Crushatrice Crisis

Crushatrice Crisis
Date of Scene:	03 February 2013
Location:	Fluorgis - City
Synopsis:	The infamous crushatrice, Klesta, has descended upon the city of Fluorgis for some absurd reason. Can our intrepid heroes stop him before his rampage levels the city?
Cast of Characters:	Lily, Deelel, Sora, Leida, Luso Clemens, Evja, Ezel Berbier
Tinyplot:	Shadows Over Fluorgis

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Luso Clemens has posed:
"Holy crap! Why are all these Cockatrices swarming the city!?"

...Came the voice a certain adventerous young lad, Luso Clemens in particular. His usual array of swords was slung behind him at the waist, two drawn in particular as he ran through the streets of Fluorgis. Behind was a veritable chorus of angry screeches. Though he told himself that he shouldn't look behind himself...he did.

What he found was an army of small Cockatrices, all stampeding after him. "Craaaaaaaaap! I'm never gonna be able to take out Klesta if these darned chickens won't get off my back!"

...Let's leave him be.

Over in the center of Fluorgis meanwhile, a loud bellow roared forth, cutting through the air. It sounded bird-like in nature, but it was way too deep... Soon enough it became apparent. A massive Crushatrice, essentially a giant Cockatrice, by the name of Klesta seemed to have taken up residence, crushing several stalls and destroying a fountain in the process.

"Skreeeeee!"

Boy did he sound angry though. Accompanying that were the sound of people scattering and screaming in fear and anger. Why anger, you ask? Well, let's listen to some choice words from the citizens!

"Why in blazes in Klesta in the city!?"

"What are we paying taxes for if they can't even protect us!?"

"This is ridiculous! Someone get these things out here!"

...Yeesh. Wonder just what the hell was eating Klesta to begin anyway? Well, let's dial the clock back several hours...

EARLIER.

"Uwehehehe~ Yes, yes...these cockatrice eggs are simply perfect!" Came the voice a certain mischievous Nu Mou. It was...the infamous Ezel Berbier. Law Breaker Extraordinaire. Now just what in the world was he doing all the way out here in the desert? And in a cockatrice nest no less?

Well, considering the fact that he was cradling a rather sizable egg in his small arms, it was clear that he was up to no good. Grinning and laughing to himself quite victoriously, he continued his monologue. "Another good day for me, hoho!"

But then a shadow grew, descending over him. ".....?" Freezing where he stood, Ezel rigidly turned around to have himself a look. Behind him was...Klesta. And looking none too pleased with the man for his thievery. "...Ahahaha...hello there, my fine feathered friend!" Ezel greeted the creature, waving nervously.

"SKREEEEEEEEEEEE!"

BACK TO THE PRESENT.

Klesta continued to rage in the center of Fluorgis, refusing to budge.

What could be done about this?

Leida has posed:
Never a quiet day in the City of Flowers.

Stumbling out of the front door of the Shard Seekers base, Leida blearily peers about, her half-closed eyes sweeping up and down the sandy thoroughfare for the source of the infernal racket that has roused her from slumber. Granted it was about time for her to be getting up anyways but a princess needs every moment of her beauty sleep!

As their HQ is a fair distance from the center of town, only the milling throngs of angry shop keepers, stall owners, and traveling merchants that have fled from the rage of the foul fowl are visible in the street and their disgruntled complaints mingle together into a buzzing din of outrage. When she steps into their midst, a tall woman turns to the girl and immediately begins to wave her arms at her.

"Oh, little Leida! This is no time to be sleeping, child, a monster has invaded the city!" The shop keeper, a woman of darkly tanned skin earned from a lifetime of desert life, puts a hand on her shoulders and shakes her gently. "Hurry and get your friends and do something about this!"

Spun about by the forceful hands, Leida scuttles back inside to gather her things and alert the others who may still be around, still half asleep.

Sora has posed:
Sora, standing not far outside of the area where the now wrecked Shard Seeker's HQ was, crosses his hands and places them against the back of his head as he watches the people run away screaming. "Aheh, great."

It is mostly said wryly, but Sora figures that some of the people's he ran into might be up in the general area around the uh... Crushatrice.

"... ohhhh." He says, partially disbeliving, but after everything that's happened to Sora, well...

Evja has posed:
Judges do not normally go to war without their armor on. They do not normally appear to help in a situation. However, a Judge not on official duty was free to do as they liked so long as they broke no laws, and in this case, it was fortunate(or perhaps not) that just one such Judge was there. The Viera who had recently stepped out of the Shardseekers base where she had been staying briefly while within Fluorgis, was actually riding atop a Chocobo. A large finely-feathered beast that looked to be bred from the best possible stock, a Judges Chocobo through and through.

Of course, one might not immediately assume that the white-robed Viera sitting atop the beast was even such were it not for the glowing symbol of the Judges emblazoned on the robe she currently had on, an altered Judiciers Robe.

"Come along, Senra." the Viera urged to the Chocobo, patting the neck lightly as it took off, deftly bouncing through the marketplace and avoiding fleeing pepeople in an attempt to get to the center of the city. The name of the poor beast would likely fluster the one named after, given the manner of jest involved in it.

Though that giant round bird caused it to flare uWAAAAARK!</span>" in surprise, not particularly liking that another bird probably ten times its' size was perched there like it had a nest. "Whoah, calm down. If it does not act, let us not force it to. Let them flee before we move in."

Deelel has posed:
Deelel had been just trying to recover really she'd been getting hammered pretty hard in a number of the encounters she'd had as of late but there's not rest fo the wicked as some users might put it. For while she was trying to relax there was something going on and she'd come to look into it. Just what the basic was going to find would turn out to be a suprise.

