.

The small girl collapses to her knees and exhales loudly, her head and shoulders slumping as if completely exhausted. While there had been no physical strain on any of them as their hired coach ferried them across the ocean, her mixture of intense fear and distrust towards anything mechanical had worn her nerves down to a thread.

"I... I need a moment," she gasps. Leida reaches into the small satchel she carries for travelling expeditions such as this and withdraws a small folding fan. Clearly a cheap souvenier bought from some street peddler, it nevertheless serves its purpose well enough as she uses it to coax the stagnant island air into motion.

"Where are we, anyways?"

Priel Aylin has posed:
Priel who had been riding on the airship with the others, away from the general gathering of 'friends' however, remained mostly quiet throughout the journey. There was the occasional snide comment and threat to eat someone, but otherwise it was a fairly tame journey. All things considered anyway.

Spying an opportunity to have someone else do the work for her, the redhead immediately hopped onto Evja's chocobo once the judge herself got on, she followed suit, totally without permission of course and got on behind Evja, sitting backwards and leaning back against the Viera. "Thanks for the lift~"

Truly lazy. She could have walked or flown even. She definitely had dragon wings. But nope, she chose to be lazy and hitch a ride! Perfect plan!

Shiki Misaki has posed:
ADVENTURE.

It chills Lily to the bone.

"I've got no idea!" Shiki says to Evja, standing next to his chocobo. "I don't ... like, I haven't ever been here before? I've got this map to Daguerreo, but nobody has really said whether they're rare or not. Maybe they're in the lakes? I dunno. I think they're pretty big! Like, the size of a buuuu...s... like twenty feet long?"

Said with such a casual tone.

"We're here on an island off the coast of the continent! Look, you can see Cleyra behind us." Indicate. "But we have to go on foot to get to Daguerreo."


Pause. "Leida, did you not enjoy the journey?"

Shiki, sometimes you can be so dumb. She unfolds the map, looks at it, and smiles. "OK, I know the way to go when we're ready!"

Lenn has posed:
Lenn nods, and falls in behind Shiki. "So, err... These... adamantoises... How... err... dangerous are they?"

Evja has posed:
"Very."

It was an astute-enough statement on Evja's part as he reached one hand back, his right, to pat Priel on the hip in a relatively chaste fashion. "I shall be scouting ahead, so do hold on. Even if you have wings, I have no desire to buck you off." And that warning given, plus his hand attempting to briefly hold onto her, Evja taps his Chocobo with a foot and it gives a loud wark before he darts off ahead of the group to scout around and try to make sure nothings going to come flying out of anywhere nearby to kill them.

Not to mention his Chocobo was going about it pretty fast. Racing chocobo fast. Seems somebirdy has been enjoying the tracks at Serendipity!

Leida has posed:
Leida bites back the urge to be sarcastic, her lack of self esteem overriding her annoyance at the moment. That doesn't stop her from scowling but she covers it up by hiding the lower half of her face behind the folding fan with a demure flick of her wrist. "N-not really... I find it difficult to be around... machines."

Priel Aylin has posed:
Leida's comment about machines drew Priel's gleefully mocking attentions as Evja was preparing to ride. "Aw, but machines are so much fun Leida! Remember that awesome joy ride we had in Goug? We should do it again sometime! I'll even get us a new car for the occasion, what do you say~?"

Leave it to her to bring those shenanigans up again. Evja's warning drew her attention next and she just shrugged. "Nonsense, I'll be just fine!" Priel assured the Judge, not changing her riding posture at all. Even if she did get bucked off, she'd probably just take flight herself. The only downside was that she'd have to waste energy actually moving! So troublesome!

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is happy yet unhappy Evja is given some distance but she's not caused any trouble otherwise. So she's moving along looking here and there and otherwise taking in their path and she's not on a chocobo she's on her light cycle. However she's going at a low pace to keep up with the chocoobos.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"Yeah, I think we'd only be able to beat one of them if we find it, ha ha!" Shiki says, when Lenn and Evja discuss tortoises. "We got a big space in the airship hold, but it'll only fit one shell. That's how big they are."

"You could make a little bedroom inside one if you hollowed it out."

Evja can scout ahead with impunity for there seems to be no monsters, collosso-sized or otherwise, around here just now- just trees and scrub grass. The terrain is chocobo-friendly, although perhaps not entirely lightcycle-friendly because of the uphill slopes. It's not exactly a cliff climb, but still.

The environment, at least, might help Leida's nerves- it's peaceful, with the sound of the rushing waterfalls, clear ponds, and terrain that's not unfriendly but not un-challenging.

Shiki walks along with her hands behind her head.

Leida has posed:
Priel's constant attempts to goad the small princess have accomplished much over the last few months, usually earning her the sort of reaction that bullies and trolls thive upon. However, today Leida is ready for the dragon-girl's antics and she merely glances away, her small gaudily decorated hand-fan covering up the coy smile that touches her lips.

"Ofcourse. I shall be certain to invite Faruja and his pet. They do so enjoy motor vehicles."

Evja's mount takes off before she can see what kind of reaction comes from this verbal riposte but her interest in such is passing. Leida takes a moment to take in the view of their surroundings, not looking particularly impressed with the mostly barren stretches of dirt. Atleast there are a few trees to provide shade from the awful sunlight.

"Why did we come out here, again?" She sighs the question out with obvious exasperation, pushing to her feet to shamble after Shiki like a child being dragged along to run errands.

Evja has posed:
Even after the clear scouting, Evja did make it a point to circle further out to be extra cautious. He /was/ the type who was extra cautious. Eventually, though, seeing nothing, Evja moves his hand from Priels hip where he had been lightly holding onto and slows the Chocobo to a walking pace as he wanders a short distance ahead of the group as a 'Out in front to possibly draw any ire from the locals', if there was any such here. Still within earshot though, and goading distance for Priel atop her mount.

Lenn has posed:
Lenn blinks, "Wow, that's huge... But that could kind of be nice, too." She walks along, smiling as she imagines living in a huge turtleshell.

Priel Aylin has posed:
"Hmmm....it looks clear enough from here so far." Priel commented lightly looking about as Evja rode along. The hand at her hip was hardly any sort of concern for the girl who seemed to be hardly threatened or offended by the gesture. Perhaps because she was far too busy being amused with Leida's response.

