Seven: An Apple

Seven: An Apple
Date of Scene:	14 December 2013
Location:	Dwarf Woodlands
Synopsis:	Our heroes find themselves being forced to deal with a distraction while the Shadow Lords are on the move.
Thanks to:	Oathkeeper (Aka: Ochu),
Cast of Characters:	Lily, Avira, Deelel, Angantyr Vespar, Emi Dennou, Serah Farron, Horned King
Tinyplot:	Seven

---

Oathkeeper has posed:
A While Ago:

Still jealous of Snow White's eternal beauty, the 'evil queen' stands before her mirror. How long ago had it been now? Quite a while she guesses, since she poisoned Snow White and condemned her to an eternal sleep. Yet that bloody prince had awoken her. Luckily, she has not come back from the fortress since.

Yet still, her very existance vexes her. She's even tried beauty products from Manhattan in order to become more beautiful, to work against her age. And yet, Snow White remains to be the most beautiful in all the lands according to the mirror. And to make things worse, any attempts at making her day worse is met with adventurers!

The woman cries out in anger and pushes her hands up against a wooden little table and sends the contents sprawling over her tower-room. That's when a small green vial lands on the floor and catches her eyes... "Yes... that will do nicely." A vial given to her by a fellow woman of the sorcerous kind. "Perhaps I will take them up on /that/ offer after all."

Now:

A massive beast roams the woods, causing an uproar. A distraction to distract the adventurers no-doubt, for it is clearly out of place. Unless somehow an /Ochu/ of all things had managed to get here by /walking/. And seriously, who would not notice a massive green walking plant like that!?

Yet still, adventurers are needed to get rid of this annoying plant. Especially as it is slowly approaching the Dwarves' cottage. And while the dwarves can be brave... they are not the best of fighters. Animals are running the heck out of dodge.

So onto the main attraction!

A WILD OCHU HAS APPEARED!

Horned King has posed:

The Horned King has been taking care of personal interests thus far and for the most part, he tends to keep to his own affairs. As he has little care for the need of revenge or the desire of power. Though one may argue the desire to be a 'god' may also be the desire to seek further power.

Yet as forest creatures run for their lives from the angry plant monster another shadowy figure appears not to far from the site. Those red wisps in his eyes only piercing past the darkness, but the reaction of planet life there is all the same.

He keeps his distance for the monster's life-- but he also comes to aid encase the beast can't do its job.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
An Ochu...here?

This isn't their natural habitat...sure, they are giant plants, but Jungles and occasionally plains are where they are found. A forest? A forest where they are not from? Yeah...this stinks.

However, As the Ochu charges, a black blur runs out of nowhere, aiming to cut the beast off, and give it a massive smack away, aiming to litterally launch the large beast away.

Angantyr appears, keyblade in hand arrogantly staring down the monster. He doesn't talk towards the monster, that's pointless...at best it's mindless. He looks back to the Dwarfs...brave.

"Get back inside and protect Snow White." he says, towards them. "I'll take care of this." he says, evenly looking towards the monster. "Now...lets cut you open and get an Ochu Tentacle...that'll make me a bit of money." he says, playing the part of adventurer...while thinking in advance.

Then the stink of darkness...he looks towards the Horned King. Damn...

Avira has posed:
Animals fleeing a heavily-populated woods? That definitely sounds like trouble. VALKYRI IS ON THE CASE. Even if this doesn't exactly sound like a kind of thing that would be paid for. Who's going to pay her? The woodland critters?

Fleeing like that usually indicated something very wrong-perhaps a displaced predator of some sort of some kind of malignant magic. The first seems to be correct answer today, which draws a frown to her face. "Those aren't native to this region." she points out before Angantyr charges, keyblade in hand. In a flash, her own weapon is drawn from its sheath, and she too charges in after him. Unlike Angantyr, she doesn't get in front of the monster and cut it off-instead, she remains behind it to strike its back, forming a pincer attack with the dark knight.

"Guess we will make some money during this." she says cheerfully, ice magic creeping down the serrated blade.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi Dennou wonders, sometimes, about the Network's physical appearance. There've been those that have been interested in them, of course, or some of them in other cases, and really right now she's not terribly interested in encouraging that sort of behavior. Dames. They be troublesome.

But thanks to VALKYRI being ON THE CASE, Shida found out about it and thanks to Shida finding out about it Emi found out about it and so they've come to deal with some plantlife.

Emi is carrying some gardening shears that are comically way too small for actual use against an Ocho.

She doesn't attack anything as of yet because she's spotted a shadowy figure. She looks at it.

