Dark Distractions

Dark Distractions
Date of Scene:	09 March 2013
Location:	Traverse Town District 2
Synopsis:	While Xanatos Gambits are being spin, shadows sweep out of the background to provide some serious beatdowns and lobster butter.
Thanks to:	Everyone. For Patience. For Strength. For-- Awesome poses.
Cast of Characters:	Will Sherman, Tifa Lockhart, Deelel, Pete, Vespa, LEXUS, Mozenrath, Aerith, Celina Duvalis, Seith, Mirage, Luso Clemens, Kim Possible, Ping, Ariel, Oblivion, Emperor Mateus, Sofiya Fuma
Tinyplot:	Manhattan Restoration

---

Mozenrath has posed:
It's been a long road, but finally and with some luck the final pieces of the puzzle will be in place. The very ends of the universe seem to have been scoured for this particular engagement. Dungeons have been cleansed. Monsters have been foiled and neatly wrapped into origami.

Inevitably any story about great peril and strife has to end with good conquering evil and winning the day. Except when the ending is torn out of the book. Then.. who know what may happen?

Traverse Town, whose time is constant and unchanging in the lack of anything so dire as a change of light conditions is bustling with sporadic activity. The sound of repair crews and construction can be heard in the distance while last night's rumble is still being attended to. The residents have somewhat become used to this sort of disturbance however and life is going on (almost) like normal.

People filter in and out of the street, though a definite air of tension still hangs like a shroud over the town as people go about their business.

Move along. Move along. Nothing to see here. >.> <.<

Well.. except for the incoming tides of darkness headed by multiple scions of darkness. Where did that come from? (The sound of flipping pages) Ah. Here it is. It's in the script. (the narrator hides the marking pen behind their back.)

Indeed. Negaduck was only the first ridiculous notes in this Song of Shadows and Chainsaws that is now approaching the Traverse Town boundaries again. And apparantly.. this time, it's a piece with many more speaking parts.

(Beware Villains on a Monologue Tour) ...NOW in Scream-o-Vision.

Ping has posed:
Ping is currently assisting in the rebuilding efforts, part of a classing Disney Montage Song. He is swinging a hammer, hoisting lumber, cheering on his comrades, and injecting mirthful lyrics into what would otherwise be a somber task. He has a remarkably good singing voice:

"Let's get down to business! And repair The Slums! Did they send me mortises, when I asked for tenons? This is the busiest we've ever been!"

So caught up in his work, Ping fails to immediately notice the encroaching darkness (it's always been a bit dark here, anyhow.) What he does notice, is that the instrumentals seem to have suddenly ceased, along with any hammering, sawing, or singing. Everyone is just standing around, staring up at the sky.

Ping stands and gazes upwards as well, peering into the darkness. "What is that...?"

Sofiya Fuma has posed:
One of these people is not like the others...

Not at the head of the tide of darkness but at the side is someone who may not immediately attract a lot of attention. A slender girl, probably in her late teens, advances. She is dressed in a Wutai style in mottled dark colours, an outfit that leaves half her legs and the entirety of her arms bare, with no notable armour aside from reinforced but fingerless gloves and a light chestplate. She is also carrying a bizarre weapon that looks like a cross between a long rifle and a poleaxe: a weapon of Wutai's military.

Sofiya's expression is halfway between a smug look and a smirk. The Shadow Lords want this town? She'll give it to them.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart doesn't know about Wutai, but she knows that her absence from Traverse Town ended up in destroying a good part of it.

No, it wasn't related at least.

But still, if she had been there instead of seeing voodo ladies... well maybe it would still be damaged, but it couldn't be any WORSE, right?

At any rate, she came back to town to help with the repairs, waiting for the 'moonlight' or whatever the spirit shard needed. While she wasn't up on rooftops for the repairs, she's been aiding with some material carrying, thanks to her chocobo, but also assisting with drinks and refreshments.

But from the low angle from town she doesn't get to see the darkness approaching... else she might be worried. Instead, she looks at her watch, checking if its getting closer to midnight. Something is supposed to happen, right? She's still a bit unclear on the whole thing.

LEXUS has posed:
It was only a matter of time.

Manhattan was just the proof of concept. LEXUS was prepared to make the next step. Now, it is time to tear the heart out of the Restoration forces and shatter their ability to travel. With mobility restricted only to those who can wield Darkness, the tactical advantage lies with the Shadow Lords. Divide and Conquer.

A man casually walks amidst the Heartless tide, their movements unnaturally parting around him in a wave as they stay precisely five feet from him at any point in time. The skittering sounds of the cyber-insectoid Daemon Heartless are heard as they plunge from unexpected directions, preying on those they can reach.

He says nothing. All they need to do is look at the man, and see those burning, violet ring-in-black eyes to know what comes.

Seith has posed:
The only reason Seith left his library on this decided day, is because he was approached by another certain Shadow Lord. Of course, Seith could not help but be curious. But what's more - to be owed by the God of Death is a chance this man will not let elude so easily. He's not too keen on dying after all.

Ah, and make a show of it too? Certainly, Seith can do that!

The man sits in a massive stone throne, one hand at the ends of the armrests, the other to his chin. A foursome of Large Bodies are carrying the man along the streets. A horned king; such is what Seith looks like in his dark armor and mantle. Around him, there's a good squadron of heartless that follow in a perfect set of lines; one on either set. And behind him, a foursome of massive Wyverns.

Slowly, this march of darkness comes to a halt amidst the second District as the man raises his hand in the air. The Heartless stare out at the city beyond. "Heartless under mine command..." He lazily mutters, before a wicked grin meets his expression. His hand travels down and makes a grand sweeping motion.

"GO FORTH AND ANNIHILATE! Leave no human alive!" His voice raises and the shadows immediately dive into the ground and sweep out whilst the Wyverns all immediately converge on the constructionwork at hand, in an attempt to single out Ping.

"Today, is the last day of your lives, dear people of Traverse Town! For the last time, has this been the bastion of light and the resistance against the heartless. Today, your world shall meet the darkness that has forever been above your heads. Today, the hope for a sunrise within this town will forever be snuffed out!"

Kim Possible has posed:
Kim Possible is always ready to lend a hand when it comes to dealing with the Darkness and things like that. Whatever she can do to help out, she'll gladly do it. No matter how big or how small the task at hand is, if you need help, just call upon Kim Possible! She's always ready to help out, and she can get back home in time for her curfew, as well as be able to do her homework and babysit her twin brothers. Quite an amazing one that Kim Possible is!

Kim has been working on the ground, helping to fix some of the things closer to the ground. It may seem weird for a girl to be fixing things like a carpenter, but Kim's not your typical girl. She's got a big grin on her face, and that grin doesn't look like it's going away anytime soon... until her watch beeps, telling her it's midnight. "Oh no, I'm way overdue to be home! I'd better--" Kim pauses as she senses that something isn't right. That's when Seith speaks up, and she spins in the general direction of the voice and scowls. "This is totally uncool. It looks like I'm gonna be late getting home for a good reason though!"

Luso Clemens has posed:
Luso was there front and center when Negaduck had struck Traverse Town. He spent some additional time there after. More than he thought he would, but time spent doing catching up with old friends was never time wasted. But it seemed like the storm hadn't passed. Not at all. In fact, it would seem as if it was only just beginning...

"You've got to be kidding me..." Luso mumbled as he stepped out of a nearby shop, staring off at the approaching darkness. "We just took down Darkwing Duck the other day and now this? When is it gonna end!?" And apparently, he still thought Negaduck was Darkwing Duck. That probably wasn't going to change anytime soon! "Well whatever!"

A shrug then as the boy reached out behind himself, gripping two handles of the various swords strapped behind himself. "Fine! Just another day in the work of Clan Gully!" Luso grinned at that, drawing Flametongue and the Kwigon Blade, pointing the former at the oncoming heartless. "You can keep trying and trying, but you're not gonna succeed!"

He spied a familiar sight however. LEXUS walking through the tide and he glared. "You! Hey! I remember your, you jerk!" Luso called out towards LEXUS. "You were that creep that stole that building in Manhattan!" He swung the pointed sword outwards then. "It's time for a rematch!"

Aerith has posed:
She felt it coming before anyone else probably saw it.

Aerith was helping Tifa with the repairs when the first signs of a strange darkness passed through the air. Just the first mere contact with it made warning bells go off in her head, and the flowergirl froze cold. She'd heard these whispers before, and knew what they meant. "Tifa... something's wrong."

And then the voice boomed, and she glanced in its direction, just before the sound of leathery wings filled the air. Aerith slid down the ladder leading up to the roof she was perched on just as Kim finished speaking. "If this is your first time in town, you picked an awful day to come around apparently!"

Ariel has posed:
Ariel knows what this darkness is... but only because this happened yesterday. Yesterday, it was Negaduck, so that's what she's mostly expecting as she peers out of one of the Traverse Town alleyways. But it seems the Heartless have other leaders today...

She stands with her fists clenched. She knows that she can help now, so, she must. It looks like there's lots of others here, too, though, so she won't be alone in this. A dark wind blows her red hair as she stands ready for what's about to come... looking small under the wave of darkness.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel knew they were close with the shrds she'd been actually bad to the grid today to pick up a few supplies while she could as who knows when she might be abe to sneak back but she's only just returning to town. Her light cycle is moving at a fairly fast clip now then there's an alert on the hud.

WARNING VIRUS DETECTED! WARNING

"Virus?! Wait is it?!"

The bike pikcs up speed to wreckless speeds a human would have a hard time to control it even if they could yet she can given she's while very tied to the beings who created her she is not human. A wireframe image forms of LEXUS default form on the hud as the bike reports the idenity of the virus.

DANGER LEXUS.EXE dectected! DANGER!"

She gritts her seeth as she pulls in and the bike derezxes abotu her, she goes air borna nd land in a rouch already pulling the disc off her back. She's scared, she knows what LEXUS can do and had done but she can't run. She refused to run before she'll not run today.

"Luso?! You have experiance with him? Good, we're going to need that. He's not a virus anymore he's something worse than what he used to be."

Emperor Mateus has posed:
There are no need for Corridors here. The anticipation is best savored, a procession of darkness akin to a tidal wave bearing down on an unsuspecting beach.

District Two's repairs are well underway, the workers ignorant of something wicked that comes. As Seith spearheads the procession, a man similar to David Bowie floats along the side, his levitated staff twirling just shy of his fingertips. His eyes seem almost half-closed, lips pressed into a wan smile of amusement.

Emperor Mateus of Palamecia has heard much of these 'heroes'. Now to see their purported strength for himself.

He levitates a little higher at Seith's proclamation, his staff rising above his head as the cat-eye gem glows gold. His chin tilts up and back, his gaze seeming to be cast down his nose at the heroes gathering before them, and magical power begins to swirl around him in preparation. He has no words to add. He needs none.

Mirage has posed:
Amongst the Heartless flooding the streets and rooftops are those of distinctly Arabian-flavored. Hundreds of bandit-types lurk through the streets, leaping upon fleeing civillians, tearing through anything they can touch with gigantic scrimitars. They move with the grace of assassins, hopping between walls, leaping from lamp-post to lamp-post.

But there are other creatures mixed into the fray. Cat-creatures, made out of pure flames, leap from roof to roof, starting fires wherever they land. Normal weapons seem to do little against them, swords and bullets passing through. Seems they are actually made of pure flame, with nothing physical to harm within them.

High in the air, there is a green flash of flames, followed by a corridor of darkness splitting open in reality. From the inky depths, the catlike sorceress appears, floating high in the air, a smug smile creeping upon her face. "Mmmm. The air is thick with despair already. I suppose Ducky knows how to do something right, every now and then."

Will Sherman has posed:
Will has been helping out with Traverse town's increased Heartless problem. He had stayed here to mind the town, instead of going off with the rest after Madam Ode. It's been...annoying. Heartless everywhere, and Negaduck was a problem.

Then the swarm came...Will moves like a bat out of hell, kicking heartless way, leaping off of one and soaring towards a mage heartless. Swinging off of it, he aims for another, aiming to kick it right across the face sending it into another. Will's hand glow red, as he squeezes one hand...and threads of fate tear the other ones apart.

It was just like Manhattan...and his blood was boiling, "Not again." he says, rushing forward again, but as he hears Luso call out...LEXUS. His eyes narrow, the thing's taunt before causes him to growl.

"You.." The ground shakes, and he laughs a little. "YOU!" he roars. "YOUUUUUU!" he shouts, something snaps in Will.

Will was actually angry. Angry beyond words, he wasn't shoving it on his local god. And then...

For a moment, Will and Loki reached an accord. LEXUS, the thing that mocked them...destroyed their world...that took everything from them. Caused Loki to suffer, caused Will to anguish...

People who were there at the world heart would KNOW that feeling. It is like a heartbeat, but also...different. LEXUS would see the red energy radiating off of Will's hands, as he narrowed those now very sharp eyes towards The virus.

"You will pay!" Will and another voice say in unison. And then he immediately was gone, running full force towards the program, tearing through heartless that get in his way...

Oblivion has posed:

The sea of darkness has waves of heartless. These waves of heartless are following along behind something that some Heroes may remember. Yet this one, is not far as large; but big enough that heroes can run around it.

It a massive mecha lobster heartless! Four claws, eight glowing yellow eyes, and large claws feet that slam into the ground as it walks. Each claw going, snap, snap, snap, with each step it takes. Some heartless were even riding on it. How cute!

For now it is only looming in the background of the main villian group, yet one can only imagine the trouble it may soon bring with it!

Pete has posed:
SCREAM-O-VISION!!

Pete cricks his neck lightly and then laughs heartily as he steps out of the shadows, approaching Lexus--who seems to be something of an alpha villain here. There are many alpha villains here of course, but Pete wants to taunt Will the most right about now. because--

FLASHBACK

WILL AND FRIENDS SHOVE A BARREL IN PETE'S MOUTH

NOW

"You didn't think it'd be that easy, didja Will? Heh heh..." He pats his belly and laughs uproariously. "Oh you're gonna pay... you're gonna pay for whatcha did to me, boy!"

He stomps his right foot repeatedly. "I HAD THE TASTE OF SPLINTERS IN MY MOUTH FOR WEEKS, YA JERK!!!"

Celina Duvalis has posed:
"Oh, great, why is it always only me..."

Wandering (okay, running) behind WIll is a slim older woman, the evident Mom of the group. Celina is carring a thick book in her grip - Will knows the Grimoire (From underneath the leg of the couch), and a glowing greek symbol clutched tightly in her other hand. "Will-!"

Aerith has posed:
Aerith swung and circled her staff, clearing a twelve-foot circle of heartless-free space around her and Kim. As the shadows dissipated into wisps and gleaming hearts floated into the air, Aerith suddenly caught wind of extra foes scampering across the rooftops... with very familiar turbans. Her eyes narrowed as she looked in the general direction they originated from... and her face became an impassive mask of cold fury.

"You."

She whirled her staff until she'd secured it behind her back, then glanced toward Kim. "Come on, let's go." Without another word, she made her way toward a nearby building and leapt atop the roof, making a beeline for the cat lady who tried to break her in Manhattan... and failed.

It only served to make the flowergirl angry.

Mozenrath has posed:
Welcome to the Evil Sorcerer Exchange program, where even YOU you miserable hermit can get out and see the wonders of the multiverse. Now with the fully upgraded Murdertime 2000 for all of your universe conquering needs. Because at Labco, we ask the questions mankind was not meant to ask for the sake of the customer.

And so the Grand Monologing Tour continues with even more spectacle as each Scion tries to essentially outspectacle eachother for the sake of pride, of dignity, of /Fabulous Prizes/ to be later named.

And here comes our next contestant!

The Ruler of the Kingdom of the Black Sands is a long way from home. Greed however is a great motivator when you are an evil sorceror. It motivates you, especially when an invitation arrives at your palace with an offer you just can't turn away from. Of course, you have to do so in style.

