KFC Behemoth Style

KFC Behemoth Style
Date of Scene:	07 April 2013
Location:	Southern Continent - Chocobo Ranch
Synopsis:	The Eclipse Behemoth wants some KFC! Chocobo Like in Behemoth Flavor choices. The problem is, adventures don't want the Behemoth to have his KFC.
Cast of Characters:	Riku, Zargabaath, Percival, Eclipse Behemoth, Montag, Ping, Annia Leradine, Annalee, Launchpad McQuack
Tinyplot:	Heart Of Power

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Eclipse Behemoth has posed:

Thanks to some brave adventurers, they were able to transport the Behemoth that had been roaming near the Bare Dessert to a more suitable location for something of it mass and size. That and with the mark out for it, they apparently figured it wasn't the creatures fault; It was just hungry!

Yet while in the Targ woods, this massive behemoth did indeed roam. It killed several game and yet it was not content. Those gold eyes always searching for something better then what was in its area. This though, soon brought it to find the open fields where the Chocobos roamed.

The dark purple, near black beast would watch those chocobos, including the ranchers who would heard them back to the ranch. That black mane around its neck and forming a mohawk that ran down its spine gently moved in the wind as it was ever watchful.

Ever learning the habit of the ranchers and their prize birds.

Though on this day, something goes very wrong for the ranchers once they get their birds back into the stables. The Chocobos starts to freak out and they soon find out why. The massive nine to teen foot beast comes racing across the open fields. Its black scales hidden by dark purple fur shimmer in the light. The black bone structure also seeming to glisten slightly as it moves in ever closer.

It lets out a howlish roar that across the plains and one of the ranchers is quick to get on the line. Calling out for assistance to any who can hear the message. Calling out for help and that a strange behemoth was nearly upon them!

The Behemoth meantime of this calls barrels right through one of the fence lines and keeps on going. Those massive onyx claws digging into the soil, before another howlish roar is released. It was enough to cause a few chocobos to flee over the inside fence line, and those that did flee-- those were the ones Behemoth suddenly locks onto.

Its body sliding across the grass, as the claws dig in for traction. Its tail acting like a semblance of balance, before the thing goes charging after the chocobos. Which was rather foolish as it could never catch them, but it seem to be determined to try!

Ping has posed:
It is a beautiful day for a ride out on the Chocobo Fields. Hooves, instead of talons, beat upon the soft earth, kicking up a cloud of churned soil as a magestic creature races down from the forest. With the breeze at his back, the powerful beast shoots through the wind-swept grass, head out-stretched and rider bent low. He wears green, an emerald sash around his waist that flutters erraticly in the wind. The sash marks him as a member of the Imperial Chinese Army, though he is here for business as opposed to pleasure.
The peace of his pleasurable ride is shattered just as surely as that fence is shattered by the giant behemoth. Duty calls once again and Lieutenant Ping never shirks his duty. His cavalry bow is in his hand and stretching it up overhead, he sends a hail of arrows to shower over the Behemoth's head.

"This is me taunting you, bully!" Ping cries out!

Then, stooping low, he whispers to his horse, "This is what all our practicing is for, Khan." And with his heels he strikes the flanks of his steed, "Hah!" and spurs him into a speedy b-line away from the rampaging beast. He nocks and looses another series of arrows to make sure he's got the creature's attention.

Riku has posed:
Riku has not been exactly in a chipper mood, but he felt better after talking to Zargabaath and giving the information to Mercade. So he went about something that resembled his normal routine, rubbing the soreness out of his aching muscles from practicing most of the day. He had looked at the shattered remnants of one of the practice swords and shook his head dourly.

He was not doing himself any favors with the quartermaster.

It was part of his routine to move through the 9th bureau area every day or two and that was when he heard the news. That he heard the edge of a conversation that he trailed by to the transcript of a recent recording that had been sent over the more public frequencies and several that were watched by adventurer clans and other immediate response teams.

What did Riku actually do about this knowledge? He went and got a late lunch.

When he was away from the 9th bureau (the actual /knowledge/ being held up in a three way contest between two supervising judges and a constantly changing opinion of their juniors) He went to his room, checked the location on the map that he had pinned up against the wall and then went in search of Judge Magister Zargabaath. He had radioed them earlier to say he was coming, but didn't say anything than he had something very important to discuss with them.

On reaching the office, he had bowed formally and pronounced. "Someone found the behemoth. It's the only lead we have. Are you coming or not?" and opened up a dark corridor in the fabric of one of the walls.

Which leads them to be here, at the outskirts of the Chocobo Ranch some several hundred feet away (but thankfully not in any trees) with chocobos letting up a hew and wark all around them.

Annia Leradine has posed:
Coincidentally, Annia was at the chocobo ranch at the time. She has her own chocobo that she's keeping there to raise, feed and train when she has some time, between information gathering and schoolwork of any kind.

So when she hears the noise outside, it doesn't take her long to be out of the barn, and stare at the carnage and destruction. Wait, isn't that...

She sighs a bit, shaking her head. "Jidro, you couldn't pick up a better place, couldn't you?" She'll have to rub his ears later. But after last time, he passed out, so maybe its not really his fault, maybe she'll be kind enough not to prod about this.

Nah, not a chance, she's going to ake him feel sorry one way or another.

Meanwhile, there's a behemoth to handle. Last time it went without a fight... she doesn't think it will listen this time. She pulls her daggers out of their sheathes behind her, twirling them skillfully, before moving forward.

She sees she's not alone at least. Ping announces himself pretty soudly. Well, that's one person that seems willing to fight it out at least. Let's see how this will go.

Annalee has posed:
Annalee is not simply lost. There is getting lost in your neighborhood, a simple fix once you find your feet under you. There is getting lost downtown... easy enough to remedy. There's getting lost in an unfamiliar city. Then there's getting lost on a city in a foreign nation where no one speaks your language. But Annalee? Annalee has gotten lost on a different world. So is lost enough that she's gone through the five stages of lost:

Denial - I'm not lost, I'm just not familiar with the surroundings. My destination will pop up any second now.

Anger - Seriously, where is my goal? I can't believe this, it's /so/ unfair and spiderweb in my hair EW EW EW EW EW!

Bargining - I swear that if my destination is behind this next tree I will kiss the ground. I swear it. I swear I swear it.

Depression - Oh my God why does this always happen to me? If it isn't one thing then it's another and I still have a spiderweb in my haaaaaaiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Ask For Directions - Annalee, having blamed her map utterly and totally (because it is clearly the map's fault, it couldn't possibly be her fault because she followed the map), floats into the chocobo ranch, tired, wearing, and covered in traildust. She's not even bothering to push her double-zither ahead of her, instead allowing the keyboard-like instrument to float in her wake. Her plan is simple. Find the nearest rancher, ask directions, then follow those. And burn the map, later. Stupid no good rassa-frassin ma--

A behemoth's roar wakens her out of her irritable reverie, snapping her back to reality. The bard blinks, twice, then freezes in that moment of instinctual uncertainy humans tend to get when suddenly presented with a large and dangerous looking animal with clearly aggressive intentions that may momentarily be turned upon one's person.

'Why', ponders Annalee in a philosophic fashion, 'me?'

