Lost Weapon

Lost Weapon
Date of Scene:	15 November 2012
Location:	Macalania Woods
Synopsis:	The Shard Seekers and other allies try to retrieve lost weapons from a giant crab. Rhyme's sanity is damaged.
Cast of Characters:	Faruja Senra, Shiki Misaki, Nagetta, Pixi, Neku Sakuraba, Rhyme, Beat

---

Shiki Misaki has posed:
The formation of the World of Ruin has not been kind to anyone.

During the violent loss of many worlds and the shifts that occured to create this new unified mass, many worlds and world shards were lost. This not only left humans homeless, but notorious monsters, many of which were planted in locations unfamiliar to them. Unfortunately, unlike many creatures taken entirely out of their biome, these creatures have not withered, but instead rose to become the new alpha predator.

Or sometimes they just sit around looking grumpy.

Such is the case in Macalania Woods. This chilly location, filled with twisting pathways of branches, crystalline frosting and lakes and pools of pure Sphere-water, has found itself occupied by a new squatter, and a particularly large one at that.

This Giant Crab has defied any attempts to evict or destroy it. It is a being for whom collossal would be demeaning- its huge main claw is larger than most cars, and it is almost twenty feet wide. It has a disc-shaped body and six limbs, with a scissor-like smaller claw, gemlike green eyes and a zigzag mouth. Its entire body is a pale, sandy yellow.

Also, its largest pincer is festooned with embedded blades. So many people have tried to attack it, only to have their weapons lodged in its carapace, that a mission was issued solely to recover them. This mission is not even to defeat the crab, for people do not believe it's even possible- just get back as many weapons as possible.

Shiki Misaki, perched on an overhanging branch path, is here to attempt that mission, but she may not be the only one...

And the lingering malaise that has settled here amongst the Guado and Apathetics may yet cause more problems...

Pixi has posed:
Standing tall upon another branch happens to be a hunter in her own right, for most of her life was spent hunting monsters such as this. Pixi stood there.....quiet, stoic, solemn.....hearing about this crab made her feel sorrow and joy at the same time. Sorrow that the crab had to suffer through all of this, and joy that she could hunt again. However, the large crab's large claw just made her ears twitch a bit. "There are many many ancient blades and weapons in that crab's claw. I'm glad we don't have to kill it, but perhaps it is rampaging from the pain in it's claw."

Faruja Senra has posed:
Faruja can't help but be vaguely skeptical of the idea that the beast is unable to be brought down. After all, any shell can be pierced with the proper amount of force. Still, with Shiki coming along against a Horrible Mutant Pinchy Thing, he's not going to take chances. Cue one Templar perched a branch above her.

He whistles as he catches sight of the beast. "...I would not blame it. Perhaps putting the thing out of its misery might be best if it continues to cause problems, sad though it may be."

Nagetta has posed:
Nagetta's wrapped around a branch as well. The giant crab looked tasty, but bringing down might be troublesome. Maybe they could break a few pieces off at least. If they're going to remove the weapons they're going to likely have to do so anyways. "I wonder how it got so big?"

Beat has posed:
Beat, lacking both a sense of stealth and agility enough to climb a tree, is standing at the foot of it being as obvious as a polka-dotted rhino. What he lacks in insight he makes up for in posturing, however, huffing around the place loudly while inspecting the GIANT ENEMY CRAB from afar. "It don't look so tough," he says, tapping his foot. "Just some big lobster, yo. We can crack this no problem! Let's get it!"

Just about ready to let himself off the leash Beat suddenly pauses to ponder Nagetta's question. "...a whole lotta krill?" he wonders. "Dunno. But I don't see nobody who those weapons belong to."

Rhyme has posed:
Rhyme, who is not some sort of guddamn Ninja, also stands next to Beat, looking on in awe of the Giant Enemy Crab from the forest floor. A few idle moments are spent considering how a rat, a snake-girl, and two more 'normal' girls could all get up on a tree without a complicated logistics system that defies the mere moments they had all gathered there.

So, in the end, she chalks it up to them being all some sort of Ninjas, and turns to her Partner.

"Did I ever tell you the story of the Unstoppable Force meeting the Immovable Object?" She wonders, a sort of 'oh god five mintues and we're back to this again' crossing her face before her big beaming smile returns.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Shiki prods her fingertips together. The thing looks like a pincushion!

She's not totally sure how everyone congregated like this, but she's glad for more people to be here if we're dealing with something so big.

