A Noisey Desert

A Noisey Desert
Date of Scene:	24 October 2012
Location:	Bare Desert
Synopsis:	Avira and Reize traveled along the Bare Desert in search of the City of Illusion. It was not long after that Lenn and Lily caught up with the two and their encounter with Mercade and Will of the Twilight Detective Agency. However, what lurked in the desert were not all friendly.
Cast of Characters:	Reize Seatlan, Lily, Deidra, Will Sherman, Mercade Alexander, Katyna, Avira, Uzuki Yashiro, Lenn, Kaydin

---

Reize Seatlan has posed:
It's rather beating hot out in the desert. It doesn't help that it is still the afternoon. The travel through the bare desert is a very expansive land. Further offering bad omens are the bones of former travelers and the animals that are lying about.

Traveling along the desert path are two travelers, Reize and Avira. After the special encounter with a skateboarding cactaur that ended in someone getting loved in 1,000 ways, the two finally made effort to explore what is called the City of Illusion according to the rumors.

Reize is busy looking over the map, looking over the points. "...I think this is it?"

A loud gust blows over, creating a whistle and then uncomfortable silence.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
This is about when the desert silence is broken. "I HAAAAAAAAAAAATE DESEEEEEEEEEERTS!"

The voice echoes over the dunes, and the heat shimmers, parting to reveal a man. But this is not just any man. It is Mercade Alexander, Detective, who is dreadfully wishing he had his hat right now to keep off the sun. He grumbles to himself loudly, "Why the hell am I even travelling in daytime anyway. You're suppoed to move at night, dammit."

And then Mercade trips, rollind down the dune and promptly collapsing in a mound of sand next to Avira and Reize. The messy-haired detective pops his head out, looking at the pair. "Hey Reize, Avira. What are you two doing in this hellhole?"

Avira has posed:
That sure was a "special" encounter.

And likely the last time Avira is every going to take a mark involving collecting cactaur needles. She got the 1,000 she needed but the method of procurement left a lot to be desired. Quaffing a potion after the spines were removed did help a little.

As Reize claims that they've neared their destination, Avira leans over to look at the map, then straight ahead. Was he even holding that map correctly? There's probably been a little bit of fighting over that since they've set out. Avira does insist she knows how to navigate. "You said there would be a sandstorm, rig-" MERCADE INTERRUPT.

"...what the hell are you doing here, Mercade? I thought you said you hated it here?" Pause, "...we're looking for a city hidden by a sandstorm. Seen any sandstorms lately?"

Katyna has posed:
Katyna had spent a few days recovering at the Shard seekers' headquarters - albeit reluctantly. Not enjoying being 'rescued' in the least, even if she had enjoyed the company of both Reize and Sasaral, Kat was eager to move on and do some more exploring of the desert. She still had been unsuccessful in uncovering many of its secrets, and so she had stepped out again, intent on finding...Treasure! Or something..

Her own entrance is a bit more elegant than some however, as she silently steps over a sand dune, overlooking Reize and the others. well..Isn't this interesting. Reize getting himself into trouble again? But she still hasn't figured out that strange pendant of his, and he's usually in the midst of some adventure or other. This could be interesting..

With a faint smirk, she pulls the hood of her black cloak further around her face before running down the hill. Having left her heavy armour behind in favor of her light tunic and leggings, along with lots of water this time, Kat's ready of anything.

Ooh, and it looks like Avira is here too. She's still feeling sore over her beating up her 'pet' like that, but..Gotta keep playing the game afterall. "Hey y'all, whatcha up to, still lookin' for treasure?" She greets with a cheerful smile and wave once she nears the ever growing group.

Uzuki Yashiro has posed:
What a stupid mistake to make! Yashiro had thought that hunting Players through the desert would have been a thrilling challenge. Now that sand has gotten almost -everywhere-, the Reaper has realized her error. Also, there is the fact that she can't even see that far without some dune, sandstorm, or illusion obscuring her sight. Ugh. This was such a waste of time and it has started to make the teenage Reaper ANGRY!

And then she gets a clever idea. Some 'unique' noise are summoned and sent forth through the desert while Uzuki laughs at her own cleverness. Her delightful minions will find those pesky Players in no time flat and then the real Games can begin! Hehehehe.

Lily has posed:
Lily has learned a few things about desert travel! Bring lots of water, for one, and wearing lots of white also helps. And so it is a shambling humanoid wrapped up tightly in white robes that ambles across the sands at... surprisingly high speeds for a person. This isn't to say that the figure doesn't trip a few times, but it's more like the sand welcomes their steps instead of hindering them. Like this, the figure isn't taking very long to get where they want to go.

She knows about night travle, of course, but waiting until night just wouldn't do! And so she approaches the group wrapped up much like a mummy in a possibly counter-productive manner. Once she's about twenty feet behind Reize and Avira, she strts waving her arms emphatically and shouting a greeting!

It comes out well...

"Mmmmrph-fghhhhh-zfm-hwmmmmmmmmmmh!"

She is WAY too wrapped up there.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra says "It could be worse Mercade and yes we really should but if I end up going to sleep your going to have to wait now." She totls her head a little bit and brings out her wings to try and give Mercade a little bit of shade. "I'm not sure why I'm awake at such an unholy hour my self." She yawns looking a bit on the sleepy side.

"No this is certainly not Baron..."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade straightens himself, dusting himself off and knocking some sand out of his hair by rustling it, maintaining the proper level of muss. "Look, sometimes we have to go through places that suck to get the the good stuff. That's what adventures are all about. I am totally not waiting out here for you to wake up, Deidra. We'll make someone carry you."

Mercade glances over to Will, and then to Reize. "Who, him? He's not that bad. He's Reize Seatlan, leader of the Shard Seekers. Good kid." He doesn't mention the complete ineptitude with directions.

He grunts in irritation, looking over the area at Avira's question, and totally not noticing the man who just stepped out of his shadow. "Well, I think I saw a sandstorm earlier. It was uhhhhhh." He turns, pointing... Right over the shoulder of the dark night right behind him, who talks. "OH GOD WHAT THE HELL?" He says, jumping into the air and looking behind him. "How the hell did you get there? Don't /scare/ me like that! Seriously, this is nowhere near Baron. You're not even on the right continent."

Lily's mummified arrival causes Mercade even more shock. "AAAH! IT'S A MUMMY! GHOST! THAT'S LIKE TWICE AS TERRIBLE!" He scrambles back.

Admidst all of the chaos, he doesn't even notice the Noise swiftly approaching them...

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Sadly, Avira will find that Reize is holding the map sideways. But the fight was essentially resulted in Reize winning this one.

Not the best choice ever.
"I think so! This should be the spot... but..."
 !!!
The anguish cries of hate for the desert life is catching the boy's attention. With a raised eyebrow, "...Huh?" Sure, Reize isn't fond of the desert life himself. In fact, he prefers the forest, but...

Reize turns to see a man revealing himself in the dunes. He squints his eyes, and then, it comes as familiar.

"Ooooiiiii! Mercade!" The boy waves a hand towards the detective. It looks like he is not alone, given that there is a familiar gargoyle and an unfamiliar man with him. "Ooii!" He waves towards Deidra, grinning. "Good to see you again!" And Will gets a blink from the boy, "...hard case luck?" While looking over the corner behind the detective and the gargoyle...

The young adventurer is able to see the approach of a person in such high speeds. This is a very familiar presence. If not only the speed, it is the fact that this usually results in some form of injury for him. And the muffled voice gives it away.

Sweatdrop.

"Ooiiiii! Lily!" He extends a hand into the air, waving it at her direction. Nevertheless, he keeps a smile on his face, welcoming the girl.

