Skaia

Xia vs Cyan Part 2 Cyan grinned wildly, slowly walking towards her. He twisted his wrist, causing the flamethrower to roar, increasing how much flame was coming out of his sword. “Burn… BURN!” He barked, not noticing what the girl was doing. The only thing he could see was flame and smoke. Continuing to hold her stance, the girl simply smiled as she said, “sorry! But I don’t burn really easy!” As she said this, the girl finished charging her fist, and with a simple punch, fire a blast of both pure magic and magical water hurtling straight through the fire and towards the demon. Cyan, blind sided by the attack, was sent flying backwards by the blast, his sword flying through the air. He slammed onto the ground, letting out a cough. “Tch...” He said, picking himself up. “Not bad...” He glared at the girl, snapping his fingers. “...I hope that isn’t all you’ve got!” With another eruption of flames, his sword came back to his hand. He then disappeared into a puff of smoke, appearing charging towards the girl ready to slash at her. Getting herself ready, the girl shouted, “sorry but it kind of is!” All the same, she was about to start making her way towards the demon when a cannon was fired yet again. Looking to the side, and seeing the cannon dodgeball come towards her, the girl simply stuck out her arm and, with little difficulty, caught the ball in her hand. The attack had still damaged her, but she now had a dodgeball in her hand, which had to count for something. As she looked to Cyan, who was swiftly closing in on her, the girl tossed the ball with all of her might at him, before running forward and going to intercept him with yet another punch of hers, not really paying any mind to avoiding any attack he had. Cyan faded to smoke once again, blinking out of the ball’s way. However, he was still rushing forward, and had blinked a bit too close to Xia as he saw her ready an attack. He didn’t have enough time to slash with his blade before getting hit, so instead he let out a roar, shooting a fireball right at the dragon’s face. As he launched his attack, she struck him right in the face, sending him flying backwards once again. This time, he tumbled to the ground a couple times before landing on his feet, sliding as he let out a grunt of pain. “I’m so glad this damage ain’t permanent...” He said, placing his hand on his face. “Wahoo!” Pumping her fist into the air as her attack was successful, the girl looked over to Cyan. Putting up both of her hands, taking a stance and still ready to fight, the girl simply held her ground. This time, rather than charging forward, she had begun to charge her fist with energy once again. “Oh, you're not the only one that can charge things!” Cyan shouted, pointing his sword to the air. As he did, a fireball appeared on the tip of it, with a small stream of flames below it. He let out a cackle as the small stream quickly became a jet of flames going right into the ball, increase the size of it. “We’ll see how fireproof you really are!” Finishing the charge on her arm, the girl kept her hand clenched in a fist as she looked in awe at the fire ball. “Whooooa! Well, I do need to get better at being fireproof, so thanks for giving me something even better to test it out!” Rather than punching again, however, the girl simply began to run towards Cyan with reckless abandon. As he saw Xia start charging towards him, he knew it was time. He flung the fireball towards her, his blade pointed towards her and the ball. “DIE, INSECT!” He shouted, twisting his wrist once again as the jet of flames increased - so much so that the entire sword caught on fire. He grit his teeth as the fireball seemed to grow as it was propelled towards her. As the girl got close enough to Cyan, she planted her feet, bringing up one arm to defend herself against the fire, the girl was soon engulfed entirely in fire. As the flames roared around her, the girl eventually powered through it, her entire face lit up by fire around her as she seemed laser focused on Cyan. Reeling back her fist, the girl went to punch at Cyan yet again, letting loose her charged magical force alongside her punch at the same time. As his blade finished shooting jets of fire, he barely had enough time to bring his arms up in an attempt to brace for impact. He grit his teeth as the fist slamming on his arms, the shock wave of the impact blowing what little flames were left around them. His arms slammed into his chest. His gaze became intense as he scowled right at the girl. He couldn’t even give her a snarky retort. Xia slowly brought her fist back, as her attack seemed to be successful. Her intensely focused expression gave way back to her usual cheery disposition as she looked at herself. Seeing that there was no burn marks on her the girl said, “woo! I seem plenty fireproof right?” The girl flashed a genuine smile at the demon. As she did, however, the ceiling opened up yet again and the exploding sports balls rained from the sky once more. He let out a grunt of pain as his arms dropped. His face, however, was a wild grin. “Now THIS is a fight!” He said, giving Xia a wild expression as he lifted his arms back up. They hurt like hell, and for once the system was playing in his favor, as he wasn’t sure if he’d still have arms. He turned back to the girl, noticing that she did, in fact, have no burn marks on her. “You sure as fuck are!” He cackled, pointing his sword back at her. “But ya ain’t sword proof!” As he was ready to lung, however, he noticed the ceiling had opened up once again. With a wild cackle, he blinked backwards in the air with a puff of smoke, slashing at a pair of dodgeballs, knocking them towards Xia. As the balls started to fall from the sky, Xia began to charge forward and past the balls exploding behind her. Bracing herself yet again, the girl put up both of her arms to defend against the explosive sports balls, being pushed back by them. Crouching down, the girl sought to close the distance yet again by jumping forward at Cyan yet again to punch at him. He landed on the ground, blocking one of the exploding balls with his arm before blinking backwards in another puff of smoke. He grinned as he saw Xia being pelted by the balls, before seeing her jump towards him to strike once again. “Doing this again?” He said, vanishing in another puff of smoke and appearing behind the girl. “Strong, but predictable.” He slashed at her back, chuckling as he did so. Looking behind her, the girl seemed to expect Cyan to teleport away and so she simply said, “sorry. I don’t really have much else to do. But!” As the girl was slashed in the back by the sword, she merely raised her tail up and slapped it backwards at the demon man. He seemed the most shocked he had ever been as he got slapped by the dragon’s tail. “...” He stood there momentarily, placing his hand on his face. “...since when do you have a tail?” He asked, before shaking his head. “W-Whatever, it doesn’t matter!” He said, aiming his sword at the girl. “I’m ending this now!” He lunged at the dragon, aiming to stab her in the rib. Flicking her tail to the side, Xia turned to face Cyan with a smile on her face. ”Allllrrriiiiight!” Cracking her knuckles, Xia stood her ground as Cyan made his way over to her. As Cyan went to stab at her ribs, the girl used one hand to swat at and grab the sword of her opponent, only to then go for a swing with her fist at the man once more. He let go of his sword as he saw the girl reach for it and, as the punch went towards him, he disappeared into a puff of smoke once again. This time, however, he appeared directly above the girl, delivering a swift hammer kick aimed at her head, his foot erupting in flames one it made contact with whatever it hit. Stumbling forward as the kick hit the back of her head, Xia planted her feet into the ground before fully falling over. Tightening her grip on the sword that she had just grabbed, Xia then turned and swung it at Cyan’s side, striking at him with the hilt of the sword. Cyan was struck with his own sword and, while it had just been the hilt side, the sheer force of it was enough to send him staggering as he stumbled a bit away. Angrily, he snapped his fingers once more, causing the sword to disappear in an eruption of flame before returning to his hand in a similar fashion. “I’d prefer if...” He said, cocking his head back. “...you stopped grabbing my sword!” He shouted and, as he did, he let out a jet of flames out of his mouth directed at the girl. “Well, stop stabbing at me.” Xia looked at the smoke in her hand, where the sword used to be, before waving it away. Seeing the flames coming at her, the girl attempted to run straight through them once again, very unaware of the damage she was actually taking. All the same, the girl ran up to Cyan and went to, rather than punch him this time just grab at his head to keep him from breathing fire. “Mpph!” He shouted as Xia put her hand on his face, blocking the stream of flames as they spilled all over him and her palm. “MMPPHH!” He shouted, trying to say something but it was hard with the girl on him like this. Instead of fading away, however, he instead elected to grab onto the girl’s shoulder, pulling himself closer to her. And then he lit his entire body on fire, making sure to not let the girl break free easily. Muffled cackling could be heard echoing the stadium. With her hand over the man’s face, the girl simply started laughing as he did, not really sure what he was laughing at but feeling like joining in on it. Then grabbing onto his body, the girl hoisted him into the air as the fire surrounded her. Bending down, the girl then jumped into the air and began to bring him towards the ground. Or, she would have, had the two not frozen in the air at the apex of her jump. The two were just stuck there as the scenery faded away and the score was displayed above them. Xia: 0 HP, Cyan: 180 HP. Winner: Cyan via HP Loss

