2768/Gonna Get Flocked Up

Gonna Get Flocked Up
Date of Scene:	09 August 2015
Location:	The Archipelagos
Synopsis:	Monster hunting? More like a monsterous hunter!
Cast of Characters:	Deelel, 402, Alexis, 513, 736, 774

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Alexis has posed:
Normally the chain of islands were a quiet place, harkening back to a time when farming and herding were the major ways of making one's trade. But recently a creature had been plaguing the fields at night, whisking away several livestock and leaving shepards jumping at every shadow because that was the only thing they ever saw. The shadow of whatever -thing- was swiping things up.

Even has night set again upon the island a flock of sheep huddled at the center of a grassy plain, bedding down for the night. But they were not alone this time.

A thick grove of trees off to the side of the otherwise open field provided ample cover for potential ambushers. Alexis was huddled amongst them, watching the flock. Scorch was hunched next to her, his flames down to a mere flicker to provide her with some light without giving away their position.

"Despite all the near misses," Alexis was explaining in a whisper while waiting, "no one has seen anything more than a shadow, and when we looked earlier there were no paw prints or such. So the best hunch is that whatever it is can at least fly somehow."

Nova Kendalae (402) has posed:
There's a rustle in the brush just to one side of Alexis. Something small pokes its nose out from the foliage, followed by the rest of the rest of a vulpine head, and a fox pushes through quickly. In the scant light of Scorch's fire, the fox is covered mostly in coppery red fur, altough it looks as though someone painted bits of silver on its forehead and shoulders as it wriggles into the small clearing.

It's only when the fox settles next to Alexis that the three tails behind it become visible.

"Or teleport." The fox says in a rogueishly masculine, yet light voice. "Got another couple alarm charms on the far side of the farm." Nova flicks his tails a few times, and the tip of one sweeps open a pouch strapped to his belly. The tip dips into he pouch, and returns with a small round gem curled in its tip. "If anything comes in that way it'll make this glow a few times."

GoGo Tomago (736) has posed:
GoGo Tomago is dressed in a camo-pattern of her normal racing gear, looking quite sharp and deadly. Her eyes dart back and forth with her H.U.D. active. "I don't like this. I'm not great against fliers. I'm short-to-medium range at best, but I'm fast. I can probably tackle it before it can get away." she says. Her hand moves over towards the fox, as if she REALLY REALLY wants to pet it, but she resists. They're on a mission after all!

Finna (513) has posed:
    Having heard the rumors, Finna Snowdancer's first thought was 'if there's something that big out there, it might be worth a Sacred Hunt for the Heart's Blood - and a new form.'

    Which is why there is a measly little white-furred fox rummaging around in the fields. Far too small to threaten a sheep and not local to the area anyways, the lithe little vixen is highly unlikely to raise any kind of stir among most of the livestock - so long as she veers away from any hen houses! ... Probably.

    But this little fox is up to weirdness. She's sniffing along the ground like a tracking dog, hoping to rustle up some sign of anything UNUSUAL and what it might be...

Deelel has posed:
Deelel Was a bit later than the others arriving as her light jet comes in for a landing, it vanishes in a burst of light, Deelel grabs the baton in hand. She looked chipper and she was kinda giving off her own light from some bits of her clothing she does seem to be however keeping low as she looks to Nova and Aleix.

"Been a while and hummm oh Greetings Gogo."

She just misses the fox as she still sometimes just tunes out things that are akin to gridbugs.

Alexis has posed:
"Don't worry GoGo," Alexis replies to the speedster with a wry grin. "Once the trap goes off, it shouldn't be taking off for some time."
"Typhlosion (That or we eat lambchops for the next two weeks,)" Scorch murmurs, followed by a grunt as Alexis jabs the firebadger's side with her elbow.

Then she glances at the Pokegear in the palm of her hand. "It's about the time the strikes have occured."

Being out in the field, the small white fox would be the one to notice the very large shadow that passes over the field.

But it's before she can do much that something HUGE drops down towards the flock, the massive wings holding it off the ground silouetted in the darkness with the rest of the beast. Just a pair of manevolent eyes glowing with much the same lumination of a feline's.

