Skaia

Ryia didn't have much time to catch her breath as the gnoll fell to the ground before her. Looking forward, she saw that the warg had already trained its sights on her and was already attempting to charge at her. Knowing that she was in no way going to outspeed the beast, she simply took a defensive stance and braced herself as the creature ran at her. Naturally, she was as surprised as the warg was as Lindow burst out of her shadow and stabbed at it. While she knew the Thunder Chosen was capable of such a feat, it didn't quite sit well with her to have him burst out of her own shadow. Nonetheless, as he seemed to have the beast under control and so Ryia turned her attention to the Gnoll Leader. Looking at the creature, the two looked to be sizing each other up, before the gnoll leader had made a break for it. It was clear to her that he aiming for the Wind Chosen, and that left unchecked he would simply kill her now unconscious body. Of course, Ryia had to do everything in her power to stop that, and so the girl began to make a break for it. However, as she did, something seemed to keep her from breaking into a full on panicked sprint towards him. She knew that he was likely the most deadly of the gnolls, after all he had to be their leader for a reason. And thus, were that the case, he was likely far more skilled in a fight then they were and, as she was no prolific fighter herself, Ryia as well. As she began to run, she had remembered the last time she had thoughtlessly charged at a man far more skilled than her. She had been bested without much of a fight really. With this in mind, Ryia thought to herself that mindlessly charging in would simply endanger both her and Pyrrah. As such, she needed something to help catch him off guard, to bridge the gap in skill between the two if only for a moment. "Ackrin!" As the girl thought her spirit's name once again, it split off from her as she began to charge the gnoll. With the Earth Spriit creating a belt of rocks around itself, it soon launched them at the gnoll leader, catching them by surprise as they had to use their arm to defend against the sudden barrage of rocks from seemingly thin air. In that moment, Ryia had managed to close the distance and though the gnoll leader still had his axe at the ready to strike at her she had, for once, been faster to the draw of attacks. With her scimitar cutting into the beast's arm in a clean motion. Letting out a cry of pain, annoyance and anger the gnoll leader didn't seem any less willing to swing at Ryia, as he brought his axe against her side. As his axe was on her weapon side, the girl awkwardly twisted herself to block the axe with her shield, only to have the gnoll attempt to follow up with the spear in his other hand. Pivoting in her body away from the spear that was being thrust towards her leg, the girl went for a follow up slash of her own only for the gnoll to catch her blade with his axe. With the scimitar's blade being snagged underneath the blade of the axe, the gnoll began to pull back in an attempt to disarm her. Keeping her grip on it, the girl pulled back a bit, though soon figured that going into this kind of a contest would simply be playing into the spear's next attack. As such, Ryia simply let go. With her scimitar being flung away, the girl took the opportunity she had created in setting the beast off balance by pushing forward and bashing her shield into its face. Being struck hard, the gnoll stumbled backward, shaking it's head before it snarled and went for yet another attack against her. Taking out her mace, the girl readied herself as the gnoll went to strike at her face with its axe. Bringing up her shield to defend, the girl had been too slow to do so and the gnoll seemed to be skilled enough to change the course of its axe mid swing. With her shield being ineffective, Ryia simply stepped back and leaned her head back to avoid a fatal blow, instead taking the axe straight to chest instead. Letting out a pained cough as the breath was knocked out of her, Ryia stumbled backwards as the sharp and blunt pain resounded throughout her body. Though her armor had prevented the attack from being a critical blow, it still did a number on her. Pivoting around her, the gnoll went to stab at her side again, and though the girl attempted to pivot and defend with him, her body locked up as the pain in her chest jolted through her again. Letting out another pained grunt as the spear stabbed into her, Ryia stumbled back as she looked to her foe. Her breath was ragged and it felt as though every part of her body was currently in pain. Her stance wasn't particularly steady either. Yet still, she hadn't fallen yet, still able to fight and defend. And so so long as her body allowed, she would prevent the creature from killing any of the other chosen.

Let's see. Seasonal Alt. Ruler. Revealing clothing. Fond of frequently tussling. Original class is Rider with a buster NP. I know just what you want.

Here, for being the first comment. Gao~ Can we get Apocrypha instead? Hacking in Noises Three C's worth of it. It is an extra beacon of light in the spiraling, endless, burning hellfire of misc.

A cat is fine too.

I don't lie.

Well, you can figure out the rest.

And as a bandwagoner.

I'm a bandwagoner.

Alright so this is a hard one and I probably won't do all of them that I've played for the simple reason that I haven't actually seen any of blazing sword's supports since I barely knew those existed at the time. Add to that that I haven't seen all of the supports for all of the characters (outside of Awakening,) and a lot of Three Houses supports I haven't finish yet. Let's see though Sacred Stones: Vanessa and Lute. Path of Radiance: For lack of really knowing any more off the top of my head I'll go with the standard Lethe and Jill. Radiant Dawn: Anyone and Oliver. Awakening: This is practically impossible but some stand out one's I remember for being ridiculously funny is Owain and Cynthia. Then a really sweet one was Nah and Male Morgan. All of female Morgan's supports in general. Really all the kids are amazing. Also, not supports but special shout out to all of Inigo's DLC conversations. Fates: Odin and Laslow. Shadows of Valentia: Python and Forscyth. Three Houses: Ferdinand and Bernadetta. Special shout out to Raph for always giving out the warm fuzzies with his supports.

