Shadows Swarm

Azuma: "That was odd."

So they return to see how the others are working out.

Monu:<Oh, ok then....>
===
*Safian summons her armor and flies towards his head*
---
*Artexi uses Venom Raid on the central nobody again^

L"I don't know where anyone else is, either...I guess most of them are in that forest."

*She shrugs, inspecting her Keyblade.*
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*He blows to add turbulence to her flight. Thiera tries to dive-bomb his head, but falls when she is struck by lightning, the Keyblade turning back into the Oathkeeper. She is also buffeted by heavy rain & hail.*
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*It sees the Keyblade coming & twists out of the way, sending thorn beams through the air after her. The Creepers kind of stumble around.*
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E"Well, they're all 1 pantheon, aren't they? Can't you work something out?"

Tempest<This may be true, but Athena's team also represents Athens, Ares Sparta, & so on.>

E"There must be a way to set up a team that also serves...Amazonland."

Tempest<The Island of Amazonia. And how?>

E"Well--that Phil guy who runs the tournament. He probably knows a way."

Tempest<...I suppose that you are right.>

*So she takes off her medallion, throws it to the ground, picks up her spear, & runs it through. Since it's metal, it takes a few tries, but when it DOES break, a little ghost thing emerges from the hole & seeps into the ground with a moan.*

Monu:<Aye, probably still completing their respective tests.>
===
*Safian covers herself with the leaves and dives at his head*
---
*Artexi summons the keyblade to her hand and then uses Sol's Might to cut through the thorn beams, flying straight at the nonbody*

I don't know if the two arrived on the scene or not.

*It repeats the move, doing a floating cartwheel thing to get behind her & blasting more thorn beams.*
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*Unless they fell into a hole. The familiar tornado of leaves happens & Artemis stands before them.*

"Ooh...."

Artemis<So what's going on here?>

*Aside from a bird flying by & deciding to nest in her hair.*
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*When he stops blowing, she finds herself plunging into his mouth. He chews a few times & spits the ship out, now pretty banged up. Down below, Thiera uses Reflect to protect against the rock slide.*
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*Standing there.*

*Dodge and then she uses Jungle Raiper to hold the asshole down before stabby time*
---
Monu:<Shall we go?>
===
*Safian flies around his head towards his hair*

Azuma: "Not much by the looks of it. Also what's the story behind this trinket? How does it make someone invisible to you?"

He holds up the trinket Balthier gave him.

*He shakes his head around, but can't do much else. Thiera eventually re-boards her Glider, protecting it with Reflect until it can get off of the ground.*
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L"I don't care."
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*It is gigantic. It doesn't care. It simply swings with a giant Nobody backhand.*
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Artemis<By the looks of it, Hades made it.>

E"Yeah, Tempest says that he's been giving them out to hide hunters from you."

Artemis<Wonder what that snake's up to now. Oh, no offense, dear.>

*She says the last thing to that python from before, who is now hanging down from the tree & coiling onto her arm.*

Artemis<So what's this about the Princess of the Amazons?>

*She sees Tempest on her hands & knees.*

Tempest<I'm sorry, Great Goddess, but--but I was one of the boar hunters.>

Artemis<Well...ain't that a right shame?>

Azuma: "I don't know who that is."

*Artexi moves to cut off the hand with Sol's Might before firing on the central part*
---
Monu:<Lilith...Let's try to go cheer you up.>

*Heads off*
===
*Safian find somewhere top land before trying to cut off some hair with her keyblade*

*It does not get cut off, it simply hits her & sends her flying as her Glider vanishes. The Twilight Thorn then stretches out its arms to grab her.*

Senthose<It is too massive for your weapons to damage anything other than the body's most vital spot.>
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"Why bother?"

*Follows.*
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*Provided she can hold on to his shoulder, his hair is long enough that he can't really keep it from her. Unfortunately, it's also like getting lashed with a bunch of thick ropes. Of hair. Meanwhile, Thiera uses her right hand (& magic) to channel the next strike of lightning into a shield around herself & uses her left to produce a gust of wind that slowly drives the clouds apart.*
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E"I'll explain later. Miss, uh, Great Artemis, she didn't really want to hurt the boars & we talked her out of it, so might you, uh, show mercy?"

*Artemis looks over to Euryale. Euryale looks over to Tempest & hastily tries to copy her position.*

Artemis<Look, I'm a busy goddess & my arm's fallin' asleep. Just destroy that amulet, make sure you've got all of the hunters, & you can have whatever you want, okay?>

*Euryale stands from her half-crouch & clasps her hands together.*

E"Thank you! We won't let you down!"

Artemis<I'm glad to hear that--oof!>

*A flying squirrel dive bombs right into her face & won't let go. Artemis mumbles something & then disappears in her trademark tornado of leaves, leaving the confused animals to scurry off. A pile of boar tusks is also left behind.*

Tempest<...I didn't need your pity or charity.>

Azuma: "Too late for that now."

He looks at the tusks.

Azuma: "That is morbid."

Taiyo: "Why did she leave those?"