"Who know what's going on in its head? We're not gonna be able to find out unless we do something about it. But how are we going to get close enough to do anything to it in the first place? It's huge!"

"Maybe it's just really old and really tough?" she says to Nagetta. "Or maybe it's magic. Magic can do lots of stuff. Ate some magic krill," she concludes, having heard Beat's assessment.

"They say that there's lots of things around here called pyreflies that are full of strange power. This water, too. Something might..."

And we're gonna get an interesting display of the immoveable object right now! Several clouds of those pyreflies all around begin gathering out of nowhere, becoming floating creatures like sea-stars or stingrays that float. They begin zapping the crab, which only makes it angry! It begins to thrash and smack the trees, lumbering out of the pool it was squatting in as it lashes out at everything around it!

Pixi has posed:
Pixi watches the pyreflies literally attack the crab. "Well, that's.....interesting." She says as she hops down out of the tree. "There might be something about those pyreflies, the weapons on the crab's claw, and the crab itself. Come on!" She then looks to Faruja and smiles. "I'll go in first!" Once on the ground, she runs forward a few steps before taking off in a blur towards the crab in a wonderful display of unnatural speed.

Straight for the thrashing crab.

Faruja Senra has posed:
Faruja frowns, the Dragoon not questioning how the others got up here. After all, most of them are his fellow leapy-sorts anyway! To beat, he raises a claw, calling down; "Do be cautious, young Ser. A frontal assault, without a plan, would be suicide against such a large beast. Though your bravery and enthusiasm is noted and appreciated. As the Lady say, 'immovable object' is quite apt. Perhaps if we instead..." Pause. Pyreflies. Suddenly, angry, thrashing crab. Scowl.

"...Nevermind. Perhaps we slay the creatures accosting it?" Spear is drawn, the rat flexing his legs. Someone's ready with the jumping and stabbing.

Sigh. "...You lot make me seem cautious by comparison. Ahh, well! In Faram's name!" Leap! The Burmecian leaps down from the branch, landing deftly, before taking to the skies once more! He'll Jump in an arc, attempting to bisect one of the creatures plaguing the crab itself, and then into the beast's back.

And thus, the first annual Crab Battle Rodio was commenced.

Nagetta has posed:
Nagetta does her best to hang on to the tree. She decides to take a different approach as she stablizes herself. She springs downwards trying to land on the giant crab itself. Maybe she grabbed those weapons better from on top if it. Plus it would have a harder time attacking someone on it right?

Beat has posed:
"Magic krill can do that," Beat replies with a knowing nod. "Or maybe it ate -- what'd you call 'em? Fireplies? How'd you know all this stuff anyway Shiki?"

If you're a gambler the safe money would have been on Beat charging in head first, possibly while yelling 'last one there's a loser!' or something equally bad looking as his last words. Instead he glances anxiously sidelong at Rhyme while the rest of the group springs off into action. "The unstoppable force would win obviously!" he says to Rhyme impatiently. "Unstoppable! It's in the name!"

Beat grumbles, looking up at Faruja. "A plan? I've got a plan! Charging in /is/ the plan..." When he looks back down the crab has been joined by a bunch of space age stingrays. He frowns. "Now that a'int right -- they hurting it?" he asks Rhyme searchingly.

Then Faruja leaps into the action as well and he's had it. Turning to Rhyme he holds out his Player Pin impatiently while hopping from foot to foot. "Pact!" he yells. "PAAAAACT! Pact me up, Rhyme! Let's do this!"

Rhyme has posed:
So let's break down the plan so far. Giant enemy crab... Which hates everything and everyone. And there was a treasure it was... Guarding, right? That was what it said. The letter-guide-thing that brought them here, the posted bill for the treasure it was guarding, certain it wasn't all those stupid rusty weapons stuck to it.

And then EVERYONE GOES AND JUMPS ON IT.

Rhyme's smile cracks as the corners of her mouth twitch, the sheer what the hell dumbfounding her.

"No, no, Beat, it's a paradox, you've got something that cannot be stopped meeting something that cannot be moved, they're polar opposites, you can't have one /win/..." She tries explaining, before peering at the Pyreflies. "Maybe they don't like it? Well, I..."

tThen Beat does his dance yelling at her for a Pact. Yeah, sure, she can totally do that, sure, let me just get out my player pin here and...

Oh, right. Quickly, she taps her BLACK SO IT'S TOTALLY A PLAYER PIN to Beat's, whipping it away quickly into her pocket. "Right! Pacts!"

