Hades Cup: START!

Hades Cup: START!
Date of Scene:	28 January 2013
Location:	Traverse Town - Coliseum
Synopsis:	A ceremony for the heroes of the Hades Cup qualifying turns into a battle for survival as Hades' machinations comes to a head...things do not go as planned!
Cast of Characters:	Faruja Senra, Tifa Lockhart, Avira, Deelel, Hercules, Cirra Constantine, Hades, Sanel, Percival, Grant Majors, Evja
Tinyplot:	Manhattan Restoration

---

Hades has posed:
Welcome!

Trumpet blare and celebrations ring out as the crowd gathered today was here to celebrate the heroes of the games. Confetti is thrown everywhere, seemingly raining down from on high, as the podium sitting in the center of the Coliseum. Those who have qualified have not been brought out yet..

Those who have not have spots in the stands, where certainly nothing will happen that might change their fates. Will didn't show up, because certainly he wasn't going to be paraded around like a fancy person, hobos have STANDARDS.

However, the music dies down and the crowd murmurs for a moment as...nothing happens?

Then trumpets sound again, as chariots rush out from various points of the Arena, each one carrying the champions of the games! Those who have showed up to be loved by the crowds...the HEROES of the people of Traverse town! It is not just for glory some of these people fight for..

The Shard of Wind, the piece of Manhattan is the prize. Many people from the ruined city pack the stands, cheering for those who would help save their world, and many more watch at home.

The chariots stop right at the center arena area, the raised platform that was where the battles would happen would be where they would be hailed. Here, Philocrities and Hercules stood. Phil was stubborn as always, taking the Microphone and screaming into it.

"WAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!" he calls out, "I'm still not convinced you people are heroes!" he says in his strangely greek accent. "So you can break some barrels, run real fast, and might be strong! But it takes more then THAT to participate in the games!"

"Two words! Heart!" Phil finishes...

Then a song plays..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWDkSQc_U9A

Then without warning Hades appears near the entrance, pyrotechnics happening as he raises his hands up as he walks out. With another blast of pyrotechnics and the stop of the song he appears on stage right next to Phil.

"Come on Phil, you agreed to it. Now's not the time to get cold feet just because they won. I mean, they're all fighting SO hard..."

There is a rumbling...Hades looks left and right, "Huh.."

Hercules has posed:
So you wanna be a hero, kids? Well whoop-de-doo! Phil's been around the block before with blockheads just like you!

But Hercules has gone through this spiel before with Phil himself, so he's pretty sympathetic to our heroes. "Aw c'mon, Phil. I mean...you're right. Um..except that's...one word? But Heart isn't just something you can show on command. That's something that only happens when times are real tough, right?" He chuckles. "And I mean, it's not like you can create a situation like that with the snap of your fingers."

Hercules snaps his fingers.

Then there's some rumbling. He pauses for a moment and looks around worriedly. "Was that me?" He worries aloud.

Avira has posed:
Avira isn't exactly an egotistical person...

But damn does this feel good, hearing all the applause and cheering. Actually being called a HERO of Traverse Town! Sure, somehow all the other stuff she's been involved with didn't qualify her for that title-eh, it was all small potatoes anyway, right? Water under the bridge? Paid jobs? As her chariot wheels out of one of the many arena entrances, Avira puts on her brightest smile and waves to the gathered crowds.

Yes, in spite of the earlier devistation at the VALKYRI Headquarters and even earlier bout of working out all damn day, Avira's managed to make herself look presentable right now! Of course, she's in combat gear because, pff, wearing a dress? When it's not even a fancy dinner or anything? FORGET THAT NOISE.

Her good mood is promptly SHATTERED when Phil grabs the megaphone and screams in it. Being only a few feet away from this, it hurts quite a bit! Grumbling, Avira lifts a hand and sticks a finger in her ear, as if this would somehow stop the ringing.

"Yeah, how are we supposed to prove that? Community service with Hearts Intertwined? Attract a Heartless?"

Sanel has posed:
One of the members of the audience is a little boy. Whilehis age brings him to that of a teenager, his mentality seems to betray his actual age. He is dressed in his oversized coat, having a smile on his face.

"Oh ooh! Look, Big Blue! Look!"

The crowd made a lot of room for the boy and his friend on the bleachers. His said friend is 'Big Blue', a large purple behemoth that tried to assault the boy, but paid the price for its attempt.

Now? 'Big Blue' is trying to get away from the boy. So, here is the behemoth, clawing and tugging against the bleachers in the effort to get AWAY from the boy. Nggghhh! Unfortunately, Sanel's immense strength + a deathgrip = Likelihood of escape at 0%.

Losing its will to struggle, it gives a resigned look. FML.

And then the rumbling noise...

"Huh?"

Freedom! Seeing its <span class=" bold_fg_c bg_b ++ hance...

Behemoth has fled!</span>

"Sanel feels odd. Did Big Blue feel that...?" Pause. "...Big Blue?"

Faruja Senra has posed:
Though feeling rather self conscious due to it, Faruja is quite happy for the chariot. This is entirely due to his recent re-thrashing by a certain White Cloud. Leg in a splint for the second time, and somewhat glassy eyed due to the associated painkillers for his reopened injuries, the ratling certainly isn't looking ready for a fight. NOT THAT HE'LL GET ONE TODAY, RIGHT?

As usual, the rat does his best to ignore the annoying saytr and the living personification of fiery-haired Heresy. Instead, he curiously turns to the toga-wearing man known as Hercules. He ponders, smiling to himself as he swallows some alcohol from a hip flask. For medical reasons, obviously.

Faruja glances back to Avira on her chariot. The rat's managed to get into most of his armor, minus the bit on the broken leg. A spear sits upon his back, and a cane leans in the chariot.

Rumbling. The Templar sighs, that feeling of impending doom and his day about to get worse /again/ creeping into his head. Turning to Avira, he peers briefly, then facepalms. She just /had/ to say something.

Sanel has posed:
For a brief moment, Sanel sees Faruja on the chariot.

/_+

"Snow Mouse King..."

Deelel has posed:
Deelel isn't sure about being called a hero of some sort to be here. She's here however she is here for the shard. Though she does like attention she does admit she's a media program she's made to try to get attention after all, right? She's happy though for the attention however still such an entrty is a bit suprising. Then again Hades loved his dramacis almost as much as SARK and was far better at it to be perfectly honeast.

Evja has posed:
Perhaps a bit unexpected given the figure had gotten knocked out of the barrel event yesterday and not been seen in the other qualifiers, one of those that was atop the chariots wheeling into the stadium was the Judge! The one that seemed to be a Viera, in that brief time his helmet got knocked off. Eventually wheeling to a stop beside Faruja, Evja looks towards him, then says with a bit of echo from the helmet, "Your injuries persist, Senra. Is it wise of you to carry a weapon? Or, for that matter, to attend?"
Though at the mention of that and with Hades appearance and the sudden rumbling, a bit pre-emptively, Evja jumps up and lands on the chariot beside Faruja, not planning on leaving a crippled rat to flee(?) on his own if necessary.

Percival has posed:
Why did he bother? His melancholic mood was all-consuming for him as of late, and he found the whole affair ridiculous. He'd never been a fan of Greek mythology, given that their gods and heroes were reflections of the worst that humanity had to offer, not the ideal. The whole idea of a hero needing all this pomp and ceremony was just too much for the gargoyle. A true hero in his mind needed no recognition.

What made him even more uneasy was the idea of driving a chariot. It was almost laughable that any squire would have no experience with horsemanship, but he did not. His people, his Order had no need of the beasts to bear them into battle. He'd just have to improvise. As he hears Avira speak, there is a rumbling in his throat, like a low growl. "Do be careful what you wish for Lady Avira." Though all he wished for in the back of his mind was to hear her sing. Strange, he couldn't get the imagery out of his head. He had no doubt that she was a formidable warrior and certainly not a simple lounge singer, but you know what they say about first impressions.

He spares a glance towards Faruja at Evja's comment. He was certainly worried about the Templar himself. It was in his nature to fuss over those of knightly bearing. But still, he would not wound the Burmecian's pride by questioning him on his ability to compete. He would just have to be there to pick up the pieces if he fell.

Cirra Constantine has posed:
Cirra Cosntantine is rolled out on a respendant chariot indicitive of Arcadia....

So opression, tyrrany, etc.

Well actually it's very military themed with swooping steel cruves and wheels of dark metal. She doesn't seem interested in the crowds, that sound has her looking around with one eyebrow raised.

Hades has posed:
Hades looks at Herc, giving him a shrug.

