Now... enjoy the long awaited chapter 4!))
[Chapter 4 ~ An Unholy Crusade]
Kyle sat on the tiled floor of the arena, for one of the few times in his life where he wasn't sure what to do. He'd attacked and defeated Kyla, he had survived, but now he didn't know how to move forward. In his mind he knew he needed to get up and keep moving, but in his heart, he was held there in that place. "I'm supposed to protect everyone. And... somehow... I ended up doing this. How is this protecting anyone?"
Light footsteps collided with the floor approaching some distance away. He counted them by the order of the footsteps, "Two? Damnit! I just dealt with Kyla... I can't handle another 2 after that." Kyle turned around, the arena he had been fighting in was still in place, but at four of the farthest ends in the circular ring there were now doors into the dome to the outside maze.
"What do I do? What do I do?" Kyle asked himself looking to the exits prepared to make a run for it.
The footsteps were drawing closer, Kyle's indecision growing with ever second. Kyle shifted in place going to run when a voice he was sure he could trust caught his ear, "Kyle!!! Heeeey!"
Kyle turned to see a bo-wstaff wielder and hexagunman walking in his direction, "Al! Thank god!"
Al smiled back and looked around at the large arena, surprised something this size had just, 'creeped up' on the two, "What're you doing in a place like this Kyle? Isn't this a little too open and exposed?"
"Heh..." came Kyle's unproductive answer as he tried to avoid the subject, "So, I see you guys are doing well."
"Well," Al began, "We ran into each other just a little bit ago. We were a little worried about the time limit and considered fighting, but then we felt a bunch of explosions and came to the conclusion someone else was kinda already taking care of that so we could put our weapons at ease."
"Mmm..." Kyle replied trying to shake the idea that the explosions we possibly him.
"It's good to have found you at least Kyle," Al patted Kyle on the back, which caused him to wince a little from a bruise, " What's wrong Kyle? You ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." He said standing up before almost collapsing onto the floor if it wasn't for the silent James catching him.
"Woah, Woah... hold on. You're not ok. You're hurt." Al said quickly kneeling by Kyle's side, "What happened... never mind, that doesn't matter so much as you need some healing. Now!"
Kyle laughed at himself, I didn't even realize how weak I'd gotten. That fight really drained me more than I thought.
Al went to work casting sure over Kyle as James stood by keeping an eye out for anyone who might want to take advantage of their vulnerable position, "We need to move as soon as possible."
"He needs healing first." Al turned back, his motherly side showing quite brightly before he turned back to Kyle and resuming the healing spell.
They sat there for about five minutes as Al worked until James cautioned while raising the glowing charm on his gun to eye level, "We have incoming. Three individuals. About 3 minute tops. They're not moving fast, but they're heading in this direction without a doubt."
"How do you know?" Kyle asked sitting up despite Al's desperate objections.
"I've had Fenrir do some scouting ahead at all times. He moves more silently than we do, and he can pick up on things at a distance we never could. He just reported back." James paused again then continued, "2 minutes. Finish up what you're doing and lets get moving. I'm not in a mood for an all out brawl."
"Same." Kyle said standing up and nearly toppling over again from pain.
Al quickly pinned Kyle down, "You're not moving. I need to heal these wounds. You're not able to walk on your own, and there's no way either of us are going to carry you." Seeing the disapproval on Kyle's face Al replied with a big smile and wink, "Doctor's orders!"
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Kichi walked with his hands behind his head in a lazy fashion followed closely behind by Timmy, then Louis taking up the rear, "So... do you guys think we'll run into anyone else any time soon?"
"If we do, the likeliness of them being friendly is rapidly growing smaller as we go along. Those explosions are a testimony to that." Louis replied with a blank look on his face.
"I wonder who's fighting?" Timmy asked looking up at the high roof of the dome, trying to figure how high it must be.
"Dunno. I honestly don't know who on the train would really have the nerve to fight one another without some real provocation or reason. Then again, I don't REALLY know everyone on the train all too well to know for sure." Kichi said with a sigh.