Zargabaath has posed:
Judge Magister Zargabaath, armored but unhelmed, had barely glanced up when Riku marched into his office, as he was expecting him anyways. What Riku actually /said/, however, causes him to snap his head up with about ten different questions all trying to be asked at once.

The shadow portal opening up doesn't help either.

Still though, it's the best lead they've had, and that overrides any thought of turning down Riku's fast-track to somewhere. So, with a long sigh and a snatch of his helmet off of his desk, he rises from his seat and marches after the boy into the portal, slipping his helm over his head as he moves.

The next thing he knows, there's screeching chocobos and shouting voices and a roar more akin to thunder--

Yes, that would be the behemoth in question, wouldn't it?

"By the Dynast-King, whose bright idea was it to teleport a behemoth to a location in close proximity to domesticated prey?" He mutters under his breath before marching forwards towards the behemoth himself.

Percival has posed:
The sights were majestic as the Gargoyle glided abroad. With Manhatten restored, there came a bittersweet realization to the Gargoyle that he wasn't exactly able to walk there as freely as the remainder of the World of Ruin. And so he began to travel further abroad that he had before.

He had to admit that he wasn't as familiar with the strange land he lived in as most of his friends and allies.

As Will was wont to put it: He really was a newb.

And so for the past few days, he'd choose a location that he'd presume safe whenever he needed rest for sleep, before moving onward to the next locale, or city. The fields of the Chocobo Ranch were quite beautiful, except for one minor detail. A giant creature he was unfamiliar with, and a young lady that had a deer in the headlights look as she stared at it from a short distance away.

He didn't really have any idea what was going on, but he knew a predator when he saw one. He just hoped he wasn't making a false assumption that would get him slapped, or burned. The latter having happened the last time he tried to /save/ Maira.

Banking around, he'd swoop down, aiming for Annalee, and picking her up in one smooth motion. Unfortunately at this altitude, it would be difficult for the Gargoyle to get back in the air, so he had to settle for gliding just a short distance further away from the Behemoth. He'd land just before his momentum might have made it a crash landing, smoothly putting his feet down, before he'd put Annalee back down on her feet. "My apologies if this was unwelcome, but it certainly looked like you needed some assistance."

And then he'd turn towards the Behemoth, regarding it with a wary eye. "I don't suppose you might know what /that/ is?"

Launchpad McQuack has posed:
The Behemoth's roars and crushing movements may make a lot of noise, and its size and actions may make a hard-to-miss sight, but something happens that tops it in both sight and sound. A large crashing, exploding noise in the distance is coupled by a blinding flash, and followed by a large plume of smoke. The ground itself shakes, and trees are toppled. Finally, entering a clearing, is a pilot duck holding a plane's 'steering wheel'. Dizzily walking forward, he quips, "All right, another zero point landing. At least nobody seems to be hurt."

Then he notices the Behemoth. "What is /THAT/, he asks, bordering on yelling. "Is that one of them Heartless things!?" He backs up a few steps, and falls on his tail-end. "That can't be good."

Montag has posed:
Montag has been getting in on the hunt, the Shinra has been meaning to get better relations with the Judges and their country. Given the state of things they may be some of the only possible allies they are going to get. So here he is and he's quite the tracker too even without his imaging helmet he's preetty adept at hunting given his father's training and today he's got shades and a bandana on as he moves

"Humm Just where....Oh there it is."



That as quicker than expected and off he goes after it.

Eclipse Behemoth has posed:

The Arrows shoot over the Behemoth's head. He actually 'ducks' he head as one gets to close, which seems to cause him to halt with a slide, almost falling over himself really. Though as he tried to recover a Chocobo jumped up, landed its talon feet on its head and then hopped off with a loud 'KWEH!'. The Behemoth jerked its head, before those gold eyes gazed over at the fleeing Chocobo before opening its mouth to roar at it in protest.

Until the crash happened, which it turned its head, those ears trained on the crash. Those gold eyes suddenly falling on the 'duck' who came sliding out and then it suddenly hunched down on all fours, before rearing back on its hign quarters, which brought it up to almost being twelve feet tall. Before it suddenly pushed off those hign quarters in a pouncing leap heading for Launchpad, until another arrow skims by it.

The Behemoth digs one of those claws into the ground to turn itself around sharply. Those sharp wolf like teeth snarling at Ping. It then takes a step forward before gnashing its teeth a few times. Those gold eyes starting to gain a very predatory look in them. Those ears pull back as it starts to walk toward Ping and his horse. Those teeth still snarling, as the tail swings wildly behind it.

Suddenly, perhaps human and horse rider was looking for more tasty on the menu. Perhaps, all humans at this juncture now (and duck).

After all - They didn't run as fast.

Annalee has posed:
Suddenly, having a spider-web in one's hair really isn't on Annalee's list of high priority things to worry about. The ground is not underneath her feet and that's mildly panic inducing. She flails a bit, though her feeble human strength isn't enough to force Percival to drop her prematurely and that's only a good thing from where she's standing. That is to say, she isn't standing. Her zither floats serenely in the air back where she was from the ground untimely pluck'd.

Annalee lands none-too-gracefully and promptly tumbles onto her rear in what is less then a grand display for the world. She looks up, brushes her hair out of her face, and then promptly gawks up at Percival. This is likely something the gargoyle is used to. Though thankfully he does /not/ get set on fire and that is always something that one can count as a feather in their cap. She edges away from Percival's monsterous outward appearence, but when he doesn't do anything particularly untoward she calms down a bit. Another bonus, she didn't start screaming! She tried, but no sound produced forth. She does not reply to the gargoyle's question; not only because she can't but also because the answer (that being 'a monster') seems like it ought be self evident.

Annalee considers simply fleeing into the woods while the giant slavering beast occupies itself with eating the man on the horse, but Annalee knows how her luck runs and honestly believes she'd be singled out and ripped apart against all odds. In the end, pragmatism wins out. She makes a beckoning gesture towards her zither; the instrument shoots towards her not unlike a boomerang returning to the thrower. She lets others rush in first, hanging back and preparing sounds like a really good idea. And safe. Mostly safe. And safe is good, thus by logic this idea which is safe is also good. That's science.

Ping has posed:
A beast like this Behemoth might assume that a sleek, powerful horse like Khan might not run as fast as an ungainly lump of feathers, but beasts are dumb and not very well informed. Ping spurs his heels against Khan's flanks and the horse takes off like a Goug Machine City Bullet Train, kicking up a cloud of dust in the purple-people-eater's face. Through the cloud, Ping can still see the giant, golden eye of the beast and he draws a bead with his bow, loosing an arrow through the dust.

Horse and rider speed toward where Percival and Annalee have landed and its only as he's passing them that Ping recognizes the stately gargoyle.

"Heeeey Percivaaaal!" Ping's voice stretched out by the Dopplar Effect as he speeds by.

Perhaps Gargoyal senses are sharper than people senses. IF that's the case, a little black cricket might be glimpsed on Ping's shoulder, holding onto his collar for dear life. It bends one of its antenna to salute Percival as horse, soldier, and insect rocket past.

