Into the Dark with the Unknown

[Loz]

It was disappointing that Big Lune’s claws missed, but luckily, the giant monster seemed to be disinterested with the girl and her currently invisible attack. Either that or it was doing its best to avoid an opponent it cannot see. She would have run. Really, she would have. It wasn’t her fault that she was stuck in god forsaken place like this. Teleporting was a tricky thing, and one thing she knew for sure was that as soon as she got out of here, she was never, never going to try it again. However, she couldn’t get out. Not without…his help. Her violet eyes caught sight of the man who had saved them before, coming out a portal with new burden in tow. A portal…

As ditzy and senile as Lune was, she knew there was no one else in this place, no one within reasonable distance of course. Her only chance of survival, ironically, was with these mad daredevils dealing with this ridiculous beasty who is obviously not going to go down. She didn’t want to die though, not yet. Her soul was not going to survive with the lack of human bodies in this world.

“Don’t even think about it, not until you find what you need,” the puppet sitting on her left hand squeaked. There was a metallic bang and Lune turned towards the direction of the sound, faintly making out a bounding form by the tremor, and the fuzzy outline of the suit of armor she had crashed into earlier. Well, she wasn’t quite inclined on saving a suit of armor. But saving her own skin was enough of an incentive.

“Let’s go Rio!”

One wouldn’t call Big Lune a summon…more like an extra arm attached to herself. But hey, let’s not bore with the details. Unfortunately, while Big Lune’s form is near invisible, its size and pounding movements are nothing but subtle. Fortunately, the absence of light and containment in this place seemed to help the shadow as it slunk along with the girl and her bright red boots. There was no ‘ground’ to pound on. Nonetheless, there was still the thud of paw against substance. As Lune approached the beast with those purple eyes towering over her, she jammed the puppet snout towards the ground. The eyes suddenly lurched forward. As sudden as the eyes had moved, rows of jagged incisors appeared, slamming down on the monster in an attempt to clutch it between seemingly inexistent jaws. If the thing tried to run or escape, it would be met with a dark wall. Lune stood five or four meters from the enemy, looking frightened due to the close distance. In her hand, the puppet Rio’s forearms are closed in front of it like a fence. The monster could easily jump over the enclosed arms, or fight its way through, but it had to deal with the creature’s crushing jaws, which homed in on the huge bulk of the monster. If Big Lune had managed to get a mouthful of the bony creature, then it would have been jack pot. Hopefully.

Depending on whether Big Lune’s jaw had clenched itself around the torso of the monster, Lune pulled Rio back up, lifting the giant monster as far as it can go [which wasn’t very far] and then proceeded to shake the puppet’s head violently before tossing the beast aside to the right and away from the man and the wind knight. If Henry was still attached to the bony monster then…hopefully his armor would hold out.

[Sorry, posted it with the wrong account. :\]

[Shinn]

[Bravo Bilbo points for the cliche hero mindset you have.]

As the beast rammed into its opponent who was clearly way smaller than the beast, it would find itself struggling to make any type of damage to it although it quickly felt as though it had just ran into a brick wall head first. Henry then grabbed onto its horn tightly making sure he would protect these complete strangers. What drove the young man to do this? Who would put their life before people he didn't even know nor really cared for him? Was it pride? Was it to be rewarded for heroic deeds if he did survive? It just didn't make any sense.

The now disoriented beast would soon fall to another attempt from the shadow beast, this time though it was caught by the puppeteers quick movements. But this wasn't over yet, even while the shadow beast was shaking the monster around like a chew toy it was getting stronger by the second.

As soon as it let go of the beast it instantly retaliated back by ramming itself into the puppet controlled shadow beast plowing right through it like it was nothing and continued for the girl that was controlling the incarnation of darkness. She didn't have much time to do much anything due to the alarming speed the beast was going towards her. All she could do was brace herself for the oncoming beast.

[nascent]

(OOC: Sorry for taking so long to get back to this. I've been having a strange Internet problem that comes and goes as it pleases. Gonna try to contact my ISP, but for the moment I'm back in the game.)