The sorceror moves through the scene with absolute calm, robes fluttering behind him and the eel like Xerxes twitching and spluttering as it tries to keep track of everything at once. Mozenrath watches several charges including Wills and says. "My My.. if looks could bruise." and snorts faintly to himself. "Oh look. Resistance! Marvelous. I suppose we should get around to digging a few graves." He gestures to the undead soldiers that shuffle behind him. "..Well. Not that I'm going to be doing the digging, of course." he gestures in the direction of the accumulated heroes, and things get down to business. Swords! Axes! The Walking Mooks! And Deelel is the first on offer. We'll be back after these brief commerical maulings.

LEXUS has posed:
LEXUS looks to Luso as he makes his challenge. He straightens, his hands folded behind his back as he looks upon Clan Gully superstar. "I am uncertain why you believe this meeting will prove to be any different than the last..." He says.

And then Deelel shows up. "Tch." He puts himself on the defensive, his eyes spinning ominously as they narrow. "You've brought the puppet program with you? Well, this makes it more interesting..."

There is a roaring noise. LEXUS slowly turns, looking towards Will, and his eyes widen. "You." He says, quietly... And then he smiles. "The anger. The despair. I can feel it boiling off of you in waves. Do you think I don't see it, little boy?"

He looks to Luso and Deelel, and gestures. "My apologies, but I have higher priorities to address." He throws out a hand, and a wave of Heartless separates the pair from him as he turns his full attention to Will. "Come to me, boy. I will capture you. I will decompile you... slowly... and remove the barriers in your heart. I will strip away those defenses, and release the destruction I see there. Anything is possible with time and knowledge."

The Heartless part, forming a canyonlike wall between the pair as they clear away, standing side by side. Thunder rolls in the skies above Traverse Town, and LEXUS' expression becomes triumphant. "You should thank me, boy. I will be doing you a favor, before you fade!"

And then Pete shows up, causing the BGM to gain a sudden record scratch. He glances to Pete, and just shrugs, looking back to Will, before he raises his hands, forming a barrier.

Sofiya Fuma has posed:
After some time, the ninja breaks away from the main rush. Sofiya has her own methods.

Those methods are apparently leaping up the side of a building, planting her foot on the windowsill for the extra height to throw herself to the top. Once she's up there, Sofiya ascends all the way to the chimney, bringing that long weapon up. Heartless try to follow her up to give her support; she ignores them, because she doesn't think she needs any of them.

A couple seconds later, a bullet impacts a building under construction - and almost immediately thereafter, another one follows it, its aim shifted slightly. Sofiya cycles the bolt of the rifle, letting the empty shell fall afterwards. She's not the heavy artillery here - she just gets to stop /specific/ people from interfering with the Heartless.

She does aim for the leg though. Sofiya isn't trying to kill. What do you think she is, a ninj - wait.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel says "I'm not about to go away LEXUS, I'll see you deleted one way or another LEXUS." Then Will just cuts lose she understand LEXUS is his by right and hopefully his abilities. Still the threat LEXUS made is chilling. Themn she encounters a strange man of arbab deent from the looks of him. Though he's a bit opn the pale side like he never sees the sun. She narrows her eyes a little at him as things come at her. Mauling she's not fast enough to get out of harms way, not this time and she's forced back.

She's got no idea who this is but he's in league with LEXUS that's enough to pull back any restraint she might have against a user.

"It's strange how long your kind takes to be reprocessed USER."

Deelel is sitll in the fifght and she's closing in quick launching her disc several times at MozenRath and with how it bounces about it may get some of his soliders as they close in.

Vespa has posed:
Vespa just out streching her legs after a little nap at VALKRI headquaters. Last night was a bit tiring..

"That can't be normal..", she says spotting the slabs of darkness coming from the wall. She pulls the broach she wearing around her neck off breaking the chain then out of seemingly nowhere a oversized axe appears in her hands, she heft it over her shoulder then swinging it in a large arc in front of her.

"Today I'm bring a side of kick ass! Hm I need a better catch phrase.."

Vespa has posed:
Vespa spots the mecha lobster. "Seems were suited to deal with that right Al?", she says looking at her axe. "Let's get to work!" ,she runs a bit foward using her axe vault onto the mecha lobster!

Will Sherman has posed:
"Fool," Will says harshly, "I'm not quite all you think I am. I am not controlling it, it is not controlling me...we both want you gone." Will says, with a grin, It's not pleasant.

As the others are cut off thanks to the heartless, Will looks for them. "Don't worry about me! Stop the heartless!" he says, and then back to LEXUS. Those eyes, they burn, they burn so hot and completely, there is something there, something beyond the both of them.

He runs, right at him, aiming to duck...and then jump right upwards towards LEXUS's chin, aiming to launch them both into the air, Will repeatedly aims to punch at the Program's guts on the way up, the threads of fate aiming to try and tear at the Program's very fate..

Before he swings both hands down, aiming to launch LEXUS into the nearest hard surface.

"You realize, that if you did that before...you'd kill us all. Including yourself!"

Ping has posed:
The tide of darkness sweeps over Ping and the creatures beat out of the sky to swarm him. His first instinct is not his own safety but that of the other laborers around him. He quickly interjects himself between a young man carrying buckets of nails and uses the wooden mallet he'd been using to conk a wyvern on the nose and turn it from its bloodthirsty path. He turns his head over his shoulder and calls out to the young man,

"Run! Get everyone to safety!" A pause, "Go!"

Ping quickly turns to face the huge mass of Heartless invaders and thanks to Seith's insane shouting, draws a bead on him. He graps his mallet in his hands in front of him like a sword and then rushes into the fray.

At Ping's hip, in a tiny cage, a small cricket is roused from his lazy slumber. It leaps to its feet and realizes the swarm of heartless Ping has dove into. Even worse, the cricket sees the lovely bartender Tifa, in the distance and lets out a silent squeak of alarm. Heedless of that squeak, Ping rushes to close the distance between he and Seith's ridiculous throne.

Ariel has posed:
Ariel sees the big lobster creature... it's probably something she'll have to look into. The fact that it's coming out of the water means she's got her eyes on it.

She starts to run forward, but, there's a bit of road between her and that critter. She sees a few other people she knows fighting, and wants to help out. So as she runs, she hands out a few potions. She made them herself, so, maybe they can make use of them.

It's really in a quick scramble as she's going to see what she can do about that creature.

Kim Possible has posed:
Looking to Aerith, Kim nods a little. "All right, let's do this! No one's gonna get away with this!" She looks around and spots Pete, which results in her scowling even deeper than before. "You had the taste of splinters in your mouth? Well, I'm gonna give you the taste of my personal martial arts style for an even longer period of time! Because I am Kim Possible, and I can do anything!" She assumes her fighting stance. "So you'd better be ready to fight!"

Kim cartwheels towards Pete, attempting to connect with him, then follows up with a swift kick, and then finishes with a swift punch to round things out a bit.

Kim Possible has posed:
Looking to Aerith, Kim nods a little. "All right, let's do this! No one's gonna get away with this!" She looks around and spots Pete, which results in her scowling even deeper than before. "You had the taste of splinters in your mouth? Well, I'm gonna give you the taste of my personal martial arts style for an even longer period of time! Because I am Kim Possible, and I can do anything!" She assumes her fighting stance. "So you'd better be ready to fight!"

Kim cartwheels towards Pete, then attempts

Luso Clemens has posed:
"Tch!" Luso hissed as LEXUS completely brushed them off and focused on the Incredible Hulk-I mean, Will. "Fine then! Will, knock him out for me!" He called out to the raging hobo. With that done, Luso began to fall back, cutting away some inconsequential heartless as he did so. "Deelel! I'm gonna do some recon! You handle things here!"

And then he turned and ran off, slashing through heartless and surveying the situation. After a bit, he noticed...some flameboyant looking man in gold floating some ways away. "What the....?" He squinted then, looking up at him. "Hey you! Golden Floating Guy! Yeah! Up there! You're with The Shadow Lords, aren't you?" The boy asked, pointing a sword up at Emperor Mateus decisively.

"Then I guess we have a problem now, don't we?" Grinning then, an orange aura began to surround Luso, powering him up.

Mirage has posed:
Though her Heartless and summoned fire elementals easily cause quite a bit of misery on their own, the fear and despair they bring is but small potatoes to Mirage. Vanilla. Barely a morsel. It's the same screaming and helpless flailing she's seen countless times throughout the centuries. By now such things were extremely...

...boring to her. No. She wanted to see people struggle and fight back. She wanted them to have that hope in their eyes, where they think they can survive, only to find it slowly slipping away as they realize they fight a losing battle. She wants to see that 'hero' give in to anger.

Which is why Will's display of wrath is of particular entertainment to Mirage. The reasons behind this aren't lost on her either. She knows the roll that each of them played in the fall of Manhattan. "It's funny. That very man had just a big a part in what happened to that world as the dear 'Program.'"

Seith has posed:
Seith watches chaos erupt and only barely shows a smile as a result. He rather concentrate on the approach of Ping, who is running between the crowd in order to get to him. He motions his hand downwards, and the Large Bodies slowly put down the massive throne. And when the man is finally set down, he stands up and continues to wait, staring out towards the girl.

"Come." He spreads out his hands. "Protect the people! Bring it!" And it's only when Ping has gotten in close range that the man suddenly throws a hand up into the air, and a gulf of purple energy spreads out from his very position and attempts to overwhelm Ping with this wave... and throw him into the air by the sheer force of the attack.

Seconds later, the wave crashes inwards and the Wyverns follow, all attempting to pick Ping out from the air and make his(?) battle even more difficult! Seith doesn't play fair, it would seem.

"Come! COOOOME! Show me your POWER!"

Celina Duvalis has posed:
"Hey, you, go on!"

Celina reaches into her pouch, pulling out a small crystal decanter with a green cork in it. She then tosses it at Deelel. "Drink that, just trust me!" She's a witch! Witches are totally trustworthy, right?

That being said, she drops into a soft Latinate chant, green light popping up around both Will and the strange other person. Because whoever is fighting a Very Bad Sorcerer (she's a witch, she's naturally distrustful of 'sorcerers'. HRmph.) at has to be good, right?

... Right?

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart is getting shot at! She barely had time to heed the call for the death of the city, Aerith's poke getting her attention to the mass of heartless approaching, treathning to engulf the city "... not again, no..." She's seen this with Manhattan, hell if she's going to let it happen to this city. Aerith apparently is getting pulled away by a different target, but she can't ignore the sniper shooting down on everyone.

She nods to Ariel and Kim nearby "I'll take care of that fly, I'll let you handle what's below." She rushes off. Does the barmaid need to use stairs? Nah, she can jump and run pretty damn quick, and she actually uses the different awnings and balconies to jump aptly from one level to another, until she's actually OVER Sofiya, coming down on her with an ground shattering fist, that might even leave a crater.

"You want to dance? Let's do this." She's not about to give any mercy on those trying to ruin another world like Manhattan. She cracks her knuckles, looking at Sofiya, and then slides into her fighting stance "Let's see you take on the Zangan-Ken."

A run to the side, getting out of the straight line ahead of Sofiya, she dashes behind a chimney, and using the momentum, her hand latching to the side of it makes her arc toward Sofiya with a double-footed kick, putting all of her weight behind it and then punching at her in a flurry, building up the momentum of the attack.

Mozenrath has posed:
"So many heroes.." Xerxes whines. They cackle crazily to themselves as Mozenwrath reaches up to pet the floating eel with a gauntleted hand. That hand is pointed towards the program and a lance of painful red energy shooting out towards them as the Mamluk soldiers in their rotten arabian guard uniforms continue to harass them, rusted swords and axes flailing at the disk-using program. .

"Ahahah. Well now stranger, I have to thank you," the sorceror looks at Deelel with a long and considering stare, the pale faced man smirking.

"..Now I know what pathetic looks like." The sorceror takes two steps forwards and gestures imperiously while flanked on either side by the undead. "Now get out of my way, peasant."

Pete has posed:
"Wha--" Pete says as Will ignores him to assault Lexus. "Hey! HEY!!" He hops repeatedly, causing the ground to shake. "I'm talkin' to you, boy! I may not look it, but I've been around the block a few times! You think I'm just gonna sit around while you ruin all our plans and schemes and whatnots? Well, I'm Maleficient's number one boyo!! So y'better--DOOOOOOOOOOF!"

Kim kicks Pete high up into the sky, spittle flying out of his mouth as he spins into the air. "What!! IS THIS YOUR GIRLFRIEND?! Well, little do you know, there's no lady Pete cannot kidnap! Hardy HAR HAR HAR!!"

Even in the air, Pete flings down some exploding bowling balls, intending to blast Kim up into the air, fireworks erupting around in the air as well to knock her back down--into a waiting PETE PUNCH!

"Momma taught me to never hit a lady...unless I really wanted to!"

Ping has posed:
A geyser of purple magic explodes beneath Ping, launching him up into the air like cannonball. Purple is a curious color, often employed by those seeking a darkness so tangible it were visible. Those thoughts and the energy geyser itself don't shake Ping's stride. It's not his power that should be feared, but his tenacity.

His body tucks into a tight tumble and after reaching the height of his parabolic trajectory, he unfolds and shoots down toward Seith like a bolt of lightning from the sky. His wooden mallet is held overhead and a steely determined look is cast on his face. No words are needed, that hard-nosed expression is a shield against Seith's taunts.

Aerith has posed:
Aerith spoke nary a word as she approached. Instead, she aimed her right hand toward the sorceress and fired off spheres of pale green light, right toward the smirk on her face. The fight down below was not the issue here. Flowergirl had a score to settle with cat lady, and it would be settled here.

Vespa has posed:
Vespa recosize a few of the the people fighting here, doesn't have to worry about anyone getting in the way. The mecha lobster, pokes her with one it claws as she hits it.. Nothing too serious yet.. She makes a few more swipes at the mecha armor with her axe.

Emperor Mateus has posed:
Emperor Mateus' gaze slowly focuses on Luso, though his expression does not change one bit from the haughtiness that is likely simply part of his personality. "Really now." He chuckles darkly as he fully turns in mid-air to face the boy, the staff stilling horizontal to the ground in front of him. "Must you even ask, lad?"

His cape and hair swirl from wind not of natural makings and he twists his wrist just enough to point his staff at Luso directly. "Indeed. /You/ have a problem." The gem at the end of his staff glows red as the air around it shimmers, and bluish-purple fire weaves around his free hand. "I simply wonder."

He flicks his unnatural fire-wreathed hand at Luso twice, shadow pulses emanating towards him, as a bolt of fire follows in its wake.

Oblivion has posed:

The Axe comes down from Vespa, and the mecha lobster heartless claw comes up. The Axe cuts into the armor as the lobster tries to get his revenge on the warrior. Several Heartless leap off the Mecha Lobster attempting to jump onto Vespa and move them away from the monster heartless moving through the city.

It may take more heroes to gather up in order to stop this monster it would seem and as such the mecha lobster seems to try and swing its claws for some of the building structures. Using those massive pincers to slam into the buildings. At least that is what it was moving in to do.

Act fast! Time is running out!

Slam that Square button!!

Deelel has posed:
Deelel looks at Mozenrath for a moment and isn't sure what to think about Xerxes. She does realise the gauntly is a source of power at this point. "Oh is that all and peasant? That's rather 404 to me, sorry." Celina comes through with some helpful magic of her own just before well the dark mages attack strikes her. Well more his minions strike her. She actually seems like she's backing off, what's she up to now? Oh the disc agin she's going to try to play pinball with Mosen and his minions it seems.

LEXUS has posed:
"Will you destroy me with that hatred?" LEXUS flicks a hand up, his Disc sweeping out from behind him to intercept the strike. There is a powerful explosion of force as Will's fists impact the barriers that have been erected, but LEXUS is sent skidding back regardless, sliding across the pavement. Black light seeps out around him as he begins to release... something... around him. "Don't you understand how it burns, boy? It calls out. It screams for release. Have you ever known that pain?"