Then proceeds a bit of wooshwooshwoosh, but... It's glitchy. Weird. It doesn't seem right.

"Right, you go fight the Crab... I'm going to check it's lair!" She smiles at him, tryign to cover for the fact that the pin she used to pact was ALL wrong.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"There's a place called Rin's Travel Agency just down the- WOAH!"

And now Crab Battle has begun. Crystals and ice rains down.

Shiki is amazed that people can just run in against something that big. However, as the crab's smaller claw rips right into one of the branches she realises it's not going to be safe to stay in one place anyway... and so she runs down quickly!

A couple of the weapons seem to resonate with the same glow as the pyreflies, but it's difficult to see as the huge thing begins to flail its claw around. Several musicians run from it, cursing the crab out all the while as they disappear into the forest... and coincidentally, more monsters begin to drop from the canopy. Blue Jelly Madchesters begin to glide down from nearby sigils.

Faruja will cut through one of them rather than the fiends as approaches, landing on the crusty back of the giant crab. It's almost feverish in its flailing. Nagetta follows suit, but the huge thing is too busy defending itself with its bigger claw to grab on right now!

The Haizes are actually shaking and needling the crab, causing it to skitter out of its pool, almost as if they were trying to drive it. One attempting to go for its eye, thankfully, will find itself much more interested in Beat instead, shaking his brain with is eerie soundwave attack.

Shiki shouts to the others, "Watch out for the Noise!" as Rhyme investigates the pool. It is, in fact, actually completely empty! They really are supposed to be going after those weapons. They're not even rusty.

Nagetta has posed:
So grabbing the weapons from on the top of the crab isn't going to be that easy, Nagetta quickly finds out. She manages to avoid landing right on the claw, but it takes her a moment to recover from the bounce as she hits the ground. It's going to be hard to grab anything from it, if it's shielding itself. They need to get its guard down. The lamia stares into it eyes, trying to make it do so.

Faruja Senra has posed:
Admittedly, Faruja's plan played out better in his head. The thrashing and flailing of Gigantic Crab has even the Burmecian's finely honed sense of balance all screwed up, and he has to constantly move or leap to keep from falling off. But the crab is somewhat of lesser importance here. No, it's the beasts fighting it and that flailing, weapon-adorned claw that's the true point. So, with his vision obscured due to Crab Battle, Faruja picks out one of the Haizes. Spear is thrust into the thing's general direction (nearly causing the rat to topple onto his face) and down comes a column of Holy Light upon it. Hopefully he can manage to aim properly while being thrashed about.

Pixi has posed:
Pixi was literally running around the giant crab to find a safe place to jump onto it's back. She wasn't about to hse her personal spear to attack it with, and lose the spear herself. Of course, she also wasn't here for the treasure....just the thrill of the hunt. When she was able, she's try to jump onto the crab's vulnerable back and land somewhat safely. However, the crab had two claws, one smaller than the other, and while the bigger one was a lumbering thing, the smaller one could snap her right out of the air. Hopefully, She would be able to run up the crab's arm and grab one of the embadded weapons....or two....before she was thrown off. She also hoped the pyreflies would leave her alone.....for whatever good they did.

Beat has posed:
As Rhyme touches Beat's Player Pin something strange happens, a shadowy glitchy mess that eventually resolves into the pair having indeed completed their pact but feeling a bit funny. Beat pulls away first, shaken. "Sorry," he says reactively, squinting to stop his Reaper wings from flexing into existence. "S'probably because of the... you know... stuff."

Skipping ahead on foot, but still in closing distance to Rhyme, Beat cycles though his options before his head is filled with the din a Haize shockwave! "Ugh," he groans, clutching his head. "SHUT UP!"

Clenching his right fist and clutching it to his heart, Beat throws out a blob of thrumming white energy at the source of the problem. The orb floats gently towards the culprit before stopping, and rattling with a faint alarm bell-like sound to slow the passage of time in the surrounding area. The disturbance halted, Beat sniffs the air and looks around. "Noise?" he asks to nobody in particular. Then there's a grin. "They're mine!"

Rhyme has posed:
Let us continue to experience the great breakdown of a 13 year old girl.

Life's hard. Life's hard and NOBODY UNDERSTANDS.

The strangely, glitchy, shadowy mess that was the pact between Rhyme and Beat is par for the course now. Rhyme, now feeling even MORE funny then before, after exploring the pit of what should be treasure, MUST be treasure... Finds nothing. And Beat is summoning NOISE. And everyone is clambering onto the back of the giant enemy craab. And the crab is fighting off all comers and it's just.