Then waves with the shears.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is a bit after Avira in her arrival, Deelel was still confused by animals that were not considered a source of food for humans and other. Still their behaviour changing so suddenly like this. She was concerned and she listens to her friend for a moment and tilts her head to look to her for a second.

"We need to find out what is going on. The money won't hurt either."

the Arcade needed to be kept up and running and there was always the matter of supplies. Users were strange that way but then again they were not made for a function so they needed motivation sometimes.

Lily has posed:
"I'm HEEEEEEEEEEERE!!" A female voice echoes through the foliage in a hurry... and moments later Lily bursts through the trees, propelled over to... well, she doesn't recognize anyone too notably from previous adventures. It's been too l ong for some of them! But she does come to a halt in the besieged locale, gasping for breath... and promptly loses it again at the sight of that creature.

"Bleeeeeeeeeee-ech." She promptly spits, expression twisting into disgust at the thing's appearance... though she shudders a moment later as though chilled to the bone, and her gaze turns instead towards... the Horned King.

Gulp.

"Wh-what's going on here...?! All I heard was some folk in the woods needed help...!" Yeah she's out of the oloop.

Lily extends a hand towards Angantyr, and magic powers respond. Elemental power surges through the clearing aon a low level, focusing in Lily and Angantyr...

Serah Farron has posed:
Serah Farron has to come help! Well, she's been on the tail of most of the other princess of heart recently, so she might as well tag along for more fun and adventure. Right?

... Right?

Anyhow, maybe its because she feels something familiar from those girls too, something akin to herself. She doesn't understnad it. But she'll hel pin whatever way she can. With her bow strung over her shoulder, and walks along the path... and plugs her nose with her fingers at the smell. "Eewww, what's that smell?" She phews, waving the air in front of her face, looking displeased.

But then... Ochu. Great, that's what it is. She remembers fishing rewards out of a Malboro open mouth, so this is similar. Sorta. Well, battle start... Let's start casting spells to keep people alive, like a good little white mage!

Ochu has posed:
Angantyr's quick thinking halts the Ochu from getting much closer to the little Woodland house. Snow White and the Dwarves most certainly are staying inside. And the Ochu? The Ochu is an Ochu. It's a dumb monster. What are you expecting from it? Angantyr cuts into its body - its viney arms quickly lunging up into the air to avoid his strike. It does little to reduce the pain against such a hard hitter though.

Avira makes things far worse however. Before she knows it, the ice on her blade rends through its body and cuts green goo from it. It tries to grapple at her with its vines while breathing noxious gasses at Angantyr - but it doesn't seem like this monster is particularly well 'trained'.

The others go somewhat unnoticed, but it certainly does reward those nearest to it with a deafening shriek of pain, and grapples at anything near it to pick up and raise into the air!

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr grunts, the vines come down, and then Angantyr counters the swing of it's vines and breaht, with his own fist. Aiming to punch the Ochu right in the nose. He growls, and then...

He steps forward, power starting to generate off of his body as the protective spells fall over him, supporting him and reenforcing his body and will. He doesn't turn to say thank you...right now there is a bloody ochu in his face. He considers his options...and then...

He decides to come in hard, aiming to try and put this thing down fast...with the Horned King there, this needs to die.

He comes in, aiming to swing the blade forward, and a trail of darkness appears behind it, aiming to cut through the defenses of the Ochu, before a second one aims to CUT right through it, aiming to attack it's very lifeforce itself.

"You should have ran, beast."

Horned King has posed:

The Horned King watches as heroes buff themselves and ready themselves for their fight. However his eyes lock onto particular individuals. He knew that the knight in black had one of those Keyblade, so for now he rather not deal with him. However three individuals looked like they be just prime for an attack.

The Horned King raises up his hand and then extended it outward. His form lifted into the air as dark energy flooded outward for Lily, Deelel, and Serah. Before he created a ball of dark light in his finger tips, then flung it out toward them. The ball divided into three parts. The balls attempting to not only blast through them, but weaken their very defenses.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi Dennou watches the Horned King get kind of Dracula (Castlevania) on her allies by turning a ball into three balls and then throwing them at people. She supposes this means that the shadowy figure is trouble. "We'll have to lend a hand." Emi tells Shida. "Head over to Lily. I'll open fire."

Emi advances forward, drawing forward her rifle--she fires everal quick bursts from the weapon as Shida jogs on over to Lily.

"Ochu attack," She explains. "They're after Snow White, The Network has theorized. It has been some time." She beams up at Lily.

Meanwhile gunshots.