Stella clapped her hands together as Vivian made her comment about going for notebooks. Nodding her head the girl said, "that's a good idea to start with. After all- " before she could finish her statement, the girl then felt the arms of her friend wrap around her. While Stella was caught off guard at first, and simply let the girl hug her, it didn't take longer than half a second to remember that they were in public and that her new roommate was right in front of her as well. Her face turning flush as the girl teased her, Stella didn't really do anything other than attempt to look away from Kelsey, clearly more embarrassed than anything else by the whole thing. As she was freed, she looked to Kelsey saying, "well you should really - um..." The girl's train of thought seemed to screech to a halt almost immediately as she had no idea what she was actually going to say, this only more emphasized by her stammering out a bit before simply mumbling out a, "sounds fine." Jolting alert as she looked to the side, again acknowledging that she was in public the girl simply blurted out, "right, notebooks!" Leading the pack at a brisk pace, trying to recollect herself, the girl said, "I don't know what the classes are going to be like but we're probably going to want at least one book for every class. Or one of the larger ones with dividers in them, though those can get a bit limiting in space and also cumbersome to carry around all the time." While there were a variety of notebooks all lined up in different colors and patterns, Stella simply picked out a few that were but a basic black and white pattern on the cover. Naturally, she didn't get many for herself, but still ended up picking out all of the same kind for Kelsey as well. Looking to the duo next she said, "now that we have notebooks, the next best thing to get is something to write with. In general, it's best to buy a large bulk case of pens rather than a single expensive one. Not only are pens and pencils probably the most misplaced school supply but the cheaper ones tend to work just as well as the more expensive ones. Oh, be sure to get some red pens as well, they can always be handy as well." The girl had suddenly seemed to be next to a shelf and already had several cases of pens in hand, waving them around as she explained.

Ross simply shrugged at Morgan's comment, simply saying, "well I suppose that's fine. But I'll probably ask for a return." It wasn't as though Ross was made of money or anything. That being said, she was still spotting the girl for now. Thus far she had been a fine friend and, well, she couldn't help but find something both entertaining and endearing about the girl through her otherwise brash and haughty persona. Plus, there was something else the girl couldn't put her finger on just yet, though she didn't really bother thinking on it anymore. Instead thinking about where to go, the girl spoke aloud saying, "I wonder where to go to find it though. Maybe the mall?" Morgan scrunched her face up. "The mall again? Come on, bringing me to the same place two days in a row, what an amateur." She rolled her eyes. There was the haughty. As the girl seemed to have an idea of what she didn't want, Ross felt like asking a question she felt she already knew the answer to. Raising an eyebrow at the girl, her tone became a bit more playful as she asked, "then what's an expert opinion like yours?" "I never said I was an expert, I just know what doesn't work for me, and that doesn't. Got it?" The answer was more honest than she was expecting, though still in line with what Ross had thought. Waving it off she said, "right, right Princess. Well -" before Ross could say anymore she was cut off as the alarm went off on her watch. "Oh, seems like it's time to go." Looking at the girl she said, "how do these things work?" "We go to the room and enter a sorta....you know those VR Headsets? Like that. Not as cool as actually going there but it works. Then we fight, and you lose. And then you get me ice cream after." "I see," the girl nodded. Without her expression changing, the Ross got up from her chair, indicating she was ready to go. "So if I win you get me ice cream. I could get used to that." "I never agreed to that." Morgan said hurriedly, then tossed her hair and looked away. "Not that I'll lose." With her to Morgan and smirk on her face, Ross simply said, "of course not Princess." With that, Ross left the cafe and went to the room where they were slated to do battle. Stepping where she was indicated to, she looked to her opponent and said, "well, good luck." The next thing that Ross had known, she was presented with a blinding light followed by an entire change of scenery. Looking around, the girl saw that there was nothing but cave wall all around her. Marveling at how crazy the world she was in really was, Ross simply walked over to the wall and ran her hand across it. "At least it's not made of flesh." That was always a plus. Without much to go off, Ross had decided to start aimlessly walking down the tunnel of this otherwise ominously and ambient tunnel. Xia seemed to light up as Aurora mentioned that she could both tag along and the idea of the sports stadium. “Sports are super fun so sure! I’ve already played tennis - tennis is my favorite so far. Oh oh, but this one time, Cyan and I played Basketball with a bunch of other people and that was also super fun!” Beginning to walk alongside Aurora she said, “but what’s a ‘personal business’?” “Oh it’s...” What was a good way to put it? “Something you do on your own time for profit, basically. Like a vegetable farmer who also decided to open up a flower shop somewhere for himself, or something. I wanted to see if I could set something like that up myself to make a few extra points on the side.” “Oh, that sounds awesome.” Leaning in closer, beaming with curiosity, Xia then asked, “so what do you want to do?” “I’d like to try selling ice sculptures. It’s something I can do real easily with my Fragment, and I bet it can pay off pretty well once I get a reputation for it.” “That sounds cool!” Xia marveled at the thought of Aurora’s business, and looked in wonder to the sky saying, “I know I’d buy one!” Then looking down, the girl seemed to be in deep thought as she put a hand to her chin. “I wonder what I could do for a personnel business?” Seeming to come up with an idea, she said, “oh, maybe if I get really good, people could pay me to play tennis! That’s a business right?” “I… I guess?” That sounded more like a professional sports contract. But technically it counted. Right? Seeming to be thrilled by the idea, Xia pumped herself up once again as she thought about being the best at tennis. Curious as another thought popped into her head, the girl asked, “so, what kind of sports do you play Aurora?” “Not… any, really… I’ve never had the chance to play sports as part of a team. I bet I’d be good at hockey though!” With a finger to her chin Xia muttered aloud, "I've never played hockey before." Perhaps the girl had found the next challenge she needed to break through in order to achieve her goal of tennis stardom. Before she could ask any more questions on the subject, though, the girl's watch seemed to ring out, telling her that it was time for her to get to her match. With a small wave and smile, the girl said, "sorry but I have to go now Aurora. Good luck with your sports though!" With that, Xia made her way to the arena room, waiting for her match to start.