That is when the pendant starts to glow. The illumination of that green gem gives off a warning of a presence.

This time, the presence of a shadow lingers behind him. That, combined ith the pendant's warning, urges him him to quickly turn around and gaze at the shadow rising up with both boomerangs withdrawn. The boy steps back in alarm, but then it reveals to be a man who is just as lost.

"Uhh..." Reize scratches his head, looking over Kaydin. He mentally winces, the man looks a bit intimidating to some degree. A sweatdrop forms at the back of his head, "Err... nope! This isn't, this is---..."

However, it is troubling that the pendant is still blaring out that warning illumination. He frowns, "...Something's around..." The boy isn't certain what. However, his pendant is warning him of a presence.

Uzuki Yashiro has posed:
Waddle, Waddle, hut, swooooooooooosh! Waddle, Waddle, waddle, hut, swooooooooooooosh! Something. Correction, -somethings- are making quite a racket as they maneuever through the desert sands. The summoned noisy Noise keep repeating these sounds and they seem to be getting louder. Whatever could they be?!

Uzuki herself is nonchalantly gliding a fair distance behind her minions, paying not much mind to anything really. Ho-hum, combing the desert for Players is such tiresome work.

Avira has posed:
"...now since the worlds have broken apart, I quickly learned to accept a great degree of ridiculousness in my life..." Avira begins, looking to Reize"...but how the hell do we wander around the desert for hours seeing absolutely nothing and then have six people converge on our location?!"

She glares at Reize for a moment, "I've got the sinking feeling it involves /holding the map wrong/!!" Never letting this kid navigate again! NEVER!!!

Huffing out a sigh, she reaches over and grabs Mercade by the collar before he flees the terrifying 'mummy'. "Hold it, Mercade, I recognize..her..." she trails off as she takes note of Reize's glowing pendant. She hadn't really paid that necklace much heed before, just figuring it to be a decoration. It's obvious now it has some kind of /purpose/. Nevermind that, though, Reize is arming himself and Avira too has noticed the guy in black armor that has just appeared.

"This is a desert." she notes to Kaydin dryly, only to pause shortly afterwards, letting go of Mercade and holding a hand up in the air. "Shhh. I think I hear something. And it doesn't sound like a sandstorm."

Lily has posed:
"Mrrrrrhghhhhhhhhhyyy!" Lily waves her arms about even more emphatically when Reize and his terrified companion notice her. They windmill about in opposite directions as she bounces where she stands. "Fghrn-prmrml!"

She apparently does not realize they can't understand her right now either, because, heedless of Mercade's response, she dashes up to Reize and subsequently--

Well, she was going for a hug, but ends up tripping and landing face-down in the sands with her head a few feet foot away from his feet.

"Mfoo..."

Katyna has posed:
Kat sweatdrops as she goes largely ignored..But it gives her a chance to totally evesdrop on the conversations going on around her. She sees some familiar faces, and...That pendant suddenly starts to glow as the mummified girl draws near..

Hmmm, interesting..

She bites her lip, peering intently at Lily, trying to figure out what's going on. "Wow, that's an interesting pendant, Reize! Why's it do that?"

Even as she speaks, more people file in, and suddenly it seems that this place is even busier than the desert city she just left! Hmm, and was that..A shadow lord that just popped up? Well, this day just keeps getting more interesting..

She simply nods and smiles at the people who join and chuckles a bit. "Heh, someone call in a party or something? OR...Are there more treasures to be found?"

But wait, did someone mention something about a hidden city? She moves towards Reize, peering at his map, then shaking her head. "Dude, you're totally holding that upside down..Huh?" A brow is arched at Avira as she mentions a sandstorm coming. Oh joy, this desert's just full of surprises! How fun!

Deidra has posed:
Deidra looks to Will for a moment tilting her head "True but there's the best things to find in a world like this in a place like this. Less likely to have been picked over." She smirks at Mercade and says "All right it's the breaking of your's and Will's backs if that happens. I didn't want to inflict that on you." She'll keep her wings up a moment longer untill the Mummy.

"A sand storm is when the wind's so strong it picks the and up and throws it about at high speed. Prehaps so hard it might rip flesh from bone."

Lenn has posed:
Lenn nods, having followed along with Reize. Thankfully, her loose white dress both breathes well, and reflects heat. "It doesn't exactly sound like fun, everyone in town just says to go inside when it happens, so I never s-" Then Deidra explains, and she pales. "I... don't know if I can heal that.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Avira totally snags Mercade by the collar. She's way stronger than he is, and he is effectively yoinked. "Lily? So that's not a mummy ghost or variation thereof?" Mercade asks. He steps over and helps Lily up. "Hey, kid. You okay?"

"God Reize, your sense of direction is horrible." He doesn't even mention Avira's observation that Reize is holding the map wrong. He looks over to Katyna as he helps up Lily, nodding. "Well, I wouldn't exactly say /treasures/. I'm mostly looking for information. It's a hell of a coincidence that we all met out here...AND YOU!" He says, pointing at Kaydin. "You totally still haven't explained how the hell you snuck up on me like that!" He grimaces, though, as several detect incoming enemies. "I guess that's going to have to wait, though..." He snaps his hands out, two pistols appearing in his hands from concealed holsters.

Kaydin has posed:
Kaydin looks about some more. When the pendent keeps glowing and he hears the sound he growls as he draws his sword, chain rattling. "It looks like we may have more then treasure. I suggest everyone get ready for combat." He says as he readies his sword.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will stares at Reize for a moment.

"Huh." he says, looking at that for a moment.

LL-O-VISION:

Right now, the Strings of fate are nearly blinding Reize own aura, the pendant itself is...something. Fate ties in heavily that it's hard to see anything else near it by comparison...this isn't like seeing Kaze, but it's still pretty bright. Beneath...that...he sees nothing special, besides the abundance of potential fates...a lot of potential fates.

Nothing solid yet...and of course, the luck of someone without a fate. Funny that...

He turns towards the Mummy, wincing as she falls fat on her face, shaking his head. However everyone is getting excited...preparing for a fight or something? Will looks around, trying to find the cause of whatever...is...happening?

There has to be strings here somewhere...

Will crouches over towards Lily, and helps her up, because he's sometimes a good guy.

"So...what's a sandstorm?"

Uzuki Yashiro has posed:
The WADDLING has grown louder and seems to be in apparant unison. The 'hut' sounds have stopped and the swooshing is no more. But then, there seems to be someone....some...thing breaching the crest of a nearby sand dune. The creature is hard to make out at first, but then...a beak (!?) is seen. Waddle, waddle, waddle, waddle. Okay, now many, many beaks can be seen. Uh oh.

The lead beaked creature ventures to the top of the dune and finally reveals its dreaded form. IT IS A...penguin?!

Correction: It is many penguins, a 'waddle', a 'rookery', an army of bright blue penguins have assembled at the top of the sand dune. The waddling finally ceases as they all shift their steely-eyed gazes over towards the assembled group. The lead penguin then motions towards the assembled group before letting out a mighty, blood curdling, "Mwamp!"

You see, these are no normal penguins. These are dreaded J-POPGUINS.

The mighty j-popguin horde now echo a chorus of 'MWAMPS' as they jump off the sand dune, land on their bellies, and speed their way down the dunes towards the group at perhaps alarming speeds.

Uzuki Yashiro is still nowhere to be seen.

Lily has posed:
The good news is that the trip has stripped Lily of some of her excess robes, particularly the ones around her head. She rises, head now exposed, with Will's help and gives Mercade, Will, and Reize all the biggest smiles. "I'm Lily!" She affirms to those4 asking, rather happily, and then looks over Lenn'sway before tapping at her cheek. What brought her all the way out here again?

