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Sayrike::Tortuga: razz ort

[Wow, okay, so I broke, like, 10 million rules. I am so sorry. A number of edits.]

The opponent's swords did not hesitate in their attack, and they once again aimed themselves toward the girls. Suddenly, a trio of clear balls of light spun into existence in front of Dawn, Noelle, and Jenny and flattened out into three panes of glass. A small spark of light flashed as the swords hit an invisible wall. Behind the three females stood Sayrike, her arms outstretched and mouth still open from barking out a quick, "Rebound!" a second before. The air still cracked and shimmered from the impact of the swords. Keeping her gaze forward at the moving blades, Sayrike yelled to the girls, "If you can do something to attack or to defend yourselves, do it now!" Her defense wasn't bad and neither was her magical endurance, but it wasn't going to last long; she could feel it. This was probably the one and only chance she had to block the attack, and to prove her point the air returned to normal in the next second as her shield disappeared, leaving the mirrors remaining. She figured she was only able to hold out for slightly longer than the other girl because she hadn't used any energy yet. The plus side was that her mirrors were two-way, so that the young man on the other side would not be able to see the four of them very well if they were behind the mirrors. She hoped that she had bought some time for the battle-experienced girls to act--since, judging by what she had seen them do so far, this group had been in their fair share of fighting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Earlier:

Sayrike had plenty of time to watch the group as they shot out of the train. She had a pretty good sense of balance (at least when it came to sudden unsettling movement, a trait she learned after spending many bus trips standing while reading a book) so she hadn't quite fallen over, but Kyle's parting words had made her think twice before acting. If she were with her friends, she would have jumped out almost immediately. But, in this case, she still wasn't quite sure what was going on. Was it within her place to go? She didn't want to get in the way of anyone, especially with her lack of experience. But still...it was only right to return their kindness, and she liked to help out others even if she didn't owe them anything.

It was very cool, though, to watch the girl with the flute in action before she jumped out. As person after person leaped through the door and out into the wind, Sayrike's mothering instinct began to take over. She started checking to see if there were doors and windows that needed to be closed and locked, or if food had been left out. It was the least she could do before leaving; the group was large, and so they probably weren't going to get decimated within the next 2 minutes. Why not have them come back to a place where things were tidied up? (Of course they were going to come back. She had to believe that.) Quickly Sayrike brought some used water glasses into the kitchen that had been left out. There she spied Captain Silver sitting at one of the booths. How could she miss him when she was in here before?! Talking with James must have taken up more attention than she realized. Still, she couldn't strike up a conversation with him now; she had to join the rest of the group. Not only that, but he could be kind of intimidating in the sense that she was always on guard around characters like him; they could be scheming something at all times, good or bad.

Nodding briefly and flashing a smile, she had turned and put the glasses in the sink and then stopped to think. Well, this was like a game, right? Which means there should be healing stuff somewhere. Scuffles equaled injury. Where would she go about finding healing objects, like potions? She glanced around.

The cupboards.

They were magic, right? And they provided whatever you imagined? Even if it wasn't food? It wouldn't hurt to try, at least. Walking up to one, she placed her hand on the knob and thought, Potions. Or at least something that heals. Opening it up, there it was! Ah, this would never get old. The cupboard was full of round bottled filled with neon green liquid (for that's how she imagined potions) and...boxes of Band-Aids. Oops, she hadn't meant to let that slip into her thoughts. Grabbing a couple, she stuffed them into her pockets, surprised to find that they 1) actually fit into them, and 2) she could carry them without discomfort. Haha, the wonders of hammerspace? This was way too good to be true. As an afterthought, she also pulled out a box of Band-Aids and placed them into her back pocket. Out of habit, she pulled on the chain at her waist and glanced at the watch. As another surprise, it held two pieces of information--the time of day it was at the place outside and how much time had elapsed from the fixed point she was thinking of, which was the moment when the last person had left the train. 54 seconds. Time for her to leave.

Draping the cloak over the back of a chair, she stepped outside and was immediately buffeted by the gale. "Holy cr--!" she yelled in surprise, though her voice was quickly carried away. The wind threatened to knock her over, but she kept her ground and began to run in the direction of the beams of light ahead. To help combat the wind, Sayrike called up her mirrors and shoved them to her side, which significantly cut the gale's force and allowed her to run faster (though she was already sprinting faster than normal due to Jenny's spell). It wouldn't be long before she caught up to the group.

Luckily, she made it just in time.

[Dawn : Isle of Tortuga : Port]

Dawn had zero time to react to anything, not that she was paying attention to the fight. She was trying to not trip over her own feet to keep the boost from her dance going.

~'Watch out!'~

Dawn looked up in shock as the fiend charged at Jenny, Noelle and herself. The first few attacks were held back by Jenny's spell, until the spell broke. Dawn let out a small cry as a blade cut deeply across her right shoulder.