Avira has posed:
Judging by the reaction of the Ochu, it appears that Avira gets the brunt of the vines while Angantyr gets the bad breath. Vines snake around her legs and torso and lift her into the air, flinging her around upside down. Despite the disorienting movement, Avira manages to shear through other incoming vines with a blast of air cast from the Spine, keeping her upper body free.

"/Ochus/!" Avira scowls, squirming up to cut the vine from her waist. "Why is it always Ochus!"

It was just a monster, though, and realization dawns upon Avira. It was a live, perhaps young, Ochu with little experience. Perhaps its will had not become too overwhelming yet...? In that case...

Avira clears her throat. She'd look the Ochu in the eye but...Ochus don't have eyes. "RELEASE ME." she commands firmly.

Lily has posed:
There are spells, and then there are SPELLS. Lily can trust Angantyr to deal with the Ochu, and all the better. Her terrified senses are locked on the Horned King's presence so much she can hardly tell what's happening around her. Her forehead jewel shines brilliantly in stark contrast with the onrushing dark magic... and then something strange happens. As it nears, the mystic assault slows, crackles with white lightning, crashes against a filmy light protecting Lily that wasn't there before... then dissolves into its component motes.

"Your magic reeks! ARe you with that monster?!"

Raising her own right hand, Lily directs the sizzling aura around her. It's turned blue'ish white and much thicker. Part of it warps and expands, then... a rain of greenish-white sizzling spears of pure mystic might launch like machine gun fire from it at the Horned King.

They EXPLODE like grenades on contact, watch out!

Serah Farron has posed:
Serah Farron acks as she gets under fire from the horned king. Having the Ochu wasn't enough, that soemone else has to get in the way!? She gets grazed by the energy ball, rolling away from the attack. But she's not in an offense paradigm this time, so she can't counter attack. Yet, she can make sure her companions stay in good shape through it.

She charges the magical energies in her hands, spreading them over Lily and Deelel, that are under fire along with her "I don't know who that is, but he's getting in the way!"

Lily has posed:
Once that's let off, Lily has a moment to respond to Emi... and it takes a few seconds to recognize her. A few insta-seconds. "It has! Who?!"

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is trying to prepare for the upcoming battle and then suddenly the Horned King makes himself known and she frowns for a moment. She moves quickly avoiding the dark magic which she's come to know. She knows what it can do to her after all, and she doesn't seem happy about that at all.

"He is the Horned king and ia a lich with power magic."

Deelel quickly notes while she runs some commands to get herself and herself prepared for what's coming.

"Do not get caught in the green fog!"

Emi Dennou has posed:
"Snow White," Shida explains. "Friend of the dwarves and um....Explain, Angantyr!" She waggles her arms up and down.

Ochu has posed:
Angantyr's fists are not quite as effective as that Keyblade would be against something that is round... bolbous and... pudgy? Look, it's FAT alright? FAT! With a lot of give! So his punch kind of bounces into its body. And when he does indeed use that darkness and that keyblade, it's more than effective enough! The darkness rends through its belly, sending another splatter of green goo all over the place...

And making the place smell god-awful! And... smelling rather /odd/.

Something isn't right here. This Ochu's smells aren't... 'normal' for an Ochu. They're almost as if they are /sleep inducing/!?

It's just about to try and pound Angantyr out of the way with Avira when the girl yells to release her! The creature lets out a strange coo-ing sound, and immediately lets go - which might end up with Avira dropping with her head facing to the ground. But hey, it let go!

In fact, it steps in front of Avira and tries to 'protect' her from the evil that is ANGANTYR VESPAR! Meanest meanie in the whole wide world of mean. It would appear Deelel is also rather unlucky in this attempt to stand up against those in front of it, its enormously long tendrils grappling at Deelel and attempting to pick /her/ up this time...

/and stuff Deelel into its mouth/.

Aren't you glad this isn't a Parasite Cage?

There's more tendrils though, so it tries to grab for Angantyr's blade and rip it from his hand, and potentially his hand from his arm... and the... well, you get the drill.

And were those /Shears/ the poor Ochu saw just moments ago? Emi joins right into Deelel's problem, as it attempts to grapple her too in an attempt to get rid of those shears and stuff her into its mouth.

Horned King has posed:

There we a gun shot and the Horned King placed out his hand. A magical field formed between him and the bullet, seeming to freeze it in place. He reached out with his hands and plucked the bullet from mid air as he examined it. His skeleton like face appearing for only a brief moment as bullets impact the field. "Curious toys you all tend to bring." He says very calmly, before flicking it at one of the frozen bullets, causing them all to fall toward the ground.

He then calmly snaps his fingers and that very barrier flies right at Emi to move over her like a ghost but also sheering through her for just a moment. Some may say it would be like that chill you get from ghosts when they are too close.. or that feeling of someone ripping into your very core.