"Same here." Timmy echoed, "Well, at least we have a team and they probably don't."
"That's true." Louis said chuckling, "We do have an advantage there. We just need to watch each other's backs and work together and we should be fine."
"Right!" both Kich and Timmy replied at the same time enthusiastically.
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[[???]]
"Oooooo! Oooooo!" Kefka squeeled over the large display, "Looky! Looky! Oh Seeeeeeyyymoour~!"
"Yes?" The measter replied to shut the clown up, "What can I do for you?"
"Loook! It looked like your boy's turn is coming up!"
"There's no guarantee he'll fight." Seymour said and put a dampener on Kefka's excitement.
"He mi-" Kefka began before being interrupted by Cory.
"He won't fight."
"And why not?" Kefka said pouting like a child.
"He's a weakling. And he's a coward. And he's afraid of his own power. And did I mention he was weakling?" Cory answer with a laugh.
"I wouldn't doubt him. Sir Louis WILL fight if he needs to. He's playing your game his own way. He'll fight when the time comes."
"Wanna bet on it?" Kefka leaned in closer to Seymour just to be irritating, "You're little blue boy over there seems to know him pretty well. Why shouldn't I take his word for it?"
"You'd loose that bet. You might want to pay attention. You're missing your own show." Seymour said looking from the clown to the mirror display.
Kefka waves his hand flippantly as he turned back to the screen, "Oh please... I'll just catch it during the re-runs!"
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Kichi let out a big, WOW as he walked into the smaller dome followed by the other two. Kichi looked around before being the last person to notice the other three near the other end of the dome.
"Hey look, it's Kyle!" Timmy yelled waving over to the others.
"Kyle?" Louis asked under his breath, feeling a familiar stir in his heart.
"Yo! Guys! Don't worry! We're friendly!" Kichi yelled over as well.
Kyle sat up while Al put the final touches on his wounds with the cure spell and looked over at the incoming group. He stood up, this time successful as he pushed Al away who was trying to help him stand straight. Al stood at ease, as did James, but Kyle seemed the most tense, something was pulling at his curse, messing with his emotions and causing him to be defensive despite the friendly greeting.
"Hey guys! Everything alright?" Timmy asked, trying to break the wall that seemed to be blocking their conversation.
"Yeah, everything's cool." Al replied smiling, "No trouble so far."
"Well that's good." Kichi said smiling back.
About mid way across the arena a shot rang out and sped across the arena towards the newcomers. Timmy's fast reflexes stopped a dark bullet from nailing Louis in the chest. Timmy held his shields at the ready as everyone summoned their weapons in preparation for a fight. James held his weapon at the ready but was busy looking elsewhere for the source of the bullet. It wasn't him, and it was fired AT Louis, so it didn't come from his riffle, so who shot it?"
A good distance away a hand holding a black hexagun retreated into a dark portal and vanished from sight.
"Why the hell'd you shoot at us for?" Kichi yelled angrily.
"Don't look at us! We didn't do it!" Al replied looking to James for reassurance, who shook his head in denial.
"Yeah, sure... then I guess it musta been the damn commando tooth fairy gone AWOL!" Timmy came back looking back towards Louis who stood with his own riffle aimed back at the other team."
"Look! We told you we didn't do it! You should believe us."
"Then prove it!" Louis said in turn.
At that moment a large wolf the size of a man came running in making little to no sound as it made it's way quickly over to James. It took it's place next to him watching the other side intently. They stood there for a moment before James' eyes widened and he turned to Fenrir asking, "Are you sure?"
"What? What'd he say?" Al asked turning to James.
"He said he thinks this was the work of my replica. We should b-"
"You can't be serious? First you shoot at me... now you want us to believe in replicas and doppelgangers? Don't make me laugh!" Louis shook his head in fake disbelief, The replicas? Here? Does that mean Kefka has somehow employed them into this scheme? This has suddenly became allot more interesting.
