Valvaris“Val I think your skills will be more useful to Joseph's group and Mishka and Cyan you two should go with Gideon's group. Kyra you are with my group. If we're lucky then the paths should join together at the other side, stand around and you'll get killed.”
“And what if they don't? What if it's a dead end?”
“I can't believe I'm going to fucking suggest this, but if it's a dead end I either suggest blasting through it, or calling out to the unsent girl, I have a feeling she's watching us.”
“That's your plan?!”
“Do you have any other fucking ideas?!”
“Mummy, you're so clever.” said a voice the little girl once again appeared before them. “But do I really have to help the boys if they get stuck? They stink.” Kyra bent down to the girl's level.
“Well that's why they need help, because you are so much more clever then they are.”
“Oooh okay, by the way you have to move now” the space they were on was beginning the shake as if it was about to move and with that Nikki threw a lot of chocobo feathers in the air casting haste on everyone and ran for it.
The few Albheds, Joseph and I dashed towards the left path and began running. Some platforms began to rise as we pass through them, while some are spinning downwards, slamming against the platform. After some time, all of us managed through the deadly path as we stopped right in front of an entrance to a small cavern.
Joseph stepped his right foot forward, intending to enter the cavern. I held him by his shoulder, "An evil energy is emitting from within."
"But this is the only exit," he turned around and pointed towards the back, "The path we took to get here is gone."
I turned around, just to find that some of the platforms has lowered itself, and it is impossible to reach a further platform unless we could fly.
"When we stepped on the platforms, it must have triggered something. This cloister is deadlier than I thought."
"Let's go. We have no time to waste."
Joseph took the lead and walked into the cavern. I followed right behind him, while the others followed behind me. We treaded cautiously. Joseph has his hand on his sword, seemingly ready to unsheathe it anytime soon. As we enter the large inside area of the cavern, we realise it is a dead end -- the cavern has no other exits other than the one we took to enter.
"A dead end," Joseph said, "Lets search..."
"AHHHHHH!"
A scream stopped Joseph's words. We all looked behind, but nothing seems wrong.
"What happened?" I asked.
"I'm not sure... there was a scream, but I don't see anything else."
"No wait! Someone is missing! There were 10 of us when we came into the room! Now there's only 9?"
"BOOOOOOOOO!"
A loud bellow strike through the cavern, the walls and floor began to shake and tremble. Joseph unsheathed his sword and thrust it into the ground to hold still. He reach out his hand to me and I grabbed his arm in order to stabilize myself. An Albhed fell down and rolled towards a wall nearby. As they are reaching the wall, it suddenly opened up and swallowed the Albhed whole.
"BWAHHHHHH!"
Another loud sound is heard, in which immediately after, the wall opened up again, and the Albhed was thrown out and slammed onto the ground.
"T'was deesgusteeng!"
The wall began to move as a 9feet tall figure broke apart from the wall while shaking dirt off his limbs. He has a small head but a huge stomach, where a slit can be seen. The monster seems to be made of rock, with rather bulky and short limbs, but a long body.
"Hungar! Why were you so impatient?!"
Another voice is heard from behind us. We turn around to find a 7ft tall winged monster hovering behind us. It has a black helmet over its head, with a slender body and thin, long limbs and fingers. He has dark leather skin, with a pair of black wings on its back.
"Levi! T'was too tempteeng! I was hungar...eeeeee...."
The stone giant looked down on the floor in guilt.
"Are they fiends? They are... rather peculiar." I asked Joseph.
"I do not know. But they are definitely not here to help!"
He brandished his sword and deflected something in front of him.
"Oh!" the winged Levi said, "Good reflex you have there."
Upon close inspection, I see a few really long and thin needles between its fingers.
"Those struck by these needles will experience excrutiating pain, and dissolve into puddles of water! I love waters!" It explained, and then twisted its face, which I assume is a smile.
"The stone golem seems more susceptible to spells than the winged one. You take that one, I'll try to take down the golem."
Joseph gave a nod as I leaped to the side of the giant. I fired a few bullets on it, hoping to take it on by surprise. The giant turned and the slit on its stomach opened up, swallowing the bullets. Immediately after, it swings its bulky arm at me. I sidestepped and raised my left gun at it. A red magic circle appeared as I said, "Hodan!". A red missle-shaped energy emerged from the circle and flew towards the giant. As it made contact, it exploded, throwing the giant onto the floor, causing the cavern to tremble somemore. As the smoke dissipates, it threw another swing at me. I leaped backwards, missing the punch by milimetres. The gust from the swing still pushed me further behind, causing me to slam into the wall.
The giant began running towards me, and the slit on its stomach began to stretch open, revealing the teeth hidden inside.
"Fire has no effect on it," I thought, "Stone..... maybe water."
I raised both my guns at the charging giant and a large blue magic circle appeared in front of me.
"Charge-cast: Suihou!"
A large liquid rock emerged from the center of the magic circle and launch itself towards the giant. As it made contact, the momentum also threw the giant back while the rock dispersed into a large body of water, enveloping the giant. As the giant was about to reach the wall, the body of water began to spiral in front of the giant, causing extra force as it slams into the wall behind.
Immediately after, I ran up to the giant and pointed both guns at its head. I pulled the trigger and see as the magic bullets pierce through its small head, shattering it into pieces. The giant's body then began to melt into the ground, and slowly disappear out of sight.
I sat on the ground, tired from the fight.
"There is no time to lose. Joseph may still be fighting against that winged monster."
I stood up and turned behind.
***To be continued
********************
New Spell:
Suihou 水砲Water Cannon, Water series -aga spell
~ AUTO-MERGED POSTS ~
JosephThought I never regretted becoming a samurai, there were times when I did regret that decision. Right now was one of those moments. The flying fiend Levi was keeping itself out of reach of my sword while throwing down those needles. I’ve either deflected or avoided the needles but the battle was going nowhere.