Suddenly, LEXUS blurs, darting in as he sweeps his hands out in a whirling motion. It's like he's fighting in close combat, but the Disc is doing the attacking as he sweeps it through the air, icy blades spinning out of the Disc, moments before he recalls it, firing a beam of violet-black light at the Hobo King.

LEXUS presses the attack, striking out with a brutal combination attack that ends with a spire of electrical force crashing upwards out of the Disc, spiking towards the boy. "I hope it does." LEXUS replies to the final assertion. "It would be glorious. A perfect finale to a life of creation."

Kim Possible has posed:
"Your 'momma' didn't teach you well enough!" Kim exclaims, before finding herself getting caught in a series of slapstick style attacks, complete with a punch that knocks her to the ground. "Ouch," Kim says somewhat sarcastically as she rubs at her rear. "That really was totally uncool!" She narrows her eyes a little before adding, "But don't think you've got me down just yet!"

Without missing a beat, Kim attempts to leap into Pete with a flying kick, before dropping down to add a jab for a 'gotcha' effect, then somersaults away and attempts to catch her breath... hopefully if it all succeeds that is!

Sofiya Fuma has posed:
Sofiya Fuma is not /just/ a sniper. She doesn't get to do much else before Tifa starts charging; Sofiya gets a third shot off but doesn't hit anything but a building because of Tifa's corkscrewing approach, throwing chips of stone and brick from the bullet's impact.

Tifa impacts. Still on the roof, Sofiya doesn't leave a crater, but she does crack some of the roof tiles... with her face. She rolls, vaulting back to her feet in time to deal with the rest of Tifa's assault.

Sofiya can't avoid all of it. She blocks the sweeping kick with the length of the gun-halberd, but cannot parry the entire string of punches despite her best attempt. Tifa forces her closer to the edge of the building, threatening to push her off.

"What," she spits out, "is Zangan-ken?" Sofiya looks up at Tifa as she rises again from being half-doubled over, her lips curled back. "Whatever it is, I don't care. It's nothing."

Sofiya does... something with her left hand. It's hard to see what because she's concealing the precise gestures she makes, at least before she thrusts it outward at Tifa, palm-first.

Flame appears in Sofiya's palm, shrouding the fingers, before a sustained spray of fire erupts forward, a long flamethrower aimed directly at Tifa! When it starts to fade, Sofiya clenches her fist again and smoke drifts up through her fingers. She leaps down to the ground, away from Tifa's easy reach - or at least that's her hope. Until Tifa follows, of course. But there are Heartless down there, too...

Mirage has posed:
Aerith's spell plinks off what seems to be a magical shield surrounding the sorceress. A bushy eyebrow lifts and Mirage looks over her shoulder in the direction of the spell that had struck the shield. "Now what was...oh."

Mirage's ears flatten against her head, "Oh, it's you. Go away, shoo. I'm watching something -fascinating- here."

She doesn't go about attacking Aerith herself. Instead, a trio of fire elemental large cats leap up from the ground, turning into fireballs with snarling animal heads as they fly upwards. The creatures circle around Aerith like hunting lions before pouncing upon the girl.

Vespa has posed:
Vespa isn't quick enough hitting square button, as she get knocked around by the lobster claws. "Okay that hurt...", she swings her axe at the mecah hopefully getting thought at armor and doing some damage to it interior.

Seith has posed:
Seith stares up at Ping, and can't help but be overjoyed. This person contains a certain sense of 'certainty'. A trust in their own strength. "Good! Gooood!" The man calls out towards Ping as he travels down. The man digs his feet in a little and brings one hand to his side. And then, just as Ping rams his mallot down upon his helmet, the man flails his arm out towards Ping's chest.

The impact of the mallot actually rattles the man, causing him to take a step back, but at the same time he brought his own magic to bare once more in that single sweep of that hand, inverting gravity with that hit. "You shall remain at the mercy of gravity!" Seith calls out.

He then closes his fist, and a massive ring of darkness forms in the sky and creates a black hole in the air! If Ping doesn't move fast, he will get sucked up in it and caught in the torrents of gravity and winds that are sharply being pulled into that very same hole...

Only to be spewed out once more to the ground, where Shadows await his arrival.

Aerith has posed:
Aerith made an attempt to avoid the incoming big cats... and got pinned by one of them after avoiding the other two. She struggled to keep the kitty from biting her head off and managed to kick it away before swinging her staff toward the beasties, making her best attempt to knock them senseless before turning her attention toward their mistress.

Luso Clemens has posed:
"Heh, my problem, huh? We'll see about that!" That said, Luso crossed his swords over, defending against the array of shadow and flame. The magic struck against his blades, the majority of it hitting him as well. "Tch! So you're not all talk, just floating there like some kind of fairy!" Lowering his swords then, the both of them began to hum with energy emissions. Particularly those of the fire and ice variety.

"I've got just the thing to cool you down! Try some of this!" Turning the Kwigon Blade downwards, he stabbed it into the ground. Below his regal opponent, the ground began to ice over...and then suddenly a pillar of ice shot upwards, breaking off from the ground and flying upwards to impact from below.

"And then some of this!" Following that, Luso leapt into the air, lashing out with a flaming slash from Flametongue. "And then-!" Twisting in midair, he swung both swords together as lightning energy crackled about. "-Let's have you ride the lightning!"

Ariel has posed:
Ariel gets toward the edge of the water, and skids to a stop. She almost trips in trying it. Sure, she's gotten the hang of legs, but... legs in fighting? Running? It's still a little bit unusual.

But she manages not to fall, a small triumph. Now, to fight that crab, with... whatever she can. She gathers some lightning in between her fingers, combined with wind. A little burst of light flies out of her hands and into the robot lobster. She's still not sure exactly how to combat Heartless most effectively, but this seemed to work last time!

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart doesn't like fire! Its fire that tore down her hometown, although it was because of some homicidal maniac. It still haunts her dreams sometimes though, the flames and the heat. Not a pleasant thing.

She has just a moment of hesitation at the flames, enough for them to burn a bit off her skin, but still a rather superficial wound for the moment. It doesn't slow her down otherwise, once she starts to move she gets under the flame thrower, and then weaves to the side of it, rushing toward Sofiya with a raised fist. Even if you try to get away from the barmaid, she's not giving up. "Why do you want to engulf another world in darkness so badly! You're only going to make suffer more people!" Why would living blood people even BE helping the heartless, that's beyond her.

The fist strikes straight through, and then a low kick aims to knock her off her feet, and while she's slightly airborned enough, a punch raises straight up, uppercutting the body through the stomach as she's falling, sending her flying up.

Pete has posed:
"Har har har!! Even as we take y'all out here, we're taking the Spirit Shard... FOR OURSELVES!" Pete says, using his Special Exposition Skill. "You didn't think we were gonna let you get all those fancy pantsy Manhattan Shards without causing some ruckus, didja? We were just gonna wait till yer guard was done, ha ha ha! That ol' God really came up with a great plan! With all y'all signing up to make deals with him, this'll be easy peasy!"

He twitches a little, sensing a Princess nearby. NO! NO! STAY GOOD(EVIL) PETE! DON'T SUCCUMB TO PRINCESS CAPTURING YET!

He breathes out, barely maintaining control. "Ha ha! Pete's not cool, he's Pete!" Kim leaps for Pete, but he's ready for that--lashing out with a hand with surprising quickness and catching her by the leg.

"Like I said! Great kidnapping powers! But I still seem some fight in ya!" He flings Kim into the air with his hand, and lines up another pair of punches! "Yeah! We'll destroy everything including ourseves then live like kings!...wait." Pete says, thinking that over for a moment.

Will Sherman has posed:
"If I have to, LEXUS, I will." Will says, with a narrowed gaze. "I know pain, I find it's not very comfortable. You'll do better to go for things like hugs and ice cream." he says, with grin.

LEXUS's onslaught is brutal, the Disk sweeps for him, and Will jumps back, landing back on the ground, and running back and forth. He seems to react before the Disk moves...and then slides under it and rolls towards LEXUS.

"You're mad..." he says, all this thing cares about is destruction? "I won't let you succeed." he says, and then is immediately on him again. He aims to strike at the program's chest, a simple chop as he rolls to try and get behind him, and aim a few where it's kidney's would be. The strikes do more than physically hurt too..

They tear at the strings of the Program, aiming to weaken him, to make his fate...less imposed on the world around him. Then, Will grabs LEXUS...

He takes this one from Tifa. SUPLEX! "THANKS CELINA!" he calls out.

Mozenrath has posed:
Mozenwrath is used by the program as a pinball machine. This is how it plays out. The disc shears straight into the head of one of his many minions, reverberating off their empty skull with a sound of a coconut striking the hard packed earth. It then swings wide, crashing against a raised axe, shearing through the haft so that the blade of the axe falls with a meaty THUNK into the undead who raised it.

As they begin to topple forwards like an undead domino, Mozenwrath begins to sneer, opening his mouth to say something cutting when the disc of light slams towards his face at top speed. He slams to the dirt, raising a puff of dust as he considers this extremely undignified position with his hat somewhat over his face for a moment. A low growl of aggrieved and offended pride rises from the sorcerer as he pushes himself painfully to his feet, shoving one of his undead servants that had toppled over onto him in the pinball exchange.

"Do you not hear me? You do not KNOW how excruciatingly painful your resistance is going to be for you? You are going to PAY for for insolence and your jibbering nonsense." "Nonsense! 404!" yelps Xerxes with another distorted giggle.

It snaps teeth at Deelel as the evil sorcer gestures with the gauntlet again. A storm of black sand whips up behind him, chains of black sand reaching for Deelel to bind him and drag him to the ground while bolts of dire lightning crackle along Mozenwrath's gauntleted hand.

Ping has posed:
Despite his laborer's clothes and the clumsy mallet he uses for a weapon, Ping moves like an artist, like a flower-petal spinning gracefully through the breeze. It's a satisfying wallop of his mallet on Seith's nugget, but Ping doesn't stop to celebrate. The searing pain of gravatons shooting through his hip reminds him of the dire import of this tussel.

Ping finds purchase on his feet, on solid ground, the shadows parting around him as he squares off with Seith. He doesn't look at him, however, but past him. The young man he'd spoken to has done as Ping asked, working quickly to shepherd the innocent citizens of Traverse Town into cellars and other safe places away from the fighting. The look in Ping's eyes that Seith mistook for confidence in his fighting ability was really confidence in pursuing a strategy.

Ping lifts his hammer and rushes at Seith, again, looking to batter that iron titan for as long as it takes to clear the streets.

Meanwhile, a small red lizard is racing in the opposite direction of the fleeing refugees. The sword he carries above his head is several times larger than himself, and he labors to carry it. "What have I told that girl about leaving home without her sword. I told her, I told her, monsters fall out the sky in this city. And look what happens? I told her!" The little red dragon spots Ping just as he's about to rush Seith with his mallet, "Is that a mallet!? That kid is crazy!" He rushes faster.

Oblivion has posed:

The Axe comes in again and the mecha heartless lobster raises up one of its claws to defend itself. The axe cuts in deep, ripping parts of the armor off. This does indeed seem to pull away the Heartless for performing great deeds of destruction.

Then comes in several lightning strikes from Ariel which blasts the Mecha Heartless Lobster. Its quivers down a bit, before one of those massive claws extend out and try to slam her into the very ground!

The heartless lobster then lets out a mechanical screeching sound in annoyance, before it suddenly goes to race right for the two heroes attacking it. Attempting to rush them and slam them both into a wall. Then attempts to slam all four claws at them. It kinda sounds like some massive solo drum score going on ever there!

Emperor Mateus has posed:
Emperor Mateus raises an eyebrow, his expression twisting into insulted amusement. Fairy? Really?

He expects Luso to charge at him, not stab the ground--thus the coalescence of cold beneath his feet makes him hesitate for a moment to look down. Not the brightest of ideas, as the subsequent skyward-bound ice block slams into him and destabilizes his levitation somewhat. His staff swings around to block the fire-covered blade of Flametongue, though the twisting electrical energy not only stuns him outright but the impact of both blades hitting his armor at once sends him to the ground.

He lands on the ground harshly, skidding backwards on one knee until the momentum plays out. "It seems you are not all talk, lad." He twirls his staff above his head once, then raises his free hand towards Luso as he begins to float upwards. "Very good."

Darkness stretches from Mateus towards Luso, the shadow seeking purchase both physically and mentally. The Emperor flicks his fingers, sending another pulse of darkness at the boy, then grasps his staff with both hands as if aiming a rifle. Energy builds at the gem at the end of the weapon for a moment before it fires a burst of magical energy at Luso.

Mirage has posed:
Normally, Aerith's staff would just pass through the creature with little resistance and no harm at all to the fire cat. However, Aerith is not a normal person and nor can her weapons can be considered 'normal.' The fire cat that gets clobbered lets out a wailing screech of pain, its form distorting as the staff passes through it.

Seconds later it vanishes into the air. Vanquished? Likely! But that still leaves two remaining ones. They continue to hound (figuratively) the mage.

A satisfied sigh escapes the sorceress as she beholds the chaos. While she remains unbothered, her minions handily dealing with Aerith, she begins to move-or float rather. Walking is for peons. Unsurprisingly, she's quite curious about Mozenrath as she's heard quite a bit about the sorceror of the black sands from her world.

Kim Possible has posed:
Pete may be cool or he may not be, but Kim doesn't think he's cool one bit. In fact, she hates his guts... in more ways than one! In fact, as Kim goes flying into the air, she attempts to recover, and then spots a chance for a comeback. She fires a grappling hook from her wrist device, and then attempts to swing directly at Pete. She intends to deliver another flying kick, albeit with more control this time around. Unfortunately, it doesn't fully work out as intended.

Kim makes contact just as Pete punches her, sending her flying across the area and causing her to tumble a little, before she rolls into a crouched position. "Ouch, that really smarts!" Kim says half-sarcastically. She then rises back to her feet and glares at Pete. "But if you really think you're gonna get away with this, you're totally wrong!" She then leaps into the air and attempts to somersault directly into Pete, before dropping down and taking him down with a foot sweep!

Sofiya Fuma has posed:
Sofiya Fuma is too busy to respond immediately. Tifa's descending kick is - well, it's not /simple/ to evade but Sofiya does it, albeit barely. She has to throw herself to the side to do it. It's the rest of it that's the problem.

Launched into the air, Sofiya takes a solid punch that encourages her to stay in it; Tifa hits her hard enough to send her flying, and this time she does not land on her feet. She hits the ground with a thud, then rolls slightly to the side, forcing herself up and using her weapon like a walking stick.

"You're a good martial artist, for someone I've never seen," Sofiya admits, however grudgingly. But then her lips curl back again. "It's not my business to ask why they want this world," she says. Her voice is raspy, possibly from being hit. "And if they were stronger - maybe they could resist! But what I'm concerned about right now... is you!"

Sofiya inhales, gesturing with her free hand. Green vapour trickles from her nose and the corners of her mouth before she /exhales/, a huge fetid cloud of disgusting, clinging air...

OH GOD IT SMELLS LIKE MARLBORO

Aerith has posed:
The claws swipe and tear at her as flowergirl continues fending them off, yet one of them manages to get behind, ramming straight into her with ferocious intent. Down, but not out, she moves her head to the right to keep her face intact from the snapping jaws of the beast and, using her staff as a lever, hefts the creature off of her before getting to her feet again. For good measure, Aerith delivers a good stomp to the cat's head as she pokes at the other one that no doubt wants her for lunch as well.

Seith has posed:
If Seith has a clue about Ping's strategy of making sure the civilians escape, he either doesn't let it be noticed - or maybe he truly doesn't actually care. After all, they're holding the Heroes at bay after all? Or 'wannabe heroes', he's sure Hades would call these.

Ping rushes at Seith, and the youth manages to ram the hammer something fierce against the very center of his chest! Seith this time grabs for his own hurt body and stumbles a few steps back, glaring at the warrior. This technique. It doesn't seem to match a mallot, does it?