Grinning, the redhead leaned forward a tad and spoke out. "His pet? Are you talking about yourself now? You certainly fit the part! ...Ah, but then, I'm sure Sir Rat would rather have you exorcised~" ...The same thing went for her actually. In fact, Faruja must have had a long list of 'heretics to judge'. Oh well! Same deal!

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is still moving along keeping to a slower pace due to her companions and the terrain, really they need a light craft of some sort that could deal with choaic landscapes. It's a thought for a nother time and it's too far out of her programming to really think about trying to fo on her own..

"It is indeed large...Lenn."

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"Sometimes the things you say don't even make sense," Shiki remarks from the peanut gallery, AKA 'about five feet behind you'. "Do you even think about what you say, or is there a little hamster in there stringing insults together from flash cards?"

"Leida! We're here for ADVENTURE! And - we're going to the library of Daguerreo, to find a weapon-master, who's going to help train me and Lily and Lenn..."

And that's when a call for attention might distract her, because as Evja moves ahead he will find something. Something that takes the mind away from whimsical thoughts of turtleshell tents.

"Hello? Hello, is that a person over there?!"

That's a female voice. It belongs to a woman- one with grey-white hair, a big lock of it covering one eye. She has a long dress with spaghetti straps, grey at the top and blue in the bottom third.

She's also dangling from a tree like a pinata.

"Can you help me, please?!"

Lenn has posed:
Lenn nods. "And I want to have the training... I see you guys- You and Reize, especially- you go, I worry, you come back hurt- Especially Reize, and I heal you up... But I want to be strong enough that I won't have to be left behind.

Evja has posed:
Ears twitching slightly beneath the helm, Evja perks upright and shifts his feet against the stirrups of the saddle on his bird. "Keep them back, could be a trap." he mumbles conspiratorially at Priel before the Vieran Judge quite literally vanished and reappeared into the air towards the strung-up person. His Chocobo was still there so Priel didn't lose her ride, just her backrest.
Vanishing once more from sight and reappearing at the strung-up woman, Evja attempted to grab her gently and at the same time slice through the rope closest to her with a strong jerk of his arm, Judge Sword held in his hand. His /goal/ was to keep off the ground beneath her if possible in that short flash-through-yoink-flashaway attempt. Of course, who knows if it'd work.

If it was him leaving a trap, he'd booby trap the ground beneath someone that another might try to save.

Though knowing Priel, she might not even care enough to stop the girls from getting close, since traps are amusing.

Leida has posed:
The princess straightens up as Evja's mount swings back around bringing the snarky passenger close enough to unleash another attempt to get under her skin. "Forgive me, I thought I heard you say 'exercise'. But that cannot be right, as you have made your inability to lift even a finger in effort abudantly clear." The fan comes back up to her face once more and she gives Priel a sidelong glance. "Tis no surprise you require a chariot of steel to ferry you about. One can only guess at which of you strains that poor beast more: the knight in armor or the layabout dragon, fufufu."

Shiki's assistance in their little feud is unnecessary but brings a faint smile to her face. Her attention is drawn, like that of the other members of their group undoubtedly, to the sight of the suspended woman in the distance. Leida stifles an amused giggle at the image but does her best to hide it behind her fan. "Well... that is... not what I expected to find here."

Deelel has posed:
Deelel looks over to the formal viral user and gives her a nods however as she brings her rifle to a halt there eems to be a bit of a tought about the mention of the hamster which she finds funny as all get out. She now derezzes her bicke. Sure enough it could be easy enough to cut her down. but would someone be able to catch her?

she pauses was that a fat joke out of Leida? She thinks it was but is too unsure if she's going to ask. She does pull her disc off her back and power it up just incase. "It would be simple enough to get her down we'd need to catch her."

Priel Aylin has posed:


"Please, if it's not profitable, don't expect me to waste my time for your sakes." She shot back to both Leida and Shiki. Not at all having it for their cute little team up. And she was going to make it abundantly clear that she wasn't here to assist them. At all. Ever. Not even in a life or death situation even. ...Maybe.

Priel just shrugged after and watched as Evja disappeared off into the air. "Hey, Ms. Rabbit says to stay put. But since you people are idiot heroes, I know you won't listen. So go ahead and assist him~" That was about the best Evja was going to get from her. She wasn't even going to stop them, but she had issued the Judge's request in a most basic manner.

Her eyes meanwhile fell upon the strung up woman, watching curiously and observing her form. Now how in the world did she end up in such a state anyway?

Mysterious Figure has posed:
It seems to be a simple enough task to get the woman down. She's simply tied up to a high branch.

A wind blows across the island as they move to bring her down. The wind is not pleasant. There is something off acout it. The trees speak of something dark...

And then there is a hissing noise, a figure manifesting in the shadows, indistinct.

"You know, I really thought better about you."

There is another hiss, and the being is gone, appearing in the crevice of some rocks. A hand gestures out of the shade, clad in an odd blackness. "Everything was simple. Balanced. You ran where I told you, how I told you."

They vanish again, the brim of a black hat barely visible behind a tree. "You struggled, you fought. And in the end, you could just vanish. Reduced to zero. A perfect circle."

The being flashes into the darkness again, a sense of motion, a wind... "And then things got complex. I can't /express/ how annoying it's been dealing with things lately." They flash here and there. Some bangles seen, a beaded necklace, a red bandana...

"But in the end, it all comes out to the same solution." There is a quick motion, and suddnely, the figure is behind Shiki. He leans in close, a malevolent smile visible as the shadows draw back from the figure...

Sho Minamimoto has posed:
"You're too zetta slow."

Sho Minamimoto, Reaper of Shibuya and general threat to living beings everywhere, leans in even closer, and stage-whispers into Shiki's ear from behind. "Did you miss me?"

A moment later, black figures static in from all directions, black graffiti forms reshaping themselves into the deadly Taboo Noise. In moments, the entire group is surrounded by black menagerie of grunting creatures.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"Priel came along to troll us, of course," she explains.

"And sometimes we save people stuck up in trees?" Shiki says, confusedly.

Although we have to remember! Shiki hates Priel too, so she's totally gonna gang attack her if she can. In a war of words, at least! At least she made Deelel laugh. But there's no time for squabbling right now anyway because we've got trouble to deal with. Shiki'd rather have people to help than Priel warbling on in her ear, anyway.

But before we can speculate on what exactly is going on, trouble! Shiki hesitates because of Evja's request, and that's clearly all /someone/ needs. Dramatic flash!