With the day changing, the group had gotten ready to leave the town of Trailsau. Though Marie wanted to give Allie a stern talking to, she was annoyed to have learned that she had already left. And still injured at that! Marie, naturally, was in a bit of a huff as they began their journey for the day. With nothing much really to go off, the group had decided that their next destination would be in the west, given that they had already gone north and south. Thankfully, after leaving the town of constant fights, the group had a few peaceful days of simple road travel. Naturally, as all things in recent days, this peace didn't last. As they made their way to the city of Adarid, the gang came across what looked like the remnants of a freak hurricane that had just bowled through the area. Of course, Marie hadn't experienced anything of the sort since coming to the region, and more to that there was something off about what she was looking at. Marie wasn't an expert on storms, but having lived on an island her whole life, the girl was able to tell there was something unnatural about the destruction that was wrought here. As the group walked through the destruction more, Marie too fueled by curiosity to hear otherwise, they eventually saw something that the girl couldn't help but think was both familiar and far more different than something she had seen before. Marie's eyes went wide with horror as she set them upon the two women, both heavily injured and only one barely conscious. The cause of this being the only other person around, that being a Lucario. There was something about the two strange women that reminded Marie of her big sister, Moltres, with there being something similarly reminiscent of Allie with the Lucario. However, the girl felt something far, far more imposing about this man than she had Allie. In fact, there was something about him that made the girl feel like every instinct in her body was telling her to run away. It hadn't been like against Allie, when she had felt an instinctual fear to run as the girl mercilessly beat down on her and her friends. This was just telling her that she shouldn't even talk to the man to begin with. As such, the girl jolted back a bit as the man spoke up, and the girl felt as if her heart had momentarily stopped. However, if these girls had anything to do with her big sister - no, even if they didn't, Marie couldn't just let something like this slide. Taking a deep breath and stepping forward, the girl walked towards the Lucario. Pointing her finger at him, she shouted to him, "and just what do you think you're doing Mister?" The man didn't move. Instead, he lowered his head slightly in her direction. "I am fighting. And what about you? Your aura is weak. What are you trying to do here?" The term "aura" definitely confused the girl, cocking her head to the side but she still pressed onward against him. "Well, I'm telling you to stop. Fighting isn't a nice thing to do, especially this kind of fighting!" "It's not supposed to be nice." He responded. "It's just what I do. Go on. No need for you to watch how this ends." Though the man was nothing short of terrifying, Marie felt her blood start to boil as he seemed intent on fighting. As such, the girl stood her ground as she continued to wag her finger at him. "Well, if you know it's not nice, then why are you doing it?" "I have no need to explain it to you." He turned away. Stepping forward, irritated, Marie continued, "you're an adult so you should know that bullying is wrong. And I don't abide bullying." The Lucario, however, did not say anything. While Nine had readied himself for whatever attack that Raphael was about to throw at him, it had seemed that the man wasn't quite nearly as invested in Nine as he was in him. As the others began to make their move, Nine could only watch in both awe and horror at the speed at which the Disciple moved, and the power he displayed in effortlessly swatting Kayla away. Seeing that things were not entirely in their favor, the burn that Lok having inflicted not doing much as the man seemed to have some kind of slow regeneration power of his own. With a grimace on his face as the man attacked Lok, Nine simply fired off a dark pulse towards the Disciple, the Banette not even bothering to dodge his attack. Though Nine had a serious expression on his face, it soon gave way to a smile as he said, "now now, I'm sure a fanatic like you has a lot you'd like to talk about." "You poor thing. You really want my attention don't you? Fine, fine, have some." The Banette fired off a shadow ball towards Nine, followed with his ghostly claws extending as he charged towards him. Seeing the attacks come at him, Nine knew that he had to prioritize taking as little damage as possible - or rather, as little lethal damage as possible - while still trading some blows back against. And to that end, he knew that simply attempting to evade the attacks of Raphael wouldn't do him any good, as there was no way he could keep up any sort of offensive pressure against the Banette. And even then, he hardly doubted even if he put everything into dodging he could simply keep himself safe from the Banette's full onslaught. To this end, Nine leaped to the side to evade the shadow ball and braced himself for the coming shadow claw. Nine raised up an arm and stepped forward, attempting to only be struck by the arm of the attack rather than the claw. As he did so, he then went for a punch himself, his fist coated in the foul play aura he had used so many times before. "Of course! Not every day you get to talk to a disciple!" Taking the punch dead on, Raphael still didn't seem particularly deterred by Nine's offensive, instead extending his claws out yet again to rake into the Houndoom. "Sorry I'm not into guys like you." Bringing his arms back, Nine simply tried to create space between him and the disciple. "That's fine by me. I don't think I can stand anything about you. So, how did you two meet?" Buckling in his legs, Nine fell backwards going into a roll away from the man. And while his maneuver was successful in avoiding the claws, it did little to protect him from the shadow ball that followed. Being knocked back by the attack, Nine grimaced in pain as he less than gracefully rolled on the ground. "Giratina found me. They knew I was of a same mind. So they came to me in my dreams. It was so...painful." Raphael smiles wider at that. "Let me show you how it felt." He then leapt at Nine. Doing his best to continue rolling away, Nine spring away from Raphael and back up onto his feet, firing yet another dark pulse at the Banette as he did so. As he did, he could feel that things were already taking a turn for the worse. His arm was already in immense pain and his side where the shadow ball had hit was screaming out at him too. He already felt like he had been through the ringer, and he had only been struck by two attacks so far. This was to say nothing of the steady numbness that was slowly spreading throughout his body that brought with its own set of pain. Grimacing but still trying to smile through the pain, Nine said, "sorry, but I prefer sweet dreams over painful ones. So, if Giratina and you are of the same mind, does that mean all he wants you to do is kill?"