She fell to her knee and raised her tessen in attempt to try and defend herself from the rest of the attack, but none ever came.

Dawn glanced up to see what could of happened, when a barrier of some sorts was up in front of her. She glanced behind her to see Sayrike with what appeared to be mirrors, protecting her and the other two. Her eyes narrowed as she nodded in agreement. Using her good arm, she took aim at Chaos' head and threw a wind enchanted tessen. She hoped if it went through, it would at least buy them some time, by distracting him even for a moment from his attack. She could only pray that it would be enough on her part.

((Kyle, Regen shouldn't sting . . . Alan was referring to what's about to happen next.))

[Alan :: The Betting Table]

The blaze barely had time to arrive on the scene before she came under attack. . . a single kunai sailed directly at her. Barely perceiving the threat in time, she went into a quick dive, the thrown weapon missing by inches.

"Haha~! Think you can hit a fire in flight? Nice try, Hiroari!"

Meanwhile, Cory's blinding speed had become even more absurd somehow. Alan could barely see him move before Cory's foot was planted squarely on his chest. The only defensive measures Alan could take were to absorb the blow by rolling with it a little - he utterly failed to either dodge or block.

Still, in a way it was fortunate - the kick sent him flying backwards, putting a bit of distance between the two fighters. Alan was fairly sure one of his ribs was broken, but didn't have time to think about that now . . . he needed to leave that to Regen and work quickly.

A strange grin spread over his face, in spite of the pain. "Ready?"

"As ever, Ani-ue!"

Alan really wasn't comfortable with her calling him that in public. Still, there wasn't time to say anything.

He clenched his left hand in a loose fist, channeling as much magic as quickly as possible. He wouldn't have the time (or the inclination, considering how winded it left him last time) for the kind of spell she and he had used to eliminate the Heartless. Still, something on that order would probably be necessary for what he had in mind. If only there was some other source of power . . . mana isn't enough.

As if in answer to an unspoken question, Alan felt a strange energy flowing through him. Actually, it might be more accurate to say that he became aware of a strange energy. Or, rather, he began to perceive something as energy that he had been aware of all along.

Of course! My vital energy! Oh, this is reckless. . .

[Alan learned Overchannel!]

It was visible to everyone. Alan's very body began to crackle with a reddish gold energy. The air tasted like heat, or electricity.

Alan guided all of that energy - the mana in his body, and part of his actual life force - into his clenched hand.

"Here!" he made a toss to the blaze. It looked rather like passing a ball, except that in this case, the ball was larger than Alan and made of concentrated fire. Simply being in the same area as that infernal sphere would cause those present to begin sweating profusely.

"Got it!"

She didn't exactly catch the ball so much as collide with it directly. Considering her lack of hands, this was perhaps inevitable. Upon collision, the ball seemed to shatter somewhat - it became larger, and less concentrated and spherical. She did a few tight circuits in midair, flying in rapid circles like some kind of dervish. As she did so, the ball of fire rapidly became larger and larger, until it resembled not a ball so much as a lingering nimbus, hovering ominously over the whole arena.

Alan's grin widened, even as a trickle of blood ran down his mouth. He didn't bother wiping it away. "Welcome, guests," he said, his voice hoarse and raspy (surprising even himself), "to the Hell of Burning Fires. I'll be your guide. But before we begin, let me ask you:" that same glitter as before returned to his eyes as he looked Cory directly in his. "Can you dodge the rain?"

And then, it began to rain fire.

Small embers fell to the ground, igniting the grass where the struck and scorching the flesh of all earthbound present. It wasn't a devastating attack in terms of power, but it would last a while, and it was basically unavoidable. Alan was a little surprised at quantity of 'rain', actually: Kyle's Regen spell was only just canceling out the damage.

As for Cory, with no source of healing (as far as Alan could see), he was doomed to take the full force of the infernal rain.

Alan, on the other hand, was more or less fine - with fire resistance and Regen still active, he was actually recovering a bit of health. Still, his wounds from Cory's attack and his overchannel weighed heavily on him.

Alan coughed up a wad of blood, and almost visibly fell over, only barely managing to keep his feet. He uttered a weird, raspy hiss.

[Isle of Tortuga ~ Port]

Noelle was trying to calm Booker when the attack came. Maybe bringing them had been a bad idea--but Noelle hadn't thought about it back at the train. She didn't know enough about the situation to expect danger. The winds and Kyle's display of power were enough to spook Booker and send him reeling. The blonde quickly grabbed the harness to drag Booker around and try to get him to run back towards the train. She only hoped he knew enough to go back.