Level Ups: Everyone leveled up to 11, which is to say, twice.

The Phantom Hound stood its ground as the falcons all dog piled onto it to kill it. Though each of them alone had managed to deal a significant blow to the beast, the creature continued to snarl at them, its fangs continuing to crackle with energy as it looked between those that had struck. As such, as if going almost completely unnoticed by him, Layne was able to make his way over to the Phantom Hound without it attempting to stop him in any way. And as he brought his staff up, the phantom was almost entirely blind sided by the attack. Letting out an almost pathetically dog like whimper, the beast's legs gave way as it fell to the ground. Once prone, less than a second passed until the darkness that seemed to make up its being exploded. After the initial burst, the darkness simply floated in the air around the group until it seemed to disperse and fade away. As it did, the zombies that were encroaching on the strike party's location suddenly stopped. Going slack jawed and dropping the weapons in their hands, the zombies not soon after collapsed onto the ground, motionless. Inching closer, as if still wary of the creatures coming back, Edda looked to the others saying, "it- it's over?"

With the gnoll leader taking up the majority of her focus, the girl was slow to realize that there was a loud noise coming from behind her. Turning around the girl was barely able to see the rushing worg strike at her from behind. As the fangs of the warg sank into her shoulder, the girl let out a yell of pain. Feeling her legs buckle as the tremendous pain began to course through her body, the girl was barely able to keep herself standing. Looking back, seeing water start to push against the jaws of the creature, the girl tighten the grip on her mace as she looked back to the warg. Bringing her arm up, the girl smashed her mace into its face with a loud grunt of pain. The creature's grip on her shoulder loosened and he let go as the creature backed away. With the warg no longer help prop her up, though, Ryia felt her balance waver and the girl collapsed onto the ground. With her shield arm beginning to feel dumb as blood continued to flow out of her wound, the arm hanging at her side the girl struggled to keep herself upright. To that end, she dropped her mace and used her good hand to keep herself from falling over completely. Though she was injured and barely able to keep going, her breath ragged and vision blurring a bit, the girl continued to look around between the gnoll and the warg, still trying to keep mindful of them.

Marie was still on her hands and knees after Nani had left, at surprising speeds. All the same, the girl wasn't entirely sure what Nani was expecting her to do or not do. Especially as the Lucario had continued to fight and defeat each and everyone of her friends. All at once, the girl felt a surge of conflicting emotions pass through her. She had felt guilt for involving everyone in this fight, having them be pummeled for her interference. She had felt resolute knowing that in order to help the others here, she couldn't possibly give up. And there was something else. As she watched the Lucario fight and speak, she couldn't help but feel something else. Something almost close to pity. Standing up, the girl coughed out a, "st-stop," as she watched the man floor Randy. The girl continued to stand her ground as the Lucario took notice of her. Looking at him, both resolute yet somewhat concerned, the girl asked again, "are...are you lonely?" The Lucario didn't say anything as he continued to make his way over to her. "You're..." The girl paused before shaking her head. "I...I will get strong. Strong enough...to fight you...so you don't have to...and so you won't..." "You won't have the time to get stronger. It's too late. The end has come." With that, Lucario grabbed Marie and raised her off her feet. In one swift motion, he then slammed the girl back down onto the ground. As his attack finished, Marie let out a gasp yet again as the wind was knocked out of her. Coughing, the girl lied there, barely conscious but still looking up at the godslayer. Nine grimaced as the hands from underneath the ground grabbed at him. Struggling against them as they pulled at him, the Houndoom could only watch as the disciple began to strike back, both parrying the attacks as well bringing down Kayla. Eyes going wide, Nine's anger towards the disciple continued to rise as he continued to struggle against the hands pulling down. With flames coating his arm, the chaser looked over to see flames coming from Gwen and towards his legs. Striking with his own flamethrower, Nine managed to break free of the grasp, as he backed away. The chaser looked at Raphael trying to figure out what he was supposed to do against the man. However, he was finding it harder and harder to focus on that task. Both because his own anger was making it harder for him to think clearly, as well the constant pain that was radiating through his body. He could feel his legs starting to ache more and more as time had gone on and knew that it was only a matter of time before he actually lost. So, wanting to end this fast for more reasons that one, Nine followed up Lok's confuse ray with a dark pulse of his own at the disciple.

