Hades Cup: Heaven's Punishment vs. No Sleep Til Manhattan

Hades Cup: Heaven's Punishment vs. No Sleep Til Manhattan
Date of Scene:	28 February 2013
Location:	Traverse Town - Coliseum
Synopsis:	The final match of the round robin portion of the Hades Cup! Who will take home the Wind Shard?
Cast of Characters:	Faruja Senra, Mercade Alexander, Tifa Lockhart, Quistis Trepe, Avira, Deelel, Emi Dennou, Isaac Hanlon, Evja, Tigger, Raine Arland

---

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Welcome to what is presumably the final match of the Hades Cup! The conflict that the Lord of the Dead has put into place to choose the most suitable posessor of one of the remains of Manhattan (and to get ratings) is winding up to a fever pitch with the round-robin format finals. The teams, No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn (consisting of Mercade, Isaac, and Avira), and Heaven's Judgement (Evja, Quistis, and Tifa) are assembled here in the arena, preparing to DO BATTLE.

Mostly because it's basically impossible to pry the World Shard out of Hades' cold dead (or occasionaly flaming) hands otherwise.

Mercade himself stretches, the detective looking over his opposition. He's seen some of them fight against Heartless or the forces of Baron before, but there's always more potential surprises out there. "You guys ready for this?" Mercade asides to his teammates... And then walks forward, taking his place. "Hello." He smiles to the three. "Good luck... And whoever wins, let's make the most of it, all right?"

Evja has posed:
It had, indeed, been a relatively long day. Most of it was spent, by Evja, getting healed up and relaxing in the treatment facility he had taken himself and Quistis to the last night. But, today was another match, and after a day of brief exercising to limber up, the Viera was indeed present and approaching the center of the arena.
At the moment, 'she' didn't have her helmet on, even though the rest of her armor was. Which left her long hair fully visible as well as the turban of sorts that some Viera wore and the veil that was always on the Viera. "Hopefully this match will not turn out to sour feelings as our last two somehow have. Despite what is on the line, I am sure a good match will at least serve to raise the spirits of the world we fight for, hm?"

As was usual for Evja in this event, no weapon was out and visible out the moment. Only that helm tucked under one arm.

Quistis Trepe has posed:

Quistis has some wrappings over her torso underneath her slightly ragged fighting outfit, but seems to be doing just fine. She has her whip at her side, with a hastily repaired tip.

She does step towards Mercade, or at least, takes a pace forwards.

Raising a hand and bowing slightly, she says, "Since it's come up a lot - I want to say even now, that if we scream and shout or get really into it, it's actually not personal. I think we're all working towards the same goal. I have some concerns myself, but it seems like this is the best way to fulfill our collective goals, while getting real battle experience in a safe environment."

She clasps her hands in front of herself.

"... I'm glad we could have this conversation," she concludes, scootling back to the square adjacent to Evja.

Evja has posed:
Evja leans in and whispers something to Quistis, looking concerned about something but not saying aloud whatever he actually said.

Avira has posed:
It's a bit of a surprise to Avira that this is the last match. She had intended to watch the others duking it out yesterday, but the need to rest at Cloud Nine had been far too high. In the wake of the fight against Clayton's goons, she'd been left with a wound to nurse and in light of that, she had tried to be very careful the next day. It's impossible to see the bandages around the wound now that Avira has her leather and metal armor on.

Grinning, she joins Mercade, standing next to him. Both hands reach behind her, but only one withdraws...well, it's not her weapon. She's putting her buckler shield on, slipping it over her right forearm.

"Oh of course. I'm sure all of us here want to see Manhattan restored." she smiles, "But we'll have to give them a good show either way."

Emi Dennou has posed:
The Network is here to watch.

It's not the same without a Tigger though. It's just not the same.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart arrives a bit on the late, but she looks like she had time to get refreshed after last night's tough fight. She has a few friends with healing magic, so a good night's sleep, a shower, a new set of clothes, and the barmaid is fresh for action again. She walks over to her team, waving to the other side, all people that she knows well too, being friendly as always. Sure, she gets serious during fights, but she's going to kill anyone either. They will have another story to talk about next time.

Not to mention Mercade is like her partner for the Traverse' bar. She doesn't want to get sole ownership THAT badly, really.

She nods to Evja and Quistis "You two are okay?" Everyone was pretty battered after all. She starts on her own stretches, working down those limbs.

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
Isaac's around, of course. He's even uninjured. This is perhaps notable, because it seems like every time he has to get into a big brawl for the sake of the (well, a) world, he ends up having a somewhat less important one a day or two before. (Less important in the grand scheme, that is.) It's nice being fresh -- though it looks like their opponents cannot say the same.

"Yeah. About that." The local mage, who definitely does not look like your stereotypical wizard, looks to Evja. "Friend of mine told me about you. So maybe we'll just take your last two into account while we're doing this one." He does offer Quistis a polite smile and a nod all the same. "But nothing personal."

Isaac slides a step back and keeps his hands loosely in his pockets. He waits, apparently not terribly concerned.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Yeah, no problem." Mercade waves to Quistis. "We're all here for the same reason. May as well make the best of it, right? No hard feelings. It's not like you're a bunch of cackling villains who'd use the Shard for barbecue."

Mercade pauses for a moment, shuddering.

"Anyway, let's do this right."

Faruja Senra has posed:
Up in the stands, dressed in green robes, Faruja leans on a cane as he watches. Despite his loss, he seems in a relatively good, if pained mood. Somehow, the fact he stood up to such powerful fighters is reassuring to the Templar who has often doubted himself.

"Fight well, brave souls! And do not allow thy ears to be nicked dear Lady Adjudicator! I shall have to abstain from serving you carrot stew were such a fate to befall you!" Calls down the Templar, grinning at the bunny from afar. Who knows if the Viera'll hear him!

Quistis Trepe has posed:

Quistis smiles at Tifa, briefly. "Yeah, I'm alright," she assures her - before glancing at Isaac, then at Evja, baffled momentarily.

"You seem to be alienating a lot of people," she asks the viera; "Are you handing out too many chocobo parking tickets?"

