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{Bobbi .:. Atlantica .:. Battlegrounds}

Just keep swimming~ Just keep swimming~ Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming~ What do we do? We swim, swim, swim~

~:How can you manage such cheer?:~ Shiva asked, her voice so perplexed Bobbi could almost see the look on her Esper's face.

A) I'm insane. 2) It's either that or lose every last semblance of control I have. I don't want to see what happens if I don't. So, I act like a dork, Bobbi replied, though she smiled sadly. She distracted herself by humming more random nonsense and hunting for the Kyla Rescue Party. When she spotted the others coming in from the battlefield, she waved and put on a burst of speed to catch up with them.

"The last thing I want to do is get left behind because I'm bargain-hunting," she said when she heard Joe answer her question about resupplying. "I'll just have to do without."

[ Kyle : Atlantica : Battlegrounds ]

He frowned, concerned. "Can't do that," he said, crossing his arms and tilting his head. "Kyla being alone is what started this. I'm not doing that again. We go together, alright?"

[Dawn : Black Pearl : Below Deck]

Dawn had let out a small scream as everything crashed down from above deck and Anthony took out the geists around her. The lightning only made her shake like a rattlesnake's tail as she hid her face in her hands. When it was over, Dawn was still shaking with fear. Then Anthony came closer...

"Get away from me!" Dawn screamed as she pushed Anthony away and slid into the dark corners of the room. As a several of the Apparitions and Shadows came and blocked Anthony's way to the dancer. Meanwhile, another Banshee phased through the wall and came closer to Dawn to gather data it was set to gather.

[Anthony/Lucian ~.~ Black Pearl ~.~ Below Deck]

Anthony was taken back by Dawn's sudden reaction to his question, but then he quickly realized his lightning elemental probably frightened her. He suppressed his elemental. "Hey, it's just me," he said softly, lifting his arms up to the sides to show her the electricity had gone. "Let's get outta here before more arr--"

Just before the young man could finish his sentence, more Geists appeared.

The warrior began to summon his lightning elemental again, but quickly suppressed it as it would cause Dawn to further panic.

"Dangit... I can't afford to scare Dawn any further. I need to get us outta here so we could have more room to move around."

He began to fight off the Shadows and Apparitions, but it proved to be more difficult when they knew he was coming. The Shadows quickly multiplied, filling most of the space on his side of the room and the Apparitions disappeared and reappeared as they evaded his attacks.

Before he knew it, he was being swarmed by the Shadows as they latched onto his limbs and torso, pulling him down. Memories from home--friends, families, special occasions--flashed through his mind. As the geists covered his body, he looked towards Dawn. And just as a geist blocked his line of sight, that's when he saw the Banshee making its way towards the Dancer.

Strong and Strike

"Ah... it's not worth it."

Flashes of white and black light were seen through the gaps between each geist until finally an explosion of darkness and electricity sent the Shadows and Apparitions flying. The explosion was powerful enough to destroy the clones, but weaken the rest.

Anthony stood up, swirls of electricity and darkness flashing up and down his body. He could feel the darkness tainting his heart and using up most of his energy. He wouldn't be able to use darkness for long, especially since his recent battle with Lucian.

Without stepping forward, the young man disappeared and reappeared in front of Dawn, immediately headbutting the approaching Banshee back into some crates. He turned around and shouted at Dawn, "Get up!" Hands of darkness stretched out from his back and attacked the Shadows and Apparitions as he cleared a path for Dawn.

Anthony Learned: Cover

Shadow Geist jumped at Anthony from behind, but two Shadow Heartless intervened, protecting him. As peculiar as it was, there was no time to ask questions. He slammed his hand onto the wooden floor, sending electricity in every direction.

In the meantime, Lucian had his own problems. He wasn't able to dodge Auron's attack, but he was definitely able to turn around in time to block. Unfortunately, he wasn't aware of the effects of Power Break until it was too late.

The blow sent the Fallen Knight back, but not too far away from Auron.

He felt himself grow a bit weaker, but the change wasn't all too significant. Just enough to irk the Replica. "Attacking your opponent when he's not looking? That's not how the good guys roll." he said, retracting his chain. "Well, I was gonna try and captures that, uh... that whiny one from earlier and hand him over to his Replica so I could score some brownie points and he'd stop being all intimidating and violent towards me, but I guess I could settle~ for~ you~." He sang the last part.