“Just give up. You will tire out and you will die a painful death. The pain will only last a minute or two before you melt and become water. Isn’t that exciting?” Levi taunted, throwing more needles at me. I dodged the majority before deflecting the last couple. I jumped up, hoping my speed will carry me to within striking distance of Levi, but it just flapped its wings and gained altitude, causing me to miss. I dodged aside the moment I landed, avoiding more needles.
Levi threw another wave of needles not just at me, but towards the Al Bhed as well. I blocked them as well as the Al Bhed, but one was not as lucky as it struck him in the chest. He dropped and started screaming in pain. Levi landed in front of him, extending an arm and touching his face.
“What an exquisite face you make when you’re in pain. I’ll rem…” it said before flapping its wings and taking off again, my sword missing my mere inches.
“That was so rude! Now die samurai,” it said, tossing out a large amount of needles. I deflected them with my sword. The last couple struck my lower left leg. I dropped my sword and cried out in pain. I could hear the footsteps of Levi as it approached.
“Now didn’t I say that you will die here? But you’re probably the strongest I’ve faced in quite a while so…” it began as it stepped right in front of me. At that moment, I grabbed my sword and decapitated it, causing its head to fall to the ground before the rest of it faded into pyreflies. The Al Bhed and Val ran up to me, fearing the worst.
“We need to get you to the hospital immediately! Whatever was in that needle needs to be cured right now!” one Al Bhed said, grabbing my arm. I quickly grabbed him back, stopping him.
“I’m fine. The needle didn’t actually hit me. Sometimes deception is a powerful thing,” I explained, lifting the leg of my pants, showing that the needle was actually in the greave. I carefully pulled out the needle and tossed it to the ground. The other Al Bhed that was struck has dissolved into water, leaving just his clothes and other possessions behind. I did a quick prayer before searching for an exit.
Part of the wall collapsed to reveal a passageway. We continued on, keeping vigilant of our surroundings. The passage opened up to a cliff. I looked around to see the only way forward was a narrow strip of rock alongside the wall of the Cloister. We had to walk single file so Val took the lead while I was around the middle. After 15 minutes of walking, some good news came from Val.
“Hey, there’s another open platform ahead of us,” he reported. Just when I thought that some good came, I heard a noise behind us. The group looked back to see that the rocks started collapsing into the darkness below. My heart seemed to pause for a second.
“RUN!” shouted the Al Bhed at the end. We all ran as quickly as we could towards the platform. The rocks were collapsing at an accelerated pace, catching up towards us.
Val and most of the other Al Bhed made it to the platform, just leaving me and another Al Bhed on the collapsing cliff. Just then, the haste spell provided by the chocobo feather suddenly stopped on the person in front of me. Since the rock underneath my feet was starting to collapse, I grabbed him by the arm and stuck my sword into the stone wall. The rest of the walkway fell into the darkness, leaving me and the Al Bhed I saved dangling.
“Joseph! Are you alright?” I heard Val ask.
“Yeah, just fine. I’m only dangling here holding onto a full grown man without any way to you. Yep, just fine indeed, ” I sarcastically replied. I looked around to see if there was any way out of this mess. Seeing none, there was probably only one way to get out.
“Val, I’m gonna toss this guy to you and then swing myself to you guys. Be ready to catch us,” I said. I started to rock back and forth, creating momentum. The Al Bhed I held on to also swung in rhythm, creating more momentum. With one last swing, I tossed the man towards the platform. He managed to catch the edge and the others pulled him up to safety.
Just when I began to do my swing, a noise from above made us all look up. The sight made my heart drop quite quickly. I could see large platforms falling towards the group. I pulled my sword out just as a platform fell in front of me. I used the split second to kick off it and dodge another platform that was aimed right at where I was. Using all my senses, I managed to get on top of a platform and started to jump to the platform which the others were on. Just when I did, the haste spell ran out on me. That caused me to miss the timing on my jump, causing me to miss my target and instead send me plunging towards the darkness of the Cloister.
~ AUTO-MERGED POSTS ~
Upon entering the Via Infinito, Kyra noticed a difference right away. From the events that had happened mere moments before, to that very moment. There was a complete change in tempo it seemed. There was also a different scent in the air. None too pleasing; by any means. The smell of death was more evident than the last time they had been there. It seemed to have taken a darker turn while they were gone.
The girl was on them moments after the group entered. She explained how the Via Infinito has changed while they were gone, and there were treasures to look for. That wasn’t before the little girl started to act strange after losing a pyrefly. Kyra watched as Nikki shot some arrows to keep her away, but her efforts were useless. Kyra was powerless to do anything. She noticed the pain Nikki was going through, it was far more evident in her then what she had felt from here last ‘possession’. As far as she remembered, she felt an emotional distress, but nothing like what Nikki was feeling.
“No Nikki. Please leave her alone, you're hurting her.”. Kyra cried. She hated seeing Nikki in so much pain.
“Kick her out Nikki, you can do this, you did it before!” the twins cried.
“But I'm trying to help her, Mummy has forgotten stuff, if I help mummy she'll help me!” the girl cried desperately while rummaging through Nikki’s memories. “Oh poopie wrong one”. It seemed she didn’t have much control of her abilities, thus the memory from Macalania appeared.
Kyra still felt helpless to watch. It was hard enough to hear the story from Nikki herself. To actually see these events take place was a whole other nightmare.
“No anything... but this one.” Nikki croaked through the pain. Kyra took a step forward, finally regaining movement in her legs, but she was stopped. Joseph put a hand on her shoulder.
“Let Nikki handle it. There’s no telling what could happen if you interfere” Paine whispered.
Kyra nodded in compliance as she helplessly watched Nikki endure probably one of the most painful memories in her life. It seemed to have finished pre-maturely as the girl was suddenly pushed out of Nikki’s body. In the girl’s frustration, she left an Elder Drake in her wake.
Kyra immediately saw the urgency of the situation, but needed to check if Nikki was okay to fight first.