"You better believe it." Kichi said tightening the grips on his tonfa, "Some of us have these... basically evil copies that want to kill all of us out of some inferiority complex or somethin."
"Ooook? That still doesn't prove that they're innocent."
"Well... that's true I guess." Kichi said trying to reason out the situation, "But they haven't been proven guilty either."
"This isn't a court. We don't have that luxury. We're going to need to defend ourselves." Louis rejected Kichi's attempts to defuse the situation, "You wouldn't be so calm if you just had a bullet shot at you.
Kichi went quiet before looking back to the silent opposing team, "Well, I'm sorry to say, I don't think we're going to be able to trust each other at this point."
"That's obvious." Kyle said rather coldly.
"Well, this is what I suggest." Kichi started off, "You guys just turn around, and walk away. When you're gone we'll turn and leave in the other direction. This way we can be sure neither of us will cause each other any trouble."
"We'll we're not running." Kyle cut the negotiation short, his reasoning currently clouded.
"And neither are we." Louis replied narrowing his gaze on Kyle.
"Oh boy..." Timmy said seeing where the conversation was going.
"Guys... if you just-"
"NO!" Both snapped at Kichi who held up his hands trying to take the aggression off himself.
"If they're not going to run, then I'll make sure they never try and attack anyone else for the rest of this tournament!" Louis pointed his gun at James, clearly prepared to shoot, James pointed back for his own safety.
"Give it up Kichi. They're not going to let this go. Were going to have to fight sooner or later. I guess this is no better time than any other."
"I guess you're right." Kichi sighed taking a stance.
At this point Kefka made his usual entrance appearing on the screen, "Well well! What a wild match this is turning out to be! All the chaos a jester could wish for!
The Wheel of Fate is turning!
REBEL 1
ACTION!!"
[Cue: Imperial Code]
The tiles beneath Kichi's group shifted suddenly downward threatening as though it was going to collapse.
Louis stumbled and started running backwards to get off of the central section that sank an inch downward below the rest of the circular arena, "Kichi! Timmy! Get off of this part of the floor!"
He didn't have to warn them, they were already right behind him running for the opposite end of the sunk in section than the opposing team. The circle on the floor began to shake violently as they got off of it safely only to be foiled as that portion shot up, into the air with a massive pillar underneath.
It was a giant pillar that kept going until reaching the roof of the smaller dome. The roof folded away and instead climbed upwards parallel to the giant cylinder monolith growing inside. Finally it reached it's limit and stopped. It stood almost 200 stories high, and cast a shadow down on the combatants below. Then, out of the skyscraper several polls shot out into the surrounding walls creating a web through which light from the top passed through.
Louis looked up, and on the other end, so did Kyle. Both had the same thing in mind, "We need to get to the higher ground! First one to the top will have the advantage! GO!"
Louis jumped up to the first pillar and systematically started jumping on up the randomized ladder. Kichi and Timmy watched on shrugging before heading up after him. Al and James did the same... now it was just an all out race to the top!
Kyle sprang up pillar by pillar, his mind completely centered on making it to the summit. He glanced over seeing Al fly past him aided by the power of wind with every jump carrying him much higher with every leap. James moved along side Fenrir moving in unison and sticking together.
As Kyle jumped up to the next pillar his vision was blinded for a moment by the passing object then came face to face with Louis. The two struck out with one another instantly clashing with their weapons and pressing off each other. Kyle landed on a higher pillar than Louis and quickly launched off at him. Louis gathered darkness around him and wiped his rapier into the air sending a stream of darkness paper thin into Kyle. The attack smacked him across the torso and sent him spinning out of control and smacking into a pillar. Louis jumped up and landed next to him on the pillar as he stood up.
Kyle spun his spear around and stabbed out at Louis, who fought back by parrying the spear away with every blow, "Is that all you've got? Please... I could handle petty attacks like this in my sleep. A heavy weapon like that is no match for the speed of my rapier!" Louis taunted him before thrusting his blade towards Kyle's open chest.
