1423/Who is Logan Trieste Finale - Clash at Mount Battle

Who is Logan Trieste Finale - Clash at Mount Battle
Date of Scene:	27 January 2015
Location:	Pokemon-2
Synopsis:	The Confederacy move to capture Giratina, and the Union attempts to stop them.
Cast of Characters:	Deelel, 12, 20, 127, 188, 232, 238, 522, 589, 626, 627

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Lute (188) has posed:
     The top of most Trainer's career in the Pokemon World is, generally, the moment they face the Elite Four. So many legendary Trainers go down in history as they face the Elite four and the Champion. But, there are other, less popular, paths to fame in the Pokemon world. Other ways to stand tall, and show the whole world that you are, indeed, one of the most powerful Trainers in history.

     One of these pinnacles of fame and fortune is Mount Battle. Located in Orre, the most crime-heavy region of the Pokemon World. Those Trainers who can stand atop it are, indeed, incredibly worthy. To face it, one must scale the entire mountain, facing one hundred trainers. Countless battles have been fought here. It is a place of raw emotion, with the struggles seeped deep into the very essence of this place.

     The top of Mount Battle is, in fact, an active volcano. Large metal platforms with railings are built over it. Orre is not a place that cares too much about 'safety' in its designs, but at the least, it'd still be hard to accidentally fall into the lava itself. There is a large amount of room, as well. It'd have to have lots of room, anyways. Some trainers even bring Wailord up here to fight, it needs to be able to host Pokemon of any size.

     So why are the Confederacy coming here, to this specific place? Well. What Lute needs is the energy of the Countless Battles fought here. A place of constant struggle. Only in a place such as this, can he acheive his goal.

     Already, he stands at the top of Mount Battle. Though he plans to take the full challenge of Mount Battle soon, all he needs for the moment is the locaiton itself. He holds the Griseous Mirror in his arms. It is a large mirror, hard to hold without both hands. He keeps the glass of it pointing towards himself, for now. And, at the moment, he's about to make a speech to the Confederates present.

     "So. I'm not even going to sugarcoat this. This could be an /incredibly/ tough battle. The moment we open the portal, we need to immediately deal with what's on the other side. I will focus on that, but I'm also going to have to focus on keeping the portal open as well. If we are lucky, we'll be able to convince what is behind it to join us. More likely, it'll want a fight."

     "But, we are also going to have to worry about what /else/ this is going to attract. The amount of energy going to be released here? It's going to be /big/. It /will/ get picked up by the Union. So this could be a battle on both fronts."

     Lute, suddenly, turns the mirror towards the center of the battle platform.

     A towering portal forms. It is a black and gaseous hole in space itself. As it opens, the entire sky is becoming covered in a massive black cloud, spiral shaped. Its source sems to be the portal as well. Bits of unnatural lightning and thunder are crackling out of the clouds, not even reaching the ground.

     "So yeah, guys? /Get ready/. Shit just got /real/."

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Souji Murasame has never explained why he has remained with Lute through his quest to regain what he believes is his.

The truth is... The reality is irrelevant. What will be is what will be. This is Lute's heart's desire.

And Souji will assist him with gaining that desire. He stands there, considering the current situation as the volcano belches up its heat and fumes nearby. The air swirls around him in eddies and currents, as it always seems to, and he waits patiently. Lute gives them the information needed, and he nods. "Very well. I will prepare a suitable response for the upcoming battles." He places a hand upon the black hilt of the blade at his side. "Soon." He says, simply, becoming a pillar of stillness and silence amidst the madness rising around them.

Lightning waits for the proper time to strike.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Gaius Van Baelsar is here and as he said some weeks ago, he would aid if he was able-- it would seem that to be the case. His men however were no where to be seen, nor did he bring any Magitek Vanguards. Though if backup was required, the massive black-steel Dreadnought was high in the skies waiting to deploy dropships and Juggernaughts on his command.

Including maybe even the Magitek Cannon if it came to it.

Hopefully, none of these will be required.

As for the Legatus, he stands calmly in his black Magitek suit that covers him head to toe. The crimson leather-cloth covers the places that the armor does not and the Heirsbane-- his gunblade rightfully named-- is held in place to the back-plate of his armor.

The voidful lens observe the place and the heat from the lava give him no concern. Though time to time, one may see a streak of redish-gold light flicker through the armor like veins as the Magitek core constantly regulating the armors temperature here.

As Lute spoke, Gaius listened and nodded his head gently to the young man's words, though such information was relayed back up the Dreadnought, as he may be needing a Vanguard drop to give Lute assistance-- but he'll see if that will be required or not.

