First Blood Shed

Against their better judgment, they sign the contract.

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Taiyo jumps from the glider, casting Fira on Rinzler.

OOC: Safian didn't disappear, she just didn't have anything to add to the conversation/fight*

*Safian jumps out of the glider after Euryale, snarling. She adds in her own fireball to Taiyo's fire attack, because you can never have too much fire*
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*Monu signs the contract, followed by Artexi*

Of course, Euryale wasn't the only one that was struggling to stay together, though Hinode had the benefit of the appropriate glider that was matched to the area and he didn't have to worry about anyone else with him. Still, that only made things easier to a point.

When the time came to send the Glider around again for his own pass at Rinzler, he once more released the smaller Pulsar blasts, which he had hoped would at least distract him for the time being.

On that same concept of distraction, Hinode tried to release a Star Formation blast along with his other strikes in the hopes that it would have at least either slowed things down a bit or bought them some time. Generally he was able to blind his opponents that way of course.

*Rinzler cartwheels out of the way of the fire blast, twirling & using his twin ID discs to deflect the spheres aimed at him before throwing 1 into the Mesa Tower. The column of light coming from it glows red-orange, pulling data from the chasm & assembling it into the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] As far as the others are concerned, Euryale takes barely a step before finding that her blade & feet are being held by Neoshadows emerging from the ground. Something similar happens to Thiera, a Neoshadow bursting out of the ground to grab her arms from behind & hold her still while its fellows advance upon her. Similarly, the Flynns & Quorra find themselves backed to an edge by even more Neoshadows, who prove quite skilled at contorting around their projectile attacks.*
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Hades<Good, good, we all friends now?>

*He rolls up the contract & slips it into his toga, holding out a hand.*

Hades<Pleasure doin' business with you kids.>

*When Lilith reaches to shake his hand, he suddenly jerks it out of the way, slicking back his "hair." Then, with a snap, he causes the flames surrounding the arena to extinguish.*

Hades<Right then. Seems there's been a bit of a mix-up, turns out the mortal was hit so hard he didn't realize the fight had ended. And I'm not gonna hold their...aggressive negotiations against them, 'cause I'm just such a nice guy. So, that's that, no harm, no foul, right, Zeusy?>

*Zeus strokes his chin & looks over at the stern stare of his wife.*

Zeus<Well...oh, alright! I suppose, if it was an accident, then in that case we can forgive them--but just this once!>

*Hera nods approvingly.*

Since he didn't notice that there were any Neoshadows attacking him and holding him down just yet, Hinode flung a few more of the projectile attacks that he was already doing in the hopes of perhaps freeing his friends, but he figured that they would have been able to avoid these in the same way.

Now he just started to dart in each direction, hoping to avoid being boxed in since he figured that he needed to stay mobile if he had any hope of helping the other individuals who had been traveling throughout the Grid with him.

Azuma: "I ain't your friend, guy."

With everything over and done with, they vacate the arena.

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Taiyo moves to Euryale's position, stabbing at the NeoShadows with the Stormfall.

*Safian claws at the Neo Shadow holding Thiera with flaming claws, careful not to accidentally claw Thiera*
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Artexi:<Uh, yeah, I'm going to go apologize to Hercules in person...>

*With a glance at Nero, she walks off towards the infirmary. Monu coughs awkwardly*

*As Hinode is now fairly isolated, Rinzler focuses his efforts on him, throwing his left ID disc so it ricochets off of the Mesa tower & flies at his back.*

E"Thanks, Taiy-Taiy."

*And so she grabs Taiyo around the waist & uses Water Spout to push the Neo Shadows away.*

E"We'll have to surround Rinzler to make sure he can't dodge!"

*Meanwhile, thanks to Safian's efforts, Thiera is able to wriggle her right arm just enough to blast the Neoshadows approaching her with a wall of ice.*

Th"That is easier said than done, at the moment!"

*Meanwhile, Quorra grabs the Flynns & uses some kind of energy rope to swing to another ledge, before hurling her identity disc at the ground her attackers were gone. As it returns to her hand, the rock collapses into the chasm, dropping the Neoshadows to their doom. Kevin siphons some energy off of her to raise a wall to protect against a series of ID discs that the Commantis shoots at them.*
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*The typical Olympus Coliseum music begins playing as Nero wordlessly follows after. Lilith glares at them for a while, before setting off to follow Hades.*

L"Hey, you still have some questions to answer!"

