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Post by Larxene on Jan 26, 2010 11:06:48 GMT -5
Gaia {FF9} has been attacked by Darkness. Dark Being | Attacking: Kuja [Leader]
----- The Light has ten days to get a team together to counter this attack or the Dark will have a claim on the world! Dark, feel free to post here. Another post will be added when the Light gets a Raid Group, or if the Dark has won the world! Keep an eye out! |
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Post by Larxene on Feb 2, 2010 13:04:47 GMT -5
A Light Group of One has Countered the Attack! Light Being| Defending:
Cid Highwind[Leader]
---- Posting Order: Cid then Kuja.---- If no winner has been decided by March 2nd, then a staff member will review and decide the winner! Remember the Rules!! - [ RULES HERE] Let the Battle Begin!! |
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Post by cid on Feb 2, 2010 13:47:13 GMT -5
A flash of light escaped high up in the skies above the Outer Continent of Gaia, followed swiftly by the sound of an object leaving warp. The object in question was the airship Shera, pride and joy of the pilot Cid Highwind who had received a tip from the Restoration Committee that the 'other' Gaia was under attack by forces of Darkness, possibly in an attempt to take the world into Darkness for the forces of Darkness. The Captain of the Shera had been gone for some time but after meeting up with old friends Tifa Lockheart and Cloud Strife, the mechanic was able to be brought up to speed and discovered that the Darkness had to be finished off once and for all, lest all worlds be devoured again by the Darkness. That wasn't something Cid wanted. The worlds had already been taken by the Darkness in the past, but this time the Light was able to fight back before things returned to the old, evil ways.
Standing behind the helm of the Shera, Cid span the large wheel around, causing the airship to spin within the air before coming to a halt, hovering high above the ground where a large tree could be seen in the middle of a desert. Raising an eyebrow, the pilot hit the auto-pilot button before walking out across the deck over towards the large windows on the far side, peering down at the massive tree below. After stroking his chin slightly, the pilot let out a small grunt unsure as to where the Darkness user could be. He wasn't as trained in being able to sense the Darkness or Heartless like Cloud and Sora were, so he just had to rely on his gut instincts and this place seemed good enough to start looking. So after heading back to the helm, Cid piloted the Shera down to the ground before gathering his spear, a few supplies containing a couple of potions and elixirs before disembarking the Shera.
Cid paced across the plain for a while, heading over towards the tree that ended up to be much, much bigger then he first expected. Huge roots spiraled out from the trunk that created long winding paths towards the tree itself. Seemed like a good enough place as any to have a fight really. When Cid reached the closest root to him, he turned and glanced back at the Shera in the distance. The pilot pulled out a small remote from his belt before pressing a red button upon it. The Shera's engines then roared as they gained power, before the airship itself took off on it's own and headed high into the sky, vanishing from sight into the clouds above.
"She should be safe up there..."
Cid said to himself before turning back around to stare at the massive tree. Could the enemy be in there, or would they already be attacking a town or city? Cid pondered as he started to make his way across the large root, heading for the tree itself.
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Post by akibameow on Feb 5, 2010 1:36:16 GMT -5
There had been so. Much.
The amount of devastation that had been dealt to the Iifa Tree was almost unfathomable. Perhaps someone else might think it to be nothing less than astonishing that the tree was still standing, but it was hardly as magnificent as it had been not all that long ago; its foliage was sloughing off like gangrenous flesh, blanketing the sands below in sickly shades of brown and green. For a tree whose roots had once been snarled around the very core of Gaia, spilled into the cities and spanned the planet's girth, it was an inevitable end; eventually, there would be no more Gaian souls to sustain it, and it would die -- but for it to die so soon! So premature! Withered and dried, crumbling in on itself more and more as time and nature eroded what was left, it stood only as a testament to what could have been.
And now, as Kuja stood gazing at the tree's sprawling canopy, he was reminded of just how much he'd lost.
So. Much.
This tree was what had enabled him to gain such power. His life, whether he liked it or not, centered on it; the souls he reaped allowed the tree to grow, and the mist the tree produced gave him monsters. Black Mages. Riches. Status. Power. And he, like the tree, had such a limited life span...
He was meant to die long before the Iifa Tree ever did.
And he was meant to die along with it, die inside of it, with his brother's arms tight around him.
And yet, here I am.
Staring up at Garland's life's work, and Terra's last hope.