The massive beast barreling down upon the young child would find itself interrupted once again, this time as a broiling surge of flame erupted from beneath one of its hooves - with any luck, startling the creature and causing it to reel back like a spooked horse. The shadowmage was on the move once again, returning to the battle to finish what others had started.

He wasn't sure if leaving the wind knight and her refugee alone on the sidelines was the best of choices... but it was a necessity. This fight could not be allowed to continue.

Dream Reaper in one hand, the grim shadowmancer summoned another weapon as he ran toward the bony creature at a full sprint. The steel-bladed scythe lacked the powerful advantages of its Dreamstone counterpart... but it was a capable weapon, strong and sturdy. Seizing whatever time he'd bought himself Magus raced towards the young shadow-puppeteer, though his eyes were on the dogged black-armor which clung to the creature's horn.

"Black knight, CATCH!"

The warlock, in one swift motion, both stopped and pivoted on his forward foot, brought his entire body around in a 360° spin, and flung the weapon boomerang-style up towards the determined warrior. With any luck, this gambit would give his ally something more than his armored fist to fight with - a much-needed counter to the enormous beast's reckless onslaught. The mage renewed his run, coming to a stop in front of the young girl with the strange hand puppet.

"We must coordinate if we are to bring this creature down." Magus stated, bringing Dream Reaper to a ready position. "It's drawing on the darkness and becoming stronger, perhaps even healing itself. This is no time for drawn-out warfare -- we need a single finishing stroke, something it cannot withstand." He glanced over his shoulder at the odd girl. "Any ideas?"

[Heroic Bilby]

Henry hadn't been expecting to feel like he was the giant ramming into the smaller being. Even bracing himself inside the armour the child had intended to feel a considerable shock from the impact, but it seemed far too diluted to be true. He instantly flashed back to the rush he'd made on the monster back on the island. When it had been knocked away effortlessly he thought that they were just really light... but this thing could stomp shock waves into the non-existent ground here. No way was it light.

Sadly, while the small impact was nice, Henry's poundings on its head seemed to be completely ignored.

'Darn it! I don't care if I don't have a weapon! I'll still find some way to protect everywoah!'

Henry felt the turbulence as Magus' flames seared in the monster's path. His armoured body was flung off to one side but not completely clear of its head. The metallic hands and legs managed to keep a grip hanging off of the side of the back of its skull. There was a yell off to the side. The knight's head turned and saw a circle of metal flying past the creature's head. One arm instinctively reached out and caught the steel scythe while the other held on for dear life.

'I'm not alone,' the boy thought suddenly, despite the obvious. Really he had hoped for little more than to offer them a distraction. He had no great powers with which to fight a beats like this as they did, yet here this stranger still entrusted him as a comrade in arms. He didn't just have to avert its attention for them. He could really fight! He could really protect people, alongside others!

Pumping darkness into the armour from his heart Henry willed the Black Knight's arm to sweep over and down in a strong crescent slash, right down over the the neck of the skeletal thing he clung to that he could now aim at from his new position.

This world was terrifying enough even for he who could hide inside his own little shell and be safe. Henry couldn't let something like this make it an even scarier place for those who didn't have what he did. He put his life on the line because he was a coward.

[Shinn]

The beast continued on its charge towards the young girl not even noticing the burst of flames that had just appeared beneath it. It simply ran over it not concerning itself with the intense heat or the burns it had just inflicted upon itself. It was dead set on attacking the girl and nothing else. But the damage from the flames as well as the young dark knights attempts to strike would eventually take its toll on the beast.

The newcomer would then aid the knight even more by throwing him a scythe in order to cause more damage then just his fists. Even though he had just fell back clinging onto the back of the beasts head and the reaper had aimed for the beasts horn, Henry miraculously caught the scythe and quickly used it to cut down the beasts neck.