Azuma: "Part of an agreement."

*Vines extent from the tip of Artexi's keyblade and she hurls herself, directly at the nobody's chest, using Sol's Might to argument her keyblade's strength*
---
Monu:<Because we need everyone at the top of their game right now. Plus...>

*He stops and turns around*

<We care about your well being.>
===
*Safian tries to hold on and slice off some strands of hair*

*This puts a decent scratch across its chest. She also sees the other scratches that she made on its face earlier. Said face starts glowing bright blue-white as it pulls its arms apart, ripping apart the vines keeping Artexi suspended in midair.*
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*There are now ropes of hair of varying sizes falling to the ground. Thiera also dispels the storm.*

Giant<You mortals will pay for this!>

T"Unlikely."
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E"I wasn't trying to be pitying. Sorry, I'm a bit new at this whole 'conflict resolution' thing."

*She scratches the back of her head. Tempest stands up.*

Tempest<What do you mean?>

E"We're kind of like...traveling enforcers of peace."

Tempest<I see. In that case, I think you will make a fine hero. It will be an honor to compete at your side.>

E"Thanks. You too."

*They shake hands.*

E"Now we just need to destroy that amulet & get back to the others."
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"So? It's not like any of that matters. Roatha's our enemy now, Mortal is gone, let's face it, & who knows what became of her, smart munny says that our mission is over."

Azuma begins to collect tusks.

Azuma: "Couldn't have bundled them up, could she?"

<Lilith...it does matter. Your well being is very important. We can't try and tackle the big issues without you.>
===
*Safian collects a couple of long strands and brings then to Thiera*
---
*Artexi tries to stab directly in the head*

*She's falling, so it doesn't work very well. The Nobody begins to contort, wrapping its arms & legs around in a circle & forming a very large pair of concentric circles, which covers most of the Arena. Nowever, it is only floating at about half of its usual height. To protect itself, it makes portals appear all around it, firing Thorn Beams of Nothingness relentlessly at Artexi. Also, she can see that the Creepers have regained their senses, & are coming after her again.*
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T"Now simply tie some to an apple, & pull. We probably don't need anything like that, though."

*She points to an enormous strand of hair that's trailing over 10 feet behind Safian.*
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"Who says you can't? What if I've just made everything worse, like Roatha said? What if you--all of you, everyone, the worlds, even, what if that's all better off without me?"
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*Tempest points the spear at him, narrowing her eyes.*

Tempest<You would scoff at a gift from the patron goddess of Amazonia?>

*Artexi tries to resummon her glider. Presuming this works, she fires on the creepers and the nobody while diving around beams, moving towards the face*
---
Safian:<Could you uh...do the tying? I don't have thumbs.>
===
Monu:<Roatha was attempting to get to you. Don't listen to him.>

Azuma: "It has more to do with how I'm gonna look wandering into town looking like I massacered a bunch of boars. Or at least mutilated. This trinket some Balthier guy gave me doesn't help my case either. Also I don't know what an Amazonian is."

E"Both of you behave!"

*She pulls the spear away from Azuma.*

E"And give me that!"

*Euryale wrenches the amulet out of his hand & throws it to the ground, whereupon she stabs it with her Keyblade & shatters it.*
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*She can't really reach the Creepers. The head takes some slight damage, but the light is growing larger, encompassing more area. As the Twilight Thorn's body pulses in & out, the Thorn Beams begin to surround her. When the Creepers get closer, 1 reshapes itself into a sword & starts slashing at her from side to side while another elongates its arms & shortens its legs, flying above her like a bird.*
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T"Certainly."

Giant<I haven't given up, you know!>

*So Thiera ties a few strands of hair around an apple & starts pulling. After some effort, it pops right off, landing in her lap. Meanwhile, the giant kicks the mountain again, causing another landslide.*
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L"But what if he's RIGHT? He's been with us this whole time. He knows us better than anyone else in the Organization."

Azuma: "That's one issue resolved."

Taiyo: "Can we go now?"

*Safian picks it up the apple in her mouth, then summons her glider and jumps on*
===
Monu:<What if he's wrong? You know yourself better than anyone.>
---
*Artexi flies out of the way and fires on the creepers, then uses Venom Raid on the head*

L"In that case, I know he's right."

*That backfired quite abruptly as she turned & headed off in a seemingly random direction.*
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*Thiera squeezes her legs together, uncomfortable that a lion just stuck her open jaws in there, armor or no armor. They then presumably fly off.*
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*It's a good thing she moved, because the Twilight Thorn let out an enormous blast of energy that destroyed the Creepers below it. When the monster returns to a standing position, its face is almost bubbling, like something is trying to rip its way out of its mask. The enormous monster falls on top of her, shrouding the area in darkness as its body dissolves.*
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E"Yeah, it's about time we got back."

Tempest<We will go our separate ways, then. Amazonia is in the opposite direction from the path you took into this forest.>

*Monu turns around and runs after her*

<Lilith, don't doubt yourself.>
===
*Flyyyying!!*
---
*Artexi's glider glows*