"Wh-wh-what?!" Shiki squeals, almost tripping over her own feet as she yanks herself around. But as it turns out she needn't, because there will be something for her to see in every direction when the Taboo Noise appear! Bad times for everyone!

"The game master," she snaps, balling her fists up. Darnit, who could know he'd be out here on this remote dot of land. "I did, but my aim's improving!"

"I'm so sorry!" shouts the woman, off in the distance.

Priel Aylin has posed:
"Is this some kind of joke?" Priel muttered, looking around from where she sat on Evja's mount, observing the Taboo Noise that had began popping up all over, in addition to the fact that Sho himself decided to make his epic reappearance! "Eh. Well, you guys have fun then!" The redhead spoke to the others in a casual, carefree tone, reclining on the chocobo lazily.

Yes, this was a dangerous situation. No, Priel still saw no cause to actually lift a finger to help them. "Since you guys are the heroes here, you should knock the evil down and triumph like in all those cliche storybooks, right? So go on! Do it! I'll be cheering for you from here~"

Leida has posed:
Leida merely smiles as Priel seems to fold into a defensive posture in their verbal sparring. Unfortunately she doesn't get the chance to enjoy the minor victory. As usual, trouble seems to follow the Shard Seekers around like a desperate lost puppy, running away after a swat on the nose only to come bounding back a few moments later.

She sighs and turns slowly about in a circle, taking in the strange shapes of the sentient graffiti. "Well, atleast it is not Heartless for a change." Leida ends her movement by shifting her gaze to Sho and peers at him as if sizing the man up. "Friend of yours, Shiki-san?"

Lily has posed:
"Troll?" Lily's been doing her darndest to ignore Priel for days and days. She's still unsure exactly what Ivo saw in her that was worth championing on some level, but isn't about to argue too much. As long as Priel doesn't directly make things worse, anyhow.

... which she usually is...

Coming across someone caught in some sort of trap... only to be then ambushed by a guy who sends willies up Lily's spine is more than a little chilling. With a yelp she jumps behind Shiki, then peeks out from behind her at SHo, blinking bewilderedly at the Game Master.

"Game... master. Like that woman with the penguins in the desert, Shiki...?!"

Evja has posed:
Target obtained, Evja kicks off the tree and lands back towards the group while still holding the woman carefully. He hadn't had a chane to try and undo the ropes around her so much as, well... was attempting to make sure she was safe. And suddenly there were Heartless. Or something. Looking around at them, he looks towards the woman and asks her bluntly, "Are you part of this?" Though he still wouldn't just abandon her if she was actually /in/ trouble. Yes, he has that 'hopeless hero' syndrome as well.

Senra, Evja's Chocobo, looks back towards Priel as she lounges and might have just about rolled his eyes. Might. Maybe.

Then suddenly there was someone else in the group. A young fellow... hume... or so Evja thinks. "Damn. It /was/ a trap."

Deelel has posed:
Deelel pauses at Show arriving she turns her head looking at him for a moment she's quite taken aback by this turn of events and she just stares at Sho for a moment she has no memory of such a man. She does seem to be on her guard at this a Shiki isn't happy to see them for a moment. The woman seems to be handled now right? Ot at least they can get to her and she looks at Priel for a moment like she's grown a second head. Users, she really wanted to get back to the grid. She wante to go home pretty badly today.

Sho Minamimoto has posed:
"Pathetic." Sho says simply. "I don't know how you even managed to pull it off. You're as lost and scrabbling and /whiny/ as ever." Sho turns away, gesturing idly as he walks a few steps away. "You're handed a get out of jail free card and you don't even /notice/. That's /insulting/."

The Reaper looks back over the group, squinting at them all. "And you've even taken to raiding petting zoos and child care for help." He sighs overdramatically, eyes rolling up.

Priel causes him to smile a little. "At least that one knows better than to get involved in this."

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"Yeah, you just sit this one out, Priel, didn't expect anything else," she snaps. She purposefully holds her player pin out for Lily to touch, because she remembers fighting these things in Traverse Town... oh, right, she wasn't here for that.

"No friend of mine," she replies. "He's the Reaper's Game game master... and he's talking about a bunch of jargon I don't understand," warily.

"These are worse than those penguins and just as bad as Heartless. We're gonna have to fight for our lives before we even get to Daguerreo! It'll be good practice..."

Mr. Mew appears from underneath Shiki's hat. He's needed again!

"He set me out as bait," the girl says apologetically. "Someone else already came past and ran. I was worried I was going to die..."

Priel Aylin has posed:
"Don't mind if I do now~" Priel lazily replied to Shiki, grinning in response to her annoyance. She really wasn't going to help after all. "...Well, if it makes you feel any better, I can least scatter whatever remains of you to the sea!" Yes, because that was supposed to be something reassuring now.

Sho's comment draws a brief laugh from the dragon as she shrugs her shoulders lightly. "Why would I? There's nothing profitable in this." All this talk of bait and heroic posturing and villainous speeches...Priel just brought a hand to her mouth and yawned, closing her eyes as she continued reclining on Senra's back.

At least it would be an interesting show to watch. Once it began anyway.

Evja has posed:
This situation was slowly starting to chap the Viera's ass, in more ways than one. They were set up, they were making it a habit to insult and belittle... and on top of that, someone else got dragged into this as bait. But for what? If someone else ran away, was this really for /them/?

Walking up slowly towards the Chocobo, Evja sets the captive woman down onto her feet and gaves Senra a pat on the cheek. "I think you can undo knots still, yes?" Hopefully. Leaning down, the Chocobo begins to peck at the rope as if trying to figure out how to undo it. Of course, at this point, Evja also does something that might or might not be expected.

He vanishes and reappears behind Sho with his Judge Sword in one hand and a spear in the other. With a flourish he attempts to knock Sho's legs out from beneath him with the sword before leaping up and plunging down with the blunt of his spear towards Sho's stomach.
No, Viera isn't happy at the moment. Not in the least.

Lily has posed:
Lily can only stare blankly at Sho, trying desperately to pierce his words for their meaning. In the end though all she can do is touch the pin Shii ofers oncs, then draw back a hand as her whole body takes on a faint luminescence stemming from the jewel in her forehead. It's a pleasant deep blue color that shifts shades in streaks and flows about her unevenly and thickly like clouds.

Instead of taking any serious action though, she instead raises a hand and waves it at Sho to get his attention. "Um... I don't really understand what all of this is about! Why are you after Shiki?"