Kyle spun the spear around in front of him with ungodly speed, sending the rapier out of Louis' grip and up into the bottom of a pillar above them where it embedded itself tightly. Kyle grinned revealing he had only been gauging his skills, "Say again? I don't think I heard you quite right."
He stabbed out with his spear but had it caught by two daggers. Louis held the spear back and glared at Kyle with immense frustration, just as Timmy, James, Kichi, and Fenrir flew by fighting their own battle while continuously heading upwards. Kyle and Louis simultaneously came back to their original goals and pushed each other back with a blast of darkness and light coiling around in between them.
Louis jumped up and retrieved his rapier closely followed by Kyle, taking a parallel path. Now above them Kitchi clashed with James. James fired off 3 shots before landing on another pillar and jumping off. Kichi blocked each individually with a spin of his tonfa. Kichi gained on James and quickly took several punches towards his gut in mid flight. James fired off several shots but quickly had his arm knocked away. Kitch took advantage with a precise spin of the tonfa and a positioning of his body, he swiftly had the gunner in a hold that bent his arms into strange, and rather painful positions. Kichi smacked James straight in the face with his tonfpha lined forearm. Kichi spun the tonfa that held the gunner's gunning arm and flipped him over. The Gunner fell towards the ground as Kichi brought his arm back, a glyph forming around the front on the tonfa. The thrust forward and a flare spell fired out after him, launching Kichi higher, and hopefully knocking the gunner lower.
As the flare closed in, the gunner was save by his wolf companion who flew in and tackling him out of the open and onto a pillar where he could help himself. Fenrir quickly left James and returned to its own battle with Timmy. Fenrir bared his fangs and pounced at Timmy as he braced himself. As Fenrir was about upon him, he was blasted back by a barrier made of electrical energy. Lightning clung to his fur and caused it to stand on end and he had a hard time moving his limbs. Timmy quickly took his leave and continued upwards leaving the summon to deal with his paralysis.
About this time, Al got to the top long before anyone else and looked around. He ran to the very center of the massive circular slab and was then joined by Sylph floating next to him. The two took positions across from one another and placed their hands out in front them. Al's bo-staff appeared between them, air pressure collecting around it as it started spinning.
Kyle and Louis jumped along side one another swinging back and forth with strikes of light and darkness trying to blow the other off their path and send them careening back down to the base. The top was still a good distance away and their progress wasn't very astounding so Louis quickly took a detour. Dashing out to the side he clashed with Kyle, tired of the ranged banter they were throwing at one another but to no avail. Kyle swiftly collected light on his spear and struck out canceling out all the darkness that Louis used on his weapon. Diagonal strikes between the two sent out waves of the combined elements cutting through pillar causing them to break apart and fall.
James made his way and was slowly catching up with Kichi, though the distance between them was still enough to make a man give up. James quickly filled his gun with several elements and fired them off one after another. Kichi heard the gunshots and quickly looked to where they were coming from but couldn't spot his opponent. Between the pillars several shots came through with perfect motion prediction. Kichi blocked the shots as before but soon wished he hadn't. An ice shot froze over his tonfa and locked it to his arm making his style of fighting rather useless. A lightning shot back second exploding and shocking all his limbs and stunting his moment. The next were two rapid fire shots, which exploded and quickly sent Kichi off coarse. Kichi hit the pillar he was aiming for with only his upper torso to hold on. An ice shot hit the bottom of the pillar and froze Kichi to it.
Kichi struggled to get free but found it impossible, "Timmy! A little help!"
Timmy heard his friends call for help and swiftly made his way over to him. He landed next to him and smashed the ice with his shield breaking Kichi's arms free. Before he could completely free him however Both James and his summon swooped in for the kill each took a side of the pillar and began their attacks. Timmy brought up his shields facing James and electric field extended out from each widening the size of guard greatly. James' shots hit nothing but a stone wall as his Wolf charged from the rear. Just as Fenrir pounced to take a bite out of him, Timmy spun around and back handed the wolf with the buckler, the other shield still blocking the shots from James' gun.