"Whoops." Alois casually lifted the sheets of paper off the table as Acantha made her move for them, a small smirk on his face as he did. Bringing the papers down on the beaver's head lightly then, he said, "sharing is caring, so learn to share a bit better with the others. Not like this tells me anything anyway." With a playful smile on his face, he said, "so I guess your secret's safe for now beaver girl." Looking over to Edrick as the Pontic made his comment, the boy said, "well, I don't know about that." Mostly because he didn't know what it was Edrick was talking about. "But, it certainly seems like the adults of this place are up to something." Walking over to Penelope and the new girl, the boy said, "hey princess." Handing the documents over to her, he said, "take a read. I think it'll pique your interest." After giving her the papers, Alois made his way away from them and said, "well, I'm going to see how things are topside. Later." The boy also thought that, perhaps, there would be more crates for him to smash open. With a wave, Alois made his way up the stairs, only to see the others already snooping around. "Well, well, super sleuths, find anything interesting? I've already found out that my town might be some kind of cult. Crazy day." Without waiting for their response, the boy decided to go follow suit and snoop through the mayor's things even more. Opening the wardrobe, the boy said, "well, what do we have here?" At first glance, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary. It was just a regular wardrobe with nothing but regular clothing and the few fancy attires for when a holiday called for it. However, as the boy continued to rifle through the man's clothing he eventually saw something that caught his eye in the back of the wardrobe. Moving the close out of the way, the boy simply muttered, "how curious." What was there was what appeared to be a large letter "O", or a circle, carved into the wood. Tracing the circle with his finger and then tapping it, the boy shrugged as nothing happened. Tsetseg continued to look at the rat with bright eyes, as it seemed to look back to her. Though it hadn't answered her the first time, or at least in any way she could understand she simply asked again. "What are you doing down here little ratty?" The rat, meanwhile, simply ran about in circles as one would expect of a rat, before standing on its hind legs and gesturing to the room. Furrowing her brow, the girl seemed to deep in thought about the creature's gestures before saying, "oh, oh, oh! Do you live down here?" The rat shook its head. Continuing to furrow her brow again, the girl tried to understand what the rodent could possibly be trying to tell her. However, she wasn't particularly great at reading animals when it didn't come to hunting them. As such, the meaning the rat was trying to convey was lost to her. Even as she tried to think more on it, she simply decided that it was best left to others before saying, "hmmmmmm," the girl shakes her head. "I don't get it, nope. But," with a bright face she then proceeded to ask, "do you want to come along?" With a nod, the rat scampered to Tsetseg, the girl holding out her hand for it to climb on. With the rat scurrying up her arm and now perched on her shoulder, the girl then looked to the others with a bright smile. Happy to have a new adventuring companion at her side, the girl then looked around to inspect something in this great and mysterious house. Looking at the wall, noticed something strange about it. It was covered in strange squiggles. The girl had felt she had seen these squiggles before, something similar to what she had seen in the fox's village. And the covers of books. And sometimes papers in general. Yet, as always, the meaning evaded the girl's comprehension. And so, she looked to her protean companions saying, "do you guys know what these squiggles mean?"

While Leon was ready to go take on the axe zombie to go to help Raynor out, he was slightly stunned as Yue moved past him and shot the zombie down in one shot. He had always known she was a talented archer, but seeing her fury up close and in person was something different. All the same, the boy was not only impressed by the archer's precision, but looking to his side, he was fairly certain the zombie next to him had just been alive. But, with an arrow in its skull, it was clear how it had died. Looking over at the girl, he then looked to Edda, who had just been next to Yue. Edda, to her part, didn't meet the eyes of Leon as he did, still seeming to be both unnerved and overwhelmed by everything that was going. Well, it didn't matter anyway. If Edda was doing something, it was only to their benefit, and so the boy didn't feel like now was the time to press. As such, Leon made his way over to Yue and Raynor. With nothing immediately threatening them, Leon crouched down and checked Raynor's condition. Thankfully, he looked worse than he actually was. The man still seemed to be breathing and he still had a pulse, and he didn't seem to be in pressing threat of dying just yet. However, that was about where the good news ended. Looking to Yue he said, "he's alive, still." Looking further into the forest, Leon sighed as the zombies started making their way closer to them. "But we're not safe yet. Don't worry, though," with sword in hand, Leon got ready to take on monsters. Meanwhile, on the opposite side, Alexis's hopes were rightly placed in the zombie. As the dark magic both missed and tore into the creature, it looked towards Ada. Letting out a pained groan, the creature began to shamble towards Ada, completely ignoring the pieces of it that were missing from her last attack. Raising its axe, the creature brought down the weapon into Ada, dealing a heavy blow to the girl in the process. However, Ada's response was even more powerful, as her dark magic had pulverized the shambling corpse, leaving the creature in many pieces. With that, the group was in a pocket of safety for the moment, but the creatures continued to make their way forward.

Whoops forgot to answer this. Anyway as far as specific musicians go I’m not too familiar with just about anyone so I can’t really answer that question. But for the most part I enjoy the drums and bass most. They always make a song better without me having to acknowledge they’re there over a lead guitar and vocals, but when you do songs get even doper yo.

Things seemed to have gone from bad to worse in her operation to try and save the Wind Chosen. Though the girl had managed to stave off one attack and had defeated one more of the gnolls, the girl didn't seem to be able to escape in time. With two gnolls and the warg converging on her position, Ryia had no idea what to do to save the girl. In the most dire of situations, she figured she could simply throw herself in front of her ally and find some way to take the blow for them. But not only was she too far away, even if she were able to she hardly doubted she would be able to take all of the attacks at once. Her mind continued to race to find a way to bring Pyrrha out of this hole, but couldn't think of anything she herself could do on her own. She could only hope that the elf girl had a way to get out of this herself. She had a method to get in, so that same method could probably used both ways right? Though, she didn't quite understand it to begin with, and she figured if the elf could then she probably would have already. Yet, believing in the girl to escape was all she could do to keep herself sane and narrow down her options as to what her job was. And, if she was relying on the wind chosen to find her own way out, then all she could hope to do was buy space for them to do so. Looking in front of her, there was only one option she had to take. Which was convenient for her anyway, as it seemed to be the one going for the most lethal blow. Steadying her sword arm, the girl took a deep breath as she rushed forward towards the gnoll with its back towards her. Letting out a fierce shout as she did, thrust forward, her scimitar piercing through the gnoll's back. As she did, the beast's attack was paused, the creature itself lurching forward as the wind was knocked out of it, and blood seemed to be coming out with each cough that followed. Though its arms fell to its side after the attack, the gnoll didn't let go of its axe. Instead, making a noise that was some mix between a growl and a gurgle, the creature twisted to its right, attempting to strike at the earth chosen. However, with all of the initiative in this situation, Ryia simply removed her sword from its back and stepped in the same duration the gnoll was moving. As the axe bounced off her shield, the girl went for one more slash, cutting through the chest of the gnoll and causing it to let out one last cough of blood before falling to the ground. With one threat down, she could only hope it was enough.