"Must just be some settling things going on, earth and all that. It does that sometimes." Hades explains, being the master of the earth and fire and all. It's a thing that happens, right? Right!

Rumble rumble rumble...

SHATTER!

The ground shatters, breaking through the surface of the Arena was the giant head of a serpent looking monster. Hades, was gone, vanishing in a second after the ground broke and appears right back in the special booth set up for him.

"You know what to do." he says to a MYSTERIOUS FIGURE. Hades turning his expression into a slow smile. Certainly this wasn't a TRICK at all!

The monster slowly brings itself up. It was massive...towering over the entire arena as a single serpentine head snaps it's jaws at everything around itself. It unleashes a hellish roar, before it sets it's sights on Hercules!

Phil falls back, "Oh no! It's THE HYDRA! THE LEGENDARY HYDRA!" The people in the stands start to scream, trying to evacuate the area!

MISSION OBJECTIONS!

A) Make sure the Hydra doesn't destroy the place!
B) Defeat the Hydra!
C) Protect the civilians!

MISSION FAILURE

A) All heroes are KOed.
B) Hercules falls!

MISSION START!

Grant Majors has posed:
A red blur of motion explodes from behind Hades' seat. It goes off into the sky, spiralling around as though it were some sort of flying drill, then comes smashing down into the ground somewhere near Hercules; there's an explosion of rock as the red thing crashes into the ground, the earth cracking underneath it. As it begins to straighten, the nature of the red thing becomes more apparent - it is man in a cloak, with an enormous spear sticking upwards into the sky. A mane of shaggy white hair runs down from his head; a pair of piercing, unnaturally bright blue eyes stare out from just above the red cloak's shoulderline, which hides the rest of his face. Underneath the cloak is flesh; muscular, strong, but also lean flesh. Around his visible hand, bandages are wrapped; similarly, around the head of his spear, and his feet. An armored skirt hangs off his waist, over a set of light pants; sandals are strapped around his bandaged legs.

He rises to his proper height; he is about six feet, perhaps twenty-two years of age, and he is staring directly at Hercules.

"Please accept my sincere apology," the man observes as he shoulders the massive spear like it's nothing, "But I cannot allow you to fight with them, Ser. I request that you face me, in honorable combat."

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart grumbles as she runs toward the Coliseum. That last customer at the bar was so drunk that it took forever to get it out of there. That's why she usually doesn't let her customers get to that point, but this one was slippery. Stole drinks from other tennants around, discretely, building himself quite the drunkard state. Passed out in the toilets, took awhile just to get the door open, and peel him off the toilet and dragging its near lifeless body to the exit. Way too much time wasted, and she's late to the party.

As she gets to the gates though, she screeches to a stop. Okay, that's not the kind of party she expected. What's that giant 3 headed dog doing there? And its TRAMPLING the place? Oh dear.

She looks around for some familiar faces, hoping to get an in on what's going on. Sure, she's ready to fight it if need is... but she rather have people she trust against her back. Fortunatly, there's a few of those, she spots Avira and Faruja among others. She decides to go join them, casting a spell to help them up while she's not in range of punching it.

Faruja Senra has posed:
The Burmecian frowns a bit as Evja asks about his presence today. "Wise? No. Necessary. My superiors believe my being here today shall show 'perserverence through adversity'. Discretely, between us...I think this is one of the older Templar I angered by joining having their revenge upon the 'vermin'." Shrug.

"Not all are yet used to beings other than humans existing, even in the Church."

Faruja throws a brief salute Perci's way. With so much Ominous Rumbling, he's glad that the gargoyle's around.

Especially as a bloody large reptile erupts from the ground. Faruja looks /up/, feeling like some sort of ant. "Oh, Faram help me, I knew this was going to be a bad day."

There's a gigantic beast, and one that's busting up from the ground. Somewhat defenseless at the moment, the rat can only cast protective and healing spells upon the armored Judge close to him, and upon Hades who seems like the Hydra's intent on eating. Faruja peers lightly, as a man bursts through a wall. Ignoring the man for the moment, he keeps his attention on the threat of the Hydra, nodding to Tifa as she Hastes him.

The additional movement is enough for him to cane-scrabble off of the chariot, but someone's going ot have to cover the injured ratling.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel came here for the even she was not expecting there to be a hydra. She's not even sure what the heck a hydra is other than painful as the bast knocks her right off her ride. She goes sprawling to the arena floor, but manages to get back up. There's a lot of people here, a whole lot of people here that are in harms way. She's got her disk off her back and is working to run several quick commands as she prepares for combat.

"...You won't get so lucky now."

Hercules has posed:
Hercules nods towards the totally trustworthy Hades who is totally a member of the family right? Right. No reason to worry about HAdes. What a trustworthy guy.

But then... HYDRA! Okay maybe he shouldn't have trusted the guy whose head is on fire, but surely it was an innocent...mistake...of a ... god? Well he's not omniscient or anything.

"Everyone stay calm!" He shouts. "Evacuate in an orderly fashion!..." He doesn't seem too worried for his safety. He has probably punched a hydra before. He charges forward, plowing one of the hydra's heads with his fist--only to get clobbered back by one of the others! He bleeds from the strike--he may be a son of a God...but this hero clearly is mortal. He hits the ground, dust kicking up. "Oof!" He says. If he had been entirely mortal though, his spine would have probably become a pretzel from a hit like that.

Hercules sits himself up when suddenly--

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YEAH!!!!!" A woman with an amazing singing voice shouts, a red carpet billowing down the arena's stands, a group of 7 women, one of whom is chubby, start traipsing down the carpet. "HIS NAME'S GRANT MAJORS, BUT HE WAS IN THE MINORS, TRAILING BEHIND THE GREATS, THE MEDIOCRE, AND THE LOSERS! STOP AND GO, HE HAD NOTHIN' TO SHOW, TILL ONE DAY HE BECAME A CONTENDER, AN UNDERDOG AT FIRST NOW HE'S NO PRETENDER!"

They gesture behind them where a fresco appears, showing a flimsy armed dude suddenly flexing and carrying a giant spear and cape and sparkling and whatnot.

"KING OF LAST PLACE, NOW HE'S A MEGA ACE! SECOND STRONGEST GUY IN THE ARENA, HE'S READY FOR A FLINGA!" They boogie, shaking their hips. "FOR A LOVED ONE'S MEMORY, HE'S ON A WINNING SPREE, HE'S SOMEONE EVEN OUR BOY'S HERC's GOTTA TAKE A BREATH OR THREE! GRAAAANT MAAAAAJOOOORS!!"

Hercules looks towards the muses, back towards Grant, back towards the Muses. The hydra snakes a neck around his leg and pulls him up into the air, dangling him like a pinata as Hercules works on prying himself free.

"Uh..." He says, dragging himself free and tying the neck in a knot, unceremoniously crashing to the ground. Ugh.

"...Well..." He says. "...I don't like this timing but..." He looks over his shoulders. "...But maybe this'll convince Phil they're real heroes! I believe in them!"

He looks back to Grant. "If you insist...!"

"SOMEONE TO FEAR, ALL THE LADIES LOVE HIS MAGIC SPEAR!" The muses sing.

Sanel has posed:
People are in danger! The crowd is likely in panic as the Hydra has made itself known. With the massive beast roaring into existence, Sanel looks up at the monster trampling over the place. Sanel turns his head to the paniced crowd, uncertain about their fears and worries. Truth be told, the people here do not mean much to him.

However...

His eyes set upon the Hydra.

Sanel's vision:

Sanel is out walking along the streets with a leash in his hand, the hydra happily following the boy. "Sanel has a new best friend~."

Back to Normal

Sanel cracks his knuckles and he starts going down the bleachers. The massive beast is now within the boy's vision. Locking his single eye, Sanel will likely wind his hand back.

"Hi. Sanel will make Big Lizard his friend."

*SMACK!*

Right on the leg.

Percival has posed:
"Oh Lord, in my hour of need, be with me." He mouths to himself as he sees the head of the serpent arise from the pit. The legendary hydra! He'd read of it of course, but the mere sight of it was enough to freeze him momentarily in awe. Fumbling for his shield, he places it upon his right arm, and unsheathes his sword with his left. One of the Hydra's many heads descends upon him, and he barely manages to place the shield within the beast's mouth; he was not fast enough, or skilled enough to prevent a fang from raking across his arm. He certainly hoped that this Hydra wasn't as poisonous as the one of legend. The snarl in his throat becomes a roar of pain, and he begins to drive his chariot forward around the arena, calling out to the onlookers in the stands.

"Get out of here! Run! This is the beast of legend, not some mummer's show for you to gawk at! Save yourselves!" He gesticulates his sword around as if to drive the point home to the people in the stands.