Fenrir fell off the pillar and landed roughly on one far below. The wolf crouched down then launched himself up with his powerful limbs. In mid flight he was met by Timmy's thrown shield which extended bindings of electricity over his entire body. Timmy's guard fell just as James had to reload his bullets. A bolt of lightning stretched from one shield to the other as Timmy swung his arm in front of him. The wolf was quickly dragged along the path and smashed right into his summoner. As the two collided James was also caught in the bindings. Timmy took his time with his trapped subjects. Timmy brought his shield back, then tossed it like a frisbee right into the two. The result was an explosion of energy enough the blast a them right into the air and off the pillar as well as blow a hole in the pillar itself.
As it began to crumble Kichi scrambled around trying to get free, "HELP!"
"I am, I am!" Timmy gathered lighting around his hands before adding, "This might hurt a little."
"W-Wait hol-" Kichi was interrupted as lighting extended from Timmy's fingertips and enveloped his body. It destroyed the ice holding him to the breaking pillar, but also left Kichi paralyzed. Timmy grabbed hold of his friend and flung him over his shoulders before pressing off and heading higher.
Al, at the top of the pillar was just finishing up. Sylph vanished and Al raised his hands upwards. The bo-staff followed his motion and rose higher and higher.
Below still climbing the rest of the group could feel a gentle breeze growing and picking up speed. Louis clashed with Kyle once more, and looked up. There's shouldn't be any wind, not in a place as stagnant as this. Louis pushed away from Kyle and started climbing as fast as he could, Kyle made his way up just as fast only a bit behind, firing off banish spells to try and slow Louis down.
The bo-staff rose up to the required height and at that moment, Aldric tightened his fist releasing a huge gust of wind downward that in a split second resulted in a massive tornado spiraling around the giant skyscraper.
Everyone below felt the sudden change in the worst way possible. Kichi and Timmy suddenly went from being at rest on a pillar, keeping an eye out for James and Fenrir were suddenly launched off their pillar and scattered by pillars that were in their path. James jumped into the air only to be picked up and thrown, as well as Fenrir would couldn't hold on with his claws. Fenrir quickly took his leave and vanished from the battle. Louis, in mid flight, was jerked right out of his forward momentum and flung to the side by the wind. He smashed into a pillar but he stabbed his daggers in, holding on for dear life. Kyle braced himself being the farthest down and seeing the effects of the oncoming wind.
For a bit the group stuck below had to accommodate for the fast moving air and once more began their path up, though this time, standing horizontal and falling sideways! It was like someone had taken the world and flipped it over. One of the weirdest feelings in the world for those caught in the maelstrom.
Kyle was the first to take action in the new setting. Letting himself fall through the air and be carried by the wind, be flew at Louis and passed by his pillar swinging his spear, as far as Louis could tell missing. His assumption was made in vein however as the pillar he had taken refuge on split along his path and crumbled. Louis along with the pieces of the pillar was pulled along by the current and smashed against more pillars. Those pillars quickly became more flying projectiles that endangered everyone. Louis, who flew in the center of them swiftly became agitated from being hit from every direction by large flying chunks of rock. Louis opened a dark portal and reappeared on a different pillar. It makes one wonder why he didn't just warp to the top to begin with...
Kichi was now very close to the top, he could see the opening up ahead, the problem was, what would he do once he got there. Without a brace to hold onto, the wind would just pick him up and spin him around until it stopped, which likely wasn't going to be any time soon. Suddenly, an idea hit him and he set out forward again. He glanced back to spot Timmy but couldn't see him.