Her big grin withers, devolving into a twitching mess. "The treasure! Beat! The treasure is on the claw!" She shouts, cupping her hands to her mouth as she shouts, before hopping out of the river mouth and trying to dry herself off as she runs with squidgey shoes to catch up to the crab.

Oh my god the noise are his oh my god this is the WORST. DAY. EVER.

"Just because we can't beat it doesn't mean we can't... you know, stop it or something! We need it to SIT STILL, BEAT!" She cries, running along behind the crab, utterly exasperated.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Risky plays.

Nagetta ends up right in front of the giant crab, and gives it a staredown. On the plus side, this puts it at ease to a degree, causing it to stop in its tracks.

This allows Pixi to get behind it and onto the claw, pulling two swords away with a little effort. However, the Noise are almost there, almost a dozen of them floating down like parachuters. Electricity crackles between each of them in circuit.

On the downside, it not moving means that the Haizes are going to go right for it, and it's gotta be up to you to keep them off its back. Faruja's holy beam goes wild, nicking several of them but not putting any of them down convincingly. Beat ends up doing this a lot better, his time bomb blowing one into its component pyreflies once again.

Ice continues to rain down in little chunks and lumps, plopping into the pool. Definitely nothing. Surprisingly, few of the monsters go for Rhyme. Shiki has to dodge the falling stuff, not entirely succeeding, (Mr. Mew making do with his own tiny umbrella), as she schooches over towards Rhyme. She's got a Love Me Tether pin in her hand.

Rhyme, brace me?!" she asks. "I'm going to try doing that! Some of us tie it down, others go for the weapons, some of us protect the rest!"

Sanity prevail.

Pixi has posed:
Pixi leaps off of the crab's claw and down to the ground below. Landing somewhat quietly, she doesn't distract Nagetta, but hopes Faruja can hold out a bit longer as she runs to find a safe place to hide thise important blades, giving them to Shiki ultimately, before sprinting back into the fray, towards the crab's back....mostly taking the same path as before....not even attacking the crab at all.

Nagetta has posed:
Nagetta does her best to distract the crab as long as she can. She's not sure how effect it actually is, seeing how it lacks humanoid thought. Still it seems to be working so far, she would try and buy as much time for the others as she's can. She's cleary a bit nervous a bit right now, her tail wiggling around a bit.

Beat has posed:
Disclaimer: those Noise were not actually summoned by Beat. They're wild, dangerous and have a bad attitude! They never call their mothers, rarely recycle and erase people indiscriminately. Watch out!

"What?" Beat asks, yelling to Rhyme before she ducks behind the crab. "Treasure in the claw? Is that some kinda riddle?!"

Ah, Shiki, the voice of reason. Beat trains his ears to her voice and nods in agreement. "She's got a point, yeah?" he says, struggling against the creatures with a flurry of punches from his Shockwave psych. "Gotta ORGANIZE, yo!"

Beat hops back, flipping his Diss pin off his thumb and into his palm like a coin. Diss activates the Blight psych, which weakens the opponent. Beat's is activated by him laying down some WICKED SMACK TALK.

"ORGANIIIIIIIIIIZE, YO!" Beat yells again, unlocking the obscure achievement for using the word 'organize' as a battlecry/rallying call. His Diss pin glitters in his hand as he points an accusatory finger towards the crab.

"Yo crabman," he says, hand on his hip and affecting as insulting a voice as he can when addressing a monster crustacean. "You're so crooked you can't even walk straight! I've got more power in my pinky than you got in your whole claw! What's with the colour - feeling sick or somethin'? You make a better meal than a monster! YOUUUUUUUUU SUCK!"

That ought to get his attention... or just confuse him because a crab can't speak english, whatevs.

Rhyme has posed:
Dodging falling ice, Rhyme runs along, though the crab has come to a stop. Jogging abreast of Shiki, she grins at her fellow player. It's... sort of fun. For all the nonsense that's going on, Pixi manages to score weapons, Nagetta manages to confuse the crab, Faruja manages to LAZOR the Pyreflies that are harrassing everyone, the noise are still a bit off, and Shiki has a plan.

Nodding, she gets ready to help out Shiki, and then Beat.

AND. THEN. BEAT.

"BEAT?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING THAT IS A CRAB IT DOESN'T UNDERSTAND WORDS!!!" Rhyme shouts up at her Partner, but nothing can stop... The SICK FIRES Beat has, cooking up a delicious slam for Crabular Consumption.