Garland's failure. Terra's gravestone.
None of it mattered to him anymore. It stopped mattering when he had learned of his own mortality -- all of life's luxuries, the pleasures to which Kuja had been addicted, his power and his helplessness -- it did not matter then, and it would not matter now. He had gambled with everything he had to lose, and when he lost that, he gambled with all the world had to offer. It wasn't enough. When the house wins all the bets, it's time to leave the casino -- and Kuja was prepared to do just that.
And yet, here I am.
For someone who had learned what it meant to live too late, it was very difficult to leave the comfort of death behind.
"Just what do you expect me to do, Zidane?"
But Zidane wasn't there to answer him. Zidane would never be around to answer him, and why would he be? Surely someone like him would desire nothing more than a normal life -- relatively speaking, profession aside -- and that meant a life without Kuja. After all, who could ever want to admit that their brother had caused the wars that nearly tore the planet apart, let alone forgive him? To track down Zidane, to ask this sort of thing from him -- it was too selfish to even consider...but then, Kuja was a very, very selfish person. Tree or Genome, if he were so forced to accept his dependence on something else for strength, then by Lord Avon, he had better have something to rely on!
The spheres of light that allowed him to glide rose up beneath his feet, and Kuja stepped forward to examine the tree's once-glowing core. One delicate hand reached out to touch it as if seeking out a pulse; he was almost expecting -- or, more accurately, hoping -- that he would hear the anguished cries of souls still trapped within, but there was only silence. Those souls had long been freed, returned to the natural flow that governed the cycle of life and death. But were they to return...
If there were a way to revive the Iifa Tree, for even a short amount of time..!
I could make Zidane come to me.
It wouldn't require that much sacrifice. A few thousand lives, the destruction of some primitive city or another -- no one would miss them! And he could so easily cause that sort of...
...He could do it on his own.
He didn't need the Iifa Tree. Zidane was sure to show wherever the chaos would be, and were he to seek Kuja, it didn't necessarily have to be at the tree, it could be -- aha! -- it could be at his desert palace, or even Alexandria Castle, or--!!
"I don't need you~!" A Cheshire grin split Kuja's face in two, and his eyes widened at the dawning of his revelation. "I don't need an old, dead tree! Do you-- do you understand? I don't need..!" and his voice trailed off in staccato, squawking laughter. The bark beneath his hand started to turn completely black, quickly crumbling with a familiar crackle. Smoke rose from the spot and sparks popped up into the air as he moved his fingers, urging the embers into a hotter and hotter flame -- and with the desert heat and the dryness of the tree, he imagined it would all burn up in a blink.
This is where it was meant to end.
And this was where he would begin.
Garland did not need to be remembered. Terra did not need to be remembered, and the sooner this great eyesore were destroyed, the sooner Kuja could forget who he used to be. It was only so unfortunate that he was so inclined towards death and destruction; changing that was impossible, and in Kuja's mind, there was only one person who could do the impossible.
That person was not Cid Highwind.
"Curtains rise!"
The roar of flames nearly drowned out Kuja's voice. The air buzzed with arcana as Kuja made his incantations, black magic pulsing through his veins like adrenaline, and when he spread his arms the falling leaves lit up like firecrackers, spreading the flames to the vines and far branches; it was only a matter of minutes before it became an inferno, and the wind would take care of whatever was left. The idea that anyone else was even around had not even occurred to the mage, and were he to notice the scruffy, battle-hardened dragoon amongst the tree's roots, it would not so much as make him pause. One life. One thousand lives. No one would notice.
A burning effigy of Terra blazing brightly on the desert plains...
They would certainly notice that.
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Post by cid on Feb 5, 2010 11:55:02 GMT -5
The sound of leather boots echoing across the wooden roots of the tree, suddenly came to a halt when the blond haired pilot had to stop and raise his arm up towards his forehead, using the end of his teal coloured t-shirt to dap away a few beads of sweat that were starting to form on his face. It wasn't that he were tired, well perhaps partially that. Cid had given up smoking and getting his body back into a healthy and physical condition was going to take some more work then mindless tinkering with Gummi Blocks and fixing the odd and ends that came before him in day-to-day life. It also wasn't helping that the Iifa Tree was in the middle of a desert. Why did he always end up coming to places that were vast and hot? The deserts of Agrabah and the endless forests and jungles of Takmaili?