No matter! The little dragon goes unnoticed as the man strikes for Ping again. This time grabbing the large metalic pole at his back from its holder and lets a massive purple-darkness scythe's blade appear on either end of the pole. He spins it around a single time, then swings it at Ping and carves along the ground, literally pulling a massive slab of the pavement from the ground and lifting it right up ALONG with Ping - or so is the intent.

The man then calls out; "You really think you can withstand my power!? Stop your futile resistance and let your world fall! The darkness will be far kinder to it than any of you!" He shouts and then raises his hand out towards Ping... and closes it. The massive slab of pavement which he'd carved out of the ground breaking apart, and then slamming in towards Ping!

Vespa has posed:
"oh Cr..", is all Vepsa get to say as she is slammed into the building wall by the lobsters claws, she hears one of her ribs crack she grits her teeth, trying to ingore the pain.. She going to be sore tommrow

"Not down quite yet..", she says, she lets out a yell and charges towards it!

LEXUS has posed:
"I tried them. They were delicious, but fleeting."

LEXUS turns, sweeping his hand to one side and parrying the chest strike. As soon as Will rolls past, the Disc is there, knocking the hands aside with a dull THUD... And then there is a brilliant spike of debilitating neon green light as Will is lanced in retaliation for his daring maneuver.

LEXUS floats backwards, that smile still on his face. "Do you understand what I am, Will?" He flings the Disc at Will, which orbits him, ice exploding in all directions as the Dark Virus sweeps the Disc downwards, biring the beam upwards. It's like LEXUS is using the same attack sequence, just with the strikes altered in orientat-

ZORT. Oh, there's the lightning.

Ariel has posed:
Wow! That giant Heartless wasn't messing around! Ariel winces at the screech. She tries to get out of the way... but she's still a little bit clumsy. The lobster grabs her and slams her into a wall... she can almost appreciate the music that it makes when it strikes her, rendering her dizzy. Somewhere in the process, she's lost a shoe.

She gets back to her feet. Her eyes are watering a little, but she stands tough, and rolls up a sleeve. It's not a very threatening gesture, really.

But maybe it's a more threatening gesture when she summons a mini-tornado in the palm of her hand. "I won't let you destroy this town," she says... though it's not shouted, but quiet, followed by a bitten lip and a look of determination.

She flings the spell at the Heartless monster!

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart has never fought a malboro, for all of the monsters she's ever fought in this new world at least. She did find quite a few stinky ones, and she heard the stories though, but that's it for her.

But when Sofiya is exhaling like that, she doesn't stick around to see what it might do. Especially when its looking green like that. Instead, she moves speedily across the rooftop, out of the 'cone of effect' from the breath attack, sliding into her blindspot to the side instead, launching another attack. That girl has some interesting moves, where has she seen those before...

Ah, right, Quistis. This must be what they call Blue Magic. Well, that knowledge doesn't give her an edge, but not like there's anything else to do but keep attacking to wear the girl down.

"They are strong, but not the strength you want to see. You have no idea how terrible it is to lose a world to the darkness, do you!?"The next flurry of punches fly in, looking to open her guard, or rather concentrate into blocking it at chest level. As the last punch comes in, it actually misses... but that's a fake, as the rotation of her body instead bring a round kick right at the girl's head, hoping for a sound takedown, before grabbing the girl by the shoulder before she even touches ground, and SLAMMING her into the rooftop hard.

Luso Clemens has posed:
Landing onto the ground, Luso spared no time leaping back to create space. "Of course I'm not all talk! I've spent way too much time running around and getting chased by crazy monsters! I'd be stupid not to get good after all that!" But that speech gave Mateus the time he needed to launch a counter attack.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Luso scrambled to try and get away, but it was too late! The shadows grasped at him and then the flame burst struck! "Pffftt---Ow! Ow! Ow!" Comically, the boy began running about in circles with his pants on fire, frantically patting the flames out.

It took a few moments, but once he did so, a sigh of relief escaped from him. "Phew! That was too close! You darned fairy! I'll show you something!" Luso yelled, pointing a sword at his opponent indignantly. As he spoke, the sheathe of Excalibur began to glow with a bright light. His swords followed suit, taking on the same holy glow.

"Here I go! Holy Blade!" And then he dashed forward, lashing out with a dual cross slash powered by the light energies of Excalibur! "Let's see how you handle this!

Will Sherman has posed:
Lexus=ZORT!

You can see will's skeleton for a moment, as the electrical energy surges through him causing a LOT of pain. Will groans in pain, staggering a bit, before he corrects his stance.

"Ow." he says, coughing up a bit of smoke. He runs right for LEXUS again, punching the SECOND laser with a fist...the laser breaks, and he aims to roll...aiming to litterally roll over LEXUS' legs, aiming to try and knock him backwards.

Will moves, aiming to try and grab one of LEXUS' legs, and try and swing him face down to the ground face first, followed by him aiming to jump repeatedly back on LEXUS' back.

"Let me guess...Trampoline?"

Deelel has posed:
Deelel can't deny the power of the Wizard for a moment she looks at Mozenrath as he speeks.

"I'll admit you got a nice flare for the dramtic. It is not, you just are not advanced enough to get it!"

Deelel has surivesd the counter attack just barely though not sure what to do with all this magi about her and she starts to run several command lines as she fadea back giving Mozenrath and his minions an opening. Or is she luring them in?

Celina Duvalis has posed:
Celina steps up next to Will. She hands him a familiar looking decanter. He knows this one. It is a amber-looking liquid, with some small, dark flakes in it. It is her spiciest brew around, the most bitter tasting, and it is exactly what he needs.

She preemptively responds, "Just drink it, damn it."

That done, she tilts her head, dorpping back into her magic-infused Latin phrases as she taps him on the head with her channeling symbol. More light springs around him, more of a white, pure color this time, however.

Ping has posed:
Ping keeps his eyes focused on Seith, except for a brief moment where he closes his eyes and exhales a silent, "Ancestors, watch over me."

The slab of pavement he's on rises up into the air and Ping holds his hands out to his sides to try to keep his balance. It's a fool's effort as the pavement starts to crumble and crack around him, the chunks battering him as they break loose. His arms quickly turn from trying to keep him upright to batting away the crushing stones that surround him, a task he seems to be failing. His only weapon, his mallet, is knocked from his hands.

One stone does manage to tumble free from that gravity well, a small rock that is exceptionally round and curiously smooth. The little red lizard racing toward Ping steps right on this rock and, as if it were a banana peel, it sends him tumbling through the rumble. The momentum of the serpent's sprint causes the sword he was carrying to bounce free of his grip and to launch several feet into the air, piercing one of the rocks orbiting Ping's endangered person, and he catches the sword-carrying stone right in his gut, knocking the wind out of him, and interrupting his impromptu prayer.

In the midst of that chaotic rock crusher, Ping realizes what he's caught, his sword. He grasps it by the hilt and raises it over head, trying to shake the huge rock off of it. It won't budge. He'll just have to use it like a mallet. He leaps from rapidly decaying perch and launches himself once more at his enemy.

Mozenrath has posed:
Xerxes is the one to notice Mirage first because he's also of the opinion that walking is for peons. That he is a peopn himself probably doesn't seem to register. The eel twists and contorts, lopsided eyes blinking and fanged mouth twitching as they roll to one side, peering curiously at Mirage.

"..bosssss.." The eel lets out in a long whimpers. "What is it?!" Mozenrath snaps testily, starting to get mildly aggrivated by the program's insistance to not comply with his simple and reasonable demands. "Cat-lady."

Mozenrath looks away from his opponent for a moment, and then contemptously turns away from them entirely, gesturing for his undead servants (of which there are an unspecified but impressive number thereof because Mozenrath is too great a dark sorceror to deal with something as petty as mook logistics) to play with Deelel for awhile as he raises an eyebrow at Mirage. He's heard a few things and those few things bid him to be polite. At least for now. "Lady of Chaos." he looks over at the destruction and at her minions. "..hmm.. You do good work." He glowers, raising a finger as he hears the sound of his minions having difficulties again. This time in finding Deelel as he fades back into the crowd of heroes and villains and general chaos. "One moment. SCIROCCO!~"

A howling bitter desert wind screams across the landscape, reforming into the giant silohuetted shape of a beastly wind given only a vague and passable semblance of form. The dark sorcerer negligantly waves in the direction of the chaos. "/FETCH/."

Oblivion has posed:

The Mecha Lobster attempts to strike back as Ariel and Vespar do their best. The Heartless Mecha was losing some of its armor as parts fly off and become nothing but black mist before it hits the ground.

Ariel also caster her own tornadoe and the Mecha Lobster tries to reply earlier with his own, yet it seems the force was far stronger with the mermaid looking human.

Then it attempts to spin around to sweep up Vespa and Ariel into a whirlwind, as it actually starts to rise up as well. Higher and higher it goes, sweeping them up and then attempting to charge into them if they are caught in the vortex of magical water air.

Quick! Hit the proper combination of buttons to get out!

Sofiya Fuma has posed:
That /really/ tastes awful. Sofiya spits to the side to try to clear her mouth after she exhales the Bad Breath. It doesn't help.

This almost ties her down long enough to make a target for Tifa. It was at least partially a feint, though; Sofiya plants the butt of her weapon on the ground and vaults herself backwards, away from Tifa and down the alley between the two buildings. She maintains the distance via literally grabbing a Heartless - a Blue Rhapsody, which she's grabbed by the 'hat' and forcing it to fire ice shards toward Tifa.

"I know what it's like," she growls. "You don't know me. Stop ac ting like you do. That doesn't matter." Sofiya flings the entire Heartless at Tifa, bracing herself for the impending attack. She knows there's going to be one. "Show me your strength! Or are you going to roll over and die?!"

Mirage has posed:
FWOOM!

For Aerith's efforts, she vanquishes the second cat, which screeches painfully as the flames forming its form disappate into the air. Only one is remaining, though this one evades the swing of the staff and stalks around Aerith, hissing and snarling. Much like before, it lunges at the girl, claws-first, though forming up into its head-only fireball shape mid-jump.

This makes it hit her a LOT harder than the previous assault. In fact, it almost feels as if it executed a kamakaze attack upon her. Mostly, this creature knows that if it doesn't take out Aerith, Mirage will likely scream at it for five straight minutes before sentencing it to torch duty for the next few millenia.

"Why thank you." Mirage unwinds her arms from around her chest, but places one hand over where her heart is (not). She bows. "I find your particular style very fascinating. I could watch it for some tim..."

Mozenrath summons a creature that bares a passing resemblence to a canine. Mirage wrinkles her nose. "...save for that."

Pete has posed:
Pete strokes his chin, his skin warbling as he rubs his hand across it. "I don't think I'll get away with it, I think I'll have fun doin' it too!" He cracks his knuckles, obsrving Kim for a moment. He doesn't charge back in, that's just asking to be comically thrown somewhere. Instead, Kim charges in and knocks him flat on his back--Pete lashes out with a punch to try and knock her off him--and then lashes out--hoping to tackle right into her and pin her to the ground for a couple extra punches to her body!

"Not a very nice tone to take with ol' Pete!" He says.

MEANWHILE IN HIS HEAD HE IS THINKING ABOUT HOW EXACTLY DESTROYING EVERYTHING INCLUDING HIMSELF IS A GREAT IDEA.

"Oi Lexus," He asks. "Everyone including ourselves doesn't including Pete, right?"

Emperor Mateus has posed:
Emperor Mateus cants his head slightly as the blades of Luso's swords began to glow brightly, the energy of holy magic clear as beacons. His staff swings in front of him as if to block, but it does not move nearly fast enough. The swords slice deep into his torso armor, leaving behind a large 'X' of rent armor and blood from shoulders to lower ribcage. The holy magic also seems to have a minor effect, siphoning some of his power--or negating a part of it outright.

His voice drops noticeably, eyes narrowing as his mouth almost disappears into a thin line. "I could say the same to you."

He suddenly bolts higher into the sky, with what appear to be clear orbs appearing in his free hand before they glow brightly from within. He throws the orbs down at Luso like one would toss a handful of dice, his staff rising to point to the sky as wind swirls around him. "Meddlesome fool! Thundaga!" Lightning crashes down from somewhere above, followed by his staff lashing out on its own to siphon energy of its own.

Seith has posed:
Where did that sword-in-the-stone come from!? Seith's eyes widen as the young warrior remains alive amidst the storm of stones and catches that rock - and ends up wielding it like another hammer!? The man wonders if Ping is familiar with a certain Llama who apparently tried to run on the platform of using HAMMAHs against the Heartless.

It's a good thing MCP won that election! The Heartless would have been powerless against the power of the Hammah!

The man raises the massive two-sided scythe over his head in an attempt to catch the incoming attack! The sword rams down on the pole, and the rock literally /shatters/ on top of the pole, pelting Seith with rock splinters upon rock splinters. The man's boots literally are pushed into the ground, causing the ground around him to crack under the weight of Ping's attack...

~ who now has a sword.

"Venture yourself a king now, do you?" The man muses, before swinging the scythe out towards Ping's legs and then quickly pushes his free hand out in an attempt to lay a hand onto his chest and let a ball of antigravity explode against it so that he might be thrown back into the air!

Deelel has posed:
Deelel has had her time to recover and prepare even though she's caught by another spell wait no that's no spell something is comming at her the wind? She's not sure what the glitch has been brought before het but it hurts can catches her in the winds and she's forced back.

"So ... that's new. This world is just dripping in chaos."

She doesn't seem happy at the idea of chaos either as she's got her disc in han bud this time she's trying to get through the minions striking out at them only as they get in her way she's losing with Mozenrath.

She'll make a lunge trying to strike out towards the gauntles he's wearing, she doesn't think it will destroy it. She does hope it might disturpt his powers for a moment or distract him.

"Let me try another 406! What you are doing is not acceptable!"

Even if her strikes fail she'll be trying to back flip away and get out of being way too close to Mozenrath for long.

Ariel has posed:
Ariel is hit with wind... and burst up into the sky. It doesn't hurt too much, at least... and she doesn't currently have the knowledge to worry if people are looking up her skirt.

Wind keeps battering at her, and she blinks as some of it flies into her eyes. She Considers, though, that being in the air may not be so bad... if she can ride the current, it's almost like swimming, and she's good at that. She sets her mouth into a pout, staring at the big lobster. Then she clenches her fists and aims one leg out in front of the other to balance herself on the wind.

She throws herself around - spinning, fist-over-fist into the tornado below her. She keeps on the pressure as she reaches out to strike at the Lobster from her perch above it. Then she twists herself back down to the ground, and kicks up!

Vespa has posed:
Vespa quickly presses the buttons! She strickes the ground with the blade of her axe holding her ground though the mecha lobster claws and the winds of the torando knock her around.

"Okay Payback time!", she grips her axe tightly with both ahnd and brings her axe down on the mecha slamming it into its armor.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart gets stabbed by several of the ice shards. After fire, ice now? It certainly hurts. And then clonked by the blue rhapsody @.@ Who the hell uses heartless as a projectile weapon!?!

Oh wait, she usually does. Against other heartless too. Nevermind that.

At any rate, she doesn't sound too happy after these missed attacks either. "Obviously you don't if you can't understand the suffering its going to cause, or maybe you enjoy that?" She flips her hair off, a hand on her hips, looking quite defiant now as she pfffs on the long bang that falls over the right side of her face, characteriscally of her. She clenches her fists, knocking them together "If its my full power you want, that's what you'll get." She slides down into wide stance... and then its like she disapears.

Using all of her speed, its an elbow that suddenly connects with Sofiya's face FROM THE SIDE, sending her flying in the other direction. Before she can hit a wall, a sommersault sends her straight up, Tifa interceptiong her at great speed, using that 'flash step' she uses in dire situations. And while in the air, she disapears for a moment, just long enough to move herself in a better angle to unload another uppercut straight up, hoping to knock the wind out of that brat.

Ping has posed:
In Ping's perception, the world seems to be crumbling apart. He is worn and battered by the stones, shards of concrete, and rocks raining down on him. Even the ground beneath his feet is cracking and precarious and that's when gravity isn't hurling him around. Seith's scythe tears open a gash on his arm and forces him down to one knee.