Lily has posed:
Lily is standing on top of the Shard Seeker HQ. How she got up there isn't immediately apparent. But she's frowning. Oh she is frowning with the fury of a thousand dying suns off into the distance, where she can see the chaos brewing.

Can't things EVER be quiet and nice around here? "Sometimes I wonder if Reize actually meant he wanted to leave because everything's CRAZY here..."

Well she's not asleep or gardening at least. Inside HQ a storm of high-pitched yipping proves that Dandy is aware something is up. ANd that he is shut in a room somewhere safe, probably.

Luso Clemens has posed:
Running through the streets, Luso Clemen continued on his way, slashing away any Cockatrice that got too close to him in the meanwhile. His path led him past the Shard Seeker's HQ. Upon seeing various members of the group and some new faces. Luso waved a sword frantically in a rushed greeting.

"Hey guys! Good you're here! Lily, Leida, Deleel, some dude!" The boy spoke quickly, slashing away another cockatrice from the stampede. "We've got a massive problem here! There's a giant Crushatrice in the town center! His name's Klesta! You guys go and take him out! I've got to keep these little guys busy!"

And keep them busy he did. He was quickly running out of talking range, but he added one last statement before he was completely gone. "Do he this favor! And take anyone skilled looking with you if you find them on the way--ACK! Ow! Crap!" A peck from a chasing cockatrice cut Luso off and then he was soon out of sight, avian stampede hot on his heels.

...So much for getting his help.

Evja has posed:
"Mm..." Looking over his shoulder, the Viera checks to see if there's anyone still relatively nearby. Thankfully most had gotten out of the area or were in the process of doing so. Welp, might as well see if he can't take care of this issue himself - not that he knew of anyone else with the intent of helping. Though... was that kid running around with a swarm of Cockatrice chasing him

Reaching into the robe he had on, Evja pulled a long silver whistle out before blowing soundlessly on it. For several moments nothing happened, though those closer to the Shard Seekers HQ might suddenly realize what he'd done. A pack of about ten Chocobo suddenly were running through the streets of Fluorgis towards the center of town, that whistle being what Judges used to call their trained Chocobo. If anyone wanted a quick ride, and were fast enough, they might grab one of the flopping reins on the bird and hop up for a one-way trip, because they weren't slowing down at all!

"WARK!"
"WARK WARK!"

All of them soon stampeeded straight towards the main ground before the Judge spurred his Chocobo to lead the charge, running quickly and steering it to rebound off the wall, trying to bounce close enough by that he could get Klesta to pay attention to him so he might not be able to turn around in time for that stampede of Chocobo to run straight over the fat bird.
That's certainly one way to tenderize your chicken breast!

Leida has posed:
A minute or so after disappearing into the building the small girl remerges into the busy street with greatbow and quiver strapped to her back. She rubs at her eyes, wiping the last of the sleep from them and quickly uses the hand to shield her face from the blazing sun. Leida frowns slightly at the fact that she's been forced to get out of the house while the heat of the day was still present.

Any vocalization of this complaint is preempted by the sudden appearance of a familiar face. Luso's frantic greeting cuts her off as she lifts a hand to wave at him, her faint smile replaced by a look of confusion. "U-um... what's a crushatr-eek!"

The storm of chickens catches up with the boy and he takes off down the street again, leaving only feathers and questions in his wake. Leida leaps out fo the way and merely stares after him for a few moments before the fiery shopkeeper ambushes her from behind again with a gentle push towards the center of town. "Well, don't just stand there! Go get it!"

The princess hesistates then turns and begins to scamper along the road towards the commotion. She pauses to glance at Sora, whom Luso had also included in his hasty exposition, running her serpentine eyes over his strange attire. "Um... excuse me." She bows in his direction politely to get his attention. "Would you be so kind as to lend us your aid?"

Lily has posed:
And there goes Luso. Lily leans over the edge of the Shard Seeker HQ's roof at the dashing dude - whoosh there he goes - and blinks. But then she looks down at Leida. "A big fight in the middle of the city's just going to make things worse! I wonder if we could make them fly away or something?" CAN it fly? She's not sure.

But at the shrill whistle wafting by on the wind she quickly starts paying more attention, glancing over at Evja, then at the rushing birds--

"Soraaaaaaa. It's good seeing you again! If it wasn't so noisy though... stupid things always making a mess in this city, I've about had it!"

Well LIly's grown up some, if her language skills and attitude's any indication. Spotting the onrushing Chocobo, she hops off the roof and seems to all but GLIDE down ono one of them and tightly grabs on for the ride, growling irritably.

Off to fight a Crushatrice!

Sora has posed:
"I'm not some dude, the name's Sora!"

Except there was a Luso here, Luso is... definitely gone now. "What was up with him?" Shen then blinks at Leida, before shrugging one shoulder. "Sure!" He agrees, looking behind him, raising a hand at Lily. "Hey, Lily!" He says cheerfully, before hopping gracefulyl adn dodging into the crowd of chocobos, using one as a impromptu mount, rather than he own targe, chocobo-yellow-clad shoe'd feet.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is glad to see Luso here. "Looks we we got a problems here." She's not sure if she's spotted someone behind it however the birds are anywhere. There goes Luso oh this could be bad but they are being swarmed pretty hard really.

"Luso...Oh this isn't good." She looks to Sora for a moment

"You know him Lily? All right then, you keep up with us Sora."

Meanwhile she hops on to one attempting to gain control of the creature and she wonders why to users ride grid bugs they can't fully control?