"FLEE!" Seeing that they are either not fleeing, or if they are, not fleeing fast enough, he roars as loudly as his throat allows, his eyes glowing white like a demon of myth in an attempt to frighten the individuals who still thought this might be a show into leaving the stands.

Once he finishes his round about the arena, he circles around to come to a stop in front of several of the competitors, Faruja in particular. While he wasn't going to imply the Templar was incapable, he wanted to be there to help cover for him in his injured state.

Cirra Constantine has posed:
The serpent creature breaks out of the floor, sending Cirra's chariot over, and Cirra backside over teakettle. She rolls across the floor untill she comes to a stop to look at the hydra towering above everyone, "What in blazes..."

The Judge gets back to her feet and starts chanting under her breath, a field of concentric rings breifly appearing in front of her untill it fades from sight.

Avira has posed:
Now Avira's turned to look at Phil with her hidden technique: puppy dog eyes. Surely he would not disappoint this lady and tell them all they couldn't participate in the games, WOULD HE?!

Then the ground rumbles again. This is unusual since Traverse Town has never experienced earthquakes before. As Avira considers this fact, the HYDRA. A REAL LIVE HYDRA bursts out of the ground, rising tall in all its serpentine glory. Avira's eyes widen as she stares up at the creature, huge like that Heartless Kraken.

"I DIDN'T JINX US!!" Avira shrieks in self defense as she whips out her weapon. "IT'S CLEARLY NOT A HEARTLESS!!"

Hydra's head looks down at her, clearly attracted by Avira's loud shrieking. With the swiftness of a snake, it strikes downwards and bites, taking the tiny woman into its mouth. Almost immediately, she sends a sharp blast of force down its throat, which is thankfully enough to make it release her.

"GO ON!!" Avira shouts, "TRY DOING THAT AGAIN!!" She swings her sword, sending another shimmering blast of strange, silvery force at the beast. It likely...doesn't do much given it's size. But hey, Avira's had a lot of practice at ineffectively hitting large things lately. At least she could keep its attention off of the extremely snackable audience.

Evja has posed:
Naturally.

A monster.

Evja sighs and steps aside a bit as Faruja turns to get off the chariot before something worse happens and the Judge moves between the Hydra and him just in time to intercept the first attack with a large pure-white spear. The first snap towards the rabbit didn't quite work and, in fact, it clamps down on his arm, leaving a heavy grunt of pain as the spear nearly falls from his hand, though luckily he manages to defend a second time before lunging backwards, straight into a spell from the Burmecian knight behind him.
"Mmph... thanks. Now wield your weapon and prepare to fight, I shall be your legs for now, let us both use our spears!" And with a swift grab, the rabbit reaches out to grab at Faruja, fully planning on, of all things, giving him a dragoon-style piggyback ride so the two could fight that monster.

Faruja Senra has posed:
Squeak! Faruja is suddenly piggyback riding a Judge. The Templar yanks out his spear, scowling at the great beast. "Alright, then. Unorthodox, but let us see if 'tis effective." Pause. Sigh. He mumbles.

"Oh Lord, please let Lord Folmarv's tv set malfunction." The Templar piously prays. His Order's leader seeing this is the /last/ thing he needs. Keeping one hand and tail tight around the horns of the bunny-Judge's armor, he nods.

"Let us go."

A glance to Perci. "Use thy wings well, Squire Percival! Swiftness shall be our salvation!"

Grant Majors has posed:
Grant raises an eyebrow at the muse intro. It paid to associate with the greeks, apparently. He doesn't directly say anything, of course (though internall he once again begins to wonder just how gods get to know so much); he just whirls the spear around in one hand and levels it at Hercules. He keeps those unnaturally blue eyes locked on the grecian zero-to-hero, eyes focused carefully on the other man, trying to get the read of him based on what he knew about the demigod. He knew that the man was a hero; he knew that the man was the only thing in the room stronger than he was (except possibly the Hydra), he knew that he was capable of going toe-to-toe with the man but had to be careful, and he knew...well, he knew one more thing about the man, but it wasn't really relevant right now.

"I appreciate it," Grant observes after a moment as he begins advancing slowly, carefully. He's being far more intelligent than his entry probably leads one to believe, carefully staying outside Hercules' range; it's easier to deal with the man if he controls the range, not Hercules.

Suddenly, Grant's cape explodes outwards, flowing behind him as his eyes widen. A roar erupts from his lips, echoing through the arena, past the hydra; any civilians still near him and Hercules are probably running the heck away. He...smolders?...for a moment, trails of smoke pouring off his hands and feet (and the spear) as the man appears to buff up considerably.

Then he comes swinging in for Hercules' chest with that massive spear; the spear, too, trails with smoldering smoke, as though it were also on fire, cutting a swath through the air as he stabs forward.

Hades has posed:
Hero's come out from everywhere!

Magic flies around, aiming to aid the hero's in their assault against the monstrous hydra, but the monster growls hungrily for a moment at each one of them. However, it is caught by surprise as a little boy SMACKS it so hard across the leg it stumbles back. It looks angrily at him for a moment, before it's tail swings, aiming to smack into Avira's sword...just narrowly saving Sanel from pain.

The Hydra looks...hungrily at our heroes for a moment, before it's massive tail swings at them, trying to knock them all flat on the ground. The tail swings slowly, back and forth, but at the same time it covers so much ground it's hard to watch out for!

Worse then that, when it's tail stops swinging, it releases a blast of dark magical energy, which lands on the ground and starts releasing smaller versions of itself like missiles all around the arena!

It does not care who it hits!

Hades steeples his fingers, grinning a bit. "Game set.."

Phil starts trying to get somewhere high...maybe...just maybe the old goat has a plan! "HEY KIDS! TRY SMACKING THE HEAD REAL GOOD!"

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa meets with Giant Tail. She thrusts her hands in front of herself, trying to push it away. Its a contest of strength folks!

Hydra >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Tifa

Obviously not in her favor, no matter how fast her user pushes buttons somewhere in the metaverse.

She gets knocked out solidly, slamming back first against the walls of the arena, knocking the wind out of her. That... hurts.

She can barely stand back, needing a few moments to get some air back. "...Knocking... its head real hard? I can do that..." She can try at least! She grabs a piece of the broken wall near her, and jumps up. Variation of her Meteor Strike, this time its like she literally tosses a meteor at the hydra's head.

And then he hets needed in the nogging. Take that, lizard from hell.

Hercules has posed:
Hercules, still reeling from Hydra smackings, is slow to respond to the spear. It catches him in the thigh before he can avoid it and he lets out a hiss of pain as the wound tears open. He stumbles to the left and gets hit in the back by some Hydra-ic acid, crashing to the ground, his hands barely keeping him from faceplanting to the ground.

That...was unusually easy?

Hercules groans, raising a hand to his head. His vision's a bit blurry. What's going on, he wonders, that shouldn't have happened that badly. He stumbles up to his feet, shaking his head groggily.

"Ghk..." He grunts, shaking his head. "Caught me off guard with that!" He's starting to sweat. Was it the fire, he wonders? It's a magic spear they said.

He closes the gap on Grant--Faruja's magic is keeping him up--but for how long? Is this really the best of Hercules?

He throws jabs at Grant, intending to force him on the defensive. Even with that sopening strike, Hercules is plenty strong enough to knock heads together.

"So I agreed..." He manages. "mind telling me why now?"

Evja has posed:
With Faru on his shoulders, and a combination of defensive spells and healing spells on him, Evja begins a slow running pace, building it up before suddenly he and the Burmecian on his shoulders vanish. Reappearing instantly at an angle from where they were high in the air, followed by an explosion from Evja's foot in the form of a shockwave, rebounding off the air again in the opposite direction and yet again vanishing and reappearing at the destination. A third leap straight up leaves the duo of dragoons flying straight down towards the Hydra, two large lances appearing in the Judge's hands as he quite literally attempts to jackhammer them both down onto the top of the Hydra's head. Success of his attack, or anything from Faruja, though, Evja winds up hit quite hard with an attack from the Hydra when he attempted to quickly pull out his Judge Sword only to realize it was inaccessible with the rat on his shoulders. MMPH, hit even harder than expected, too, he and Faruja go flying towards the ground.

Avira has posed:
The Spine bounces off that heavily armored tail that first time and Avira's heart sinks. Of course her 'swordsmanship' isn't good enough to deal with something this large an armored. Right away, for the sake of survival, she abandons the notion of trying to prove those skills.