Leida has posed:
The sound of the cheap fan snapping shut punctuates the surge of annoyance that floods the princess at Sho's unsubtle insult. Her small fists ball up at her sides and she stamps a foot in a gesture that is probably supposed to convey her irritation but ends up just making her look childish.

"Hmph! Now see here! I am no child, the people of this world are all just very... tall."

She turns to Shiki and quirks an eyebrow at the short explanation. "Reaper's Game? Game master? Penguins?" She shakes her head from side to side. "I am afraid you both speak in 'jargon' at you put it, Shiki-san."

Deelel has posed:
Deelel listens to Sho, he's at least creative with his insults he'll give them that and she looks over to Sho one last time.

"Shiki? Jail? What is he talking about?"

There's clearly some history here and some things going on she's unaware of but now that cna really wait a she knows what's coming, she runs a few commands to prepare for fight to come. The noise are not something she's used to but they seem a bit like heartless? She's not sure either wy it's time to fight and she's clearly ready for it.

Sho Minamimoto has posed:
Sho facepalms. "Look, she's dumb enough to stop for anyone." The Reaper replies. "I just grabbed her at random." He raises his voice. "HEY, YOU SHOULD BE HAPPY YOU'RE NOT DEAD! I CAN FIX THAT! NOW THANK ME AND GET THE HELL OUT!"

He does, however, get an assload of confusion. "Fine. FINE! I'll explain this all to you zeroes, you factoring hectopascals." He folds his arms. "When people die, some of the lucky ones get to become Players. Players play our game. The Reaper's Game. IF you survive, you get to come back to life. IF you fail, and basically everyone does, you are Erased. You vanish, gone forever."

Sho narrows his eyes. "Nowever, there is now a /problem/. The /problem/ is that we got a new boss." He then points at Shiki. "And that boss decided, for WHATEVER REASON, to do you a favor. Don't you get it, Misaki? Don't you understand-"

It's at that moment that Evja strikes. She appears behind Sho, attacking...

And as fast as Evja is, Sho vanishes, reappearing on the other side of the group. In his place, Evja finds that she's run through a spiny, angry-looking rhino made of blackened graffiti and anger. It snorts at her, moments before it explodes in a hissing blast of white noise.

Sho picks up right where he left off. "- Understand why you haven't been getting Game messages? Don't you understand why you haven't been getting attacked by Noise?" Sho points. "IT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE ALIVE RIGHT NOW, YOU DUMBASS!"

He shakes his head, huffing. "But you know, that's all right. I have a solution. I have a solution to everything!"

He whips out a bullhorn, and yells...

"(IT'S X 2!) DIE!"

<(================================> - <X3 - <=================================>

- A FORCE OF DARKNESS HAS ARRIVED -

- SHO MINAMIMOTO -
- THE MATHEMATICAL PERFECTION OF DEATH -

- PREPARE FOR BATTLE -

<(================================> - <X3 - <=================================>

It's at this point that the horde of Taboo Noise rush forward, swarming as they begin assaulting the group. Priel is left alone, while the rest are subjected to a series of black needles being fired by the Corehogs, while Carcinopunks, tiny crabs with huge black claws clamber forward, trying to clamp down on any exposed limbs. The Noise don't stop coming, trying to simply bum rush the group and mow it down where it stands.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"If we could save the explanations for when we're not surrounded by-"

Shiki is about to continue that sentence, but there are more important things to think about all of a suddenalive. Unfortunately, because she's alive kind of distracted by what alive Sho just said to her, alive, she's alive not really paying alive attention to the alive taboo alive noise alive alive.

She's /alive/?

Yes, but not for much longer if you don't PAY ATTENTION TO THOSE CRABS MISAKI. Shiki goes down under a pile of big claws and quills, and this is suddenly really dangerous!

Shiki Misaki has posed:
The woman in the dress, meanwhile, is definitely willing to run once Evja unties her... although within reason, apparently. She turns and bolts, but... slows down... and... eventually...

Hides behind a rock to watch this pan out.

Evja has posed:
"Bah."

So the boy had tricks of his own, hm? No doubt he -- and suddenly a swarm of Noise/Heartless/Things. Dashing towards the one whom this fellow seems to be targeting, Shiki, Evja dives in next to her as she vanishes into the pile and spins the lance ferociously in a circle. The air around the two is cut and suddenly it suctions outwards, away from them, pulling things from Evja and out and away and leaving the center area, and hopefully Shiki, unharmed. Or in the least not in mortal peril.

"Watch out! Do not let yourselves be pinned down! If you need assistance, ask for it!"
The Viera extends a hand towards where Shiki was, not having had a chance to find out in what shape she is in, to help her stand while trying to keep close enough to do what Judges do, in his view.

Protect.

Though much at this point he begins to glow faintly as he sends the only real 'magic' he knows through himself and Shiki, hopefully, helping her to be a bit quicker on her feet.

Lily has posed:
With Noise rushing in and Sho yelling like a madman, Lily's whole body tenses up, eyes narrowing and determination flickering to life within like a little wind-stoked fire. "No. No no NO. Not more monsters! Everyone, I've got your backs!"

Hurriedly, she gathers her power with a bit more control this time around. The winds whip up, carrying her backwards and up, though some of the needles from the Corehogs pelt her and dig into her flesh through the rather flimsy cloth outfit she's wearing. "hnnngh...!!" Okay, it's just a LITTLE bleeding, just a little.

But that winded her pretty badly.

Nevertheless, the girl floats up about ten to fifteen feet, and while her flight's kind of wobbly and slow she spreads her arms out, and the winds respond, coursing outwards towards Shiki, Leida, and Deelel to wrap them up and empower them, granting synergy with the element itself.

Priel Aylin has posed:
"Hmmmhmhmhm~" Priel hummed a casual little tune to herself, draping one leg over the other and dangling her foot idly to the sounds of combat taking place all around her. Eventually though, her eyes opened again and she began to watch. Seeing Shiki get dogpiled caused her to burst out laughing. "Pffft-- Ahahahaha~! Oh wow, look at that!"