It was while he were stopped half way along the large tree root, that he glanced back over his shoulder to where his little adventure first begun. The sand and general area of where the Shera landed was still clear to see, even from where Cid was. He wondered if there were any other worlds in which real airships existed, not these Gummi Ships, and if they did, how they were put together. The thought brought a small smirk to the dragoons lips as he wondered if there could be a world out there with technology even greater then his own creations.
"I might even learn somethin' new, somethin' that could be missin' from the Shera that might make her even better! Hmm... then i'd have to give those numbskulls another grand tour of her again... bah..."
The pilot muttered to himself, but was soon distracted by something shortly afterwards.
Sniffing the air a couple of times, the stubble-chinned Captain raised an eyebrow as he thought he just smelt some smoke. Glancing over his shoulder, the blond-haired man walked further towards the Iifa Tree's trunk before coming across a small, sturdy looking branch that poked out to the side slightly. Upon reaching it, Cid clasped a leather gloved hand tightly around the branch, before leaning over the side of the root he stood upon, to glance down at whatever was below. Well, a REALLY long drop was what were below him and Cid actually gulped as he peered down into the endless blackness that lingered below. What was odd though, was that the more he stared at this darkness, the more it seemed to be... moving? Narrowing his eyes and bending his knees till he were crouching down, Cid flicked his thumb across the end of his nose before sniffing a couple more times.
"Huh... Smells like... wood burning."
Cid said to himself as he stood back up, releasing his grip upon the branch only to hear a loud crack coming from it. The pilot shot his head to where he heard the crack and watched in shock as the branch he were just holding onto to look down over the edge, snapped at the base and fell away into the darkness below.
The scruffy pilot stood there in silence for a second as the events that just happened, started to sink in. A smell like wood burning and a branch that just falls away like that? Well the smell was obviously exactly what he smelt like. Burning wood, and the only wooden thing around here was...
"Sh*t!!! The tree's on fire?! And rotten too?!"
Not another second was wasted before the pilot turned tail and ran back across the tree truck all the way over to where the Shera first landed. And he didn't even stop then until he were a safe distance away from where the roots connected to the ground. That was when he started to consider what may have caused such a thing. The whole Tree seemed lifeless and with it's bark in such a dry state, thanks to the desert no doubt, it would take only a matter of minutes for the whole tree to become ablaze. But then a question entered his mind to which he couldn't think of a logical answer. Narrowing his eyes curiously, Cid walked back over to the gigantic hole that housed the tree roots as well as whatever else could have been down there.
Bringing up a gloved hand to his chin, the dragoon scratched at his stubble for a second before tilting his head. The half chewed toothpick between his lips was maneuvered to the other side of his mouth.
"The sun couldn't have caused a fire to start all the way down there... simply because the sun doesn't reach down there... So it must have been caused on purpose."
Cid eyes glanced up towards the sky, following the length of the tree all the way up to the top. The whole thing seemed lifeless and appeared to have been this way for a very long time... that's how it looked anyway. Still, if there WAS a Darkness user somewhere on this world, perhaps searching down this huge hole was the best place to start? Yet getting back up would be a real pain in the ass. Instead, the pilot pulled out a flare from the back of his belt and eyed it carefully. Grasping the top half with his free hand, the pilot twisted the tube still it snapped and hissed into life, throwing out a very bright green flame. Waiting a second, Cid glanced down the huge crater-like hole, before tossing the flare inside, watching it as it fell so he could try and judge just how deep this thing was.
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Post by akibameow on Feb 9, 2010 5:19:59 GMT -5
A good fire was such a pretty, pretty thing to listen to. It was like an immaterial orchestra; percussion in the embers' crackling, wood snapping and popping in little bursts as the flames crept upwards, slowly eating away at everything they touched; the way the flames yawned like woodwinds, roaring and hissing and gasping and ah! -- he could lose himself in such melody, if only it didn't consume him, too. And he could watch the dance of the flames forever, watch the firetongues lap up the branches, watch the lights flicker and blaze across his own skin -- but he had no intention of going blind so young, and as quickly as the fire was spreading, he was still so very impatient.
Burn! And the inferno would answer with every wave of his hands, twisting this way and that with every arcane command. He was in complete control. How he'd almost forgotten what it was like! This rush of euphoria, the acknowledgement of his own power -- it fed his lust for destruction and his ego both, and every newly-consumed branch seemed to egg him on with unheard whispers: more! More!
Who was he to refuse?