She turns to Reize, mouth opening, apparently not quite getting the idea of this sandstorm thing, and is about to talk wh en...

All the funny creatures sliding down at the group. "uh-... uhm?!"

Reize Seatlan has posed:
"...It's trying to warn me..." Reize quietly answers Katyna. Wait, Katyna? The boy turns to face her, "Oh! Katyna! Are you healed up?!" He offers her a faint smile, "We're looking for the City of Illusion.." And of course, she mentions about the map being hold wrong.

Oh, right, that's why Avira is glaring at him. He sweatdrops over his traveling partner. Mercade's scolding of his traveling senses has his antenna hair droops.
As Lily trips face first aginst the ground, Reize sighs and he walks over towards her. The guard is broken for a few moments to help Lily up to her feet. And he works on removing the cover from Lily to unmummify her.

"The sandstorm is what people said is likely covering the City of Illusions." He turns to see what the source of the disturbance...

A penguin? Wait. Those penguins are looking like tattoos. There is one encounter of creatures that a friend told him about, "It's Noise! Everyone! Those are Noises. Get ready!"

Reize is already running towards the horde, boomerangs ready.

Lenn has posed:
Lenn looks confused. "Wh... What's a Noise?" She does, however, start producing crystals from a pouch, since everyone's getting ready for a fight. "Good thing I charged up before we left..."

Will Sherman has posed:
"...No those are Penguines, noise is the thing coming out of your mouth." Will says, "I know THAT! I am not stupid." He says, making a face.

"Of course...I am pretty sure they don't come out here...which means..."

"DESERT PENGUINS! Excellent! I wanted to eat one!" he says, before...

Will suddenly reaches out, grabbing strings of fate at random...

And somehow...they become more firm! Providing benifits!

Kaydin has posed:
"I could care less what a noise is and focus on killing them." Kaydin says as he looks about the area. "Alright. Everyone who can fight stand infront of those who cant fight. Those who cannot fight or can provide healing, bring support." He says as his sword begins to surge with black energy. He then swings it, sending a black energy blast at a penguin.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"That's messed up. That's like... mobile death graffiti!" Mercade yells as he sees the face of destruction.

"And it looks like penguins!"

The Detective fires a few bullets in to the approaching horde, leaping backwards to try to maintain distance from the horde... But the penguins will not be denied. Several of them break off and rush him, sliding over the sand in defiance of physics to ramp up and smack into him. "WAAAGH!" Mercade yells, falling over and getting swarmed by pointy graffitibeaks. "THESE ARE NOT PENGUINS! THEY ARE PAINGUINS!"

"MWAMP! MWAMP! MWAMP!"

"IT BURNS AND STINGS!"

Deidra has posed:
Deidra looks for a moment and stares "Those kinda remind me of this bear creature I was attacked with a litlte while ago. Which...I forgot to report about." She's going to have to fix that as she looks at the swarm of Penguin like creatures. "Looks like it its going to end up .. MERCADE?!" Ya they are hostile this is going to be bad.

Lenn has posed:
Lenn nods, and falls back into the second row. She pulls out a pair of crystals. "Support I can definitely do. You guys are up!" The Crystals flare, sending energy to Reize and Kaydin.

Avira has posed:
"Well I'm /definitely/ looking for treasures." Avira notes to Katnya with no small amount of excitement. "Comes with the territory."

But nevermind that. Avira is listening to those unusual sounds. She's spent some time in the desert and she knows what doesn't belong. Like penguins. Penguins definitely do not belong in the desert and when she spots them, she is struck with ABSURDITY OVERLOAD. Nevermind continuing to glare at Reize anymore, Avira's finally reached the point of 'this madness is too much' today.

"Noise? Wait? What? Reize why are you attacking the desert penguins?" She sounds SO CONFUSED and seems reluctant to take out her weapon, the 'Spine', even at the dark knight's suggestion. "This doesn't make sense!" she laughs, smiling despite herself, "But I don't caaaaare!"

She charges. Mercade and Will aleady know that Avira gets up close and personal when she fights.

Katyna has posed:
Katyna blinks as people start talking at once, trying to figure out what the sandstorm's all about. "Hmm? So, the city of illusions is that way?" She grins, "Guess we should head into it, then!" But then suddenly some giant penguin..Thing..Emerges. And it doesn't look terribly friendly. "Uhh...What?" She scratches her head. "Noise? What the heck?"

Well whatever it is, it's bad news. She too, calls upon dark magic to protect herself, noting that the man in black armour does the same..Hmm, interesting. Is he..One of 'them' then? With a little grin she pulls out her sword and waits to see what will happen next. No good getting all banged up again when she can watch all these heroes in action. Should be fn!

Lily has posed:
Lily's up next to Reize before he runs off, and quickly nods after the initial confusion's over. "He's right! They're not... they're not normal. They're mean things! Monsters!" How she knows isn't immediately evident, but she's looking at them in the same way she's often looked at Heartless, even as the crazy begins.

"Reize. Don't get hurt!" As she stretches out an arm, and puts her feelings behind it, magic flows in response. The power of the elements rises up all at once around Reize, the air shimmering with a magical aura, some of it dark and solid, others flowing and clear, and others hazy and bright...

As for Reize, himself, well, he'd feel some serious boosts. The fury of flame guides his boomerangs, the enduring earth reinforces his body, and the calm, mutable flow of water focuses his mind all at once...

Uzuki Yashiro has posed:
Penguins in the desert? How delightfully absurd! Good thing Yodai Higashizawa is not here or else the Dessert/desert puns will be coming fast and furiously. But there is no Yodai, there is only a plethora of powerful, perilous, and pointy-beaked penguins.

The first wave of J-popguins ebb and flow across the sands. SWOOOOOOOOOOSH they go! They are mostly just sizing up the sizable group of treasure-seekers when Avira charges full on into an advancing popguin. "MWAAAAAAAAAAMP," bemooans the creature as it is punched out of existance by the series of jabs that just prove too much for the noise.

The creatures then turn vengeful and start attacking at random with the central leader popguin calling out the shots like the boss he is.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
"I'll explain later! Just fight!" Reize snaps towards the confused Avira and Will. No time to explain about Noise. Not until after they defeat them.

In the face of danger, Reize is ready to charge and fight. He knows that things may look bleak with the heat, but that is why they have to defeat the monters now.

He may not have Shiki to partner up with at the moment, but they can still fight those things.... right?

In the charge, Reize quickly uncorks the waterskin and quickly drinks before corking it back. His eyes shift towards Mercade, who is swarmed, "MERCADE!" His eye widens.

As Lenn fires the crystals' power, Reize is given a protective barrier that coats along his form. Not long afterwards, an aura imbues him. The flames. "Thanks, Lenn... Lily!"

As the flames ignite along his boomerangs, he can feel the earth hardening along the body. As his mind becomes clear....

He can see the penguins a lot clearer now.

"Yaaaaaaaaaaah!!!"

Reize soars off of the ground. Reize is charging straight towards the leader, kicking and striking along the group with the boomerangs.

"HEY!"

And Reize launches out with a spinning kick. He kicks along the air twice, before the third one seeks to smack against his aim of the leader.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will's eyes see it...

"Just like heartless.." he comments. He frowns, disliking this...and then the guy from shadow starts barkin' out orders. He laughs...

"Oh hold up there partner. I hardly listen to my boss, what makes you think I am going to listen to you?" he quips, before looking...

Then Will is gone, running at some near Mercade, as he dives into a strange stance...

These things still have fates...twisted, mangled messes...and contact with Will is just as bad for them as anything else...except that Will strikes at their essences.