It wasn't to far after that suddenly magic explosives go off near by. Surrounding him in magical flames before he could return the favor. Those red eyes stare in Lily's direction, causing the skeletal structure around his eyes to be seen. Those antler like horns were also rather impressive from that deep crimson robe, as he decides to move a bit more out in the open.

He doesn't exactly reply to Lily, but when Deelel answers Serah's question, the Horned King narrows his eyes slightly. "It is good that you remember me young one. It is a shame however I have not had the chance to come to know your name." He hand out stretches slightly toward her. "Perhaps you can tell me once this battle is over.." His fingers then start to crackle with lightly. "If you survive."

Then from his very finger tips, Lightning slams into the very ground blazing out for the different individuals he faces, followed by another wave of orbs that attempt to move right through each and every one of them.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi Dennou doesn't seem able to shoot the horned king thanks to maaaagic. Emi is high composure, but even so she is a touch taken aback. She looks down at her own body, resolves that it feels a bit familiar, and then adds, "Caution, Shida. This one thinks we may be up against Mordekaiser."

"Don't be racist. Not everybody who died is undead, Shida of the Network reminds."

Emi thinks it over and adds, "This one apologizes." She cricks her neck a bit and is about to try something else when Ochu tries to grapple her with its vines. She leaps away masterfully, spinning once upside down as she channels electricity through the sheers to lash out at the ochu--and once more to land on her feet, skidding a bit and kicking up dust.

"Ooh he shoots lightning too!" Shida beams. "How shock---"

"Don't make bad puns, Shida."

Serah Farron has posed:
Serah Farron rolls away from the blast, but not good enough. Green fog? That doesn't sound good even if she wasn't told. She ughs, that lich also has lots of strong magic. So time for extra layer of protection "Lich or not, it can be defeated right?" She asks toward Deelel that seems to know more about that opponent than she does. Lily's magic... would that work on the undead? Well, either way, she's going to try to keep everyone alive.

Avira has posed:
To give Avira some credit, she did have a little foresight in issuing her command. She was well aware that at this angle, she'd be dumped on her head so she was prepared to hit the ground rolling so she wouldn't break her neck. She curls up into a crouch, using her momentum to turn her upright. Quite noticably, it is no longer attacking her at all.

It's still attacking her friends though-actually, maybe she could do something about that too. "Ochu!" she calls out, "SPIT OUT THAT WOMAN." First things first, of course: get Deelel un-eaten. "Then-"

She whirls around to ATTACK THE MAN WITH THE HORNS.</span>"

Lily has posed:
"A lich." Lily echoes unhappily, mulling it over. Sounds like she might've heard of that one somewhere. This time the dark magic slams at her much harder, tearing away at her defenses. A lot of it's simply shredded by her barrier, but enough gets through to rip at her spirit and flesh alike, leaving wounds in its wake and making her wobble on her feet.

That magic doesn't just REEK to her, it's all but NAUSEATING, apparently.

"Whoever this Snow person is, they must be important." She mumbles under her breath. Then Lily gestures grandly to her surroundings---

And any with magical senses might get a bit of a headache if they're not used to such a scale of power as what awakens. The surrounding forest comes alive, each leaf and tree and blade of grass suddenly fluttering in the wind, the power of raw life and wind gathering, spiraling in towards Lily. The Earth brims with stalwart vigor, temperatures rise and moisture cloys at the senses. It's not all that visible... but Elemental power answers Lily's call, stemming from both within and without.

She's clearly preparing SOMETHING, though without most of the necessary trappings of spellwork. And some of that Elemental power weaves its way into her allies! Specifically, Fire, filling the spirit and body with blazing might.

"You'll regret fighting all of us. Why don't you leave, Mr. King?"

Lily that is not how titles work.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
The massive tentacles rain down at him...

And he just /PUNCHES/ it.

His eyes narrow, "Bad!" he says, waving his fist at it.

However...Avira seems to have the Ochu handled...

He turns, slowly towards the Horned King.

He rushes, right towards him, aiming to close the difference, even as Lily lights his soul ablaze.

"SURPRISE!" he shouts, aiming to appear right above the Horned, King, Keyblade in hand as he swings down ONCE...

The blow is there to try and smack him back, as he brings the blade back...

"TYRANT..." He starts, as the very power of light and darkness repell and attract each other...and then he swings, in a massive thrust aiming to tear through the Horned king in a powerful blow.

"BREAKER!"