Mordred (12) has posed:
    MORDRED is not here right now.

    Instead, there is an invisible spiritual presence loosely and vaguely hanging around Lute. It has the vaguest shape of a knight in heavy armor, to anyone with spiritual or magical senses, but otherwise may as well just not be there right now.

    This is a two-fold strategy.

    One, if someone directly leaps at Lute, it's fairly trivial to materialize and sword a bitch. This makes protecting Lute much easier, and it also means Mordred can be an extremely lazy bastard and do nothing if nobody targets Lute at all.

    The second part of the strategy is that Lute can't hit on her if she isn't physically there and he can't see her.

    That second thing is more important than the first.

Kirikou (127) has posed:
    Kirikou has, for once, managed to arrive on the scene with no risk to his transportation. Possibly the Fed helicopter the group used to get to the mountain top will end up being destroyed... it'd be appropriate to his luck with vehicles. But hey, it's hardly his fault if they're too stupid to get clear when they have the chance.

    The Meister slams a fist heavily into his open palm. The smash doesn't cause its customary ring, as the Twins are currently in their adorable human forms rather than their Weapon forms. Still, the intent's roughly the same. "Right. No one'll find it easy to get past me!" he insists. "Well, unless they fly or something. I got your back." he says.

    As for why he's helping? That's a good question. In the end it need be nothing more than a desire to help the Confederacy in an appropriate activity... but there's more to it. Lute's been decent lately. Still a bit of an idiot, but not a bad sort of idiot. Whatever change is coming over him, Kilik wants to help see it through.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
Princess Paladin is here with everyone else at the top of Mount Battle. Lute has not met Miko in this form yet, though they may have spoken on the radio. So far, Miko's identity as a magical girl has been kept secret from many. Outside of Confederate command, NO ONE knows. But the pink-haired, pink-eyed, pink-garbed and silver-armored woman may not have the same sort of meaning as if Miko herself were here. But Miko herself does not have the power to help Lute. Miko herself has no power at all. Magic is needed, and Princess Paladin has that in abundance. Her Sacred Scepter constantly replenishes its supply of magical energy and has healing capabilities. Protecting her allies should be entirely possible. And that overarching quest of 'protect her allies' is the one that permits Miko to become a magical girl now.

She holds the long, pink scepter with the shimmering orb on the end in one hand, and looks stoically up at the portal. She radiates confidence. She carries herself with maturity and grace. Holiness shines from her, and flows throughout her aura. She is a beacon of hope and heroism, and yet here she stands alongside the Confederates. Until now, her allegiance has been unknown to the Union. She has aided them more than she has opposed them, and has even come to peaceful terms with them regarding Target Zones she battled against them for.

To find out she is with the Confederacy may be quite the surprise. Especially when nothing about her seems 'evil'.

But the girl within Princess Paladin is a different story. Miko Fujimoto does not have the grace and maturity that she is magically made to seem to possess as Paladin. Her confidence is considerably greater than it once was, to the extent that she believes she can help, and believes in her comrades. But though her words carry an almost sort of 'suggestion magic' to them when she speaks, a subtle convincingness that makes what she says SOUND genuine, whether it is or not, and whether she knows what she's talking about or not. So it may actually be inspiring when she says, "We shall not fail here. You have my word. This portal, what lies on the other side, any who stand against us... I shall fight to my last breath to keep all of us safe. As well..." She turns to look at Lute, and then around at everyone else here. Souji, Gaius, Kirikou... Not Mordred, because she's invisible... But all her allies. She says, "...If any of you become injured, call on me. I shall provide restoration within my abilities."

Of course, her main concern is helping her friend Lute. But all within the Confederacy are precious to her. And she will not permit a single one of them to lose their lives here.

D (232) has posed:
    The black cyborg horse ascending the volcano is one Lute's seen before. Its blazing orange eyes, mechanical legs, and metallic forward-sweeping horns give it an unmistakable, otherworldly appearance, like whoever engineered it was attempting to bring to life some kind of infernal monster. Perhaps it /is/ an infernal monster; no normal horse could climb Mount Battle at the rate it does, could it?

    D -- the only rider masterful enough to coax such feats from the likes of a simple cyborg horse -- has been called similar things, himself. Why, Lute only recently asserted how much of a monster the dhampir was in word and deed! Was it the spirit of vengeance, then, which brought D back to Lute's world?

    Some might think that the case, but considering the absolute serenity masking the swordsman's face, it's not likely he's come here on an angry quest for revenge. No, he's simply here because Lute is up to no good, and D is not the kind of Hunter to let evil go without response.

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
    If you're heading somewhere with lots of earth, why not bring an earthbender?