Two hands strike out, aiming to weaken their ties to this world, at the same time, he flips back and spins around Mercade, trying to give him some breathing room. "You okay?" he asks towards his friend.

Lenn has posed:
Lenn nods, and pulls out another pair of Crystals. "Thank us when this is over. There's more where that one came from!" The crystals flare again. This time Avira and Mercade are the beneficiaries of their protective light. "And more friends to protect!"

Kaydin has posed:
Kaydin slashes with quick strikes, moving along the group faster then what one would think someone could with that heavy armor. "Listen to me or dont, just trying to keep you from getting killed." He comments to those as he moves back to the group who seems to be offering magical effects on those nearby. He then growls as he raises his sword and swings again, firing another blast of darkness at a group of penguins nearby.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra is content to hold back for the moment as the first wave comes in she thankfully is spared their terrible horrible wrath upon herself. Her allies are not so lucky it looks like she's going to take up into the air as she doesn't want to get well? Swamped as her allies go on the attack. "I'll cover you from the air!" She catches some air pretty away and up she goes, soon the spells follow as she starts trying to sap the swarm of noise's strength.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Even Will's fateful assistance cannot prevent a penguin-mauling.

Mercade is going to /hate/ these things. They continue to peck and flail at Mercade, battering him relentlessly as he tries to find an opening. Will provides it as he leaps into the mass and knocks them away. "Thanks!" Mercade calls out to Lenn. Whatever the shiny field is, he's sure it's helpful. He'll need to talk to them later and get properly introduced!

"ALL RIGHT!" He leaps to his feet, and spins his guns. "Let's get this on!" He sweeps his pistols out, unleashing a barrage of gunplay as he uses quick, precise shots to keep them off balance while Will comes in to maul them with his Hobo Style fighting. "Careful, Deidra!" Mercade calls. He leaps farther up a dune, trying to get some distance himself!

Katyna has posed:
Well..Katyna was gonna stay out of this battle, but when the popguins decide to attack her, she frowns, staggering back from the assault. "Well darn, and here I was gonna just leave you a lone and go after the treasure! Guess I gotta teach you a lesson!"

This time, she charges at the popguins, swinging her sword in a series of complex arcs, unleashing various colored waves of flames in her wake.

Avira has posed:
These penguins seem a bit weaker than the usual Heartless Avira has fought. Though there are markedly more of them in this group. More than any group of Heartless she's fought. It's a good thing they look like ADORABLE PENGUINS or Avira would be having some stress issues with these numbers.

Of course, taking out one immediately attracts attention of more and Avira's quickly surrounded. She flails at them, trying to drive them back, but it has little effect as they take turns pecking at her-or in one's case, sliding on its belly and knocking her over.

She can feel a protection spell of some kind settle on her as she picks herself up and immediately uses the new barries to her advantage, plowing directly into the group like an angry bowling ball after a fresh set of pins. Somehow her small form manages to generate an oddly fierce amount of force.

Lily has posed:
"I'm not going to lose track of thigns this time!" Lily declares with ferocious, childish determination, eyes on the Popguins and flickering back and forth across everyone she really knows here. Reize, Lenn... well, mostly them. mostly. But also Will now!

Will picked her up, after all!

She raises her hands, and energy crackle-fizzles there. Blue-white light sizzles. then... rockets off in a big bomb of power for the nearest grouping of Popguins. Should it strike...

... well, it'd go off like a grenade with bursts of pure mana burning their way up into the heavens!

Uzuki Yashiro has posed:
The popguins may be quick, but they can only waddle so fast back up the dunes to continue their rampant dune-bombing attacks. In fact, many of the popguins (the ones not being horribly erased that is) seem to be actually -enjoying- this great fun of sliding around and making quite the racket as they do so.

The one's who are not so fast are subjected to some brutal treatment. But, some popguins prove to be lucky. Reize's attempt to galactic punt the lead popguin out of existance is somehow dodged at the last minute by the popguin belly-flopping on the ground. Will's attempt to God-Hand the popguins proves more effective as a pair of popguins simply cease to be and disintegrate into a static cloud. Kaydin's expert swordsmanship turns a popguin into a popguin-sicle before it is Erased for good. The spellcasting from Deidra causes two popguins to run into each other in confusion, but they hardly look worse for wear. The confused popguins do prove easy prey to Mercade's guns as the hunters now become the hunted. Kat's fiery counterattack sets a popguin aflame, but her next series of blows is dodged by the now wary popguins. That kitty has some claws! Avira's assault causes her popguin pins to scatter wildly in panic. Somehow this works to their benefit as Avira sails right past them. Lily's fireworks causes a few more popguins to burst into flames. These ignited popguins soon run into -other- popguins causing a J-Popguin inferno!

Those who chose not to attack the Popguins are mysteriously left alone for now.

"Mwamp, mwamp, MWAAAAMMMP!" Did someone call in the cavalry? No? Well, more popguins are sliding over the dunes and towards do-gooderers in defense of their J-Popguin brothers and sisters. In an almost synchonized manner, they start swaying back in forth in a mimicry of some odd dance that causes a few them to glow different colors. Oh goodness, it is turning into a J-POPGUIN RAVE. The dancing penguins now begin their deadly assault byseemingly heading straight forward those who caused the most damage to the popguin horde. They swoosh, hut, and then LEEEEEEAP as they attempt to belly-flop into a stockpile on those who dared strike at these adorable J-Popguins. One J-popguin belly-flopping might not hurt, but a gaggle of them just might!

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Moving into the close proximity is something that is going to put Reize in a bad position. However, someone has to be the one to charge into the frontlines and deal with the leader.

Reize isn't going to fall like this. He has to race to the center and deal with the leader himself. It's cutting the snake's head. Reize does look back to his friends that are in battle.

"Be careful everyone!"

And then, calvary comes.

Both eyes widen, "NO!" That is when the boy turns to face the lead penguin his anger sterred, "That's enough!" He winds both of his boomerangs back. Then, he chucks them out towards the crowd of the Popguins. The boomerang will likely ricochet off of the ground and each one of them if it is a successful strike.

As for the leader, Reize is currently without his boomerangs, but that won't stop him. The boy springs forward with a bag, tossing a bomb its way.

He said bomb... will emit a minor explosion of some sort.

But what comes afterwards is the boy backflipping towards the leader with a kick. "YAAAH!"

Kaydin has posed:
Kaydin looks to Lily as he tries to defend his attack and gets thrown back hard, sliding to a stop against the sands as he coughs up blood. Seeing them fly for Lily causes him to leap and take the attack driving him further back and another cough of blood. "Could use some healing here whomever can." He calls as he growls, his wounds emitting dark energy as it flows to his sword. He then swings his sword once, sending a small blast at a group of popguins before swinging his sword a second time to send a stronger blast before sending one more slash to blast out with a stronger darkness burst.

Avira has posed:
Well that's NO FUN if they all run away from her! She keeps running, her momentum carrying her down a dune and slightly away from the battle. By the time she slows herself, Avira has gone red in the face. What an awful performance! And in front of all these people no less.

She is -especially- not going to let Reize look better than her, that would just be a crime. Sucking in a breath, Avira yells out and starts running back up the dune again, now doubly eager to rejoin the battle.

As she does, Avira notices that there are more penguins running with her, piling down on the others. One nearly rams into her from behind but Avira's able to leap over it before this comes to pass. Yet another tries to hipcheck her but Avira speeds up, sending it careening sideways.

"Where the heck are these things coming from?!" Avira exclaims, leapfrogging over a J-popguin with one hand.

Lenn has posed:
Lenn isn't done buffing the protection of her allies. Two more crystals give up their glow, before being returned to the pouch, but this time the protective glow covers Deidra and Katyna, strengthening THEIR defenses.