Burn! And he let the currents escort him through the fire and flames, feeling white heat reach out for him in wild grasps that equally offered and threatened to cremate him alive. Even the air scorched him; the black smoke that billowed up scalded his throat and lungs and forced his eyes to water, intent on obscuring his vision. As the smoke and fire rose, he descended, plunging himself into the Iifa Tree's underground depths. It wasn't that he was afraid of getting burned -- after all, he was invincible.
Immortal.
Like he was meant to be.
And he would erase every piece of evidence that he had ever been so weak.
It was only by this sudden flood of courage that he even had the nerve to revisit that place, following the tree's roots down to the maze-like hell where they all converged. That place -- that stupid little column of earth with the soft, springy moss that felt so comforting to lie in -- was permanently etched in Kuja's memory whether he liked it or not. That place would haunt his dreams, constantly assert itself into his conscious thought -- constantly remind him that it was meant to be his grave.
It was also where he had witnessed the world's greatest act of mercy.
That is where he stopped.
The spongy moss felt just as soft as he remembered it, even beneath the thick soles of his boots, and when he knelt down to touch it he could see those memories clear as day. But back then there was light streaming in from above, and the platform had been much larger before those angry roots had tried to tear it all apart -- what little patch of earth survived did so only thanks to magical means, and that moment in his memory was much too foggy to really understand. He could not remember when he had lost consciousness, whether it was he or Zidane that took the brunt of it in the end...
He wanted to see something from that scene remain. A cufflink off Zidane's sleeve, a strand of hair, gold or silver -- even just a handprint, the impression of his weight on the moss -- but it had been far too long. He could hardly even remember Zidane's scent. That moment...
That moment,[/color] he thought, drawing up a white-hot flame into the palms of his hands, is mine and mine alone.
That's when a flicker of green caught Kuja's attention, and his magic faded when he glanced up to find the source. A spiralling something, long and black, that he almost mistook for debris but for the green flame that sputtered from one end, fell from the black miasma above and landed only a couple of feet from the Genome. It bounced and rolled away to balance precariously on the ledge, tilting towards a greater abyss below, but one quick stride kept it in place.
A baton?[/color] He slowly bent to pick it up, carefully handling the harmless end, and gave it a once-over. Vaguely he recollected some gadget like this in some shop before, but where had it come from? Violet eyes flicked back up to seek the flare's origins, but the only thing he could think was...
...Ah.
A smile played on Kuja's lips. So I do have an audience.[/color]
His spheres swirled around his waist, and with his memories forgotten for now, he rushed off to meet the present: death and destruction, and the Angel's first sacrifice. He could have missed it if he were a little less careful -- there were just so many places where his spectators could be seated -- but a human figure stood at one of the exits, peering downwards presumably in search of his dropped flare.
"So good of you to attend the show!" Kuja greeted him with a smile, of course -- one made ultimately unnerving by the psychotic glint in his eyes. "I think I can forgive you for dropping in uninvited. In fact...I might even give you a part."
Raising the flare like a conductor's baton, he spread his arms and called upon his magic once more; with fire as the current theme, he beckoned more of it into existence in tiny orbs, Remote Flare spreading around the scruffy but otherwise unremarkable man in something resembling a spider's web.
Human bodies did, after all, look so beautiful engulfed in flames.
"Action!"
And then they detonated.
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Post by cid on Feb 11, 2010 19:25:15 GMT -5
The one bright, flame-like green glow dancing across his face and torso, quickly faded away as the light around him returned back to normal. Taking a couple of steps forwards closer to the edge of the huge whole in which the Iifa Tree rested, the pilot raised his right hand and cupped it around his chin, stroking at his stubble slightly as he peered down and watched the bright glowing flare disappear into the darkness below. The few seconds that it took for the flare to vanish from view completely, confirmed Cid's theory that the wood burning smell from before, was indeed correct. The tree was on fire and it didn't take long for the sky-pirate to retreat a few paces back from the edge as the black smoke started to make it's way up past him and towards the heavens. There was just no logical way for the sun to reach so far down and cause a fire. It must have been started physically.