Luso Clemens has posed:
Evja's Chocobo stampede does it's job well enough. The avian creatures, carrying their uninvited, but not unwelcome, riders spill into the center of rushing Klesta pretty hard. Unfortunately for them, the gambit did not have it's intended effect. The massive bird was still very much upright...

...only now he was MORE angry! "Skreeeeeee!" It cawed angrily at the approaching heroes, leveling a glare at them. Yet he did not move to attack just yet...

He must have been up to something.

Leida has posed:
Leida stares at the energetic boy, rather surprised by his quick acceptance of her request and subsequent rush to the action. Well, that was easy. She also catches sight of Lily's dramatic entrance and finally spurs herself into motion as well.

The herd of stampeding chocobos is far too rough and dangerous of an avenue for her to take to the scene. The girl tries to mimic the others' methods of hopping aboard the rushing tide of yellow but every time she gets close her timidness wins out and she backs away rather than risk getting trampled.

Eventually, Leida gets frustrated by her lack of success to hitch a ride and quickly darts inside the HQ again, returning with an apple in her hand. The juicy fruit is held up towards the creatures as they dart past. If it works with horses, maybe it'll work with these.

It takes a few tries but eventually one of the chocobos comes to investigate, greedily snatching up the offering of peace when it is held out by the girl's slender hands. Leida bows to the creature once it has devoured the fruit. "Um... please, noble beast, would you allow me to ride you? The town is in danger and I must hurry!"

The large bird stares at her for several long moments in silence before eventually offering a non-commital 'Kweh' and turning to face its side at her. "Oh! Thank you so much." Leida climbs atop the chocobo's back, mounting it side-saddle and throwing her arms about its neck for support. Almost the very instant that she settles in the creature gives a cry and tears off down the street after its brethren, eliciting a girlish squeak of surprise from the princess as she tries to remain seated.

The trip through the city is made in record time for the girl and in a flash the chocobo bursts into view of the main city plaza, skidding to a halt long enough for the girl to dismount. She bows to it again as it takes off. "Thank you for the ride!"

Turning back to peer up at the terrible beast, Leida's corrupted eyes meet the shining reds of the deadly bird. And nothing happens. A strange sensation comes over her for a few moments but it quickly passes and she merely shrugs it off.

The normally bustling center of trade is all but abandoned which gives her a good view of the nooks and crannies between buildings, each stacked with piles of goods in barrels and crates that offer an easy route to higher ground. The princess darts off towards one of these piles and clambers up to the roof, working a bit of her demonic magic to hide her approach from the angry birds.

Evja has posed:
The Chocobos would not be wrested or altered from their path, and as they closed in, if the riders did not hop off? They would be carried right across Klesta. Though they began to run towards a wall!
Any who didn't voluntarily get off at that point would be /violently/ bucked off before they vanished with a sploosh against the wall, the lands Magic allowing the Judges chocobo's to pass back to the stables.

Of course, at this point, there were others! "Perfect." Though immediately it tried to glare at them all. "DO NOT LET IT LOOK AT YOU!" Evja called out, voice with a practiced soft tone present before spurring his Chocobo to hop up into the air and come down right towards Klesta's eyes, attempting to land both of the Chocobo's feet right against the face!

Now that Evja and the Chocobo were more visible, one could see that in addition to the white robe he wore, he had a thin opaque veil over his face and a large floppy cap atop his head, mostly obscuring any features.


Of note, the Chocobo Leida got actually wasn't a Judges chocobo. They were a bit too well trained to deviate for food. Luck was on her side, though, as a regular chocobo had decided to join the fray of running Chocobos to see what the hell was going on.
Not that it mattered, they all got there!

"Gather up, half attack one side, half the other! Try to force it to take flight or head down a road to the outside of the city!" By this point Evja had already bounced away atop his steed before pulling a large sword out of the air, a Judges Sword, and wincing at the weight. Damn... his back still wasn't good enough to wield a weapon. "Hey, Senra... Jump and dive!" With a running leap Senra took off and bounced off the side of one of the stalls, leaping high onto the top of a building and up into the air over the Crushatrice as Evja dropped his sword down below the Chocobo. With a trained practice, the Chocobo grabbed onto it and slammed downwards towards the foul fowl only for the sword to vanish upon or after impact regardless of hitting.

Sora has posed:
Sora takes a ... cockatrice? crushatrice? foot to the face? He's not quite sure what in the world was going on there, and he shakes his head slightly as he shifts back up to his feet with a quick step, throwing his hand to the side -

The Keyblade, the Kingdom Key, to be more specific, shimmers to life in his grip, before Sora throws himself into the fight - and by that, we mean he just simply moves towards it, holy light swirling briefly around him as he rains a swift series of blows towards the Crushatrice.

Lily has posed:
"I know him!" She calls back to Deelel. "We met... once... a while ago. He beat up some Heartless with a big glowing key!" Well it might or might not've been glowing, but Lily does say things like that sometime.

Glowing in normal vision, anyways.

As the Chocobos are coming up towards their target though... the girl lets out a tiny gasp the very instant its eyes are on them. "...Don't get caught!"

As if for a second time had frozen, one moment she's there, and the next...

The next, she's off like a ROCKET, whooshing straight upwards on a gust of wind and onto a rooftop, out of the creature's sight. "Alright. This one's mean..."

Light flickers around her, formed as an aura of faint blue light and carrying with it whispers of elemental power that whip about. Cold, wet winds spread around refreshingly, but they bring with it to a few nearby people some interesting strengths...