Then the tail comes. Avira's eyes narrow and with an impressive leap, she twists her body through the air and evades getting smacked by it. Not only that, but her free left hand grabs ahold of the top of the tail, pulling her onto it in a crouched position. She's quickly onto her feet, running up the length of the tail.

Onto the hydra's back. "HEY!!!!" she shouts up at it, drawing her blade back and letting ice magic cover its length. "OVER HEAR YOU FUTURE HANDBAG!" Though, hmm, a hydra scale shield does sound pretty good.

Once it looks over at her, Avira unleashes several blasts of her ice magic, channeled through the Spine. The final one culminates with a strange blow shaped like a leaping wolven beast.

Something bothers her though. How can this be a hydra if it only had one head?

Percival has posed:
He watched the introduction and Grant Major's first strike with a calm and appraising look, as he tried to size up the situation. Noting Faruja's advice, he begins to drive his chariot forward towards the Hydra. Picking up speed, he barely manages to knock aside one of the hydra's heads which are descending upon him.

Climbing up to the edge of the chariot, he allows his wings to unfurl and uses the air current generated by the careening chariot to lift up into the air. He circles about to the side to line up both the Hydra and Grant Majors into one pass, before descending with his shield in position to block the Hydra's many heads, his sword at the ready to strike.

Moving in, he picks a neck, and brings the blow down upon it with as much force as he can muster. Dodging and weaving through the maze of reptilian necks, he eventually finds his way out of the mess, and descends upon Majors, a battle cry emitting from his throat as he aims to buffet him with the blow created from his charge.

"Nemo me impune lacessit!"

Upon passing him, he would sweep himself into another updraft, and manuever himself to be at the ready for his next pass.

Hercules has posed:
Hercules has no idea what Percival just said.

It was all GREEK to him after all DOH HO HO HO.

Faruja Senra has posed:
Faruja finds himself briefly disoriented by the Judge's leap. It's entirely different from his own, but the Burmecian quickly masters his stomach. As he's slammed down by the Bunny Judge, the ratling grips his spear, already shining with Holy Light. Putting his back into it, the Templar finds himself glad his arm's at least in once piece!

An incantation as the rat stabs forth, hopefully into the Hydra's head. "HOLY EXPLOSION"

His spear's strike is followed up by a slamming column of Holy Light upon the beast, provided it doesn't miss or simply shrug it off upon its scales! Injured as he is, there's little he can do but brace himself as that tail impacts the Burmecian. Sent flying, for the second time in not very long, he's slammed into a wall. Crack. Cue more ribs re-broken.

Sanel has posed:
After the initial smack to get his attention, he sees the thing glare at him. "Hi. Sanel wants to be Big Lizard's friend." It shows no signs of mutual endearment when the tail sweps over his way.

... Or at least, for Avira's sword.

But lo, themassive tai comesabck to sweep at the ground. Sanel attempts to grab onto he tail, "Hehehhee, funny---Ooof!" Sanel finds himself smacked across the body with the massive tail. Then, that plume of dark magic expels voer the boy, the smaller hydras are moving towards Sanel.

That hidden eye glows ominously. As the energy moves closr, the boy reaches over for hugging the creature. WOOOSH! The energy fries him, "Iiiieeee...!" Then, the boy grimaces, hearing the creature.

Sanel grumbles, looking pretty annoyed. So, Sanel is moving towards its tail, trying to cling onto it. And then, he begins his moment of climbing along its back. His good eye looks over at Tifa diving with a meteor at the monster's head. Avira's comment...?

"Nooooooo..... Sanel will have his friend and pet." However, first thing is first.

Discipline.

As Sanel moves towrds its back, Sanel glares with that single eye. A hand winds back and he starts moving to smack it upside the head.

"Bad. Bad. Bad. Bad. Big Lizard listen to Sanel."

....And the explosion of light moves to its head, which Sanel turns to see Faruja. "Ahh... Snow Mouse King."

Now Sanel has to choose between the Hydra or Faruja.

Hydra would be a larger pet. Why not?

Cirra Constantine has posed:
The tail swings and smashes Krisnys aside, sending her tumbling for the second time today. She picks herself up off the ground again and takes her scythe in hand as she starts running for the hydra. The head? She heard someone say the head.

Jumping up, Cirra swings her scythe around to strike with the end of the shaft like a quarterstaff to the hydra's midsection and uses it as a lever to push herself up into the air where she kicks off the scaly hide again and into the air where she swings the scythe down, trying to hammer the point of the blade between the hydra's eyes.

Grant Majors has posed:
Grant can't help but notice how easily he tears through Hercules's side. He'd heard the man was better, tougher, stronger than that; the magic (and immense) spear was one thing, and it was certainly good at tearing through things - monsters, buildings, whatever he happened to focus his strength on at the time - but he'd heard Hercules was made of sterner stuff than your average brick wall. He frowns a bit behind the cape, but it's not like Hercules can see it. Still...was he really just strong enough to tear through the son of Zeus like that?

Apparently, yes.

But the son of Zeus isn't down for the count. Hercules stands and comes in swinging like a boxer or a monk; his right hook smashes into Grant's face hard, his left into his stomach, his right into his chest, his left into his side. If it weren't for his own durability, he's pretty sure the man would've just ripped him in half; as it is, the bruises already appearing on his chest are a testament to just how ferocious Hercules is. As Hercules's fist comes swinging in again for another shot, Grant's cloak suddenly explodes outwards, as if it were about to strike back at the Son of Zeus -

And then Grant is blindsided by the charge, as Percy's sword crashes against his side. It cuts in - though obviously not nearly as hard as Percy hoped it would, because there's not a lot of blood, although the sizzling smoke...did his wound cauterize itself?

"Is that what you call an honorable battle?" Grant growls at Percival and Hercules. But nothing more He just looks incredibly angry at them both as he spins his massive spear around. No...not just angry. Disappointed. Like he's been insulted.

Grant suddenly juggles the huge spear from one hand to the other; then he hurls it, sending it flying upwards into the sky. It disappears from view; Grant adopts a boxer's pose, stepping back a bit.

High, high, high up in the sky, the spear begins to fall towards Hercules and Percival.

Considering it's roughly the size of a large tree trunk, and being aided not only by gravity but by magic, that's going to leave /quite/ a mark in the ground.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is not having much luck agians thte hydra she's somewhat able to avoid the a direct hit but it's not enough to down her totally. Still it's pretty hurt though. what the heck is this thing. She's caught again and prehaps shouldn't have even bothered to prepare she's back up. She knows if you stay down your derezzed. She's back on her feet and there goes the disk as she aims for the thing's head and then breaks into a run for the side. She eyes the legendary hero, she'd read a little about his lengend in her studies on users but not too much. Just enough to know the man's a wrecking ball Just what is he up to?

Hercules has posed:
Hercules knows Grant well enough by reputation to know he can take these punches. Otherwise he'd be very loath to be punching him at all. He is panting heavily, as if he just ran a mile. Strange, but maybe it's that injury. That injur that won't stop hurting. Hercules is known for his power not his toughness, but his stamina isn't something he slouched in either, that's a large part of what Phil's training WAS with him. That--and control.

"You didn't..." He pants. "Answer my question... why now?"

He jerks away from the spear's tip--for whatever reason he's very concerned about that. He reaches up, catching the spear before it crushes him, but he snarls in pain as that thigh wound hits him again. He lets the spear drop, stumbling away from it.

"Hard to have an honorable fight in these circumstances." Hercules counters, sweating up a storm. "But a hero is against the odds all the time. A hero...is about heart...the heart to win even when the odds are stacked against them." He didn't ask for any help, if Percy's heart tells him to interfere, how could Hercules even stop him? Indeed, how could he stop anybody right now? He doesn't seem to be in any condition.

He darts forward suddenly, swinging again. The punches are getting a bit more wild, but he's trying to stick to his training.

Faruja's regeneration spell is starting to wear off. A wave of nausea hits Hercules mid one of his punches and he jerks suddenly, pulling back from Grant before he can properly finish his set, weakening the overall effect.

Grant Majors has posed:
Hercules is very impressive. Grant can't deny that. As the spear comes down and smashes into Percy - and is subsequently caught and dropped by Hercules - Grant can't help but be impressed by the other man's strength. It was natural; when you see someone as a rival, you appreciate their own abilities in relation to yours. You appreciate that which they're good at, that which they're as good as you at, that which you're equal in or that which you surpass them in but only barely. When you see someone as worthy of fighting you, you can't help it; you just do it by instinct.