Narrowing his eyes somewhat, Cid pulling his goggles down over his eyes before he cupped one of his gloved hands across his nose and mouth. Returning forwards to the edge once more, the scruffy pilot once more peered down into the huge column of smoke now raising up from the ground. The green flare had vanished from view altogether. That was until he thought the smoke was starting to effect his head, due to a familiar looking green glow reappeared as if getting closer and closer towards him. Cid raised an eyebrow and tried not to breath in a lung full of this nasty, thick smoke. He'd given up smoking for some time now and wasn't planning on starting up again using this tree as his first cigarette. Yet as soon as he realized that something was indeed coming towards him, carrying his flare with it, the pilot jumped back a few feet before returning his old pilot-styled goggles back to his forehead.
It didn't take much longer for the one holding the flare to show himself... or herself? The blond-haired dragoon tilted his head he quickly eyed the oddly dressed... thing, up and down a couple of times. It was only when he heard this creatures voice, did the pilot realize it was indeed a bloke. Even so, what was this guy doing with his flare and more importantly, was he the one responsible for the fire on the tree? It only then occurred to the dragoon that this chap stunk of smoke? No, not smoke, Darkness. Cid was no expert like Cloud and Vincent, but he had hung around with AVALANCHE long enough to be able to tell who was a good guy and who was a bad guy.
"Attend the show huh? So it was yer who set this tree on fire..."
Cid answered the oddly dressed man, not really having the first clue on what this tree exactly was or even why this chap was here, setting it on fire. All Cid knew was that there were a Darkness user attacking this world and he was sent to stop them. Simple as that.
But was this the right guy? There could just as easily be someone else on the opposite side of the world, setting fire to a town or city for all he knew. There was something telling him within the back of his engineering mind, that this was the right guy though.
"Why's ya do it?"
The pilot asked simply, his facial expression looking stern and prepared though. It was the instant in which this silver-haired man swung the flare like a conductors baton, did Cid's spear appear in his hands with a flash of light. Quickly looking over this chap again for any sign of a weapon, Cid quickly drew up a conclusion that this guy was either going to try and fight with the flare, or was a magic user of some sort. That would be trouble.
~Sh*t... I left all my materia back on Gaia...~
The Captain thought to himself as he merely narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on his spear.
When the several small flare-like fireballs suddenly appeared in a circle around himself, Cid's eyes quickly darted from side to side as he threw his head in each direction, taking into consideration that there was no way to escape bar from going up. Just as well really. Cid's knees bent sharply as he instantly crouched down to the ground, before he used Jump to shoot up several feet into the air just as the Remote Flares detonated. A sharp pain shot up his leg and whilst the pilot was taking flight, he glanced down first at the green flare wielding man, before spotting the material of his green pants, covering his left knee, had caught fire.
"Urk!"
Cid complained as he quickly slapped at his knee a couple times to extinguish the flame. Not too much damage was caused, only a minor burn to his knee and a small burnt patch on his pants. With a huff, the pilot quickly adjusted his body so that when he began to descend back to the ground, he was angled enough to try launch a counter-attack. Enjoying the feeling of the wish breezing through his hair, Cid grinned as he aimed a large downward thrust towards where the 'baton' wielding man was standing.
"It's not polite to attack without even introducin' yerself first!"
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Post by akibameow on Feb 15, 2010 20:22:38 GMT -5
"Why's ya do it?"
It was a question that Kuja did not acknowledge right away. He had no intention of acknowledging it, let alone answering it. Why bother? The man was going to be dead in mere moments, so it wasn't as if he would be affected by the answer in any way. Indulging a complete stranger's curiosity would be a complete waste of breath; the oxygen had a better use in feeding the flames behind him. But it did pique Kuja's own curiosity. Why?
It was something Kuja hadn't thought to justify. Erasing bad memories was a selfish indulgence, but drunk as he was on his own power, that was all the reason he needed. He could argue later that he was doing Gaia a favor, wiping the black smear of war from history's pages, but the idea of doing anything for anyone else was as alien to him as a foreign tongue. And yet, poetically...
Peace is but a shadow of death, desperate to forget its painful past...
As it turned out, the man might just live long enough to get his answer.
A rod of light solidified in the stranger's hands, forming a long polearm that he held in preparation for the oncoming attack -- hint number one. And then he leapt. Kuja's gaze followed him up, eyes squinting through the flames as his surprise attack went off with loud pops like fireworks, only dealing superficial damage. It was almost impressive how quickly the man went airborne, springing up and out of harm's way like a startled flea. And that was precisely how he was going to remember this man: as a flea. And fleas were nothing to be scared of.