For a moment, though, on a knee in front of Seith, there seems to be a calm. There is solid ground beneath him and he can hear the cries of his comrades as they continue the fight around him. He rises up and holds his blade in front of him, the sword of his father. He cannot let his father down, cannot let the people of Traverse Town down.

His voice is defiant, "No king. Just a soldier."

Ping takes a deep breath and strikes with his sword, the sound of it slicing through the air is like the whistle of a single arrow seeking Seith's heart.

Luso Clemens has posed:
"Heh, didn't like that, did you? Well, I've got a whole lot more where that came from-Gagahaggvshjaskh--" And again, Luso wasted time making quips instead of actually focusing on the fight. The bolt of lightning crashed down right on Luso, electrocuting him to the core. If one looked closely, they might be able to see his skeleton between all that shocking!

And then the boy flopped to the ground, smoke sizzling from his falling form. ".........." Did the Emperor win? He won! He totally won! The Shadow Lords have scored a victory! Nice work, you guys! You finally did it! Achievement unlocked; Destroyed The Main Character! +1000 FK Points!

"HEY! WAIT A SECOND! DON'T WRITE ME OFF LIKE THAT, YOU JERKS!"

Record scratch.

Luso suddenly hopped back to his feet, yelling loudly and pointing directly at the screen. Wait, who was he talking to again? What? There's an epic battle going on here? Oh right, right! Better take care of that! "Heh! You've got some strong magic there, Golden Fairy Man! Looks like I've got to take this a bit more seriously!"

Saying that, he gripped his swords a bit more firmly as an orange glow began to surround him again, preparing him for the trials ahead...

Kim Possible has posed:
Unfortunately for Pete, Kim's getting a bit more confident and knowledgeable of what he's capable of. The girl moves out of the way almost instantly, before spinning around with a well-timed kick, giving her a little space to breathe once again. "I don't exactly find you nice either, Pete," Kim says while shaking her head angrily. "In fact, the types like you are the ones who make my life miserable, because I have to get home late and get up extra early to do my homework."

Then Kim smiles.

"Not saying that it's a bad thing, mind you. In fact, I get in practice for cheerleading this way, and I keep myself up to par for my skills." Kim attempts to fire a lasso from her wrist device so she can hopefully entangle Pete. If she's successful, Kim will take out a small lipstick that shoots a laser bullet at him. Clever, ain't she?

Oblivion has posed:

Ariel performs amazing feats on those feet of hers. She juggles the Mecha Lobster Heartless around and then strikes it back into the air somehow with those tiny toes. You just do not question the daughter of the king of seas! Never-- Question-- EVER!

Yet for her amazing work, the Lobster Heartless snaps its claw at her in annoyance, maybe trying to take her with it!

Vespa's axe rips into the Mecha Lobster, doing a great deal of damage to it. Its actually almost tips it over as it attempts to snap its claw to try and equal out the damage it just took from the mighty warrior. However it seems the Mecha Lobster is down for a bit and it starts to thrash around as it tries to get back up. Several Heartless once more jump in, trying to attack the two and give time for the lobster to get back up once more.

Mozenrath has posed:
The ruler of the black sands has had just about enough. He is always considered himself a reasonably tolerant and long suffering soul, but this program is beginning to slight irk him. Darkness and dark winds begin to coalesce around his gauntlet.

He grits his teeth, a look of pain and concentration flashing across his face for a moment. This moment is prolonged as the program lashes out and slams straight into the gauntlet. The sorceror cries out in furious agony as a long gash slices across the magic gauntlet, black energy lashing from the quickly sealing wound.

He staggers backwards into the arms of his mook squad, struggling free of them with an indignant."Let me UP you rotting ragpiles! YOU." he staggered several steps, taking a moment to drink a small potion and compose himself before he points the gauntlet at Deelel.

"YOU have just earned yourself a much longer eternity of torment. You won't kneel? FINE. Why talk about it when I can bring the reality right here to you? SCIROCCO? DESTROY him. /Scream/ for me as you turn to ash."

Seith has posed:
Seith shows his teeth, grinning as Ping is on one knee in front of him for a moment. "That's right, kneel before me." He tells him, holding one hand over him in a moment of symbolism, before retreating his hand and bringing his scythe down to meet Ping's blade. The two make for a moment of resounding strikes. Ping's Blade verses the dark scythe's blades and staff-like body - casting aside the hard attacks.

However, Seith's skill with his own weapon is not as great as Ping's, and the young man manages to sink the blade through his defenses and stabs through the heavy armor into his shoulder! The man lets out a sound of pain and stumbles back, grabbing for his arm to stop the bleeding.

Darkness begins to seep from the man's very body! "This isn't over yet, 'soldier boy'." Seith answers him. "You stand before a Shadow Lord! Bow! BOW! BOW I TELL YOU!"

Aerith has posed:
Aerith... moved.

She didn't jump, didn't roll, didn't even duck. She just pivoted to her right side and let the cat pass her... right off of the roof. Then she focused her glare toward Mirage, whirled her staff, and came at the sorceress again. A pulse of pale gren light flared along her weapon before she made her attempt, delivering an upward strike to Mirage's midsection.

Success. Cat lady sent flying.

Aerith leapt up to join her before knocking her down to the roof again with the front quarter of her staff, just before turning a flip in mid-air on her way down to deliver the final smash on her lower back.

A shockwave ran along the roof as the attack landed home with an audible crack...

Pete has posed:
"Eh?" Pete says.

Kim says something that stuns Pete. He's an easy target for LIPSTICK LASER BULLETS. He's blasted back, dropping into a crouch and heaving out a painful breath. He squints his eyes, as memories, memories from long ago fill him.

FLASHBACK, MANY YEARS AGO, THE BIG GAME!

Pete holds the football under his arm, charging forward, he dives past the other places, whiffles from side to side, he's going to make it, he thinks, he's going to win the Big Game! He'll be a Football Star! A big smile lashes on his lips, his destiny is before him, he's gonna Win, he's gonna Win!

A kick suddenly catches him in the side of his face, he goes down like a sack of bricks. He drops the ball, it fumbling across the ground. He looks towards on over towards the source of the foot, and it's Goofy, obliviously dressed up in a cheerleading outfit, doing a mighty dance.

NOW

His eyes sna"CHEERLEADERS."</span> He whispers out, eyes going wide.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHH!!" He bellows. "I HATE CHEERLEADERS!!!!!!!!!!!!"

He throws himself at Kim Possible, intending to thrash her about. "GOOFY!! YOU LOST ME THE GAME!! YOU LOST ME THE GAAAAAAAAAAAME!!!!!"

Emperor Mateus has posed:
Emperor Mateus' staff levitates back to him, the weapon floating in what must be its customary place just away from his fingertips. "How amusing." The cold, clipped tone of his voice indicate anything but. "I met a lad like you once, full of bravado and innocent optimism. But the world fell, apparently destroying him with his precious dream. A shame, really. I truly thought his heart stronger than that."

Magical energy builds around him, whipping his platinum-blonde hair and purple cape around him as he too prepares. "Very well then, foolish brat." Darkness coalesces below him as various types of arm-bladed knight Heartless begin to rise from the shadows to join the others in wanton destruction and hero harrassing. "Let us see if it makes a difference."

Ping has posed:
Though brought low, Ping shows nothing but defiance against Seith. His body bruised, bleeding, and worn, does not match the steely, unbroken resolve that is shown on his face.

His voice is calm, "We will never bow to the Shadows. The Darkness may take this town, but the sun will always dawn in my heart. Where we go, the light follows."

Ping closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, and another, centering and focusing his breathing. The qigong is accompanied by a rote movement of foot and blade and he walks a circle around Seith, one foot crossing in front of the other. With the familiar movements comes a familiar peace and a resurgence of energy to continue the fight.

Sofiya Fuma has posed:
"I don't enjoy it," Sofiya says. This is actually true. It /isn't/ that she likes it. She mostly just tries not to care.

"I have a duty," she says, instead. "That duty is to be strong, and to fight people like you. And I'm not going to be shown up by some underdressed brawler who thinks she's so good for no reason at all! What's your family? Where's your skill? What - "

Sofiya gets hit in the face. This is probably a relief for everybody.

Everybody except Sofiya, that is. She recoils, in pain, and actually reflexively fires a shot at where Tifa was instants ago; her fast movement is enough that Sofiya had no hope of connecting, and the uppercut slams her into the air. She goes up, up -

Sofiya doesn't come down because she's landed on the roof again. She sits up, unable to rise faster than that. Her face is burning red. She knows one thing: she's losing. She's losing /again/. Her parents were right.

Sofiya roars as she jumps off the roof, her tail of hair billowing behind her as she goes. She fires a single bullet when she's directly over Tifa, a glowing shell that leaves a streak of light behind it; her other hand is busily making the gestures to another one of her ninja arts, which may explain the sudden vertical pillar of wind and blowing leaves that threatens to launch Tifa uncontrollably into the air!

Ariel has posed:
Ariel doesn't seem to do too much damage to the lobster, even if she's successful at moving it around. She's still... getting the hang of this...

Heartless pile on top of her. She loses track of Vespa in all the confusion. She tries to roll away from the Heartless dogpile, using all of her speed, but... still too clumsy. She ends up scraped up, her dress in tatters now. She stumbles back to her feet - still missing one shoe, and with tear-filled eyes stares at the Lobster Heartless.

She feels a bit strange, though. As if she might still be able to stop it. ...How? There's a wind kicking up around her, and she knows what she has to do.

"These people... are peaceful, and... they're my friends. So..." Wind collects in both of her hands. It churns up her hair, sending it whipping in red waves around her. "I'll do what it takes to stop you!"

And then, the Heartless is struck with the force of a mighty storm, wind and lighting. She didn't realize she had it in her, but control of the wind and sea is in her blood.

LEXUS has posed:
"Of course." LEXUS replies (and possibly lies) smoothly to Pete.

Will, however, proves to be more resilient than expected. There is an explosion of energy as Will finally lays his hands on LEXUS and begins manhandling the Dark Virus. Energy sizzles and crackles as Will punches through the darkness leaking out of LEXUS. He crackles as Will smashes into him, the power Will wields unravelling him on contact. Bits and pieces of digital light spray off of him as LEXUS is impacted... Only for him to suddenly vanish from his position, reappearing before Will. The form of LEXUS begins to /recongeal/, and to Will's sight, black ropes writhe around him, pouring into him.... and a brilliant line pointing off into the distance. It's a pointer, directing Will beyond... Where?

"I am an aberration. A virus, designed to steal information for my original creator. I am not supposed to exist, boy." He raises his hands, and seething energy strikes up through the area. There is a loud CRACK, and the air becomes... strange. The light looks off, the entire area becoming plunged into an Uncanny Valley as Fate goes completely goddamn haywire in the area.

"ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL. PRIORITIES ESCALATED." LEXUS intones, his voice reverberating as the Disc takes on a defensive posture... And the very air around Will erupts in digital destruction, the environment being reshaped to strike out at him in all directions.

Vespa has posed:
Vespa says, "Go away you annoying pests!", Vespsa says swiwing her axe at the heartless but it too much for the injured maid the hearless beat on her as she falls to the ground pasing out."

Luso Clemens has posed:
"You knew someone like me, huh? Well, I'm not surprised! Wherever you go, there's always going to be someone like me around to stop someone like you!" Luso exclaimed, pointing a sword at the Emperor. "And I will stop you here today! Mark my words!" That said, the boy gripped both of his weapons in reverse, smoothly sheathing them behind himself.

One of his hands then went for the handle of Excalibur. "It's time to pull out the big gun!" And then Excalibur was drawn. Immediately upon being revealed, a brilliant light began to fill the area. around the boy. "I'll show you everything I have in this single blow! Excalibur's power!" With that said, the Sword of Promised Victory was held high with both hands.

The light surged upwards, creating a larger phantom sword over the actual blade. It was translucent and blue, bulky in design with a circular edge. The Blade of The Rift. "No matter how deep the darkness is, there will always be a stream of light to guide the way!"

Luso then broke out into a run, hefting the blade back and then leaping into the air. "Haaaaaaaaaaah! This is it! Blade of The Rift!" And then he descended, bearing down upon Emperor Mateus with all his force to bear! "Go! Gooo! Goooooo!"

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is a very stubborn basic she really is and she's now managed to succesfully get the soceror nto a fury. This may be a very bad thing, a veyr bad thing for her as she's now got him angry with her. He drinks some sort of potion and then doesn't give a very floncy verbal smackdown. It's actually pretty bad as she's caught in the full force of the magial assault upon her ashe is attacked as she's strucjk by Scirocco over and over again she doesn't turn to ash she does scream. Yet it's a torture digital wail that isn't really human and as the assault stops, she's hur there' gashes all over her body which are cracked and bledding light from them but she's still alive she's still in the game and she says.

"I don't care, you want to keep those who made me trapped in the night forever. I fight for the User who made me, for all the innocent ones condemd to the void but also for every last program as well."

She's charging Mozenratha gain trying to slam him to the ground and slam her disk into the gauntlet again hopefully with enough force to knock him out from the feedback.

Kim Possible has posed:
Even as Pete comes at Kim, she's ready for him. She rears back and attempts to punch him, which means that he gets stopped, but not before he lands some serious damage against Kim. She is bruised and beaten, but she still manages to get back up. "You're totally tougher than I thought, but the bigger they are, the harder they fall!" She cracks her knuckles and stares at Pete. "I'm gonna make you pay for what you and your uncool buddies have done to us!"

Kim lets out a yell and rushes towards Pete, literally attempting to dive into him, before attempting to deliver a flurry of punches at literal light speed, and then hurl him out of the way. "Let's see how YOU like this!"

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart at least got her to shut up apparently! But that's only moments before she gets blown off by that sudden tornado. So those bullets can also summon magic it seems. That's not exactly good.

The barmaid, which isn't quite undressed in this leather dress, still is sent flying hard, which hurts her pretty bad too. She's sent flying up and backward...

Until she disapears again. If Sofiya can learn from experiences, she might have a split second to react to a glowing fist striking out of nowhere, straight into her stomach as Tifa appears right in front of her. The wind has cut pieces of her dress and skin, but that look in her eyes, which Sofiya gets a very short moment to notice, is pure determination. She wanted to see the full power, she's getting it.

The fist explodes on contact, throwing Sofiya away with the strength of it. And then its like one of those slow motions moments in movies. Except that you can't move even if you saw it coming. Another flash step, and the barmaid is OVER Sofiya... and bringing down not one but TWO glowing fists straight down into the Wutai warrior.. and driving her into the rooftop harshly. And as the fists connect, the bright burst of a double explosion at point blank range. Even if she's in the center of it, the explosive ki doesn't harm Tifa, but it can't be good for Sofiya.

Seith has posed:
"You are wrong! The light will not follow you! Only darkness will!" Seith calls out to Ping and swings a hand outwards emotively. "You WILL bow to the shadows, Soldier!" Seith steps forwards, his body feeling better after his dark healing techniques having been used upon his own body. But he still has a battle to win.

Seith remains standing, not even turning his body, as Ping circles around him. The man himself closes his eyes and smirks. Then suddenly, those stones which still flew in the air suddenly flick down towards the ground, pelting ping's position! Yet the man himself doesn't move. He's waiting for Ping to strike.

Will Sherman has posed:
The Data strikes out at him from all directions...fate and luck only takes one so far. Will moves, he tries to move..but it's not quite enough. The strikes land, not as solidly as LEXUS might had hoped...but it hurt. He groans, falling back after a small assault, shaking his head. He was still fresh...or fresh enough. His eyes narrowing, his gaze right back on LEXUS. "That makes two of us." he says, "The difference between us.."

"I want to HELP people! You just care about yourself and your own desires...and your love of destruction. The world, the people in them...my friends...THAT is what matters...not what you were created to do. You're just a slave to your past..."

Will moves, glowing brightly now, as he aims to drive both hands forward. Strings move, aiming to touch LEXUS' strings...and then trying to SEAL him in place. Will comes back, and he jumps RIGHT towards him, aiming a dark fist to try and shatter LEXUS' strings in a single strike.

