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[Dani / Ashley:: Atlantica :: Dark Army]

"What do you mean I am going to be your playthi-" Dani shouted before some of Ashley's water came over her mouth with the intent on keeping her quiet. Dani trying to think ahead decided to mentally send what she was looking at through the charms to everyone that was fighting in the underwater war.

"Now now," Ashley shushed before giving her original a smirk " We don't want you running away just yet. All will be revealed in time." Ashley took out her chakrams and spun them around to make sure that they were sharp. "Perfect," Ashley chuckled before swimming over to Dani and coming within inches of her face.

"I have a message for you." Ashley breathed onto Dani's face before making her right chakram dissapear. Ashley moved her hand down slowly to draw out the suspense before gripping onto Dani's right hand and fingers. "Now don't worry," Ashley spoke as she started to sound more demonic "This will only hurt a lot."

Suddenly, Dani was enveloped in a immense amount of pain as she felt like something was being put onto her fingers and part of her hand. Dani tried to call out or scream but the water around her mouth blocked off most of the noise. Her concentration sending what she saw through the charms broke off at that moment for a minute before she reestablished the connection through the charms. When Ashley pulled her hand away after a few seconds there were tattoo markings from where she touched.

"And this is only the begining," Ashley looked at the tattoo proud before resummoning the right chakram. "To think, none of your friends are going to come and save you. It is kind of sad isn't?" Ashley brought up her chakrams as if to strike Dani's arms but decided against it to tease her.

"You have been alone for pretty much your whole life if you look closely." Ashley said as she began to move to Dani's back. "Even after you were given this 'second chance' in this universe you spent 6 days of it alone with only characters and not real earthlings that you know and love." Ashley playfully gripped Dani's back but not enough to draw blood.

"You are pretty much just an abandoned puppy that no one wants because you're a drama queen. It is a wonder how you managed to be picked to survive the world ending after you abandoned your friends." Ashley laughed as she dragged her circular blade across Dani's cheek and watched some of the blood fall.

Suddenly as if the pain and suffering weren't enough for Dani, Ashley made the water around her mouth disappear. Before Dani had even a chance to question why, Ashley had moved some of her water to Dani's right arm and smirked. "Pressure clamp," was all Ashley said before the water around Dani's arm compressed enough to break her arm.

Dani immediately howled in pain as tears fell from her eyes. She ,however, tried her best to keep mentally sending what happened through the charms. "You son of a *****" Dani cursed at Ashley who in turned just turned her head to the side.

"Who better then someone who knows you to give you your first broken bone." Ashley shrugged at Dani before looking at the army around them. "Besides, who is going to stop me? Your little ragtag group of Earthlings won't because of your antics. I bet they are already tired of you and are waiting for you to die."

Ashley quickly scanned the area around the dark army before returning her focus to her hostage. "It looks like my time is up. Have fun with that broken arm drama queen." Ashley then swam as fast as she could out of the army and out of the warzone.

When Ashley was out of sight, the water holding Dani was released leaving her hanging limply in the middle of the army. "I wonder if I should just give up now?" Dani thought as she tried to fight with one hand in the direction that she originally was.

[Dawn : The Black Pearl : Deck]

Dawn remained silent. Her mind reeling not knowing what to do. Was James free or not. Her heart want to believe he was free. But the nagging voice inside her telling her to not to trust this. This was just another one of Ajora's tricks. She knew from experience that the seal that Ajora was not something to be played with. It wasn't easy to be broken. She had yet to figure out what happened when Louis freed her.

~'You can debate this all day but do something! There is a fight here. Not some sort of film.'~

At that moment Kuro had James on the ground with 'Alex' nearby. In a rush of emotion she threw her tessen, infused with wind at Kuro's head, hoping that the bladed fan would cut his head open.

She looked in the direction at James with a mixed expression that was unreadable. Dawn was not about to be toyed with again. Not by Ajora. Not by anyone.

[Noelle ~ Atlantica ~ Battlefield]

It didn't seem like the incessant distractions were going to let up. Noelle kept her cool, just trying to take one thing at a time. Her arms began to tremble while pushing against the Grimm's scythe, but she couldn't quit now or she'd be screwed. Prote took to attacking the Grimm's back, also fighting to absorb the heat in the area faster than the enemy to leave it drained. Noelle could see little ice particles beginning to form in the water around her, leaving her chilled. Suddenly, however, Prote stopped attacking.

"Hey man, now's not the time for a break!" She hissed through clenched teeth, locking her arms as they tired.

"But where have you gone? You have disappeared." He replied, glancing around the water where she should have been. There was clearly still a force being exerted against the Grimm's scythe, but nothing there.

Noelle gave him a look (that he couldn't see) like he was crazy. She could see herself just fine. Little did she know, Jenny had cast Vanish on her, rendering her invisible. "What the hell are you talking about?! Kick this Geist's a** before it kicks mine--WHOA!"