Yes, now THIS is what Priel came for. To watch people get dogpiled by waves of monsters while she looked on in amusement. Hey, being a hero usually entailed having a shorter lifespan! Why? Because of stunts like this of course. "Don't drown now~" The redhead casually spoke out to no one in particular then. Hell, she could have been talking to Sho for all anyone knew.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel just kinda stares for a moment as Sho explains things she files this away and has to wonder what would be so sadistic to make a orld operate like that. he makes notes of everything Sho say it may of use later. For there are noise, so many noie here an they don't stop coming she attacks with her disc. She makes errors these are unknown enemies to her she has no experiance so she takes a pretty bad hit, but is quick to recover as she starts launching her own disc also sometimes moving to leap off the various noise.

Leida has posed:
Leida stares blankly at the black clad Reaper, not quite understanding the point of his posturing until he lets loose with a massive revelation. "Wait... are you saying Shiki-san... was dead?"

The only answer she gets to her question is pain. Dozens of the deadly quills rain upon the distracted princess from behind, practically turning her into a twisted mockery of the Noisy porcupines themselves. A shrill scream explodes from the small girl as she receives a dose of unwanted acupuncture. The loose casual 'modern' clothing she wears proves little deterrant against such an assault and fares even worse against the scything claws of the crab-like Noise.

Black ichor drips like liquid shadow from Leida's wounds, hissing and bubbling as it hits the dry earth. She struggles weakly against the onslaught but her miniscule strength is nothing compared to the horrible monsters that assail her. Lily's magic washes over her body, making her feel suddenly lighter but in her current situation it doesn't do much to help.

"I will not... die here...!"

The shadow that Leida casts suddenly becomes animated, bubbling up like oil from the ground and oozing its way along her legs to settle on her back in a small pool. From this wellspring of darkness a massive skeletal claw of pure shadow erupts, tearing and smashing at everything around her in an uncontrolled frenzy. The quills in her back are brushed away with a single swipe, sending several of them back into the horde from whence they came.

Leida struggles to her feet, wounded and bleeding from the somewhat unexpected attack but clearly still in the fight. "Why do you attack us...? We are not dead, nor part of your 'game'!"

Sho Minamimoto has posed:
Sho doesn't seem to care about the ones who fall back and begin buffing people. With a gesture, he ensures that piles of Taboo Noise are sent charging into any gaps in the defenses he has erected. "/WAS/ dead. Now she's alive because the BOSS decided to give her a present. I don't know why... But hey, the rules are off here."

Noise begin to explode. Even the Taboo Noise, as powerful as they are, can't withstand focused fire (and perhaps some clever puck passing. Anyone got a puck? Check under Shiki's hat?). Leida follows up with her own blade techniques and the assistance of a claw of darkness, the assault ripping into the mass of Noise around them.

Soujiglares as the surrounding Taboo Noise are detonated, and he cuts a hand across. "ENOUGH!" The Noise fall back, vanishing as Sho crosses his arms. "I look at it this way. I kill you guys, Shiki goes back in the Game, and maybe we can get a few new Players." He smiles, and looks over to Priel. "Or maybe even a new Reaper. I like her style."

He laughs, and then shakes his head. "Enough of this, yoctograms. It's time to show you the scale of power you're dealing with!" He throws his hands outwards, and there is an explosion of rushing power as six massive, black-steel wings erupt from his back, skeletal and thorned as they curl around him... And then explode, shattering as he... changes.

His body morphs, the legs becoming gleaming, stylized graffiti. "Are you ready?" Sho says, moments before he vanishes, blurring around the battleground at speeds almost too fast to track. "TANGENT! TANGENT! SINE!" Sho yells, energy blasts streaking out and swirling in perect mathematically designed arcs.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Shiki Misaki has reached a point where words are no longer relevant.

She isn't sure where she reached it- whether it was before or after the support rushed to her side having been buried under a dose of crabs (or is it a cast?), but she's here now. All of a sudden, she's a dragon of the wind, forcing herself to her feet and scattering Taboo Noise off of her. She stands with the wind spinning around her, head tilting to one side in a centre of the storm.

And despite Sho's streaking darkness being mathematical perfection, somehow, Shiki moves--

She raises a leg, swings her arms out, spins, almost like a ballerina. For some perverse reason, the piercings and crabclaw cuts on her body feel so much more real now-- adrenaline, pain. A living body.

And then Shiki has a handful of pins. Tap, scratch, touch. The Eyes Have It, Earthshake, Nikkari.

A cold wind now surrounds her as she summons up ice crystals to cluster around Sho, and drop him into a seething patch of shaking stone. She rushes forward with Mr. Mew hovering by her side, a lance-blade thrust smacking towards the Game Master.

And Shiki remains silent.

Leida has posed:
"Ugh, I have no intention of playing any game with you!" Leida takes a step back warily, eyeing the still sizable mass of strange creatures surrounding them. However, it seems that Sho has decided to take the stage personally. His transformation leaves the small princess in shock, her jaw hanging open at the twisted imagery, but his rapid aggression forces her on the defensive before she can say anything else.

The gnarled bony arm takes a few swats at Sho's blurred form as he darts about unleashing a dastardly series of strikes that all add up to a whole lot more pain for the girl. Her efforts to keep track of him prove futile as does her attempts to ward off the Reaper's assault, quickly disproving the stereotype that all Asians are good at math.

As more and more of the energy blasts rock her back and forth, Leida's weak counter strikes quickly turn into panicked flailing until she finally topples over in a heap, bleeding profusely from her wounds. Oddly the more of the shadowy ichor that flows from her body the more it seems to congeal and spread out over the injuries, closing some of the lesser gashes and gouges instantly.

"Nrgh... too fast..."

Lily has posed:
Energy bolts flicker up at Lily, but the girl faces them bravely and braces with outstretched hands channeling more of her own power. The field around her concentrates and while she seems to list to the side awkwardly, she manages to deflect the blasts. They impact against her field and get slapped away, curving out into the distances and one into the sky. This knocks her about, but she remains airborne... if drifting wildly!

"I don't get what you're even TALKING ABOUT. You don't kill people in games! You should never kill people even if it's not!" Now that she's bit angry, the winds about her heat up, and suddenly ignite. Flames join the blue aura along with the winds, and like before they stream out towards the others to harmonize them with the power of inner flames, bringing forth rage and greater strength and ferocity.

Priel Aylin has posed:
It sounded like our heroes were having a hard time with Sho here. The fact that he just turned into some antromorphic noise certainly didn't help their cases now. But Priel still didn't budge, watching the battle with a fair degree of interest. There were some interesting tidbits being thrown around though. Apparently Shiki was dead before? And now she's alive?

Huh.