Stella wasn't quite sure how to feel about the group's current situation. She had lead her friends to the place she had suggested herself, that being an office supply store on campus by the name of Clips. This kind of chain of stores that Stella had visited quite frequently back home and was glad to see it was a brand that crossed galaxies. And, naturally, as she had frequented these stores quite often she didn't have any actual need to be here. That and she was positive this was not the way that most people wanted to spend their last day of break before school, yet outside of eating fast food Stella didn't have many alternatives come to mind as to how to kill a day. And so, the girl said, "um, well...here we are." Taking a deep breath, Stella entered the store. Once inside, the girl seemed to calm down a bit as she felt more in her element. Looking at the others, she said, "well, with school starting, we need to make sure we won't get tripped up in class. Having notebooks, pens and pencils is always a good start. But binders and folders are just as important, and without dividers you'll never find anything in there without struggle. Similarly, highlighters are as important as they're practically the dividers of the marker family. Not to mention - " the girl's attention was distracted as she looked further down and saw the section filled with desks and chairs causing the girl to mutter, "I wonder if we're allowed a chair in our room. That'll have to be something I ask the princi - " the girl caught herself as she remembered the party they had after landing, correcting herself to, "something I ask the vice principal later." Looking to the others she said, "well, where would you like to begin?" The girl seemed to be filled with an unnatural and uncommon confidence in her voice. No matter what planet it may have been on, a Clips was still a Clips. And there was no building Stella knew better than that.

Ross simply sat back in the chair saying, "well, this place is a maze. And before that I had a doctors appointment to go to. Things took a bit longer than expected. You know how it goes." The girl simply glanced up for a moment with unease as she remembered all the blood sampling she had done before returning to neutral as she looked back down. Before the girl could say any more, the woman in charge of the cafe had come over to get their order. However, Ross's expression dropped a bit as the woman had made two misunderstandings on her current situation. As she double backed and apologized, Ross simply said, "ah, well. Don't worry about it." This wasn't the first time Ross had been mistaken for a boy, though it had been quite some time. The only people Ross normally had an interaction with were those who had been also apart of the DHG, and so outside of a new member every so often it was fairly hard for people she regularly saw to mistake her as such. And as she grew up and started to become, at least marginally, more feminine in looks less people had made this mistake as well. However, this problem was far more prevalent than she would have liked to admit in her school years. That their cross country team was co-ed didn't help. Being cheered on by girls from another school had always proven to be an awkward experience. And having to turn down a girl's confession by saying, "actually...I'm a girl..." was not an experience she wanted to relive. In that similar fashion, she wanted to tell the barista that she was, in fact, not on a date with Morgan. Though, as the latter seemed oblivious to the situation and Ross felt as though her bringing attention to it would only cause even more issues for her, the girl simply sighed in defeat. Looking to the barista, who had seemed to be in a panic from her mistake, Ross more said to only herself, "well, water is probably just fine." Sitting back in the chair, the girl turned to face the witch girl with a slightly curious expression on her face. "I gotta admit, I wasn't expecting a girl like you to pick a quaint place like this to hang out in." As Xia continued her exploration of the city she had realized something. It was big. Despite walking around for what seemed like probably an hour, the girl didn't feel like she was getting any closer to her destination. In fact, as she continued to make her way through all of the streets and continued to turn at each corner she thought was the right way, the fact that she was lost seemed to become more and more true. Eventually, though, the girl had come to this realization as she had some how found her way back at her own apartment complex. As it turned out, Snowball had been an excellent navigator to help find her way around town. As she tried to figure out where to go from here, the girl then looked around, only to see a familiar snow white head of hair. With her face brightening up, the girl walked over to her friend shouting, "heeeeeyyyy Aurora! Are exploring the big city today too?"

Marie's confusion didn't seem to clear up as Randy tried to explain what was going on. This confusion, however, let up as Nani had described what had happened with Keanu being afraid of ghost stories. At this moment, Marie had felt as if she had just learned a dangerous secret of the Pikachu's and while many a stories the girl could think of starting to go through her head. "Oh? Is that all? I didn't think you'd be the kind to be so jumpy." Putting a finger to her chin, the girl seemed to have a smile on her face as she said, "how cute." Well, it wasn't as if she was going to use this information for anything...so long as she wasn't given a reason to, at least. Sitting down with the others, the girl looked to the Pikachu as he made his comment saying, "well, Trevor's place is a bit of a walk to get to. Then, we just kind of talked." The girl looked around saying, "this town really is something else, don't you think guys?"