    As it often it it's easier to hear Toph coming before one spots her. Though there is some dust and debris whirling up at the foot of the mountain as well along with a rumbling sound and some light shaking in the ground as there seems to be a rock slide coming /up/ the mountain side and defying gravity itself. It's part of typical earthbender training really, and it's normally a walk in the park. To make a larger plate for several people to stand on does require a bit more focus. The Unionites who want to are given a free ride up the mountain side as Toph bends the earthen plate up and up with a determined look on her face.

Beli Klum (238) has posed:
    Beli is not a subtle traveler.

    Even beyond the fact that her skin glows a radiant white, she's also abnormally tall, and her wingspan is even greater. Right now, her presence is even more obvious: she channels her demonic powers even before she arrives at Orre, casting a glowing scarlet sheen over her wings and igniting a crimson flame in the center of each of the three halos that hover behind her head. As clearly as she stands against the sky, noticing her flying toward Mount Battle isn't going to be difficult at all.

    And neither is it difficult for /her/ to fail to notice the strong Confederate presence as she approaches. Her eyes narrow as she glides toward the mountain, and darkness begins to swirl around her left arm. What exactly she's going to do isn't clear yet; she's going to have to keep an eye out for the situation first, and get an idea of what exactly she's up against. Fortunately her allies are approaching, and she joins their forward charge by bringing her wings in against her body and diving toward the peak of Mount Battle where the Confederates have begun to gather. Her crimson-hued wings make her seem to blaze through the air like some kind of infernal comet.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Bringing up the rear of the Union response force is a girl on a lone chocobo. Although just a called construct, the bird seems very unnerved and grows more and more agitated the closer they approach the peak of the mountain. Kyra Hyral seems to not really /care/ that the beast is unnerved, continuing to push it further to follow the rest of the group. Though once Toph offers several earth elevators to travel up the mountain, Kyra gladly dismounts, letting the bird disappear in a flash of green sparkles.

    She unslings her rifle over her shoulder and immediately starts loading up several filled darts in the chamber. "I'm going to be staying back as far as possible. If you need help, let me know over the radio, I don't want to attract attention."

Deelel has posed:
DEelel is a bit behind Kyra in her arrival but she's not on a chocobo, no she's riding on a light cycle with is starting to catch up she seems very much concerned for the moment wondeirng just how hard Kyra is going to push the animal is she doesn't get it's much like her light cycle. She does however gun it as she knows time's a aaiting and she'll follow up Kyra's use of Toph's helping hand to get there and she pushes ahead past Kyra as she hangs back as she's got things to do.

Lute (188) has posed:
     Lute is trying to focus on the portal opening. But, luckily, he does have one other method of keeping an eye on the arriving Union Elites. An Unown is floating in the sky, acting as Lute's eye in the sky. He is a bit surprised to see D here. Despite D's intentions not being revenge, that is still what Lute will assume he is here for. Toph is no surprise, though. It makes /sense/ for her to be fielded to the mountain. Beli, he does not recognize. He has yet to meet her, after all. But, she is intimidating. Kyra is similar; he has yet to meet her as well, but the fact she is a schoolaged girl trained for combat makes her likely to be one of the most dangerous threats here. Because schoolgirls are usually ridiculously dangerous. Deelel is vaguely recognized. Lute has dealt with her before, but not directly that he can remember.

     Lute doesn't even bother to turning as they arrive, though. He just speaks, focusing still on the portal.

     "You're all too late. Soon, /soon/. Giratina... He will be here. Giratina will be /mine/. I'm going to be one of the /most powerful Pokemon Trainers in the Multiverse/. A threat even /across/ the Multiverse. More than I already am!"

     "I AM GOING TO GET SO MANY CHICKS WITH THIS POWER."

     So, yes, it's clear which Lute is in control right now. But, even if it /is/ the dumber Lute, guess who is still succeeding at the goal?

     A gaseous form is peaking out of the portal. Slowly, it is beginning to come out. It's head peaks out from, glancing around. Giratina lets loose a monsterous roar, causing the battlefield to shake.

     It is not completely out. Not /yet/. But, at the least: It is easy to tell that what lute is doing is /working/, so far.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
The transmission comes in that Union where unbound and Gaius unlatches the Hiersbane from his backside. As Lute starts to do his thing, the Legatus is already make his way for the ledge. His HUD bring up the needed data for him to read over and his movements were calm.

Though when the Legendary roars from the mirror, Gaius can only lower his head slightly. It means that whatever Lute was doing /was/ working. Which means the Union may even try harder. He can also hear the mountains rumble as Toph comes up and can see Beli making her own entrance.