Kiyoko had stood by in the morning, as silent and unflinching as always at the news that had come. Both of their companion having had to leave as well as the start of their missions coming up. As it turned out, the group of signers was being split up, with each half of them taking on a different city. Kiyoko did not really have much of a preference in which city it was she was going to. In fact, she didn't even really know anything about the cities to begin with. As such, a small frown crossed her face, hearing that the place she was going to investigate was as crime ridden as it was. Though, she couldn't really think much about that as the doubts of one of her companions was voiced aloud to them. Looking to Octavia Kiyoko, matter of factly, stated, "it's simple. We don't fail. Our task is simple and necessary, and that we are being asked to do this means that there is no one else who could have already. So, we simply have to keep in mind that we cannot fail and we won't." Kiyoko nodded to herself as she made this declaration. "While the Dread Knight might be a problem, if we must cooperate with him and he is unwilling then," Kiyoko gestured to Shannon, echoing her sentiment in saying, "we will simply convince him with both our goal and might. And if he still refuses, then he is merely help, not a necessity."

As the group had managed to clear out all of the hounds around them, the Phantom Hound had seemed to still be ready to fight back. Snarling at the group as they seemed to group up, the hound merely prepared itself for whatever it was the ground was going to do. Meanwhile, Edda looked around, her usual uncomfortable expression having a wave of nervousness added into it. "Uh, guys..." The girl looked over to the swarm of skeletons that had seemed to start making their way over to the group, clearly seeming ready to collapse on them if things weren't taken care of. The lance wielding zombie simply held his ground as the arrow lodged itself into the creature's shoulder. It was certainly hurt by the attack, and looked like it could barely take another of those while keeping itself together. All the same, it didn't seem to mind as it awkwardly shuffled out the deep and thick thicket, with lance in hand as it moved towards the group. With Yue being the closest thing to him, the zombie didn't go very far as it reeled back its lance. With one thrust the zombie struck the frail archer in the abdomen with its spear, twisting it a bit before pulling the weapon back and leaving a large wound in Yue. "Yue!" Tightening the grip on his blade, Leon moved forward and slashed at the lance wielding zombie. As the blade got into the zombie's ribs, the boy merely continued forward and upward with his blade, severing the arm, shoulder and head of the zombie all in one slash. As the zombie fell to the strike, Leon made his way over to Yue looking at the girl saying, "don't worry. Just patch yourself up and rest for now, I'll make sure to cover you." Leon looked around to see that the zombies weren't coming after them anymore, but he knew this was a momentary respite at best. He wasn't entirely sure how he was going to cover for both Yue and Raynor but there was no way he could simply leave them. As such, all he had to do was place his faith in the others of his team and hope that they could defeat the phantom.

Stella could look on with more shock and confusion then anything else as the girl as the crazy paper girl passed out in front of them. Not sure what to do, the girl stepped back a bit as the paper girl was eventually carted away by another of the employees. Still seeming stunned by the whole, apparently frequent, display the girl simply nodded as Kelsey made her first comment. As she made her second, the girl looked away, clearly embarassed by the remark saying, "well, you know...paper's cool...and stuff..." Looking back over to Vivian as Kelsey stated that she was from a tree planet the girl asked, "oh right, yeah. Your planet sounds like it'd be the perfect staging ground for paper production." Thinking on it for a bit more the girl said, "though, I suppose does your planet have a thing against clearing out the forests?"

As the girl continued to thrash about in the trap that she had stumbled into, Tsetseg was glad to see the others begin to her help. One by one, from Sienna, to Shiro to then Edrick, and then finally Penelope all coming in to offer varying levels of assistance. Yet still, Tsetseg continued to be trapped under the net in spite of their best efforts. Thrashing around wildly, the girl didn't seem to be making much headway herself as she looked to Edrick and Sienna in response to their questions. "Well, see, see. I was just walking in here and then I opened the door - I've been very good at opening doors - and then I went in here to explore some more. But then - then! I stepped in here and there was a clicky noise and then this fell on me and now I can't get ooooouuuuuuuuuttttt!" Giving up for a moment, the girl simply sighed saying, "I'm a net now." "Yeah...hopefully." Alois waved off Gunther's last comment, less focused on the knight and more to his thoughts. He wasn't sure why the name Gunther had said sounded familiar, though that it was provided no end of bother to the boy. As Alois walked away from the bed and to the sword lying around, the boy looked at the weapon. It too seemed to have the same name on it. Bothered still, Alois then began to wonder why exactly he told Gunther of the boy he had known so long ago. There was a clear logic to his thoughts, and a natural conclusion that would explain the connection between the two vague memories. However, he couldn't help but feel it strange that no one would mention either of these things to him or each other for his whole time in the village. Of course, if he had learned anything so far, it was that the Mayor wasn't entirely keen on explaining anything to Alois. All the same, the boy simply put the sword back down on the table he found it from and walked over Adelaide. Pulling one of his axes from its sheath, he presented it to the woman saying, "here, I'll let you do the honors. Be gentle though, these lids aren't that strong, and wouldn't do to split our evidence in half right?"

"Oho? Well, you have a long way to climb to reach his throne, o'princess of darkness." This would be the thing that both Gabby and Melissa would hear coming from behind them, as a the smiling cheery face of Jun had seemed to interject itself between the two. Leaning between the two, giving a small wave with a, "hi hi," the girl then pulled back and sat back upright in her seat. As it had turned out, the girl had been sitting behind them since the duel had started, though elected to silently watch both them and the match. The duel had been going, for the most part, as expected. That Yushiro was able to bust out some new tricks, as well as that his confidence didn't seem entirely rattled yet was certainly a plus in his favor. Of course, she figured it was a moot point given his opponent. Especially given how he was at the moment. As such, the girl was, at present, much more interested in her two newest friends that were sitting in front of her. "Oh, but I'd love to see the two of you show off in a duel." Both to judge them and, "after all, nothing says true friendship like a friendly duel between friends. Friendly." The girl then gave two thumbs up, albeit covered by her sleeves and a bright smile to the two of them.