And then there's this Reaper talk. ...Hey, if it was interesting and or profitable in some manner, she just might go for it. What? She's not a hero now! She can make morally ambiguous choices if she feels like it! "You people are just leaving yourselves open to get wiped out there now~"

And that has been Priel's helpful comment of the day!

Maybe she would have to scatter their remains into the ocean soon.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel inexperiance with the Noise are costing her but dead? Who had power over life and death she only knew of was one being and that filled her with some dread. She doesn't voice it as she's now fighting with Sho as he comes in and she looks at him. But then noise oh my pain but this time she's hurt enough there's a crack on her arm and it's bleeding light not blood. She looks at Sho for a moment snakes her head and contiunes her attacks.

"This is something to do with things like the doom train and others I have obesed! Users linger after death!"

She flips up into the air launches her disk lands and keeps moving. She bounds up again and lands again trying to not sit still and make her self less of a target.

Sho Minamimoto has posed:
Sho sees the Pins come out. He sighs, smiling. It feels good, like old times. No kids waving giant keys, or using crazy sword techniques or dropping on him repeatedly with spears. Just good old Psychs.

Of course, this means he's more than capable of dealing with them, too. With a laugh, Sho blurs back and forth, launching himself out of the killbox. "YOU'RE TOO ZETTA SLOW!" He taunts Shiki, dropping in front of her and roundhouse kicking out at her, before he launches backwards.

Lily gets Sho to laugh again. "Are you really so naive? This world is trask, girl. I will show it true beauty when I'm done with it! But I just have a few things to take care of first..."

Leida causes Sho to drive backwards, peppering the area with blazing bolts of destruction. "All life is a game, girl. Sooner you get used to the idea, the sooner you can try... and fail... to win."

It's at that moment that Deelel manages to blindside Sho, smacking him with the Disk. He staggers, glaring over at her. "Oh look, competence! This wasn't in the odds!" The Reaper backs off, vanishing and reappearing high in the air. "TANGENT!" He yells, moments before a salvo of Corehog spikes comes slashing into the battleground. "INVERSE MATRIX!" Interference from random Taboo Noise increases momentarily as they blitz the field... And then Sho lunges down, his body flickering through the area as he punches, kicks, it's all in the mind. "VELOCITY!"

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Sho's foot grazes the side of Shiki's face. She's very attached to that face all of a sudden.

She doesn't lose her hat, at least!

But this isn't working out... very well. In fact, if anything, this is... sort of like proof that they need this whole 'learn how to fight a little better' sort of thing, doesn't it? That it does. So, we've established that. Hopefully when we get to Daguerreo we can practice in less fatal conditions.

Because we're going to get to Daguerreo.

Shiki hears the noise and chaos all around her- the chaos of people talking and shouting and Taboo Noise everywhere and friends being hurt- and tunes it out. You have to put something over your ears and ignore the rush of the world sometimes.

I hate, she thinks to herself, people who don't get new material.

More pins, more problems. Wind, become a binding chain... slash... and slash... and slash!

Evja's there to take some hits for her, but Shiki knows they need to start /making/ the plays instead of /taking/ them. She's got a fistful of pins... Love Me Tether, Frozen Cool and Blizzard Cool for Sho.

The sound of her heart pounding fills Shiki's mind. She'd never noticed it until now. Heart. Pounding. A pulse.

She swings her hand and a cotton thread spools from it, snagging towards Sho and twirling and swirling into an entanglement. Once that's done...

Ice. Just... ice, everywhere. Pillars rocking up and exploding all around Tigris Cantus.

Leida has posed:
More spikes. More pain. This is why Leida is not an adventurer. She's got no experience with these kinds of life or death situations. No years of misadventure as a child to grant her insight on how to avoid danger or recognize threats. No actual training of any sort beyond a few sparring sessions with a handful of people. Only the darkness holds her together at this point and even that is proving to be no ward against whatever source of power seems to be driving Sho.

The young girl falls to her knees, clutching at her body as she is pierced, trampled, and kicked around like a helpless doll. The towering demonic claw does its best to protect her, wrapping tightly around the princess, but even it quickly falls apart under the constant barrage of blows, leaving only the tattered and beaten young girl in a pool of her own blood.

"H-help me..." she mutters weakly, seemingly at no one in particular. The air all around the demonic girl begins to waver with heat distortions as dozens of balls of eldritch green flame erupt to life, one after the other. Damned souls, absorbed and bound to her will, let loose a chorus of haunting screams as they are forcibly ripped from the well of cursed unlife within her body.

In a frenzy of motion the ghostly orbs explode outwards like shrapnel, ramming and bouncing among the Noise like manic pingpong balls. Twisted evil curses pour forth from their torment, filling the air with motes of sickly purple energy that turns into a roiling, expanding mist that seeks to engulf everything in a terrible miasma.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel has been getting quite of bit of support form Lily and would likely be much worse off. Finally she's getting an idea of how the things fighting them are going. She looks over at Sho for a moment. "Tch, Games."

She however is prepares this time as the attacks come? She's either not there or deflecting them with her disc and has for once come out unharmed. She'll attempt to bypass the fodder by getting airborn again and lobbing her disc over at Sho before she comes in for a landing. She's feeling a bit over clocked though from Lily's spells upon her, and she's left to wonder on some low level process just why does magic even work on her given what she is?

Lily has posed:
"Life is NOT a game, even if there's a lot of fun to be had!" Lily yells back angrily. "And it's not trash either. Don't you see any of the great things around in the world?!"

Unfortuantely all her arguing doesn't do a lot good, because she's pummeled by Noise attacks. Corehog spikes, they huuuuurt.

It's sho's blitz-assault that gets her the most though. Lily's slammed about, only managing to avoid a few of the blows. That's gonna leave bruises, maybe a cracked rib. She whimpers.. but now she's angry.

Power ripples in piles from her body, filling the area with a grand light.

Glints of magic glow everywhere, where before was just empty space. All of it's sucked in towards Lily at great speeds, little glints, great sparkles, all of them spiral in and join into a great disk-like structure, falling inwards and being absorbed into a tiny point between her hands.

The winds become ferocious from the sheer amount of ENERGY she's pulling in.

Eventually that one tiny point, full of a hurricane's worth of force, she raiess a palm up, and that little glint of light shimmers just once.

Drawing that arm back, she yells at Sho, "But you won't see it if you hurt my friends. I'll knock you through ALL the trees!"