Except instead of trying to flee in terror several of the 'sheep' stand up on their back legs and with a chorus of "FLAAAAAAFFY!" let loose dozens of electrical arcs from their conductive wool. The intense electricl arcs are enough to prove flashes of better illumination, highlighting a truely massive lionlike form as it rears back with a roar, clearly surprised that it got attacked by it's potential smorgeshborg. Before flopping to the ground with a heavy thud that you would almost swear it shook the ground a bit.

"Got it!" Alexis hops out from the trees. "Bigger they are, harder they... well, you know."

Big might be an understatement. As several of the electric sheep turn and light up their tail-bulbs like spotlights, it proves to truely a giant beast despite the muscular lion-like appearance of it's body. But a pair of wicked horns jut out of it's forehead as well as the saber-like fangs of it's maw, and a pair of dragonic wings lay sprawled across the grass. Because the beast fell over backwards, it's tail was pinned underneath it.

Despite her initial ethusiasm Alexis slows down at the illuminated sight, holding up one hand to keep Scorch from darting past her. "... Okay, I have no damn clue what that thing is... but it sure don't look like a pokemon or a digimon..."

GoGo Tomago (736) has posed:
GoGo Tomago takes a look at the thing and calls up a database. "Alright, I THINK I know what it is." she says, hurriedly scrolling through information. "It's not a digimon or a pokemon. It's a creature from mythology, called a manticore. It should have a scorpion tail, or possibly a tail full of spikes. Be careful, they're incredibly dangerous, and they move really fast."

Nova Kendalae (402) has posed:
"... Or it can be something so huge that it doesn't matter," Nova says, matter of factly, as the shadow of the beast comes crashing down over the field of flaffy. The gem is tucked away, and in the following instant, the three tailed fox is following Alexis out of the bush.

Except coming out of the bush isn't a fox as so much. It's still a fox, but standing on two legs at the height of an average man and wearing a loose t-shirt and baggy jeans that almost cover his digit-grade paws. "Like someone took a cat and added more and nastier spikey bits just for fun," Nova says, nose wrinkling slightly, his ears dipping back into coppery hair. "But I don't think I've heard of them ever being /this/ big before. Gonna need to work together to deal on this, no going solo."

Deelel has posed:
Deelel isn't sure what they are facing but she's not paid the white fox much mind. She's from a world where all things are made with an intended purpose, she looks from one person to the others and she keeps her self low. She pauses for a moment at the huge thing that comes down. Okay it seems to be well time to deal with it, she takes a moment and the duel disc appears in hand the keyblade seems ready nd she looks at it hard for a moment.

"I'm afraid I have nothing."

She looks to Gogo for a moment blinking at the mention of mythology and humans. Humm she wonders about that.

"Would it even see me as food...?"

Given she's got no actual sent or meat after all.

Finna (513) has posed:
    A normal fox would probably skitter off the moment anything big like that made itself known. DEFINITELY would the moment there's any lightning or screaming. This little fox instead watches the skies as though she can see everything clearly without needing any help from the Flaafy.

    Well. She probably can. That's the advantage of being a nocturnal creature. Excellent nightvision!

    And one can just ALMOST see the tiny creature all but sweatdropping there. Finna's head lowers ever so slightly as if scared of the creature.

    Or having second thoughts about this situation.

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    Dorian is here, fashionably late. Truth be told, it didn't seem much point for him to stand there in the dark. Besides, he's rather loud anyway, he probably would have spooked the thing if he'd been there engaging in conversation. Not that he'd ever admit that. However, he darts out of a reasonably good hiding place in the underbrush when the large creature appears. "Don't worry, I'm here now," he says proudly. It really does sound as if he expects his presence to be the determining factor for victory or defeat.

    It's a human male, it looks like. A mage, if anyone can sense that. Black hair and olive-skinned, with a well-maintained moustache. He's dressed in beige light armor, with a white cloak thrown over the lot. But at least he comes prepared -- he holds a mage staff in hand, lightning beginning to gather between the dragonlike heads on the staff. Despite his bluster, he looks ready to fight.