“Are you okay?” She asked. Nikki just gave a nod signaling she was alright. That was enough for Kyra really.
She prepared herself quickly to fight this feisty dragon. She made her way behind the dragon. She had faced enough of these to know what they were capable of. The world she had faced it on didn’t make much difference.
“Watch for the tail!” A female voice called out from somewhere. Kyra chose to ignore it and continued to attack from her current position. The Elder Drake began to shift its weight from side to side, preparing for an attack. It reared backward and smashed into the walls. Kyra knew what was coming next, but realized it too late, taking the full force of this attack to her body. She let out a cry as she was hit. As the beast released her from a trapped position, she fell to her knees. Fortunately, she felt a cure spell shortly after, which dulled the pain slightly. She also heard Nikki try to distract the beast using swears and shooting arrows at it so she could get away before it had a chance to hit her again.
“She’s Cute.” The voice piped up again with a slightly sarcastic tone. Kyra was slightly confused. She didn’t have the time to deal with this, but she had an idea of who it was she heard this voice the last time she was here.
Kyra caught a glimpse of what Val as he was firing his guns, sending a bullet infused with magic rifling toward the fiend. She knew what was coming next.
“Get Behind it” Paine yelled.
Nikki questioned why as Kyra pushed her out of the way. No time for Questions, Nikki. She thought. She knew she’d realize what was to come when she’s see it for herself.
After the blast was finished, Mishka advised the group to move again before the dragon decided to go back its earlier tactic of smashing walls. It wasn’t long before the twins revealed a plan they had after the dragon unleashed its Pyroplexy attack. They had found a way to hold the dragon in one place. This made it easier to attack, but there was still something wrong. The monster was abnormally strong. Their attacks were barely making a dent.
“Kyra, Stop ignoring me!” Kyra’s eyes squinted as she realized what was going on in her head. Whether it really was just a mere memory, or the voice actually had a mind of its own, she didn’t know. She stopped attacking and listened to what the voice had to say. “You know how to deal with this. You’ve seen this monster before. You’re an analyst. Go do what you do best.” The voice called out.
Kyra nodded. She knew what she had to do. “Alright, I think I can do this.” She said before running for the fiend once again. Nikki yelled at her not to go, but Kyra already had a plan. She ran up to the immobilized fiend and stabbed it in the eye. It roared pain as it lifted his head in an attempt to escape. She swiftly plucked her sword out and swung horizontally, slicing its jaw. She lifted her arms above her head, and delivered an overhead stab infused with magic. Ice was her poison of choice. She knew full well what the result of that was going to be. The beast roared again and flames began to erupt from its mouth. She leaped from her spot to get away from the flames. She held her blade to her side until she reached the peak of her jump. She readied her blade and held it more like a firearm rather than a sword. When the flames reached a certain point, she clicked her trigger sending vibrations down the blade. With that, she was able to catch the flame, and manipulate the flames around the blade. As she descended, she spun which created a wheel of fire. When the new weapon reached its full length and momentum, it sliced through the fiend’s skull.
Kyra landed on her feet, but started to topple. Her legs were exhausted. Luckily, Nikki was there for support. “Do me a favour and don’t do that again” She said. Kyra gave a small smile and a slight chuckle. She regained strength in her legs and wanted to say something, but she noticed something was happening to the fiend she thought was supposed to be finished. It sprouted another head from its body. What the hell?! She thought.
“It oversouled!” Mishka gasped.
Nikki started firing again and moved back. Kyra readied her blade, but didn’t know is she had enough in her to be able to do another attack like that. "Damn it, the Via Infinito is really going to kill me."
Na ah, don’t think like that. The voice appeared in her head.
"...Right." Kyra thought as a response. With what was happening, that was far from believable.
Just then, a bright light careened into the fiend and caused it to explode into pyreflies, signalling its death. Everyone turned around to see who had done it, and it was none other than the Legendary Nooj. The one that Nikki was trying to ensure stayed on the surface. Kyra noticed Nikki was about ready to explode with anger.
“I'm unsure as to the necessity of my presence at this juncture.” He said, limping past Nikki to Paine, “I wouldn't want to give the impression that I just wanted to die.”
Nikki clenched her fist at this remark and was about to move. Kyra put her hand on her shoulder and said, "Woah Nikki, hold on," She paused. "I don't think he's here to die. Did you see what he did just now? We could use someone like him on our team.”
Kyra let those words sink in but Nikki was still contemplating. "That isn’t going to work, Kyra. Try flirting." The voice came back.
"Damnit Aiko, do I really need to do that here?" She thought. The voice in her head giggled, and then disappeared again.
Kyra stepped in front of her and smiled, "Hey! Weren't you worried about me just a moment ago? Why are you so worried about Nooj all of the sudden?"
“That, I, err..” Kyra watched her cheeks fill with embarrassment as she rubbed her forehead. The leader quickly regained composure and made her way in front of the group. “We're moving on!” and jumped down to the next cloister. Everyone followed after.
Kyra was immediately shocked at the site of Cloister 41. This cloister was completely different from the rest of them. There were multiple paths, platforms that moved in different directions. There was no possible way they could get through this as a whole group. It also became clear the Yuki and Yuubou weren’t able to teleport the whole group including the Albhed. Nikki quickly got together a plan. The girl came out and stated Nikki’s cleverness before warning them that they needed to move again, and fast. Nikki threw a bunch of Chocobo feathers and everyone dispersed just as the platform began to crumble away.
Kyra followed Nikki on the path they were on. They needed to move fast. Each step was only temporary as each platform began to crumble with any amount of weight put onto it. The fact the most of the platforms were moving made it difficult. The Albhed that were with them had a hard time keeping up, but none of them had fallen yet as far as Kyra saw. They eventually made it to a somewhat stable platform.
“How many do we have with us?”
“Ten.” One of the Albhed said.
“Good, that’s plenty. Keep moving.”