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is being buffed and otherwise protected by her allies and perhaps that is what saved her from the horrible strikes of the Ochu just savages her it's ugly had she been made of flesh well it would be horrible as the creature catches Deelel and is shoved into it's mouth, the event is horrific Deelel is screaming almost inhumanly as she's trying to get free.

The injuries are so bad she's actually having her body crack and she's actually losing parts of her tiny blue glowing cubes and the wounds are glowing brightly struggles gets free and hits the ground but she's badly hurt, at least she should be the program stutters a little bit as she tries to get up. Staggering to her feet she takes he disc and does something strange she turns it about to the Horned King. The Ochu is basically mindless it's a grid bug of user space. The Horned King is something far worse and her disc is going right at him.

Ochu has posed:
Spit out that woman! SPLUT! Deelel gets spit out with a disgusting sounding hork, and plenty of plant-slime to go with it -- right before it tries to chomp on Emi in an attempt to stop her from hurting it!

And then Avira commands it to attack the thing with the horns? What? It's already been doing that. It kind of /STARES/ at Angantyr for a while. At his helmet. Those are /definitely/ horns! I mean, come on!

// Ochu has started to get annoyed!
// Ochu is trashing!

The massive creature wobbles left and right and begins releasing a massive rain of green gas into the surrounding area! What's worse, the gas is quickly flowing throughout the entire forest, spreading all-around.

MEANWHILE...

At the Dwarves cottage, a mysterious shadow stands before Snow White. The Dwarves lay around him on the floor - asleep. Probably because of the gas seeping into the grounds. But let's be honest, Sleepy was probably already asleep to begin with. The shadow is clearly shorter than her, and can be seen as a silhouette through the glass for anyone who happened to check up on the hut. "I feel sleepy." Snow White complains softly to the mysterious person.

"Come with me." The voice speaks, before suddenly grabbing the girl's hand and drawing her further into the hut...

NOW

The Horned King and perhaps Angantyr might notice it. That feeling like a Corridor of Darkness opened and closed shortly there-after.

Horned King has posed:

The Horned King was focused on those he has set his sights on. He was letting the plant do-- whatever that plant did. It was a strange creature from another world. He never had seen something like that before and was silently wondering-- if you found a dead version of one of those.. could it too become a Cauldron Born?

Yet all thoughts were tucked away and his attention suddenly brought over to the armored figure who was engulfed in fiery light and that Keyblade shimmering as it was making its way down for him. "Hm. Problematic.."

The Horned King raised up his hand quickly to try and create a field around himself, but the sheer power of the Keyblade punched right through the necro-sorcerery arts. Shattering it like fine glass that scattered across the field before becoming wisps of dark light.

The sheer power of Angantyr's attack slams the Horned King into the ground, but the Lich, rolls himself around and then rises up to his feet with simple ease. He clenches his jaw slightly, before he spits out a black thick substance out; One could only imagine his blood; to the side. Which impacts a tree and the very living bark starts to rot away.

Those red eyes start to become far brighter as he narrows his eyes in annoyance toward the Keyblade wielder's desire to bring his own strength before him. Once again, this man was quiet the annoyance.

Perhaps by some virtue of what Angantry did, Deelel's very disc comes in with simple ease and slams into the Horned King knocking him back before he could conjure the proper spell to get himself off the ground. Yet as her weapon comes back to her, so does a dark wave of energy in return for her own attack.

The Horned King gets ready to say something or perhaps he says nothing at all, but he does look in the direction of the hutt, before his attention turns toward the group. This time he decides to change up the targets a bit.

He rises back into the air with a hard push off. His hand raising up into the air as the sky roars with thunder. Soon as his hand sweeps down, massive lightning bolts strike from the sky, dancing across the fields and amongst the trees.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Fire being such a potent ally is a common Dennou sensation, especially since they are also friends with Maira. Shida feels inspired thanks to Lily and she grins at her. The inspiration is passed on at the speed of thought to Emi. "Manuever Eight!" She shouts, jogging forward with the shears--the ochu chomps down on her arm--but she pulls her arm back before anything serious happens to it. She hisses, checks out the injured limb, then snaps her arm forward, intending to snap with the sheers twice, even as Shida sends electrical blasts flying in from overhead. They are oblivious to hutnannigans.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
The attack blasts through Angantyr again, driving him to a knee.

The lighting was rough...he breaths heavily, feeling everything burned, everything on fire...he growls...his eyes narrow, his very body feels like he's about to come undone...but he weathers it. The Ochu's mouth comes to spray Ang, and he grabs it's lips and litterally TIES them shut.

He glares at it, and then turns towards the cottage...

"Oh <GOOSEHONK>!" He turns towards the Horned King...