Annia Leradine has posed:
Annia Leradine doesn't know anyone here really, for all of the travel she did she hasn't met a whole lot of people (that were important) it would seem. Twiriling her daggers down to her side, she answers up Percival's question with a hmph "That would be a behemoth. They are rather feral creatures. Found this one in the desert, there was a mark for it, but instead of killing it, we attempted to teleport it somewhere it would have enough food to not attack anything of importance. Guess we hadn't planned on this." Neither had she planned it would be sent so close to anything human either. Not that it was her idea either.

Blame Artyom for the idea, and Jidro for the teleport.

Either way, there's a behemoth to hunt down now "I don't think it will wait patiently to be teleported this time, so I think we need to take it down. And no, its not a heartless, so if you have a weak heart, go back home."

And then she moves in. The dancer's movement are quick, but precise, not a movement wasted in the execution, as she moves closer to the gigantic beast.

The beast's huge talons come down toward her, trying to intercept her, and she simply 'dances' to the side of it, an elegant twirl that has the large claw slam down mere inches from her, her arms wrapped around her chest with her daggers against her shoulders, as she stares toward the hulking beast...

And then she gives it a wink and blows a kiss toward it, applying her own kind of charm. She's different than the usual bully when she starts to move. And the initial move is simply to disrupt's the beast focus, as she then ducks under the beast's stomach before it moves, and applies two dagger stabs, both of them straight into its back feet, and then another roll of her body as she SLAMS both of her heeled boots into the other feet, hoping to slow it down enough, disrupting its attention even more.

From that last movement, she jumps away, a flourish as she rolls over the ground, and props herself on one knee, daggers in front of her, ready for a counter-offense.

Zargabaath has posed:
Judge Magister Zargabaath's stance noticeably tenses as he walks, his shoulders rising and helm lowering as his steps shift to almost cat-like fluidity. The behemoth ceases with its antics and begins focusing on those who have risen against it.

"Indeed, the lady is right in her description of the beast." At the rest of the explaination, however, his gaze almost physically falls on Annia. "Ah. So you were one of the adventurers who teleported the behemoth from the Bare Desert. Perhaps we shall talk later, once this matter is dealt with."

He pulls two cards free--one amber and emblazened with a crosshair and eye, the other purple with a fist sketched on it. "I do request on behalf of Archades, however, that the behemoth not be killed in our attempt to subdue it."

He lifts his hand and the cards disappear in a burst of fragmented light, which falls over himself and Riku. Even before the light fades, however, his hands slip under his cape and pull free his swords. He immediately shifts to a neutral but ready stance, not yet attacking but not fully on the defensive yet.

Percival has posed:
Well, no time for strategizing or exposition on what the creature is, it seemed. Ser Ping had enraged the beast, and the Gargoyle wasn't about to let the man fight it alone.

Unfortunately he had few options for getting back into the air. So instead, he got on all fours just as Annia provided explanation. "Thank you M'lady."

And so the Gargoyle began to charge towards Ser Ping to provide him with an assist.

Was the cricket saluting him? Well, it had bowed to him before! Mayhaps it was a trained cricket after all.

And so once he arrived at Ping's side, he'd draw a darksteel runeblade left arm, and crook his shield upon his right arm. Standing alongside him and ready to give him an assist if he required it. "You're hunting rather rapacious prey today Ser Ping." He remarked casually. It was almost as if there wasn't a gigantic creature of legend charging right at the pair.

Riku has posed:
Riku rubs a sore shoulder, eying the behemoth and drawing a long scimitar from a scabbard at his waist. There is a faint snap of energy as the black blade is drawn from the leather sheath and he holds it at his side, a tendril of mist snaking down the blade onto the ground.

He takes in the Behemoth, moving in a wide circle across the plains towards it's flank while the creature is snarling and advancing on Ping and the horse. He throws a glance back at Judge Magister Zargabaath, then over at the rest of the group when the fighting begins in earnest.

He stays out of the combat at first, watching the action of the others as he approaches from a wide angle. He leans down, putting his hand into the ground quietly, fingers digging into the soil.

Montag has posed:
Montag notices there's quite a collection of people he notices that Imperial Guardsman from the ship incident but he doesn't seem willing to press grudge it was business. He'a also not about to cause more issue with the Imperial Guard or the Chinese Empire.

"The big game hunter, this will make a hell of story."

he unshoudlers his rifle and gets ready as he starts to line up a shot.

"Spread out so he can't get us all! Don't cluster up!"

Launchpad McQuack has posed:
"So," Launchpad asks, throwing the 'steering wheel' at the behemoth, "This is a very dangerous creature, that would destroy us all in a heartbeat, and you want us to subdue it unharmed?" A dreamy expression falls over Launchpad's face. "Reminds me of old times," he says with a sigh, then gets serious. "Okay, I'll help you take care of this behemoth of a Behemoth."

"HEY, BEHEMOTH!" He yells. "WE DON'T WANT TO HURT YOU, SO SURRENDER PEACEFULLY SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO...BE HURT!" He thinks about what he says, and shrugs. "I guess I don't have a way with words," he says. "But I still know how to use my head!" With that, he rams head-first at the Behemoth.

Eclipse Behemoth has posed:

The Behemoth was attempting to go right after Ping as the horse proves to also be quick prey; yet you see... Horses are not a common thing in World of Ruin, if seen at all! So should not be to surprising this big ol' beast doesn't know what the mighty steed can do.

However the chases was quickly interrupted by a dancer. One of the kids who aided in teleporting to big brute. Also was the one who probably wanted to take it down during that day. Now seem to be their chance. The Dancer was indeed nimble, at first the Behemoth was having issues. However when her blades struck for his underbelly, she find that her daggers strike its bone chest structure protecting its chest. When the dagger strikes, it almost strikes like metal hitting metal.

The Behemoth roars in protest to the dancer's ways and in its rage, the massive claw rises up. Dark magical energy flaws around the claws before he lashes at her with a quick slash.

However Launchpad comes barreling in and slamming his head right into the open sides of the beast, which causes the massive ten foot creature to spin around with those same dark claws and strike out. At least the impact seemed to off-set it a bit.

With Launchpad and Annia so close, with others a good way out. The Behemoth seems to place his focus on these two. Those gold eyes glowing brightly as though the claws return to normal, it lashes out with them, first with its tail to try and set them off balance. Before coming at them both with its claws to strike them down to the earth. Then another slash was sent in attempt to barrel them away and perhaps at some of the others.

Ping has posed:
Ping is flailing as the gallopping Percival falls in step beside him.

"I'm in way over my head!"

It's clear that being in way over his head is a normal situation for him. In this case, a giant monster is beating feet behind him. But it seems the creature would much rather attend to less speedy prey than work for a gourmet morsel. Ping pulls up the reins as the Behemoth tears off its pursuit and turns its attention to a certain crashlanding McQuack and Annia.

"This thing has certainly draw a lot of attention. Any ideas, Percival? Tell me there is some kind of trick to putting it to sleep or that it's frightened of songbirds. Where does a monster like this get its armor tailored?"

Sitting high on his horse's back, Ping draws back his bow and takes aim on the back of one of the creature's knees, hoping to hobble it with a well placed shot.