Will Sherman has posed:
And then...

Will is smashed down by horde of Penquins.

It takes a moment, but Will is heartier than that. He kicks one, sending it flying away from him as they try and beat him down, aiming to send it flying right towards the leader's ugly face.

This is followed by another...and then another...and then ANOTHER.

Will is just kicking and punching NOISE penguines like a cannon towards the midboss!

"I!" PUNCH "HATE!" KICK "SECOUND ROUND LIMITS!" he shouts incoherantly!

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade finds himself out of the way of immediate mauling for the moment, but Will has it rough. Mercade lashes out his guns, trying to match the weight of J-Popguin with his bullets, driving back down the dune blasting away, before he tosses his guns into the air.

What?

Mercade flares his coat, revealing that he has a Remington pump-action shotgun in there, which he KLI-KLATCHes satisfyingly before he lets the Noise-birds have it with both barrels! "No idea! I've never seen anything like this before!" He calls back to Avira.

Lily has posed:
"A-ah!" Lily knows when she's being protected. Seeing Kaydin take the barrage of blows for her is a disheartening sight to say the least. It grips her right in her heart, particularly from just how badly he ends up getting hurt from it all.

"You can keep going! Let me help you!" The girl in white stretches her hand out towards Kaydin, and there's a huge SURGE of magic that seems to have been just casually summoned up. Light glitters about the young man, potent energies absorbing hinto his body and mending the harm done to him in a hurry, and what's more: strengthening him against further harm!

Deidra has posed:
Deidra is quite thankful for Lenn's help she feels a good deal better having somethine more than her hide between the noise and herself. She keeping to the air now and lays down the last sort of spells you might expect in a desert. Or it could be the first thing you would think of is ice. She starts raining down ice upon the swarm jagged horrible shards of ice against them.

"Will! Mercade?! Are you two all right?! Your not allowed to die!"

Uzuki Yashiro has posed:
Oh the popguinity! Kaydin's heavy armor will hopefully protect him as the popguin piles on. Just how many of these popguins are there?! Apparently there are enough to go around as a smaller, (but no less painful looking) group flop onto Will Sherman.

Revenge comes quickly for Kaydin. Who throws the massive J-Popguin horde himself in Herculean fashion (mayhaps due to Lily's timely assitance) and then uses dark and horrible energies to simply erase many of the Noise that had just attacked him. The fearsome Dark Knight has caused fear to spread through the popguins ranks as they begin to run to and fro wildly -away- from him.

Will's revenge seeking is a little less sweet as the scattering popguins seem to -just- get out of his reach. Those dastardly dodgers are no match for Mercade's shotgun though. It is a genuine popguin massacre. Deidra's icy attacks just miss the wildly erratic moving group. Oddly enough, some of the popguins start gathering around the fallen icicles of doom. This small group of popguins gather underneath where Deidra is flying and begin to 'MWAMP' happily for Deidra the Almighty Ice-bringer!

Not all the popguins are turning out to be the suddenly friendly sort. A group of the J-Popguins have finally made it back up the hill and are sliiiiiding there way down towards the group in a bout of bowling of their own.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will moves to..

SUDDENLY REIZE!

Will goes for...

SUDDENLY ANOTHER REIZE!

...

Will goes to kick anoth- REIZE IS ALL OVER THAT ONE TOO!

Will glares at Reize, formulating an idea in his head.

If he can't beat the Penguins up...

Will moves to grab Reize by the leg!

"Hold still, I have an idea!" he says, before turning...

And litterally throwing Reize end over end at the Penguins!

"YOU'LL KNOW WHAT TO DO AT THE APPOINTED TIME!" he shouts.

He assides to Mercade, "I have no idea what I just did."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
PENGUINS. SO MANY PENGUINS. Mercade is getting swarmed again, the Popguins flying around all over the place as he engages in some air juggling of the Noise. Too bad he can't quite get his combos going. NO FUSION STARS FOR YOU!

Mercade yells. "Okay seriously, this is getting absurdly deadly and yet somehow cute." With this, he tucks the shotgun into his coat and catches the dual guns, spinning them in his hands flashily as he begins to fire in multiple directions, trying to use trick shots to confuse and disorient the penguin horde!

Mercade pauses as Will launches Reize. "I... Did you just feed Reize to the penguins?"

Will Sherman has posed:
"...No! It was totally a super secret tech attack I learned about in Traverse Town."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade frowns. "Learned from what, a drunken clown?"

Will Sherman has posed:
"Hey! That drunken clown went to COLLEGE man!"

Mercade Alexander has posed:
The Detective flails at Will. "CLOWN COLLEGE. HE PROBABLY ONLY GRADUATED SILLY OH LAWD!" Mercade points at the pile of Reize and penguin. "Now make sure he doesn't get eaten by sentient graffiti-penguins, or else."

Lenn has posed:
Lenn winces as several of the team-mates are starting to take some wounds. Thankfully, Lenn is prepared for this, and produces a single crystal this time. "Blessing Breeze, Blow in energy!" The light is shed on Mercade, Will, and Kaydin, a bright, powerful healing energy.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will looks back towards Mercade, "Look he's just fine! See! He's not screaming (as loudly)! Also, I didn't learn it from him!"

Kaydin has posed:
Go Dark Knight GO! he feels the healing from Lily and while he wasnt completely restored, he shakes his head and would notice the popguins fleeing. He smirks and throws the sword out, catching the chain and beginning to spin it, the sword becoming a spinning black blur as he throws the sword out at the popguin by Lenn, piercing it and making it vanish. He then leaps for his sword, spinning it and deflecting more popguins back before throwing it once more at another set of popguins, leaping when the sword hits to spin and do it again. He does this about the battle field.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra says "Will?! What are you doing!!!!"

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"He's only more quiet because he's under a pile of killer penguins." Mercade points out.

The attentive might notice Mercade hasn't gone over there to pull Reize out either. "Now get over there and give him a hand. The screaming is going to give us a headache."

Avira has posed:
"I'm pretty sure that was some straight-up abuse there, Will!" Avira calls out, pushing a popguin away with her foot in order to give her some space. When she sees them being air juggled by Mercade, Avira thinks, hey, she could get in on that action a little, right? Except not really. Her air juggling skills need work so for now, it's better for her to take it out of the picture.

"Here goes nothing..." she murmurs, reaching to grip the point of the Spine with the hand not currently holding the hilt. A white shimmer runds down the length, right to the tailbone, igniting each vertebrae with a silvery sheen. Her heartbeat quickens as the (currently unlicensed) technique kicks in. Letting go of the point, she swings her weapon upwards, unleashing a sudden wave of cleaving force that strikes any popguins still in the air, knocking them back down.

Once they fall, Avira is upon them with a flurry of activity, viciously sttabbing and swinging with the Spine. With each move, she seems to shift from holding it in one hand to the other, casually tossing the weapon and changing her grip on the hilt to best suit her needs.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
When Reize finally strikes the leader down, the boy glares towards the Jpopguin leader. However, his attention drifts away from the leader to see more of the jpopguin come rolling down the hill.

Both eyes widen.

"Gah!"

When the penguins are sliding towards the group, Reize can see them bowling down. However, it's time to pull up a trick. Reize is already leaping out towards one of the sliding penguins.

And he lands on its back. "WOOHOOOO!!"

> Reize used Surf An Enemy!

That's right, Reize is surfing on the penguin, riding out the fact that it's trying to kill him. This is going to set Reize up for his next strike, untill...

*YOINK!*

"Buh?"

Reize is held by the leg by Will. "Uh..." And he is told to hold still that he has an idea. "Uhh... oka---AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!!!!" And it does not end well for him.