Sadly though due to the skeletal nature of the beast the scythe would not even scratch its hard bony exterior and instead the reapers weapon would just slip off. The imbalance from this would have the knight momentarily on an already unstable ground giving the beast a chance to rid itself of Henry. It instantly began to jerk its neck and head around shaking off Henry from it finally. With him no longer a nuisance it could now continue its charge towards the girl who was now behind the reaper. To the beast this was just someone else to attack for it held no restrictions to anyone attempting to stop it.

It began to pick up more speed now and the front of the beasts horn seemed to be picking up energy with the speed it was going leaving a trail of energy behind it almost appearing like a comet of some kind. The beast lowered its head down so that the opponent would be hit by its horn first since it was the toughest part of its skeletal body.

[nascent]

There wasn't much time. The thunderous tromp of the beast's skeletal hooves was bearing down on them with each passing moment, and Magus knew he'd have to act fast.

Fortunately, he did have a plan.

Acting quick, his free hand moved in a series of arcane gestures before taking aim at the creature. The mage timed his spell's eruption in just such a way that it would manifest as the titanic monster brought down its back-right foot; the shimmer of ice magic spread from a central point, flash-freezing an area nine feet wide with solid two inches of wintry insulation while doing the same to the enemy's foot mere seconds before the two slick surfaces collided.

The results weren't hard to imagine.

"Hang on!" Magus commanded, scooping up the young puppet-master in his arm and sprinting, then literally flying, to the enemy's left. It would be a close shave, but if the bony foe sprawled and fell to its right as Magus hoped then they should, with a little luck, clear the hazard. Just to be sure, though... "Can you strike it?" He asked, confident that a blow from the girl's shadow-puppet would be sufficient to ensure the enemy's fall.

Magus desperately hoped his plan succeeded.

[High's .Valentine.]

[Sorry for the waaait! DX]

Idea? Idea?! It might just have been the wrong thing to ask of the girl. She was not a combat machine, to be frank, hardly built for smart combat. The only thing she can think of at the moment was to run. That sounded like a pretty smart idea. Lune would rather run than stay. But of course, it has already been established that she has nowhere to run to. Not until she help these maniacs destroy this thing. And as much as she would like to drag them with her into an escape, she had enough sense to know that the stupid black suit of armor would not go anywhere, though the reason behind his stupidity, she did not know. He was a hunk of tin junk anyway. A moving hunk of junk.

As for the other man, the hocus pocus user, he was the key to get her out. Not to mention he saved her life…sorta. So what must she do? She must protect the magic man. The armor? Lune didn’t know what to say about saving moving armor. Rio agreed too. The Magic Man also had a certain sense of authority to him, triggering something she missed dearly. She felt the urge to make sure he faces no harm, or at least no major injury. Not just because she needed him to get out of here.

Unfortunately for the heroes, Lune could hold on to Big Lune for a few mere seconds more. And the few seconds was all Lune needed.

“Wah!” Lune cried as she was scooped up and...ohdearieshewasflying! The Magic Man didn’t need to ask her if she could strike it. In the midst of confusion, Lune moved her puppet, and Rio’s claw struck out, now visible against the white slab of ice. It appeared smaller than it used to be, but sharp and lethal nonetheless, sharp enough to pierce through almost anything. Like three knives, they attempted to impale the slipping beast.

Let it hit…let it hit…let it hit…!

[Shinn]

The sudden appearance of ice on the dark floor beneath the beast had caught it off guard. At the same time its right foot would also be covered in ice resulting in the beast slipping. At the speed that it had been going which was about a similar speed a well made car driving on the highway would be driving, the front skeletal hooves slipped under the beast causing it to fall forward instead of to the right as the reaper had wished for. The sheer weight and size of the monster caused it to slide for about a yard before coming to a complete halt.

If there was one thing this beast was good at, it was recovering from a fall almost instantaneously. As it was about to get back on its feet the girls puppet commanded the shadow beast to strike at it once again. As it did the monster turned it's head and used its strong horn as a shield to block the knives. It kept balance using his other three legs as supports and pushed back the shadow beasts claws. Once it did that it charged forward ramming itself against the shadow beast but continued forward trying to continue its course for the puppet girl and the reaper.