Alexis has posed:
The tomboy's expression turns to a frown at GoGo's high speed infodump from the internet. Though that saved her from having to pull out her Porygon-Z to do it. "Great. I was expecting something nasty, but not a mythological nightmare..."

As the group emerges from their hiding one of the Flaaffy with darker colors holds his forlimbs in the air as he makes a bleating cackle. "(See, see? The trap worked perfectly! Now you can all stop doubting my brilliance! Baaahaahaa--)" But the laughter stops short as he notices the shadow passing over him, and then slumps sourly with a scowl. "(.. It's getting up right behind me, isn't it?)"

Sure enough the 'manticore' does rise up behind the flock, despite having just taken several hundred volts of electricity directly. Instead of stunning it into submission it's just made it mad, if the thunderous roar is any indicator.

Cue screams instead from the sheep-mon as he runs to hide behind Alexis and Scorch while the others scatter for the distance. "Shit! It must be resistant to paralysis or something, we'll have to do it the hard way. Scorch, light him up!"

The typhlosion's neck-flames roar to life as he launchers a flamethrower from his mouth... Only for the creature to the do the same with a blast of flames from it's own maw to cancel it out, and probably send everyone else running for cover as well!

GoGo Tomago (736) has posed:
Whooping, GoGo runs right at the beast. She's not a hard hitter, but she's one annoying little fuck. Going down on all fours, she scoots underneath the creature. With a whirl of limbs and kung fu skill, she slashes at its soft underbelly as she passes it. There and gone in a flash, she taunts it from behind. "Come on!" she yells loudly, clashing her discs together. "Don't you with you could get a piece of this?!"

Nova Kendalae (402) has posed:
"Better late than never," Nova says, glancing at the moustached Dorian, "Welcome to the party." The kitsune's ears dip further back against his head when he glances back at the manticore beast. "Looks like it's plan D, then!"

Nova wrinkles his brows in concentration, and white sparks flicker between his tails as they curl and twitch against one another. Then in a flash, where he was standing there are three almost identicle, almost normal looking foxes. Save for the three tails on each of them. A bright ball of flame flares to life above each of them, glowing steadily and clearly in the dark evening light. And distractingly, too. But to those with magical senses (Or stare long enough to realize that only one is breathing), only one of the foxes is real; the other two are illusions.

At once all three foxes take off in different directions, darting and zipping towards the manticore. They keep a distance away from its paws, but only just barely, darting in and darting out with their distracting spheres of flame to try and draw the manticore's attention.

Finna (513) has posed:
    It does take Finna a few moments to remember that she learned how to resist nasty poisons, regenerate from a degree of wounds, and...

    Become something much bigger.

    The little fox's form ripples and distorts. The rear legs shift first, lengthening and thickening. The front legs migrate to the chest and shrink down small. The bushy tail lengthens, and all across her body the white fur's sucked in and exchanged for somewhat colorful reptilian scales.

    And oh yes. She's getting bigger. Much, MUCH bigger.

    In a few seconds, the fox has reached the size of the 'manticore.' In a few more, it's exceeded that by several times. And still the 'vixen' grows. Bigger and bigger, until her maw - now filled with razor sharp teeth as big as a man's hand - is big enough to chomp a full-grown man in half.

    A TYRANT LIZARD stands tall, towering over the Manticore.

    And the first thing it attempts to do is PIN DOWN the manticore's tail with a mighty stomp!

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is looking over this thing she keeps her keyblade low for the moment and remains in a crouch.

"Do you need this thing alive? I don't like killing things needlessly but this thing's a pretty big problem. Flash Grenade going up!"

She pulls a puck like thing from her pocket arms it with one hand and then tosses it to the Manticore and lobs it thing as a T-REX APPEARS the light charge was a flash grenade and it goes off in a blinding pluse of light.

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    "Fashionably late," Dorian says to Nova's comment of his being late. He smirks a little. "Wouldn't want to appear too desperate, now would I?" He's stopped from further comment, though, when the little white fox that he hadn't been looking at other than a cursory glance -- he didn't know what lifeforms were native to this area, after all -- suddenly turns into A GIANT LIZARD! He turns quickly to the second large creature, his eyes going a bit wide, something he wouldn't say in front of his mother slipping free It's in Tevene, true... but that's not a dead language, so it gets translated quite handily, and translates to something that will not be repeated here.

