Welcome to Gaia! ::

A large, colorful blue parrot sat in a cage outside the Gold Mountain Casino, squawking uproariously. It was basically trying to draw attention to itself.

"Hello! You there! Feed me!

"Hello! You there! C'mere!

"Hello! You there! Answer me these questions thre...four! Four!"

DOCKYARD >> CASINO


Two men strolled through the doors of the casino like they owned the place... The reality of things was, if no one stepped up to oppose them, they very soon would. This was not a mission of peace, this was an invasion.

Yes. Team RAIF was invading Isle de Gambino. They'd already landed on the beach, annexed the beachfront, and declared the dockyards as their new naval base. The casino would be next to fall under their rule.

Kings among men required floor shows and waitresses.

"Gentlemans!" They were unnecessarily loud in their entrance. James strode around the lobby shouting and gesturing towards the demon-man eating stolen jerky.

"Meet the new king of the Mountain!"

And all of a sudden, Flare, Brad, and Alia would burst through the doors of the Casino behind them, striking a dramatic pose. Flare with her rapier drawn and pointed to the back of James' head, her right hand raised and glowing with the threat of fire. Alia pulled two throwing daggers loose from the leather armor she wore, which was packed full of sheathed blades, poised and ready to throw.

Brad...well, Brad hadn't gotten the memo that they were now a Ginyu team. He was just standing there, muttering under his breath and tapping a foot on the concrete.

"Usurpers!" Flare shouted. "Surrender now and we may yet spare your life!"

He snatched the poker chip out of the air- no other sound was made.

A drag off his cigarette before flicking it to the ground.

He turned around slowly, making sure to stomp that cig out as he made his way to James' side, his grip on his halberd tightening. The sawed-off was hidden under his jacket on his right side, but the band of shells were in clear view slung over his left shoulder.

A second of silence- before he pulled that jerky up a happily ripped a chunk out of it.

"Nope!" =D He waved at Flare.

If only his riot shield hadn't blown up. Tower shield-style protection was perfect against light ammunition. Alas, that massive explosion that nearly took out the ferry had consumed it, and now James was left to deal with thrown knives the old fashioned way.

By ducking.

He wasn't foolish enough to try and duck between blades aimed for his shoulders, but ducking down low enough so that they flew clean over as he whipped out a telescoping metal baton in his left hand, he made to advance before she could throw another set.

"Now now, no need to get up in arms over this. We're benevolent dictators. Really."

Alia dropped the daggers she had drawn as she and James closed distance with one another, drawing two semi-circular blades from her sides instead. They vaguely resembled protractors, with the bottom as the handle and the curve as the double edged blade.

"I do not negotiate with usurpers."

Her right hand would slash upwards, lancing the blade in a diagonal from her right hip up toward her left shoulder, moving out and away from her body as she did so. Hopefully catching James' torso with her blow.

((She was charging it up even before she came through the door, expecting a fight, so...its a bit more powerful than that. Quite a bit, actually, it would probably at least knock you back some if not...

...you know, let me just write this out into an IC post.))

The problem with trying to punch fire is that, well...it's fire.

So as he punched the fireball, it would flow past his fist, along his arm, and into his face. It was like trying to punch a blast from a really powerful flamethrower, and Stryphe was going to get burned.

What was left of the fire after it flowed around his body would continue on, thudding into someone's martini, and the sound of exploding glass resounded through the casino.

If Stryphe still managed to produce his shotgun, the word "********" would hardly be out of his mouth before the ground exploded beneath him, a giant fist of earth and stone punching up through the casino floor right beneath Stryphe's feet.

Brad had stopped muttering, and lifted his brown eyes to Stryphe.

Fortrunately for Stryphe, he hadn't simply stuck his hand out in front of his face and tried to punch the flame. He'd leaned into the punch, and the fireball had been going in a straight path. This meant that while his fist was in front of the fireball, his face was not right behind his fist.

His hand was burned, and the outside of his arm and shoulder were feeling extremely warm.

He didn't want to pump Flare's face full of lead, since that's where his gun was pointed when he began rising up off the ground for no apparent reason- but he had the impulse.

Instead, he put the gun back in it's holster as the earth-fist was powering him towards the ceiling, attempting to crush him.

Fortunately, his halberd was stuck in the peice of the floor that had been ripped from the ground with him. He'd turn, grab it- DOOM.

The pillar would punch through the ceiling. On the second floor of the casino it would continue to rise- but Stryphe wasn't on it.

Covered in dust and drywall, Stryphe was in midair on the second floor, his eyes filled with a green smoke-like substance, the air around him crackling.

The blade of his halberd glowed green as he whipped about in the air, still being carried upward by the momentum from being lifted by the stone fist. His boots caught the ceiling for a breath moment before he gave a mighty push, sending him towards the floor a few feet in front of the fists hole at a blinding speed.

He'd pushed off the ceiling with a bit of spin, so that he would be able to fall feet- first. He pulled his legs up, letting the blade of his halberd lead the way.

The floor was coming fast, and while the halberd would penetrate easily, he might no do so well. The thick, smoke-like energy materialized around his hand.

BOOM.



The ceiling above Flare exploded, debris raining down painfully, immediately followed by Styphe, halberd first, straight down at her.

Or not?

His angle was too wide- he'd been to close to Flare in the first place. Instead, he was coming down straight at Brad, aiming to impale the earth mage- something extremely annoying to Stryphe, through the chest/stomach area. The glowing, green blade of the halberd would peirce damn near anything.