Deelel has posed:
Deelel isn't gong so well with the beasts she stares at them for a momenr what's just up with them and then she's not feeling so good, her processes feel all messed up something's clearly wrong. She is still in the fight but as a keyblade springs to life she pauses.

"Wait that weapon?!"

It's lot like King mickey's now that she thinks about it but there's no time to talk, she'll have to talk to Sora after this.

She however got some game to her and launches her disk at the what just attacked her.

Luso Clemens has posed:
Already quite angry, the combo of attacks from the group just made it even worse. Sora's keyblade strikes are deflected with a wing, sending the boy sailing back to try his luck again. However, that was distraction enough for Deelel and Evja to strike Klesta undisturbed.

The chocobo's claws scratch into the large bird's face, disorienting him enough for Deelel's disc to strike against his side! Klesta was not stunned for long however and quickly shook off the minor pain.

He then began to flap his wings. Amazingly enough, they were actually enough to carry to huge beast into the air, kicking up a gust of wind as he went. "Skreeee!" And then all at once, he sailed downwards at full force, bouncing all over the ground in an attempt to catch the various would be heroes in a crushing stomp.

This bird knew that he was fat, andwas using it to great effect. Perhaps it would be better to disable it somehow...

But what...?

Evja has posed:
SLAP, Evja was knocked into and without his armor, and being previously on Chocobo, he wasn't able to avoid. Luckily Senra was able to avoid the most of it, but as for the Judge Bunny?

SLAAAAAAAAAAAMBOOOOOOOOM

He was knocked clean across the market with a loud crash into an array of destroyed stands, destroying them further and landing in a heap. The Viera wasn't moving, either.

Leida has posed:
While everyone else arrives and unleashes their fury upon the massive crushatrice, Leida makes good use of the distraction to secure a perch on the roof of her chosen building. Her weapon is unslung, the greatbow standing almost as tall as the girl herself when held upright. A quick search of the area reveals that this particular roof has little in the way of cover, lacking even a chimney or decorative crenelations.

With a sigh at her bad luck, the girl moves to the edge of the stone platform and draws forth a single slender arrow, nocking the projectile to her bow. However, before she can draw the string back a faint twinge of familiar magic courses through her body. Normally, there would be a sigh of annoyance to go along with the appearance of the twin balls of green flame that wink to life over her shoulders but with the city in danger the princess will take all the help she can get.

"Oh, you two! Please, I need your help!"

'Woaaaah, the kitten is asking for /our/ help? This must be a really fowl situation here!'

'Indeed. Tis truly a shame that our mistress calls upon us for such a poultry reason.l

"T-there is no time for such foolishness! We have to-eeek!"

The rampaging bird tears across the plaza, throwing its bulk about with utter disregard for the property damage it inflicts. A great taloned claw comes down on the roof as the bouncing creature bears down upon the small girl and the front of the building explodes into a geyser of rubble and dust.

Leida staggers out of the debris cloud, coughing furiously as she escapes the destruction seemingly unharmed, though rather dirty from the aftermath. The twin spirit flames trail lazily after her grumbling to themselves.

Once her lungs and eyes are mostly free of dirt, the girl whirls around and draws her bow with supernatural ease, unleashing a pair of arrows one after the other into the wide flanks of the crushatrice. Black flames engulf each as they leave the bow at incredible velocity, the princess' unholy strength propelling the shots with a sharp hiss of friction.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel gets some help from Lily, the magic helps but not enough to save her this time. She's just prehaps been pushing herself too hard the attack causes a horrible amount of pain but he's alive she's stll in the fight she doesn't look too happy though as she eyes the thing behind the her ushe pull he rdisk and launches it again at the thing trying to catch the monster in the head.

Sora has posed:
There was a Sora here.

He's uh, over there against a building now. The Crushatrice MAULS the heck out of the Keyblade wielder, who maintains his grip on the Kingdom Key through thick, thin, and a uh, Crushatrice. Really, it's not that bad. See, he's not even bleeding out. But oh, ow, the bruises. He'll be feeling those bruises for awhile.

Or at least for a day or two, til he hops right back to his feet and jumps back into the madness. Again - because that's Sora. He doesn't let anyone keep him down... unless it's Donald smacking him over the head, because that duck is /deadly/.

Oh, right, Crushatrice. Sora throws his hand up into the air, a white-green wind swirling around him briefly as he prepares himself for the next part of the fight, also quaffing a potion on the way.

Lily has posed:
Just on the way up, as she's building up her mystic influence, Lily realizes this thing can, indeed, fly.

Fly right up on top of her, that is. Her ascent freezes just as the wings STOP beating and she realizes... this isn't so good.

"----aaaaaaaaaaaah!!"

NOW IT IS TIME TO PANIC. AND HURT.

"Hwwuuuu--" She's caught by the falling poultrybutt, brushed by the edge and brought smacking down to the ground in a bloodying impact that might have cracked a rib, maybe. "Ow ow ow... owwwwwwww. This is why it's called a Crushatrice... mean... mean and painful..."

Yeah, this is going south fast.

"Hraaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" But UP she goes, fighting off the pain angrily, while lightning bolts lash out wildly about her. The lightning is swiftly joined by flickers of orange-red flames that whirl about and burn in her growing aura, resulting at first in some steam... and dust joins it a bit later, turning into muddy streams whilring about her like a vortex. However...

That's not the spell she's focusing on. Seeing Sora getting knocked flat similarly, she takes a deep breath and folds her hands, focusing..

Cobalt light shimmers from the jewel on Lily's forehead, and streams of magic that just slightly illuminate the area on their way there flow out to ensconce Deelel and Sora alike, bring with it vital force.