    The sudden appearance of the second creature, the giant lizard, wasn't a counter-trap by the beast, was it?! But then he sees it's trying to pin the flying beast, at least its tail. So he relaxes a little. "A bit of warning might have been appreciated!" he grouses at the Reptile Formerly Known As Fox. Since no normal fox can change into a massive lizard, he reasons, this one must have higher-than-normal intelligence.

    Seems there are people going melee with the creature. Which means Dorian needs to be careful with the stray magic. Not a problem; he's a master mage after all. Still. "Careful around the beast!" he calls out in warning. But it's not for the creature's own abilities, no. Dorian holds out a hand at the manticore-creature, aiming an explosive rune under its feet. He moves it to the side slightly, to avoid catching anyone in the effect radius who might be trying to melee the beast, and then lets it go. This fiery explosion may coincide with Deelel's light blast rather well -- her blight blast blinding the beast and keeping it in place for the explosion.

Alexis has posed:
The monster actually looks momentarily surprised when GoGo rushes towards it. As if the 'humans' attacking it was something new. Though bewilderment gives away to farther annoyance when techno-discs cut it's underside with her underpassing. From the back she would get a good look at the beast's tail... which turns out to be neither scorpion or barbed, but a giant serpent! Guess this thing is as much chimera as manticore? It hisses at the much smaller woman... only to get stomped on by Finnasaurus just as it was about to lunge at her.

"Okay, if fire isn't going to work alone." Alexis flicks another pokeball in front of her. "Wildfire, help Scorch and take him down!"

Energy flashes from the capture sphere opening, manifesting into the large lion-like volcano pokemon. Thick paws scrape the ground a few times, and then with a roar he tears across the field not quite as fast as GoGo was to ram into the monster with Extremespeed. Scorch is just paces behind him, having rolled up into a blazing Flame Wheel as he does so."

Multiple foxes scatter about, pelting it with dazzingly balls of fire from multiple directions. It seems more flustered than actually confused by the illusions, but a blinding grenade to the face still gets a yowl of aggrivation from the monster. The two diversion are enough to keep it from noticing the spell though, and a massive explosion goes off beneath it.

Finna would feel a few yanks until the tail pulls out from under her foot, and powerful wing flaps heave the monster into the air out of the explosion. It's hurt, but it is also quite -pissed-. Though as the large wingspan continues to flap, it doesn't appear to be trying to fly away. Instead it hovers at the vantage point as it roars, and sends a blazing column of magically amplified flames screaming from its maw. The inferno slams into the ground and washes outward, cremating the grasses into ash and searing hot enough even the Fire pokemon might not find it very pleasant!

Apparently instead of trying to deal with so many aggressors the monster decided to just drop a infernal blast into the middle of them all!

GoGo Tomago (736) has posed:
Oh fire. How wonderful you are. GoGo leaps into the air as the heat blast approaches. She rides that wave of heat up up up up into the air. "GERONIMO!" she bellows. "OVERCLOCK!" she says, and her discs suddenly sprout serrated edges. They spin at incredible speed as she lands on the back of the creature, shredding through fur and flesh but dealing no serious damage to the beast... She pants as the blades retract... And taunts the tail. "Who's afraid of the big bad snake? Your mama's toothless and your father was a gecko!" she shouts, hoping to infuriate it... Then she'll dodge at the last second to let it bite itself.

Alexis has posed:
"Shit, it's trying to burn the entire field!" Is about all Alexis gets out as the torrent of flame is unleashed. Recovering from his previous attack Scorch spins around to tackle her, shielding the trainer with his flame resistant body. But flame resistant isn't fireproof, and by the way he's clenching his teeth and eyes that still stings something nasty.

Wildfire takes a different approach, slamming paws into the ground and using Earth Power to tear up several formations of the ground as makeshift shields, giving the flock of Flaaffy something to huddle behind as well. Blistering fire slams into the upheavals, washing around them in waves. Scorched earth tactics to a literal extreme.