So Grant can't help but be surprised when Hercules drops the massive spear; he goes running forward, snagging the spear in one hand like it's nothing. The smoking hole in the ground from where the speartip pierced can't help but draw his attention - his spear had never done that before, ever. He'd never seen it do that sort of thing...and he doubted it was just a new power to the spear that he hadn't been told about. No...something was wrong here.

Suspicions raised, and focus achieved, he's very nearly caught completely blindsides by Hercules. The man's wild fists hammer against him without pause; it's like being hit by a jackhammer, over and over and over, his teeth rattling inside his skull, his jaw crashing against itself. He nearly bit his own tongue, and he's pretty sure a rib cracks; even as Grant's cloak lashes out, red tendrils of cloth stabbing back at Hercules, Grant can't help but wonder. Hercules pulls off him, stumbling, and Grant sees a chance. He could ram the blade up through Hercules's spine right now, as he stumbled; he could just hammer the man hard, finish the fight, /win/. But...

Grant shakes his head, his white hair flying everywhere. Something is very wrong here.

"Because it was demanded of me," Grant replies, setting the tree-trunk spear down on the ground hilt-first; it thuds loudly, the massive weapon leaning against him as he straightens. This was wrong. Something was very wrong here. "Hardly my choice, Ser; I would have preferred not having anyone who could get hurt or interfere about, but..."

He shakes his head again, his blue eyes sinking shut. "I admit that I do not think I would get a better chance to see how great a hero you are than this moment...but you are indeed a skilled warrior, if nothing else."

Grant's eyes open. They're shining with blue light. "Will you show me your real strength? All of it. Everything you have."

He holds up his hand, his fingers gesturing towards his bare chest. "Show me your might, Hercules. I will not be satisfied by these jabs. I want to see your best."

Hades has posed:
Spears, holy magic, the wrath of the ice, and attempts to make the Hydra behave smash into the hide of the powerful beast. It roars in pain, rearing back as Avira's strike smashes upon it's dome. Once more staggering with pain as it rears...

The Mouse and his ride, slam both spears down into the things ear's. Once more it roars, snapping at the pair of them as they jump by. Percival beats it right into nose, and it also snaps right back at it.

"JUMP UP ON THE HYDRA'S BACK!" Phil calls, and Cirra manages to answer the call! As she does so, she bounces off of the thing, using her DARK POWERS to not only wound the thing severely, but also throw a large urn into the head of the beast, causing it to fall over unconscious.

Tifa's massive fist breaks into the hide of the beast, snapping it out of it's stupor. Roaring with pain and agony, it slams it's head into the ground, causing THREE heads to appear where there was once only one! Each one looks MASSIVELY angry at you.

Especially at Phil! "GET UP ON THE HYDRA'S BACK!" he calls again, this time, doing so will allow you to stun and EASILY vanquish the heads! However, right now, it is taking offense to being danced on.

The heads snap and bite everywhere. There is no place safe as it attempts to sink it's venom dripped fangs into anything that moves!

Hercules has posed:
Something feels wrong to Hercules too. But--listening to this man, he doesn't sense any ill will behind it. Hercules isn't a great judge of character, of course, he is a bit naive and often makes foolish mistakes. His WIS stat is average at best. But he doesn't get the sense that this guy has some sort of vendetta against him. He is asked to give his best shot, not jabs--or anything of the sort.

Hercules chuckles, finding that very funny for some reason. For whatever reason, he hasn't BEEN ABLE to give his best shots. He wasn't holding back out of fear of hurting him so much as because he had little choice. But the comment does seem to restore some life to him, some of that will back into his steps.

"Alright." He says. "I trust you." A weird thing to say to someone out for your head (metaphorically or otherwise), but Hercules seems to mean it. Then again, this guy trusted Megara? He trusts Hades even, no reason not to! Okay maybe he's actually a bad judge of character. But being a bad judge of character has worked out for him so far.

He takes in a deep breath, trying to take his mind off the pain. And then he charges.

"Since you can take it...!" He yells. For a brief moment, it's like he hasn't been struck by that spear at all. Hercules aims to tackle into Grant hard, enough to send him crashing into the emptied stands, shattering the benches as he dives in for a follow through, jabbing repeatedly at his body with his fists--but it's like Fist of the North Star, he's just pounding away like a jackhammer, driving a big hole in the stadium seats because--well--he has no choice now but to use some property damage to his advantage.

He finishes up with a headbutt for Grant's head. And then--slumps suddenly.

The adrenaline. It's starting to wear off. "They'll manage..." He whispers, suddenly tired, his body and limbs heavy.

"They were just like me...wanting to be heroes, no proof, but a lotta heart.... If I can't finish this...they...they will."

Evja has posed:
Suddenly, there was a trench in the ground!
A deep gouge formed from Evja being thrown back-first into a skidding stop formed from a wall of dirt. Towards the end, he flips and manages to bring up his spear just in time to keep himself from being snapped in two by the Hydra, though yet again the teeth of that damned thing slash right through his thick armor, leaving him crying out audibly in pain from the searing venom of it. Knocking the teeth away, the rabbit spies the rat and leans towards him, kicking off as if jumping only to vanish and reappear next to him, grabbing him up in a single movement and carrying him damsel-in-distress style.

"Keep us all alive, Senra, I'm preparing to lay it down with my next attack - pending it isn't tougher than I think."

Soon enough, Evja was running around the coliseum arena with the rat in hand, passing by various parties to allow him a chance to try and keep them all alive while he prepares.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart wasn't on the Hydra's back! So those attacks were not nice at all. Getting thrown off after landing on the Hydra's nose knee first, she crashed landed rather badly in some of the rubble. She grrs as she picks herself out of the rock formation. She's not happy. She's not on the winning side right now, nothing to please her. Her attacks got brushed off.

What happens when a barmaid gets angry? SHE TOSSES THINGS! And if she can't get on the Hydra's back like Phil is suggesting, she's going to get the Hydras back to come to us.

You gussed it folks. She's supplexing a 3 headed hydra.

Avira has posed:
At last! Progress! Something about this hydra is still bugging her and that something finally reveals itself to Avira when they vanquish a head...

...and find three in its place. "Ffff-WHERE'S MAIRA?! MAIRA ARE YOU IN THE CROWD?!?!?!" Avira calls out frantically. "WE NEED FIRE!" Yes, Avira's /read/ those myths. "WE NEED TO KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!"

All that yelling attracts an awful lot of attention. Avira's already on the hydra's back, you see, and in good range to be snapped up by one of the heads. Being tiny means Avira's pretty bite-sized though astute onlookers can see feet sticking out of the hydra's lips. Seconds later, following strategic jabbing of the uvula, Avira is uncerimonously spat out and tumbles across the arena floor.

Covered in hydra saliva.

"Ugh-" she groans and picks herself up, pressing a hand to herself. First aid time. After hitting herself up, the same spell is directed Tifa's way.

Faruja Senra has posed:
Teeth! Faruja is quick to throw up a Protect spell, the Hydra's jaws snapping around it and shattering it. Thankfully, this means the rat's going to live to squeak another day. Which is exactly what he does when he's pulled up by Evja. One can practically /hear/ his pride snapping.

There's /healing/ to do however. "Quite! I shall not allow my allies to fall!" It's said as knightly as possible. He's no damsel, blast it! Tail flick!

Looking to the greatest of the wounded as he's carried by, Faruja incants. "Heal the wounded with miraculous power! Curaga!"

Beautiful healing spells flash over as many of his allies as the rat can manage.

Faruja Senra has posed:
Blink. "L...Lady Tifa!? One...one cannot toss a beast such as that!" Seriously. Faruja looks somewhat disturbed at Tifa's attempt. Also, the rat throws a towel from within his robes to Avira. She needs it.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is just getting wrecked very hard at this point, she's still in the fight but she's been not doing well against large things lately like the heartless. Some part of her wonders if she's starting to get out of date. She shrugs off the thought quickly ebnough but she's clearly hurt. It could be worse though she triggers another command line a minor system restore and she's back in the fight heading for the fight. She's heading for the beast to get up on it's back, all right this should be a sound plan where nothing could ever go wrong, but what other option does she have really? She recovers her disk as it returns to her and here goes nothing...

Percival has posed:
And down he goes. A hydra head goes in for the kill, and he barely manages to raise his shield in time. While it glances him, the force of the blow sends him spiralling out of control towards the arena floor. And then comes the spear. In his uncontrolled descent, he finds himself unbalanced, and the blow prevents him from righting himself. The impact causes him to crash behind Grant Majors and the Greek Hero, and the spray of acidic venom from a head that comes perilously close only makes matters worse. He hits, hard, and at first finds that he has trouble rising, at he uses his sword to as a crutch to reach his feet.