The moment Noelle turned back to the fight she was caught in Nick's gaze. Not knowing to avoid it, the agromancer looked up and their eyes met. An overwhelming feeling of terror immediately overtook her. She didn't understand it, and couldn't explain it, but the fear she felt was very real. Her body tensed and she began visibly shaking as her breathing became heavier. Noelle was locked into place, unable to move and react to the attack because of the fear arresting her mind.

'Human, what is wrong with you?! Defend yourself!

I-I can't! I can't move!

Noelle's thoughts were frantic as the debilitating fear continued to possess her. It was lucky for her that the others had her covered, but that might be short lived. If she was attacked she was done for. All she could do was stand and watch with a horrified expression on her face.

[Chaos :: Isle of Tortuga :: Port]

Chaos was, in layman's terms, extremely ticked that these insignificant gnats were stopping him from killing Ultima. So he decided to do what he did best: Kill everything in sight and not ask a lot of questions. The boy who poisoned him was going to stab him again, probably cripple him in some way, but Chaos would have none of that.

"Begone, little pests! My battle is not with you!"

Chaos stomped his foot, releasing a large gust of wind pushing everyone near him back about ten feet. The Walker of the Wheel continued to channel wind in his feet, then propelled himself high into the air. At the peak of his jump, he launched his two swords towards Louis.

Jacob ll Isle of Tortuga ll Port

Jacob slid back into the Luciano's portal and was suddenly back into the air again. It took some getting used to, and Jacob was starting to feel ill, both mentally and physically, but the four greatswords pointing at his new friends didn't seem too fun either. "THIS IS HOW WE DO IT!" Jacob fell and fell and fell until he grabbed a hold of the avatar's neck and sent them both into a peregrine dive.

The veins in his arms pulsed as the wind roared around him, but he didn't care. Jacob was almost dreaming. The rush of wind and the free-falls gave the illusion of flying, and Jacob was all too happy to accept them.

[Isle of Tortuga ~ Port]

Noelle was tossed back like a rag doll, hitting the ground and sliding until she had run into something. All she felt she could do was lie there, eyes squinted shut, shuddering at the unnatural fear that had petrified her. Her blood ran cold as irrational things popped into her mind--she couldn't shake the feeling of terrible danger. The only danger she was in right now was from her imagination. This all felt vaguely similar to the Hades incident. There were large differences, but it felt terrible all the same.

Jesus Christ on a BICYCLE, what did that creep DO to me?!
'Just stay where you are, someone might be able to help yo--'
I don't WANT to be helped! I should be helping myself!

The agromancer fought the panick and terror, willing herself to move, but couldn't shake it. The harder she battled against herself, the more she was able to reclaim movement. Unfortunately she was only able to get to her knees before the paralysis from fear stopped her again. Noelle almost felt sick, it was so terrible.

Prote phased, the wind blast leaving him uneffected. He returned to his normal state, though with two changes. Each of his hands had extended to blades. He typically wasn't one to fight, but there had always been an underlying instinct, instilled in him from his memories. The children were taking every opportunity they could to make attacks, leaving Prote with little to do. He was there for support, so support them he would, even if it meant waiting until they needed the help in battle.

[Hawaii ~ Dark Portal --> Lugae's Lab]

Elleon stepped out of her dark portal casually, looking at her nails and picking at them. She was thinking about what to do next. It was Hawaii, there were a few things she'd like to do . . . even if there was a little casework on the side. What did any of that matter to her? It was all frivolity, so a halfassed job would do fine, then she could do what she really wanted to do.

The replica looked up, glancing around with a sneer. "Remind me again why I'm doing this?" She said, mostly to herself.

'Because that's what slaves do. They do what their masters bid, lest they be punished.

There's only one thing I'm a slave to, and that's your incessant b@%$^*@$. Please, someone free me.

[ Zordon : Angel Grove : Coast -> The Command Center ]

"I'm afraid we haven't been in contact with your noble mouse," Zordon responded, frowning somewhat as he heard the man's story. So, they weren't here specifically to help. Not that he'd expected it, to be honest; he knew there were other travesties going on around the world. A solemn look crossed his face. "We did receive a strange signal a few days ago, coming from across the volcano in the Hawaiian village- Alpha claimed its energy signature was highly similar to the one your ship gave off-"

"Identical!" Alpha 5 declared, sounded overjoyed at being able to help. He was always so glad to help!

"Indeed. If your friend landed anywhere, it would be across the other side of the mountain. However, I'm afraid they will be going through the same problems as us," Zordon explained, the wrinkles on his weary face becoming more pronounced. "Ivan Ooze has allied himself with an assortment of space pirates, who seem to have their own supply of airships. They've been enough trouble for both our Rangers and the Space Council's fleet. We don't know what they're getting at- they just continue attacking at random intervals."

"Another nega-wave fluctuation from the volcano," Billy announced, frowning with his eyes narrowed in frustration. "And this one is big. Not as large as the original magnitude, but- wait- I think I got a lock on the location!"