What is this. Oh my god. Is this what Rhyme dealt with all through week one?

You bet so, yo.

"I am so sorry, Shiki, I really am." She whispers.

Neku Sakuraba has posed:
His name is Neku Sakuraba, and he has no idea where in the world(s) he is.

He hopped a train from Traverse Town after meeting with Hanekoma; sat down, fell asleep to the sounds of his hip-hop; and he dreamed. He dreamed of a world that no longer existed, hazy memories of a Shibuya and another Shibuya and another Shibuya on top of that. They were not memories, for he no longer had those; they were shadows, black-blotted tainted things that resembled the shape of a memory but were ultimately little more than an echo of the real thing, tricks the mind played. They were called forth by the train, by the music, and by the people he had met - Rhyme, the girl he barey knew, transformed into something wrong in his eyes by who knows what, and Shiki, the girl he found so important, who was now so distant, who he was so uncertain about despite feeling some deep, dark certainty within his soul. What had happened? What had robbed him of his memories?

And then the train had called Last Stop, and he had walked out onto the street to find another place without rhyme or reason, without sanity as he understood it. It was a strange place, with lizardmen and tiny teddies wandering the streets, and Neku had reacted as he usually did to things he did not comprehend or care to seek:

Buried himself in his headphones and walked.

Neku Sakuraba takes a single step out of the forest.

His foot touches the ground.

And his head jerks up as the sound of Beat rips through his incredibly loud hip-hop headphones.

'What the...'?

Neku looks around the clearing. He sees the Jellies, he sees the monsters, he sees Rhyme and Shiki and That Guy From His Dream, he...

He suddenly understands that the entire universe has a wicked, cruel sense of irony that cannot be matched by mortal minds.

And Neku Sakuraba gets really, really angry.

Neku walks forward. He turns up the volume on his headphones. His feet stride across the grass, crushing it underfoot in time to his music; he walks right past the monsters, standing right in the middle of the total, utter, complete madness; he does not face either, he does not open his eyes, his hands do not leave his pockets. Neku simply stands like that for a full moment, then opens his left eye to stare at the monsters.

He had fought the monsters before. Maybe these were different. Maybe they were connected. But there was one thing he knew, one thing he remembered.

Neku checks his hand. No mission.

"...you're too loud."

Faruja Senra has posed:
As chaos happens, as is usually the case on any battlefield (crab or not), the Burmecian steadily tries to make his way Claw-wards. Flail flail flail. The rat's tail zigs, zags, and flicks as he tries to keep balance, but with all of the crab's movements, he eventually proves futile. Giving up the ghost as his companions call out, he gives one more vindictive shot of Holy Lazor towards a passing Heartless before leaping away and towards Shiki.

"An excellent plan! Come, beasts! Harm not the innocent crustacean!" For all of his taunting, most of the rat's gaze is on that claw, legs bent in preparation for weapon retrieval. Besides, that one spear looks rather nice.

Faruja Senra has posed:
And then, suddenly, Neku. Frown. "You! Get yourself away from the beast, unless you wish to be trod underfoot! Er...leg. Regardless!"

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Shiki Misaki now has her hands full of swords. OK.

This is a rather tense scene, what with Nagetta staring the crab down (and it WORKING), but things get hurried in a hurry. The jellys are close enough that stray sparks are leaping off of the branches, and the Faizhes Faruja wounded are swooping in to provoke the crab further. Furthermore, Beat breaks Nagetta's staredown with a... quite frankly weird-o but blistering diss.

SICK FIRES: COMMENCING

The crab looks at Beat for a moment, really not quite sure what's going on, but pretty sure it's being threatened or insulted somehow, and raises its huge claw in the air as a very obvious CHALLENGE! Fortunately, this means it's not flailing it around, and this gives Shiki the oppurtunity to wrestle with her pin and try yanking one or two out. THere's only five left! Go for it, Faruja!

Rhyme, I think it understood him. You may commence weeping on the inside.

And into this complete melee of mayhem comes Neku. He will arrive to see a gigantic yellow crab foaming at the mouth, spitting bubbles the size of medicine balls indiscriminately at Noise, Fiends and Beat. He will see Rhyme bracing Shiki, hands full of swords, blades floating in the air, Mr. Mew menacing a scorpion on the floor. He will see Faruja, having incinerated a Green Requiem, shouting and preparing to pounce. He will see bizarre floating fish-things, taking slapshots from the aforementioned rat. And he will see lightning forking in the air, a dozen Noise swooping down on everyone, thunderclaps and cracking wood shaking the air.