About that time, Kyle's attack landed, tossing the Grimm away from Noelle, granting her a brief moment's respite. The agromancer worked to regain her composure, panting and shaking out her arms. What was Prote talking about? She could still see herself just fine.

'Human, a spell has been cast on you, I could feel it. You may very well be invisible.
'Oh, what? Sweet, that would be why Mr. Nasty over there is looking around like a dork. This is a life saver.

Noelle stayed quiet, using the Vanish spell to her advantage and moving around enemies, trying to come up with a strategy against the Grimm. Kyle's page over the charms came in, making her jump a bit.

"Yeah, they're composed of the memories they are given and absorb, no darkness . . . Kyle, you lovely man, you've just given me a killer idea. MUAH!"

"Prote!" Noelle called, giving up her placement. The Grimm responded to the call and moved toward her. "Can you absorb the Grimm? You copied the memories and functions of all the Geist types before battle, but can you absorb their memories to weaken them?"

The Grimm approached, but didn't strike. It wasn't quite sure where to swing. But, as Prote was intelligent and problem solving, so was this powerful Geist. It suddenly pushed it's scythe into the sand. Noelle kept on guard, not knowing what it was doing. It moved the scythe up, scooping the sand and throwing it up into the water. Noelle could feel the sand go over her head and begin settling on her as it drifted down.

'. . . oh wait, he's--s**t.'

The Geist swung at the sand-covered form in the water. Noelle blocked and moved, pressing the sand out of the water and back down with her terramancy. It was a good thing she had earth magic. The Grimm was persistent, though, and continued to shovel sand up into the water as Noelle pushed it down.

"I have only ever been able to absorb lesser Geists," Prote said, catching on to what Noelle and the Grimm were doing and striking where he could, "It would take too long to defeat this Geist by absorption. I could take its most recent memories, though. It would forget it's fighting you and you could destroy it while invisible."

"Yes! Brilliant! I'll take it, gogogo!"

Noelle continued to dodge and weave, giving Prote his chance to get in and steal the Grimm's memories. That's when she started getting images and sounds over the charms from Dani. The small blonde sighed in irritation. She didn't hold a very high opinion of Dani because of yesterday's incident. Noelle blocked the transmissions she was receiving, muttering a small "Figures," as she dodged the Grimm's scythe once more. She needed to make sure she could save her own a** before she could get to helping Dani.

{Bobbi .:. Atlantica .:. Above Battlefield}

Bobbi fired off one last arrow right when Kyle's message came over the charms. She cast a wide-area Blizzard spell in front of and below her to ward off anything heading her way, and swam as fast as she could upwards to get further from the battlefield. She heard Dani's screams from the charms, but was too far away from the kid to do anything. She wavered for a moment, biting her lip, but she made her decision quickly.

Sorry, kiddo, I've got other duties. Good luck.

:I'll try to stay out of harm's way for ya, Kyle. Whatcha need?: she sent back as soon as she'd gotten to a comfortable altitude. Hopefully from up here she wouldn't have too many interruptions.

{Demyx .:. Black Pearl .:. Crow's Nest}

Demyx let the last of the water clones be killed off as he observed what was happening on deck. The most interesting bits seemed to be focused on about-face guy (James) and Tall Dark And Ugly (Kuro Oni). Seemed the one guy was running out of fight, what with getting thrown around like a rag doll. Demyx waited for an opportune moment, then summoned three Geysers around James, one aimed for Kuro, one for Alex, and the other simply trying to open an escape route. If the dude was sensible, he'd take it and am-scray. Assuming, of course, that the Geysers did what they were intended to do, and freed up some breathing room for the Corsair.

[ Kyle : Atlantica : Battlegrounds ]

Good, good... let's see how this works, then.

"Bobbi, if you can, make your way over to me. Did you grab ethers before you came down?"

Kyle inhaled deeply before reaching out with his left arm, his palm facing toward the battlefield; his right hand came and gripped his left elbow as he did so.

The massive amount of golden dust above the battlefield began to swirl, looking almost like a spiral galaxy as it began to condense. By the time Bobbi arrived, all of the dust would have condensed into a single speck of blinding light--which immediately (and harmlessly) erupted into a downward-pointing beam of white light. The light struck nothing, harmed no one, and simply disappeared into the ground.

"Place your hand on the large Command Seal on my back," he told Bobbi through the charms, despite her being directly adjacent to him. "If you're even slightly low on mana, now would be a good time to drink an ether, because I'm going to see if I can channel your ice magic via contact, though an Ice Spirit wouldn't hurt our chances."

.:Kyle, even if this works, you've used a substantial amount of mana, you won't be able to hit everything without draining your friends dry.:.

No. This is why I saved him for last.

.:Kyle, no! The risk isn't worth it, the end result--:.