"Time to talk." he says, turning towards the Horned King.

"Who." he sas, as the Keyblade starts to glow again... "TOOK!"

The light shines, once more light and darkness repelling and attracting...

And then he swings, aiming to DRILL the attack through the Horned King, aiming to litterally paste the insides of the Shadow Lord, on the outside of the forest.

"SNOW WHITE!"

Avira has posed:
"No no no not him, him! Where I am pointing! Dangit, where are your eyes!" Avira's quick to run to Deelel so she can at least stand in front of the program and defend her in case the Ochu tries to snack on her again. In a way, she does kind of defend her...from the incoming gas, which is pretty unfortunate because she receives several choking lungfulls of it. Hacking and wheezing, Avira takes a moment to vomit on the ground.

As she does, Angantyr tells her that, inside the cottage, someone is already there, allegedly taking Snow White. Her eyes widen. "No! This can't happen!"

Silver light flares around Avira and she draws her Spine back behind her, spitting on the ground to get the last taste of vomit out of her mouth. "That's it! I've had enough! There's no more time for you!"

Avira charges and tries to go through

Lily has posed:
The elemental power continues gathering even as foreign lightning assaults Lily. Her barrier doesn't hold properly. She's struck several times by the onslaught. The lightning sizzles through her scorches her clothes, and frazzles her focus... but not for too long. Some of it, she successfully deflects into the ground, and though her knees buckle under the magical onslaught, she doesn't lose footing.

"Fine... if you won't leave... I'll BLOW YOU AWAY!"

The power of the Five Elements gathers, rushing in from the forest to fill Lily. Their fury fills the air around her, emanating as a charged display of dust, lightning, flickering flames, whirling leaves, and... where it all coincides, something else besides. Power congeals and spirals in like matter around a black hole, gathering and compressing into a tremendous orb of concentrated destruction WRITHING with tumultous elemental might. The weight of mountains, the heat of volcanos, the ripping force of a hurricane and the crushing onslaught of a tsunami, among other things. At the core of it is a strange power not registering as any particular element - a pure force of Creation and Destruction, a roiling starburst.

This force is turned ont he Horned King, unleashed in full fury. A thundering ROAR and a shattering gale enough to bend trees accompanies its release.

Serah Farron has posed:
Serah Farron sees Deelel being on the receiving end of the pain. Should healing magic even be working on a program? Well no matter, no time to think about that, she'll pour every bit of healing power she can to help out her companion "I'm with you! Don't give up!" Pouring her healing magic into Deelel as she comes in close range.

Ochu has posed:
Angantyr literally shuts the Ochu's lips after it tried to bite Emi and spewed gas around. This is soon followed with the Dennou and Avira both attempting to strike for its body! To defend itself, it creates a massive flurry of whirling tendrils before its body. It's like a wall! The Dennou just can't get past its defensive screen it appears!

In creating this wall, it means that Avira has plenty of room to go around the Ochu. It can't turn like this! But she also can't quite get at its body. It's quite the connundrum. But how is Avira to know that they are already too late? That the villains are /cheating/ by making the adventurers concentrate on a common enemy, while they just drag someone out behind 'enemy lines'?!

With Avira past, the massive beast concentrates on the Dennou, as well as the ones that just caught its eyes again; Lily and Serrah. Something about all the sparkles made the stupid monster approach them with a wibble and a wobble in its step. It then tries to grab at them, before spitting seeds at them!

Really, Ochus are not very smart.

Horned King has posed:

The Horned King knows that the mission has been done. To continue to stay here would be rather foolish and yet-- yet he was curious to see how this would turn out. More curious about the weapon the knight wielded.

Though once more the key proves to be quiet the trouble as it once again breaks his magical barriers and this time rams right through the Horned King, shoving the necromatic sorcerer into a tree and then the Horned King almost stumbling over. The sheer key blade itself actually ripped into his body. (Remember kids, his cartoon movie was the first one to actually show blood.. and other things..) The black gunk did not stick to the Keyblade however, but was slowly steamed away as it boiled into nothing on the weapon.

"What has been done.. has been done.." He tells Angantyr, "..you can not stop the wheels that are in motion.. no matter how fancy your weapon may be.."

Though it does not answer the question on who took her, but it perhaps hints at how dire the situation is. Why would the Horned King give such information? Perhaps because he himself would like to see just what these would-be heroes will actually, honestly, do to stop her.

The other source of magic suddenly lights up the area. The Horned King raises his hand to block the magical assault slams into the Horned King slamming him into another tree. He nearly falls to his knees as he holds where the Keyblade had impaled him. Yet the Lich is not down.