What a reunion, huh?

Pixi has posed:
While Pixi may not want to hurt the crab, those attacking the crab, minus beat, are fair game. She stands upon the crab's back and kicks or punches noise out of the air. It would do no good to extend her spear at this time because she needs her hands free to attack the noise and fiends coming at her. As soon as there's a minor break in the waves of fiends, she runs up the crab's claw again.....if possible.

Nagetta has posed:
Nagetta blinks a bit as Beat interferes with her charming the crab. So much for that plan. She takes out her spear and begins to try and pick off the jellyfish. Hopefully Faruja can get the rest of the weapons soon, it seems like more monsters are arriving by the minute. She can see now why others had problems dealing with the crab.

Faruja Senra has posed:
An opening! Faruja leaps towards the now tied-up crabby's claw, landing with a prayer on his lips. Finding himself /not/ being crushed, pinched, or generally mutilated (yet), both hands go to weapons, his own upon his back. Tug! Tug! Tuuuuug! Plop! Nearly over-balancing with the effort required to tug them out, the rat now has a spear and some form of longsword. They're tucked under his arm as he tries to start on a third! Tug tuuug! He's relatively defenseless now, relying on his comrades. Will crab or Heartless take their target of opportunity?

Beat has posed:
BONK! is the sound somebody makes when bouncing off a medicine ball sized bubble... or should that maybe be boing? Hold on.

Boing! Beat bounces off the medicine ball sized bubble (yup, that works) and lands a on his knees a short distance away. "I think that /kinda/ worked," he mutters, looking over to Rhyme. "Hey Rhyme! It understood English!" pause "...you're welcome!"

Surrounded by Noise is the way Beat likes to be. Technically, somehow, they fill up his Erasure quota, and for a Reaper that's a good thing. It means that he can live. Word on the street is that living is good. They don't stand a chance. With a shimmer, Beat activates his Splash Core pin. They say jellyfish are 99% water... give 'em another 1% and make them water, that's what Beat thinks. A burst of water droplets should make quick work of the pesky things.

And, like ants at a picnic, here comes Neku. "Phones!" Beat greets, happy to see a familiar face until his brain computes that he was just insulted. "Hey, no, /you're/ too loud," he ripostes flawlessly. "Who invited you anyway?!"

Neku Sakuraba has posed:
Neku's other eye opens, and he looks at Faruja for a really long, silent moment. A weird rat thing was talking to him. That was new. Neku stares at the rat for a really long time, then looks back over at the monsters. He digs his hand into his pocket, grabbing one of the many pins and tightening his hold on it. Then he snaps his fingers and points at it.

One of the smaller creatures just straight up explodes in a shower of pain and suffering.

Neku Sakuraba: He Can Kill You With His Brain.

Neku retracts his hand, sliding it back into his pocket. He seems completely unconcerned by the sheer havoc going on around him; he just looks at Beat and frowns.

"How should I know? Don't ask stupid questions."

Yup. That's Neku alright.

Rhyme has posed:
Oh my god Rhyme, in this moment, in this very second, hates. She hates with a hatred that defies reason, defies her personality, it's just so monumentally stupid and so infuriating and hrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRNG.

Rhyme lets out this weird, animalistic growl at all of this going so TERRIBLY pear shaped before catching herself, taking a deep breath as she holds onto Shiki as the other girl fishes for weapons with an Entanglement pin.

She forces a smile up at Beat. "JUST KEEP IT DISTRACTED!" She hollers back, before Neku makes himself known.

And the murders a monster with his BRAIN.

"Wow! With Neku here maybe this will be a snap. Neku! We need to stop the crab and then grab the weapons! A problem shared is a problem halved, remember?!" She calls out to him.

Oh my god anything to stop Beat from defying logic by dropping SICK FIRES on the crab more. Please, just, anything.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
beat no
beat there's electricity everywhere
beat no have you ever dropped a toaster in the bathtub

Horrible things occur. They're technically /successful/ horrible things, but introducing electrified Noise to water, even if it is an offensive psych, is going to cause horrible things to happen. Rhyme, I'm so sorry, I really am. The water bombs from splash core detonate into electricity everywhere, forcing Shiki- and likely many other people- to dodge the lightning that is now pretty much EVERYWHERE, rebounding off of swords and flash-exploding ice crystals and just generally causing havoc.