With the draken boy coming in to aid her, Ryia watched as the boys halberd was brought down to strike at the gnoll leader. As the dexterous beast managed to avoid the attack Ryia got herself ready to raise her shield as he went to attack at both of them with both of his weapons. Thankfully, gnoll's body seemed to jerk away from her, causing its attack to miss, as she saw that Reinaan had grabbed onto its arm. Taking the chance to move to strike at him herself, the girl moved around, to the creature's back, swinging her mace at it. With her hit landing solidly the creature was far from giving up. Despite all of the pain it had been feeling, the grip on its arm and the fire in its face it still went to strike at Reinaan with his spear. Ryia was in no position to actually absorb the blow for the boy, nor did she have any tricks up her sleeve to stop the attack soundly. However, as the gnoll began to move his arm to strike, the girl knew that from her position there was only one thing she could do to prevent him from being struck. Raising her mace, the girl struck the shoulder of the gnoll solidly, causing the creature to let out a whine of pain as it dropped its weapon. With the creature seemingly at its wits end of options, the gnoll spoke out saying, "stop. I'll leave the food." Ryia's eyes grew wide as the creature spoke towards her. The grip on her mace tightened and wordlessly she pulled her weapon back. That it was bargaining for its life, now that it was nearly dead and all of those under it were already slain. Now that it had harmed all of her companions, nearly killing one of them. And that it had probably been on the winning side of this battle before, thinking that all that mattered was the food they had stumbled upon was what was important here, the girl couldn't help but feel a swell of anger go through her. Smashing her mace into the creature's back yet again, the gnoll let out yet another yelp of pain as it fell to its knees, still conscious and propped up by Reinaan's grip on his arm.

With Alexis moving to take on the hounds, yet another of the beasts began to charge forward and snap at her. Though she was nimble, the hounds were still able to keep up with the pegasus knight's movements and leapt forward, snapping its jaws onto the rider and digging its claws into the horse. As it let go, it was struck, just as most of its other comrades had been, by a lance by the flying horse rider in retaliation. Backing off, the creature continued to crouch into the thicket, awaiting the pegasus knight's next move. Edda didn't answer Rona's question and simply looked away from the girl as she dealt a killing blow against the hound. Instead, she watched as Ada had come up, patching herself up only for another hound to come running forward. Waiting for the moment that Ada had been healing herself to strike, the creature sprinted forward and jumped at Ada, snapping its jaws down at the girl and biting into her side, doing away with most of the work she had done with her vulnerary. However, the hound didn't stay latched onto her side for long, as the blast of dark magic came from Ada in retaliation and forced the jaws off of her. Leon, meanwhile, had stood back and watched as the lance wielding zombie before him was struck in the head by an arrow. As the creature crumpled onto the ground, dead, Leon looked back to Yue. Seeing that there was nothing around them, the boy said, "let's press forward." Beginning to move forward, Leon prepared himself for the coming attacks of the lance wielding zombie.

As Nine and Raphael continued to exchange blows, Nine looked to the disciple ready to see what else would come at him. However, his attention was momentarily snapped away from him as he looked to the side, seeing Lok speak with Gwen. The Houndoom's eyes went wide as he saw the hollow looking figure of Gwen simply floating there, not responding to anything that Lok had said. As he did, he suddenly felt a flood of emotions start to rush through him. It was hard to tell what exactly he was feeling, his mind in such a whir at the sight that he couldn't parse exactly what it was. However, as his eyes drifted back to Raphael there was one thing he tell clearly. One thought he knew exactly what the meaning was. Glaring at the disciple, that thought echoed within his mind. How dare you. The hostility clear in his eyes, even as Gwen seemed to recollect her senses, the boy simply charged his hand with dark energy. Firing his dark pulse at the shadow ball, Nine's glare did not seem to go unnoticed by the disciple. "Well, it doesn't really matter if he helped make the world. After all, everyone makes the world right? But," with a mock half bow, he'll say, "to hear that I'm a mistake from a hollow fake like you is the highest of compliments." Raphael's smile widening , the disciple cackled at the Houndoom."Yes, yes, that's it, that's the way of it." He stretched his arms out and declared, "come then, take your shot, you really want to don't you?" With a flash of darkness pulsing around Nine, his aura sharpening itself as he looked towards the Banette he simply said. "Ah, well, that should be obvious right? But more than that. Well, I want you to realize how pitiful and meaningless you really are." Though Nine had kept a smile on his face, and bright as it seemed, it as well had changed from something playful to one that seemed far more hollow. "Oh scary, scary." "Scary? Oh no, no. It's more comical than anything than else. You your self said that it was so funny, right? Here you are, the disciple of Giratina, mighty, powerful and so so scary yourself. But all you could do is pace around your master's cave, twiddling your spiked thumbs. Funny, right?" "Oh, but I did get to do so so much! These last few centuries have been oh so much fun!" He swayed back and forth. "But if you won't come to me..." Raphael jumped forward with incredible force, extending his claws. "Ah, I have no doubt you've killed so much. But..." Charging forward, Nine charged himself with darkness once more as he made his way over to meet Raphael halfway. As the man seemed ready to end his leap, Nine went to duck under his attack before countering with an uppercut of his own. The ghost type, in turn, bent himself back and away from Nine's attack, avoiding the punch. He sprung back upwards with a manic smile on his face. "Before you finish, maybe you should play more attention." It was then that Nine realized that there was something now tugging at his feet, looking at the ground below to see that there were skeletal arms reaching up and attempting to drag him down.