"... Now I'm angry. Kick it into the sky!"

Luso Clemens has posed:
And in the middle of their struggles, a voice cuts through the air. "Hey! Everyone! You can do this! I know it!" It was Luso, standing on a rooftop nearby, grimoire of the rift held out and open in his hands. It glowed with a mysterious energy and he smiled wide despite the situation.

"You just gotta believe in yourselves! Come on! Take that giant chicken down!" As he said that, energy spiraled outwards from the grimoire, lacing about through the air and intertwining around the bodies of those fighting. An empowering aura seemed to form around, filling them with renewed strength.

And then at that moment, several cockatrices hopped on onto the roof Luso was standing on, squawking angrily. "Crap! There's more of them! ACK! I'll see you guys later!" And then the boy hopped off the roof and was gone.

...Well then.

Klesta in the meanwhile was met with the demon and digital combination of attacks from Leida and Deelel, stumbling back a ways, but remaining upright still. Not wasting any time, he charged forward, pecking away at the two of them and swinging outwards with his wings.

That was followed up with a tackle, aiming to throw them off guard once again.

Evja has posed:
Thankfully, there happened to be hipotions in that stall, and when Evja crashed into it, combined with the help from Luso, the poor Viera's back finally seemed to fix itself. Not to mention there was a forced realignment from the pile of rubble beneath him. Leaping up, Evja whistles for his Chocobo before leaping up, Senra running by quickly and catching him on his back.
He pulled out two lances and lept up, spinning in the air before slamming down towards where the Crushatrice was with those lances, dancing towards him and laying into him as hard as he could, using them like baseball bats to try and bean that giant bird away as hard as he could repeatedly.

Sora has posed:
Sora looks up, calmly accepting the effects from Luso and Lily as they swirl around him. He braces himself upwards again in a smooth movement, tilting his head up as he looks at the Crushatrice.

"Man, this thing hits hard!" He exclaims, shaking his head briefly.

Sora, that'd be a understatement. However, he shifts his way around the Crushatrice, before he charges in again, not aiming to just hit the thing with his Keyblade, but to smash into him like a wall of... spikey, brown-haired protaganist. BOOM! Or not. It really remains to be seen.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is suprised to hear something from Luso sh though he was pretty burried in enemie sbut he's there and well he's doing somehing with that tome. Whatever it is? She feels good darn good, so good she's almost back in top fighting form for the moment she leaps out of harms way keeping tabs on her allies and attacks once more the attack isn't as powerful as before but she's clearly preparing for something, almost like she's range finding.

"Keep at it!"

Leida has posed:
The arrows thump painfully into the bird's side, one of them tipped with a Y-shaped blade that slices into its outstretched wing, making it a little more troublesome to fly. The others clip into its feathered hide but the thick rubbery skin beneath prevents them from penetrating and they pinwheel to the ground harmlessly.

Leida's eyes narrow slightly at this, her expression having transitioned from frightened princess to calculating warrior in the span of moments that it took for her to draw her arrows and fire. Her grim countenance falters, however, upon hearing Luso call out and she turns her head to peer up at him as the magic of the book engulfs their bodies.

'Hey kitten, no time to space out or we're gonna end up scrambled!'

Whipping back to face the deadly beast, Leida glares up into its keen eyes as the massive beak comes down to cut and shred at her slender body. However, with the aid of Luso's magic she reacts with incredible speed, throwing herself to the side in the nick of time. A thin line of black blood rushes up to stain the ragged gash across the front of her shirt, adhering the fabric to her chest almost instantly.


The wound is ignored, its apparent severity far worse than the reality of the matter. The cut would be healed by the time she could lift a hand to press against it. Instead Leida reaches for more arrows, casting a cold stare at each of the flickering fireballs hovering about her. "You two. Time to help out."

'Ofcourse, my dear, we would be egg-static to assist you.'

With a poker face that would make a lifeless mask envious, the girl draws out a different sort of arrow, this one with a flat block of wood instead of a metal blade for a tip. Dark flames surge up around it as she goes through the motions, lifting her bow up overhead and then drawing the string back until the nocked projectile is even with her cheek. There is a short pause as she aims at the wildly flapping monster, her body statuesque in the chaos of the battle, until with a simple unfurling of her fingers she fires again.

The arrow lances out, a blur of black on the bright blue desert sky as it zips in towards the crushatrice's forehead.

Lily has posed:
Crackle-whoooosh. The cobalt light surrounding LIly surges intensely as she raises her arms in answer to Luso's efforts.

"We DEFINITELY WILL!" She crows out angrily to the retreating youth, her expression growing quite... icy.

Slowly, Lily rises up into the air several feet and spreads her limbs..

And a wave of that same blue spreads out like a gust of wind across the ground, leaving frost in its wake. Congealing in the girl's aura .... are huge, glacial CHUNKS of ice that should not be flying.

Things that big should NEVER fly.

But they do, and with a few gestures she sends icebergs the size of wagons hurling for the Crushatrice with EXTREME prejudice. They are sharp, they're cold, and if they hit they'll burst into sharp shards and deluges of arctic water!

Luso Clemens has posed:
The group is much more successful in their attacks against Klesta this time around, and the tables seemed to have finally turned. Now it was Klesta who was on the ropes! ...And he looked none too pleased about it. The furious combination of keyblade strikes, lance thrusts, demonic energies, and...

...what the hell? How did one little girl conjure up THAT much ice!? Gameshark!