He can not help but look up toward Beli however, thinking back to that moment on her world. The troubles she faced there-- that her people faced. She was a stronger warrior-- he could respect that. Yet what pulls Gaius' attention away from all the possible targets was that of hooves that defied that of any horse.

For the Legatus knew horses, Garlemald had several under their service still-- even with all the Magitek they possessed. The sound of the hooves, its hellish look, and how D commanded the cyborg steed was enough of a marker for the Black Wolf.

That man was a threat if he was to get up here.

With a flourish of his Gunblade, Gaius then leaped off the side of the mountain. Soon his heels made contact with the rocky surface and he started to slide down it. The rocks sparks under the metal of his boots. Then with a hard push off, he went to actually reach for D's shoulder to swing him off the nightmare. Though if the attempt should fail, he will simply get his footing and leap his way back to the confronting the man.

Mordred (12) has posed:
    The more power siphons through this place, the harder it'll be for Mordred to stay dematerialized. Interference, mostly. It wouldn't be impossible to ignore it, just annoying. That's why as Giratina starts to appear, a fully armored, red and silver form of Mordred appears next to him. Without her helmet on, it's pretty easy to tell who it is. The blonde hair, green eyes, and overall the fact she's basically Saber, are all pretty obvious. Mostly the difference is in armor style, and the fact Mordred's sword is a large silver two-handed sword of surprising beauty.

    Clarent shines in her hand, a dazzling, actual knightly sword, held in just the one despite its obvious make and size.

    "Man, you sure lured a bunch of suckers in. I'm gonna pick one and play, you try not to get fucked over while I'm not paying attention. And one comment about my ass and I'm turning around," Mordred snaps at Lute, and then she hops down towards the incoming Union forces-- well, Deelel, specifically.

    Though she isn't attacking yet. Looks like the program gets first dibs.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Behind him, the Negative Zone erupts. Souji sways, leaning with the motion of the massive platform and attempting to keep his footing. Besides that, Souji does not pay attention to the arrival of Giratina. For one, that's Lute's problem. Second, it is inappropriate to intervene in that kind of trial.

He has his own issues to deal with. The flare of flame, of light and darkness draws his eyes. Moogle Glasses reflect the flame as HUDs flicker and he quietly considers.

He raises a hand, and crackling electricty gathers as he forms the pattern in his mind. "Thunder-1." He announces, and there is a crackle-flash of lightning as a searing bolt splits the air and surges towards the rephaite, attempting to stall her incoming, metoric and glorious charge with a strike of electrical power. He does not speak directly to the his chosen opponent. Not yet.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
Inwardly, Miko is sighing in exasperation at Lute's announcement. But the magic that makes her Princess Paladin keeps her appearing unfazed, as she turns, leaving her back to Lute and the monstrous, terrifyingly roaring pokemon. Just as Lute trusts his back to her, so will Princess Paladin trust her back to him! She points the Sacred Scepter across the various metal platforms hanging over a live volcano as she hears the approach of foes. The heat that rises from below is intense, but the metal of her magical girl armor seems not to take in any of it - infact, it remains quite cool. Paladin's gaze is anything but cool, however, as passion blazes within the bright-pink orbs. She is ready to do anything to protect her allies.

She gave the Union and any unaffiliated parties the chance to back off. They refused. They must do what they must. And she must do what she must. She will protect those she came here to protect, and grant the holy magic of the Sacred Scepter to them to increase their survival chances.

And... If she needs to... She will destroy the enemies without hesitation or regret. Not exactly a healthy mind set for a teenage girl, but it is what it is. She will kill for those she cherishes. Her eyes travel to Mordred when the Servant appears, but then focus back on scanning for enemies. The knight is powerful and on their side. That's all she needs to know.

Kirikou (127) has posed:
    As shit starts to go down, Kirikou raises his fists above his head in what appears to be an eager salute to battle. It's that too, of course, but it's also a call to action. Fire and Thunder, the twin weapons that help define Kirikou's particular deadliness, watch the signal and then blur into streaks of energy that form around the upraised fists. When the twin orange and blue lights of transformation fades, massive metal gauntlets surround his fists. "I'm on fire, baby!" the boy hollers, then slams his fists together in a ringing clash of steel on steel. He's a target here after all, intending to draw attackers to himself rather than let them get past him at Lute. There's absolutely no point trying to be discreet.

    Kirikou sees Toph coming up the side of the mountain. Rather, he sees the earth lifts and knows who's behind them. Right. Putting a stop to THAT will shut down the Union offensive, he figures. Strand the fighters. He readies himself, holding his action until Toph's actually within range.