"Honorable you say, Sirrah? You have a strange notion of honor, challenging a man to a duel whilst a serpent bites at his heels." He rises to his feet, and circles about the platform, taking in the man's measure. "If you think of me as a second equal to the Lernaean Hydra, then I'll take that as a compliment."

And then he watches as Hercules literally pounds the man into the pavement. While he'd like nothing more than to finish off the man for what he regards as a cowardly attack, honor was everything to him, and the man's accusation of dishonor gave him pause.

"Rise, sirrah. I won't stoop so low as to attack a man while he's down."

Grant Majors has posed:
There really is no ill will behind Grant Majors. He's an earnest man; the glowing eyes notwithstanding, he has so far been completely open with Hercules, including about not wanting do this here. So when the Son of Zeus comes swinging in, Grant mentally forces his cloak not to respond, mentally forces his own instincts down as he brings up his arms only to block, not to strike back. The spear begins falling to the ground.

Tackled. Grant goes flying with the World's Strongest Hero; he soars backwards, smashing into the stands, through the stands, his head bashing against solid bone, breaking into his skull and immediately cauterized by whatever it was that he had going for him. Smoke rises from under the stands as his body attempts to keep up with the sheer destruction Hercules is wreaking upon it; each fist is, indeed, a jackhammer smashing into his stomach, his chest, his ribs, his lungs. No, not a jackhammer; a train. A freight train, an unbelievably powerful freight train, though Grant only knew what a train was from his conversations with people who came to the arena about the real world. He did not know what a train really was, but for some reason, the metapho felt tremendously appropriate. His ribs crack inside his body; his chest begins to weigh heavily upon him as Hercules gives him the best he's got, holding back literally nothing, all the strength Hercules has to offer behind him. Grant roars outwards, a challenge that echoes through the arena; his lungs may be breaking under the strain of the God of Strength, but Grant Majors refuses to back down. Even as the stands collapse, deeper, deeper, deeper, deeper, deeper, sinking down into the stone, even as each blow from Hercules shakes the stadium to the core, shakes the Hydra, shakes Grant, even as each blow shakes the whole area like an Earthquake going off...

He does not yield. That alone is testament to the man's tenacity as a being; he really, really, really can take it. He really, really can. Hercules's face comes smashing into Grant's; Grant's ricochets off the stone stands, and back into Hercules's face as the other man slumps. Grant frowns.

No. This is not right.

He stands - or more accurately, wobbles, barely able to stand up from the beating he just took, his muscles and his bones and his body screaming out in pain as he hefts Hercules over his shoulder.

Grant gives Percival a very, very long look, those unnaturally blue eyes staring out at him, glowing with the same unnatural blue light. "Honor is pretty warped to begin with, if you stop and think about it. Now get out of my way. He needs help, and you annoy me."

Cirra Constantine has posed:
The Hydra sinks a fang into Cirra's leg as it snaps its jaws at her "Hnng!" she grunts with her eyes screwed shut as she feels the searing pain shoot through her leg, only to have it dulled by a healing spell from somewhere out of sight.

Cirra swings her scythe up and slams it down on the Hydra head that bit her, trying to stun the creature, or at least, this part of. Maybe they don't have to kill it, just beat it senseless.

THen she hits it some more for good measure.

Hades has posed:
The Hero's proceed to recoil from the monster's massive attacks! Preferring to play it safe instead of all out attacking the monster. The Hydra looks dangerously at each one of you, it's many heads grinning with animistic glee...

It was about to get some HEROES in it's stomach!

However...

Cirra, I AM THE LAW, Constantine does not eat nachos. Nor does she put up with the crap of Hydra's. She dives in, right as Phil launches another Urn at the back of the creature, keeping it stunned again! Her blade cuts through the three heads...causing them to explode in munny and green orbs!

Tifa, taking advantage of it's beheaded state falls grabs it, and with a feat of strength literally SUPLEXING the monster into it's back. There is a groan...but is that it?

A massive /roar/ tears through the arena, as it stands back onto it's serpentine body and unleashes...

LOTS of heads. Heads EVERYWHERE...there are literally SO MANY HEADS now it's crazy. They all start biting, trying to gnash it's teeth into every person here, trying to sink their poison into them...

This is followed by blasts of dark thunder, not just coming down in slow bolts, but rapid thunderous strikes.

Hercules has posed:
That thigh wound. Was it really that brutal of a strike? Did it hit a major artery or something? It isn't bleeding, precisely, but there's an odd coloration around the wound.

Cutting loose, it felt nice to do that, Hercules thinks. He's not getting up from his slump, he's having a hard enough time breathing as it is. Even if Hercules was inclined to speak up in Grant's defense, he can't really do that right now. it takes all his will to not keel over. Was it the hydra--

--well it migt not matter, for it seems Grant is having second thoughts about this fight. Hercules slumps as he's hefted up in Grant's arms. He's a pretty heavy guy, but Grant's super strength should be able to handle it just fine. Hercules is totally helpless. He hasn't 'fallen' persay, but it'd be remarkably easy to take him down at this point--for good even, were anyone inclined.

His breath gets raspy.

Evja has posed:
With the rounds of healing and charging done, the Viera Judge skids to a stop and says to Faruja, who was still in his arms, and deposits him upon the edge of the arena bleachers. "Be safe, it is about to be quaking."

Running towards the woman who had supplexed the Hydra, the Judge landed and said quickly, "I plan to attack it with everything I have, if you can expose the underside again, I may be able to finish it!" And then BAM, after it rolled over while he was speaking, the sudden flurry of attacks sent Evja flying backwards and crashing into the bleachers in an explosion of stone and cobble. Luckily he had thrown up a Hipotion onto himself just before the attack hit.
Evja stood after a moment and began running as fast as he could with a spear in each hand dragging on the bleachers behind him. A few swift here and there leaps got him onto the lip of the Coliseum before he jumped thrice and wound up high in the air above the Hydra. The Judge began to glow golden white for a brief moment before the he began to spin in mid air. With each rotation he flung a copy of one of his golden lances at the Hydra far below, the impact did they hit likely hard enough to bounce a boulder. If he had his way...
And Tifa was able to once again uproot the Hydra...
Evja was going to quite literally attempt to bounce the Hydra with those concussive lances before he finally shouted with an echoing force, "JUDGE SPEAR!" and all of the previous spears vanished, trailing up into a single massive spear - which was summarily hurled down towards the Hydra in an attempt to run it through.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart appreciates the help she's gotten from Faruja and Avira, allowing her to stay up onher feet a bit longer at least. That Hydra is being pretty hard hitting after all. She's almost surprised herself that she managed to flip that giant thing on its back... but that didn't work for long, apparently... and it didn't appreciate it either!

She shrieks a bit, 3 heads are one thing, but this is too many!

And then Evja asks her to do it AGAIN!?!?!?

Something that... doesn't seem necessary apparently as Evja turns on the pain on the body. The lizard doesn't seem to appreciate it! "I... uhm... gonna skip that this time, if you don't mind..." She turns toward the other heads, that are apparently writhing in agony right now... Well she doesn't want one to get back up or split again, so she runs over to it, jumping up and landing down hard on its nose again, which seems to be a soft enough spot. Hey she only has her fists, not metal weapons after all ~_~

Percival has posed:
"Honor is what you make of it, Sir, it is a subject I contemplate frequently."

He points his blade at him. "The feeling is entirely mutual, if I find that your newfound benevolence belies a sinister fate for your charge, then I will return and harry you into the pits of Tartarus themselves."

The Gargoyle turned then, and noted that the defenders were beginning to tire. The battle had to end, and the only guidance he had on how to seek its end came from the brusque little Satyr. Taking a few calming breaths, he steadied himself for the coming trial, his eyes closing as he had a brief moment of pious inspiration. "Oh Lord, in this, our hour of need, strengthen us."

And then he was charging the serpent on all fours, dodging and weaving. The heads struck him more times than he would like to admit. The lightning coarsed through his form. He did not know how he reached the beast's body, but then he began to climb onto its back. What was he doing? He was going to die here. The thought actually frightened him, and fear brought rage to his mind. His mind flashed back to that day in Ireland, long ago. Remembrance day.

His eyes glowing with white hot rage, his blade flashed in an attempt to sever the necks of the Hydra. He was tried to dodge, tried to deflect at first. So many, so many. And then cornered by the sudden maze of heads, he began to act entirely by instinct. Blind ferocity marked his onslaught as he weaved in between the necks, grappling, clawing, biting, and screeching terribly as he took wound after wound. If he'd had half a mind, he might have noticed that Evja had already smote the beast terribly, but he didn't even have that right now.