Timmy, was a bit behind dealing another reoccurring problem. James was hunting him down, using the wind and cover of the pillars to continuously shoot Timmy from out of sight. Timmy blocked what he could but no matter how much he predicted the Gunner's movements, he always seemed to be striking from a different direction each time. Finally, Timmy threw his arms out to his sides, throwing his shields and igniting them with electrical energy. The two stopped equidistant from Timmy as their center and shot bolts of electricity out and around to each other creating a sort of force field around him. From the force-field, streams of lightning attached to the walls and pillars holding him in the air. Timmy looked straight up, and in his protective bubble, he made his way to the top.
Meanwhile, Kyle toyed with Louis, flying back and forth and cutting away at the more ground bound fighter without much retaliation. Kyle moved with the flow of the wind jumping and pressing off the broken pillars that were moving along with them. Louis was for the most part a sitting duck, bound to the pillars and jumping from each one. Obviously, one could tell who had a better affinity to flight. Kyle came in for another strike, and Louis quickly swung around his riffle to point at the Holy Knight. Kyle brought his spread forward to stab, as Louis pulled the trigger. Louis' shot came out engulfed in darkness. It sped at Kyle but Kyle wasn't going to let something that easy stop him. He smacked it away and continued his flight. Right upon Louis, who stood with a palm extended toward him, and the gun pointed out to the side, Louis shot once more.
The bullet fired off, flying in the wrong direction. Kyle ignored this, but was suddenly struck from behind and sent off course as the bullet returned out of a small dark corridor behind him. Kyle flew past Louis who flipped off the side of the pillar and let the wind carry him off after him. One by one he fired shots off, either missing or not, portals opened all around Kyle. Each shot sped by more than once before decintegrating. Louis kept up the barrage firing off shots and opening portals altering their direction to make passes on Kyle over and over again.
Kyle threw his spear at Louis, who quickly summoned a dark corridor in front of him. The spear flew in and reappeared behind Kyle, and with timing Kyle had originally intended to detonate on Louis, it exploded with his own holy energy and knocked him away.
"Thaaankyou Portal!" Louis said to himself, his words lost in the wind.
At the top, Kichi jumped out into the open above the main column. Flying around at increased speeds, he spotted Al at the center, and knew he'd need to put a stop to him to put a stop to this tornado. Kichi held on tight to his tonfa as glyphs appeared behind both. Using them as rockets, Kichi fired off two simultaneous flare spells and basted his way out of the tornado's pull and into the eye of the storm.
At the opposite end, Timmy rose up over the edge with his electric bubble. The lighting attached itself to the top of the column and pulled him in. Once free of the tornado, his shields disappeared and reappeared on Timmy's arms. James flew out as well, pulled along by the wind. With no conventional way of getting to the center he quickly summoned Fenrir once more to his side. Fenrir knew exactly what to do. Pressing up against James, he used his powerful legs to launch James into the center. James skidded to a stop on his feet and stood up straight next to Al. James put his back up against the wind-weaver, and aimed his gun at Kichi.
Sylph summoned itself once more high above them by the bo-staff, keeping it spinning wile Al dealt with Timmy. Both fighters braced themselves as Timmy and Kichi charged in.
Kichi knocked away the bullets and closed the gap between himself and James in no time. Spinning around the Tonfa and striking downward with the long end, he smacked the gun down, then spinning the other tonfa up, he knocked the gun clear out of James' hand. Kichi followed through with what seemed to be a never ending combination of forward strikes and reverse strikes. James back peddled but Kichi didn't let him get away. James tried to summon his gun back to him, but didn't have the time between attacks and getting his torso beat into jello.
Kichi suddenly jumped back, a false reprieve for James before pushing forward and slamming both tonfa directly into his chest and sending him flying backwards past Al's side.
Al was too busy to help however having a fist fight with Timmy. Al's arm's felt almost numb from striking the electric shields that zapped his fists every time they collided. Al dropped down and swept at Timmy's feet. Timmy jumped over but was cartwheeled upside-down as a gust of wind blew underneath him with the kick. Al thrust his palm forward and blasted Timmy in the face knocking him into a back-flip. Then, coming from several directions, gusts of wind followed Al's thrusts knocking Timmy around in the air. Finally as Timmy leveled out in the air, Al slammed his fist into the ground followed by a burst of wind slamming Timmy into the ground with it.