When someone calls out about carrot stew, she calls back towards the shrouded figure, "That's /racially insensit-/"

>> START <<

"Ulp," Quistis says, before doing that same little saucy flourish she's opened the last battles with. Except this one is slightly different: instead of simply dumping magic on the other two members of her group, a shimmering shell of radiant force appears before both of them, /and/ her. She also unfurls her whip, cracking it in the air for effect.

"Any volunteers?" she calls forwards, not yet dashing ahead.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart tilts her head at that "Can you use it for a barbecue? Does it produce heat? I could replace the huge cooking plate by a world shard, would be prettier." Of course, she's kidding.

She's grateful for Quistis's buff, as she goes on the offensive right off the opening. She rushes over, as if she intended to take all 3 at once. Well, maybe she could, but she's actually moving a bit to the side, moving to meet up with Avira with a fist toward her chest. "First time we get to fight each other huh? That should be interesting." She grins, good naturedly, just hoping to enjoy the fight against people she knows to be strong, going all out without fear of being eaten afterwards. That's always a good thing.

With the first punch, two spinning kicks follow, one toward her head and the other to the knees, working herself up to tempo.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is here in the stands again she's recovered disturbingly fast from the beating she took but Faruja was not awakre to see the hints of her real nature. She looks down at the fights she looks over to Faruja for a moment, she makes a face. She goes back to watching and looking for the final battle.

Evja has posed:
"..."

Evja just stares towards Isaac a moment as if completely lost, then shakes his head, slipping his helmet on, long hair still hanging out the back. "I have no idea." comes the simplest reply towards Quistis, seeming entirely honest in his response. "You shall have to tell me what a parking ticket is after this match."

And go! The walls come up in shimmering light leaving the Viera to pull a spear out of the air. By the time he started to crouch down, Quistis had already shelled the three of them, much to his pleasure. It meant less pain from any magic users in the bunch, not that he actively knew what any of them were.
Then he leans forward and...

~Fwip~

He vanishes from sight. A trick he's been known to use in his previous matches. Whereas in the past he's come from the sides, behind and above, this time he appears in front of where Mercade was last seen only to vanish again after a quick glance and jump right towards Isaac. If one of them is disgruntled at him for some reason, might as well try to take care of them first instead of leaving them going after him the entire match.
Spear in hand, Evja swings it in a large arc, attempting to bowl Isaac over before tossing the spear into the air and pulling out a large translucent sword, following through with a swipe from it. The crystally translucent sword wouldn't hurt, however, likely passing straight through with a chance of leaving one feeling physically... weaker. At which point Evja vanished, jumping straight up, reappearing where his spear was to grab it and chunk it down towards Isaac once again.

Avira has posed:
Pausing, Avira gives Isaac a funny look for the words traded with the viera judge. Odd-she'll have to ask more about that later. Can't now, they're starting!

Avira recognizes a shell spell when she sees one and hrms a little. Ready to draw, all too soon she suddenly has Tifa upon her and-well, this would be the point at home on the network where they show this clip a second later in slow motion as Avira barely manages to twist and lean backwards out of the way of Tifa's impending punch. One hand briefly touches the ground, giving her something to push off of as she leaps backwards from the first follow-up kick. She lands crouched on the ground, then springs away from the final kick at a ninety degree angle. "Tell me about it!" she shouts back at Tifa breathlessly, "I'm scared already!"

Her hands spread outwards and along the length of her arm, a blue shaft of light appears that quickly solidifies into a thin spear of ice. Her arms draw back as if she were holding and drawing a bow, which upon making the motion to release the 'string', fires the arrow of ice at Tifa. The magic doesn't pierce upon impact but instead explodes into a layer of ice crystals.

Running from Tifa now, she takes aim again, not at the martial artists, but each of her team mates in turn, firing while on the run.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
They don't pay attention to Mercade.

So be it! Mercade pulls his revolver, a pearl-handled stage affair. It seems an odd match with a detective, but there it is. He pops the cylinder open and swaps out the ammo, then slamming in a speed loader. These are special bullets, made special-order by Cid and his Moogle minions, mythril tipped and designed to shatter magical effects. It pays to be prepared for these things. Mercade slams the cylinder closed. "All right. Let's rock." He blinks as Evja vanishes, and he frowns. Tricksy Viera. Tifa unleashes her kung fu, which is strong as expected.

He levels the gun, firing a spread of bullets at the enemy team, splitting his attention between Tifa and Evja. Quistis gets left alone for the moment.

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
Isaac's friends list works in mysterious ways.

Anti-magic barriers. Figures. Come from the one world where anti-magic isn't even a thing, and as soon as you get off it, everyone else has it. Isaac suppresses a sigh, pulling his hands out of his pockets, and with them, his tablet computer. He thumbs it out of sleep mode and clears his throat, shaking out his arms to be at the ready. He read a thing about stretching doing more harm than good before doing something athletic, so he doesn't do that. Internet, man.

Isaac keeps his eyes on the rabbit -- who promptly disappears. He's ready for it, theoretically speaking, but his reflexes aren't. Isaac reacts as fast as anyone can expect him to, twisting to the side and keeping his footing even as the Judge tries to bat him down. He catches the spearhead on the edge of a swirling disk of what looks like orange flame, the struck edge glowing as if white-hot. The sword passes his guard, passing through him apparently harmlessly... right? He staggers a step, looking up --

"Eruumvatol!!" Isaac shouts, the absolute nonsense word triggering something that doesn't quite qualify. Gravity suddenly twists in on itself, reversing near Isaac and tripling around the Judge, pushing downward at an alarming rate. The wizard shoots into the air like he was loaded onto a spring, the hurled spear slashing past him and shattering his shield, glancing off it just enough to turn a devastating blow into a graze. A line of red crosses his cheek, a shallow cut by the edge of the thrown weapon.

He sweeps his free hand upwards, glancing at the screen of his handheld computer and mouthing something under his breath. A look of concentration appears on his face, and he calls out, "Burn to the ground! Fira!!" and snaps his fingers. Three bolts of fire streak out of his grasp as he passes Evja, spiralling around one another and moving just a little too slowly for his liking.