Either way, the combined force sends Klesta tumbling backwards, rolling like a ball and flailing comically in anger. "Skreee! SKREEEE!" It squawked angrily, and soon enough, several cockatrices came shuffing into sight, rallying on one side of the massive bird and pushing him back to his feet. Once their jobs were done, the smaller birds scurried away, likely to continue giving chase to a certain boy in yellow suspenders.

Poor Luso.

Once he was back upright, Klesta took a deep breath...and then let out a loud bellow. ...Nothing happened after that. But then after a bit, it became apparent that something was happening. The ground began to shake. Why was that, you ask? Because HOLY CRAP! Giant cockatrice stampede on aisle 7! Klesta did not stop at that though, the huge bird took to the air again as the stampede rushed the group.

...And then in a familiar manner compared to earlier; he dropped, hard. Tossing his weight around in an attempt to make assorted pancakes!

Watch out!

Evja has posed:
Stampeeeeeeeeeeeeede! With careful footwork and much jumping and dodging, Evja actually managed to avoid the Cockatrices, and Crushatrice, entirely! Eventually the Viera landed right back on his chocobo and began to run fast wide circles around the central plaza, circling stands and stands before Evja spotted something and speared it with a lance, bringing it up above him and pulling it off.

What was it?

Well, it was red and looked kind of gross and... it was a pepper. A Chili Pepper.
A Dead Pepper.

"Come on, Senra, let's do this. Have a treat." Holding it out for his noble steed to take, Senra snaps it up before squawking loudly.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRKKKKKKKKKKK! WHOOOOOOOSH!" One could practically see the fire lit under this Chocobo's backside as he tookoff like he had a rocketbooster strapped to his posterior. Luckily the rider was good enough that he could stay on by leaning forward, leveling his lance out only to pull out another. Making a large loop around the courtyard while the Chocobo literally ran on the sides of the building it was going so fast, claws tearing little hunks of stone out from clawing into it, Senra leaped off and the two hurtled like a Choco Meteor straight towards that bigass fat Crushatrice, Klesta!

"BEGONE!" Evja yelled, his steed yelling in Chocobeese, (GETOFFA MY NEST YOU FAT <WAAAAAAARK>), suddenly agitated beyond reason.

And should that manage to knock the Chocobo up, Evja lept straight up with the aid of the chocobo and spun midair before slamming the both of those weapons right against the posterior of poor Klesta, attempting to Team Rocket him right out of the city with all the might of a hopped-up Chocobo and his Judge Rider.

Sora has posed:
"WHY IS IT ALWAYS FLUOROGIS?!"

Poor Sora. Poor /everyone else/, really, as Sora briefly disappears in a cockatrice stampede. Some few feet away, Sora stumbles back to his feet, his spikey hair somewhat drooped, he points his Keyblade right back at the Crushatrice, bnefore he takes a few steps, then smoothly breaks into a run, running straight back at Klesta. Because if it doesn't fall down, smash, smash again.

(And don't get squished.)

Leida has posed:
As the arrow streaks into the bird the two wise-cracking spirits begin to glow brightly. Their bodies of flame seem to gain some intensity and like a pair of missiles they erupt through the air after the projectile, twirling around it like a pair of moons in orbit.

The fireballs peel off their pursuit at the last second, shooting out to each side and instead spiral about the large fowl. Unholy magic emenates from their dead souls, foul curses of those no longer able to feel the warmth of life and sun seeping into the beast to sap it of its strength.

The arrow explodes into splinters upon Klesta's face, black flames scorching its beak and feathers as vile corruption flows into its wounds. A mass of oily shadows clings to the impact site and begins to extrude dark tendrils into the beast's exposed flesh around the eyes, festering its blood with a mere touch.

A grim look of emptiness remains plastered on the princess' face as she sees the results of her assault. She enjoys the pleasant lack of cheesy commentary as her enslaved minions are presently tied up in cursing the monster but that satisfaction is quickly replaced with anguish. Beset by pain and enemies from all sides the crushatrice lives up to its name, bounding and smashing about the plaza with reckless abandon.

Leida throws herself out of harm's way again but this time she is not quick enough. The girth and speed of the avian overcome her agility and pain explodes through her back as one of the great claws tears into her mid-leap. Blood jettisons from the fresh hole in her body, staining the pavement black as she hits hard and bounces several times, rolling to a stop only when she finally meets the wall of a nearby building.

A soft groan rises from her crumpled form. The dark spots where her blood taints the ground begin to hiss and bubble ominously but their burbling rage quickly dies out as the girl pushes herself to her feet once more, staggering from the effort.

Her yellowed eyes glance around to check on the others, seeing equally painful devastation all around. Leida grimaces and makes her way over to gather up the fallen bow. "I am not... among the dead yet..."

Another arrow is drawn forth from the quiver with slightly shaking hands. Leida nocks it stoically and levels her gaze on the demon bird, hefting her weapon with some effort and slowly drawing back the string. Again there is a pregnant pause as her body goes still, her concentration peaking in that moment of utter clarity. There is just her and the target.

This time the darkness surges up to engulf not only the arrow but the girl as well. Tendrils of darkness burst forth from her wounded back, slithering and creeping up to twine about her arm. Teeth grind as she is filled with strength and pain and for a moment her vision goes blurry. However, the girl manages to steady herself and with a final deep exhale she releases.

The air explodes around her as the arrow flies free, streaking from her hands to the target in the gap of a heartbeat with the force of a kinetic missile. Crates and rubble fly away from Leida in the wash of immense power tumbling with great crashes into nearby stalls and walls, adding to the devastation that the bird has wrought.