Around and around, Reize is going to go. Where will he stop?

> Will and Reize use Dual Tech: Javelin Man.

What to do at the appointed time...? That essentially gives him leverage in spinning around. He straightens himself in time, "HAAAAAAAGGHH!!" Reize is moving his legs to release a spinning kick at the penguins around, and another kick, then he catches the boomerangs along the way that were tossed earlier.
Reize bolts straight through the penguins, "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGGHHHH!!!"

Lily has posed:
All the Dark Energy Kaydin's throwing around is making LIly blink, but he's not one of THOSE THINGS, and so it's totally fine for now, right?

T"Yaaaaaheeee! You're getting them!" She crows happily, while bringing her hands up again. The heat of the desert flares up at her call, changing rom oppressive to supportive just like it did with Reize not too long ago. Avira, Kaydin and Will ALL feel the effects at about the same time.. a blazing fire roiling up inside, igniting the soul with new vigor and power!

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"See? Screaming." Mercade says. "Now go save the poor kid, I didn't bring asprin."

Will Sherman has posed:
"That's not screaming! That's part of the attack! He is totally focusing his Chi, so that the attack does more damage."

Mercade Alexander has posed:

Mercade is doing his best Phoenix Wright 'buuuuuh' impression. "You're a vindictive bastard, William Tecumseh Sherman." Mercade says, resigned.

Will Sherman has posed:
"I am not! See! The attack worked! You are just jealous of my skillz." Will says, crossing his arms.

Uzuki Yashiro has posed:
Most of the Treasure-Hunting crew and friends have seemingly adapted to the popguins unorthodox fighting style as Kaydin bats one popguin into others. Mercade is once again not so fortunate as the dive bombing tactics continues against him. Maybe there just are too many popguins around?! Than again, can there really ever be too many popguins?

The buffers still go mostly unnoticed by the popguins as they seem to only really hive-mind against those doing the most damage to them, excluding their random dive bombs that is. But the popguins are definitely not going unnoticed by the treasure hunters as they resort to their own unorthodox tactics. The Hyper-Spinning-Boomerang-Kicks-of-Arse-Kickery spells peng-doom for many the popguin. There are popguins disappearing left and right now! Because of this, Kaydin's mighty attack misses due to Reize's/Will's attack destroying his targets only seconds before his attack would have hit. Avira faces the same luck as Kaydin with her targetted popguins being destroyed by the Reize/Will attack before her attack could land.

There still is a group of Popguins beneath Deidra, the Ice-Bringer. They MWAMP loudly as they demand more ice from their new goddess. Well, its that or they are merely angry that they can't reach her from the ground.

The Popguin leader begins MWAMPing furiously now as he attempts to rally the troops. A few obey their leader and begin leap high into the air before now trying an 'aerial' dive bomb against these intrepid Treasure Hunters. The others soon join in with their fellow J-Popguins and launch their attacks as well!

Lenn has posed:
Lenn frowns. She's had enough of this... She pulls out three darkly-pulsing crystals, charges them further so the pulsing begins to seem unstable. "The crystal holds the power. The power cannot be held." She then flings them at the penguins (the leader in particular), her first proper attack of the battle. "SHATTERED CRYSTAL!" The crystals shatter, releasing a huge wave of energy among the J-Popguins.

Kaydin has posed:
Kaydin growls as he is left alone. He rushes in, sending in a quick strike to a nearby popguin, before moving to send one more quick strike to a nearby popguin before his entire body erupts in dark energy, the man radiates darkness. "My anger, pain and sadness, shall be your loss." He says with terrifying calmness as he seems to move with incredibly accuracy and speed, sending his dark sword straight for the leader popguin.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will stares as his attack completely obliterates hordes of Penquins.

He dives in, after Reize, and moves to flank with him, aiming to punch Penguins into his sword, and diving around. Litterally trying to put some last minute attacks on the thing...trying to weaken them so that the Pain could come, and the day saved.

"See, I told you you'd know what to do when the time came! Good job!" Will still knows not what he did, other than jus bullshit.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
After being chucked around, Reize finally rolls along the ground. "Ooof!" The boy turns towards Will, narrowing his eyes. The boy shakes a fist his way. A tear swell appears over his left eye.

"Oiii! Warn me next time!"

He gasps, then he yelps towards the J-Popguins launching down towards the group. Reize is one of the recipients of the dive. So what does he do? He leaps up to spring over one of their heads, and then the next, and then the next.

He is leveraging himself to gain higher altitude through using the J-Popguins as stepping stones.

The final jump puts him over the penguins.

That is when the pendant shines as bright as the star. The glimmerin aura is resonanting, the essence of magic now becoming as bright as a sun. With the pendant's radiance, something emerges from the boy.

A glittering tarot card. With that card illuminating, Reize lifts the hand across while the aura of the magic transfers to that shimmering, magic card.

"Flickering flame, burn."

He raises his hand into the sky, the tarot shimmers and spins around before it bursts.

A large ball of fire appears over the heavens.

"FIREBALLL!!!"

He swings a hand down, directing the ball of fire towards the penguins.

Avira has posed:
With a decidedly unladylike yelp, Avira rolls to the side as a popguin smashes into the sand mere inches away from her. Any second slower and that bird would have easily landed on top of her.

This was definitely not her fight! In retrospect, given lack of comments, Avira realizes that everyone's going to be too focused on fighting their own battles (and stealing her kills) to really notice what she's doing. This makes Avira feel slightly better and she puts more focus on actually picking a better target out.

It was tempting to use ice, but judging by their reaction to Deidra, it was probably not very effective. Her magic wasn't all that strong anyway. Instead, after a moment's pause, she settles on savaging a group of three, charging their flank and surprising them with a quick upward stroke of her "blade." With a half-turn, kicking up sand as she does so, she relinquishes her grip so she can take the Spine with her other hand, following up with a powerful downward stroke.

Will Sherman has posed:
"I TOTALLY WARNED YOU!" Will shouts!

Lily has posed:
This isn't the first time that Lily's felt someting burning deep within her spirit at the sight of these horrible THINGS that should not be. From a distance she stares at the Popguins as they're facing all kinds of fury... even as Kaydin unleashes his wrath she focuses hard on the leader, glowering at it.

PErhaps she's not even quite realizing it as she does it, but LIly raises a hand imperiously out to her side, and a TREMENDOUS wind rushes up where she stands, cerulean light flickering up from the ground and into her hand in coruscating waves that coaelsce and compress. at the same time as this light pulses and she gestures at the leader... space warps and ripples.

... and then it's full of light. Hundreds of thousands of little specks of light appear in the air and swirl in like a cosmic accretion disk towards the leader and any of the Popguins around him. It rages, roils, and fluctuates wildly as it compresses, arcs of torrential pure mana-lightning lashing about--

And then, finally, it bursts like a supernova that triggers even more small explosions. These, oddly, do not harm anything but the Popguins that might be nearby for whatever means, but they MIGHT knock the wind out of people simply from the sand kicked up and melted into glass...

Deidra has posed:
Deidra is lucky she's just been doing support for most of the fight now it's time to just unload. She doesn't do magic this time she actually launchers heself into the think of the creature and just goes to town with her taoloned hands. She'll lash out again and again at the creaturea attempting to rip them to shreads also her eyes are glowing red right now. Ya she's just blowing off some steam at these thing's as she becomes a whirling storm of talons claws and she even gets into using her feet and tail into the assault.