Hades<Pretty sure that's not the tone you take when beseeching a god, little lady.>

Phil<Err...sorry, folks, but we're going to have to take a short recess. Use this time to stock up on snacks! We've got dates, pita, pomegranate--you name it!>

*There is somewhat reduced grumbling, perhaps because the audience realizes they need to replenish the food they threw at the combatants.*
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*Roatha heads over to Daisy & Vega.*

R"I see you 2 idiots were as useful as ever."

*Monu walks behind Lilith*
===
*Still heading to the infirmary*
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*Safian sends some shadow clones to crash into Rinzer*

Vega: "You sought to do the impossible and are lucky to be in one piece afterwards."

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Taiyo: "You're welcome."

While it would be a good idea to begin to make good on that plan, physical contact is nice and it's best to not get too hasty when in the middle of some janky platformer, so Taiyo blasts Rinzler with bubbles as Hinode could use some assistance.

Considering that Euryale was apparently going to attempt to surround Rinzler in order to ensure that he wouldn't have been able to dodge at all, Kyohaku did his best to continue to occupy the aforementioned villain. Naturally it was difficult to fight someone as strong as this, but he was up to the challenge.

Jumping to avoid the ID disc that was fluttering toward him, Kyohaku only narrowly avoided the attack and seemed to be in some pain anyway, though as he probably took at least a grazing from it.

His mission so far, though, had been primarily to distract Rinzler and soon enough it had appeared that Taiyo and Safian had shown up to join in his assault more earnestly.

*Euryale leaps high into the air, throwing a Meteor Raid at the Neoshadows she was fighting, causing them to collapse into the abyss. Rinzler glances back & tries to defend with his other ID disc, but even after catching his thrown weapon, the combined attacks are too much & he is thrown backwards. When Euryale lands, she lets go of Taiyo & lashes out at Rinzler with a row of stonespikes, but he backflips through the entrance of the Mesa Tower. The battleship has now closed over half of the distance to the Mesa. Kevin, Sam, & Quorra try to rush to their defense, but the Commantis soars down to block them, swiping at them with its claws & forcing them back.*

Kevin<Be careful! He'll have less room to maneuver in there, but he'll also be at his most powerful!>

*Meanwhile, Thiera shoots some ice blobs around to make the Neoshadows slip, including the one holding her. After slicing its arm with her Keyblade to force it to let go, she floats over to Safian & uses Reflect to defend against the Heartless leaping into the air & diving at them in a whir of claws.*
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R"My ass, did you see me out there? I literally beheaded a god. I am unstoppable!"
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*Hercules is already out of bed, doing push-ups. With one finger.*

N"Yeesh, why don't you take a break, Charles Atlas?"

Herc<Nope! Sorry! Atlas is--someone else! I'm Herc--remember? But I can--tell you--where he--is!>

N"That's not what I--y'know what, nevermind."

*As Hercules shifts to his other finger, Nero looks around to the beds that Zack & the Warrior of Light are sitting up in.*

Zack<He's really something, isn't he? I'm still a bit too beat up to do any squats.>

Warrior<His divine light dwarfs my own, but it is perseverance & honor that make a true hero, not power or might--never forget that.>
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*Hades leads them into some shifty alleyway. A guy with a dirty toga, knife, & scraggly hair & beard takes 1 look at Hades & runs away screaming.*

Hades<Alright, Red, make this quick, I got a tournament to get back to. Plus, Pain & Panic won't be able to keep old Zeusy Boy & his other half distracted for long.>

L"Then let's get down to business: Are you working with anyone from any other worlds?"

Hades<Not really.>

L"Then how did the Heartless get here?"

Hades<Got 'em from a witch.>

L"And what is that witch's NAME?"

*Hades begins cleaning his ear with his pinky, his eyes rolling up into the back of his head.*

Hades<What was it again? Malcontent? Maleus Malificarum? Melodious? Oh, yeah, Maleficent. That was it.>

L"But you said you weren't working with anyone from another world!"

Hades<And she had nothing to do with my schemes today. Not my fault your questions aren't specific enough.>

Glad that he now had backup and also seizing an opportunity that was created since Euryale had lashed out with those stone spikes, Kyohaku moved forward for at least the time being and started to charge up a Supernova with his Photon Debugger.

While he figured that he would only be able to do this once, since he was going to take some damage as he did it, if he was able to properly release this and land the attack it would have done a great deal toward actually taking care of business with Rinzler.

At this point, he might have also been looking for a tinge of revenge to be honest as well.

Vega: "Yet it still lives. At best you can say you assaulted a god and lived to tell the tale no one wants to hear."

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Azuma: "Have you come into contact with anyone else in her Top Five?"

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Taiyo casts Waterga on Rinzler. Perhaps while he's airborne, someone can knock him away from the front door of his house.