“Hey Kyra....it’s Kyra right?” a familiar albhed asked.
“Yes that’s me, we don’t have time to chat though.”
“I know. Rey asked me to give you this.” It was a letter with an albhed potion.
Kyra sighed. "I can’t deal with this now."] She accepted the letter and put it in her pocket. ”Let’s keep moving.” The others nodded.
“Would you guys stop fucking chatting and move it!”
The rest of the albhed made some whispers. Kyra wasn’t in the mood. Having Rey on her mind was the last thing she wanted.
Kyra noticed that the air started to feel colder. Perhaps the Via Infinito was reacting to the current situation, she did know. Suddenly, there was a familiar roar just ahead of them. An Elder Drake was emerging from the darkness and was heading straight toward them. The dragon started to barrel its way towards them making the ground shake as it did so.
“Shit, go back!” Nikki yelled.
The group ran in the opposite direction, but there was a dead end where they came from and the ground was starting to give way again. Kyra noticed an opening in the wall that she believed wasn’t there before. She grabbed Nikki’s hand and dove into the opening in the wall. Most of the albhed followed, but two of them didn’t catch her movements and disappeared into the darkness. The massive fiend had made its way to the opening, but noticed they weren’t there and stopped just in front of them. Since they were somewhat hidden, they weren't seen just yet.
“Don’t bloody move.” She whispered harshly. She waited for it to pass them completely before she gave a signal to move again. The large beast noticed the group again and gave chase.
“If it keeps fucking chasing us like this, it’s going to take us all fucking down!” she bluntly stated.
I know, hold on. I have an idea.” She said as she turned to face the fiend. “Hit the ground!”
The albhed looked confused, but did as she said.
Nikki attacked the ground with an Ultima Arrow, but something was wrong. The floor cracked, but because the powerful attack was at such close range, the bow didn’t release all of the power into the arrow and backfired, sending Nikki back. Kyra was helpless to do anything.
“NO!!”
Fuuuuuck!!
Kyra stopped her attacks and rushed to her side. Nikki had already passed out from the explosion, but she was still breathing. The beast was still barrelling towards them. Kyra rested Nikki upright against the wall and resumed what she was doing. She used the cracks that Nikki created to her advantage and struck her blade on them. She clicked her trigger and sent a thunder attack down her blade. “SHOCKWAVE!” she yelled. The attack sent a wave of electricity down the hall and struck the fiend itself. Before it had a chance to release a counter attack the ground gave way sending the massive fiend to the depths of this cloister. She sheathed her blade and ran in the opposite direction, picking up Nikki on her way.
The ground started to catch up to them as they were running away. The eight remaining albhed ran ahead of Kyra. As they kept going, they noticed that the hall was about to end, and there was no way out. There was another familiar roar behind Kyra as she reached the final platform before the dead end. A red claw had reached itself onto the platform. The dragon that fell wasn’t gone yet from the looks of it. The Albhed let out multiple shots from their weapons, but this monster had some unfinished business. It reached its head high enough the platform and unleashed a pryoplexy attack directly at them. Kyra couldn’t do anything due to an unconscious Nikki in her arms. She backed herself onto the wall behind, but the floor gave way sending all of them including the dragon to the darkness.
The fall was short, but nothing short of painful. Every muscle in her body ached. She noticed that Nikki was no longer in her arms. She immediately got to her feet and looked for her. She wasn’t far away, but she was in danger of being crushed by a falling piece of debris. Before Kyra could even think, her instinct took over and she was able to move Nikki to a less dangerous spot. However, the stress on her body was too much for Kyra, and she fell unconscious on top of Nikki.
-------------------------------------------
New Ability: SHOCKWAVE-Thunder based. Kyra pulls her trigger sending vibrations down the blade and sends a thunder attack along with it. If she can hit the ground hard enough, it sends a wave. Really effective with combined with water. Straight Forward Attack.
~ AUTO-MERGED POSTS ~
Her heart raced as she jumped from one platform to the next, the platforms behind would either shoot to the ceiling, crumble away or come down from above ready to squash them to death, as well as haste, the timing had to be right for any platform that moved. Nikki felt she had been running for a while, she glanced back, while she was running to see the others were keeping up, especially Kyra.
Seeing a stable platform ahead, it looked like it wasn't moving and that it wouldn't crumble, she jumped from one platform to another focusing on that one platform ahead, but she saw one platform move in front of it, it was coming down from above, they had to move fast if they wanted to get there, otherwise the way would be blocked.
“Yes it's a puzzle, you need to get from one side to the other without falling,” the little girl's voice again flowed in her head.
“Not now,” thought Nikki while leaping and running, she then did one last leap and landed on the stable platform, she bent over to catch her breath and looked around to see every had made it too before the other platform had come down and blocked their way.
“How many do we have with us?”
“Ten”
“Good we keep moving” It seemed like the voice in Nikki's head was keeping quiet again, which she was glad for she didn't need any distractions she looked ahead to see which way next that they should go.
“Hey Kyra... It's Kyra right?”
“Yes that's me, we don't have time to chat though.”
“Too right we don't we've got to fucking move.” thought Nikki, she was feeling stressed and urgently looked at the path ahead and began planning the best way to approach it. They were moving a lot, these ones didn't crumble.
“I know, Rey asked me to give you this.” Nikki turned to see the albhed appeared to hand over some kind of letter which Kyra quickly accepted Nikki, Nikki rose an eyebrow at this.
“Who the fuck is Rey?” she thought.
“Let's keep moving.” Nikki finally lost her patience with the albhed who seemed to treating this like a trip.