Uzuki Yashiro has posed:
The J-Popguins are in full flight (heh) from the attacks of the Treasure Hunters. Even Deidra's worshippers have abandoned their Icy Goddess and are now merely running around, flapping their flightless wings wildly. Their ranks my be decimated, but somehow the penguins moving juuuuuust fast enough to avoid getting crystal sharded to doom by Lenn, skewered by Kaydin, burnt to a crisp by Reize, and sworded by Will and Avira.

However! The J-Popguins' luck was not going to last forever and it is Lily who deals the blow that crushes what is left of the Popguins. The brave and noble Popguin leader had rallied the remaining popguins around him, ready to lead one last desperate attack. But then they all looked up to see the sky falling down upon them. In a very colorful display, the J-Popguins are oblitherated by the mighty attack. Like the penguins before them, they explode into static and are simply Erased from existance.

That is except for a sole remaining Popguin who cowers in Deidra, the Ice Bringer's shadow. The poor Popguin can only afford Deidra a pitiful penguin look before bring ripped to shreds by their popguins once goddess in a display of how religion can be awfully self-destructive at times.

And so the mighty Treasure Seeking Heroes have slain the vast and terrible J-Popguin horde. The only traces of the battle are all the craters and scorched sand that the mighty attacks by the heroes had laid out. Noise leave no permanent markings, but there seem to be some....pins....littering the ground which are barely able to be seen among the sands.

Uzuki Yashiro finally arrives overtop the dune where the popguins first appeared. She -knew- the popguins had found something and should be riiiight over that next dune. She arrives to see no popguins or Players whatsoever. Anger quickly crosses Pinky's face who gestures wildly in the air. "Stupid Noise! I -knew- I should have summoned Brit Popguins instead, those J-Popguins are so useless!" The sand in front of her is kicked by a white booted foot of hers. "There is not even a Player in sight!"

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade is surrounded by fantastic people with fantastic powers. Will can punch Fate itself. Deidra is a powerful Gargoyle mage. Avira is an incredible brawler with ice magic. Reize unleashes an incredible fireball of destruction. That black knight can use some kind of SOUL-EATING power, and the awesome healing woman can explode massive doom crystals!

Mercade? He's just a man.

So it is that the Noise is Erased from the area in a conflagaration of incredible power... And then that woman shows up. THAT WOMAN.

Mercade's seen that woman before. "Hey you!" Mercade points. "You're ... just as creepy outside of Halloween Town. So seriously, what's the deal? Those things hurt!"

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade Alexander also asides to Avira, "Aren't corsets supposed to go /under/ the clothing?"

Lenn has posed:
Lenn looks at the Pink-haired girl. "So YOU sicced these on us?" The glint of the light off the pins catches the jeweler's eye, and she goes to pick some up. "What are these? Look kinda like..." She hmms, and tries to pocket them if she can. Shiki will know what they do.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
With Reize in mid-air, he is feeling the gust of the explosion knocking him off to a distace in the air to take back to the ground. It helps that the strong gust created by Lily pulls him away to bring him to his feet. The explosion of the flames fail to hit their intended target.

But then... Lily's power starts to react. His pendant is merely reacting to her high presence. "Ah...!" His eyes widen, turning to face Lily. "Wh--..." Even with Deidra's whirlwind created, the presence of the wind is pretty hectic.

Just as the pendant becomes as bright as the sun up close, so does Lily. He shields his eyes, trying not to stare directly into the supernova. And then the pure manage explodes out, sending the boy sprawling back from the impact of the shockwave. "Whoaaaaaa!" He finds himself skidding to the ground, grimacing.

And then the woman comes up. And then she mentions about a Player. There is something not right about this...

Reize narrows his eyes towards Yashiro.

"Oi. Are you a Reaper?!"

Meanwhile...

The wind underneath Reize is starting to grow stronger...

And he is starting to seem a bit further from the group.

Kaydin has posed:
Kaydin turns to Uzuki as she appears and grips his sword. "So you summoned those beasts?" He asks as he begins to approach her, his rage almost radiating off of him as he begins to read reize's mind, having a similar look in his eyes.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Don't do it, guys." Mercade has seen enough of this kind of stuff to know what they're probably thinking. "If she can summon those things, she's probably way stronger than those."

Lily has posed:
After the popguins go down, Lily collapses to her knees, breathing hard and clearly working to get her bearings and breath. Eyes closed and clearly exhausted by that big outburst. But when a pin sort of... well, comes sailing in and smacks her in the head, propelled by the explosion, she wobbles and whimbers, rubbing at the impact spot on her cheek and picking up the offending Pin to peek at it. "This... I've seen something like this before!"

Up to her feet she gets, a bit woozily, and probably not quite sure how the explosion got that big! But with a new person in sight that everyone's yelling at, Lily hurries over towards Reize to stand next to him and glance over at Lenn worriedly, not quite sure WHAT's going on now...

Avira has posed:
Is Lily getting ready to cast something? Avira knows to get out of dodge. She's seen that magic before. It's pretty killer-if only her own was that strong.

Out of dodge, very soon the last of the popguins are destroyed and they are finally offered some peace. Avira, who is pretty tuned to examining her kills afterwards, is likely one of the first to notice the pins left over. Curious, she picks a few up and looks them over in an open palm. "...well that's weird.."

Not thinking too hard about it, she stuffs them in a pocket and is alerted to this strange fussing woman atop one of the dunes, "Uh, speaking as someone who has never worn a corset, Mercade, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say no. No, they go beneath the clothes."

Avira points at Uzuki with her spine, "Who the hell do you think you are!?"

Deidra has posed:
Deidra only now clicks about the noise who were worshiping her as some sort of ice goddess and she'd be lying to herself if there wasn't some level of guilt over what she'd done she snaps out of her rage and just stops there wondering about how badly had she just lost control. She looks a little mortified with herself and she stops turning to see Uzuki her eyes narrow a little bit and she says "So it's you again." That's one way to snap her out of things.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will blinks, looking up at Uzuki...

"Game? Do you think this is a game? You just sent penguins to attack me..." He says, "And my friends." And my two emergancy foods, "Because you think you're in a game? The /hell/?!" he says at her. "I demand you give me a penguin to eat right now!"

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"She doesn't have real pengiuins, Will." Mercade mentions.

Will Sherman has posed:
"DAMNIT!" Will says, a turn of phrase for him and Mercade, because it's usually the other way around.

Uzuki Yashiro has posed:
Uzuki Yashiro stops gesticulating when she remembers that non-Players can totally see her. She keeps forgetting small details like that. Bah. If only Kariya was here, he would have remembered something like that. The quite varied group before her is examined by the Reaper. Oh look. There are actually some familiar faces in the crowd (some more than others thanks to Halloween Town), and yet they are all are annoying still alive and not Players. How is she supposed to play any Reaper Sports when everyone is alive?

Mercade first invokes anger out of Uzuki and then a feeling of not anger. She narrows her eyes on the man. "Creepy?! Who are you calling creepy. you scruffy headed Noise bait?" Her Reaper wings flex backwards slightly as Uzuki shouts at Mercade. But then Mercade says to not try anything stupid against her. The Reaper laughs in response. "That's right! It would be downright stupid to challenge a Reaper!"

Lenn's and Kaydin's question elicits a cruel smile from Uzuki. "That's right. They were supposed to hunt down -Players-, not you." But Uzuki would have been elated if the popguins would have killed them. That would have been just that many more players in the game. Reize's question causes Uzuki to float slightly higher without her having to flap her wings at all. "Mmhmm. I am a Reaper." But wait, how does he know -that-? Could he possibly know some -players-?!

But before this can be investigated, Uzuki is yelled at by Avira. Gah. How many times will she have to answer that question? She hovers there angrily there for a moment while wishing that she couldn't be seen by people like this, like in the old days. Uzuki ends up rolling her eyes before looking to Deidra. Oh. It's -her-. "You are a little far from your pretty little park. Are you the protector of -this- place too?" She asks mockingly of Deidra.