[Heroic Bilby]

Henry was not used to getting roughly jostled around inside his little armour-enclosed void so much. Even if he wasn't really "hurt" that much he was quite dizzy after another rough landing, now sprawled out on his suit's back. The boy himself stared at the black metal in front of his real eyes and cringed his teeth.

'Why? I can fight them. I know I can! I have no idea why I can, but...' he thought as the knight's head turned slightly, allowing the boy inside to know what was in its line of "sight". The beast now continued to chase down the two strangers as they flew. 'Its definitely me. Otherwise why would it keep trying to charge them when it didn't work before?'

The knight remained stationary, but the child inside drew his hands to the sides of his face and shook it vigorously, feeling completely over his head. 'I can fight them, but I haven't got any power to actually beat them!' The outside world... it really was too much for him. Too dangerous. he was safe inside the armour. Wasn't that good enough? He could just stay in here forever and... and...

Wait a minute! The knight's torso rose up when he saw the girl from the island lying unconscious a fair distance away. Luckily the other two were leading the big monster away from her but...

The Heartless!

Shadows were coming. Slowly advancing on the girl, who was ripe for the picking. These were the corridors of darkness after all... this was their pathway. Without thinking Henry rose his suit to its feet and, gripping his scythe, ran forward. Though slow, so were the Shadows. They didn't heed him at all with a heart hidden from their senses. Henry aimed for the places of the yellow eyes and slashes downwards as he got close, knocking a few of them away though not actually destroying them. He knelt down to the girl and held her up with both arms, letting the scythe fall to the ground. Darkness whirled around him and then he was gone. The Shadows would have to find new prey.

As he left the corridors Henry couldn't help but laugh at how pathetic he was. It seemed no matter what he felt abotu himself he just... couldn't stop caring.

[Don't worry, I'll be back next turn]

[Shinn]

The beast stopped instantly upon sensing the sudden disappearance of Henry and the unconscious person. It looked over to see where they had gone but found nothing there but a few Heartless. Its reaction soon became much more menacing and wild as it began to run around the area in a fit of rage. Finally it stopped and using all of its strength it jumped as high as it could go which was about fourteen or so feet.

Once it smashed back to the ground it sent out a large shock wave that went around going very far. It would be visible to the others as a white ring that grew in size formed on the floor. Should they come in contact with it would prove to have very bad results.

What was it that caused the beast to go berserk like that? Could it have been the unconscious person, or Henry? For the moment the others would have to suffer the consequences of his actions.

[nascent]

(OOC: Sorry for the long delay here; IRL issues have been holding me back for a while.

And by the way guys, I think there's a little confusion. Unless I'm sadly mistaken, Henry ferried off Melana -- the unconscious refugee from Destiny Islands is, I think, still here. Correct me if I'm wrong.)




What goes up must come down. Even in the depths of the dark realm this rule was usually true.

Thus it was that when Magus saw the enormous creature leap skywards there was very little mystery in what he suspected would happen next. Having been fleeing from the giant skeletal beast as it rampaged, the mage saw it stop and realized at once that it was likely to do one of two things: try to attack at distance somehow, or begin throwing it's weight around even more aggressively. In the instant it braced to jump, Magus realized the enemy would try to do both.

Making certain that his hold on the young girl was secure, the warlock veered his flight upward -- none too soon either, as the fierce shockwave rippled across the dark firmament. He continued to glide upwards, knowing well that high overhead was now the safest place to be.

Still, he couldn't stay aloft forever.

This had to be ended... but how? The enemy had already withstood a punishing assault, magical and otherwise. Somehow, somewhere, it had to have a weak spot! He'd assaulted it with all the elements at his command save darkness... what was left?