Or maybe just slowly enough. The fire spell isn't real at all, an illusion with a touch of heat for authenticity. It couldn't do more than make someone uncomfortably warm. Bolts of bright cyan light streak in from Evja's sides, a needle-sharp barrage of raw magic turned into something not unlike a pulse laser, slashing at body and spell. Local gravity reorients again, turning a sharp ninety degrees from where it last pointed for the Judge, and a flicker of the magical equivalent of electronic noise sputters through the same space. Coupled with the amount of energy he's throwing around, he may as well be hurling magical EMP all over the place in hopes of shorting something out.

Isaac has learned a few things since he stepped out into the wider world.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart already thinks this is going to be a hard fight, with how things are shaping up. But doesn't mean she has to give up that quickly either. Rolling out of the way of the ice spikes, she doesn't have enough time to recover to avoid Mercade's gun blast. That one stings a bit alright.

She rolls back to her feet though, and goes back on the offense. That's all she can really do anyway, you could say one trick pony on that side, if using a variety of punches, kicks and drops to be a single trick at least.

She lashes out with a series of kicks at Avira, taking her as her immediate opponent at least, Quistis handling the buffs while Evja went for the mage, the team sperading out for the first turn apparently. After a strong kick sent to Avira's stomach, she follows up with a strong punch and then a strong upward punch, attempting to drive Avira out of her comfort zone rapidly.

Quistis Trepe has posed:

Neglected by fire for the moment, Quistis -

Twirls directly into an ice arrow. The icy spike into her side does little damage, but it aggravates the bruises, makes her stagger for a moment, hissing in breath. "Damn," she breathes to herself, shivering violently and giving Avira a momentary glare. But Tifa seems to be rushing in to handle the matter.

Which leaves - Mercade, and his fancy pistol with the pearl grips and such. Quistis swings her whip around her head once, saying as she does, "Hey!"

And then lashing out with blinding speed -- towards his gun!? Or perhaps his wrist. The first strike is perhaps painful, while the second is meant to grab his arm and yank Mercade forwards, closer - Quistis even sticks out a foot, in preparation to catch him on the heel.

Evja has posed:
Gravity attacks...

Tch.

Figures, though really, it's the first time in a while anyone tried to use a gravity attack on the Dragoon. Normally that might do something - however, every good Dragoon, every one worth their salt anyways, had a way of combatting it! Evja, specifically, had learned ways to counteract such! But not fast enough however.
Slam!
The ground got impacted by a rabbit comet, though lucky for him he landed on both feet. A dragoons legs were quite resistant to shock. While for the moment his feet were planted heavily on the ground it didn't stop him from pulling out one of his lances and swirling in a wide arc with it, deflecting the attack from Avira away harmlessly. Not to mention that strange attack that seemed to sap at his magic, since he had tried to avoid the fire! Evja didn't seem to like magic at all, as was evident by him trying to outright avoid it where the other attacks had been deflected or ignored. When the attacks hit, Evja curls up a bit like he was punched in the stomach before straightening out once more. Then...

~Fwip~

Bunny Judge vanishes once again just as he spotted Mercade attacking him, poofing out of the gravity field and appearing behind the fellow with crystal sword in hand. Just like he had with Isaac, the sword swung in a sharp arc towards the man to try and leave him with weaker physical defenses before vanishing and leaping into the air. A lance in each hand, Evja spins and twirls and looks rather acrobatic before vanishing and reappearing above where Isaac was to try and slam into him with his anti-gravity laden spear fully planning to bounce the jumpy mage right back down to the ground. Following this up, Evja pounced straight down, slamming after where he planned to send Isaac only to jump right back up and throw another spear right for him.

Avira has posed:
Well that was less than optimal. Mentally, Avira files away the need to practice a bit of 'shooting while running' a little later.

She starts to circle around, keeping an eye on Isaac for a few seconds as she sees him very engaged with the Judge-a problem, really, since Avira knows how dangerous Judges can be. Altering her run, she heads for Isaac now.

Her run is briefly interrupted by Tifa's foot in her stomach. That second punch is actually intercepted by the buckler shield on Avira's forearm, the impact ringing loudly throughout the arena. The third punch knocks her skywards.

She doesn't remain there for long though, twisting back down to the ground. She lands, crouched, next to Isaac and keeps herself turned forward. One hand reaches out, grasping his shoulder. A brief blue shimmer follows, a regen spell and what seems like a time spell left behind on his person.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi is still watching the fight!

AT this point she has wrapped her arm around imaginary space, pretending Tigger is present.

Tigger has posed:
Tigger is totally here. Emi is hugging him. He intermittently has his snout in a bucket of popcorn, more interested in food than complicated combat maneuvers. He does like being hugged.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade's wearing a bulletproof vest under his shirt, which Evja splits open with a quick strike of her blade. Mercade grumbles, only for Quistis to strike out! "WHOOOOA!" He yells, backflipping with inexplicable agility from the whip strike. "That's pretty dangerous." Mercade says, his eyes narrowing slightly as he assesses Quistis' capacities for a moment... But the threat of Evja can't be denied. With a swift motion, Mercade leaps backwards, getting some range as he levels a bullet storm upon the bunnyjudge.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi pauses, noticing that at some point the Imaginary Tigger became an Actual Tigger. How did that happen?? She thinks back to the moment where she was certain there wasn't a Tigger present and now to the present moment where there clearly is a Tigger--eating popcorn no less. A strange effect passes over Emi, first it is the simple fact that the battle vanishes from her eyes and mind. THere is no battle anymore, there is just this moment, with Tigger eating popcorn. She does not ask for any popcorn, though she does observe.

The effect grows in power. A tinny warmth focuses along her arm and steadily spreads like a contagion through the rest of her body. First into her shoulders, then drops down into her legs, gradually filling up into her chest and head. The feeling encompasses her entire being. Emi has never felt alone, but this feeling of companionship is not quite the same as that with her Sisters, nor is it even like one of those crushes she experimented with. She doesn't know what it is and attempts to analyze it, but any words that encompass this feeling are not words she usually thinks about.