Lily has posed:
After hurling all of that magic, Lily stumbles a bit, stunned by the exertion.. and that's all the opportunity ol' fatty needs.

".... Aahh..." Lily's just wobbling about when DOWN it comes.

CRUNCH!

She doesn't even get a SCREAM out, but she's completely buried under the heavy bird.

And apparently stuck there.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel says "Because it seems to be likely the next place the heartless will consume!" That or it's like LA is on more versions of earth trouble magnet central. Who knows but right now she's going to follow up the keyblader's attack with one of her own going for the beast with her disk she's going to prehaps get a bit rough as she moves to run it along the beasts side while the edge if powers that could hurt quite a bit.

Luso Clemens has posed:
Like a boss among bosses, Klesta laughed off the attacked aimed at him, deflecting Leida's attempt with a wing and then just barely rolling aside out of Evja's way. Could ANYTHING stop this bird!?

Oh wait. How about a KEYBLADE!?

BAM!

A well placed keyblade smash sent Klesta flying...and flying..and flying even more. "Skreeeeeeeee!" Was the cry it let out as it went comically sailing into the skies of Fluorgis...and back into the desert. With their leader gone, the other cockatrices looked at each other...and then hightailed it out of there!

....Silence....

And then the people began to cheer! "Woo hoo!" "They did it!" "Yeah! That kid with the key is AWESOME!" "Man! What were those other guys even doing anyway? They should be more like that kid!"

...Well then.

Evja has posed:
CRASH!

Senra runs the two right past Klesta and head first into some stalls. BLAM. Heap of Viera and Chocobo.

Sora has posed:
Sora looks around as everyone basically disappears, leaning back slightly with the Keyblade disappearing as he places his hands against the back of his head, laced. "Aheh - it's really..." AWKWARD.

Leida has posed:
The princess stares with wide-eyed incredulity as her arrow is turned aside with the ease of swatting a gnat. Was that mere coicidence, had the fates aligned to allow such a ponderous creature to display such grace and skill, or was the beast merely that good? Either way, she will never know.

The assault of arrow and lance distracts the beast long enough for Sora to strike it down, his mighty keyblade doing what their weapons could not. As the monster disappears into the horizon the unnatural focus and calm evaporates from Leida's body as if a curtain were drawn back.

The pain of her wounds assaults the small girl anew and without the supernatural touch of the demon's endurance to hold her up, she collapses to her knees with a shriek of agony. The process of healing has already begun, foul vapors rising up from her tainted blood as it literally boils in the deep gash, cauterizing and mending the flesh at the same time. It is not a pleasant sensation.

Those townsfolk near her who had rushed out to celebrate their victory quickly gasp and take several steps back, giving the demonic girl a wide berth as her corruption manifests vividly for the first time in the public eye. How will the others react to this?

Lily has posed:
There's Lily, facedown in the dirt. Sputtering.

And in the middle of a dirt angel. It's kind of like a snow angel, but a lot dustier.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel will move over to help Lily get up and looks about the various people as they celberate the victory over the monsters. She's got to wonder abotu this however what is causing all of this and she looks over to Sora. "Sora right? I only ever seen a weapon like yours once before in the hands of another." She seems curious after all. "ALso are you in need of anything?" She's still helping Lily up. "Lily...it's all right it's over."

Luso Clemens has posed:
While the group celebrated...or rather, just groaned and tried to make sure that they weren't missing any limbs, a certain Nu Mou trickster peeked his head out of a nearby building. "...Have they fled?" He asked no one in particular, a stilted smile pretty much permanently etched onto his face. It was Ezel Berbier, once again getting away with his crime.

As expected.

In his arms was a single cockatrice egg. Quite large and valuable looking actually. No wonder Klesta and the others were so peeved! Nevertheless, Ezel was no sorrier for it than a child is sorry for stealing a cookie from the cookie jar!

"And now, time to make my dashing exit." He spoke to himself, chuckling in amusement afterwards as he made his way off into the streets...

Evja has posed:
Evja slowly stands and reaches down to pat the chocobo gently before saying, "Go on back to the stables and get some rest." Warking softly, Senra stands and bumps his head against Evja before trotting off back towards the stables. Of course, this just leaves the Viera standing there rather dazed, white cloak dusty as hell now and pieces of wood sticking out of it here and there.

Sora has posed:
"Yes, I'm Sora." He confirms, moving with Deelel to Lily.

"Lily, c'mon, get up." He catches something out of the corner of his eye, and Sora turns to watch Leida, her young face thoughtful.

Lily has posed:
"Ow ow ow ow owwwwwww." Lily groans in protest at both Deelel and Sora, but she's hoisted somewhat to her feet and... well, she leans much of her weight on Deelel, grimacing and whimpering. THAT HURT. It might have broken some bones.

At least she's always healed so far...

Leida has posed:
Leida remains prone for several moments as her infernal gift works its magic. When she is finally able to stand she does so slowly, pushing to her feet with no help from the wary merchants or her allies. Seeing Lily hoisted by the others and catching the gaze of the young boy whom the others seemed to know, the princess turns her eyes to the ground solemnly with a downcast expression.

Naturally, no one wants to help a demon. The girl slings her bow back over her shoulders, wandering over to where the giant bird had spent most of its time stomping about and collects the pair of arrows that did not embed themselves in the beast's hide to return them to her quiver.

For a moment she thinks of merely leaving on her own but she can't just leave Lily here when she's injured, even if there are others already taking care of the girl. With a sigh, Leida turns back and wanders over to the small gaggle of people, bowing towards them once she has drawn within polite speaking distance.