Nova Kendalae (402) has posed:
Dip and dodge, jump and weave, the three little foxes dart about the Manticore's legs. But there's so much manticore and so little fox; even darting about, one of them ends up underneath one of those beast's paws. ... Only to dart out the other side of the paw, seemingly unphased. Luckily that one was just the illusion, but the foxes keep a bit more of a distance after that close call.

Until flames errupt just about EVERYWHERE.

All three of the foxes are lost in the flames. When the fire fades, only one is flying out of the inferno with its tails literally on fire. Nova tumbles to a stop and flops onto his haunches. His fur is charred gray, and he's panting heavily. It's only a second later that he realizes the tip of one of his tails is still on fire, and he quickly stamps it out with his forepaws.

"They always have to play with fire," He mutters. Tails flick into the pouches on the side of his quadraped form, and pull out a pair of paper slips, somehow untouched by the fire. He mutters something under his breath, and the slips flare to life with blue flames. He then then lashes one tail forward, then the other, flicking those strips at the beast. Water bursts from both strips in mid air - Freezing cold water that quickly builds up momentum, speeding right at the monster.

Finna (513) has posed:
    This is quickly getting to the point where Finna's wondering if it's worth the effort. This beast is quite troublesome. But then she realizes, the harder it is to bring down, the better off she'll be if she can take that form for herself!

    But the Tyrant Lizard's nearly tripped by the Manticore's unforeseen strength! She stumbles back around away from the flames!

    As if things werent' weird enough, the Tyrant Lizard sprouts a pair of white, feathery wings, and immediately flaps them hard enough to SOMEHOW take off into the air. Up, up, UP she goes...

    And then comes DOWN with one of those feet and all of that weight aimed at the Manticore's back. And wings.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel has noticed the unintended combo but it seems it might have some good effect she ponders for a moment readxying her keyblad and tha's when the magic is going to come into play. She chants quickly attempting to put a shell spell on everyone involved in the fight, even the mysterious T-rex as well.

"Keep with it we can stop this thing!"

Wait what the heck is going on now hte T-rex is flying?! THATS NOT EVEN FAIR. Will the shell be enough to block the flames?

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    Dorian sees the inferno coming at them, and tries to cast a Barrier around as many people as he can catch in the spell's effect radius. But with everyone all over the battlefield, that's pretty much impossible to catch anyone other than himself. Particularly not GoGo, who seems to think surfing a wave of fire is a good idea. But it seems to work, so Dorian can really only shake his head at it.

    As for Dorian, his own barrier is only so strong. Spirit magic is his least experienced field, so it's likely to only last long enough for him to get to one of those earth shields too. He's going to have to chill out there, no pun intended, util the quite literal firestorm abates enoguh for him to come out.

    Doesn't mean he won't help it along, though. He ducks out from behind the wall long enough to get a visual on the beast. And much like Nova, he decides ice is the way to go. He strikes the end of his staff upon the ground, and a thick sheet of ice may begin to form in the monster's vicinity. In fact, he's aiming for its face ... specifically its mouth. Not only because that might stop it from doing that fire wave thing again, but because it might stop it from BREATHING, too. Things are always easier to take down when they can't breathe, after all.

    On the bright side, Deelel's Shell and Dorian's Barrier would make a good combo. So if he DID manage to catch anyone else with his Barrier, between that and the Shell from Deelel, they should have some decent protection for a few moments at least...

Alexis has posed:
The viper-tail twists around, proving to have some amount of its own awareness as it doesn't disrupt the beast's focus on blasting the ground to do so, and tries to snap at the woman slicing up it's back. But she's quicker to jump off, and it only bites down on the beast's own backside. Fortunately the monster is immune to the poison of its own tail!

The water spells from the kitsune help put a damper on the fire breath, while Deelel's and Dorian's defensive spell gives everyone a bit of extra relief. Fire protection without the hazardous side effects of abestos!

Plus water and ice in the face! That certainly puts a stop to the fire, and gives Finna an opening while it's clawing the frost off it's maw. A Flying T-rex (now that's getting weird even by the Trainer's standards) slams into the monster manticore chimera whatever's back with enough force to actually knock it out of it's hover.