Will appears on the other side of LEXUS...his hand clutching...before the strings start unravling, causing the feeling of being torn from fate in a single motion.

"I choose to look forward."

Oblivion has posed:

Ariel is able to knock away the Heartless, sadly her friend Vespa was no so lucky. The Heartless though quickly move back into rampaging around the city as the Mecha Lobster rises once more. Those gold eyes stare at the young princess as summons a great deal of magic.

It lets out a screech in defiance before it raises up all four claws, two which have been severely damaged. The sheer force slams into the massive heartless. A strange shadowy field covers in front of it taking most of the brunt force, but one of the claws does end up being ripped right off by the wind force.

The heartless machine suddenly rises up on its rear lobster legs and goes then charging right at Ariel. Its remaining claws slashing at her. Attempting to crush her, and slam her out of the way. Its masters were not doing well and she was now /in/ the way!

Mirage has posed:
It was such a NICE little chat, evil sorceress to evil sorcerer, admists the WIDESPREAD SUFFERING of an entire town. Mirage's own magic is bursting with power now because of the sheer despair. Sadly, this sweet little moment was RUDELY INTERRUPTED by a mage.

Shortly after Mirage was smacked down to the rooftop, the annoyed sorceress vanished, only to reappear hovering high in the air again, arms crossed over her chest. "How irritating. You know, I wonder if you realize now that the vision I showed you back in Manhattan became reality. Perhaps you should have accepted it then to save yourself a little bit of pain. It would just be so much easier for you to accept just how futile your pathetic efforts to save everything are."

The air begins to warp around them both and all the sudden, the rest of the world outside of them seems to freeze, then slowly fade into greyscale. Only Mirage remains in color.

Then around them both, the scenery begins to change. Much like Manhattan, Traverse Town is depicted in shambles. Buildings are in rubble, people are completely absent...Heartless roam the desolation. The sky is completely black, no stars whatsoever. It's clear.

Traverse Town is lost.

Ping has posed:
Ping doesn't hesitate, launching himself through the bruising barrage of stones to lash out at Seith with a series of deft and practiced strikes. The sword catches the light along its polished surface and flashes beautifully like a spinning mirror.

Ping has no words for Seith's outburst. His light will endure beyond this day or the Ancestors will have him. If he dies, today, he will hold his head high amongst them.

One of the flying stones bloodies his lip and he spits out a glob of blood on the ground. Ping Dies Hard. He strikes out with another flurry of his flashing blade.

Sofiya Fuma has posed:
There is just one thing about ninjas:

Ninjas cheat.

Sofiya can't turn invisible, but her Leafstorm has left a whirling cloud of leaves, making it difficult to see precisely where she is. Tifa opens up and absolutely destroys... what appears to be an image of Sofiya. It shreds into mist and leaves once she hits it, sending parts of itself far and wide which drift, slowly, to the ground.

As for Sofiya herself, she has dropped back down to the ground - not up on the roof at all! She raises the gun, which has runes crawling across it after she slapped it with her other hand; it doesn't fire a bullet but a crackling blast of electricity, dazzling and shocking.

"Try harder," she mostly croaks. That took a /lot/ out of her.

Ariel has posed:
Ariel is trampled by the horrible lobster creature, piled under its feet and claws... She crawls back and away as it starts to run toward her, but, it's no good. She's spent. The last thing she remembers seeing is a little blood on her fingers, from a cut on her forehead, before she faints.

Mozenrath has posed:
Mozenwrath staggers backwards and is tackled bodily, which is his only weakness. Damn commoners always getting their dirty hands on him and his pristine clothes! It's enough to give you a complex.

Well. If he didn't already have one for meglomania. The sorceror begins to laugh darkly as the air wooshes from his lungs, the pain filled sound rasping in his throat as the gauntlet again flares of dark energy from being torn into. He clutches it against his chest, taking a small vial of black sand from a pocket that he attempts to smash into Deelel's face from close range.

The black sand quickly grows, seeping into whatever it can reach. Growing and twisting and thriving, the black sand attempts to petrify Deelel where she stands, leaving her a momentum to the folly of those who would soil his direct presence with something as urbane as a TACKLE.

It was temporary of course, but it would serve well enough for the sorceror to make a wise and perhaps tactical retreat.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart is a little spent after that kind of display too. She's been moving at top speed, and it doesn't seem like its helping at all, that ninja evasion making her waste of effort on a fake. She grrs, unable to do anything about it but keep fighting at this point. Except she needs a breather as well, she has been working hard too. "You asked for a name, I'm Tifa Lockhart." just buying time as she casts spells on herself, hopefully giving her a bit of an edge for the last part of this fight. Something that has dragged more than than she hoped for.

LEXUS has posed:
"You say that, but that's just the justification for your actions. What do you do, really?" LEXUS replies. Energy swirls around the man as he leans forward, taking Will on head on. The fate-power strikes out at LEXUS, surging around him.

Everything shatters. The power of a god crashes around him, crushing him, shattering the lines around him. Snap, snap, snapsnapsnap. Will sees the strings around LEXUS shatter, and he reels back, jerkily, like a puppet whose strings have been tangled.

Far, far away, systems record a loss of contact. They begin to engage contingency measures

LEXUS hangs there, unresponsive... Before there is a sudden surge of force around the man. The eyes, wide and staticy, look up as he screams, an inhuman call that echoes through the area.

"WHOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!"

And then LEXUS shatteres, a massive pool of blackness exploding outwards, surging like a tide. Within, there is merely a pulsing mass of blackness, an endless mass of writhing, consuming tendrils that search out and begin absorbing everything in the are around it, whether Heartless, bystandards, or scenery. A single black eye stares out from the mass, a pulsing, staticking, chaotic violet-and-black eye silently watching as even the ground begins to be absorbed.

Will is the main target.

Aerith has posed:
The world changes around Aerith, displaying Traverse in ruins. The sky clears, the heartless are gone, and everything is lost... Yet she maintains her composure, staring directly at Mirage, her features still placid. However, she speaks this time, and her voice is iron calm.

"You really need to straighten your priorities." She walks forward, ignoring the illusion around her. "You've tried this before. I saw through it. And after the insult to the spirits of the departed you so blatantly hurled, it only served one purpose."

She stopped, four feet away, her eyes narrowed. "Making them angry."

The world... cracked. Broke. And then shattered entirely, revealing the truth of the matter. The battle was still on. And Aerith once again joined the fray as she sent a rush of forward thrusts toward the sorceress, took a forward step, and then made an attempt to smash Mirage upside her head with the back end of her staff.

Sofiya Fuma has posed:
Truth be told, Sofiya could use a break too. But she's not going to get one, not easily - Tifa's chasing her everywhere, and even if she hasn't been defeated, she certainly hasn't been able to eliminate her opposition either. And it's not just her; the rest of her allies are still fighting, and some of them are doing quite well.

So much for her strength.

"Sofiya Fuma," she says, not even begrudging it. Tifa wants a moment to rest. Sofiya wants one too - but what she sees is an advantage. She does something she hasn't even done yet.

Sofiya charges. She doesn't use any of her magic at all; she comes in low with a fast chop using the blade of the weapon, reverses it and drives a straight slam with the butt for Tifa's knee to unbalance her. Sofiya uses it half as a staff and half as a poleaxe, a sudden surge to disorient Tifa and the follow-through to try to take her out.

Seith has posed:
The man hears him! He knows he's coming. The glint of light erupts from the sword, and in taht very moment the man brings his staff up mightily and then SLAMS it down onto the ground. A massive burst of darkness sinks into the ground. The pavement cracks, darkness lining all throughout its body. And then, just in the moment that Ping seems like he's about to strike true to the man's side, the man suddenly rises up into the air with the pavement. Seith can be seen grinning wickedly at Ping - his eyes filled with a dark joy.

Yet more of the town rises. More and more platforms try to capture Ping, to throw him further up into the air, creating a private arena for the two made of these rocks. The man then pushes himself off towards Ping, and attempts to slam one end of the Scythe into the man's belly, before closing one hand and forcing two rocks to rapidly close in on Ping's position.

Not moments later, the man catches another rock to jump off of and goes flying upside down, and flings a massive bolt of darkness Ping's way before touching yet another rock and jumping off towards Ping whilst darkness gathers in his hand, and attempts to crush him with the power of his magic and send him towards the ground - right along with himself!

Pete has posed:
"Ah! I knew it! Lexus wouldn't lie to good ol' Pete!" Pete says in the midst of his cheerleader rage. he breathes out. HE HATES CHEERLEADERS. But punching things out seems to have made him calm over. Of course, this leads him to be rather susceptible to Kim's counterattack, she clobbers him about with a flurry of punches, tossing him away like yesterday's chicken! He lands face first in a trashbin and rolls over a few feet before coming to a stop.

"Urgghh..." Pete pulls the trashbin off his head and says, "Oh geeze, you're one of those /heroines/ aren't ya? Not kidnap bait at all!" He crosses his arms. "Back in my day, y'could always tell who was kidnap bait and who could thrash you about, times are changin', that's true, not sure what to believe anymore."

He sighs wistfully, thinking about the good ol' days. He always gets a bit nostalgic from time to time.

He dusts himself off. "Well, Pete may be tougher than he looks, but he's also smarter. Time to skedaddle! OI! HEARTLESS! HELP ME YOU IDIOTS!!"

He shakes his fist into the air and numerous heartless start pouring out the woodworks,typically of the basic soldier variety. They charge Kim Possible, trying to take her down while she's still weakened, and allowing Pete to maybe fall back a bit.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart doesn't get tricked by such a feint. Even when she's leaving an opening, she's still on guard, and just as deadly. When the butt of the staff comes to hit her, that leg lifts up and sends the flat of her foot at Sofiya's chest, pushing her back, standing there with one leg lifted up and folded against her. She has some balance alright.

There's still fire in her eyes too. "Well, Sofiya, as long as you side with Heartless we'll be enemies. I don't care for what your reasons are, only that I must stop you here." With her spell buffing her up, she fluidly moves into her attack stance, sending a flurry of punches right where she striked with her feet, and then a shoulder hit that slams herself with all of her weight into Sofiya, a move made to crack armors down to allow for ever greater force behind her hits. There's already a tremendous amount of power in these martial arts it would seem.

Mirage has posed:
"Siiiiiigh." Mirage looks at her claws, "Aerith, dear, I don't do this just to break you-" she lifts a hand and grabs the staff in mid-air before it can clock her in the face completely. Her other hand lifts up, a ball of dark energy crawling across her hand before she shoves it roughly into Aerith's chest. "-I'm showing you the truth."

She lets the illusion fall away around her before she poofs out of reach once more, magical energy swirling around her as she basks in the total chaos of this invasion.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel can't take anymore a the black sade is smahsed into her face and it's seeping into her it's strnge hea laien nature might protect her in some ways, in other she's still effected by it as she's unable to move. She's hit hard enough that her vision is staticed out she's hurt hurt badly she knows she's got to run at this point it's too much for her to take. She hopes she's hurt Mozenrath enough that he'll be force to depart, as she's able to move but she's hurt and wait she's not bleeding but a few small cubes fall out of one of he wounds on to the ground as she turns to form her light cycle and flee at high speeds.

Emperor Mateus has posed:
Light envelops both Mateus and Luso as the Blade of the Rift swings down upon the Emperor of Palamecia, whose staff rises to meet the weapon's edge. A horrendous crash of metal upon metal screeches as magical energies tear at each other, and the Heartless Mateus had summoned dissipate from the strength of the light. Does the same fate befall the Emperor?

"Fufufufu..."

Apparently not. Something Is Clearly Wrong. It probably goes without saying that Luso's attack /should/ have just killed the Emperor deader than dead. But he isn't dead.

As it stands, the Shadow Lord did not escape unharmed. His staff is nearly cleaved in two, a deep gash nearly bisecting him right down the middle from throat to stomach. As it is, the skull over his abdomen is cleaved in half and his entire cape and shoulder pauldrons are gone--shredded by the forces at work. Even his hair is stained red with blood, the horns from his hidden circlet shattered and cutting his scalp from the pieces.

But he is still alive. And, by the way that unnatural flame envelops both of his hands, not done yet.

He only issues a single statement, stretching his hands out to each side of him as his staff spins above him on its own: "My turn."

He snaps one hand out, flicking a cypher of energy at Luso. Should the boy not flee, he would find himself surrounded by huge orbs of energy that explode. "Run amok!" He sends another cypher for good measure, the same as the first, then spins the staff in front of him as magic builds upon itself in front of him.

"Darkness beyond blackest pitch, deeper than the midnight sky. Power as vast as the largest ocean, inscribe yourself in the air around him, mirroring the decay of his heart!" Energy coalesces into an orb in front of his spinning staff, a blue miniturized sun about half his height. "FLARE!"

The orb shoots forwards as if fired from a gun, aiming directly for Luso! Is this the end?

Will Sherman has posed:
Will falls back...

What the..?

This was surprising, but not as much as /SUDDENLY TRYING TO BE EATEN/ by LEXUS. The tendrills dig into the Hobo King, And will screams in agony. He wraiths in pain, unable to be reached for a few moment as the agony is too much...he almost feels himself falling...

Then LEXUS eats more than he can chew. Will's eyes snap open, as he grabs the Tendril. "No." he says, and then starts repeatedly strike at the string. He might be a mass of darkness, but he STILL has fate.

And Will was going to strike THAT and not his form. Will's eyes squint, repeatedly tearing out strings. "LET...ME...GO!" he says, tearing out and sundering another line.

"I won't fall here!" he screams, repeatedly striking, trying to get free of the mindless LEXUS.

Ping has posed:
Ping is thrown off balance by the suddenly erupting earth around him and he stumbles past Seith, missing him with his strike. The whole world is coming apart and his head isn't much better. The rocks pound against him, dizzying him, but through the daze he can see that even the sewer of Traverse Town has been opened up by Seith's destructive magics.

Bolts of gravitons sear his flesh and burn his uniform and huge rocks beat and bruise him, opening up gashes that weep streams of blood.

Ping spins dizzily, looking for his opponent amidst the floating stones. He feels in his heart that he has one more strike left in him. He puts all his soul into one final strike. He leaps toward Seith and lashes out with his blade. Whether or not his strike lands true, he tumbles on through the air before falling through the weightless earth and crashing into the filthy water of the ruined sewer below, disappearing beneath the flow and swept away to only the Ancestors know where.

LEXUS has posed:
Does he? Will sees that the lines around the entity that LEXUS became are basically unravelling on their own.

This creature doesn't have long to live. What is the fate of a virus? The creature writhes, seeming to simply regenerate as it absorbs the area. Will smashes into it, destroying portions of it as it works to break down Will's defenses and simply draw it into the mass. There is no witty banter, just a sense of endless, writhing hunger.

Sofiya Fuma has posed:
Sofiya Fuma's eyes are blazing when she looks up at Tifa. "Yes," she says. "We will be." But I'll win, Sofiya says, but does not say. I'll win, and then maybe...

/Maybe/...

Tifa strikes, and strikes hard. The flurry of punches impacts Sofiya, who was apparently preparing another ninja spell; blue light suffuses her hands as she punches back, the energy radiating toward Tifa. More of it collects on Sofiya's hands as she draws a few symbols in the air, decidedly Oriental glyphs in shimmering blue.

"COME, POWER! Reveal the secrets of the Fuma family! I call you!" With a last gesture, Sofiya shatters the images in blue - and there is water. A huge rush, a torrent; it snakes up from the ground, forming into the shape of a gigantic hulking turtle before /exploding/, blasts of water appearing in midair and shattering in a way familiar to anyone with a good Enemy Skills Materia or Blue Magic.

Just bigger.

Aerith has posed:
Aerith turned to her right, evading the direct attack to her chest as she tears the staff out of Mirage's grip. She moved with confidence, uncaring of the vanishing trick... and as the cat lady reappeared, Aerith's staff was there to intercept with several rapid thrusts... yet this time, it ended with a flash of spirit energy along her weapon, and with a brief swirl to gain momentum, a powerful lunge smashed into her, knocking the sorceress toward the edge of the roof!