To say nothing of lightning bolts being attracted to the crab's claw, which is going to make things tricky for Faruja. Though he manages to grab two, he's going to be in danger of being electrocuted!

Thankfully, Nagetta is also putting the pressure on the Jellys, and Pixi on the Faizhes, although the latter may face similar electricity-related problems. Shiki, for her part is just... electrocuted straight up, with frazzled hair-ends and smoke coming out of her ears. Her entanglement threads all droop down sadly.

"/Beat.../"

She's so stunned she doesn't see a Jelly Schweno spawning off of one Madchester and floating up behind her... but thankfully, Neku makes it explode in a sudden horrible pop.

"Neku! There's like three swords left! Help us pull them out!" she pleads. Don't look now, but we may have more fiends incoming... namely, some Flan Amarillos that got interested in the light show.

Pixi has posed:
Pixi NOW extends her spear! While the spear LOOks metal, it is....in fact....not. Completely made of extremely dense wood with a spear tip. Electricy will have a hard time arcing to her when your spear isn't conductive. Her gauntlets and greaves, however....are. So the electricity is a bit of a problem when she's punching and kicking them, but NOT when she uses the spear.....which she does liberally. She lands on the crab's claw and, while dodging faizhes.....yanks ANOTHER sword out of the claw....and leaps away from the fiends. This sword, she has to attach to her right gauntlet and leave there while she fights....

Faruja Senra has posed:
One of the rat's ears perk as conversation flies, chaos continues to envelope them all, and Beat continues on with an amount of antagonism/bravery/foolhardiness that frankly has the Templar grinning. He'll make a note to offer the young man a religious conversion some time.

Oh, and Neku's blowing things up. While he can't quite see the boy, given the actions of the others, it's quite obvious Neku's the source of more dieing Heartless. "Indeed! Quite welcome to stay and help, or flee! As it pleases you. Just be careful, Ser!"

Good news: the noise are now gone. Bad news? The previous water + electrified noise and falling thunderbolts. A clawed hand falls on the hilt of a sword, and beings to tug...KER-KRACK! Lightning strikes the end of Faruja's newfound bundle of weapon, courses straight through his body, and into the sword he'd been clutching. The smell of electrified Burmecian, as well as horrible squeak-screams as his muscles spasm and tighten around sword and weapon-bundle now has the Templar having a very bad day.

Twitch, twitch, twitch. Faruja's going to need a moment. Or someone to pry him and the sword away from that claw. At least Pixi got that other weapon out!

Nagetta has posed:
Seeing the yellow flans join the fighting, Nagetta does her best to pick them off. They don't need any more monsters here, what they've had to deal with it is bad enough as it is. Magic would be helpful at a time like this, but she doesn't really know any offensive spells.

Beat has posed:
Oh yeah, electricity + water = bad, it all makes so much sense now! Beat seems pretty satisfied with himself, going so far as to even strike a victory battle pose as the droplets fly out at a sharp angle against all the Jellyfish Noise. Then his eyes go wide at the very last second. "...wait..."

Then shazam, electricity everwhere! Explosions! Panic! Wicked light shows, this bad move has it all! Brought to you by Beat, who is currently reaping the lion's share of his own stupidity. He's pretty badly frazzled and temporarily turns into a holiday decoration with all the electricity passing through his body. When it clears he drops to his knees, coughing out a little bit of smoke. "Oh sure," he croaks to Rhyme. "Side with the emo kid..." Then, lamely. "Didn't I even erase one?!"

Blacking out, Beat flashes a look to Neku, who he feels ruined his mojo. "With my last breath I curse you, Phones!"

Aaaaaaaaaaand poof, unconciousness. Dang.

Rhyme has posed:
In this horror show, of everything going wrong, of 100% insanity everywhere, Rhyme just hangs her head. And then there is the CRACK along her Partner-line-shared-health-bar-thing, as Beat gets his ass tazed by his own stupidity. He's hurt so much it bleeds into her heath bar!

She's just about to go drag Beat off before he gets crushed by the Giant Enemy Crab that he layed down SICK FIRES on.

And then the FLANS come. A few goop over her leg, and one her arm, and she's slowed down terribly by the creeper jellies, which are utterly disgusting. Growling loudly, she whips her arm around and claws her way right through a Flan with just her fingers, before kicking the crap out of another Flan before beelining to Beat and trying to drag him to safety.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Two swords left!