Finally, Will's statement causes her Uzuki to get angry, and then sigh in exasperation. Don't these people know anything? "Noise are just mindless tools we Reapers use. But," A grin. "If you want more penguins, then I would be happy to summon a few more."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Reize's fists tightens, "So it is true. You Reapers go after people and hurt them, thinking it's some game!" The frown deepens as his eyes narrow in focus towards Yashiro. However, the young adventurer is starting to realize something.

"Ooiii!!!!... why are you guys far away?!" Well, with the exception of Lily,w ho is following Reize. Unfortunately, she picked a very bad time to follow Reize.

Why?

The wind picks up and the sand kicks off into the air.

Reize and Lily have gotten themselves within the sandstorm.

"GAH!"

Will Sherman has posed:
"I want food, not your stupid noise!" Will says, crossing his hands over his chest...

"And threatening my friends, and whatever that Guy from Baron is, is pissin' me off, girly." he says, hands out...there is a crackle...

"Also, aren't you afraid to die...again?" he says, smirking. "You're dead. I don't know how you're still here, and visibile...and you know, punchable, but you know, I don't ask the difficult questions...that's Mercade's job." he says flatly.

"Unless you want to know what happens when I fate strike something with a already weakened fate."

Kaydin has posed:
"I have been nearly killed throughout my whole life, including my childhood. I have underwent the training to become a dark knight and resisted being driven insane by the darkness and use it was a weapon to kill my enemies. I think I am pretty stupid." He says as he drops the sword and grabs the chain as he takes a few deep breathes, the sword being swung around and around before he hurls it at the woman as hard as he could.

Avira has posed:
"No woman, I mean your -name-. I want your NAME, not your profession!" Avira doesn't assume that Reapers just don't flat out have names because, well, that would be kind of stupid. "And since it's obvious we're not whatever players you and your birds were looking for, you can just go flit off now..."

She sheathes the Spine so she can make 'shoo'-ing motions with her hands, "Go on, beat it. We've got hidden cities and treasure to find! And your Noise has gotten in the way! I won't even get credit for fighting those things and-wait a second."

Avira turns around to look at Reize. Then her eyes widen at something behind him. She starts pointing, but it is too late, "Reize! Look out!" The poor Reaper is thusly snubbed from that point on by the scarred huntress.

She starts to chase after them, but pauses first to neatly pick up her goggles from around her neck and put them over her eyes. There. This right here is the reason she keeps her goggles on her at all times! "HOLD OOOOOON!!!"

Will Sherman has posed:
"...I take it back, that guy is freekin' awesome!" he says about Kaydin.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade blinks as Reize gets sandstorm'd. "Well, looks like he found it. Or maybe it found him? But seriously guys, if we're going to get some explanations, we're getting way ahead of our-..."

Mercade facepalms as Kaydin attacks the Reaper. "Idiot." Mercade is tempted to go chase after Reize and company, but Avira's got it covered. They're in capable hands (or at least not insane ones) with her.

"No. I don't think so." Mercade says, folding his arms. "Just watch."

Lenn has posed:
Lenn frowns, and rushes in towards Reize and Lily. She already lost him once, DAMNED if she's gonna lose her fiancee again. Even if he doesn't know that last fact, yet. "Reize!" And thus, she rushes straight into the sand, herself...

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"So Will, should I explain the problem here?" Mercade asks idly.

Will Sherman has posed:
"Okay, what's the problem?" he asks Mercade.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"First off, he's weakened from combat, while she's fresh. Second, we've lost a large amount of support from that freak sandstorm. Third, we have no idea of the capabilities of that Reaper." Mercade ticks these off on his fingers. "So this guy is basically boned because she's probably going to split him in half down the middle. I know I would if I was in her position."

Will Sherman has posed:
"Yeah...well, there is one problem." He says towards Mercade. "I'm here."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"You can't be serious. We don't even know what this guy's deal is. He just /appeared/ behind me and is being all spooky and aggressive." Mercade replies.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra pauses at will and looks at the apprent dead woman. Great she's a pretty looking zombie, and at that moment she's just accepted how crazy the world beyond Manhattan really is. The dead that walk and this one is clearly hostile to the living. She's going to need to find a way to put this woman back in her grave or force her to move on. One or the other. She wisely keeps her trap shut about this. "It's always the sand, it's always the sand...."

Will Sherman has posed:
"Yeah, but she's CRAZY and aggressive...and tried to kill us. He's responding to a threat.." he pauses...and whispers, "And from Baron. He might know some of the shit going on there."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Hey Will." Mercade mentions. "Someone better pick up the phone."

Will Sherman has posed:
"Huh?" Will turns towards Mercade questioningly.

Lily has posed:
"Hw-hwah?!" Being somehwat in-tune with the elements, Lily baffles loudly at the sudden storm that's puling her away -- and well, clings TIGHT to Reize on plain reflex. TIGHT. To an arm, anyways. "W-what, what's with this wind, it's not normal wind!" She then shuts her mouth lest sand get in, but is looking pretty spooked by this development and uncertain WHAT to do...

Uzuki Yashiro has posed:
Hrmph. This lot sure does love to antagonize their betters. It always is just talk, talk, talk with some people as Reize attempts to be heroic and then gets eaten by sandstorm, and Avira haughtily talks to her like she owes this person any information. Will's crazy talk about fates is lost upon Uzuki who is assured that she is in perfect control of her own destiny.. Maybe he should try talking like that to Sho, they might be able to entertain each other by bringing up exponentially crazier things like fates...and match.. and blah blah blah.

But then Kaydin just flat out attacks her. Uzuki defies gravity by simply shooting upwards without so much as a flap of her black, tattoo like wings. Uzuki then coyly brings her right foot back and places a finger against her lip. "Oh! You do want to play a game afterall?" She then drops the act and gestures openly with her nearly claw like looking hands. "Let's play then!" There is a flash of bright light and a dreaded land-shark emerges from the sand dunes. This crazed monstrosity looks hungrily towards those not running into the sandstorm. It may be feeding time.

Speaking of phones, Uzuki's cell phone suddenly rings. She takes it out of her back shorts pocket and answers it with her back turning to those who remain. How the heck is she getting cell phone reception in the middle of a sandstorm?! She exchanges a few words with whoever is on the other side before hanging up. "Tsk. Tsk. It looks like we'll have to play some other time. Some Players have been spotted!" She grins mischeviously before making the land-shark disappear in a snap of her fingers. The Reaper then flies off towards her quarry, leaving the pesky living people to their own devices.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Crap. Crap. Crap. Sandstorm. Not good. Not good!

Those are he only things that are coming to Reize's mind. The boy is whisked away from the ground as the whirlwind that is the sandstorm catches him.

Of course, Avira and Lenn are now jumping into things. This is quite the situation.

And yet, the group all find themselves deeper into the storm.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade grimaces. "Will, punch the shark, see if that guy will give you a hand. I'm going to chase the Reaper."

Kaydin has posed:
"Pray that the next time we meet, that I am-" Kaydin yells as he grabs his sword and tries to run after the woman only to be eaten by the crazy sandstorm.

Will Sherman has posed:
"Right." Will says to Mercade...

Suddenly WILL jumps right to the Shark. Will punches it right in the nose. RIGHT in the nose. Because this is what Sharks are weak too. Mercade can go chase the Reaper.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade Alexander does indeed run off. However, Pinky can fly and Mercade cannot. This might cause some problems, since she rapidly outpaces the detective. He gives up on that fast. He'll investigate /her/ when they're on more even ground.