Again, Aerith said nothing, simply continued to advance...

Luso Clemens has posed:
"He's.....He's still there!?" Luso exclaimed in sheer surprise as the Blade of The Rift vanished, leaving just Excalibur glowing with a faint hum. The boy panted considerably from the effort he just put forth with his attack. "That was supposed to decide it...!" But there was more to worry about now. The Emperor, he was preparing otherworldly magics to unleash upon him.

"What...what's he up to...?" Luso mumbled curiously, squinting at the incantation being uttered by the still present, and still dangerous Emperor of Palamecia... And then came the orbs of energy. Narrowing his eyes and steeling himself, Luso too this much more seriously. He was like the wind. At first he was there, and then...he was gone.

Again and again, he weaved through the explosions of energy before finally leaping into the air. The explosive force of Flare propelled him even further upwards, and in that time, Luso sheathed Excalibur back within Avalon, it's purpose completed. From there, he drew Flametongue and The Kwigon Blade. "Fine then! I'll finish it right here! Here I gooooooo!"

Descending down upon Mateus, Luso's bore down with both blades, aiming to strike the finish!

Seith has posed:
Seith glares at Ping when he manages to leap at him even through this mayhem of attacks, bringing his weapon forwards in an attempt to string Ping... but Ping manages to twist himself enough that his initial strike misses. The young man's sword cuts along his face, drawing blood in the form of a nasty gash! The man's head jerks to the side along with the attack and he lets out a yell of pain.

"How DARE YOU!?" He calls out, and brings his hand down following Ping's path, sending the entire field of rocks down towards Traverse Town's sewers and entombing him inside! "Rest in piece! Foolish soldier!" Seith calls out, before bringing his hand up again and letting out a pained hiss as he touches against the broad wound, trying to stop the bleeding.

He'll need a moment to actually heal his wound.

Mozenrath has posed:
Mozenrath, the ruler of the black sands slowly pushes himself back up to his feet. He snorts with disgust, brushing off his clothes and picking up a small cube from the ground. He raises an eyebrow. "..Interesting." he says thoughtfully to himself as he draws in a painful breath from between clenched teeth, his gauntlet still bleeding dark energy as he holds it against his chest tightly.

While his undead minions stare around with little interest, he curiously looks back and forth through the chaos at the various other battles going on around him.

Celina Duvalis has posed:
Celina tosses a crystal at Will. Then she fusses over him. Then she does some magic. 'cause a Witch mom has to do what a witch mom has to do.

"Go, silly." She says, affectionatly.

Oblivion has posed:

The Heartless Giant Lobster was out of heroes to battle and thus the rampaging mecha beast continues on its way toward the main fight. Each claw stomping into the ground. Now though only with three claws and looking pretty battered up thanks to Ariel and Vespa's best efforts; and they did a number on it too!

Yet the Heartless just keeps on going as the wave of smaller normal heartless around it continue to run around causing trouble.

Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. Click. Stomp. Stomp Stomp. Snap.

Kim Possible has posed:
Kim finds that she's not as agile as she thought she would be, and finds that Pete gets a good attack series landed on her again. He's trying to retreat, but Kim won't give him that luxury just yet. She takes a moment to catch her breath, before going after Pete again. "Here, have a parting gift from me!" Kim says as she somehow manages to make her way back to him, launching one last flurry of attacks before dropping down to her knees to hopefully catch her breath.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart barely had time to react to that. As the ninja girl calls upon the wrath of the water god (or something), she only has time to counter with her own water, a high kick that that aims to disrupt the aim of that magic. Well, she's not sure how magic works, but it appears that she managed to deflect it like this. Or she got lucky. Either way, her kick didn't do much damage either, but at least she protected herse.

Somethng that allows her to move back unto the offense. First another high kick, distabilizing the ninja enough so she can combo into the next move. Hands on Sofiya's shoulders, she vaults herself BEHIND the ninja, and with arms wrapped around her waist, a mighty lift into a supplex. Yeah, that failed before, but that ninja can't evade EERYTHING, can she? At point blank range like this, its definitely dangerous.

Ping has posed:
Helpless, a small red lizard watches the two combatants square off on orbitting ruins of stone overhead. He cheers the young soldier on but the small creature's cries are drowned out by the din of battle all around. The little critter is quick to act as Ping dives off the stones, racing toward the end of the soldier's fall. As the stones fall down over Ping, the lizard manages to worm it's way through the gaps in the rocks, disappearing into sewer-tomb after his friend.

Will Sherman has posed:
Celina does what she can to keep Will up...but he's looking not good. The LEXUS continues to absorb, Will can only barely deflect attacks, before two more find their way into his chest. He grunts, trying not to scream as the dark infection spreads. He growls, but LEXUS will note that the darkness takes no hold...it tries to...but it then evaporates off like it wasn't even there after a few moments.

His eyes narrow...and then he concentraits...the dark red mist starts forming again, ready to fight again.

Pete has posed:
Pete tries to run, but Kim pummels through the Heartless, and manages to clobber right on through them--and to Pete--whom she beats up even as he tries to run away. He squeals in pain before one lash DOLPHIN KICK sends him flying into the air.

"I won't forgive you!!" Pete shouts. "I'll never forgive cheerleaaaadeeerrss!!"

*ping!*

LEXUS has posed:
The creature does not care.

Will destroyed the higher functions of LEXUS with his power. There are only the basic systems that remain. The most essential portions of the design, bound together with the power of the Dark. Will struggles to recover, but LEXUS continues striking, attacking Will's defensive reserves as he works to wear the hobo king down.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will's eyes snap back open.

Then he moves, again, taking to dodging like he was perdicting the attack before it was even sent out. There wasn't anything there...Will's eyes can still see the fate...but it's different. What is...?

"Celina watch out.." he says, and then dives in again, willing to get close and personal with this form. Will's fist dares to touch the mass of LEXUS, aiming to repeatedly punch the mass.

However, he ducks and jukes...and attempts to SUPLEX the mass again. "SCREW YOU! I AM A HOBO!"

Mirage has posed:
Mirage disappears again, reappearing floating in the air not even on the roof, but in the gap between to buildings. "This is getting irritating. I'm afraid I have to end this now! It has been..." she fans out her fingers, her claws sharpening, then glowing brightly with green flames, "...entertaining! Time to scratch you...OUT!"

With a flourish, she whirls in the air, her hands flying out to make clawing motions in the air. This would look silly if this didn't produce green flaming firey crescents of doom with each slash at the air.

Aerith would recognize this magic. This was clearly the point where Mirage stopped playing around with her illusions.

Sofiya Fuma has posed:
Water gods aren't normally turtles. .../Or are they/? They'd be pretty good at it.

It doesn't matter, because Tifa kicks the forming spell. Water goes everywhere, but it's more or less harmless, though one might want to be careful with their footing anyway.

Before Sofiya can properly recover from the second kick, Tifa leaps behind her, grabbing. For all her bluster, Sofiya is actually pretty small - she's shorter and lighter than Tifa, at least - and definitely suplexable. She goes up, over - and crunches into the ground. Though there's actually a few inches of water that she's in, since it hasn't drained yet.

She bubbles, twisting to free herself. She's at least somewhat of an escape artist; Sofiya tries to plant one foot on Tifa in a solid kick to push herself back and down, rolling through the water. She comes up with her gun, firing another one of those glowing bullets. At closer range, the brief flicker of a ring of light around the barrel of the gun is a lot clearer.

Emperor Mateus has posed:
Emperor Mateus appears surprised as Luso evades the explosions and even the Flare spell. Truly, this lad could be serious trouble when he puts his mind to it. A lesson for the future, clearly.

His staff spins to meet Luso's blades, but the weakened weapon is no match for two blades and gravity both. The staff shatters at its weakened point, not slowing down Luso one bit as it dissipates in his wake, and the swords drive through Mateus' chest and shatter the demon-face shield on his back. The sorcerer's eyes widen in shock, both uncomprehensive yet understanding what has just happened all at once.

"Ungaahhhh!"

His scream echoes in the general area as he falls towards the ground, no longer able to keep himself levitating. A Corridor of Darkness opens directly below him and he falls through from gravitational forces alone, removing him from the battlefield.

Seith has posed:
From up high, Seith manages to finally see that little dragon weasel its way into the 'tomb' he made for Ping. But what he also sees, is the rest of the battlefield. And with that comes the tell-tale sign of someone casting Flare! It's always amazing to see some of the most destructive spells being cast amidst battle like this.

But then there goes Luso, attacking the castee! The man winces a little, whilst the magic of healing falls over his cheek and closes the wound before it can become a scar. And just before Luso might think of commiting to a final strike on his ally, Seith suddenly throws his left hand out and sends a wave of purple light Luso's way in an attempt to smash him into a nearby wall and bring him up into the air.

The man then slowly hovers Luso's way, on his mighty stone rock he'd lifted himself up with earlier to battle Ping, and comes to halt quite close to him. "It would appear there's another pest to take care of."

LEXUS has posed:
IF the creature could talk, perhaps it would have something to say about the hobo status of Will Sherman.

The LEXUS Entity has by now carved out the ground into a smooth bowl beneath it. The Heartless know better than to get near, as many of them have been consumed. Will strikes, the mass being beaten back... And it pauses, holding back for something. But what?

Aerith has posed:
Aerith leapt over the incoming waves of sickly magic, and rained two bolts of spirit energy down on the caster... before rushing forward yet again, pressing the advantage. Not yet... she had to wait until the right moment, the perfect opening. It would show itself soon, and then she would remove one factor from the equation. Just floating there would not save her... and Aerith sought to prove that by leaping into the air, right after Mirage in an attempt to knock her back down to earth again... hard.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart is fast, but not mroe than bullets, especially after getting kicked away like that, not much could be done as the bullets graze and wound her. But that's not sufficient to bring the barmaid down either. And she rapidly moves back on the offense.

She had time to get some breath back between the different attacks, and its about time to strike back with all she has again. This time, not much finesse though, she doesn't seem to have the energy to flash step like she did before. But that doesn't mean its any less dangerous, when she rushes in after the bullets stop flying, and throws in two glowing fists toward Sofiya, exploding on contact with the double hammering. The exploding ki rippling in a bright bubble around her, doubly charged up with all of the pain she can thrust into the ninja right now.

Kim Possible has posed:
Kim, meanwhile, has an evil grin on her face as she watches Pete go flying away. "Hey, don't be such a sore loser! You're the one who chose to pick a fight with the wrong girl!" Then she collapses to the ground and rests.

Will Sherman has posed:
HOBO SMASH!

Will is still the king, no matter WHAT LEXUS might think, say, or his heartless sass about! Will continues his fist of the hobo star barrage, the reforming doesn't concern will...he's gota beat THIS thing right? This is the real LEXUS...which is kinda scary when you think about it. Will can still see the lines, his hands ripping out more of those strings, trying to weaken the monster's fate. His eyes glow, trying to do everything and anything to break him down.

Even when he tries to put a fist into that Large EYE of his.

Luso Clemens has posed:
Luso's strike makes the mark and the Emperor soon makes a hasty retreat from the battlefield before you can decide it. "Tch! ...Oh well, I did it...That's enough for now." But before the boy could relax his guard and take even a moment's breather, a wave of purple energy hammered into him from the side. He didn't even get a moment to think about what just happened before he was sent careening into a nearby wall with an audible crash.

"Gah...!"

Sliding to the ground, Luso, remained that way for a moment, eyes searching for the one behind that blindside. His eyes eventually fell upon the floating form of Seith and they narrowed. "Feh, looks like my work just isn't done yet!" He spoke lightly, getting back up to his feet and brushing himself off. "Well I'm not done yet either! I'll take you down too!"

Steeling himself for yet another battle, Luso gripped his swords, taking several deep breaths to get himself back into the game.

No rest for the weary!

Oblivion has posed:

The mecha lobster keeps making its way toward the battle. Its lets out a screech as it gets in closer, then suddenly it starts to charge. The main objective of this heartless was to defend those of the Shadow Lords that had fallen. Thus this mecha heartless was moving in a paticular direction for someone.

Yet who was it moving in for?

It seemed to be making a beeline right for Luso. Moving right over other combatants and heartless in the air as it makes its way.

Yes this heartless will continue to fight until it is destroyed!!

Yes. It is one of those bosses.

You know, the ones that you wish would actually /die/ and you kill three times?

Yep. That is thing right here.

Thankfully, Luso will have a moment before the Mecha Lobister Heartless is upon him. Unless someone else is brave enough to intercept!

Seith has posed:
No rest for the weary indeed. "Indeed it is not, boy!" He remembers this one! This one hung out with Reize. The man floats fowards slowly, staring down upon the boy even now. He lets him brush off and grab his weapons. What kind of sport -- what kind of /teacher/ -- would he be, if he didn't at least let him

"But don't think I will be so easily beaten, boyyyy." The man then flicks his hand up, in an attempt to force Luso back into the air, before a gate opens in the air and air starts to rapidly be sucked away from anyone in the upper atmosphere near the boy. "Fall into the void!" The man then calls out, and the black hole closes into the form of a massive ball of darkness that then drops down towards the youth!

Sofiya Fuma has posed:
This time, there is no image.

The explosive fists connect with Sofiya. Already reeling from being inverted in the suplex and then thrown around, the only good thing she manages to do is keep ahold of her rifle poleaxe when she goes flying, landing with another splash.

Sofiya manages to get up, but she's weaving faintly from side to side. She looks at Tifa with something close to fury on her face before turning and sprinting away, cradling one injured arm close to her side and holding her weapon in the crook of her elbow.

Another failure...

LEXUS has posed:
Will continues to hammer at the digital abomination, rending it apart, but LEXUS proves to be resilient. It does not die so easily, even as it begins to degrade further, something collapsing around it. Inky pools of blackness gow around it, rending and grasping digital blades lashing out to cleave into Will and try to pin him down with the organic, chintinous-looking spears.... And then LEXUS stabs with a tentacle, attempting to punch into Will and drain the hobo's power and crush his resistance.

Mirage has posed:
Mirage disappears down into the alley after making a very unhappy kitty noise. Normally she'd just reappear in the sky again, though this doesn't seem to be happening. Aerith might be tempted to look up anyway since that does seem to be her pattern though.

But should she look back down into that ally...she might want to watch her face.

The entire alleyway suddenly alights as a burning wall of flame shoots upwards, rising several feet in the air above the building, singing the rooftops.

Mozenrath has posed:
The eel looks around, peering at some of the chaotic fights around them. At Seith and Luso. "Bleh." and then at Will and the amorphous LEXUS. ".. Sticky. Bleh."

The eel rolls around, looking at Cat Lady and Aerith fighting. While the eel Xerxes swims around in the air, Mozenwrath takes the time to compose himself and indulge in a little therapeutic mayhem and destruction.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will tries to move...

He had two choices...let and right...

Right.

Will moves the blades rising up all around him, but he keeps moving, keeps pushing himself harder. The blades dig, hitting the tattered pants, digging into his flesh...but only glancing off of his legs. Will moves, punching the next set. Will's eyes blazing as he jumps up as more try to entrap him...

Will flies up, and then over the large inky monster...

Will grabs the strings of fate again, this time hoping that LEXUS' form was maliable to this. He grabs the white strands, aiming to try and once more enforce his will over LEXUS. The strings fly out, aiming to once more SEAL him into place...

Will goes into over drive, his hands litterally bondfires of red energy... flying right towards LEXUS' form...and aims to try and put his hand through the creature's eye! Once more, landing on the other side of LEXUS, hand outstretched...and clenches the fist, aiming to shatter the thing's lines.

Luso Clemens has posed:
"We'll see about that!" Luso called up to Seith defiantly. "I'll show you just what I've got left in me! You just might be surprised!" He grinned then and suddenly...he was gone. The boy certainly seemed to love doing that. And it seemed like he really hadn't finished up yet. In fact, he just got his second wind!