Looking back to Shiro the girl nodded saying, "okay, I can do that!" As Penelope had then congratulated the group, Tsetseg's face brightened with a prideful smile as she got up off of her knees on the ground to standing back up. Walking through the house, and tip toeing past the red liquid that was across the ground the girl then looked to Shiro again as he was standing at the door. With a thumbs up as if to indicate that she definitely had this under control, the girl placed the key into the lock. As the girl had felt like in a past life, or maybe even her current life but different, that she was great with locks, there was no way she could possibly lose against this door lock. And her confidence was answered, as she turned the key, and unsurprisingly it unlocked the door. With a look of pride on her face, and then smiling brightly she nodded excitedly at the frog protean. Shouting to the others, the girl exclaimed, "it opened!" Walking down the stairs, the girl found herself in a dark cellar, lit only by a few lamps shining in the room. As she slowly walked down the stairs, the girl looked around the room, marveling at all of the different kinds of food and smells that seemed to be down here. Walking around the the room, the girl eventually saw behind the staircase a strange furry creature in the corner of the room. As she walked towards it, and crouched down, it became apparent that the furry creature was none other than a rat that was just sitting there. Unfazed, the girl smiled and said, "hello hello there little guy. What're you doing down here?" Alois meanwhile had merely watched the young archer go about her business before turning back to Cat. With a smile on his face, he said, "oh no, I've got this all under control." Raising his axe, the boy brought the axe down with half strength as he struck the lid of the crate. The crate's lid didn't seem to be particularly sturdy, and as a result Alois managed to break through it easily. Thankfully, as well, he hadn't put his all into the swing, and so he had managed to stop his axe blade just short of cleaving through a collection of papers that were stored inside. Raising an eyebrow at this, Alois merely said, "now what's this here?" Picking up the papers, the boy began to look through them. His attention was briefly distracted by Penelope's comment, feeling something off with it. However, before he could think any more on it, he noticed something greatly off about the papers in his hand. The papers themselves just seemed to be a manual of sort of trial, which then ended with a ritual to achieve a title. While the boy was confused by the unfamiliar terms, his eyes went wide as he looked at the list of names that seemed to be at the end of this document. Turning around, papers in hand, the boy walked over to Cora and her friendly beaver. "Well, you only need one to see this." Placing the manual on the trials and ritual known as the Awakening the boy said, "so, Cora, Acantha," his eyes seemed more focused on the beaver then the girl. "You two wouldn't happen to know what a Caller is, would you?"

Beginning to step through the cave, Nine was soon stopped as the legend had issued a warning to them. With his hands in his pocket, Nine looked behind to at first see nothing there. However, soon enough, as if he suddenly started to slowly slip into and exist within reality, a Banette had appeared before them. His entrance aside, Nine could already tell something was off with the man who had appeared before them. And the more he talked, the more he felt something absolutely sinister stewing within the Banette before him. As he finished his introductions, Nine was left frozen as the man had effortlessly changed the scenery around them - Shaymin no longer being alongside them. Looking at Raphael, Nine felt something he hadn't for quite some time. A pinging in the back of his head that made every hair on his body stand on end as the demonic figure looked at them. Fear. His hand trembling, Nine could tell that this man was something else. Something terrifying. Something that made him feel as though he needed to escape from here as fast as possible. He couldn't help but feel as though this was the worst possible situation to be in. No godslayer could match up to him. Even legends, though they had a different bearing he still was simply as imposing. Nine had always thought that a Disciple was the worst possible opponent he could ever face off against, and even then there was something different about him. Both Kushiel and Azriel had a calm, yet forceful air about them. Their presence commanded order and respect, completely eclipsing anything else in the same room as them. Raphael, however, had an almost suffocating aura of chaos and malevolence about him. It wasn't as though his presence eclipsed everything around him, but rather threatened to tear apart anything that got close. Looking at the foe before him, though, recognizing him again to be a disciple, Nine's hand stopped trembling for a moment. Perhaps it was something within his blood, something fundamentally wrong with him that made him feel something else. It wasn't as though the fear was gone, but rather paired and in tandem with an almost paradoxically complimenting emotion. His stunned expression slowly changing to a small smile, the Houndoom knew he simply had to take things one step at a time. That he had to simply go to the basics of how he fought everyone he had ever come across in this journey. And the first step was the same as always. Conversation. "Now, now, I don't think I really want to fight you but, well, care to answer a few questions for the soon to be deceased?" "Oh? Questions? For me? Hmmm....Answer, red is my favorite color. So sweet of you to ask." Nine couldn't help but let loose a nervous chuckle as the man answered. "Well, I'm a fire type and we're often seen as the red kind, so I'm sure we'll get along well." Being on guard but still seeming amiable he'll say, "just to make it clear, you're Giratina's Disciple. Which means, that after all your traveling as a Chaser, Giratina chose you. Correct?" Raphael sat down on the edge of the coffin, kicking his legs, swaying side to side. "Travelling? No, no travelling. Those others did that. But not me. Giratina never got the chance to do things like that. I just killed soooo many people that they decided I would be the one they whisper to." Nine paused for a moment, slightly raising an eyebrow before going back to his smile. "Oh? Well, sorry for presuming otherwise, but congratulations. You must feel truly blessed to simply be chosen. But, well, I'm curious you see. Amongst all of those people you killed, were any of the legends?" "Not yeeeet." Raphael giggled. Nine felt a sense of relief wash over him at this. He was a disciple. But he had never done his journey as a Chaser. And he had never slain a legend before - likely meaning he had either never met one or never defeated one. Nine had no idea where this sense of relief had come from. It wasn't as though he was any less terrifying an individual. It wasn't as though the foe before him looked any weaker. Relief may not have even been the best word to describe it. Yet, there was something about it that calmed his nerves. And something that bolstered his resolve even further. As this indescribable sensation overcame him, he couldn't help but smile more pleasantly at this. "I see, I see. Well, then fret not. When I meet him, I will be sure to converse with just as I would any other legend, godslayer, disciple or common folk." "Hmmmm?" His head tilted to the side, his mouth smiled wider than should be possible, and he let out a growl. "You won't see anyone. But if you're lucky you'll see some of your insides before you die." Nine felt a sudden rush of pain overcome him as the Banette growled. As the Banette winced, Nine as well suddenly understood what this now familiar sensation of pain was as he started to feel a curse eat away at him from the inside. "No, that's not right, you are supposed to hurt even more...here, have this too." Clutching his chest, Nine then felt a sudden pain rush through him as Raphael seemed to feel better, from his own self inflicted pain. Without any words to accompany it, Nine simply waved his hand and let loose a dark pulse almost immediately as the pain was beset upon him. Chuckling a bit to himself as he winced in pain the boy said, "see, if you had come to me any other time, I may have despaired. But I'm a Chaser, and your legend is the last one I need to meet before I finally finish my challenge. With the finish line so close, even if you were Arceus's disciple I don't think I could stand to lose. And besides that, I have a reason far greater for defeating your master than even that." Raphael, however, didn't seem to bother avoiding the attack. In fact, he instead flipped off the coffin, taking the blow head on before flipping back onto the coffin. As he did, still smiling, Nine felt a different sensation of pain rush through his head. "I see why you wanted to talk. You're. So. Weak." Nine's body felt as though it simply didn't want to use dark pulse anymore, less that he couldn't and more that it simply didn't wish to repeat the same attacks over and over. Letting out another pained chuckle as things turned from bad to worse for him. "Of course. Everyone I've ever stood against has stood on a mountain, far too high for me to see the peak of. So in the face of them." Nine began to ran towards the disciple, sending a rush of flames from his hand towards him. "What else can I hope to do but what I know I'm good at?" With nominal effort, Raphael merely launched a shadow ball through his flames. Knowing that there was no way he'd win in a head on clash, Nine stopped his attack and deftly rolled to the side to avoid the attack. Summoning a smaller flame in his palm he said, "so, I hope you'll have fun conversing with a weakling like me." Crushing the flame in his hand, Nine was enveloped in a glowing aura of sunlight, feeling the healing properties of his aura fight the eating feeling of the curse within.