The waifu class is full of waifu

I appear to be late to the after party

You still haven’t given me a saber

Marie looked onward as the Lucario began to take his stance to attack. The girl didn't quite know what to do to stop him. Every part of her being told her that trying to converse any more with this man was futile. And trying to fight him was nothing short of impossible. Yet still, Marie knew that just letting him kill the legends was wrong. As Randy gave her a look, one that told her to back off as well, for once she had felt inclined to agree. As both the Lucario and Randy began to exchange words with each other, the girl tensed up even more, rooted into place as the man confirmed that he was a godslayer. A man obsessed with fighting. Fighting to prove his strength. Fighting to kill whatever he deemed worthy. Marie knew more and more that this was all just wrong. Yet still, Randy of all people seemed paralyzed in fear of the man. Keanu seemed ready to bolt, relieved they didn't have to fight them. And Nani, echoing that it was none of their business, was also ready to leave. As the girl stood there, she could feel herself start to go with the flow. However, as she thought of leaving, more popped into her head. The bloodied club of Allie, along the bloodied body of Moltress. Blake attacking and terrorizing others. Yveltal bringing him to his ultimate end. Alola, her home island, being besieged and destroyed by unknown monsters. She didn't want to see anymore of it. It was pointless and terrifying and she couldn't bring herself to stand idly by as those were strong just hurt those around her. "Please stop!" As Marie shouted these words, a burst of pink energy fired out from her mouth, striking the Lucario dead on. Marie's hands were fists, knuckles turning white from how tightly they were clenched. Every part of her body seemed to be trembling and the fear was clear in her eyes. Yet still, she stood in place saying, "I-it's never been our business...each and every time...but I still - I don't want you to hurt these people any more." The Lucario seemed to pause for a moment, before lowering his arm. "You have forty-five seconds. Go now." A wave of terror that instinctually made the young Brionne want to flee went through her as he said this. This was followed by an almost sense of relief that, despite her attack, she still had a chance to escape. Yet still, saving Moltres had never been any of their business. Stopping Blake had never been any of their business. And so, whether this was her business or not, Marie simply couldn't stand by and let this happen. Marie began to walk forward, past everyone and past Lucario. Standing in the direction that he was facing, the girl, still shaking and terrified, stood her ground against the impossible foe. "I - I - I won't let you hurt these people. So, please, stop." "Ten." The girl's heart was pounding, her hands were soaked in sweat and her breathing was rapidly increasing. Yet still, she didn't move. Looking at the powerful foe before her though, the girl couldn't help but think something. "Are...are you...lonely?" "No....three." Not paying heed to his warning Marie continued. "I met someone who was strong....But no one ever fought him and so....they never had anyone to..." As Marie was trying to stammer out her thoughts, the Lucario moved forward. While the girl could see his movements, the speed at which he moved was still far greater than anything she had ever seen, by a wide margin at that. As the distance between the two was closed in almost an instant, Marie could see the Lucario lift his leg, and she knew that it had hit her in the side. While she knew these things, though, she didn't feel any pain from the attack. Her breath was knocked out of her almost immediately. Her body felt as though it had gone limp. And there was brief period of weightlessness as her eyes went wide. The next thing Marie knew, she was hurtling through the air, being launched several dozen feet before smashing back into the ground. The girl lied there, motionless for a moment, before she suddenly could feel again. A throbbing unlike any she had ever felt before was now coursing through her gut, then entire rest of her body spasming as she regained her senses. Going into a huge coughing fit, trying to regather her breath, Marie had trouble moving any part of her body as she was trying to recover from the attack. Eventually, she managed to get one hand to hold her bruised gut as the other started to claw against the ground and turn the girl over onto her stomach. Her feet pushing against the ground, attempting to but currently failing to get her back upright, she looked back to the Lucario. Though she had just been able to witness his power first hand, and the difference between them could not be any more obvious, the young Brionne's head was currently in a whirl. She could hardly make sense of anything that she was feeling, other than pain. Yet, there still seemed to be a resolved look in her eyes as she said, "i-it was...sad...So I...-" The girl stopped as she had another coughing fit before saying, "so I told him....I'd get strong...."