"Heh...making me use Excalibur more than once in a fight...you guys are good. But I'll show you!" With that said, Luso gripped the handle of Excalibur again drawing the purest holy sword from it's sheath again. "Haaaaaaaaaaah!" Yelling out in a rather spirited fashion, he raised the sword to the sky again, forming the Blade of The Rift once more.

"Heh heh heh...can you see him? The grim reaper's by your side! And I've got an express ticket for you to go straight to him! Take this!" Gripping the phantom sword back, Luso then swung upwards, sending a wave of holy energy up at Seith and the Heartless Lobster currently coming at him. Two for the price of one!

There was a sale today.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart phews as she makes the ninja run away... that's one less worry, but there's still much to handle apparently. Aerith is still facing off with that cat lady, but there are other bad guys on the loose too. She jumps down from the rooftop, heading to engage Mozenrath... who apparently managed to dispatch Deelel. Which is no small geat either considering how evasive that program is. Well, might as well start off the hostilities, this war won't win itself.

Rushing in to the dark cloaked mage, she opens up with a beat down of punches "Dance with me this time, will ya? You're not getting this city!" While the punches fly in, a roundhouse kick comes in to connect with his jaw... and then the powerful arms of the barmaid (albeit it doesn't look like it really) wrap around him to backdrop him in a painful supplex. Let's see how the mage likes this.

Aerith has posed:
Aerith... did not look up.

Mirage might feed on pain and suffering, and quite insane, but she wasn't a fool. She wouldn't follow the same pattern twice, not after being knocked out of it. Aerith did look down... and hissed as she saw the flames coming right toward her. Instead of leaping up or following her quarry downward, she leapt across the gap, from one building to another... just as the fire passed where she'd been.

Her response was two shots down into the alley, followed by her own descent to street level. The roof they stood on was starting to crumble anyway...

Yet when she arrived, two small impact craters met her, without anyone there to accompany them. "Okay... you want to hide, fine." She closed her eyes... and waited. "Let's play that game then."

Seith has posed:
Seith stares right on back t'wards Luso and brings his two ended scythe up and waits for the phantom sword to fall. It sends that massive wave of holy energy at him, and the man just braces for impact! The attack rattles him, breaking the rock beneath him, and leaves him floating in the air on his own. His armor shows a massive dent, and the man is forced back a few meters.

When it is all over, Seith looks up to Luso... and grins. "That's it?" He asks him. "I am afraid I must have you know, the Grim Reaper owes me one right now." The man then suddenly bounds towards Luso and brings his blade straight down upon Luso in an attempt to slash through his hat...

And everything below that too, preferably!

Still, Seith is actually holding back a little against Luso, as opposed to his battle against Ping. Maybe it's because he's gotten a bit tired, or maybe... there's something else at play here.

Oblivion has posed:

The Heartless Mecha Lobster picked up speed; A great deal of speed. It was rushing right for Luso at screeching along the way. The energy wave was also heading right for it, before the massive machine heartless leaped into the air just in time to avoid, with the beam of holy energy almost clipping its little Lobster legs.

Then suddenly that big ol' construct comes crashing down, trying to use its body to slam into the mighty holy hero below.

As it then recovers its claws snap a few times, before it tries to use its three remaining claws to snip-n-snap at the hero. Attempting to slice and dice him up with vengeance for its masters!

Not that heartless probably /feel/ anything, but it did seem to be acting in such manner.

Mirage has posed:
But when Aerith drops down into the alleyway, she'll find...

Nothing. Just smoke. There is no sign of Mirage at all. Has she retreated? There's no sign of her fire elemental cats, no sign of the bandit heartless she likes to command.

Right next to Mozenrath, a blast of green fire shoots past him to take out a storefront. Mirage floats forward, apparently also enjoying the thereaputic destruction.

"So..." she says, glancing down at him, "...did you officially ally with -that- little organization or is this just a little fun?" Yep. Villain small talk.

LEXUS has posed:
Will's power clashes with the Darkness of LEXUS as he tries to consume the child who holds a god. The entity fails. LEXUS, if he could be could be considered such a being anymore, resists the God Hand for a scant moment... And then there is an explosion as the eye statics, cracking like glass before it shatters, Will plunging through the being and exploding out the other side, trailing wisps of Dark behind him.

The creature makes no noise as it trembles, thrashing about... And boils away, the Darkness claiming its own as the entity vanishes slowly.

ELSEWHERE...

> AVATAR STATUS: DESTROYED
> PREVIOUS CONDITION: TERMINAL VIRAL DEGRADATION, CONTROL INTERLOCKS BROKEN

> CORE CONTROL SYSTEM GENERATION COMMENCING...

Will Sherman has posed:
Will looks back...

"...Finally." he says, and waves towards Celina. The power of the Hobo-hand fades, and the synched voice Will is...normal. The glowing is gone, and Will is back to normal. "Lets get to the others!" he says, and runs off.

Mozenrath has posed:
The dark sorcerer appears to have learned a little bit about letting people get WAY too close to him because Tifa's strikes slam through his body.. which evaporates almost immediately in a painful flare of blue flames, snapping binds of dark magic left in the wake of the illusion. "I prefer woman who actually /KNOW/ the steps."

Mozenrath sneers from nearby, drawing his cloak around him and drawing the edge of his gauntlet up as he sucks in a painful breath and smiles with vicious glee. "Maybe all you need is a good teacher. /KNEELING/ would be a start. Don't make the mistake the last 'hero' made. Or.. actually..." Mozenrath gestures negligently.

"..go ahead. I enjoy a good laugh." he draws himself up, pointing at Tifa and commanding the spirit of the howling desert to destroy his foes. When he has unleashed Scirocco, he turns back to pleasantry.

"Ah. There you are. This is.. a momentary division, you might say. Although I do find it more engaging to provide some variety, though this.. street detritus is mostly gullible and inconsequential."

Celina Duvalis has posed:
"WILLLLLLLLLLL!"

Celina isn't young anymore! But she runs after him.

Aerith has posed:
Aerith's eyes opened after a few moments before she looked around, wondering where exactly her target was... no where in sight, apparently. "Running away again?" Flowergirl smiled. "Not this time. I'll find out where you are eventually." With that, she leapt to the roofs again and scouted out her target... someone looking like that was unmistakable. Lo and behold, after a few moments, she found Mirage talking to what appeared to be one of her comrades.

"Sorry to interrupt," Aerith muttered, "But I think we still have things to discuss."

She threw her staff straight upward and brought her hands together, the tips of her thumbs and index fingers touching. Pale green motes of spirit energy began to coalesce just a few inches in front of her before suddenly coming together in a sphere of magic. "The wrath of a thousand angry souls... take it all."

She let go.

Luso Clemens has posed:
Luso swore under his breath in disappointment as his strike failed to do the damage it had done before. It seemed like using your trump card twice in one fight really did reduce it's effectiveness! Sheathing Excalibur, Luso drew out Flametongue and the Kwigon Blade again, preparing for more battle yet.

"Crapcrapcrapcrap!"

Luso rapidly swore as Seith descended upon him, scythe aiming to cleave. Luso brought his swords up in a cross to try and defend, but fatigue simply had worn him down far too much to be able to do so effectively. "Gah!" The scythe slashed past his blades, cleaving into the side of his hat and into his shoulder. "Ugh...Dude, not the hat!" Not wasting anymore time being a sitting duck, Luso parried away the rest of the slash before leaping aside to create some distance.

But then HERE COMES THE FLOWSAND LORD. "Whoa, wait, wait, wait! Two on one? You guys are serious huh? Fine then!" Luso launched into a vault then, weaving through the heartless' attack. Once he landed on the other side, an aura of flame began to surround him as he dove forward. "Here I go! Raging flames, embody my will! Shimmering Blade!"

Once in range, the boy swung with both swords, sending out a wave of fire to strike at both of his opponents at once. It didn't matter if it was two on one. He'd take them both down! Or fall trying!

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart doesn't bow or kneels, but apparently, that's also the wrong answer. Those magical attacks are not a good thing from point blank range, and she feels the whole brunt of it too.

And she already hates the attitude of this guy too.

She wind seems to cut right through her, and robs her of jsut about everything she had left too. That's definitely not a good thing for the barmaid. But she's going to give otu everything she has before she goes down at least. She charges up what she has left of power, and strikes right at Mozen, her exploding fist the last trump card she has to attempt to finish up the fight. But obviously, its not looking very good for the Lockhart gal.

Oblivion has posed:

The Lobster gets impacted by the fire and screeches in pain as the Heartless scurries back, swiping at the flames and trying to swipe at Luso along with it. However it fails to get away. What an annoying man. Making this big ol' heartless have to work. Being all swift and magicy.

Then with an angry mecha lobster cry. It raises up its primary remaining claw and tries to send Luso right into the very ground, before attempting to nail him several more times with that massive claw of its. Stab. Stab. Stab. See how you like it human! Stab. Who has the knife now!? STAB!

And now we take you to this commercial break for...

How to cook a lobster!

..wait what?

Seith has posed:
"Only you 'heroes' believe yourself just enough - you dig yourself into foolish visions like 'fairness'. There is no such thing as fairness on the /battlefield/, BOY!" The man shouts at Luso as he launches upwards and lands behind him. The man slowly, loomingly, turns around in midair, and points his weapon towards him.

"YIELD!" The man then slashes his weapon straight forwards, across Luso's own flaming strike, and cuts through it! Flickers of fire still touch him however, and flames heat his armor and set his mantle on fire. This only ends up making Seith look that more demonic.

"YIELD, IN THE NAME OF THE SHADOW LORDS! YOU WILL FALL, BOY!"

The man drops down towards the ground at high speed, and the moment his boot touches the ground, the pavement splinters and cracks, sending massive waves of force out and upwards, launching Luso back into the air. "FALL!" He draws his hand back, and the massive scythe bursts with a mighty purple-black flame!

"FOR THE SAKE OF THE FUTURE!"

The scythe turned lance is thrown into the air, and is flung into the air at magically enhanced speed. It bursts up into a beautiful antilight, attempting to ram against Luso's chest... and then turn into magical energy entirely and BURST THROUGH!

"PIERCE!"

Mozenrath has posed:
The dark sorcerer brings up his hands in an X formation, the gauntlet soaking a great deal of the force in the exploding punch but the arrogant jerk still goes flying half a dozen feet. Mozenrath finds himself eating dirt again for a final time.

He glares up at Tifa with absolute baleful scorn and contempt. "That's... /IT/ .. dear lady /muscles/." he teleports in a snap of fire to a nearby rooftop of a building, pointing down an imperious hand. " I am through asking nicely. I am through with gentle warnings. I am THROUGH playing games."

Several bolts of dark lightning crack around him and slam forwards towards Tifa along with a surge of gauntlet powered dark energy.

Luso Clemens has posed:
"HOLY CRA--" Luso didn't even get time to swear as the FLOWSAND LORD attempted to make Luso-paste out of the boy. Maybe one day, the world would have Luso-paste...But it is not this day! The boy vaults out of the heartless' attacks and into the air. Seith's attempts to strike from behind are also unsuccessful as Luso shakes off whatever magical nonsense being attempted on him.

"I'm not gonna fall! Not just yet! One of you is coming with me!" Landing then, he knew that he had little energy to spare and no time to take a breather for said energy. It was time to pull out the last miraculous gambit! "Special move, here I go!" Gripping Kwigon Blade in reverse, Luso reared back as ice energy gathered onto the blade.

"I think you two need to CHILL OUT!" And then he swung, sending a wave of ice at the heartless as well as Seith. "Just fall already!"

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart is never one to give up normally, but she has to admit that she's at the end of her rope right now. She would consider a hasty retreat if it wasn't the whole town that was at stake. She can still fight, even if its weak, and probably not enough.

And yet, she's not going to bow down "I'm not playing games either, I don't know what you want with this city, BUT YOU'RE NOT TAKING IT." She moves in for strikes, although its starting to lack much punch at all. But if she can chip some of his power down, maybe someone else can finish it. At least, she's hoping.

Mirage has posed:
"It's dissappointing, I was hoping to run into someone I could really dig my claws in tonight." Mirage sighs dramatically. "A momentary diversion, hm? Well, my contacts would appreciate a sorceror of your talents amongst your ranks should you find a deeper hunger for more...diversions."

Speaking of diversions..!

"...speaking of, one moment." Mirage turns herself in mid-air to face Aerith as she comes up upon her. Both clawed hands slam out in front of her and that clear barrier she had displayed earlier to ward off magic returns in full force. Each green mote bounces off the shield, some multiple tmes before the energy is exhausted. "No."

Suddenly, she flies forward through the air and buries her hand in Aerith's stomach in a fierce suckerpunch.

The barrier around Mirage suddenly becomes fire. FIRE. ROLL REFLEX, AERITH!

Seith has posed:
Tssk. Luso manages to avoid the massive spear of energy sent his way! Seith stares up at the youth who manages to keep pulling off miraculous move after miraculous move! The man waves his hand down, drawing upon his magic once more, and waits...

Luso rears back... and here it comes. The massive wave of ice! The man lets it all wash over him as he begins to move forwards... and does not halt. The ice shatters parts of his armor, cracking it! It causes the wounds on his body to act up again. But at least the burning mantle is blown out.

His horns are given more facets by the ice. But in the end... his spell comes to fruition. Or rather, his earlier spell. "WHAT COMES UP...."

"MUST FALL DOWN!"

And there it comes back, the spear of magic coming straight back and attempts to return to Seith's hand... THROUGH LUSO!

Aerith has posed:
Aerith... could not avoid her attack.

She only gritted her teeth and watched the attack come. "Even if we fall here... The reality you showed me is false." With that, she got knocked out of the air, flat onto the rooftop down below... and the last thing she saw was the sky darkening yet again before everything went black.

Oblivion has posed:

The Mecha Heartless Lobster was relentless. It just kept on coming. Even as Luso tried to get out of the way. It just kept coming. The Claws slashes through the air at the Hero it seeked. Slashing and trying to strike the Hero.

Relentless. Relentless and not merciful.

The Ice attack came and the Lobster moved to the side, before lunging once more at the Hero. It was putting all of its energy into the attack-- Or the attack that was going to come, but it halted short as one of the Shadow Lords dealt with the target.

It let out a screech, before moving across the battlefield once more, striking at any structure that got in its way. It had a mission. It would carry out this mission until it was called back or destroyed.

One could figure, one of these would happen before the morning came in this town of twilight.

Luso Clemens has posed:
"Tch!" Luso hissed as a claw struck him, sending him reeling back. Before he could recover enough, Seith was advancing on him again, saying something cryptic and mysterious. "What are you even talking abou-----whoooooooooaaaaa!" Luso saw WAY TOO LATE the spear coming right back the way it came...and for him.

BLAM!

Luso hit the ground, struggling to remain conscious. "....I....I'm not done....yet...!" And then he fell unconscious.

He was done.

Mozenrath has posed:
Mozenrath becomes ever more petulant and frustrated as Tifa continues to presevere. He staggers backwards again but this time is bolstered by the fact that his undead minions get in the way before he can take too much damage.

He just continues to press her despite his injuries, despite the blinding headache and the threat of unconsciousness. He would not be scorned. He would not be denied. A number of chains and bindings attempting to force her down. DOWN.

"/KNEEL./"

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart kneels. But not by choice. That choice was made for her when that last attack drains of her remaining strength. But she doesn't kneel for long. Moments later, she's laying face first on the street, admist the destruction around the city. Maybe Traverse is lost. But they went down fighting.

As long as they don't get swallowed by the darkness.

Seith has posed:
Seith doesn't even stick around to watch Luso sink to the ground, defeated. Instead, he averts his gaze, and then his entire body, walking away from the youth as he finally hits the ground entirely. "We're done here!" He calls out and opens a portal of darkness before his very self and walks through it, and then turns around once more before it closes. "For now, your world gets to stay. But know this - heroes! You failed to protect tthis world... how do you ever think you can /restore/ a world!?"

And then that portal closes.