Her arm squeezes Tigger lightly.

Her eyes snap open. In her vision she can see the cosmos. Each star, each nebula--each individual spec of cosmic dust is full of infinite wonder. Magic is real, no not the sort of magic that she uses, or not even the sort of spells that Isaac uses, the ones that defy convention and understanding. No, this magic is one of possibility, and hope--that anything is possible, anything can exist, the universe is safe, caring, and full of love.

For the first time in her short life, Emi feels like she's a child--no, for the first time she feels like she has childhood.

HUMANITY +1

She sniffs once, bravely, and then smiles fearlessly and hugs Tigger once more. And that's all.

Tigger has posed:
Tigger is the power of imagination incarnate. He is oblivious to meters going up. He leans in against Emi, some popcorn stuck to his velvety snout.

"Hoo hoo hoo!"

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
Gravity attacks.

The Bunny Judge (just thinking the combination of the words makes Isaac groan inwardly; when did it come to /bunny judges/?) apparently teleports around instead of actually moving. Isaac is used to /that/, at least; he's seen it before, and he knows precisely what to do about it... though he can't do it quickly enough to immediately arrest it. This is going to be problematic.

The sword comes in again. Isaac steps to the side and utters something gutteral, the disk-like shield suddenly spreading into an angled barrier. The sword scrapes across it, throwing up sparks as if from a forge. That angle of attack is cut off, for a second or two -- and then he's hit from the other side, hammered by lances and tossed aside. He rag-dolls down to the ground, the impact softened by his own reflexive use of a touch of arcane power.

And then there's /another thrown spear/. Isaac shouts a rude exclaimation, and the fire-wall springs up between him and it. It stops, quivering, an inch above his head. "Cut it out with the spear-throwing or I'm going to get /really/ mad!" It's almost like he's only human or something, and is fatally allergic to getting spiked to the ground by thrown spears.

'Really mad' apparently does not include 'saturating the space around him with horrible noise,' because he's doing that right now. He stops concentrating on the gravity spell and flicks his fingers across the surface of his tablet a few times, looking something up in a hurry. He finds it, and hastily and steadily mutters an incantation while his eyes scan the display. He's got it right.

The gravity thing happens again -- sort of. This time, it's a hammer instead of a net. The Judge oughtta feel sore after this one, and it looks like the gravity hammer is a little more widespread. The noise and the gravity pulse spread outward like a ripple, colliding with most of the other team in a manner not dissimilar to an unconventional blast wave.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi Dennou is immediately compelled to rub Tigger's head by some eldricht power far beyond her ken. She seems happy. She feeds Tigger a stray kernel.

Quistis Trepe has posed:

"Oh for the love of Hyne," Quistis shouts from the side. "Your friend here, Mr. Alexander, is shooting bullets from a gun, and you're casting at /least/ mid-range fire based paramagic, /and he's throwing a sharp object/!!"

Her tone rises as her attention rests on Isaac. "I am sick and tired of hearing people complain because may Heaven forbid someone actually FIGHTS in these thing!" She glances at Mercade, spreading her hands. "Seriously, he's using high-end magic and he's complaining about a SPEAR! I am /so angry/ about this!"

Her head then whips around towards Isaac as she coils her whip. "I'll show you for piercing!" Light shimmers around her, and she looks away...

... and then back, with the intense white-hot beams of sheer, refined female displeasure scintillating out of her eyeballs right towards Isaac. She walks the eyebeam from his left leg on up, perhaps aiming to slice his clothes open?!

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
"Actually the fire was illusionary, I'm doing my best not to kill anybody," Isaac calls, amidst being laser-eye'd. "I don't even /know/ any elemental magic!"

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart is starting to dislike gravity attacks. Those annoying, painful, and slowing her down. But its not like that will entirely stop her either. But team planning goes first here, taking a step back for a moment, giving Avira a pause in the onslaught, just enough time for herself to start casting a spell, spreading it over herself and Evja, boostin gup their attack power with a red glow, but also their speed with a green circle around her. Should even the odds a bit in this fight, hopefully!

Evja has posed:
SLAM! Evja is hit with the hammering effect of gravity once again and forced down to the ground. Slamming into it with a resounding thud, air and dust shatter out from his feet where Evja impacts. His knees started to bend, but the Viera held strong, despite being quite winded by the barrage of magical attacks. Though yet again that feeling of being the target was there, being used to getting aimed at when he was in clan matches in Jylland. Without even thinking about it Evja leans back and kicks the ground, a large magic circle appearing beneath him as he vanishes away and appears outside of the general area of Isaac. It might seem as if he's planning on leaving Isaac alone, but nope, instead, he's trying to deal a swift kick right to Mercade's face to try and disorient his aim enough to get by with not being peppered by a firearm.
Then once again he vanishes and reappears a distance away in the far corner of the arena. Evja was glowing, sucking in the light around him! Energy seemed to build up slowly in a golden white hue before he yelled out quite simply, "Theta Seven!" and vanished from sight. Bounce kick sproing leap!

Evja was bouncing all over the field, leaping into the air, out of the air, off the air and walls, those magic circles forming wherever his feet landed briefly before he vanished again, a full tell of where he had /been/. A careful eye could see the general direction he was facing when he twitched and hit his foot on the ground to vanish once more. But, Quistis and Tifa knew or should what 'Theta Seven' was. It was key for 'Get the hell down, now!'

BOOM! BOOM! Evja appeared on the ground and vanished again, jumping into the air before slamming down again and again and again, golden brilliant white spears impacting the ground wherever they touched and exploding quite brilliantly before the energy poofed out and trickled back towards wherever the Viera was going next. In total a series of ten lanced explosions before he appeared above and shouted, "LET IT BE DONE!" and launched the spear towards Isaac, attempting to knock the mage out here and now. He was taking a beating from Isaac. A heavy beating.

Tigger has posed:
Tigger continues to eat popcorn as people get Super Critted. Life is good for the Tigger.