The monster falls at first, but then rolls over a few times to throw off the unwanted passangers, respreads its wings and with a considerable speed for something of it's size takes off into the depths of the night.

It's not likely to come hunting around here for some time... But something like that roaming around free could still be a problem...

Alexis has posed:
"Whatever the hell that was..." Alexis grumbles as she gets up, and Scorch slumps on his butt, looking unusually miserable for being hit by fire. It's flying off, and tossing off others to do so. Dammit.

"Make sure there isn't any more fire spreading!" She grabs two of her other pokeballs, figuring if they can't stop it maybe they can find where it's been going off to. "Go, Firehawk! Follow that thing, don't fight it but see if it's lairing somewhere." True to Pokemon standard, she's sending off a Flying type to be the scout. The name certainly fits the Talonflame's fiery feather patterns though.

The other pokeball is thrown into the air, releasing her Charizard to try and catch Gogo before she has an unpleasant reunion with the ground. Or if Finna doesn't do something about it, she may be busy stopping her own potential crash.

GoGo Tomago (736) has posed:
GoGo Tomago shakes a fist at the creature as it retreats, landing on her feet with near-perfect precision in the charizard's claws. She's got a perturbed expression on her face as she snaps her gum. "What a pusilanious little twat!" she says

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is not roasted and Dorian is relaly working in tandem with her tonight it seems. The magic is going all over the place the t-rex is flying, and eveyrthing is coming down. She watches it come in with a ziable impact and other than a bit cooked she's seemingly all right.

"Good idea find it it's got a lair near here. We'll need to make sure it doesn't come back."

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    Once the beast is in the air again and begins to fly off, Dorian lobs a few quick bolts of electricity at it from the entwined serpentine dragons at the end of his staff. It's not his usual spells -- that's his idea of a 'standard attack'. That's his way of hurrying the creature along on its way. This counts as a win, because with dragons in Thedas, most of the time running them off is all one can be reasonably expected to do.

    Only when he's certain it's not going to come back -- and everyone is safe -- does he sigh and relax. "Well that'll discourage it from dining at THIS particular establishment for a while," he observes. Though he notes that Alexis is attempting to find its lair, and that Deelel seems to agree. "There is something I believe you call 'home field advantage'?" he cautions. "Fighting it in its lair might not be the most sound of ideas. Perhaps, if its lair is found, it could be lured out?" Dorian is TOTALLY NOT SCARED, no sir!

Finna (513) has posed:
    WHAM! After striking the Manticore, T-Rex Finna continues on the way to the ground and hits hard on both feet. It's gonna leave a very terrifying few footprings there, but she's not done et. The wings... reconfigure and restructuring, gaining a brilliant emerald sheen and very different feathers. Now they revv up at dozens of beats a second, carrying the great creature skywards . There's nothing subtle or weird about the new tactic!

    The T-rex simply aims to CHOMP DOWN on the manticore. HARD.

Alexis has posed:
"Same difference," Alexis replies to Dorian as Charizard lands next to her and sets GoGo down on the ground. "If we know where it goes, we can approach it on our terms. Besides."

She waves a hand vagely at the scorched field, though thankfully between Nova's water spells and Dorian's ice magic, it's just a burned field and not a roaring wildfire.

"Next time we actually have some idea what it can do..."

The 'manticore' isn't having anything more to do with this weird shapeshifting thing. It just tears off with a surprising amount of speed and altitude for something of its size.

Though that does explain how it was able to drop in suddenly. Between the night darkness and the height it would seem like it was appearing out of nowhere, and off again with its catch before it could be spotted clearly.

But if it prefers to hunt at night, maybe if they catch it during the day...

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    "You have me there," Dorian acknowledges, to Alexis's points about the monster. "We definitely know to bring fire-resistant clothing next time," he quips. And perhaps echoing a couple people's lines of thought, "And if it strikes at night, it's likely to be asleep during the day. Could be as simple as sneaking in and setting explosive charges around its lair. The trick would be sneaking in and setting the charges without waking it, and then getting out before the charges were set off." He's a fan of explosions, apparently.