Justifies the means. Atlantis is under siege, Ultima, we have to hurry. Don't worry, I'll be careful.

[[??? : Atlantica : Above The Battlefield]]

{{Cue: Dark Ages by Two Steps From Hell}}

Somewhere among the murky underwater expanse saturated with darkness, floated a lone black mass. The object moved without form, shifting and swirling around its unstable core as it moved about. It made no action, simply floated around aimlessly. At last it floated above a group of lone individuals, separated from the rest of the fighting.

Unnoticeable amidst the chaotic battle below, it sank down closer, observing with apparent interest. One glowed with power, his body pouring energy out of his magic veins. The other moved to his side... now was its chance. It's form broke up further, dissipating at last into little more than threads or strands of darkness that moved in quickly.

Like a ghost, it passed through the three individuals, unnoticeable except by the mild chill as though a cold current had suddenly passed through the water. As fast as it had come, the chill was gone. The darkness however was not.

Behind the two, a presence formed, the black shapeless existence appearing again and collecting together into a solid ball that swiftly expanded outward. The growing sphere contorted and bent until the living silhouette of a person with a mer-like tail shaped like a lion fish floated in their presence.

Without a sound it extended a hand outward in their direction. The spines on its tail stretched out as its hand broke apart while each finger became a separate elongated tendril until all shot forward into Bobbi's back.

There was a bite of pain as the darkness forcefully invaded her system before a second later a surge of unpleasant but rejuvenating energy ran through her body starting from her chest expanding outward. The tendrils moved through her, visible through her skin as black veins spreading from her untapped magical circuits.

Before a third second was up, the darkness had already made its way to Kyle's back and his seal, flowing through and into the holy dragoon. The effect on him more apparent as the darkness flooded into his magical circuits, bleeding shadow onto the golden color like ink injected into a tube of flowing water.

The body of the figure behind them glowed dark purple for a moment as its vine-esk circuits lit up, revealing a more defined armored form that quickly spread into the others. This surge was far greater than the last, different in that it was less magical and more a surge of pure, unbridled, emotion given to raw power. The effect would be different for both individuals involved. Shiva, the purest summon of ice, would feel herself self unshackled and driven by the spirit of wild winter, the heartless unfeeling season of cold, void of life, as her ice magic was suddenly driven to her maximum beyond the normal capabilities of her summoner.

On the other hand, Kyle's mind became clouded, while contrarily focused at the same time. Tunnel vision being the best word overcame him, his mind driven to its extremes, logic and emotion, needs and desires, love and hate, all one and the same and directed at his goal and his goal alone.

"Destroy them all"

And just like that, the figure came and went, its body burning up and vanishing into oblivion leaving the two to deal with their new found power and consequential vices.

[[Bobbi - Temporarily learns Dark Deep Freeze, Dark Glacier, and Flash Freeze(Causes Freeze/Petrification)
Kyle - Concentration & Faith
Both - Max MP, and Max LvL 5 Magic Strength]]

[Joe: Atlantica: Battlegrounds]

The male turned at Mathy's yell. "...Ah." Yeah, that wasn't bright of him, letting an enemy sneak up on him like that. But at least him and Matt could do something about it.

Mathy was using a sonic blade attack, and Joe ended up dashing through the enemy as well in a spiral of wind/current. Once. Twice. Three times they crossed the enemy in an 'X' pattern, the enemy fading into a black smoke...which didn't seem normal. Of course, when the smoke touched Joe, and he felt a familiar coldness, he screamed.

His wind shot out around him, whipping out and striking at the cloud that tried to smother him. He had, on instinct, buffed up his natural wind barrier to make it bigger and with razor wind, the cloud getting severed with ease. Of course, Joe, not feeling the cold weight of what happened to him in the past anymore, calmed down...but his breathing was ragged from the screaming.

He didn't look at Mathy, just...slightly out of embarrassment, not wanting to show his freaking out to him, but...

There was the faintest cry for...something. He couldn't really hear it, but it was there...yes, he could focus on that. Focus on...that's right, Dani. Dani needed help. So he nodded to Mathy, said a quiet "Thanks." and swam off to go help the girl with the chakrams.

[Azrael: Dutchmann: Crow's Nest]

Feh...b*****d didn't get too hurt from that, apparently.

Azrael's staff was in his hand, the keyblade flying at him before going to the left of the replica. Az had struck at the keyblade, sending it off course. It wasn't too hard, with his strength, it just didn't help that Riku was now in his face.

Azrael grimanced as the keyblade and his staff connected in a parry. Apparently, the Keyblader wasn't something to mess with, but...Azrael was wind, and a member of the dark. What was Riku but darkness with a little light? Twilight, Dawn, regardless, they were practically the same in the Replica's eyes.

The fighter smiled at Riku, and then started a dance. Not a combo attack, persay, but he was going to make Riku move, striking at the keyblader and attempting to parry attacks made against him.