Annalee has posed:
Things start happening quickly and Annalee starts losing constant track of anything that isn't a twelve foot tall mass of muscle, fur, and scales with giant lightning claws that cook your insides from the insides-out while goring you with a pair of massive spikey horns. But people come and go on the edge of her perceptions and that's more then enough for her to make herself useful.

With her zither safely at hand (which is a comfort, in its own way), she launches upwards and starts to truely defy gravity by hovering above the battlefield, just out of easy reach. She places her hands upon the strings of her instrument and a quietude, still and unnatural, seems to fall over things even despite the behemoth's roaring. The bard raises her fingers, a supernatural swell of anticipation goes up and the fences themselves seem to rattle subtly in the ground, and then Annalee strikes a bold chord.

The effect is instant and dramatic. The very dirt of the ground seems to rise up around the behemoth, swirling in an unseen arcane wind. Annalee's song is a slow one, not a stately slowness, but a tender, personable one. A veil of dust starts to form shields around those closet to the monster.

Montag has posed:
Montag seriously what's up with these horse things but for now he's been undisturbed he shifts potion trying to get a bit of ground on the huge thing then he lines up a shot openign fire trying to seee what he can do to bring this thing down. Serioulsuy what the heck was this critter on?

Percival has posed:
"You're telling me!"

He'd grimace, as Ping asked about tricks that might defeat the beast without a fight. "Not a one! We have two choices, we can wound it until it decides to seek easier prey.. or we can feed it until it its satiated enough to fall asleep. I'd prefer we stick with the first choice. Wouldn't you agree?"

And now the beast was attacking the duck, and the extraordinarily helpful lady from earlier. The Gargoyle didn't see much choice, he had no way to attack it from a distance. So he turned, and charged it.

This was a stupid plan, the Gargoyle thought, as he reached the beast, using his talons to grip into the armor plating on one of its legs, as he climbed, stabbing his sword into a gap every so often. He'd continue to try to climb towards the Beast's back...

Assuming it would let him reach it.

Zargabaath has posed:
Judge Magister Zargabaath ignores Launchpad's snarkiness under the circumstances. There are bigger behemoths to take down at the moment.

He shifts his stance to one clearly more offense-minded, sinking down a few inches as his weight settles on his back leg, then he charges.

He rapidly closes the distance between himself and the behemoth, swords rising to bear even as the beast starts lashing out at those who get too close. He plants one foot down, lashing out with his long-sword with a spinning strike before following up with an upwards slice from the short-sword. He then dips down in a duck while twirling his swords in his hands once, twice, then lunges with a cross-slash of both weapons at once.

Riku has posed:
Riku closes his eyes and flexes his hand a few times as he slowly straightens and continues to move towards the behemoth. His eyes blink a few times pretty hard while the fragmented light falls over him but he rolls with it, drawing strength from the magic.

This is about when he looks towards the headlong ram of a.. another duck? Did this one also have a chainsaw? No.. a steering wheel from the looks of it. Riku blinks once or twice, a little phased despite everything, especially at the eloquent speech beforehand.

He shakes his head to clear it and refocus on the battle . "..okay. Deal with that later." He continues to approach, rushing forwards the last few feet as he attempts to bear down on the back leg joint with the sword in his hand which flashes as thorns erupt from the surrounding soil, the black vines reaching up to try and entangle and ensnare the behemoth.

The blade glints with an aura of numbing cold, flickering black for a moment as he bore down again.

Annia Leradine has posed:
Annia Leradine shows all of her acrobatics there, the tail swishing at her wildly, but she can read all of its movements. It will need to try harder, no doubt, to touch this girl. First she ducks under the first swipe, and then jumps up to avoid the second that moved near her feet, that movement making her fly toward the behemoth, with her daggers moving down. Since it managed to avoid her first set of attacks, she has no hesitation to use dirty tricks against it to slow it down, sending a small handful of dirt straight for its eyes, blinding it.

As soon as she touches ground, she dives underneath the behemoth again, moving to its other side. She seems intent on making it disoriented and chasing after her, taking its attention away from anyone else as much as she can. Despite the hulking size, she doesn't seem intimiated at all, as if she's used to fighting monsters several times her size... or she's just amazingly confident about what she can do.

As she appears on the other side of the behemoth, she has a ribbon in her hand, attached to the handle of her dagger... and then she pulls on it, hoping to make it lose balance on that leg, creating more openings for everyone to attack in.

Once the leg is pulled her way, she dashes it again, ready to chip at its health with her daggers. It doesn't deal alot of damage when she attacks, but her style is chipping away at the patience and health of the monsters, stab by stab. And the first one is aimed toward its vitals, stabbing the monster and releasing a bit of poison straight into its blood.

As she's stabbing, she's moving up the monster's spine, this time using her right dagger to slam the pommel of the dagger down on its head, hoping to crush more of its defenses. One stab at a time. She's going to piss off that behemoth, not unlike she annoys people around her at school, no doubt.

Launchpad McQuack has posed:
"Ow," Launchpad groans, holding his head. "Maybe that wasn't the best ide-YAAA!" He is sent flying by the powerful enemy's claws and tail attacks, landing on his back and rolling up onto his feet. He continues to stagger backwards for a second, before regaining his footing. "Okay, DW," he says under his breath, "what would you do? Probably something cool and heroic, not caring about the physical danger to yourself. In a dangerous situation, you'd get dangerous. So..."

Launchpad flings himself back into the fray, arm-wings flailing with rage. At the top of his lungs, he shouts...

"LEEET'S GEET DAAAANGEROOUS!"

Eclipse Behemoth has posed:

The arrow from Ping comes sailing in and strikes across the knee, but bounces off one of the scales hidden behind the fur, perhaps chipping the very scale as a piece of it seen falling to the ground. It does cause the Behemoth to howl slightly in pain. This left him open for Annia's surprise attack which stuns the massive big boy for a moment.

The Behemoth shakes his head a few times, as if trying to get his sense back. This about the time Montag's shot fires in and slams against the horn of the beast, Chipping part of the bone as it scrapes across. The beast turns to face Montag with a snarl and just was about to move, until a bard started to sing.

The magic energy around him for that short moment caused a dark like aura to suddenly rise from his form. There was a low growl as those eyes started to narrow toward the melody being played. Its attention slowly turning toward Annalee. This left it unaware of the sudden surprise 'poking' from Percival.

The sword slammed into its leg, getting past the armored scales hidden by the fur as it suddenly lets out a yelpish roar in pain. It rears up on his hign legs about then, with his claws stretched out. However this is when Annia moves in and takes her chance. Her blades indeed chipping away and with him reared up like that easy to knock over and strike for one of the more vital areas, right into the side of the Behemoth.

The Behemoth goes down with a hard crash into the ground, Percival may want to jump off about then! This leads him open to Launch Pad coming in all Darkwing Duck like and flailing his arms. The Behemoth gets smacked back, however the beast seems to take great offense to this and slams his claws outward, attempting to rend right into Launchpad's cloths and feathers.

The Behemoth roars out in anger as Riku attempts to ensnare it. The dark tendrils lift it high into the very air and then slam it hard back into the ground as the sword rakes across its scales. There was no time for the Behemoth to retaliate because here comes in Zargabaath.