As she chanted her verse yet again, allowing Ada to move yet again, Edda looked to the girl as she thanked her. Seeming uncomfortable by it, but still returning a thumbs up with a weaker smile all the same she said, "um...yeah. Don't uh, mention it, yeah." With most of the monsters either being not immediately within striking distance, or having just come up from the ground but seeming like they've missed their cue and simply decided to stand there, the group seemed to earn a somewhat respite. Or, at least that is how the group thought things were going. Alexis was quite correct in assuming the monster didn't quite understand her taunting. In fact, it didn't even seem to pay any mind to her provocation nor the fact that she had just slain one of the zombies near it. Instead, with lance in hand, it charged the young Jouran girl in the thickets. Stabbing at the girl, Edda had no way to really dodge the attack and simply put her arms up to defend against it. The lance, while striking true, didn't so much as pierce the girl's arm as it simply pressed against it and the point of the spear dragged itself along her forearm, creating a long cut. Gritting her teeth in pain, the girl swung her blade forth in retaliation, though quite like her last foe, the strike only seemed to tear off a small amount of rotted flesh without really slowing the creature down at all. Further to the west of the battlefield, Raynor and the lance wielding zombie were in the midst of their showdown. Pulling its lance out of Raynor as the man dislodged his lance from the zombie. As if a mirror of their last clash, the two then stabbed at each other yet again. As both attacks struck true yet again, the two had suffered stab wounds, and while they had managed to dislodge their weapons again from their target, this time it had resulted in a different ending. The zombie, letting go of his weapon, slumped down onto the ground as it fell to the grass, lifeless once again. While Raynor had been victorious, his victory was short lived. While the man was rightly confident to believe that he could take two of the zombies, the tree and darkness had served to obstruct his view. As such, he would be surprised as the from beyond the corner a zombie wielding an axe came into view. Groaning, and walking past the sword wielding zombie, the newcomer raised his blade as he struck down on both of the rider and his mount, sending them both to the ground. Motionless. Staring at them, wide eyed, Leon simply shouted, "Raynor!" Looking at both the Jouran and the his mount, Leon couldn't quite tell what their condition was but "bad" was a perfectly suitable word for it. As the sword wielding zombie walked passed the now downed Jouran, not at all interested in him, it then went to strike at the only thing in its path it could. Raising up his shield, Leon blocked the sword swing of the zombie, though winced in pain as the heavy swing of the creature pushed through his guard and slashed into his torso. Still standing fine on his feet, the young falcon leader retaliated and cleaved through part of the zombie's flesh, taking a large chunk of it away. While it was still standing, it was now the least of Leon's worries. Looking back to Layne he said, "don't worry, I'll handle the zombie over there and keep him safe. Make sure to keep everyone else healthy." Looking to the rest of the group he said, "keeping pressing forward to the phantom!"

Jacklyn pouted as the two made their protests against her taking the picture. Looking at them she said, "listen. We're on an adventure! And it's fine to just take in the scenery and keep going along, but taking pictures is important! After all, when an adventure is done, you want to remember everything you did no matter how small! So pictures of all things are important!" Looking to the side, and hiding her camera under the table, the girl muttered, "by I'll keep the flash off." Looking at the menu herself, the girl began to try and ponder what it was that she wanted. As she did, the waiter had come over, a young adult male devoid of any feature that made him stand out bar his uniform. The uniform itself seemed to be a plain white t-shirt and khakis, with an apron that had a Skrelp embroidered onto it that was on fire. While Jacklyn was unsure if the fire was actually real or not, she could feel real heat coming from the man's presence, though he didn't seem to pay any mind to it. "So, what can I get for you all tonight?" Looking at the menu, the girl said, "well, I guess I'll just get the Kelp Flambe and some...Kelp Water?" "Certainly!" With a peppy smile, the boy looked to the others and took their order as well. When all was said and done, he closed his notebook and said, "got it all. I'll be right back with your orders, so just hang tight!" As he left, the girl was still befuddled by the man, she looked to the others. "Anyway, the point is we're supposed to keep track of all of our memories. But," eagerly she looked to the others saying, "it's also important to have goals and sights you want to go see. So when you get there it's all the more impressive. Like a big "uwaaaah" moment!" Pulling out the map of the region the girl placed it on the table saying, "how about we make a wishlist of things to do or see?"