That arm's then thrust forth, sending the little sparkle straight down at Sho. As it approaches it slows... and then detonates brilliantly. Enormous pillars of light spiral out, pummeling towards noise and Sho alike but avoiding everyone else. Amidst these great rays are thousands of smaller particles, saturating the area with a destructive force that threatens to vaporize the lesser Noise!

Priel Aylin has posed:
"Oh my. Look at them go." Priel casually commented, watching the battle unfold through half lidded eyes. "Is this their final stand? Will they survive much longer? Find out next time onnnnn....Shard Seekers Story...Z." After that, she wound up just giggling to herself and looking away.

She was making real good on her vow of not lifting a single finger to help. Even if it might have made this go faster. The fact of the matter was that Evja's chocobo was simply too comfy! Nice and soft! There was no reason to bother expending energy to help! "Here it comes~"

Evja has posed:
This wasn't exactly looking good. People all around were taking damage, hurting, looking to be in pain. Evja, himself, was among them. The Judge had been trying to play the role of moving shield to protect Shiki as best he could and thankfully it wasn't putting him in 'mortal danger' yet. That might change soon, however. "Why... why do you insist on doing this? She's alive now, you should be happy! I do not know why anyone would ever try to send someone back to their demise if they had the esper-given chance to live again! No, it does not matter!"

Sure, he fell into the 'Hero' category too, but it wasn't quite the same thing Priel had been denouncing. Or maybe it was. He was doing this because it was, in his view, the right thing to do. To protect someone who was seemingly going to be hurt, or worse. "Whoever you are, leave, now!" Evja began to glow a soft golden color before the area around him darkened, only for the Viera to suddenly blaze with brightness as he lunged towards ShoLeo with two spears drawn, attempting to flatten the fellow with everything he had. No blunts of the spears this time. The man was too fast, too dangerous, and quite frankly?

Had pissed him off. Leaps and dives, twirls and lunges, stabbing and pirouetting, Evja was dancing in and out of sight every which way before he leapt high and attempted a single, final dive with both lances.

Sho Minamimoto has posed:
He's Leo Cantus, dammit. Does he LOOK like a shadowy cast-iron <GOOSEHONK>? Didn't think so. Shiki tries to catch Sho in an Entanglement amidst a wave of deadly ice, but Sho slams his hands together. "STOP! FACTORIAL TIME!" There is a massive detonation, and a wash of energy blasts out, catching the ice and vaporizing it. Leida's Ghost Trick serves her better, however, as the miasmic force of the spirit strike swirls around Sho. Perhaps like attracts like in this case, as the energy sears at his body, causing him to fall back further away. "Factoring Hectopascal!" Sho yells, clearly irritated. Deelel's Disc takes another few strikes out of the Reaper, catching him in an aerial combo before he is sent floating in the air, observing the incoming conflagaration of annihilating magical force.

Sho pauses. "Oh, right. I knew I remembered you from somewhere. RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" He screams, thrusting a hand into the blazing star of doom as it washes over him, blasting away dozens of Taboo Noise in the process. Sho vanishes in the light...

And is left, floating there, wounded and smoking. Why is he not dead yet? He points at Lily. "Next time..." He says. "You."

Evja asks a question. "You don't get it, do you? We're Reapers. We're immortal beings who are being given incredible power to make the lives of Players hell.. And then kill them. Kintanji might spout out some stupid lines about weeding out the unworthy but let's just do the math, shall we? NO ONE IS WORTHY. This world is a trash-heap. All worlds are! And one thing I hate... Is watching a Player get away." Sho clenches his fist... And Evja shreds into and through his position, crushing and piercing him. Blackness spatters everywhere as Sho is struck again and again and again, Evja giving her all in order to try to strike down the Reaper...

And he is left standing there, bleeding and pained, wounds deep in his body as he stands, back arched unnaturally far...

And then he laughs, a tearing laugh as he slowly straightens. "Oh, you're good. That actually hurt! Congratulations, now I actually have to kill you too."

He shakes his head, and snaps his finger, his wounds beginning to regenerate in front of their eyes as his transformed body shatters out, the wings reforming behind him. "But later. I know where you are. You're not going anywhere." He gestures. "You're going to move on, and you're going to complain to your pal there about how she didn't help. But you know what? We all know why she didn't help. So instead of listening to the incompetent, impotent whining from you zeroes, I'm going to make a better offer.

The Taboo Noise surges, the remains of them assaulting the group in a mad rush while Sho attends to something... quute nearby. He vanishes, reappearing and kicking back next to Priel. "I said I like the way you deal with things. I'm going to make you and offer. Join us. You can stop protending to put up with these two-faced losers who are just going to stab you in the back anyway. Come with me, talk to the Boss. You'll get what you're looking for there."

Meanwhile, a massive Neoclassical Drake descends, crushing into the middle of the battlefield and roaring amidst the chaos, slamming its ponderous mass down amongst the battlers.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
No, Shiki thinks, she's not going to complain at all. That's just the way Priel is. She's a useless blowhard. Heck, she specifically brought her along on this because she wanted to make sure she knew where Priel /was/. She's harmless.

Sho most certainly is not, and Shiki is still in her somewhat weird, warbling place where pain works differently and her world is Different.

This world doesn't have a place in it for Taboo Noise, and it doesn't have a place in it for /him/.

"Mr. Mew," Shiki says, as the Drake rears up in front of her--

And the psychokinetic cat slashes the Neoclassical with claws made of pure mental energy, giving Shiki the opening she needs to grab her Dangerous Buffalo brand pin.

D+B Pride, yo.

The pin hovers between her hands for a moment, and Shiki tears spiked pillars of ice from the ground, shooting up and binding them together with string and kinesis. She forms a huge spiralling pinwheel of ice, and FLINGS it at Sho like a buzzsaw.

Get away from me and my friends.

Lily has posed:
"Aaaaaaahhhh!" Lily's rather breathles after unleashing all of that power, but she's still with it. Apparently, these months with fight after fight have taught her a few things about finer control of her magic and staying on her toes.

If just a little.

Because with all of the noise slamming around, she hightails it with a burst of air that sends her swooping away from the Darke's main girth. One of its claws rakes her side, but just barely, and she ends up floating off to the side, gasping and painnting for some breath... a bit dazed.

"The world is NOT trash!" She repeats emphatically to the wind!