“Would you guys stop fucking chatting and move it!” she noticed the others has been chatting a lot. She turned around and noticed the path ahead of them had stopped moving and the platforms had all aligned to make a corridor. She felt the air around them get colder and her face paled when she heard a roar. An Elder Drake was ahead of them slowly coming towards them, it snarled, it's weight was making the floor beneath it get unsteady cracks were appear, and the worse thing? That was the only path leading to the exit. “Oh for fucks sake the Via Infinito is fucking with us now!” she thought. “Shit go back!” she turned around but then realised that the pathway was blocked. “SHIT!” she could feel the floor beneath her begin to crumble. Suddenly she felt Kyra grasp her hand and pull her, to what looked like a small crack in the wall. “Where the fuck did that come from?” she thought. It was a small space she was behind Kyra and noticed she was very close to Kyra. Her heart skipped a beat. “Fuck it, not now.” she willed these feelings to go away since it could distract her. Nikki watched quietly as she heard the fiend come closer and closer, but surely it could not get close to them because the platform that lead to the opening had gone.
There was a sound of moving stone echoing from the depths, and Nikki saw it a platform has risen from the depth and now the fiend just sniffing right outside the opening. “Oh you've got to be fucking kidding me.”
“Don't bloody move.” Nikki looked back behind them to see there were only eight of them now.
“Shit.” Kyra was the only one who could see the fiend clearly Nikki gathered, because Nikki could only see it when it was at the front of the opening. She then gave the signal for the group to move on.
“See there's no monster, I checked.” The path was left free but the platforms that once stopped moving for the fiend, began moving again making them run again, Nikki could hear the footsteps of the fiend pound behind them. They wouldn't be able to last long like this.
“If it keeps fucking chasing us like this, it's going to take us all fucking down!”
“Monsters aren't real!” Nikki had no idea what this very young girl's voice was talking about, but it wasn't helping matters.
“I know, hold on. I have an idea.” Nikki saw that she had stopped running and so stopped with her as did the others. She face the fiend along with Kyra. “Hit the ground!”
“This needs to be done quickly and powerfully,” with little option Nikki drew her arrow. “I just fucking hope I can control it this time.” The arrow glowed a black aura as it powered up, the bow glowed as well transferring the energy from Nikki to the arrow. Nikki concentrated hard on the energy will it to flow inside the arrow, but there was no time left the fiend was about to lunge. “Ultima arrow!” Nikki quickly let go of the arrow and quickly noticed that the tip of it hadn't sparked a green flame. “That, can't be good.” she thought but to her amazement as soon as the arrow struck the ground the spell consumed it and cracked the floor, but to her horror she noticed the bow was still glowing a black aura, the spell hadn't finished, and the bow unleashed it's own small Ultima spell throwing her back. She felt incredible burning from the spell, it was if her soul was on fire.
“No!!”
“Fuuuuuuck!” and with that she felt herself hit the wall and blacked out.
“Are you okay?”
“It's that voice again,” she decided to respond this time since she had the time now. “I don't know, I need to get back there, that fucking bitch of a fiend. Who are you? What's going on?”
“I don't know, what am I going to do with you?” There was a pause before the voice said again. “There all better.”
“What the fuck you just ignored everything I fucking said! Now tell me who are you?!” she was getting pissed off now she hoped that she would be revived soon.
“If it makes you feel better I know where the maid stashes the cookies.” Nikki decided to not to respond then to this, after all how could she, the voice continued to speak. “I watched her, I don't think she knew I was there, I know they are your favourite.” Nikki then knew this voice wasn't talking to her.
The voice then seemed to fade and the first thing she could feel was a body lying on top of her, groaned, her body ached but at least she was fucking alive. She felt the body on top of her move and Nikki opened her eyes to meet her eyes with Kyra's. It took a moment for it to sink in but Nikki's cheeks began to heat up she could feel Kyra's heartbeat. What seemed out of shock for Kyra she quickly stood up and apologised.
“Ah! I'm sorry I didn't mean to collapse on you.” Nikki just scolded the part of her that wanted Kyra to stay there for a little while longer. She rubbed her forehead and stood up.
“It's fine.”
“Aww don't worry Kyra, we think Nikki liked it.”
“Shut up!” Nikki quickly responded.
“That was a very quick response.” said Mishka teasingly. Nikki just turned to glare at her, but she was glad they had made it.
“Mishka, really I don't think now is the best time.” said Cyan.
“I'm sorry, I can't help it.” Nikki looked around them the twins group and Mishka's group were here so that just left... Her thoughts were quickly interrupted by Val jumping down from above along with the rest of the albehd, but there was very few albehd with him.
“Where is Joseph?” asked Nikki Val looked worse for wear the twins immediately went over to the group and broke a mega potion on the ground to heal them. Val was trying to catch his breath.
“He... Dammit he fell I should have done something!”
“WHAT?!” thought Nikki.
“No...” gasped Kyra, Mishka stepped forward.
“Tell us everything.”
Val then explained to the group what had happened, Nikki picked up on a few words such as the “fiends made of stone”, but by this time Nikki wasn't really listening she was franticly trying to calm her mind from blaming herself, and trying to figure out where he ended up.
“He better not have bloody well died.”
“No one could have survive a fall like that, could they?” the twins asked. No one seemed to dare answer. It seemed unlikely that he did survive who knew how far the depths went down, Nikki didn't even know if the depths did just go down to the next cloister or whether they were just a bottomless pit.
“I found him!” sang a familiar voice, a swirl of pyreflies came before the group and revealed the little girl and beside her a fiend, a dingo. The fiend just growled at them. “Sush doggie” she said to the fiend she then patted it as if it were a pet dog. The fiend then surprisingly stopped growling and laid down.
“What the fuck?” thought Nikki, the fact it was wagging it's tail was also disturbing.
“What do you mean?” asked Mishka, Nikki took her eyes off the fiend and looked to the girl.
“Silly, the stupid boy landed on one of my pets that mummy and sissy were playing with earlier.” The girl then suddenly gasped and turned around to the dingo who was now standing looking at the girl. “No, you can't eat them! I wont have anyone to play with otherwise. Bad doggie!” The fiend them seemed to whine and lay down again which sent shivers down Nikki's spine, such a thing was unnatural, it took all of Nikki's strength not to strike the fiend. But she knew if she did this would probably anger the girl.