The two swords slash across the Behemoth before the creature has time to recover. The two swords, much like Annia's dance across its body. The blade strikes bone, chipping at it and slashing past the deep scales underneath the fur drawing out blood. The Behemoth roars in pain, before it snarls in defiance. Then in its anger, it bites down hard for Zargabaath's arm. Attempting to sink think massive teeth that could crush a man into the very armor.

Those gold eyes, those primitive gold eyes staring right at the Judge Magister's own, before attempting to toss him aside. Then suddenly the Behemoth rears up once more with a roar, before it leaps right for Zargabaath once more, attempting to slash its claws and bite down further for the armor. Then just as quick, leaps to the next person to the next. Before it comes to a halt, sliding across the ground and letting out a howlish roar into the sky, before baring its teeth at all here.

Annalee has posed:
People throw themselves into mortal combat and Annalee continues to play music.

The bard does not cease playing her song to begin a new one. She instead starts modulating the key rapidly so that one song flows into the next. The simple romanza swells in volume and grandeur, becoming fit for a military parade ground. Annalee starts floating forwards, getting closer to the battle so that she can direct the flow of her accoustics better; wounds start closing as she passes overhead and walls of solid sound start to close in protectively around those most closely engaging in melee.

This, naturally, leaves her exposed and vulnerable to the beast itself. She twists and floats through the air, but while she moves with grace, she moves much more slowly then a rampaging behemoth. She twists downwards, her zither following her movements, as she flits underneath a raking claw. Music flows unabated from her instrument. But this leaves her with no place to retreat further, and the next swipe takes her off her balance, tossing her about with the ease of a tantruming child throwing a ragdoll across his room. But Annalee's song does not cease, coming forth unblemished from her calm, nimble hands despite the extreme violence of the motions inflicted upon her. Wounds continue to close. Defences start to bolster. Annalee plays a march to war.

Percival has posed:
And so the Gargoyle was hanging on for dear life, clamping onto the Behemoth's hide with his talons and blade. When it reared up, realizing what was about to happen, he'd scramble upwards to the beast's shoulder, before gouging his blade into it, holding onto it like it was a piton, and he a mountain climber. Still he was chanting "Oh No, Oh No, Oh NoooooO!" as it suddenly was slammed downwards by Riku. Then he actually got an idea that wasn't such a /stupid/ plan. As it was crashing, he'd unfurl his wings, and allow the sudden rush of air current to buffet him upwards.

When the beast found its way back to his feet, he'd aim to land upon its back once more, grabbing his sword, before running up its neck, grasping onto one of its giant horns, and making the attempt to jab his sword straight into its left eye.

From a semi-intelligent plan, back to a /stupid/ plan in the blink of an eye.

Ping has posed:
"Yes, yes, of course! Let's not be eaten!" Ping responds manicly to Percival.

Then he is completely awe-struck as he watches the scrappy Annia leap upon and scale the scaly beast, using her jagged daggers like climbing picks. The girl seems completely fearless even in the face of such a towering monster.

"Did you just see what she di...?" Ping remarks to Percival but just in time to see him do the same, leap up on that galloping, rampaging kaiju.

All he can do is blink with surpise. *blink*blink*

"Alright! I can do this, too!" Ping calls out heroicly. He quickly reaches into his quiver and tugs out an arrow, fastening to it a long rope from his saddle bags. Arching the bow, he sends the cord streaking through the air so that the arrow tangles in the behemoth's fearsome mane. He quickly winds the cord around one arm with a swat on Khan's flanks, he leaps from the saddle.

Time seems to slow as Ping launches himself across the short chasm between his horse and gallopping beast, his arms windmilling at his sides. With a 'oof!' he slams against the behemoth's flanks and scrambles to catch hold of it's matted fur. Cling on for dear life, he looks up the monster's spine to see Percival and Annia several meters above him.

Montag has posed:
Montag is very glad he got to the high ground or it would be pretty bad even form the terrain that's he's perchec on he's got that crazy beasty giving him a hell of an but whooping. he's managing to keep the heck away as best he cabn but only can manage a bit of an attemp to hit the thing with the stock of his rifle as he tries to not get fully mauled.

Zargabaath has posed:
Judge Magister Zargabaath tries to jump back, but the behemoth's jaws latch down onto his arm. The teeth themselves hit steel armor plate, but the pressure certainly leaves bruising all the way down to bone.

In that moment, he and the behemoth lock eyes, and the Judge of Reason is actually taken aback slightly. Behemoths usually have solid eyes, whether they be black or some kind of color. But this one, with a clear golden iris and cat-eye-like black pupils... Truly there is something different about this one compared to other behemoths he has faced over the years. Something...?

His concentration broken, it takes no effort whatsoever for the behemoth to pick him up and throw him away. He hits the ground flat on his back and skids briefly on his cape, but the behemoth pounces on him and tries its best to maul him. Certainly claws and teeth pierce leather, but the metal armor takes the brunt of the attack while being left dented and scratched deeply.

He shakes his helm and retakes his stance, gauging his next attack. "Odd..." is the only thing he mutters before moving into melee range once more, attempting to flank the beast.

His swords light with power along their blades as he lashes out with a stab, then he follows up with a quick prying slice to perhaps remove a piece of its armored hide and expose a weak point. He then pulls back, combining his swords into a spear, and charges for one final piercing strike.

Annia Leradine has posed:
Annia Leradine is thankful for Annalee's healing, because that last attack really tore through the dancer's defenses. She said earlier that the behemoth would need to try harder? Well he certainly has delivered there. She's sent flying backward, for the fierce she is, she's not very heavy after all. She end up on her back into a mass of grass and hay from where the chocobos were mucking around before, and that left its mark

She groans as she gets up, not beaten out yet by a long shot. "Alright, you want to play that way..." She swipes the corner of her mouth with the back of her wrist, where a droplet of blood was trickling out. "Let's see how you handle this!" She isn't out of moves yet in her dancing repertoire. Even as she's hurt, she goes back straight to her own tempo, like following a song only she can hear. A step, dodging out of a swipe, a flourish as she ducks another, a leap, all elegantly made, every movement inching her closer to the massive monster.

And when close enough, the first move comes it as a strong kick, bringing her foot as high as she can, hitting what vital point she can reach, digging her heel into it painfully. And using that as a step, she CLIMBS the behemoth again, jumping right off once she reaches the top, twirling in the air, a bit like a diver from the springboard would do.

The daggers gleam in the sun for a short moment, but that's the last beautiful part of this ballet as the dual daggers move straight down, hoping to skewer it straight into its neck. Maybe they are trying not to kill it, but if it bleeds enough it should give up before dying. Or so she hopes. The daggers are shaped that once planted in, they definitely would be painful to remove.

Riku has posed:
Riku freezes for about a half second too long with some startling mental lock up that prevents him from getting out of the way in time. He winces just before the impact and is sent sprawling, protecting himself mostly by virtue of getting the armored glove in front of his chest and face in time for the worst of the damage to be taken by his armor rather than himself.

he takes a few heaving breaths as he rolls back onto his feet, bracing himself as he looks back over his shoulder trying to locate the source of the music. He nods to her gratefully before turning just in time to see Zargabaath continue his assault.