Avira has posed:
"Is the spear not blunted enough?" Avira asks Isaac as his commentary is enough to draw ire from Quistis. "We're supposed to be blunting our weapons for this, right?" Even the Spine's serrated edges are blunted, though nobody can tell that right now since she's yet to draw the weapon. Annoyed that the mage seems to be taking the brunt of the damage, Avira steps close to Isaac.

Digging in, she lifts her shield and narrows her eyes. She gets just a flash of warning each time the Judge descends to block Isaac from each and every of the ten assaults. The final blow actually breaks her buckler shield into pieces which scatter around her. With no shield of her own and the need to defend the mage from the final strike, she resorts to putting her own body in the way.

Just like the ancient Fighters and Knights of yore, she takes the hit-or the whole spear, which strikes her in the center of the chest and punches a hole through her mythril breastplate. The strike is enough to push her back onto Isaac, should he manage to catch her in that moment. He'll find that, for a few seconds, she's actually limp in his arms.

Then she moves, her face scrunched up in pain and anger. One hand moves behind her, finally pulling the Spine free. The other hand grasps the spear and violently yanks it out of her. With a grunt, she finally stands upright.

She tosses the spear aside, very far aside, meaning that Evja is going to have to fetch it later.

Blue light encompases the length of her weapon and with two very violent swings, ice magic is channeled through the blade. The "blows" manifest themselves as shaped blasts of ice magic that form into a set of snarling wolves. One wolf chases after Evja, the other after Tifa.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi is having a great time. She is, effectively, in another dimension.

Tigger has posed:
Tigger is in that dimension. It contains popcorn and head-scratching. He is a happy Tigger. Tiggers are the best at being happy.

Meanwhile, people get their stuff rocked hardcore in the arena.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel has meanwhile gone to join Tigger and Emi and has a big old tub of popcorn herself why not? She needed to refuel anyway and it's rather interesting and given it comes from a plant it doesn't invoke any issues of creeping her out that much.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Evja unleashes her true power, which is more true and powerful than anything seen before!

Mercade is fairly shocked at this. "Wow, Bunny Judge is brutal." Mercade asides, before he looks over to Quistis' rant. He doesn't really respond to it. There's no point in arguing about it, especially when Mercade pulls out a shotgun.

He borrowed it from Hobo Lad a while back. Carefully, Mercade pulls out a couple shells and methodically loads them into the pump-action Remington, and racks the slide satisfyingly. People keep underestimating Mercade, and now he's going to show them what happens when they insist on pulling him back into close range.

Suddenly, he's in motion, lunging through the enemy team and somersaulting over the LASER EYES from Quistis, hitting the ground in a slide as he tumbles past the buffing Tifa. He levels the shotgun, and...

KER-PUNCH! What? That's right, the shotgun just shot a giant boxing glove out of the barrel, sending it flying towards the back of Tifa's head. He pumps the gun again and shoots another for the Bunny!

Don't ask where he got the ammo. It's a secret to everybody.

Raine Arland has posed:
And among all that happiness is Raine, standing back and watching the epic battle through half lidded eyes, his arms crossed as well as he leaned back against a nearby pillar. "Heh, this is actually a pretty good show. Now I wished I'd come to see the other matches."

And then a voice in his head replied. 'I'd rather you be down there getting your can kicked. That would be most hilarious now.'

Silence.

"...Shut up already."

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
Isaac's reasonable response to the accusation of using high-powered elemental magic and insisting on less attempts at his life is immediately replied to by a barrage of laser eye beams. He wiggles his hand and a bit of kinetic force in a vaguely hand shape whaps Quistis upside the head in a clear attempt at trying to deflect some of the laser-based punishment.

This doesn't really work. All it does is manage to ruin both legs of his pants and the side of his shirt. His coat is also suitably burned, which is perhaps the bigger problem. Isaac winces, trying to roll away from the lasers (since he's still working on that 'getting back to his feet' thing) without much luck. It hurts like a bitch, probably because he's got all kinds of delightful burns. Now he's not only battered and bruised, but mostly pantless.

Isaac manages to get his footing. He almost immediately loses it again, tripping on the ragged end of his pant leg. He grimaces, looking up -- and sees the /absurd/ number of spears coming at him. His eyes widen -- and Avira dives in front of him, yet again. He feels like this is kind of reversed, gender roles-wise, but cannot help but be thankful that it isn't him that's being carved up by thrown weapons. He catches Avira as she falls over, alarm evident on his face. He starts to say something, but can't get any words out.

Then, she gets up. Relief is immediate. He lets her go, looking stunned that she took all of that and kept going. He's going to have to find a way to /really/ thank her later.

But first thing's first. Isaac does as the Greeks do. He reaches down and undoes his belt, and discards his pants entirely. Then, he shrugs out of his long coat, folding it neatly and tossing it lightly to the side of the arena. Under it, he's wearing a white tee-shirt with a black stencil of a digital clock that reads '0hr,' and navy boxers with no particular pattern. He does not appear to be at all embarassed by it.

"Yeah. Not blunted enough." He scowls, taking a breath and adjusting his grip on his tablet. He draws a pattern in the air with his free right hand, extending two fingers and leaving a vague shadow for a second after he traces... whatever it is. He murmurs amidst his concentration, eyes on the screen rather than his opponents. It is all rather anticlimactic, considering the fireworks the Judge just put on. Isaac pauses, drawing another breath.

"Anathema," he whispers.

The pattern lights up in burning gold, a complex circle filled with something between chemical formulas and arcane script. Brilliant blue light funnels out of Isaac's outstretched hand and fills the ring, the construct thrumming with potential energy. He keeps it up for a second or two -- and then thrusts his hand through the pattern, shattering it.

A sudden gust billows outward from the sorcerer, kicking up dust and sending pebbles scattering in every direction. Heartbeats later, a wave of light the color of molten gold follows, broken apart like glass and fitted back together like fragments of a mirror. They strike like a storm, a burning wave of power some might call holy and others might just call /pure/.