Morgan vs Ross 2/2 As the girl ran away, Ross kicked her pipe back into the air, catching it as she looked at the headless skeleton making its way towards her. “How many times do I have to teach you this lesson?” As the hand reached out to her, the girl tossed her pipe at its hand yet again, following it up with a lightning blast to destroy the hand. With that out of the way, Ross called her pipe back to her hand before whistling as she walked down the tunnel. --- Morgan kept ahead of the girl, riding along on her broom, keeping an eye on the distance marker. It wasn’t until she ran into a web that she stopped. She was moving fast enough to tear the webbing down but it still surrounded her. And to make matters worse one of the spiders was crawling towards her from the ceiling of the tunnel. With a loud squeak of surprise she fired off a skull at it while she attempted to pull out of the webs. --- Starting to run down the corridor, it didn’t take Ross long to hear the sudden yelp echo throughout the caves. Getting closer, she eventually caught the sight of Morgan. Trapped in webs. With a spider coming towards her. Finding the whole situation to be a bit amusing, Ross couldn’t help but ask, “need a hand Princess?” The spider was almost upon her. However Morgan had calmed down a bit by then and, with some effort, she caused roots to erupt from the ground and tangle in the spider’s legs. As she tried to squirm out, Morgan barked at Ross, “Don’t you make fun of me. I don’t need to move to beat you!” As if to prove her point she launched another flaming skull at the girl. Throwing a bolt at the flaming skull to intercept it, Ross said, “well, I’ll hold you to it then.” With her other hand, Ross merely pointed two fingers at Morgan’s head and with a flat, “bang,” fired a bolt from her mock finger gun. --- As Ross fired her bolt, Morgan made the roots move, slamming the spider between the two of them. “Good! Because I don’t plan on losing!” Morgan summoned another flaming skull but instead of firing it off she brought it near her body, burning away the webbing to get her free. “On that, we can agree.” Throwing yet another bolt at Morgan, this one seemed to be moving slower than the ones she had fired previously, and the bolt itself was going past the side of both Morgan and her new found spider shield. However, as it passed by the spider, the bolt arced to the side of Morgan. --- Morgan freed herself from the web just as the bolt struck her. She got up to her feet shakily and brought the broom back to her side. She smirked and, releasing her root’s grip on the spider, moved towards the top of the tunnel, just above the spider, and shot out three skulls at Ross one after the other with several second gaps in between. The spider, now getting upright, was faced towards Ross. It seemed momentarily stunned as it got to its feet. --- Calling her pipe back to her hand, as the witch fired her first skull at Ross, the girl tossed her pipe to intercept the underside of the flaming skull. As the skull exploded, the pipe then spiked down and crashing into the head of the already dazed spider. Rushing forward, the girl slid under the spider’s legs and to the other side as the second skull came out and used the spider as a shield for the second skull. She couldn’t do much as she got back up on her feet, the third skull impacting into her, but as she was pushed back by the explosion let loose yet another bolt straight up at the flying witch. Morgan fell off her broom as she was hit by the lightning, landing on her back with a loud thud. “Ow, my butt.” She muttered. “You’re so rough!” Morgan declared, raising a hand. As she did roots erupted from the ground under Ross to wrap her arms and legs up. “Sorry Princess, but I’m not very delicate. Hope you understand.” With yet another thunderous boom coming from Ross’s feet, the girl sped forward towards Morgan. However, Ross’s dash was nothing more than just that. And though the speed at which she moved at had managed to allow her foot to break through the forming roots, that her foot still hit it was still true. And so, her dash had caused her to stumble and catapult forward, crashing into Morgan at the end of it. --- The two girls tumbled for a bit, ending with Ross on top. Morgan glared up at her but then giggled. “My fans are going to be so mad at you.” She muttered. She gave the girl a big smile. The reason for which would become clear soon as Morgan started creating flaming skulls above the two of them. One, two, five of them, hovering above the two. Morgan leaned up and wrapped her arms around Ross’s neck, pulling her down as she sent the skulls crashing down on them. Ross, for her part, didn’t seem phased at all by the situation. Instead as she was pulled down, she gently placed her hand on Morgan’s cheek, looking at the girl, saying, “then I suppose I should apologize to them for not being gentle.” As the skulls came crashing down, Ross did nothing to dodge them, and instead lightning to charge across her whole body and, likewise onto the Morgan who she was both pressed against and wrapped up by, with a large concentration flowing from her hand to the girl’s cheek. --- Had it not been for the virtual setting Morgan thought that perhaps that would have been a finishing move for both of them. Even with that she still felt some measure of pain from the attack. It was almost impressive if it wasn’t so… “Barbaric.” Morgan said, wincing. And then she used her magic to move the roots again, shooting out to wrap around Ross’s arms and throw her backwards off of Morgan. Who stumbled to her feet once she was freed. --- With the roots grasping at Ross’s arms, the girl didn’t couldn’t do much to avoid them and was simply pushed back away from her. Being momentarily trapped by them, the girl electrocuted her arm yet again, the pipe flying back to Ross’s hand, not reaching and instead smashing against the roots to free one of her hands. With a smirk on her face, Ross simply said, “I don’t know Princess. That last attack seemed to be stooping down to my level.” Morgan brushed hair out of her face with narrowed eyes. “Please, that was clever use of the situation. I had everything under control. Unlike you.” She smiled and threw a flaming skull straight on towards Ross. The witch was confident in part because of what she could see. The spider had crawled to the ceiling of the tunnel and, as the skull went towards Ross, the spider dropped down towards the girl. --- With her pipe being magnetized back to her hand, Ross simply tossed the pipe at the skull yet again, using the explosion of the skull to ricochet the pipe to the second set of roots, freeing her other hand. Before she could do anything else, however, Ross suddenly felt a large weight drop down onto her. While the surprise of it knocked the wind out of her momentarily, Ross couldn’t help but sigh. With the spider gnashing its teeth at her and legs ready to impale her, Ross simply lifted a hand and fired a bolt into the face of the spider, killing it. Morgan grinned as she saw the dead body of the spider atop of Ross. Its body curling up in death. Working her magic Morgan started creating more flaming skulls. Punching at the face of the spider with her lightning charged fist, Ross managed to shove the corpse of the large creature off of her enough to give her wiggle room to free herself from the spider, springing herself back to her feet. Calling the pipe back to her hand, Ross looked in Morgan’s direction raising an eyebrow. Twirling her pipe in her hand she said, “my, it looks like I’m in a real pinch here. You really aren’t unimpressive after all, Princess.” “Hmph, don’t have to tell me that.” Morgan said, though she was smiling proudly while saying it. “But it’s fine. Losing your first match to me should be an honor.” Upon saying that she thrust an arm forward and the four skulls she had created went rushing at Ross. Feeling confident she didn’t even notice the spider behind her until it stabbed into her back. --- Tossing the pipe forward to intercept the first of the skulls, Ross then used her other free hand to fire a bolt to intercept the second skull. Seeing the next two skulls coming at her, Ross knew that in order to win she didn’t have the luxury to focus solely on defense. And so, seeing the spider descend and impale Morgan, Ross charged both of her hands with lightning. Bracing herself, the girl simply took the two skulls dead on before firing a bolt straight at the witch. Morgan moved forward, attempting to get away from the spider, and right into the path of the lightning bolt. The damage was racking up on both ends and Morgan knew she’d have to end it soon. The spider didn’t seem to appreciate her running from it and she her legs got caught in it. She’d only have time for one more spell before she fell to the ground. Reinforcements were on the way, though. As she started falling they’d both hear a scratching sound as the skeletal giant’s arm and hand came scurrying across the floor. As it got within a straight shot it flung itself at Ross, hand open in an attempt to grab the girl. Morgan fired off one more skull as she fell and landed on the ground. Rushing, she called for her broom. Instead of making it come to her, though, she sent it towards Ross. Trying to sweep the girl off her feet. --- With the sounds of the skeletal arm leaping at her, Ross simply said, “your persistence is actually admirable. However,” the girl then ducked underneath the arm as it launched past her. The girl then reached up and grabbed the arm, pulling it back before swinging and tossing it towards Morgan. Thankfully for the witch, her skull had managed to intercept the arm, the two colliding with each other. Standing back up, Ross however, was not expecting the broom to launch at her, and fell forward as it struck into her shins. Breaking her fall with her hands, the girl ended up on her hands and knees, looking straight at similarly prone opponent. The spider creeping towards her, Morgan had to act fast. Recalling the broom back to her she grabbed onto it and let it move upwards, her legs dangling beneath. Though she got a sharp claw against her shin in the process. Morgan flew forward, until she was just past Ross, and had to let go of the broom with one hand to direct another skull at the prone girl. --- As Morgan flew past Ross, the girl simply smirked as she started to pick herself back up. Looking to see the girl ready to fire a skull at her, Ross had a pretty good idea at where she was going to fire. And so, rather than standing straight up, Ross began to roll forward. However, at the apex of her roll, the girl charged her arms with lightning. Pushing off the ground, the thunderous noise could be heard yet again as Ross launched herself at high speeds up and forward away from Morgan. As the girl flew forward, her feet smashed into the face of the spider, using the impact to then crouch her legs and twist, before springing back. Now facing Morgan, the girl tossed one more lightning bolt straight at the girl. Morgan let go of the broom as the lightning came for her. She fell on her feet, which were still tangled in web, and pitched to the side. From the ground she attempted to fire off another skull. Hoping to buy herself time as she formed more of her rat skeletons. --- Though Morgan had fired off the skull, Ross had already stopped caring about her defense against the girl. The flames and force of it were certainly painful, but it was nothing the girl couldn’t tough out. And so long as her HP was greater than 0, it had seemed that there was nothing to worry about with her body. As such, as the girl reached the apex of her jump and began to fall, she pulled back one hand and began to charge it. Bringing her arm up to brace herself against the skull, Ross simply let it explode into her taking the damage head on, before launching the straight bolt right at Morgan yet again. Morgan fired as soon as she could, launching another skull right at the bolt. They both exploded nearby her, causing minimal damage. But that was alright. This was her last chance. The rats swarmed Ross as soon as she landed and started to bite at her leg. Meanwhile Morgan tried to form another barricade of roots in front of her. It wasn’t a flashy way to fight but she refused to lose just because of that! --- Ross knew that between the rats and the spider there was no way that she would be able to defeat Morgan were her barrier to rise up. However, with one last flash of insight at the girl started to cast her spell, Ross called her pipe to her hand. As the wall of roots started to rise, Ross, with all of her might tossed the pipe. Just barely getting to the cavern’s roof, the pipe smashed against the rock, just above Morgan’s head, and in unceremonious fashion the pipe fell down at the girl. Morgan never saw it coming. Suddenly the scenery faded away and the two were in the basic virtual battlefield. Morgan sitting on the ground and Ross standing up. The score flashed above them Morgan: 0 Ross: 45 Winner: Ross via HP loss With the fight having ended, Ross stretched her arms out as the world around her turned to normal. Looking at her arms, the girl didn't sense the pain she had been feeling a moment ago, nor did it seem that she had acquired any lasting damage from the fight. Impressed by the whole affair, the girl then looked back over to her opponent. While Ross had felt like making a smart remark towards Morgan, she instead decided to brush off the fight that had just happened. "So, cotton candy?"