Still caught in the wind tunnel bellow, Kyle hit the main pillar and re-summoned his spear. He stabbed it into the main structure and held on. Louis stopped on one of the smaller pillars and spotted Kyle a bit away. Kyle glanced up towards the top which was only a bit farther away. He knew he still needed to get there, and Louis was always only a second behind him. He needed a shortcut.
Kyle got ready, and let go of his spear. Before the wind could drag him away, Kyle put both hands down and started blasting off banish spell after banish spell. Using this method, he flew up towards the top, while also keeping Louis if he was still below him at bay.
In mere moments he flew out into the open and spotted the others already fighting on the summit. Kyle flew using the same method he used to get up and landed next to Al. James came flying into position, knocked there forcefully by Kichi and a well placed flare spell.
All all took positions next to one another as Louis warped in with a dark corridor, it seemed common sense finally caught up to him.
As they all took their place at opposite ends of the arena, the wind around them slowed to a stop. Sylph vanished and the bo-staff reappeared in Al's hands. They were all armed and ready, this was the final bout.
[Cue: Under Heaven Destruction]
Kyle ran forward at the group initiating the next phase of the fight. Louis retaliated to his movement with series of bullets. James fired back at Louis drawing his attention, and adding elements to the shots. Kichi met Al head on swinging back and forth with his Tonfa. Al blocked them rocking back and forth with his bo-staff before turning the tables and spinning it in front of him and blowing him away with a gust of wind. Timmy caught Kichi mid flight, and brought up his shield versus Kyle's spear. A swift spin and Timmy sent one of his shields high above them. It flashed and a lighting bolt struck down on Kyle. Kyle stood stunned long enough for Kichi to take over the offense. Several thrusts into the gut bent Kyle over, then several reverse diagonal strikes brought him back up, then a single powerful blunt thrust aided by a reverse flare spell of the rear of his tonfa knocked the dragoon into the air. Timmy finished it with a thrown shield that sparked into a torrent of electricity once coming into range of Kyle. Kyle dropped back down next to Al, struggling to get to his feet.
James charged several elements in his gun before after a flip of a switch, firing them off all at once. They molded together mid flight glowing a bright white. Louis tried to jump out of the way but they closed in too fast and hit him with the force of nothing he'd ever felt before. Louis flew right off the platform. Seconds later he reappeared out of a portal dropping him next to Kichi.
Al dashed after Louis attempting to take out the now weakest of the group but was met by Timmy who punched out at him. Al had done this before, and he was tired of it. A few pin point placements of wind and a swing of his bo-staff later and he knocked the shield user up into the air. Al jumped up and met him. He smacked him several times, each hit matched by a reverse gust of air holding him in there to be pounded more. With one final swing of his pole, the wind-weaver took Timmy and threw him back down to the ground.
Kyle slammed his fist into the floor frustrated. Once more, he resorted to one of his most powerful attacks. Kyle stabbed his spear into the floor, a glyph slowly spreading out around it. A portal opened above everyone with a massive cannon sinking out of it. Louis trembled, knowing full well what it was. He looked to Timmy who was still standing up and to Kichi who was standing next to him. He yelled out so that Timmy could hear him, "RUN! Get off the pillar!"
Louis found the strength to move and ran for the edge, jumping off followed closely by Kichi. Kyle was allot weaker now, so the power of this attack was not nearly as ferocious as it had been versus Kyla.
Timmy followed last, and jumped off. Al took his leave along with James about the same time, taking Louis' advice even though they were on the same team as Kyle. Even Kyle was the last to jump as Eschaton charged up.
Louis flew downward as pillars blurred by at dangerous speeds, Kichi and Timmy pressed off pillars on their way down. As Kichi pressed off one and headed for another Al flew in between him and his landing. Al spun around and landed a powerful hit of his bo-staff into Kichi's guard. followed by a concentrated blast of wind, Kichi was blasted off and smashed through a pillar farther down. Timmy turned to look and see if Kichi was alright but he was forced instead to block a barrage of bullets from James' gun.