A flea with a lance, however, generally indicated said flea was a dragoon. Rather strange, given that (in Kuja's experience, anyway) the role of dragoon was usually one taken up by rats Burmecians, not fleas humans. Nevertheless, he'd seen his fair share of dragoons before, rodent or no. He'd also slaughtered his fair share and brought Burmecia to its knees. What was a single soldier, but a mere toy?
"It's not polite to attack without even introducin' yerself first!"
A squeaky toy.
"As if you have any room to speak!"
There wasn't so much a fondness as there was a tendency towards pettiness, and Kuja took every opportunity to snag the last word when he thought he could get away with it. But gravity was taking over then, and with the business end of the spear pointed directly towards the mage, the flea earned the new label of enemy. Unfortunately, this was the moment where the best laid plans of most dragoons fell dreadfully short: in submitting to gravity, they allowed themselves a moment of great vulnerability, placing their bets on the assumption that their target will stay still long enough to be properly skewered. Seeing as Kuja wasn't exactly fond of being impaled, he decided to move. Or more accurately, fly: a sidestep led him off the ground and into the air, and it only took a second to put a safe distance between himself and the dragoon's point of impact.
After all, no one wants to be bitten by a flea.
Deciding that the stranger might want his torch-thing back, Kuja carelessly tossed it in his general direction, not intending to hit him or pass it to him so much as he just wanted to free up his hands. Those delicate fingers quickly went to work drawing up dark incantations, weaving crackling blue flames between them, and the spheres of light resonated in response; the only hesitation was in watching the dragoon's descent.
"Why?" His ever-present smile of mischief grew. "Because I can."
A flick of his wrist, and the spheres flew out from either side of him, answering to every slightest pull of his fingers as if they were on strings. He drew them up just below the dragoon, five orbs built of magic but every bit as physically solid as cannonballs swooping up in a frenzy to strike him from every direction. He wasn't about to let the dragoon land successfully; the trick was keeping him in the air, juggling him in a way that made him completely helpless.
And then he would tear that flea to shreds.
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Post by cid on Feb 18, 2010 11:38:42 GMT -5
There was a flaw to using Jump as a technique to dodge an attack, and it seemed from the mage's dodge to the side, made it clear that he'd spotted it. Well there was no point crying over spilt milk and Cid just had to grin and get on with it. It wasn't like some under-dressed man with a couple flashy spells was going to cause much harm to him anyway. Side was a battle hardened dragoon with run ins against Sephiroth, Shin-Ra and the Remnant under his belt. Surviving Meteor was an achievement in itself as well. Anyway, they were times of the past and the present was what needed to be worried over. Having arrived here with a tip that a Darkness user was going to be attacking this world, the sky-pirate came to defend the place, but was this silver-haired man even the right enemy? They'd only just met and it was the mage himself who attacked first. Cid was merely defending himself.
The Captain watched as he made his decent, keeping his eye on Kuja as he noticed the bare-dressed man fly...? Off to one side away from the point of impact where Cid was aiming Jump. That was to be expected really. Unless you were a complete moron and just stood there to take the attack. The dragoon still held his weapon as if he were going to complete the attack though, just to be on the safe side. You'd never know if--
"Aww sh*t..."
Cid said silently to himself as he watched the next spell being cast by the mage, start to form itself near the ground below him. Seemed like whoever this guy was, had plans to stop Cid from reaching the ground. That wasn't going to happen though. Thinking ahead, Cid thrust his spear forwards towards the ground, stabbing it as if he were attacking a monster or creature that were standing there. That's when the Captain arched his body forwards, using his weapon as a tool to vault himself over the offensive orbs of magic to land with a thud upon the ground once more.
The dragoon turned his heels and pulled the spike of the lance out of the ground, continuing to twist his body around in a full 360 degree circle. As he span, the scruffy pilot scraped the blade of his home-made spear across the dry and dusty floor, kicking up a large arc of dust in an attempt to help mask his presence from the flying mage. There would be little point fighting a ranged magic user in the current situation. Keeping his mind open for now, Cid finished the circle and made sure he lifted up the weapon at the last moment, attempting to use it as a make-shift baseball to smack against the orbs of magic. Hoping he had his aim right and if the newly form dust cloud was up to scratch, his attack against the magic orbs should in theory send them rocketing back towards the caster. Only time would tell.
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Post by akibameow on Feb 23, 2010 5:17:46 GMT -5
(My apologies for the short and cruddy post, I had to type this from my phone. Hope it's alright anyway!)