He had an idea, but it wasn't something he could while holding the girl. Fortunately, she had an essential role to play as well. Flying as quickly as he was able to towards the still unconscious refugee from Destiny Islands, the mage swiftly put down the young shadow-puppeteer and looked her in the eyes.

"Please, protect this person. They are key to defeating these monsters." Without further delay, the dark son of Zeal turned and faced the mammoth beast. Arcs of electricity leapt across the surface of Dream Reaper, it's ever-present crimson glow now beaming brightly. If this were to work, it all came down to one strike... and he'd pour as much of his magic into it as he could. With that he leapt airborne, speeding directly towards the creature head-on.

"Oblivion waits to embrace you!" The warlock's battle-cry filled the dark, flares of mixed lightning and flame spiraling fiercely round about his weapon's blade. "Prepare for the void!!"

It's greatest strength... perhaps also its greatest weakness. He would aim his strike there. Enraged as it was, he had a good chance of success, or so he hoped. Magus yelled, bringing all his strength to bear as he leveled a fierce slash directly for the creature's main horn. It was all or nothing, everything riding on one attack.

It HAD to work!

[Shinn]

[Well from what he had posted here and in Hollow Bastion I assumed the unconscious person. We'll have to see what he says to see if you need to edit your post or not.]

With Henry and the unconscious person gone the beast had gone on a rampaging frenzy taking it out on the others. First it had slammed itself onto the ground creating a gigantic wave of force around it and sent it towards the other people. Once it had done that it went running towards the direction Lune and Magus were at.

As the beast began to pick up speed once again it's horn began to collect energy within it leaving a trail of light behind it. Magus had chosen to attack its horn in hopes that it would stop the beast. As the fire and lightning attack reached the beasts horn it appeared as though the attack did the job. It instantly fell to the floor and yelled in agony as it was shaking from the shock. It couldn't move at all. It was now completely defenseless.

[Heroic Bilby]

[Skipping Northie]

[ Sorry, I didn't realize there were two people. I guess I only took Nas' other character. ]

A portal opened and the Black Knight re-appeared, this time with no passenger in tow. He was desperate to leave her in that place, but at least he knew it well enough. And knew where she wasn't likely to be found by the terrifying citizenry. Henry didn't know if she was unconscious now because she was a target of the invaders or just out from the battle on the island though... if they really were on multiple worlds he'd have to hurry back for her.

Henry was surprised to see the beats toppled. Had he been gone longer than intended? Probably. But then again he hadn't exactly been helping much in the fight anyway so the kid wasn't going to worry too much. At least it looked like the struggle might be over now.

Still holding Magus' scythe the knight walked over to where the Mystic was and simply nodded some thanks, though it was probably barely visible to him in this place. Henry turned then towards the large creature. Was it finished? Were the worlds safe from what he created?

[nascent]

Magus sensed the black knight's arrival but paid it no heed beyond a glance and a nod. He'd successfully brought down the massive beast, but who was to say if that meant it was dead? The shadowmage didn't think so... at the least, he would confirm its fate for himself.

Flying over to where its head lay, the mage wasted no time in hacking and slashing away at the monster's horn. He'd been watching the fight very closely from the outset, and had guessed that the frontal horn was the nexus of whatever power held together such an impossible creature. It's reaction to his previous attack had all but confirmed this... still, it was best to be certain of these things. Perhaps if it were cut clean off...

Having come this far Magus would not relent, nor Dream Reaper cease its cascade of cutting strikes, until it was certain that the monster would not rise again. And then...

. . . then he could focus his attention on what was really going on.

[Shinn]

The beast had been hit multiple times by Magus' Dream Reaper adding to the damage that had been done before. But his attacks alone would not be enough to destroy the beast. It finally gathered its strength again and rose back up knocking Magus backwards a few twenty feet from the others. Its horn suffered from multiple cuts and scratches but it was a durable piece of bone so it wasn't too damaged.

It began its attack once more, ramming itself against Henry knocking the black armored knight to the side. It then turned its attention to Lune who was now left alone. The beast raised its head before slamming it down right where she was at.