Though there were wounds in her body, the girl stood firm and steadfast, knowing that the heavy load of her work had almost been complete. With only two of the five gnolls remaining, the girl was feeling more confident in her odds of success and prepared herself to meet them head on yet again. However, her eyes went wide with shock as someone had appeared right behind one of the gnolls she had been fighting. Seeing the chosen of wind bring her scimitar down on the creature, That she hadn't killed the enemy, though, was the least of her issues. Why was she here suddenly? Ryia figured that it must've been some kind of magic, but that didn't matter much. She couldn't help but wonder why she had decided to help her. Though the sentiment might've been appreciated, Ryia couldn't quite condone it. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Lindow and Reinaan were still fighting gnolls of their own, which meant they, Geoff and Keres weren't safe yet. As a result, the wind chosen appearing before her now meant that she wasn't helping them. And that she had opted for a more dangerous approach here, meant that she was only endangering herself to aid Ryia as well. As a sudden surge of guilt began to build up within the girl, this only seemed to grow more as the gnoll leader began to make his charge atop his dreaded beast. With Pyrrha getting struck by an arrow from the man, the girl's eyes went wide with panic as he made his way to double team her alongside the gnoll she had attacked. Shouting, "Pyrrha, get away!" The girl paid little attention to her own safety, stomping her foot on the ground and forcing a wall of earth to shoot out of the ground and block the gnoll leader's attack against the girl. As a result, Ryia felt yet another sharp pain course through her as her panicked eyes darted towards the culprit. She didn't seem to register the pain that much, as instead adrenaline seemed to be pumping through her much faster than before. She had to make sure the others were safe, and had to keep Pyrrha safe from the three enemies now around her. And this gnoll was only getting in the way of that. As he swung back again with his axe, the girl stopped it with her shield. Tired of being blocked, the gnoll then reached out with his other arm, grabbing onto the girl's shield and yanking it. Though he pulled her closer, the girl's grip on her shield remained firm and she herself began to go on the offensive. With scimitar in hand, the girl went to slash at the gnoll, only for his axe arm to get in the way and take the blade instead. As the beast howled in bed, the girl took this as an opportunity to press forward, shoving her whole body into the chest of the gnoll and knocking him off of his feet. Laying prone there, the girl slashed at him once, causing a large gash to appear across his chest. However, still alive, the gnoll tightened his grip on his hand axe. Bringing her own blade up overhead, Ryia plunged the sword downward as the gnoll began to slash at her once again. Unfortunately for the creature, the girl was faster and proved too much as her blade sunk into his arm and pushed it further down into his chest. With one final gasp, the gnoll breathed its last, allowing the girl to stand back upright again. Before her were two gnolls and a warg. The gnolls were a problem themselves, but she had known that the wolf-like beast before her was a dangerous predator in its own right. Glaring at the beast, who itself seemed to be observing the action, the girl prepared herself for whatever it was plotting. Though her breath was ragged and posture unsteady, and she was unsure herself how many more injuries she could sustain, she was not about to let herself falter at this moment.

Nine was glad to see that Shaymin was now resolved to go aid them in their quest, and with that out of the way, the group had decided to break for the moment. Nine, being a stranger, didn't really have anywhere to go and so he simply stood around with Shaymin and Kayla, awaiting what was to happen next. Once the time had passed and the group reconvened again, Nine began to walk with the others to the mouth of the cave. As he made his way there, though his curiosity drove him further, he seemed to no longer be able to proceed forward. It wasn't as though there was something stopping him from entering, merely, no matter how much he wanted to proceed he couldn't really muster the ability to step forward. Stepping back as Shaymin stepped forward, signaling that it was her turn here, Nine merely watched as the girl proceeded to do her thing. Though he was curious as to what she was doing, Nine turned away and covered his eyes as the blinding light of the barrier began to shine greater and greater around them. Once it was over and done with, even though the light was gone it still took a few moments for Nine's vision to return to him. Seeing spots in his vision, the Houndoom could only see one thing quite clearly near the cave's entrance. And it was the breath taking view of the legend before him, standing gracefully before the barrier she had just destroyed. While Nine was left speechless, this passed swiftly as the serene feeling was replaced with one of an intense pressure. A feeling of dread washed over him, and his nerves told him that it was likely best to back away from this cavern. However, as both a chaser and a friend he had a job to get done. Smiling as Lok made his comment, the Houndoom said, "right on the money there Lok. What's done is done now, and so the only way is forward. No matter how scary or frightening it might be, this is what we came here to do." And with that, Nine stepped forward into the cavern, ushering the others to follow as she did so. Marie furrowed her brow at Randy's comment. With a hand to her chin, the girl said, "wanting to be top dog huh?" As he continued to explain other reasons they could've tried to been fighting all the time, Marie kept tapping her chin with a, "hmmmmm...." Shaking her head she said, "well, I don't think that's really it. Maybe...maybe they were born with it but...well...It's almost like they're having fun, you know?" Frowning a bit she said, "I'm not saying I really like it, or that I really condone fighting but. It's like different from being a bully, like Blake or Allie was, or Yveltal." Looking around at the locals partying about she said, "they aren't fighting to kill or steal, and they don't hold any grudges or anything. It's like a game or...maybe it's just something simpler then that. I don't know." Seeming to confuse herself the girl eventually said, "I don't like fighting but if it had to exist, then I wish everyone wasn't so mean about it, and could just have fun or something." Marie sighed, not being able to come to a satisfying conclusion herself and simply having to accept Trailsau for what it was. Looking forward, the girl eventually saw her other two teammates and said, "oh, look Randy." Pointing at them, the girl then hurried over saying, "hey Nani, Keanu." Looking at them, the girl saw the somewhat nervous expression of the Pikachu, and looked back and forth between the two of them. "Is everything alright?"