Deelel has posed:
She's up on the beast's back she's managed to get into a good postion to strike but it doesn't go so well suddenly it rezzes it's self a whole lot more heads. WAit how does that even work for an organic creature. Why do the rules here keep on changing in user space. The basic can be driven around the bend by this at times, but she's just starting to hit the point. It's user space it runs on chaos stop thinking too hard about it.

Still she's got her disk in hand and she launches herself again at the beast aiming to sever onf ot the heads and then drage the killing edge down the body of the beast as she drop back to the ground.

Grant Majors has posed:
"Apparently not," Grant mutters under his breath as Percival goes and takes off. He's still got Hercules on his shoulder; he wobbles again, blood rolling down his chest and his face, blood his self-cauterizing trick was too slow to catch and stop, and then takes a flying jump towards the group standing around the dead Hydra. He falls, and the cape puffs outwards around him, slowing his fall before he hurts himself and Hercules; then he sets Hercules down gently, inspecting the wound. He stands up, moving over to go grab his spear - because he's pretty sure Hercules didn't just /tire himself out/ swinging on him.

Something is very wrong here. Very, very, very wrong here.

Avira has posed:
Avira catches that towel and wipes her face off. The rest of her will have to wait. There's a HYDRA on the loose. While Cirra and Tifa are generally off being awesome and crushing the hydra so badly it spawns more heads, Avira is looking around frantically. Eventually, she spots what she needs: a torch, held to the wall in a metal holder, though tragically unlit at the moment. She grabs it off the wall.

Just as she turns, a hydra head comes snapping down at her. Unlike the other times, she is not eaten by the beast and manages to dive-roll out of the way. Twisting up to her feet, she yelps suddenly as a blast of lightning strikes down mere inches away, leaving a small smouldering fire on the ground.

Fully taking advantage of this, she sticks the torch against it and gets it burning. This, of course, comes not a moment too soon as another hydra head strikes out at her.

A silvery shimmer surrounds Avira as she leaps to the side of this one. Wasting no time, and with a hard look in her eye, she brings the Spine down upon the neck with a mighty cleave, her force of will extending beyond just the physical reach of the strange-looking serrated sword. Her other hand, still firmly gripping the lit torch, shoves it into the wound.

Moving quickly, Avira leaps onto the hydra's neck and runs down its length, fending off any further heads with the Spine as she does so.

Once to the body, she laboriously begins hacking away, cleaving at the base of the necks when she can, immediately following up with a cauterizing strike from the torch.

Faruja Senra has posed:
Faruja is sat upon the bleachers, still dazed and hurting from the Hydra apply even more TEETH to the rat. He needs the rest, wounds he'd already sustained not long ago worsened. As everything shakes and is generally snapped at by the numerous heads of the great Hydra, he takes a moment to heal himself, letting the bunny do his thing. The Burmecian watches in utter awe at the assault he witnesses. Golden lances and the leaping skill of the Judge that, by his reckoning, surpasses the Burmecian's own both interests him deeply as well as puts him in awe. Then Tifa SUPLEXES A HYDRA. Injured as he is, he can't help but feel tiny against such strong and powerful allies.

Nor is the Burmecian going to allow them to simply fight alone. Percival and Deel too fight on, and the rat steadies himself.

An incantation, and a swirl of Light swallows the ratling. Spat out above the great beast, he thrusts his spear.

Taking a hint from Avira's attack, burning blades rise from the ground to cut into groups of its necks, swiftly followed by the pure elemental swords of Split Punch. Finally, spear blazing with residual holy energy, he falls upon the Hydra, slashing downwards like an axe with the weapon as if to try to split it from cranium down to it's neck. Or one of it's necks, at any rate.

Hercules has posed:
That wound seems...

"POISONED!" The muses sing suddenly. "Hades got it out for his nephew, yes it's true, he sure do, secretly without speaking in Grant's ear, he put some poison on that spear! Oh me, oh my!! What a wicked guy!" They shish boom bah around the arena. "We're the muses so listen, we're dropping some exposition! Listen to this lesson, that spear was covered in hydra venom!"

"OH YEAAAAAAAAAH BABY YES IT WAS!"

"The Lord of the Underworld never said nothin' 'bout keeping it clean, bless my soul, no he di'int!" The muse on the left z-snaps and shakes her head and hips rythmaticaly! "Without some healing with some feeling, Herc's running out of time! The lord of wheeling and dealing got him good, so we rhyme! MMmmmHMM!"

Freakin' Muses, always on the hero's side.

"Bhh..." Hercules enunciates... HEROICALLY!

Grant Majors has posed:
Grant inspects the massive tree-trunk sized spear silently as the group kills the Hydra dead. Good, good for them, they got to celebrate and be heroes and stuff and qualify for the Hades Cup, whatever. He's more preoccupied with Hercules. He had no problem killing the other man - or, well, he had a PROBLEM with it but he was also a soldier and a Templar besides, he knew that sometimes people got killed in war and fights and that this was one of those situations where it wasn't really going to hang over his head - but this wasn't right. This was...actively wrong. His Spear didn't steal strength from people, didn't leave wounds that looked like they were open and sickening, didn't break people like that. He stares at the spear curiously, the tip in particular - that initial strike had been the first time and the only time he'd hit Hercules with the weapon, and since then, he'd been getting steadily weaker.

Grant looks carefully to the spear - and then the muses' song hits his ear. Poison. Venom. Tsk...no wonder. He drops the spear in disgust, moving over to Faruja and grabbing at the scruff of the little ratfolks' neck. "You need to heal him, right now." His other finger swings over to the injured and broken Hercules. "Now, with everything you have, or he will die."

Then his eyes flare with that terrible blue light, and he turns them on Hades, narrowing.

"You demanded his death of me. I was willing to carry that out - but /my/ way, in a fair fight, above board." Grant's voice is on edge now as he turns away from Hades, his cloak billowing around behind him, and moves back towards Hercules. He wobbles near the man's body, looking down at him, the light in his eyes slowly dimming.

"I'm sorry. I had no idea."

Cirra Constantine has posed:
There is much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Most of it is from the Hydra.

Heads smash into her and throw her about, crushing her between their jaws and then zapping her with dark lightening. It all looks very very painfull.

Cirra's smouldering armored hand smashes down on the Hydra's one head, fingers digging into hte scaly flesh as she looks at the serpent's eyes with her own red eyes, red eyes that flash golden.

"Begone!" Dark power arcs across her body as she smashes her hand down again and pries herself free, tearing at serpent's body as she tears herself free of it's mouth (and about a third of her own armor).

The Judge runs down the things neck, raising her scyth up overhead as she comes down at the point where all the necks connnect and swings the curved blade down in a single stroke, trying to cleave the monster in half.

Hades has posed:
The Hydra snaps it's jaws murderously, releasing blast after blast of dark thundaga around the arena! The arena was being trashed...

But good thing our Hero's were on top of it! The Civilians are gone!

MISSION OBJECTIVE COMPLETE!

The jaws of the Hydra snap repeatedly at Evja, who gets...

QUICKTIME EVENT!

Triangle, square, X, X, BACK!

Combo successful! The Hydra's head snaps, but catches only the JUDGE SPEAR, which is shoved right through it, and down through the neck, removing the head!

Tifa's fists are not made of steel, but they hit like a truck. They pound on one of the Heads, before she QUICK TIME EVENTS a kick into the side of it's head, and literally breaks through another head.

Percy comes down on all fours, and he two initiate's QUICK TIME EVENT MODEO! He jumps, left, right, relying only on instinct and his blade...and he too, cuts right through one of the Hydra's heads! The head fading into darkness as it rears back! It wasn't looking good for it!

Deelel was down, but not out. Flipping into the air during her own...you guessed it QTE, she throws the disc once! Twice! THREE TIMES! Each strike bouncing the disc off of the same head, before she comes down, slicing through it with /STYLE/!

Avira has read legends! The flaming sword smashes into the Hydra's head, which causes it to REAR back in pain and sudden fear! Oh god, not THAT! Two heads bite down at her, trying to catch her off guard, but she too... QUICK TIME EVENTS! Left! Right! And then she leaps forward, like some sort of female Sanger Zonvolt! She too, removes a head!

Holy is the spear that cast it's light on the darkness before it! So is the same true of the brave RatKnight who continues to fight despite all odds and sanity! He too enters... QUICK TIME EVENT as he instead of ducking and juking... has to power up his SPLIT PUNCH! Holy power channels through his body as the SQUARE button is mashed mercilessly... and the massive spike spears another head, causing the last and final head to fade into darkness.