As soon as he stopped speaking, Lucian's aura flashed a deep purple and in a haze was in front of the samurai. At the same time, he fired off one of his spears, impaling the wall to his right. Once in front of Auron, he drove his black-lightning coated fist up at his opponent in an upper cut fashion in hopes to knock the samurai airborne. If it connected, the Replica would follow through with a kick powerful enough to send the samurai into the wall to the Fallen Knight's right, then quickly pull himself in using the spear from earlier and drive his knee into the samurai's stomach.

[Lucian ~.~ Black Pearl ~.~ Deck]

"'If you want to fight,'" mocked Lucian in an obnoxious voice, "'come and get me.'" Pfft.. yeah." He waved Auron off. "Come follow me above deck where all my allies that aren't brain dead Geists or Heartless are so the playing field would be evened out," he continued sarcastically. The Replica retracted his chain and made his way up the stairs. "I guess attacking people from the back isn't the only dishonorable thing you do, but whatevz... if you feel you need the help of your allies..."

It was obvious the Fallen Knight was upset. Not only did his attack power drop, but the samurai dodged his first attack and made his way to the surface. As he made his way up the stairs, a ring of fire appeared and began to circle around him. His body began to coat in black lightning as well.

When he walked out of the doors and into the open deck, he was more than ready to battle Auron.

A pulse of harmless electricity emitted from the Replica's body, and it wasn't long after that did those with metallic weapons (namely the pirates) find themselves unarmed. "But know that if we're gonna play outside," the metallic weapons--swords, knives, and the like--slowly moved behind Lucian, making a wall-o-doom aimed at the samurai, "the rules are gonna have to change a bit."

He lifted his hand in a shape of a gun and recoiled it back as he said, "Bang." The wall of weapons flew at Auron with tremendous speed, as did Lucian, his aura once again flashing in a deep purple before darting forward in a haze. As he grew closer, two blades entirely made out of black lightning formed in his hands. Once he was close enough, he slashed at the samurai. If they were to connect, not only would Auron receive physical damage (amongst possibly being impaled by numerous weapons), the electrical damage received would be unbearable.

[Lucian ~.~ Black Pearl ~.~ Deck]

"What the--" Lucian cried out as he was repelled back, his Gigawatt Blades and Flame Surge dispersing at the same time. He quickly raised his arms in defense at the on coming white blasts, creating a Polarity Wall that absorbed most of the attack before it, too, dispersed, causing the Replica to fall back.

Pure Evil

He narrowed his eyes as he looked up at Kuja who mused as he hovered above him. He clenched his hands into fists, his now claw-like nails scrapping off a thin layer of the deck as his fingers curled into his palms. He bared his now fang-like teeth in annoyance as his eyes turned golden.

The Fallen Knight began to laugh and stood up. "Hahahaha! Let's make fun of that one guy we double teamed," he said sarcastically. "'Cause we're effin' awesome! Woo!" His hair alternated from his original hair color to white until finally it remained that way. "You think the battle here is of any significance?!" he suddenly snapped.

He tilted his head to the side as a pair of ram-like horns grew out of his forehead. He laughed again. "But no reason to act like it has none."

Lucian removed his coat, gently folding it and putting it aside, then began to roll up his sleeves to his elbows. He shot his arms out, palms facing outward, then spread his arms out to the side, turning his hands in and out, then back in front of him, as if saying, "nothing up my sleeves or behind my hands." He rubbed his hands together and suddenly a white magician's hat with a black stripe appeared in his hands. The Replica then stuck out his index finger, as if saying, "wait, there's more." He cupped his right ear, then pulled his hand away. As he did, a black cane with a silver skull with glowing gold eyes came out of his ear.

The Fallen Knight took a bow, then placed the hat on top of his head. He stood there like a demon ringleader from hell. "I'll show you who's under the spotlight on this stage."

Lucian darted across the deck at Auron. At the same time, the ring of fire reappeared and the remaining metallic weapons that did not fall overboard were embedded in lighting and took flight, cutting across the deck in random directions. Once close enough to the samurai, the Replica drove his fist charged first (Soul Strike) into his gut, followed by an even more powerful lightning infused punch across the face.

Whether the attacks connected or not were none of Lucian's concerns. With Kuja hovering above, he could not afford to stay still for too long.

Once his attacks were through, the Fallen Knight sprinted off, firing off his spearheaded chains at a mast, pulling himself airborne. He quickly scaled the mast until finally he leaped off in Kuja's direction as he fired multiple balls of lightning at the purple haired man. Lucian used his element to increase his drop rate by sticking his hands behind him and, like small thrusters, allowed the highly-ionized plasma to propel him forward. If he were allowed to get close enough, the Replica would tackle Kuja out of the sky, wrapping him in his chains, and piledrive him into the deck.