“Great now she's calling them pets and not friends.”
“Where is he now? Is he okay?” asked Cyan.
“Yep, he only went down one, he's alive but my pet was angry.”
“Tell me, can you hear what the fiends say to you?” said the Meyvin. The girl pouted at him, the dingo suddenly growled at him, and she suddenly poked out her tongue and blew a raspberry.
“I don't like boys so why are you here? I don't know you.” She paused and suddenly tilted her head to one side. “But... I don't like boys” She paused again as if she was listening to something. “I can? Well okay if it's for mummy and sissies.” The fiend next to her stopped growling.
“Okay who the fuck was she talking to?” thought Nikki.
“Yes I can hear them they are very hungry a lot, I give them lots of food but they just keep getting hungry. They don't like you.” Cyan stepped forward.
“Who were you talking to?” the girl tilted her head to one side again. And then suddenly smiled and giggled.
“It's a secret.” she suddenly dispersed into pyreflies and reappears next to Kyra. “I hope you like the voice I made for you sissy, I used your memories and magic and boom she can talk to you. But it's not forever she'll only last a short while...” the little girl then seemed to smile more menacing this time a more menacing voice took over. “Goodbye!” Kyra gasped at the sudden change in voice. She then dispersed into pryeflies and so did the dingo.
“What happened?” questioned the twins.
“She gets more insane as we go down.” said Gideon.
“Let's quickly get to Joseph.” said Nikki and with that she dropped to Cloister 42.
~ AUTO-MERGED POSTS ~
Mishka.png
Once all of us had reached Cloister 42, we ensured ourselves a safe route through. This cloister was covered in thick fog, which made it near impossible to see the ground beneath our feet. Several Al Bhed sent relay machinas into the dense cloud and began capturing sonar data from them, mapping out a route. It was from that data that we discovered mapping out the landscape was completely unnecessary. We were on a filled platform, the only hole being the entrance to the next cloister, which was further down a twisting hall we'd encounter later. As for enemies, well, their relays hadn't been attacked, which most of us took to be a good sign.
“I don't like it.” Gideon said, taking the first steps into the fog.
“What don't you like about it? If all we have to worry about is this fog, this could be the easiest one. Down here, you don't second guess a straightforward cloister.” Paine replied, walking further.
“What I meant was that this fog has to be here for a reason.” The warrior clarified, catching up.
If it weren't for the fact Joseph could be down here injured, I think more of us would agree to his withdrawal. However, we had a teammate to find and, after these latest encounters with the girl, the sooner we found him the better. Deep into the central room, the fog was so thick we began losing sight of one another, something we all knew was a danger. The furthest along slowed themselves and we began keeping our eyes open for assailants from all sides. Though the relays hadn't triggered anything, fiends weren't drawn to dead machines anyway. A group of the living, on the other hand...
“Large group of pyreflies ahead!” The twins shouted, sending a dazzling firework spell into the same direction.
The spell lit up the incoming fiend for us, its lustrous armour glimmering off of the sparkles. It was coated in the blue tinted metallic plates and stood on its hind legs, though it was clear it typically remained on all its haunches. Its head was black as pitch, the details upon it made clear only by its glowing mouth littered with rows of teeth. The faint glow lit up the wing-like ears it had, which I could only guess allowed it to locate us as it didn't have any eyes.
“Watch out!” I shouted, pushing the Meyvn out of the way as the creature swiped down with its claw, falling back on all fours.
“Defensive positions!” He ordered, though that only pissed Nikki off.
“We figured that out already! Just don't get in my fucking way!” She growled, firing a Triple Foul group of arrows at it.
“Looks like it isn't weak to any elements.” Kyra said, pulling out her sword.
“Hayahou!” Val proclaimed, firing several rounds at us. As I had done before with the bullet, the rounds were the equivalent of a White Mage's Haste. “Any ideas from the veterans?”
“Never seen one of these things before. Don't know how to operate against it.” Paine admitted.
“Never mind! Can we just fucking attack it already?!” Nikki ordered, firing a few more arrows.
Cyan and I decided it would be best to surround it and took some Al Bhed with us. It tried to strike us down with its forward haunches, but the Haste effect let us dodge it with ease. When we were behind it, it tried to turn, but the Al Bhed began firing grapples at it, pinning its rear haunches to the ground. In the meantime, Cyan and I began slicing into its underbelly, where the back and front portions of its thick armour met. Using the hooked portion of Blurry Moon, I managed to pry the sections open just enough for Yuki to cast Blizzara into it, which caused the creature to writhe in pain.
“Looks like it has a weakness!” I announced, nodding to Kyra.
“We'll keep it busy. Go for it!” Nikki said, running toward the creature's mouth to get its attention.
As it growled at her, she fired an ice arrow into its mouth, angering it enough for it to turn in her direction, leaving the exposed area on its side in line with Kyra. She charged at it, holding her sword like a gun again like before. Cold began to swirl around the weapon until she reached the fiend and stabbed into it, freezing it from the inside. The creature wailed in pain as its body began breaking apart and the glow from its mouth began to die. However, just before it did, another creature erupted from it, much smaller and of a humanoid shape. Hovering in the air, it illuminated itself, its entire body bathed in flame. Before any of us could react, it unleashed a bright spark, igniting the fog and sending us into a tunnel just as the first area collapsed, killing the fiend.
“Well, that attack was pointless.” Paine said, getting to her feet and dusting herself.
“There's still some fog left. It almost looks as if part of it moved into the tunnels with us before it could catch fire.” I noted, pondering its odd behaviour.
“Be glad it did. Doesn't look like we'd be alive if that fiend lit it all up.”
“I suppose.”
“Hey, isn't that...?” One of the Al Bhed began to say before falling unconsciously onto the ground.