He continues to worry at the beast's flanks, slashing at the exact same points as before, going for the joints rather than the main body of the creature.

Launchpad McQuack has posed:
"What happened," the injured duck groans, lying flat on his back after being nearly annihilated by the Behemoth. "I'm sorry, Dee Doubleyou, but I don't have your skills. I let you down." He sighs, and his sigh of sadness turns into a sigh of pain.

Suddenly, determination fills his heart and eyes. "No..." he groans, "no...nononoNO! I can't let you guys down!" He rises in an uppercut, striking the Behemoth squarely. He appears fiercely determined and angry - in fact, steam seems to rise from him, or at least a shimmering heat mirage. "For Duckburg and St Canard," He yells, attempting to deliver a second uppercut. He then crouches, and jumps high into the air with his hands above his head. He puts his hands together, and swings downwards as hard as he can.

Eclipse Behemoth has posed:

The Behemoth waits for them to charge back in, however one passenger has stayed on board riding the massive dark furry beast like a bull rider. The Behemoth suddenly spots the danger coming in and then snarls. Just as Percival goes to drive in the sword, the creature moves his head away. The blade cutting into the black bone structure of its face, while the it then shakes its head suddenly, to place Percival in line to be slammed down to the ground with that massive pawed hand.

Montag attempts to strike at the beast with the stock of his rifle, and though it impacts the side of the Behemoth, he gets in return a massive claw with darkness slithering around it. There was also another aura build up as Ping went to get a ride and the bard continued to play.

Electronics around the area started to freak out, noticeable as a radio starts to randomly play songs from the ranch like crazy. Flipping to this channel, to that channel, going to static, another channel. Even the electric clock started to spin its hands around like crazy.

The Behemoth doesn't see Zargabaath come in suddenly. Those blades of holy fire strike in and pierce into the hide of the beast. The blades dig deep into the bone that is exposed and send cracks around it. The Behemoth yelps in pain as it gets driven back. Snapping its teeth at Zargabaath in anger.

However when the dancer comes in, the Behemoth stares over at her and roars in her direction. The dancer draws its attention alright, but probably not in a wise manner. The Creature weaves and bops around her attack. Though she does leap up into the air off it. The Behemoth follows her graceful form. Then just as she comes down with the critical blow, the beast rises up on its hign legs and goes to 'smack' the dancer away. Then he roars in her general direction, before huffing a few times wearily.

As Riku charges in, the Behemoth goes to turn and face them. It goes to roar, but suddenly halts. The aura surging a bit before it seems to simmer down suddenly. Those gold eyes staring at Riku for a moment, as if it zoned out or something. Though when the Behemoth comes around it attempts to leaps back, Riku's sword slashing at its mane, chopping of some of its fur at the neck, and then the blade slashing it across the muzzle, before striking at the leg.

Apparently whatever moment of stunned lock the beast had was quickly gone when Launchpad came rushing in. Its wing fist of furry striking the massive beast. Causing it to nearly rear with each impact, before it tried to roar at Launchpad and then got its head slammed into the ground.

The Behemoth shooks his head, almost staggering for a moment before it started to growl, very lowly. Huffing out air from its nostril as the aura started to flare more. Causing the radio to actually fry, and the clock to suddenly burn itself as well. Those eyes once with pupils suddenly become a solid gold before it lets out a loud howl into the air.

Then charging away from the group, it rears around with a hard slide before suddenly rushing at them all with its horns and then striking them with quick sprints of its claws in an almost charging fashion. When the dashing end, it slides around to go to attack Riku, but comes to a dead halt in front of the boy. Huffing out air in its exhausted state. Those glowing gold eyes peering with anger right at the boy. The aura of darkness still surrounding its form. Before it snarls a few times, and then leaps away, seeming to position itself in another location before roaring at the group once more.

Annalee has posed:
A math equation: 97lb bard divided by 4.8 ton behemoth.

That equation doesn't balance and Annalee nearly gets divided by zero. The mute bard manages to get her feet on top of a fence in time and she throws up a solid wall of sound in the monster's path in an attempt to deflect its charge harmlessly to the side. But artistry often stands little chance against such raw savagery. The end result is grevious wounds for Annalee and, GOD, WORSE, a ruined dress. This day, she swears.

Annalee floats up into the air once more, playing her music without cease. The melody sprites up, becoming quicker in tempo and out of place within a battlefield. But still, the music wafts outwards and beams of light pierce the clouds above as Annalee drags the eye of God Himself (to hear her tell of it, anyway) down from His Heaven to learn the plight of His children. Where the light passes, wounds begin to knit and ailments are panacea'. There is rest for the weary and comfort for the beleagured, and in music one can find salvation for the body and soul if one but listen.

Ping has posed:
In the beast's confusion, Ping tugs on his rope and climbs higher and higher along the creature's back, scaling up the rampaging colossus. Each movement is careful and precise, even as the creature lunges and bounds beneath him. On his lips are prayers to his ancestors to see after his safety and the safety of his friends and peaceful chocoranchers in this valley.

Climbing behind the behemoth's shoulder blade, Ping rises up onto his knees, clutching a tuft of matted fur in one hand and drawing his sword from his sheeth with the other. He can feel the racing, bestial pulse of the monster's blood beneath him, the cadance of it's powerful heart beating maliciously.

"Ancestors, please, guide my sword." Ping whispers under his breath.

"Guide your blade? Ping, you know I'll do better than that. You gotta get up under these scales, girl. Let me pull that backf or you." Inexplicably, a small red lizard is there on the creature's back with Ping and it reaches down with it's tiny talons and pulls back one of those black scales to reveal more vulnerable flesh beneath. It stretches it's head up and looks out over the crowd of folks being trambled after by this monster, "You better do this thing, Ping. It's trying to make puddles out of those people."

Ping nods his head to his tiny fire-breathing comrade and lifts his sword over his head to thrust it down into the fleshy spot revealed to him.

"Woah! Watch out, everybody, I think he's breaking his limit!" the little lizard warns everyone.

Percival has posed:
His strike went wide by the Behemoth's sudden jerking motion, instead striking the bone of its skull. And then he found himself plummeting, falling against the ground.

He'd have the wind knocked out of him by the impact, he'd suddenly roll to his side rapidly several times to avoid a counterattack, before finally getting up to his feet and running out of the way. Its charge as it ran past him, came close, but at the last moment he'd leap forwards, just missing the creature's charge as he tucked into a roll.

He'd spend some time catching his breath, before he'd turn his head, catching sight of the Behemoth readying itself for another attack.

He groaned, and initiated yet another stupid plan.

He charged towards the beast suddenly, but as he approached its head, he'd slide underneath it like he were some sort of baseball player trying to reach home plate, rather than a Gargoyle charging an enormous frothing mad Behemoth, in an attempt to try to avoid any attacks from its head. Expecting its head to rear downwards, he'd stab the blade upwards into his neck. If it stuck true, he'd try to use the blade as a brake for the momentum, to swing himself upwards and to latch onto the beast's underside with his taloned hands and feet, clinging upside down.

He'd then try to work the blade out, holding on for dear life with his other three extremities, before stabbing at it repeatedly in its squishy underbelly and neck with the sword.