However, the monster is not down yet! The stumps of neck start to bulge! Oh god...MORE HEADS?! The Dark Knight knows where the heart of this beast lies. She too knows where to strike to end this once and for all. Thanks to the effort of others...

She gets one last strike, her event focusing on the singular point in the Hydra that keeps causing all of these heads to form. She winks...

And appears right behind the Hydra, blade extended. There is no roar, no screaming...nothing is left as it finally falls on one side, starting to fade into dark energy.

Hades appears on the ground, looking towards Grant. "Hey! Hey! What's the big ide-.."

The Muses.

"Hey! That's slander! /I/ didn't put the poison on there." And that's true. That was Pain's job...Hades just.../arranged/ it. "Ugh.." Hades says in frustration. And is gone. vanishing in a pillar of flame!

"How DARE he..." Hades says, somewhere else. "Almost HAD that Jerkules! Ugh.." he pauses.. "No no...play it cool. Fair and square huh...then we just need to make it so that cheating is fair."

Faruja Senra has posed:
While being picked up by his neckscruff isn't exactly the thing Faruja desires most, he's not going to complain. He honestly preferred the maiden-carry. More important things are afoot! Such as ensuring one Hercules does not die!

"Quite, Ser! Your prayers, if you would give them, would be most appreciated!"

Reaching into his robes, he pulls out an ether. Chug! One incantation later, and he Warps over to Hercules, only to fall about a foot. Ow. Dusting himself off, he quickly gets to work.

"Esuna! Curaga! Lord cradle your soul, Ser! Though He shall once day greet you with pride, that day is not this day! In the name of Faram and Saint Ajora, I CLEANSE you of this dishonor done upon body and pride!"

Blame the many injuries as of late, or some alcohol getting mixed in with his ethers, but the rat's getting in to his speeches and healing today.

Chug! Heal! Chug! Heal! Who knew time at bars would pay off in the healing arts.

Evja has posed:
When the Rabbit Judge finally lands, the giant spear vanishes and he takes a few wobbly steps forward, only to slump and fall flat onto his face. Seems he used up just a bit too much energy. That, and he was quite spent himself.

Grant Majors has posed:
%t Ha. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

"...my prayers are no good anymore," Grant replies after a moment, settling his hand on Faruja's shoulder and giving it a firm pat. He's a titanically strong man, apparently; he's trying very hard not to knock the ratfolk off his feet. "Definitely not to Ajora Glabados."

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart looks rather relieved when the hydra breaks down into pieces like that. Phew. She got badly bruised during that fight. Being thrown around, and tailwhipped, that hurt the barmaid alot, but fortunatly nothing permanent. Not like missing limbs and such.

She turns over to sees Faruja disapear, blinking. "What's going on?" She didn't get all of the details since she got in late, no idea that Hercules and Grant are fighting somewhere. All she knows is that the place is still standing at least.

Hercules has posed:
Hercules is healed up. He's still trashed but that wound on his thigh doesn't seem quite so super heretical. Congratulations!

FARUJA SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: SUPER HEALRETICAL - HEAL THE SON OF A GOD (but not yours)

Hercules groans, rubbing sweat off his forehead. He looks around a bit and manages, "Caught...just enough of that..." He labors. "I knew you weren't a bad guy." He chuckles for a moment then coughs into his fist.

"Looks like I couldn't handle this one... Thank you, everyone--I'd like to...ngghh....make sure the civilians are okay, can you do that for me? I'm sure Phil will see you as heroes now."

Though lord knows Phil is going to give HIM a hard time over all this. 'Getting hit by a poisoned blade, THATS IT BACK TO THE BASICS BUDDY!'

Hades has posed:
Phil jumps down, nearly busting his BUTT from the fall.

"Look at you Herc! A little tussel and you're all beat up! BACK TO TRAINING for you! BASICS again!" he stamps his foot once and looks at everyone else assembled... "Yeah...well, that was some good fightin' there...so.." Phil shrugs, "Alright fine, you're all in."

"BUT FOUR WORDS! NEVER STOP TRAINING!" Phil says, and moves to help Herc back to get some aid.

Cirra Constantine has posed:
Cirra lands on the ground, huffing and panting. She holds her leg where the hydra bit her and starts to awkwardly walk off the arena as the creature falls.

Hercules has posed:
Hercules is carted off by Phil. His last words: "But that's three--"

Deelel has posed:
Deelel lands she's a mess but she's still sanding she looks back at the hydra's form. Seriously what the heck /was that thing/. She's going to chug another potion and goe to check off on the crowd. Herc seems well in hand by Phill though she's looking a bit off he may be pushing hrself too hard.

Faruja Senra has posed:
"Though He may not answer all prayers, the Lord never ignores them. Your prayers are certai..." Super Pat of Doom! Thump! Muzzle, meet dirt. Also body. Moan. Faruja yanks his snout out of a ratmouth sized hole. Peering at Grant, the rat shakes his head. Who /is/ that man who so seems to believe the Saint would turn away from him?

A glance to the certainly-not-a-Heretic Hercules. Smiling warmly, he nods. "Of course. Allow me...fah, let me see, I /knew/ I should have marked a cane." Anti-Warp! Faruja yanks a spear from a Light-swirl. Using it like a crutch, he gets up, hobbling towards the crowds and other competitors. Even as he does so, he's already throwing healing spells.

"Ser...Hercules, was it? No matter who strong a single person becomes, they are but a single twig against the strength of a person amongst allies. Remember that."

Percival has posed:
The Hydra fell so suddenly that he literally slid off his back to be dumped unceremoniously onto the arena floor. The impact had the effect of snapping him out of it at least. He felt as if he had just slogged his way through a thick fog, as his rheumy eyes scanned the arena. Priorities first. Did he harm anything other than the Hydra? It didn't seem to be that way at least.

Hercules had been far away when he began his assault on the Hydra, and noone was either trying to kill him or condemn him. Next priority, he looks throughout the stands for any remaining civilians. If there were any left, there didn't appear to be any serious injuries at least. No wailing or gnashing of teeth, as the Greeks were wont to do in a tragedy. He couldn't speak for the damage to the Coliseum but hey, it could be rebuilt.

Retrieving his sword at a languid pace, he began to limp over to the crowd, remaining at the periphery. Hercules appeared to be fine now at least. Well enough that the Satyr was telling him off rather than mothering him. All appeared well. So why did he feel so terrible?

Hercules has posed:
"You sure showed me that today!" Hercules pauses to add that after Faruja supports facism. "I owe you one."

Grant Majors has posed:
Grant is silent as Hercules is cured. He just sort of nods awkwardly at the man as he sits up and tells him he wasn't a bad guy, looking somewhat distant from the whole thing. He glances over at Tifa and frowns behind his cloak, the looks away.

And then Faruja says something he hadn't thought he'd hear in a long time, or indeed ever again, something that his own lips had said time and time again. He laughs - and it's not a nice laugh, but the kind of laugh of someone who was there once, who believed that once, and now can't find it anymore. Then he moves over to collect his spear and lifts the massive thing over his shoulders. He needed to go clean the thing up, get this hydra venom off it before someone else got poisoned.

He looks awkwardly around at the people gathered.

"...do any of you know where I could go to wash this?"

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart blinks a bit as Grant looks her way. What's with that guy anyway? Why was he attacking Hercules? She frowns a bit. Well everyone else seems fine, Hercules too, thanks to Faruja. She crosses her arms "... So I was late to the party, what exactly happened here?"

Grant Majors has posed:
"I'd rather not say here. Do you have somewhere else we could speak?" Grant casts one of his unnaturally blue eyes towards Hades's seat in the stands.

Grant Majors has posed:
"...that works, too," Grant replies awkwardly as the muses repeat the bit about his spear being poisoned and stuff.

Cirra Constantine has posed:
Cirra is off somewhere sucking the poison out of her own leg. Don't midn her, have a good time.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart blinks as the muses appear again. She pokes at one of them, in curiosity. "What are you?" O_o;;

Avira has posed:
Dun dah dun dun DAH dun dun duuuuun~

Normally, Avira would take this moment to do a little victory pose, but the monster they just worked so hard to fell is disappearing, leaving NOTHING BEHIND. How's she supposed to make boots now?!

Her happiness is short lived as she goes to rush over and check on Hercules's condition. She heard the whole thing! (What fantastic musical narration, do these muses follow anyone around?) She gives Grant a long, wary look before shrugging. "One of the bathrooms, maybe? I don't think anyone's going to want you washing that thing off anywhere."

Grant Majors has posed:
Grant...nods again, still looking tremendously awkward. Basically accidentally cheating in a fair duel apparently has him kind of annoyed and upset!