As he did, we noticed that the other Al Bhed had fallen asleep, as well, and so had the twins. Cyan rushed to one of them to check on his vitals, but it seemed they had simply been rendered unconscious. Further along towards the exit, Kyra discovered what that Al Bhed had been pointing us to. Although he was walking rather oddly, even in the dark and blurry fog, the rest of us could identify it to be Joseph. Val quickly rushed to his side to help keep him on his feet, but Joseph began clinging to him uncharacteristically close and even had a smile about him that was unlikely.
“Hey there, Valley ol' boy! What's the news?” He haphazardly asked, patting our confused teammate on the cheek.
“Joseph? Are you feeling okay?” Kyra asked him, checking his vitals.
“Sure, I'm okay! ... Why are there three of you?” He replied, nearly toppling over onto Kyra as he asked his next question while pointing at her.
“Is he... drunk?” Cyan asked.
“I think we crossed that line several drinks earlier.” Paine said, walking to them.
“Is this from the fog?”
“Oopsie, I let out too much.” The little girl said, appearing in front of Nikki, “That stupid boy was going to get eaten all up so I thought I should calm the lizzy down.”
We turned to the dingo fiend beside her and it too was definitely pacified on this level. However, we had been down here, too, breathing in the fog in great quantities given the battle we had just had. Was it going to affect us, as well?
“Well it worked now get rid of this fog!” Nikki shouted at her.
“Sorry mummy, I don't know how! But the stupid boy has been sucking it all up and its a lot less now. Maybe you and sissies can suck up the rest and it will be gone if you do! Okay then, have fun playing. The grumpy secrets want me to go now. They get very cross if I don't listen.” And with that she was gone.
“That can't be good.” Val stated.
“Val, you're nostrils are big.” Joseph interjected, causing the rest of us to place our hands over our faces.
“I think we should be on the next cloister before we end up like that, don't you?” Paine said, walking off.
That was until, “1 2 ready and go!!”
Turning back to the twins that had woken up, we found them arranged in front of the Al Bhed in three expanding rows. All of a sudden, there was music all around and they began to lead in an abrupt dance performance while the rest of us watched with mouths dropped agape.
“Hmmm...” Kyra voiced, that being the only verbal reaction any of us could make.
It wasn't too difficult seeing the twins jumping and bobbing to the music, but a few of the gruffer Al Bhed males behind them made for quite a spectacle, especially the parts where they all courtesied. Although, I had to admit, it was an upbeat tune for such a dungeon and made the atmosphere about it much lighter and more welcoming.
Once they were done, Val and Joseph both applauded, Joseph even whistling while Val called for an encore. Paine was frowning as expected, but Nooj looked about three shades to the wind, barely keeping to his feet as he tried shaking the effects. Nikki tried hard to keep from breathing in any more of the fog, as if holding her hand over her mouth was going to do her any good. Silly.
“Paine, you're silly.” I struggled to get out the words, my vision seeming to be distorted, “I told you something was up about the fog.”
Stumbling forward, I found myself really close to her all of a sudden, which surprised me. My eyes focused really close to her and I confirmed to myself that, yes, this really was Paine. Why was she that close?! I immediately pushed her, but that made her lose her balance and fall down. Was she hurt?
Looking down and trying to keep my head from weighing the rest of me down, I noticed she was sitting on the ground with her hands holding her up from behind. It was a good look for her. She usually wasn't in such a compromising position. It was a kinda hot. I realised I had walked right up to her and now my feet were on either side of her waist. Slowly, I knelt onto the ground, my legs brushing up against her sides as I did.
“Hey there, cutie, did you fall down?” I asked, pressing my hands next to her shoulders to keep myself up. It was hard.
Really hard... Really really hard... And that's when I found myself lying on top of her. Her earring tasted funny.
“No sleepovers! She's mine!” We suddenly heard Cyan say right before she tackled me further along on the floor.
“Cyan?” I started to mumble.
“Yes Mishka?”
“My navel's getting all itchy from Paine's breathing.”
“Then get.. off.” She said underneath me, which only tickled me more.
“Again... hmmm...” Kyra said.
“Alright, enough of this shit! We're going! Everybody up! I said GET THE FUCK UP SO WE CAN GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!” Nikki roared, picking Cyan up off of me as Kyra helped me to my feet.
Nooj got the dancers to congo their way to the next cloister, each of them sort of toppling over into the hole when they reached. Paine was with him. With him...
“Nooo! Mine!!” I squealed, kicking at Kyra.
“You can play with her once we get to the next cloister..”
“No she can't!” Paine grumbled, jumping down.
It took a while for the effects to lift, but once they did, I shuddered at my earlier behaviour. Well, most of it. It was hardly comparable to how drunk I was when I was leading the Fangtastic! Ronso have quite a high tolerance for...
“Cyan?” I asked, noticing her next to me.
“Yes Mishka?”
“Don't ever let me drink anymore.”
“Got it. Likewise.”
“I don't know about that.” I replied, a mischievous grin appearing on my features.
“Back to normal, I see.”
“We're not to speak of this again, right?” Joseph spoke up, rubbing his forehead.
“Definitely not... and my nostrils aren't that big.” Val replied, causing Joseph to let out a low groan.
“Something I don't get. Why weren't you affected, Paine?”
“Who says I wasn't?”
“You were the one under me.” I replied, hinting at what I thought her drunken behaviour should have been.
“If I had to guess, the fog just makes us all feel content.” Paine suggested.
“That was content?”
“You've never relaxed with the Crimson Squad.” Paine explained.
“So contentment turns me into that?” Joseph groaned, “I suppose it'll be grouchy for me then.”
“I'm going to guess the longer you stay, the worse off you are. Who knows how long you were there, stumbling about.” Paine suggested to him.
“So that was contentment...”