Lucian's stats while in Boss Mode:

Physical Strength: 20 (19+1)
Physical Resistance: 8
Magic Strength: 8
Magic Resistance: 8
Action Speed: 20
Evasive Reflexes: 17
Outright Speed: 18
Constitutional Endurance: 10
Energy: 9

[ Kuja : Caribbean : Deck of the Pearl ]

As Lucian began his (admittedly very slow) transformation, Kuja could feel the energy in the air shift and flow. The Replica was pulling out all the stops for this finale, it seemed--Darkness and ozone filled his nostrils as the Berserker turned into... showman?!

Really? He mocks me now?

Having some amount of decency, Kuja didn't interrupt the transition period--despite the fact that he had easily an entire minute to do so. No, instead, he watched, twirled his spheres lazily... and pre-charged a number of spells, any of which he could now release without a moment to cast or utter a word.

Draw it out as long as you want, be my guest~

"I'll show you who's under the spotlight on this stage."

Kuja could hardly contain his smirk.

The mad showman's first move was fast--too fast, Kuja would refuse to say aloud, for him to react. But it wasn't directed at him, and that's all that mattered. He watched, eyes barely tracing the blur, as Lucian dashed along, scaled the mast, and launched a multi-pronged attack his way.

The last thing Lucian would have seen of Kuja was his confident sneer as a flash of light blue encased him just in time for the electric spheres to make contact; they exploded violently, leaving an odd mist surrounding the Genome that hindered view of him--he was still visible, but oddly blurry due to refracted light. Nonetheless, Lucian's tackle would hit, and his chains wrap around, as they plummeted toward the deck.

Too late would Lucian notice the intense chill that filled him as he held on tightly. Due to the immense force of Lucian's drop, and the oddly-heavy magus in his grip, they broke through the deck and the next level entirely, bringing them to the lowest levels of the ship with a powerful, freezing explosion of magic.

By the time Lucian's attack was over, the two would be trapped in that bottom room, simultaneously opened wide and frozen over by the charged Blizzaga Blast that emitted from Kuja on contact with the floor. Now, they were surrounded by thick ice on all sides--the floor, the walls, and the ceiling, with the hole they came through frozen over. Covering the ceiling and the walls were sharpened icicles, capable of piercing flesh and armor alike. The floor was free of such spikes, but it was unnaturally smooth; the ice had removed any source of friction, meaning anyone who attempted to walk or run would find themselves slipping and sliding carelessly if they didn't take precautions.

"You wanted the spotlight," Kuja's voice echoed in the frozen hall; in the explosion, he had somehow gotten free, now hovering a few meters away from Lucian. It was clear now what had happened before the lightning spheres hit him--he'd encased himself in some form of ice armor. However, unlike Lucian, he emitted no power, no Darkness, no energy--besides himself, the room would feel like a deadzone. "Well, congratulations. You get the full attention of the maestro."

"And to give this finale the dramatic feel a climax deserves, I'll even bring myself to your level," he sang, blatantly pleased with the turn of events. Without any flair or show, the floating magus released a pulse of energy--and suddenly, the air was charged, as if Lucian had entered an entirely different area. Nothing changed about the Genome's appearance, but Kuja's power was now obvious, begging the question: was it unleashed power, or limit-breaking power?

"Happy now, puppet?" he patronized, and his voice reverberated with eerie clarity, likely influenced by his sudden 'surge' of strength. He remained in his ice armor as he sneered down at the ringleader. "Impress me! Don't get cold feet!"

Kuja's Current Stats:

Physical Strength: 1
Physical Resistance: 12 [8 + 4 (Ice Armor)]
Magic Strength: 25
Magic Resistance: 9
Action Speed: 16
Evasive Reflexes: 22
Outright Speed: 10
Constitutional Endurance: 13
Energy: 14

[Dawn : Black Pearl : Below Deck]

Dawn continued hiding in her corner, hiding her face in her knees. Everything was happening around her, the darkness. The lightning. A stray Banshee shifted through the boxes in the darkness to touch Dawn's head. In that instance, it caught a glimpse of the fear that Dawn was feeling at that moment and the minutes prior.

As Anthony got closer the geist shifted back into the darkness and fled back with what it collected. Dawn's head jerked upwards as Anthony called out to her. She looked up at him with a blank look, fear gone. She was more confused than anything. However there were no time for questions, she took out one of her Tessen, and summoned a large gust of wind to knock the geists away from Anthony.

Dawn quickly got to her feet and moved over towards Anthony, "Mind filling me in? Last I checked this deck was solo."