Jacklyn frowned as Belle seemed to want to be over and done with this adventure before it had even begun. She perked up again as Ivan made his comment about wanting to become champion and essentially echoed her thought as to why Belle was here to begin with. Jacklyn, again, couldn't help but frown at the situation that Belle had found herself in. While she didn't think it was fine to be forced into an adventure, since she couldn't leave the girl might've tried to enjoy it anyway. More to it, though, the girl didn't quite like her final sentiment. "Well, going on a journey for riches is fine and all - in fact, most great stories start with someone looking for wealth and treasure. However!" The girl pointed to Belle, as if challenging her saying, "by the end of this journey, you'll love the outdoors no questions asked!" "Um. Excuse me, your food's here." The waiter had arrived, in what was likely an unprecedented speed for the restaurant business. "Alright for the young gentleman over here. The grilled kelp with some kelp water." The waiter had presented to Ivan a plate of what appeared to be kelp that had been roasted, arranged in an almost patty like shape and thickness, with charred black kelp going across the top of it, as it emulate grill lines, alongside a glass of water with some kelp in it. "For the girl with the blues, some the Double Deep Fried Kelp Deluxe with some kelp soda." The next plate he presented was a series of what appeared to be just fried cylinders. Though the shape was similar to that of a mozzarella stick, it was much thicker than normal, and when Belle went to bite into it she would find that it was actually a piece of fried kelp, wrapped in kelp that had then been fried as well. Her soda as well was presented, it looking like a sickly green carbonated beverage, with extra sugar packets on the side. "And finally for the girl with the bunny hoodie." He then presented her glass of kelp juice, similarly green but less fizzy to Belle's beverage, and a plate of what appeared to be a pile of kelp that was on fire. "Don't worry the fire is edible. Enjoy!" And with that, the waiter left them to their food. As Jacklyn looked cautiously at her flaming pile of kelp, the girl looked back to the others saying, "anyway. There's so many fun things to do outside, heck there are things that you can do inside that are more fun outside, that I refuse to let you deny the fun of adventuring!"