"Ah... thank you for your aid," she says to Sora and then bows to Deelel as well before moving up to inspect the mage. "Are you... alright, Lily-chan?"

Deelel has posed:
Deelel says "I have few potions just let us get you on your feet." She does pause noticing the strange nature of her friends injuries. Basics didn't have bones as humans woul understand them in their natural state so she knows her frined may be hurt bad and isn't sure how to handle this other rthan trying to be very careful. She catches sight of the guy from the temple but can't do ... much about it. A pattern is mergcing and she's wondeirng if the cities non heartless trouble is souly on his shoulders.

Luso Clemens has posed:
Not too much longer after, Luso emerged from the gather crowds of curious and celebrating people, looking as if he had just taken a beating. Oh wait, he did. But there was a silly grin on his face as he made hobbled steps, leaning on Luabreaker and using it as a convenient walking implement.

"Hey guys! It looks like you managed to do it! Nice work!" Giving a thumbs up, he trailed after the others. "I knew you all could do it! All you needed was a little faith!" Yeah, sure. Faith. And maybe some strong bones and a ton of luck.

"...I hope that's all the trouble Fluorgis has to go through for now though. It's been getting really crazy recently. I don't know why!" As Luso animatedly complained despite his condition, his eyes fell upon Evja. "......."

Squint.

"...Heeeeeeey, I think I recognize you there..." Pause and the boy began rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "...I swear I saw you somewhere! But...Oh! I know!" He hammered his fist into his opem palm as it finally came to him. "Oh yeah! You're that Mark!"

Evja has posed:
"..."
o.o
O.O

What's that? Mark? WHOOSH! Evja turned and leapt only to cry out and fall to the ground, the sudden torque of his back combined with having been rammed into that stall, even with the hipotions that were poured on him, caused his muscles to lock up again from that injury he sustained several days ago. And thus the Judge lays on the ground, prone and... well, not much he can do at this point to get away from Luso with that back of his. Unless he manages to push past it.

Lily has posed:
Strong bones.

Strong bones, huh?

"I... I don't know, Leida. I feel broken!" She grips her side, still leaning on Deelel, and too hurt apparently to focus on anything else going on.

"I-it hurts... I'll... start healing.. once I rest a bit!"

Sora has posed:
Sora looks at Lily, then at Evja... Then he shakes his head, and leans down, resting his hand briefly on Lily's forehead before a spring of green light pops up over her head, casting Curaga, before he goes to offer the judge a hand up with a smile. "C'mon, get up, or do you need some help like Lily does?" He offers, ever the friendly keyblade wielder.

Leida has posed:
Leida winces at the severity of the injuries the normally upbeat girl must have suffered to be speaking as such. Her expression becomes even more somber at this news but she can't say it's suprising. She did just get sat on by a very very large chicken. "I-I am sorry, Lily-chan. I cannot--"

Her apology is cut short by Sora's healing magics and she takes a step back as the holy light radiates from his hands, squinting slightly. However, once he is finished she bows to him again spouting her thanks timidly before moving to support Lily from the other side.

"Come. Let us return home so you can rest properly."

Luso Clemens has posed:
Evja's total inability to get away, combined with the fact that she HAD assisted with the expulsion of Kelsta from the city gave Luso pause. "Huh..." He mumbled, sheathing Luabreaker and crossing his arms, watching as Sora offered his help to the judge. "Weeeeeell...I guess I'll leave you alone for today."

Saying that, the boy sighed and shrugged his shoulders before taking out a potion to down. It had already been a long day anyhow! "I'll give you a head start. And then I'll look for you! Sound fair?" He asked, grinning at her.

Evja has posed:
Evja began to roll over and accept the hand up until he realized it was a kid and not someone older. Suddenly feeling a bit guilty about having him be put in harms way possibly, Evja went to push him out of the way until Luso spoke. "...thanks kid." came a soft remark from the Judge when he finally let himself be helped up before he tried to straighten up only to wince and look up at Luso, "I... will not be chased all over this land. I only tried to run to make sure none would get hurt if you forced me to defend myself."
Slowly Evja raised and pulled out his sword, attempting to remain defiant. "If you wish to engage me... let it be official. If you are an adjudicated clansman, call forth your Judge, or be warned I shall not hold back in defending myself." Though who knows how well he could, or couldn't with that back of his. To Sora, he looks over and says softly, "You should step back. Thank you for helping me up, but if you are nearby, you may get caught while I try to defend myself."
Of note, though, it is the same sword a Judge carries. If Luso hadn't figured it out by now, perhaps it might be obvious now that the Viera was a Judge.

Sora has posed:
"Oy." Sora says, as Evja pushes him away. "I'm not a kid!"

Sora looks upset at Evja's comment, still holding the Keyblade, before it neatly flitters(dissipates?) off into wherever it is that... Keyblades wait.

Luso Clemens has posed:
"......"

Luso watched as Evja stood, drawing her sword defiantly. He didn't respond for several long moments, remaining still with his arms cross. And then suddenly all at once, he began to laugh. "Ahahahaha! Wow, really? Why so intense?" The boy asked after, chuckling still.

Apparently it was a rhetorical question however as he turned away, putting his back to the judge as he began to walk off. "Whatever! I'm out of here! Thanks for the help again guys! See ya around!"

And then he was off, walking down the street and leaving Evja to her own devices with the others.

Evja has posed:
Evja watches as Luso simply leaves, then sighs, relieved he wouldn't have to fight. "I shall have to beware... it would seem Verda truly is after me. Espers above, please help me now." And with that, the Viera slowly begins the trudge back to the Shardseekers HQ, sword in hand.