For whatever reason, it doesn't seem particularly attracted to Tifa. Maybe she's too human for something like this. Isaac certainly didn't design it to hurt /normal/ people, but he didn't count on the second target, either. He stumbles a step backwards after releasing the magic, looking a little puzzled. He expected the rabbit to draw it in, but...

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi Dennou puts some sunglasses on Tigger quickly. This is important.

Tigger has posed:
Tigger's eyes are protected from the light. And the smoke. Nobody could survive that much smke.

Evja has posed:
Even though the majority of his sudden surge of attacks was done, Evja was still winding down, and thus when Avira's icewolf came, his reactions and adrenaline was still pumping so hard that he managed to swirl out of the way to avoid the brunt of it, though the icey nature of the wolf winds up freezing right up his right arm.
Well, it's disabled for the moment at least! That's a good thing! Not to mention suddenly BAM!
ShotGlove to the face! Evja gets punched right in the kisser, helmed kisser, by that glove and bowled over. And now that leaves him stationary for the sudden surge of colourful magic that seems to draw right towards him.
It seeked him out?!


Evja curled up and weathered the attack as best he could, taking quite a bit of damage and looking to be on his last legs. Standing and wobbling a bit, the Viera jumps away and grabs for the fallen lance when he gets nearby it. It vanishes, then reappears in his left hand as he stays in a corner for a moment to charge and get a breather while watching the others there. He was attempting to recoup! Well, recoup what he could anyways.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart already had to try to dodge and defend against Mercade and Avira's projectiles... sometimes she hasn't done all that well either from the looks of it. But if she can't evade, she stays on the offense, distributing a few hits everytime. Fortunatly, she was spared the hellish fury that Isaac rained on her teammates.. but still, the team doesn't seem to be a terribly good shape right now thanks to it. Time to try to even it out a bit more, and reverse the momentum.

She stops and stands, taking a deep breath, body rigid, and then with each breath it seems to relax her. She's channeling her ki, increasing her focus for the next attack. While in this state, eyes closed, she slides into her fighting stance, but it seems alot more fluid.

And then... she's gone. A flashstep, and Avira is suddenly knocked sideways, shouldered by the barmaid that seems to appear right next to her at the very last moment. It sends her tumbling toward her teammate Isaac. Should one look, Tifa's already gone, leaving only a bit of kicked up dust.

And then she reappears, only a second, as she kicks Isaac toward Avira, bringing the two closer to each other. And then she's gone again.

All in barely a few seconds it seems, Tifa reappears again, this time between Avira and Isaac, before they can collide into each other, they both ran straight into Tifa's glowing fists, releasing the explosive ki as it connects, sending the two opponents hurtling backward with the impact. That's Zangan-Style Fu for you~

Raine Arland has posed:
And a whistle from the boy as he watched the melee continue. "I'm surprised they're still going..." But they were all looking rather beat up now. It was only a matter of time before people started dropping...

'Who are you betting on, kid?' The voice in his mind asked. 'My money's on that armored one with the women of course!' Raine just sighed and shook his head. "I'm not making bets with /you/ now."

Because he'd probably lose of course. What WAS luck anyhow?

Quistis Trepe has posed:

"If you're so good with illusions, why are you wasting your time pretending to cast Fira?!" Quistis says, before letting out a sigh and rubbing her forehead. "OK," she says in a more normal tone of her voice, "I'm sorry, I'm still sore from the last one and I'm raising my voice too m-"

SWAP!

"I don't feel bad at all any more," Quistis says. >:( And then comes the purification wave. Why did it come towards Quistis?

Is it her occasional moments of impure thoughts (she is pretty good with that whip, after all)? The Junctioning of Shiva and stocked drawn magic? The incorporation of the spiritual and magical essence of various monsters into her very self, as shown by such things as the laser eyes that just shot most of Isaac's pants off?

It's hard to say. The wind whips up as the wave of power washes over Quistis; she flinches...

Tigger has shades, and may be able to see the white 'MISS' rising from behind her' as the horrible light passes. Quistis looks at her hands afterwards, briefly astonished, but perhaps she has been judged and found righteous, if perhaps in her innocence.

As she looks up, seeing Mercade with a boxing glove shotgun in passing, she says to Isaac with focused astonishment, dismay, and slowly increasing anger, "'Anathema,' huh? ANATHEMA? And oh, look who it hurt!" She sweeps one arm towards Evja, almost protective in her anger. Then she unlatches her belt and hurls it aside, along with her whip.

"I don't need any of this," Quistis continues, angrily. "All that I need is my training to overcome you and your judgmental magic!" And then she raises one hand upwards, crooking her fingers menacingly towards Isaac. Her eyes narrow, and then her brow furrows in confusion, before a heart-stopping second later she finds what she was looking for.

Red streaks of light fall out from Isaac; it may feel briefly disorienting on a very subtle level, but it's comparable to seeing an optical illusion. This happens several times before there is a sudden and possibly /familiar/ weapon - an arcing ray of immense light presaging Quistis running forwards. As she runs, she spits, another surging burst of water; she leaps up into the air, less fluidly than Tifa nonetheless but aiming to jam a knee into Isaac's gut before twisting around to return him to ground while landing, bottom-first, directly on him.

Somewhere: > DUCK PIN

Tigger has posed:
Tigger can of course see the Miss over Quistis' head.

She is a lady.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade runs out of ammo in the shotgun, and stows it. The fearsome abilities of Quistis cause Mercade pause, making him briefly wonder if he's been focusing on the wrong targets all fight.

This changes when Tifa unleashes her secret Zangan-Style ass-whooping technique. Mercade immediately launches himself forward, interposing himself between Tifa and Isaac and taking the blow for him.

Somewhere, a die in Heaven rolls a natural 20 on the Toughness save, continuing the ongoing tradition of Mercade soaking things he has no right to.

He brings up his arms, taking the hits, catching Avira and sweeping her to one side as he tries to launch them both out of the destructive Ki wave. Mercade is screaming as he goes flying. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH-"

He hits the ground, skidding to a halt. "OOF OW UGH ARGH WHOOOOOOOA!" He comes sliding to a halt, all dusty and dirty from the impact, and he rolls to his feet. "Wow, that was rough. Tifa, you're as amazing as ever." He gives a thumbsup... And then levels his gun, loading in more of his anti-magic bullets and spraying the weakened battlers! Something's got to give soon!