Evja has posed:
So, Sho had gone over to talk to Priel, who was lounging on Evja's Chocobo. Evja, by this point, had started to respond before suddenly he was crushed beneath the drake and knocked backwards, skidding to a stop and slowly pushing himself up. Coughing and holding out both hands to quickly grab his spears and stab them into the ground, the Judge looked to be on his last legs as he stood there, leaning against the weapons.

Welp, he gave Priel fair warning earlier.

"TWEEEEEEEEEEEET!"

Wait, what was that sound? It came from Evja! "Hey, Reaper!" he called out, trying to gain the mans attention just as Senra turned to 'trot off' and rared a leg back before kicking right at the monster mans head. With all the force of a chocobo who has recently been taking a /lot/ of race training.

Hope you can hold on, Priel! Otherwise you're getting tossed onto the ground!(Or floating or whatever)

Leida has posed:
Words are spoken all around her, people shouting things back and forth but to Leida all of the noise merely blends together into a hazy din of sound through the filter of pain that has engulfed her. She had fought several times in the past in an effort to be more like those who had rescued her and been kind to her, trying to finally step away from the past and her meek nature. But most of them had ended up the same way that she is now. Suffering seems to go hand in hand with the word adventure and she's come to the conclusion several times now that it isn't a lifestyle that she wants. Today is merely another strong bullet point on her list of reasons she hates fighting.

The ghosts vent the fury that she is not able to though their rage is still pale compared to the power wielded by her opposition nor her allies. Despite the sacrifices she has made to the darkness, she's still just a weak little girl at the end of the day.

A new surge of pain lances through her body even as that thought works its way to the front of her mind. Heat spreads from her shoulder, a constant searing touch as if a hot brand has been pressed to her flesh. She bites down on a scream, turning it into a garbled choking sob as the sensation spreads throughout her entire body. Shadow and flame erupt around Leida's prone form in a massive conflagration that sheds no heat nor light yet burns away the Noise seeking to destroy her as easily as if they were wax.

The demon princess rises up off the ground on invisible currents of power. Her head tilts slowly to the side, corrupted eyes narrowing in on both Sho and the useless creature that he courts. She has no words for either of them, no pretty philosopy to guide her hand nor powerful threats to cow them. Only the overwhelming desire to see the both of them drown in an eternal void of darkness.

A final flare of power geysers up around the girl in a pillar of sickly purple light. The energy seeps into her body, infusing itself around her like an aura of pure malice. Her long loose hair begins to flow together like oily water, billowing out around her in a protective cloak. Dozens of thin tendrils of the raven hair suddenly begin to grow exponentially in length, stretching and flowing in coiling razor wires to engulf the pair astride the chocobo.

Leida holds up her hands and the black fire bursts from her fingertips, lancing into the entwining tendrils as they seek to bind the targets of her primal rage. Demonic corruption flows into them, raw shadow seeking to drown them utterly. But the moment of power is short-lived. The girl's eyes roll up moments later, her body going limp as she collapses once more to the ground. Beneath her ragged and torn shirt, one section of the arcane tattoo on her arm shimmers and then fades away.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel has got this former human? Love his math, loves his math so much he'd fit in with some spread sheets progams she knows but sadly he's not the most social of people. She looks to the Reaper for a moment and she smiles fainlty.

"It was thought humans were immortal."

She says nothing more on that as oh god it's a Drake! WHAM! She's not uick enough to get away from it she does look at Priel for a moment. She then looks away as she recofers and she's making an attack on Sho.

"Go divide yourself by zero." It's simple reall it's all she's got the power for but well that disc's business end isn't very fun to get hit with.

Lily has posed:
Lily's gasping and panting, but that took a lot out of her. is it any surprise? When she comes to her, getting out of her momentary daze, she sees something pretty bad. The others are still in some heavy trouble, and Sho's... well, taking a licking, but she raises her hands and focuses her power. Out flows the raw source of Life energy itself, heading straight for Deelel, Leida, and Evja, who seem to have taken the most harm...

Sho Minamimoto has posed:
The heroes go all in, trying to defeat the wave of Taboo Noise that threatens to Erase them all. Or rather, kill them so Sho can then proceed to Erase them. Minor difference, really. It's just that Sho gets the pleasure of killing you /twice/.

Mr. Mew goes slamming into the mass of Noise, obliterating those caught within the pinwheel. The ring almost strikes him, but Sho raises a hand, throwing the Neoclassical Drake in the way with a gesture. The strike impacts the dragon, blasting it in half and shattering it in a wave of hissing sound.

Lily retorts, causing Sho to simply shake his head. "You're being irrational. The worlds are full of people who don't give a damn about you. Why would they? They have their own problems. They get ahead by taking you down and keeping you there. They have no reason to do otherwise... And trusting them is idiotic. If you can't even refute that, you're never going to convince anyone otherwise."

The chocobo kicks out, knocking Sho backwards and putting a claw gash into him. He looks seriously irritated, grimacing at the wound in his form. "Anyway, kid. If you want to join up, head to the Underworld. You'll know it when you get there." He turns away, throwing the remnants of the Taboo Noise in the path of the oncoming tendrils of darkness, letting them be torn to shreds amidst Deelel's Disc-based finishing strike that shatters through them.

"Watch your back, Shiki." Sho says, as he blurs. "I've got your number."

At that, he vanishes, leaving the rest of them, finally, in peace.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Shattering sounds, huge monsters being torn apart into static and ribbons of swirling darkness. Ice falls in sheets, the ground burns from the explosions and skillful moves...

And so, it's over. Shiki's heart is pounding in her ears. She stares at the space where Sho left, knuckles white, the rush of combat fading and giving way to a difficult world with complicated, terrible things to think about.

The woman pokes her head out from behind that rock.

"That was incredible power. Ridiculously fierce, but so desperate..."

"Didn't go well. Not as well as I'd have liked," the girl replies.

"...are you going to Daguerreo?"

"Yeah. We were going there to see if we could train with the rumored weaponsmith, but... I think I've got some more things to think about... now..."

"Do you mind if I come with you?"

Shiki nods slowly in acknowledgement to the woman with the white hair, and pops the bones in her hand one after another.

"You're kinder than the first person who passed me by," she says, walking along next to Shiki. "...come to think of it, he had one of those badges like you, too. Do you know him?"

Shiki pauses, and looks at the woman. She raises her eyebrow way, way up.

"...he had spiky, orange hair, and some big things like earmuffs... and he was wearing purple? And he was heading to Daguerreo, too."

Shiki Misaki just stares.

"...figures."