*Since reflect presumably took care of the attacks heading toward herself and Thiera, Safian bounds off towards the tower, casting a glance back to make sure Thiera follows*

<Let's finish this before we get overrun!>

*She breathes some darkness at Rinzler*
---
*Artexi puts some loose hairs behind her ears, looking slightly pink*

<I-er-just wanted to apologize for what happened earlier. You fought amazingly well. You all did.>
===
*Monu freezes at the sound of that name*

<Do you have any idea what she's planning?>

*He is not right in front of them, anyone who has already tried to attack is just striking at empty air. Thiera slides after Safian, using Circle Raid combined with Blizzard Blade to freeze any Neoshadows which attempt to follow them. Inside the Mesa, the room is circular, with a large pit in the center, populated by an enormous beam of light. An arrow icon appears in this beam, pointing upward, & suddenly they find themselves being pulled that way, as if gravity had been reversed. Rinzler takes this opportunity to drop towards them, glowing faintly orange with his ID discs outstretched.*
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*His eyes roll towards Azuma & Monu.*

Hades<There's no such thing as a top 5, and you little snots already know what she's up to. Spread darkness, take over the worlds, yadayada.>

*He pulls his finger out of his ear & waves dismissively in their general direction.*

L"Okay, so which world are they after next?"

Hades<I dunno, prob'ly the one with the pirates & the fairies & the lost kids. Big ol' clock tower, y'can't miss it.>
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R"Oh, I see. You're just trying to cover for the fact that you're a coward."

*And so he shoves Vega roughly in the shoulder.*

R"Right? Or do you wanna see if you'll live without your head?"
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Herc<Thanks! You too!>

*Zack & Warrior of Light echo his words. Herc stands up & holds his hand out to shake.*

N"My answer is still no."

Herc<Er--okay. Phil's gonna be pretty mad, though. I probably won't do anything other than training for the next year & a half.>

Due to not being a raging bag of hormones and sexual frustration also because there's no point in beating up a child, Vega ignores that jag off.

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Because of course they're in there, why wouldn't they be?

Taiyo stabs a Keyblade into the floor to keep herself steady and casts Waterga on Rinzler.

*Monu looks at Lilith*

Monu:<I believe that would be Neverland, no?>
===
*Artexi shakes his hand, still slightly red in the face*

<Sorry about that.>
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*Safian falls towards the ground, landing on her feet because she's a cat. She sends a fire ball at the falling Rinzler*

Naturally he had no wish to put his powerful attack to waste, and Hinode's wanted to wait until he was sure it would work before putting himself through the pain he was in every time after recoiling from it. Regardless, he continued to put energy in that attack as he waited for the last moment.

Something like this gravity reversal had happened before in another world, he thought, where they were being dragged a certain way, so he didn't actually freak out like he might have if this were the first time that he had seen something like this happen.

That didn't make it any easier for him to react, but he did the logical thing that he could think of and lifted his Keyblade up in the hopes of deflecting ID discs that were about to be, presumably, slung at him.

*Taiyo, of course, swiftly falls out of the ceiling, messing up her aim on Rinzler, who weathers the fire attacks sent his way & lands on the Order, producing a shockwave because that's what all jumps seem to do in Kingdom Hearts. Safian & Taiyo are pretty badly cut up by the discs & seem to have some broken bones in their shoulders & ribs. Since Hinode blocked, he's not damaged, but is thrown back against the wall. Rinzler starts whirling, preparing to follow up with a slicing attack, but Euryale sticks her Keyblade into the ground & jerks it, dropping him into a fissure, so instead he raises his discs above his head & speaks in a gutteral voice.*

Rinzler<Data transfer!>

*After being broken down into binary, he reappears far away, throwing an identity disc up in an arc & another at Thiera, who glided away from the attack. She sees that if she uses Reflect, it'll just bounce off of the wall & hit her again, so she uses Collision Magnet to grab it & throw it back, only for him to catch it & for her to get struck in the back by the other disc & fall towards the ground. To make matters worse, a dark specter emerges from the light pillar, reaching for Taiyo with electrified hands.*

Avici<Welcome back, outdated software & inept Users. Thank you for bringing me the extensions I need in order to reboot.>

E"Oh no you don't! Go back to the abyssal trench, where you belong!"

*Euryale tries to come to her defense again, but is struck full-on from behind by the Commantis, whose body, acting like a giant ID disc, leaves a glowing orange light ribbon behind that cuts Taiyo of from any aid. The trio, it seems, are outside dealing with a hoard of various types of small Heartless, looking rather worn down.*
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L"Sounds like it."