Fleas really are quite impressive creatures, when you stop to think about them. This one in particular was quite the fast thinker; none of the spheres hit their target, and the cloud of dust kicked up afterwards made any further snatch strikes inaccurate at best and futile at worst. Clever. He made them swarm the dragoon regardless, willing them to close in and illuminate his prey if nothing else -- but his prey had other ideas.
A sudden jolt to his arms jarred Kuja enough to make him wince; it was not quite painful, but every bit as unpleasant as an electric shock, and a few more followed before the mage realized what was causing them. The orbs did not fly back at their caster as expected, but jittered and oscillated around in a manner that made it seem like they were confused -- and that was enough to affect Kuja himself. Holy spheres, unlike their Ring counterparts, were directly connected to Kuja like extensions of his body -- and he felt when they were batted in the same way one would feel a hit against one's outstretched sword. It was entirely more intense, though, and Kuja really did not like it, and that was enough reason to call them back -- away from the pilot.
"You are really quite a nuisance."
His spheres circled around him, and he raised his arms to call another spell. Patience was wearing thin -- Kuja had little time to waste on such insignificant matters. He had a world to burn! A flea was not the sort of bait he needed to catch Zidane; he needed something much more spectacular. If not a tree, then a town; if not a town, then a city; if not a city...
A kingdom.
He was wasting time.
"Take this!"
Fireballs answered by the dozen, appearing not far below the mage and raining down on the dust cloud at his command. Kuja could not see his target, but he was sure he could get at least one good hit, given a little guesswork; if the flea refused to be flushed out, the flea would burn. Flare Star could cover quite a bit of ground, and the dust gave little protection against magic.
"Hurry up and burn! Your time in the spotlight has dragged on for far too long."
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Post by cid on Feb 27, 2010 10:39:41 GMT -5
((OOC: My apologizes for the time it's taken me to reply. I'll be faster after this one ^^;; *Hugs*))
The scruffy pilot was walking a thin wire in the circus act that the mage was controlling. He really was going to have a very tough time trying to defeat what seemed a talented and powerful magic user, using his spear alone. Mages tended to stay at a distance, giving them the advantage of not being able to get struck by physical attacks. It was also not helping as Cid kept mentally reminding himself with curses and insults within his mind, that he had forgotten to pick up his materia before being dragged off to Traverse Town for the first time. Perhaps he could always return home on the Shera and see whether or not Yuffie has gotten her hands on them yet. Won't hurt, but there were bigger fish to deal with right, which caused the dragoon's mind to wander.
He didn't get to think for long, since the moment his spear stuck against the magical orbs within the dust, the reaction Kuja received seemed to have worked both ways. Cid took a nasty shock to both his forearms the moment his weapon made contact, causing him to wince and stagger backwards a few steps, ultimately walking out of the dust cloud before falling back onto his butt.
"O-ow!"
The pilot yelped lightly as he dropped his spear for a second, causing it clank and rattle as it bounced lightly off the ground by his feet. Taking a second to shake his hands vigorously to try and make the funny 'dead-weight' feeling go away, it was only when he caught the tinkle of something that resembled a sun, from the corner of his eye, did the pilot glance back up to the skies, grabbing his spear once more as as bounced back up to his feet.
"Tsk... stayin' at a distance and usin' magic like a coward? Why don't yer come down and join me in the spotlight?!"
Cid said with a smirk as a familiar green fire-like glow caught his attention a short distance ahead of him. Of course. That might work. Knowing that another spell was already inbound, Cid didn't risk wasting precious seconds by glancing back up and double checking. Instead, he just dashed forwards as quickly as his legs would carry him, feeling the intense heat from one of the fiery Flare Star fireballs smashing into the ground where he was just standing. Flipping his spear around within his arm, Cid aimed the tip of the weapon just underneath the green flare that was resting upon the ground just ahead. After crouching his knees greatly to lower his position to the ground, the blond-haired pilot flicked the spear skywards, flipping the flare off from the ground up and up into the sky. If it went towards Kuja, then great, but it was merely intended as a distraction.