The Horned King gathers energy into his hand. It can be seen it is taking a great deal of energy out of him but he quickly unleashes the very same lightning now from his finger tips as it breaks through trees and covers the ground with a crackles and thunderous roar of its own.

ELSEWHERE

A green goblin like creature goes running through the woods, "Master!" he then trips on a root and goes rolling down a hill before landing head first into some mud before skimming along a bit. His feet at last land down into the mud with a *splat*.

As he picks up his head, correcting his hood he stares at a frog that crocks at him. He screams almost like a little girl, before skittering back, then realizing its a frog, "Ha-haha. Its only a frog.. haha.." He then blinks and stares at the frog with one eye. "You want some of this!"

He then goes to punch at the frog, just as the frog leaps causing the goblin-like being to twirl around and crash right back into the mud once more...

Avira has posed:
Avira's really been off her game lately. It's starting to worry her quite a bit. Shouldn't she be getting stronger...? It couldn't be that she reached a limit, is it? Avira didn't want to accept limits.

She will settle for going around the Ochu and into the cottage, nearly breaking down the door as she does so. Within there is...no Snow White. Avira knows what the girl looks like and she certainly isn't here. Angantyr was right, they were too late.

Before she can even say anything, a blast of lightning strikes her back and she is hurled into the building, crashing onto the poor sleeping Sleepy. "Ugggh..." Groaning, she takes the moment to cast a small-nay, anemic-healing spell on herself.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr growls...

"So you don't know." he says, "Then you are /useless/ to me!" he says, the light of the Keyblade not fading. "Return to wence you came!" he says, once more swinging the weapon in an arch, aiming to drive through the Horned King, aiming to drive the weapon through his body, tearing through the decayed flesh and bone alike.

Then he swings in an uppercut, aiming to launch the Necromancer down, before leaping up at him...aiming to drive the weapon straight through him.

"DISAPPEAR!"

Serah Farron has posed:
Serah Farron tries to support Deelel, since she's been getting the worst of the attacks it seems. Deelel seems to be shielding her somehow. Well, its not really what happened, she wasn't trying to hide behind her, but it just happened when she was rushing over for more healing "Don't give up now" She remembers something she saw on TV too, and puts 3 fingers in front of Deelel's eyes "How many fingers is there?" c.c

Just making sure she can see straight, really! She's curing her meanwhile.

Lily has posed:
Again comes the dark magic lightning. Again Lily rears her defenses, and again they are torn through - but not before shielding her from the worst of it. Sizzling power slams into her, knocking her backwards into a boulder. Her shrill cry echoes through the woods, but it's silenced when she lacks air in her lungs to continue it.

Gasping, she gets to her feet again and gathers more power after a quick look around. The winds gather around her as planty assaults weight in, tearing at the vines and spat seeds, though she hightails it away as the vines whip and sting her - a painful, and nauseating experience that's leaving her looking about ready to pick. Still, she gets up into the air, where she hovers in the center of of a contained gale. "What power he has... it's awful..."

That magical field shifts to a blessing force, creative energies of light surging through several individuals to mend their wounds.

"You guys had better win, I can't... keep this up!"

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is not having a good a day as she's assaulted by more magic even as her allies spells are perhaps all that's holding the voxels that make up her body are being held together magic. She struck by more lighting and she's looking very badly off there's a number of glowing jagged wounds all over her body she's lost Voxels. She's got her disc, she's not even breathing anymore. Well mimicking it she's that badly hurt and she disc is held in hand as she make one last desperate strike against the Horned King.

Horned King has posed:

The Keyblade wielder demands that the Horned King disappears, however the King of the Cauldron Born is not so willing to follow orders of meer men. Even when that man holds an extremely interesting, but deadly, weapon.

The Horned King is slammed by the weapon, which cuts into his shoulder, but the Lich is heading right back into the air. He spins around and attempts to block Deelel's disc as it comes it, but it strikes right into the side of his body. Dark Energy pours out heading for both her and for Angantyr in that moment.

Those eyes glowing like fire as he brings both of is hands up slowly. Lightning crackling around his finger tips. The air around him and everyone seems to come to a halt. There is no breeze. No creatures make a sound in the forest. Everything goes quiet.

Then the Horned King comes down to the ground and drags his hand across the very air. Lightning slams down from the very skies as the mighty wind itself becomes a cyclone that is infused with the Lightning. The Cyclone rips across the land, threatening to pick up people and throw them away form him.

Yet the Horned King himself after such an attack, almost collapses over.