Stella couldn't help but pout as Kelsey poked fun at her enthusiasm on the pens, saying, "it's important to always have a good idea what all of your resources are. But," the girl looked away sheepishly and said, "we can also stop by a candy shop on the way back." To punctuate it, the girl gave the supplies she was holding to Kelsey before beginning to look more in the shop. Her spree was cut short, however, as another girl had run up and started to rant about how amazing it was that there was paper here. As Vivian also seemed to be in awe, Stella walked up to the two and cleared her throat. "Well, you see ever since the age of space exploration began paper has been of a difficult resource to come across. In fact, from what I've read, tablets were already on the upswing and paper itself was just being seen as a relic and was slowly getting phased out. Of course, this didn't last long and people started to realize how important paper was. Studies show that people retain more knowledge writing down something on paper then just typing it into a tablet. And even more so there's a practicality part of it to explorers and businesses and the like. After all, tablets don't really work that well in planets with limited to no readily available electricity and - well, in fact, I think it was a case of where a few people got into a ship crash and got stranded for weeks on end that they realized the importance of - " as Stella continued to rant about this topic she realized that she was starting to get off topic and simply cleared her throat again, clearly flustered by this. "Well, um, anyhow. Getting a steady supply of paper has always been an issue but in the past century there's been movements to reinstate and standardize the use of paper again. People have thought up of all kinds of solutions but the most successful one that has just started to come into being in the past two decades is the creation of paper tree farm space colonies." Looking to the others, the girls she said, "giant artificial green house stations that grow trees for the express purpose of having them turned to paper." Gesturing around, the girl said, "this is the closest we've gotten to reinstating paper into the standardized universe and Clips here has been very vocal about their support of spreading paper across the universe. And they sell it for cheap too!" With a stern and passionate look Stella waved her finger saying, "so it's doubly important that we buy from here to show our support for the cause as well!" Walking closer to the rather strange girl who had brought this up, Stella seemed much calmer as she said, "oh and um, yes using it like a stylus on a tablet to write with is generally correct. You'll want to make sure to account for how much more force you'll need when you need to press down on the paper, as it won't just slide around with ease like it would on a tablet. As with all things it might not come out correctly on your first try, but keep trying and I'm sure you'll understand how wonderful it is to write on paper too."

Alois looked a bit uncomfortable as Gunther mentioned seeing his mother off before leaving again, simply saying, "yeah...you're probably right..." It wasn't as though Alois hated his mother - she was in fact someone who he harbored no ill will towards. But, for that very reason the boy wasn't entirely looking forward to speaking to her again. Now having to think about it, he probably did nothing but cause her her fair share of troubles, and even if she didn't mind his curiosity for the unknown he couldn't image she'd still be fine with him going on this journey. Especially if she knew what it was he had actually seen. The boy then couldn't help but grow even more concerned about the future, as he realized his mother was not the only person he had caused trouble for, and thus not the only person he'd have to talk to. As Gunther then seemed to find a key underneath the rug and asked if he should use it on the chest, the boy shrugged. "Probably." The boy looked over Gunther's shoulder as he went to go open the chest, and couldn't but stare a bit in awe at the sight. Alois had already been pissed off by how much more lavish the Mayor's house had been in comparison to the others of his town. However, seeing the horde the old man seemed to have, Alois couldn't help but chuckle. The laugh didn't seem to be any bit amused, if anything it only served to convey how truly annoyed by this man the boy had been. After sifting through the treasure, Gunther seemed to find something else which only made Alois shrug again. "Can't say we do. I've never been told to worship the old bone lady, and if there's one thing Cora isn't it's a liar, so if she told you so then that's the truth. Of course, the two of us aren't exactly in the know, and neither of us know what this Caller business is either." Seeing that Gunther had been looking down at the bed, Alois decided to look underneath it as well. Crouching down, the boy saw an area of the floor that seemed to be less dusty than the others. More to that, there was a series of claw marks scratched into it causing the boy to look underneath the bed even more. As he did, he noticed a series of more claw marks etched into the underside of the bed. While at first he didn't think much of them, as he looked at it more, he noticed that the markings formed what looked like a letter "D." Getting out from under the bed, Alois simply said, "what a weird fucking man he is." Looking to the two who was with him, the boy said, "well, I found two letters. So," looking more specifically to Adel he asked, "what have you found so far?" Tsetseg was still befuddled by the strange sort of triangle and almost square triangle in front of her. However, without being able to solve this problem, Tsetseg simply gave up and left it to her two animal shape changing friends. "Alright Ratty," she said to her newfound companion, "let's search for some more things!" Beginning her search, the young archer immediately found what appeared to be a curious trial of ants. The girl bent down as she put her hand to her chin and examined where they were going. Walking forward, the girl was eventually stopped by a door. Looking to her rat friend she said, "don't worry, I'm great with doors." Giving a thumbs up to them, the girl then went to open the door. To her surprise, she was met with instant success! This door had likely heard the stories of her exploits in defeating the one upstairs and simply didn't bother in locking itself. Or it was just unlocked all along. Opening it, the girl walked in and continued to follow the line of ants. However, as she did, Ratty had left her shoulder and scurried out the door. While the girl was curious about this, she soon noticed a "clicking noise" could be heard as her foot pressed down on a button of sorts. Before she had time to react, a heavy net fell down from the ceiling on top of the girl, knocking the girl to the ground as she let out a yelp. "Aahhh, what what what - ." Tsetseg was trapped underneath the next, and try as she might have, she simply didn't have the strength to pry it off of herself. It was at this moment that the girl felt a certain empathy for the fish of the rivers and rabbits of the forests wondering if this too was what they felt like as they were caught in a trap. With a solemn look on her face, Tsetseg merely said aloud, "I'm sorry." Returning back to flustered and panicking at the whole situation, the girl shouted, "Siiiiieeeeennnnaaaaa! Shiiiiiiirrrooooooooo! Heeeeeeeeellllllllppppp!"

While Leon took up his stance in the choke point, the first zombie had moved over to him and took a slash at him with its sword. As the Zombie's slash bit into Leon's arm, the boy responded with a swift cut of his own to cleave off one of the zombie's arms. As he took a defensive stance, ready to strike at the zombie yet again, an arrow sailed past him and went straight into the head of the zombie he was facing. With the creature falling to the ground, Leon was glad to see that Yue was still mentally in this and had his back, though didn't have much time to think of anything else as the lance wielding zombie made its way over to him. As the creature went to stab straight for his heart, Leon parried with his shield, forcing the lance down and into his side instead. With sword in hand, the boy thrust the sword forward into the creature's chest, though it didn't seem any bit bothered despite the wound it had incurred. Meanwhile, on the north side of the fight, the hounds had all had their eyes trained on Alexis as she flew forward and took out one of them. With one of the hounds charging the pegasus knight the creature leapt at Alexis, attempting to snap its jaw down on her. With the pegasus knight deftly avoiding the attack, she then retaliated with a stab of her own and tearing into the flesh of the hound. Meanwhile, rather than just starting to charge straight at her, the rest of the hounds slowly prowled towards her. Meanwhile, the phantom hound let out yet another unearthly how, causing more dead to rise from the ground underneath.

Even now, a cat is still fine.

A class truly made of itself