Kyle flew downward as recklessly as Louis and spotted him a short distance away. Firing a banish spell, he altered his course and flew at Louis. He collided with him and crossed blades. His daggers in hand, Louis attacked back with the ferocity of a caged animal, a flurry of strikes kept back Kyle's relentless strikes.
Above, Timmy waited until there was a pause in James' attack. Throwing off the shields each spiraled upwards as Timmy fell backwards. They flew up and took their place, each at opposite ends of their target. Then, as they had done with Timmy, beams stretched from one end to the other surrounding the gunner. Slowly they moved and formed a massive ring around him. Lighting struck inward as well as sucking in debris from outside the sphere. Kichi took note added to the attack. A glyph appeared behind Kichi as well as 6 golden spikes. Each flew off and took a place around the ring of lightning. Kichi aimed, and fired off one massive megaflare which got sucked up into the sphere and held there.
Far below still fighting off Kyle, Louis saw the light and picked up the pace versus Kyle. He clashed several times with his daggers before catching the shaft of the spear under his foot and above his thigh. Pressing up with his leg and down with his foot, he spun the spear right out of Kyle's grip, then shoved off of him with both feet. He arced backward and aimed his gun. He fired a single bullet into a dark hole. A second later it reappeared and pierced the sphere of light. The light flickered once, then released all of it in a giant explosion. Louis grinned to himself, but gasped for air as his back smashed against a pillar he hadn't been watching out for while looking up. The warrior of darkness smashed from one to another out of control before colliding with the ground in a sickening crack.
At the very top, Kyle's summon finally reached its limit. The heavy hum it released cut off. Then, all of its energy released onto the pillar below resulting in a scene straight out of Independence Day. The beam passed through, slowly catching up with the group that, other than Louis, reached the base about the same time. Cracks split all the way to the base. Finally the entire pillar exploded in one massive collection of Light, Darkness, and rubble that engulfed everyone inside.
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[[???]]
"ASTRAL FINISH!!!" Kefka yelled out with the conclusion of the fight, startling the others in the room, "NOW THAT, is what I call a good show! Bravo, Bravo I say! I am officially impressed!"
Seymour looked on at the dust filled screen, he couldn't tell anything from there. Cory stood behind him laughing, "So much for that dumb-a**! You should have sent me down there, I would have beaten them all without breaking a sweat!"
"That's because you don't sweat. You break..." Seymour said reminding him of the cracks lining his body.
"So what, I still would have beaten all of them... and without any need of team mates." Cory retorted before returning to laughing at the dust covered screen.
"Well, that was fun. Wonder what else is on..." Kefka said before the screen vanished.
A moment latter, another voice gave life to the room, "You called for me, Kefka?"
Kefka turned to see a teenager holding a large book at his side, "Ah! You made it my good boy! I was beginning to think you wouldn't show!"
"I've been here the whole time. What do you want?" He asked, his facial features never changing.
"Well, Mac, I'm going to need you to do me a little favor. My show is starting to loose it's momentum, and I need you to give it a little push!"
"And how am I supo-" Mac was cut off mid sentence as a mirror opened up underneath him as he stepped forward and he quickly fell through.
"Tata! And try not to disappoint me! Cause lots of chaos while you're there! Hope you have a nice TRIP! See you next FALL!" Kefka sighed as the mirror disappeared before turning back to Seymour and Cory, "Now... be honest... was that too cheesy? A jester has to keep up on his jokes you know..." Kefka let out a loud laugh before bringing up his screen again and watching the rest of his victims.
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A strong wind with lightning makes for a terrible storm as sea and earth band together to hold out through the weather. Meanwhile the survivors of a shipwreck ponder ways to rescue their shipmates thrown overboard.
To Be Continued...
Chapter 5 ~ Monsoon Season