Hades<Great, so, if we're done here, grab a pita, be careful on the Theban Road, don't get too much sun, & I'm sure I'll see you again real soon.>

*With a snap of his fingers, he disappears in a cloud of sulfur & ash. Lilith waves away the stench, wrinkling her nose.*
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Herc<Ah, it's no big deal. Like the Warrior said, perseverance is how you become a true hero.>

Zack<He can't remember his past, so we just call him "the Warrior.">

N"I better go make sure Roatha's not getting into trouble."

*So Nero wanders off.*
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*Of course he keeps shoving him, until eventually Daisy grabs his arm.*

Daisy<Hey, leave him alone!>

*Roatha smirks at her before lashing out with Fire Funnel. Daisy staggers back, patting out the flames from her sleeve. As before, the fire burns her flesh down to the bones, & she falls down. Her hood slips down, revealing her to be blindfolded & have long, black hair.*

Daisy<Ahhh! Why would you do that?!>

R"Because I can."

*Safian snarls and shows her fangs after being hit, then runs over and jumps up to catch Thiera (in her mouth) before she hits the ground*

Safian:<Thiera! Please be alright, we need you!>
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Monu:<Should we leave immediately or meet up with the others first?>
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Artexi:<I see...I better go find Roatha before he sets someone on fire or something. It was nice to meet you three.>

*She smilies then heads out after Nero*

Taiyo heals her own wounds via Fountain of Life as she is not helpless.

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As that is not something he can just ignore although the wrath of Olympia should be upon Roatha for a breach of contract, Vega calls the End of Pain and attacks Roatha with Ram Strike and follows with a Fierce Demon Fang.

Gritting his teeth as he takes the pain of being thrown back against the wall, Kyohaku allowed himself to just fall into what would have been called an adrenaline rush if it weren't for the fact that he was a software creation.

Once he was back on his feet and watching Euryale getting hit by the Commantis, Kyohaku figured that it was very important to find whatever opening that he could have. There was no way that he could have found it within himself to waste such a vital attack as this one.

Especially considering, of course, that it was going to end up injuring him in the process, which had a tendency of making him all the more cautious when using it.

*Shortly after catching Thiera, pain lances through to Safian's broken shoulder & she drops sideways. Thiera has a pretty nasty gash in her back, & she's probably lucky that magic can heal nerve & bone damage as she creates a ring of flowers around them. Unfortunately, on such extensive wounds, the effect is very slow, & Rinzler throws more discs at the duo from across the giant hole in the floor. Meanwhile, though they can't reach her, Avici's remnant has grabbed hold of Taiyo's wrists. In addition to preventing her from moving the Keyblades very much, he further debilitates her by shooting lightning into her. The glow of her outfit begins to fade as Avici becomes more opaque & slowly sneers.*

Avici<Surely you realized the circuit which connects us all? I reformatted Rinzler using my own code. This code was written using data from Senthose. The same data responsible for the upgrade to your 2nd key. Therefore, downloading your energy is the most efficient way to repair myself!>

E"I'll never let that happen!"

*It is unclear what say she has in the matter, as the Commantis whirls, throwing her against the wall & switching its disc to spin horizontally. With this change, it attempts to saw her in half, but she ducks under it & lashes out with stone spikes. As it flies into the air, it hurls exploding identity discs at her, forcing her to take cover under the rock. She then tries to run back to Taiyo, but she's stumbling from a big bleeding gash in her side & the Commantis is on her tail, throwing ID discs from its spinning body in every direction like an asshole.*
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L"Actually, I believe we're supposed to fight 1 more match today. We should get it over with quickly, to avoid arousing suspicion."

*She turns to Azuma & Hitomi.*

L"But you 2 could go on ahead of us to check things out. Unless you have some business to finish here?"
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*Roatha of course blocks the first slash, & seeing him come down for the second, steps forward to grab the End of Pain with his own Keyblades. While kicking at Vega's stomach, he forms a red ring of lightning around the trio.*

R"So! How do the robot & the zombie handle a little lightning?"
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N"Oh for love of--why?!"

*Seeing the fight, he makes a beeline across the arena towards it.*

Moving about as he could to avoid the identity discs that were even now floating straight toward him with a razor-like efficiency, Kyohaku focused on paying close attention to Rinzler, doing his best to stay focused in spite of everything that was going on.

Focusing in on that aforementioned individual who must surely have seemed like a demon to him, he finally, with a prerequisite grunt, allowed the power that he had been charging up to completely release in turn.

It was going to soon hurt like the flames of the depths of hell, but he knew that this kind of an attack could finally solve the problem of Rinzler for all of eternity if he landed it. If not, then he hoped his sacrifice would not have been in vain.