A sudden blue aura appeared around the pilot while still in his crouched position, but the moment he threw his head skywards to look for the floating mage, another one of the Flare Star fireballs came smashing down on top of him. An minor explosion erupted from Cid's position but half a second later, a semi-scorched pilot had Hyper Jumped up and through the Flare Star fireball. Thankfully the velocity of which Cid was rising didn't cause any of his hair or clothing to be set on fire again, but his skin was blackened in a few places accompanied by several scorch makes upon his t-shirt. Hyper Jump was faster and stronger then his regular Jump, and if the pilot calculations were accurate enough, he'd be able to close the gap between Mage and Dragoon in a matter of seconds, hopefully getting in enough time to make a counter attack while Kuja was still casting the Flare Star. A long, bright blue trail was following the Captain as he rocketed skywards, thanks to the small aura he gained and then he thrust his spear forwards towards the Mage's right shoulder when in range, attempting to disable one arm or at least to get the pesky fly back onto the ground.
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Post by akibameow on Mar 2, 2010 2:17:52 GMT -5
This was really more trouble than what it was worth. The solitary dragoon turned out to be a bit more of a challenge than Kuja had expected; without allies, the soldier could not be distracted, could not be manipulated to move the way Kuja really wanted him to, and so the battle proved to require a disgustingly higher amount of effort than the mage wanted to expend. The flea was harder to crush than he realized -- but only because he had such difficulty in trapping it between his nails. And with the alluring panorama of Alexandria's destruction taking up more and more of his attention, the temptation of making a tactical retreat flickered in and out of his thoughts.
"Tsk... stayin' at a distance and usin' magic like a coward? Why don't yer come down and join me in the spotlight?!"
But he had far too much pride to back down now.
"As if I would ever share the spotlight with the likes of you!" Sand and fallen leaves sputtered upwards with his strikes, but he seemed no closer to locating his target. "If anything remains of you once I'm through, dear simpleton, I shall present what's left to Alexandria's queen! Can you appreciate such irony? -- your severed head, piked on your own spear!"
But despite all his vigor, his attacks only made things more difficult: every impact to the earth obscured his vision more and more, and frankly he would look quite silly if he kept attacking absolutely nothing while his prey made its escape. So the magic died, if only for the few moments it would take to relocate the dragoon, and as his eyes scanned the scorched ground he slowly dropped his guard.
"Have you given up the ghost alre--"
THUNK
Stars danced in his vision.
"Oh you did not."
The flare fell away before Kuja could obliterate it out of spite. Unfortunately for him, that little distraction gave the dragoon more than enough time to execute an attack: the spear's teeth were already bearing down on the Genome's shoulder by the time he regained his senses, and in the split-second before impact, Kuja -- stupid, stupid Kuja -- turned into it.
A minute later, when Kuja would have distanced himself again and had a few seconds to recover, when he could face the pilot -- learn his name -- and engage in civil discussion (moments before the pilot's death, of course), Kuja would compliment him for drawing blood. He would brush it off as a fluke, gauge just how much Fortune favored this poor fool, and crush him. He would dismiss it all with a hairflip, leave behind little more than a memory that would soon be forgotten, and carry on his way to Alexandria.
But for the instant when the spear's sharp edge glanced off his pauldron and tore into his arm, all he could do was howl. No amount of wit or eloquence could have made it into anything more than that; the ability to be coherent abandoned him when the shock of pain burned through his nerves, and in the anger that resulted afterwards, so too did he lose what little clemency he had. If there was any solid thought left in his mind at all, it might have been something like unforgivable.
In Kuja's indignant rage, the lust for revenge could only be conveyed with a guttural snarl. Already bowed inward from the force of the blow, it was a short reach of his uninjured arm to grasp the length of the spear's shaft; his fingers clamped around it in a deathgrip, refusing to let go now that he had Cid so close -- he would not let him get away with this sort of insult -- and he could not fail now. Tendrils of Holy sparked from the other hand -- now hanging nearly-limp at his side, but nothing a good potion couldn't fix later -- and though its range of motion was only enough for a snap of his fingers, it was enough. He could envision it; glare locked on the dragoon, Kuja could see the white-hot energy gather to immolate him from the inside-out, and in the next second the Holy-formed Seraphic Star burst into existence with a single word.
"End."
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2010 19:55:29 GMT -5
After Voting on the winner, we had chosen that the Darkness had won this battle. If you disagree with the discussion, please inform Larxene with a well stated PM listed why you disagree.
The Darkness has captured Gaia (FF9)!
Since Kuja has won, he is allowed an upgrade of one ability or one modification to his powers and will be notified. Requests are to be PMed to Vincent. Congrats! |
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