Speaking of being careful, yeah, Beat wasn't. Things went badly, and Shiki drops the swords and rushes over to Faruja, calling his name and trying to help him up. Mr. Mew protects /her/ from the Flans, which are- as Nagetta will discover- remarkably bouncy and not very easy to hurt with weapons. Fortunately, they are rather easy to hurt with water, so Beat, if you'd just--

Oh. In the middle of all of the tatters of Jelly falling to the floor and dissolving into static, Beat ends up frazzled. It's kind of a shame, really, if only because now it means we've got to carry him AND swords back.

Interestingly enough, though, the crab has begun to actually attack the group less and less as it pulls swords out of its claw. It's focusing on the Faizhes itself, actually, making an effort to finish them up with its own claw swipes.

This doesn't change the fact we're surrounded by a lot of rather doughy Flans, some of which are already encroaching on Rhyme! And... getting ripped apart, strangely. Shiki readies her piercing pillar, but then realises something.

They were right. We just need to get rid of the swords.

She she grabs all of her telekinesis pins, and pulls another blade free. One sword left! The crab looks appreciative!

Faruja Senra has posed:
Oh, ow my everything. Faruja finds himself conscious again after a brief electricity-induced blackout. He still seems to be clutching the weapons, and another he's been holding on to for dear life. And he's upright too, all thanks to a certain Player. Realizing they're surrounded, and with Shiki yanking out yet another blade, the rat's quick to remove the final blade from the poor crab!

"Much obliged M'Lady. Ser Crustacean! Shall we deal with these beasts?" Hey, Beat proved it could understand them earlier. He'll turn his attentions to holding a /bunch/ of weapons and trying to Holy Kaboom a flan or two, but otherwise being Shiki's meatshield. The ones near Beat get priority.

Nagetta has posed:
Nagetta does her best to try and cover Rhyme as she drags Beat to safety. Of course the stickiness of the flans slow down the nimble lamia a bit as she does so. Still they don't seem to pose too much of a threat to her, especially compared to the crab.

Pixi has posed:
Risking her own neck this time, Pixi leaps into the air and onto the back of the giant crab. However, instead of going straight for the sword in it's claw, Pixi leaps again, this time to try a very tricky maneuver. Namely.....to kick one of the offending fiends into a flan. It's worthy of a blitzball player, but she's never attempted this before. Also, to assist Shiki and Faruja, her spear is cast downwards near Faruja and Shiki, hopefully skewering another Flan to defend them. However, as soon as it skewers one, said spear shortens and becomes a non-magical stick.

Rhyme has posed:
Dragging her dumb partner to safety, with the stored weapons stolen from the Crab's Claw, Rhyme returns to the open field near the River's mouth with all sorts of crazy things going on and... looks at her hands, covered in Flan Goo. And something else. Waving them off a bit, she sighs.

Weird.

Probably just the goo, though. It tingled UNPLEASANTLY! That is it, tottally.

Jogging back in to smash a few more flans, she looks to Shiki. "There's only one left! Then we'll be done and... I think..." She pauses, looking at the crab help them out.

"Is it a... friendly crab? Weird. I'll tell you about crabs in a bucket later."

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Great success!

Faruja pulls the final blade out, and the crab actually seems to be quite happy! He shuffles around and gives the flans a dirty look...

Shiki smiles at Faruja, holding onto his arm and patting it. She's unusually relieved to see Faruja's OK.

Pixi slams one remaining Faize into a flan, Rhyme smashes, and with Nagetta's help, Beat is pulled into safety. Shiki uses her Love Me Tether along with some unspecified help from Neku to begin herding the flans into one spot...

And the giant crab unleashes a barrage of bubbles on them all at once, finishing the job the Viera and the Naga began to obliterate them all in one mighty splash. They dissolve into pyreflies and potions, fizzing and dripping into the soil. All's well.

The giant crab looks around at them and gives Beat a dirty look, then wanders back over to its pool quietly. It dips its huge claw into the water, which gradually begins healing. Seems that's all it wanted all along.

Shiki begins to pick up the swords, humming to herself. She tosses a potion to Rhyme as well, for Beat.

"I'd like that."

Everything worked out... alright. Eventually.

Pixi has posed:
Walking her way back over to the pool with the crab after it dip itself in, Pixi tries to help the healing process along with her knowledge of herbs. Not really much it can do for a crab, but she shows the crab she was willing to help. Oddly, one of the swords they pulled off of the crab seems to catch Pixi's eye.....at least for the moment....