Ochu has posed:
The Ochu is left relatively in the dust by our heroes, who have seen to turning on the Horned King instead. It's probably the better idea, let's be honest. A monster can't reveal any secrets, and it certainly isn't smart enough to well... do as much damage really. It's no sorcerer, the 'damage' it can do is relatively low. But getting ignored /hurts its feelings/! It is a villain too! It wants to be part of all of this!

And as such, the thing lets out an annoyed roar and stomps towards the group of heroes, reaching out with its tendrils in an attempt to grab them and tear them away from the Horned King! And more importantly, to make them pay attention to it! Oh -- and he needs to make sure to beat up the horned one. The one with the helmet!

Avira has posed:
Stepping out of the house, she sees that Ochu is still attacking the wrong people and inwardly sighs in irritation. Either she wasn't that great a Beastmaster or the Ochu was really, really stupid. Or maybe the Ochu was a newborn of some kind and was lacking in the knowledge an adult usually has. Either way, Avira is angry.

"STOP MOVING." she commands with intensity, her eyes fiercely upon the Ochu. Then, once more, she descends in a flurry of silver light, aiming to tear through the Ochu in its moment of pause. Her Spine is incased in a swirling whirlwind of air as she charges, creating a very pointed punch of wind magic. The air turns and churns with the strength of a very big weedwhacker.

Serah Farron has posed:
Serah Farron can't keep up apparently. It wasn't enough that Deelel was being specifically targetted, now everyone seems to be falling around her. And only Avira and herself are still up. "I'm sorry everyone..." There's not much she can do right now, but at least the undead seems to have been dispatched, so they only have the Ochu to worry about. She turns toward Avira to give the much needed cures to the warrior. "If you got any plan, I'm ready to listen."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Once more, Angantyr is in mortal combat with the Horned King.

Then he punches the Horned King right the hell out, after taking a massive and horrible garrishly undisney wound.

Before he's slammed uncerimoniously by an Ochu tentacle because of inapproprate reasons. Angantyr doesn't get back up.

Lily has posed:
The wind HAS FURY. Oh such fury!

Lily, drained of her stamina and focus, hardly has anything left to offer when the devastating gales come rushing through. But her own wind's roaring in challenge, a windy field bound about her and keeping her aloft. That field contracts, compressing into her body and tightening in focus...

She lets her body go limp though, surrendering herself to the gales instead of fighting them, letting the winds play about her and only swooping and weaving through, deflecting lightning with quick twitches of magic, angling it away from her JUST enough to miss. She moves about with speedy little bursts through the air, riding out the storm, although this act takes TREMDNSOUS concentration...

And it ends up with her being limply hurled back down towards the ground in a bad, BAD position. Right into the line of fire.

Vines whip her way right as the girl's exhaustedly trying to catch her breath, and--

Welp, violence works.

She's grabbed and easily slammed into the ground. Silence. She's not getting back up.

Horned King has posed:

The Keyblade wielder gets the last hit in and the Horned King gets blown apart by the sheer power of the Keyblade. The pieces scatter into the air before bleached white bones fall to the ground. Later once the battle is over, the goblin-like creature known as 'Creeper' peers over a fallen log, before he shoos off a few ravens. Picks up one of the bones and then runs off with it into a shadow portal.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is quick enough to evade the horned King's counter attack, well enough od it that she's not killed. The Ochur however has otehr plans for her as it comes for them and she's grabbed she's not able to do much more at this point as she collapses to the ground in very bad condtion she's just been savaged and it's not looking too good here.

Ochu has posed:
The Ochu does exactly what Avira wills it to. It stops moving. Entirely. Either she's getting better with that tone, or it's already tired and hurt - that it is lacking in mental capacity to resist right now. Though let's be honest, mental capacity in an Ochu? No, she's right, this is a rather young one. And a rather stupid Ochu. The moment she turns her wind magic and everything else loose on the plant, the thing ends up just withering and dying right where it stands.

Serah Farron has posed:
...

She isn't sure what just happened there, honestly.

Serah looks over to Avira for possible explanation. ?_?

Avira has posed:
Avira breathes out a low sigh of relief before looking to Serah. "That healing earlier-thank you, I needed that. Let's get everyone put back together. I don't really know any serious healing magic but I'll do what I can. Basic regen-it works. That's about it.

She sees that questioning look and she shrugs, "I think it was a young ochu. They're not as durable as the adults."

Serah Farron has posed:
Serah Farron nods "... the way it just... folded on itself, I dunno... makes me uneasy." She sighs, but she goes to start the healing process on everyone at least. "Let's get everyone up... that was a tough fight."

Lily has posed:
Lily is still facedown in the grass.

Groaning. And covered in bruises and cuts. And scorch marks.