Annia Leradine has posed:
Annia Leradine grumbles as she gets the feeling her daggers are not hitting the right spots at all. The behemoth is clearly not getting hurt by her attacks, and its annoying her probably more than the behemoth right now.

A quick roll backward to avoid the charge from the behemoth, she lands atop of the chocobo's pen fence, and uses it as a springboard to go back straight at the behemoth. Even if she's not hurting it right now, it doesn't mean she's going to give up that easily either. Eventually her daggers will find a good spot!

Comming from above again, she flips while in the air to land on the behemoth's back once more... And there she strikes. Her right hand moves in a flurry, stabbing the same spot repeatidly. While you might seen only 3 attacks, maybe a dozen actually rained down on the behemoth's back.

And then she swittches hands, the dagger twirling into an inverted grip as she slashes across the wound she just inflicted, as to tear it wider. And the the grip on her right hand inverts as well, and follows a series of rapid slashes in X-patterns, the last one driven upward as she jumps away, dragging the daggers along the hide in the motion, flipping away from the behemoth before the next charge.

Montag has posed:
Montag is just getting the sutbbing knocked out of them he's encounted Behmonths a few times in his life but nothing quite like this. With this much fire power and people who could hang with SOLIDER? This thing should be a pile of meat and bone by this point. Yet it isn't he's got a shot still hwoever and she takes aim luning up the shot and then fires three quick bursts for the beast's center of mass he's not fooling about here.

Launchpad McQuack has posed:
Launchpad's powerful attack is successful. However, before he could celebrate, the Behemoth managed to get up and bring it's claws forward towards him. He crosses his arms in front of him, allowing him to absorb some of the impact, but he is still knocked sliding. "Oof, you really...huff...huff..put up a...fff....fight!" He says this bravely, but knows he has little left to fight with. However...

Suddenly, he feels a small seed of power within him. It sparks and grows, as if trying to release itself. At first, Launchpad passed it off as indigestion. However, he feels the warm power within him spreading, and he knows what he must do. "You've shown me how you fight," he quips, "but let me show you how I do things!"

Launchpad raises his arms above his head and concentrates. For a second, it seems like nothing will happen. However, a rip appears in the sky, and an object flies out of it. What is this Launchpad has Summoned? Bahamut? Ifrit? Nope, it seems to be a World War I biplane. It flies towards Launchpad, who jumps into the air, lands on the wing of it...and falls off, causing the plane to spin into a nosedive at the Behemoth. "A-woops," Launchpad chuckles, as he falls to the ground in what should be - but isn't - a painful landing, "Well, that was just...plane crazy."

Zargabaath has posed:
Judge Magister Zargabaath leaps back as his combined weapon strikes true, the behemoth's teeth snapping at his wake instead of himself this time. He retreats a few steps further, his helm canting noticeably as a dark aura swirls around the behemoth and electronics start going crazy. He has seen something like this before, he is almost certain of it... and why does it seem to stop when it sees Riku?

Then the beast's eyes go solid gold after Launchpad unintentionally interrupts the moment. Whatever the Judge of Reason had considered is gone as the behemoth charges him and knocks him aside. The impact is harsh, horns and claws gouging metal and stripping one horn from his helm, but he rolls with the impact and lands at a crouch.

And then the behemoth stops right in front of Riku. Doesn't attack, simply... stops. "Why...?" Zargabaath rumbles, not understanding what he is seeing even as the beast runs away to a more adventageous position.

He slowly steps forward, lowering his weapon before decombining it and sheathing the blades, then picks up the pace to a full run in order to catch up. "All of you! Stop attacking!" He shouts as loud as he can, removing his helm mid-run. "You have it cornered!" And if the way its acting is of any indication, this is really /not/ a good sign. You do know what they say about cornering a wild animal, right?

Riku has posed:
Riku braces himself for the first impact when the behemoth slides to an earth-tearing halt in front of him. The teenager locks eyes with the creature and his face goes completely slack as if something had glanced him across the side of the head. He staggered for a moment as the aura simmered down, blade raised defensively and already executing the attack as the creature leaps back away from him.

He watches for a dazed moment as the winged duck of fury lays into the behemoth when the aura starts to fry electronics, the radio screaming to a halt in a screeching whine that ends up with a curl of smoke.

Riku braces himself when the behemoth comes around for another assault and glares straight at the creature, golden eyes staring into solid gold as the creature does not attack, sliding past him to lay into the other adventurers.

"What... was that?" He stands there in complete confusion, turning to look at the little lizard and things.. yes.. perhaps this would be a good thing to get out of the way until the world started making sense again. This might be a good plan.

Hard to go for cover in the middle of a grassland. At least nothing that will shield you from something that big. "STOP." he adds to the Judge Magister's command. He just.. ends up saying it before he thinks about it and from where is standing watches the whole summon animation for the airplane and doesn't skip through it, having to wince at the evitable crash landing of the duck.

That's.. gonna leave a mark. Well. At least they seem alright..

Eclipse Behemoth has posed:

Percival does one of his crazy plans, and it works! The Gargoyle slides under the Behemoth charging right at him in return like a game of chicken. However Percival goes under and slashes those blades across the underside, it cuts into the scales and under the surface. Each strike leaving a nasty pierce, though the Behemoth does attempt to move away from the Gargoyle snarling at him.

However this made the Behemoth suddenly aware of Ping and quickly before his sword could strike in, the massive beast did a 'barrel roll' and try to fling him right off. This lead in room for the beautiful dancer, Annia, she lands on the Behemoth's back, but the creature quickly leaps just as she does to get out of her way. Then as her attacks come in, it leaps side to side. Huffing a few times as it does, before it claws dig in and then charges past her, moving some distance between himself and her.

As it runs the shots slam into its side. The scales limiting the beasts protection against the shots and its nearly staggers over form the impacts, but it keeps on running. Those paws beating into the ground, attempting to head for the open plains and for the forest once more.

However a massive shadow rises above it. An old World War plane comes crashing down. The Behemoth suddenly starts to pick up speed. Its head rearing down, before it suddenly lunges forward. As it lunges it actually slams it whole head like a Ram through the plane itself. Ripping it apart with velocity before it can even do any harm to it, landing down, with nearly a collapsing slam on the ground, before it continues to race forward, huffing and letting out a hackish sound from the damage it has taken.

There it goes!

Riku has posed:
Riku crumples to the ground as a wave of pain strikes him like a sledgehammer. The teenager just goes down without a word. He doesn't take any more time than a few seconds crouching, a hand wrapped around his wounded side as everything, for a moment, aches simultaniously.

He shakes his head, shaking it off as he surges onto his feet. He throws a hand to the Judge Magister and to the bard who aided him, making sure everyone (ostensibly in the case of Launchpad and Percival) is alright (although that may be an impossible assessment in the mental category) before plunging into the forest in pursuit of the behemoth.

Launchpad McQuack has posed:
Launchpad stops his assault on the Behemoth as it retreats. "Huh," he says, "Wasn't expecting that." He informs Riku that e is fine, and starts gathering up scraps from the wrecked planes. "Should have enough pieces of planes to cobble something together," he remarks.