“Well, hope the lot of you are good for rage because we've got company.” Nikki called over, her bow raised against several tonberries headed our way.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Posted in response to a spam post by a user named Odin whose account was hacked. xDAs soon as Nikki got our attention, we were back on our feet. The tonberries were pouring from all sides, this new cloister a flat hall with open sides for the fiends to appear. Their numbers were thankfully not endless, but given the sheer amount already present, we were in trouble. Our best chance would be to cut a path through the hall and find the entrance to the next cloister. It seemed simple enough; the hall was fairly straightforward and it was wide enough to navigate. The trouble was having everyone run past the tonberries we pushed through before they could recover. One easy jab from any of their knives and we'd lose another member. The fiends never seemed imposing, but they were hard to manage and powerful enemies.
Note: Underlined text is original text from Odin's post.
“Val, think you can scatter them to the sides?” Joseph asked, pointing out that the walls were still open.
“No, I don't really have anything meant to push back the enemy, just to defeat them where they stand.” He replied, looking through his bullets to make sure.
“What if the twins used their telekinesis?”He then suggested.
“Too many. We wouldn't be able to control where they might go.”
“Which means they could just as easily end up closer.” Paine said, having thought of that move, as well, her Garment Grid in hand.
“Anybody want to actually come up with an idea?” Nikki growled, her bow still drawn, though she was unsure just what she was going to do with the arrow poised to strike.
“Guess that means we fight.” Cyan proposed, going to Nikki's side with her broadsword at the ready.
I slowly took hold of Blurry Moon, but I knew we'd lose many rushing into battle like this. We all did, but it would seem we had no choice. Walking beside Cyan and followed closely by Paine, Kyra, and Joseph, we began to approach the tonberries.
"Step aside, lesser folk. I am here to save your terminable lives."
Immediately, all eyes went straight up to where the sound came from. Down from the earlier cloister, a short man dropped before us, half-staggering as he assumed a sort of lopsided swagger as it were. At first, none of us knew what to make of it. It was clear he had been heavily impacted by the fog on the previous cloister, but apparently his contentment led him to believe he was our only salvation.
It was then I figured out the identity of our would-be saviour, having neared for closer inspection, “Oh no...”
I had encountered this one some time ago, at a local pub one night. He was drunk just as he was now and making a nuisance of himself, convinced he could take on all the other men in attendance. Once they trounced him, I chose to step forward and take him from their clutches, having dealt with the silly notion men had about proving their might while with Teraan and the other ronso. This ended up costing me, though, because the idiot was passed out the entire time and once he had awakened and the others left him alone, he figured he must have... rescued me... his princess... He was unconscious for another few hours after that remark, but he never got over it or forgot me.
“Who is this fool?”Joseph asked, shifting his eyes back and forth from the advancing fiends.
With a sigh and a shrug, I answered, “My... hero...”
“I don't want to impose, but your hero's about to become sushi.” Nooj pointed out, noticing that the moron was stumbling towards one of them.
“Hey...” Blast, what the hell was his name?“Lo! Oh Mage of Grandieur, that will save our mortal souls. Thank you for your Yevon sent arrival.” To ensure he'd buy into my words, I knelt at his feet and pulled him back behind Nikki.
“That is enough, Mishka.” The fuck? How did he know my name? “You may be wondering how I, your master, know your lowly name.”
“I'll show you lowly...” I grumbled under my breath, balling up a fist.
“That is because I know all! All there is, that was, that ever could be! Also, the bar wench told me after your presence threw me into another stupour that night.”
“That night?”
That's what they were taking from that?!
“Hmmm...” Kyra added.
“Stop saying that!”
“Mishka, your lover's at it again.” Paine commented, pointing out the fool that was back at his spot, facing the tonberries.
Despite our compromised position, all I could think about was having to pull him back again and could only press my hand to my forehead. That was, until it came. Dropping down from above, an Elder Drake arrived, its jaw moving in one swift motion and tearing the drunk in two right in front of us.
As the top half of his body fell, we could hear him blindly speaking what would be his last words, “Your praise comes as no surprise and I know you ladies are smitten, but I live for my princess... I... Joossttt... Einbee... bah... will triumph... The worst... is yet to come...”
“It's back!” Kyra shouted, getting her weapon into a defensive stance.
“Now they follow us? Damn, just how much has this place changed?” Nikki grumbled, rolling from its fire breath.
Ironically, as his arrival was followed shortly by the Elder Drake's and as its arrival had unintentionally crushed most of the tonberries in its wake, he actually had been our salvation. Of course, his clicking of the fingers while mumbling something about warping time with reality with his lips hadn't helped. It was the type of thinking the Elder Drake advantaged because the poor drunkard was turning into an unsent. In this stage, his pyreflies were still weak from death and hadn't reorganised into his unsent form, which were now being taken in by the Elder Drake along with all of the tonberries it had crushed. The surge of pyreflies pushed it past Oversouling to a new evolution in its fiend nature. The wings on its head shrunk into horns, but two new ones sprouted from its back. Its bright red scales darkened and thickened into skin that appeared almost like molten rock, the softer red tissue hiding underneath layers of rigid black scales.
The lot of us looked at Nikki, waiting for her to curse what she had just asked, but Paine would point out that the hall was much too small for it to properly move, let alone fly. With that, we ran through the hall, the now scattered tonberries easy to dodge. Luckily, the end of the hall was the entrance to the next cloister and we jumped through with ease.
It was a long fall to Cloister 44. We even had time to hear the dragon clawing its way through. Once we landed, we found ourselves in a very bad place. The entire cloister was bathed in fire, our only ground being a few rocky ledges that hadn't yet been dissolved by the flames. The cloister had no walls and the ceiling was quite high, which meant that once the dragon found its way to us, it would have full advantage of the terrain. What was worse, several creatures of fire much like the one that had appeared on Cloister 42 were coming onto the ledges. One final dilemma was posed for us, as well. As Nooj would alert us, the exit to the next cloister had been placed on the ceiling several ledges away and encased in crystal.
Turning to Nikki, I said, “You had to ask, didn't you?”
“Shut it.” She spat as the bellow of the dragon above grew louder.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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