Avira has posed:
Avira certainly knows how to take a lot of punishment, apparently. It's actually rather strange to see her still on her feet, given how limply she collapsed in Isaac's arms seconds ago.

Yet here she is, still up, and now in close combat with Tifa. It quickly becomes clear to the martial artist that, though she's small, she doesn't seem to get the chance to knock her around as much as she wants. Namely, Avira abjectly refuses to go flying into Isaac at each juncture. Her efforts seem to work until a particularily hard kick sends Avira airborne, officially ending her control over where she can land.

Thankfully, Mercade catches her and scoops her away, sparing her a particularly nasty strike to the ground and shielding her from the explosive ki blast. As she picks herself up, she looks slightly flustered for a few seconds, "Thanks, Mercade." before resuming her focus on the fight.

She grips the Spine with both hands and swings. Under any other circumstances, this would look terribly silly, were this motion not unleashing alternating blasts of air and ice magic.

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
Isaac is still staggered by the power draw from the spell itself. Anathema Lash is not something he throws around casually -- he effectively calls up that much power to write something unearthly out of creation with it, at least if it's weak enough or 'dark' enough. The fact that it /could/ affect two people wasn't what he was expecting. He figured the balancing routines he wrote into the spell would focus it on the non-human member of their team.

Quistis does... something. Disorienting is a good word for it. He blinks rapidly and shakes his head -- and then double-takes at what's coming at him. Isaac knows /exactly/ what that is, because he /made/ it.

This, incidentally, makes it exceptionally easy to counter.

"Actually," Isaac says, free hand flicking this way and that, "it's called 'Anathema Lash,' and that's the trigger word for the program's mana release. It's almost like --" He pauses a beat, muttering something. A flash of red springs up, the immense light striking the shield and dispersing in an arcing rainbow up and around him. He dismisses the precisely-calibrated shield with a flicker of outward force at the SeeD and continues. "-- almost like I'm from a world where every friggin' person I fought had a horrible demon-monster grafted to their soul, and I armed myself appropriately!!"

But honestly, he was not expecting her spit to be the equivalent of a hydraulic push.

Isaac tweaks gravity, using the sudden surge of water to get more distance between himself and Quistis. She comes in and knees him, but he's a little further back than she aimed -- it's a glancing blow, enough to get him to cough out a breath but not as debilitating as one might expect. He rolls and jumps, hurtling into the air and then landing on solid, uh, air before she can pin him down. (More's the pity.)

"It isn't /my/ fault that making an offensive spell that /doesn't/ hurt normal people /can/ hurt non-humans!" he yells, largely angry because she's angry. "There weren't exactly any elves or anything to test it on back there! So why don't you wait until you know all the facts /before/ shouting about 'judgemental magic'?!" Isaac starts to pull up some mana for another onslaught -- and finds himself running short. He stops and forces himself to breathe deep, to concentrate enough to cast. His style of doing magic has its drawbacks. In the meantime, he uses the small amount he /does/ have, lifts his free hand...

...and flicks his fingertip against the inch-and-a-half metallic pin clipped to his shirt.

> Truffle Pin

A stylized pig about twice the width of his hand suddenly appears with a *POP!* in the air in front of him. It oinks questioningly. He points down at the other team, and then gestures at something on his display -- the image of food, and a text file labeled 'ARCANE SECRETS.' The little pig oinks in the affirmative, and hops to the ground. It runs in a circle, completely adorably, making little pig noises.

Then its dozen or so brothers, all about the size of a wild boar, appear out of left field and charge right across the arena.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi is back in this universe again. "The Truffle Pin....The Truffle Shuffle!"

Raine Arland has posed:
Eyebrow raise.

"Trufflewhatnow?" He mumbled, tilting his head slightly as he watched the proceedings in the arena. Now this was just getting surreal.

As if it weren't already.

Evja has posed:
Despite being in the corner of the area and /trying/ to survive... Evja gets attacked by practically everything. And even with that armor of his, the Judge gets blown backwards into the corner of the arena by the force of the many attacks despite trying to defend and, well... yeah. The fact that Evja isn't moving likely means the Judge is out for the count.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel watches as the fight just gets crasy she holds up a sign that reads Go No Sleep Till Mahattan!

Quistis Trepe has posed:

Quistis sounds baffled. "There aren't any other intelligent species on your planet?? How can that happen, that's like - What? Did they all die or something?" Her voice raises. "You didn't kill them, did you?!" Righteous indigation fuels her!

The very idea, she thinks. How can you even enjoy the world without things like the Shumi or Moombas, or whatever else it is that other worlds have. Like ducks or Viera. "Are you from like... the /crappy/ dimension?" she then asks, before -

Pigs, which keep her from further possible commisseration. She is smashed into, rooted and pigged thoroughly, and is only able to get out of the path of the swine herd by the use of what is best described as an 'escape maneuver,' not shown here due to the camera sweeping momentarily over to Evja as he doesn't get back up.

Which means a battered Quistis is upright again, breathing quickly. She has to move fast, she tells herself: she doesn't have a lot of scope for error here. She starts running, largely to avoid the risk of being immediately zeroed in on with deadly gun's. On which topic she loops around, heading towards Mercade. As she runs, she snaps her fingers in the air once and takes a sudden breath, leaping up as she goes and crossing her arms over her chest.

She simultaneously vomits forth a horrifying plume of black-green /filth/ in semi-aerosol form, and releases a surge of rockets from the small of her back (again). The missiles rain downwards towards both the gun'sbraster and the young woman located near him.

Avira has posed:
Avira lets out a huff of exertion as she manages, for the first time in the tournament, to actually take someone out. Even after being kicked in the stomach once more by Tifa, she still manages to remain conscious. At this point even Avira herself is wondering how she's managing to hold on. The prize, maybe?