Montag has posed:
Montag lowers his rifle and just stars raising up his shades for a moment. Just what the heck happened there it's cones it's managed to escape? He just about facepalms at this "What the heck is that thing on?! Seriously I not seen anything outside of an AVALANCHE RAVEN take that much of a beating and get back up!"

Annalee has posed:
Annalee floats down from the sky, slowly starting to wrap her song up. A few last chords and an embellished ending later, she is standing on the ground, her zither hovering only a few inches away. She does not chase the behemoth into the woods like a madman, electing instead to pick up the hem of her ruined dress and stare at it forlornly.

Worst. Day. Ever.

Ping has posed:
Ping is tossed from the Behemoth's back like the fresh-faced new guy on the rodeo circuit. The Behemoth bucked and he went into the air as gracefully as circus bear on skis. End over end and head over heels, Ping cartwheeled through the sky.

Luckily, he had a dragon to fall on. With a 'Ooof!' and a cloud of dust, Ping lands on his back in the grass, a jagged red lizard with a bad chiropractic issue peeking from beneath his rear.

"Ping, oh Ping, did you get the number of that donkey cart?"

Annia Leradine has posed:
Annia Leradine is going to have to calm herself down after this fight, and probably on Jidro >_<# She knows a behemoth's hide is tough, but this definitely not getting hurt as much as it should, and that's getting her pissed off.

The behemoth clears her off her back before she can do any real damage, and she jumps away. No, she's done, let the others clean this up. She shakes her head, and moves back toward the barn where her chocobo awaits.

Oh, she's probably in a foul mood now alright.

Percival has posed:
After the Gargoyle was unceremoniously dumped off by the Behemoth, he'd check assess himself for wounds. Other than a few bruises, and a sore wing from when he was butted to the ground, he was alright. Huh. He'd laugh for a time, as he laid upon the ground. "Fortune must favor the incredibly foolish, just as much as the bold."

His self-awareness did him some credit at least.

After a time, he'd pick himself up, offering Ping a taloned hand, clasping him on the shoulder as he got up. He truly was the manliest man, as his actions tended to prove from time to time. "Well fought, Ser Ping."

And eventually he'd walk back towards Annalee, appraising her with a look, as if trying to ascertain whether she was still frightened of him or not. "I'm glad you're alright, M'lady."

Zargabaath has posed:
Judge Magister Zargabaath makes a sharp hand-motion back to Riku with his free arm, apparently indicating for him to go if the boy's subsequent departure is of any indication.

He finally catches up with the rest of the group, checking with Launchpad briefly before kneeling on the ground to examine the shards of scales, fur, and even blood in the behemoth's wake. "I do not know, solider," he replies to Montag directly. "But that is not a normal behemoth. Of that much I am certain."

He leaves his battered helm on the ground where he'd knelt and begins walking around searching for more clues.

In checking on the others and for more data on the behemoth, Annia's departure (and thus Percival stepping further away than he'd thought) is missed. A pity, considering he had questions for her. Perhaps they will meet again under less stressful conditions, though the point of such a meeting is fairly moot at this point.

Eclipse Behemoth has posed:

Once the Behemoth clears itself back into the woods, the electronics that were going on the fritz seem to simmer back down to normal operation. A few ranchers walk out staring at the clock that went crazy and one walking over to check on what was an almost fried radio.

One of them speaks up to the other. "Looks like it wasn't just our lights goin' crazy, the radio is almost busted too."

"At least everything is back to normal." The other says with a long sigh. The rancher soon walks over to some of the heroes. "Thanks for your help and saving the chocobos. I never seen a Behemoth like that before and we have a few strange critters out here. Good thing ya'll got rid of it and hopefully it wont back. However, let go get ya'll somethin' for your reward in handlin' the beast." The rancher heads back inside once more.

For those wanting maybe more then what the Rancher could be fetching, the area where the behemoth was at is covered in a few broken scales, some fur, and well, blood. The broken scales actually are easy to make out as they are shimmering in the light thanks to their black onyx color.

Percival has posed:
On the way over to speaking with Annalee, he'd pick up one of the broken Black Onyx scales. Well it'd be an interesting trophy. The beast hadn't been brought low, but at least it'd been frightened off.

While standing nearby Annalee, with scale in hand, he'd nod in appreciation to the ranchers. "You're welcome."

And then he'd look to the strange mute woman beside him. Offering for her to follow him inside, if she wished.

Ping has posed:
Ping stands up and dusts off pants as Percival helps him up. He also shuffles his foot behind him, kicking away a small red lizard from behind him. "Shoo, shoo." Looking up at the magestic gargoyle, Ping says,

"Thank you, Ser Percival. Whew, I always appreciate your help and guidance."

He follows after him and gathers up with Annalee around the pile of scales. He knows that warriors often take trophies from their battlefields and the scales are pretty enough. Scooping one up off the ground, he holds it up to the light and 'oooohs' softly.

"CAT should make a Tin Pin with this design..."

Zargabaath has posed:
Judge Magister Zargabaath collects what he can. Scales, fur, even some blood. Doctor Bunansa would be thrilled with such samples, even if the Judge of Reason himself has little appreciation for the scientist's work.

At the rancher's thanks and subsequent request, the Judge Magister silently retrieves his helm and walks over to the cottage, tucking away the samples accordingly. "Ser, might I also request one of your broken devices?" He asks respectfully. "I would like to figure out why it had malfunctioned in the behemoth's presence."

Eclipse Behemoth has posed:

The rancher still standing outside nods, "Sure." he unplugs the radio and then hands it to Zargabaath. "Here ya go. Not gonna do us any good anymore it seems."

Soon the other one comes out with a few bags which he hands each one of them that is willing to accept it. Inside is some Chocobo Greens, along with under that, about 1,000 gil! "There you guys go. Thanks again for givin' us a hand with that critter."

Zargabaath has posed:
Judge Magister Zargabaath bows at the waist to the ranchers, accepting the radio and the bag full of Chocobo Greens and gil. At least none can accuse him of not being halfway decent at intelligence gathering. "You are quite welcome. I am glad we could assist."

He steps away from the location and pauses for a moment. Oh. Right. Riku brought him here by shadow portal... and Riku went chasing after the behemoth without sending him back.

With a bemused sigh, he taps his linkshell and calls for the 12th Fleet to send a Valfarre to come pick him up. Yes, he is halfway across the world. No, he will not explain how he got there.

Ping has posed:
Ping smiles broadly when he receives the pile of 1,000 gil! "Oh, maybe I can get one of those dress-spheres I've heard about with this..." He looks to the side and sees Percival, "I mean, ahh, spikes. I mean spikes, scary spikes, for my armor. To make me look more, you know... scary."

Montag has posed:
Montag pauses for a moment looingat Ping. "Tin Pin?" He just seems to be intent to chug a potion bottle with a Shinra Logo on it.

"One of the more crazy hunts." He seem to be rtrying to recover as much as he can. "I need t go recover a bit don't worry about the help neither."

Percival has posed:
Percival didn't find Ping's slip of the tongue unusual at all. He was a Gargoyle after all and had little concept of fashion. Instead he took him at his word. "Whether it be dress-spheres or spikes for your armor, Ser Ping, I imagine you'll look quite gallant. You proved as much today."