Quistis vomits up a cloud of gas in her vicinity which Avira unfortunately gets a whiff of. "Malboro!!" she cries out, covering her nose and trying to flee the cloud. She doesn't get very far and falls to the ground, mercifully slipping unconscious.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade can dodge, but he can't dodge biological weapons. "OH GOD!" Mercade yells, choking and gagging as he flees. "THAT'S LIKE TEN WILLS!" He yells, moments before he is bombarded with blessed explosions. This is because cordite smells better than Malboro.

Mercade staggers out of the blast, trying to go evasive as he gets out the shotgun, preparing something.

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
Isaac is mercifully above the cloud of noxious gas. He feels an immense amount of relief once more.

"No, we didn't /kill them/, as far as Iknow. Humans and non-sapient species only. Some weirdness out of the dimension next door, but nothing intelligent. The worst monsters we had to deal with were things like tigers." He shrugs a shoulder, finding himself gradually calming down. Things start to click back into place. "Crappy? Maybe. Would you believe there were only a handful of people in the entire world who could really do magic? Tried to fix it, but, well... didn't really work out fast enough," he mutters, grimacing for a second.

But, okay, no, focus on /now/, brood /later/. He inhales, exhales, focuses again. Isaac murmurs a little, and starts hurling brightly-colored spheres at Quistis from the air. They burst like water balloons and apparently are some kind of weird numbing thing. Pins and needles in particular. It doesn't hurt, it just slows you down.

Quistis Trepe has posed:

Quistis rebounds off Mercade, grabbing sick air.

"Actually sounds a lot like home," she observes, realizing she can see her house from here. OK: not really. She doesn't have a house! She has a dorm.

She looks downwards, folding her arms as she takes a deep breath - and then letting out /three/ lancing beams of lethal magical death, the two small rays of Eye Laser mixing with a horrifying mouth-chest-sorta-area beam as she sweeps across the field, aiming to box in and force the two men to run into each other, for her amusement.

Or something. Afterwards, still hanging up there, she continues, "Do you know about Hyne??"

/maybe they're the past/, Quistis thinks, with horror.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
LASERS EVERYWHERE! Mercade uses his distance to dive between the shredding laser beams of death and closes in, tumbling across the dusty, shredded ground of the Coliseum. He charges in, unexpectedly leaping right over Quistis' head as he levels the gun...

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! Thunder rolls across the arena as Mercade unleashes a series of brutal blasts in a flyby assault.

Well, at least he's shooting beanbag rounds.

Quistis Trepe has posed:

And so Quistis Trepe discovered...

You shouldn't use Duck Magic against a man with a shotgun.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart was knocked out pretty solidly by Isaac's blast, but she just got enough energy back to stand up. Still out of the fight, just in time to see Quistis getting downed by Mercade. She sighs, and falls to her knees, out of breath and defeated "Well, that certainly was a tough fight."

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
Isaac doesn't so much run into Mercade as he does run straight into the magical death beams. He gets clotheslined by one, his last-minute barrier turning it into kinetic force and actually clotheslining him. He spins out for a minute, and skids to a halt in the dust a distance away with a muttered, "Ow." He really doesn't want to get back up.

But, alas, he does. He forces himself to his feet, staggers drunkenly a few steps to the right, and then rights himself. He brushes dust and dirt off his shirt and, well, boxers. "Guh. Hyne? No, never heard of him. If it's a him." He gets ready to unleash Mark Two of Pig Crash, and then --!!

No, actually, he doesn't. He rests one hand on his knee and the other on his head. He'll be with you once the room stops spinning.

Emi Dennou has posed:
A dog 'UWEE HEEE HEES' in the background before popping back down.

Emi smiles vacantly, still suffering the after effects of the Tigger Dimension. This leaves X number of Shards left, right? Hooray!

Raine Arland has posed:
"...And that's a wrap." Raine muttered, shaking his head at the turnout. "Looks like you lost the bet." He mumbled to himself as he turned away, stuffing his hands into his pockets and heading out.

'Maybe, but you never actually agreed to it, so, whether I win or lose; I still win, hoho~'

Sigh.

Like he said earlier; there was just no winning.

Evja has posed:
Evja is still quite knocked out in the corner. Apparently those final barrages towards him, combined with Isaac's Anathema magic, did a number to put him down for the count.

Quistis Trepe has posed:

Quistis is already doing a little spin in the air that, unfortunately, revealed her back to Mercade in time for him to begin to slay an enemy with deadly gun's; the beanbag rounds hit her and cause /massive organ d-/ well, OK, no, but one does land right over a kidney, which is a lot of why her landing is a lot more of a 'thump' than a crash.

She twitches like a poisoned roach in momentary agony before it fades, and then inchworms towards the edge of the field, saying heavily, "I can't focus on - ngh - anything right now... Well played..." She seems slightly surprised not to see blood when her hand comes back, but maybe she's just used to fighting dinosaurs.

She says to Tifa, tone still agonized, "I'll live. Go check on Evja, could you? I totally am not walking for like an hour."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Good. Bad. He's the guy with the shotgun.

Or, really, he's a pretty decent guy, he hopes. Mercade lands, putting the shotgun away as DUCK MAGIC fails to find purchase on Mercade. He heads over to Quistis, kneeling next to her and offering a couple Potions. "Hey, use these. They should help. Are you going to be okay?"

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart shakes her head as she stands up "Every contest has a winner and a loser, at least we got this far!" She keeps herself in high spirits, its not like she lost to some evil people, she lost to people that were aiming for the same thing, rescuing a city.

She moves over to check on Evja, helping her up with a shoulder. It was non-lethal at the least, just needed to rest a bit. She's dragging a bit, but she'll be okay.

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
Now that all that is done with, Isaac has decided that the ground is super comfortable.

He lifts a hand long enough to snap his fingers, then goes back to sprawling.

BGM CHANGE: http://youtu.be/1cMVkwtLfMM

Quistis Trepe has posed:

"I can't believe that stuff Ivo and his little buddy made up is actually true," Quistis mutters to herself as she anticipates laying on her tummy for the evening.

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
Isaac lifts a hand and makes a spinny motion for no readily apparent reason.