    "Hey Dirtbender!" he cries out, launching himself into the air. Not bothering to deploy his gliding ability, not wanting to give it away just yet, he simply aims himself well. "Glad you could join us!" he shouts gleefully, leading with a metal-clad fist as he plummets at her. It shouldn't be a crushing blow or anything. Right now, just slowing her down is enough. Make it hard for her to keep lifting everyone up, forcing the fight to be an uphill battle rather than an all-out earthen charge.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel has had Dealings with Lute in the past but mostly it's as a distant or over the radio but she is hopefully getting his attention at lest that of his allies. She's how bringin her cycle to a halt it vanishes into wireframe line and then is totally gone, she grabs the baton and says dryly.

"I doubt you'll get chicks with it."

Well not in the way Lute hopes she alao pauses for moment.

"Don't you have a mate? Wait I don't even want to know."

She notices the conderates who are arrayed here she looks to the heroic spiruit who now is before her.

She reaches for the disc on her back and the edge humms to life as she looks the fallen Knight of Camelot over for a moment.

"So you want to play huh? Let's see if you got game."

She holding the disc which looks a lot like a Chakram which she certainly throws at Mordred like it was one and Deelel starts moving the second it leaves her hand.

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
    It's literally a rocky ride, but nothing too horrible. Toph keeps the earthen plate steady for Kyra to prevent her from falling off, as it would probably be tough for her to stop tumbling down. And with Giratina roaring like that and shaking up the mountain Toph can't help but frown. "What is that dunderhead up to anyway...?" she mutters, then hears Kyra talk. "Sure thing, I'll be heading up there to stop them before they do something /stupid/." And as agreed upon over the radio, Toph slows down the ascent slightly as she focuses briefly on another task at hand; get Kyra a proper place to act from. Raising her arms above her head and kicking one heel into the earthen plate it splits in half, and the earth underneath Kyra rises up high into the air to give the Unionite a high place to get an overview of the area. Not to mention it should keep the Feds from getting to her. Luckily the earthen plate shapes itself too with a railing, all to keep her safe and with cover if she needs it. "I will keep watch over the spire and get you down when you need it!" Toph calls. With an area like this she can see most of what is going on all around, after all.

    With the earthen plate smaller now she is faster as she continues her climb.

    Then she hears the familiar voice of a particular Confederate she has fought several times before. And he's standing in her way. At least until he leaps.

    With a huff Toph kicks the plate, making it slow down to a stop as she throws her hands out, sending several earthen pillars forward in the path he /should/ be coming in from considering where he jumped from and all. "Move aside, Gloves!" But she can't afford to take Kilik seriously either. While she has won against him before, he is a heavy hitter to say the least. Not to mention there's Fire and Thunder who gives him an edge...!

Beli Klum (238) has posed:
    As Beli descends, she's given a moment to notice Giratina's steady emergence. It's a strange thing, certainly, but...at the same time, that's to be expected from this world, isn't it?

    Her pondering is suddenly interrupted, however, as she looks just in time to notice the electric charge building up around Souji's hand. It's a fortunate moment, as she has a split second to bank in her twisting dive. Enough for the bolt of lightning that Souji forms to crackle just past her, jarring her with an unpleasant electric pulse but, fortunately, not crashing right into her. At least that means she can /control/ her descent.

    Black wings extend and twist, and her dive grows slightly less graceful as she's forced to adjust. Her wings ache from that narrow miss of electricity, but they remain sturdy enough to let her spread them to slow her twisting fall and land in a crouch several feet in front of Souji. Hot wind gusts up around her as her six broad wings flap once more on her landing, then gently fold up on her back. Her head lifts to level a serious frown at the young man in front of her before she rears up to her full height. Her left hand's fingers curl around a mote of darkness whose tendrils have been snaking around her arm.

    The rephaite's soft voice is backed by a strange ringing of small bells and a dull, volcanic rumble that echo every syllable. Perhaps Mount Battle's own active volcano would make it difficult to tell that the strange reverberation comes from her. "I would request that you stay out of the way, whoever you may be, but I somehow suspect that you are not going to listen," she remarks. The only warning she gives before she suddenly flicks out her left hand, hurling a shard of solid darkness at Souji, then tries to dash not toward him, but /past/ him.

    Whether the latter will actually succeed is questionable, for such an alert opponent.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "I've got a feeling the stupidity is already in progress." Kyra mutters to Toph, crouching to lower her center of gravity so she doesn't accidentally stumble off of the earth plate. She's pretty successful at this, at least, keeping her head down as they move up the mountain. She remains crouching, waiting as Toph conjures up a fantastic little lookout point she can stand and fire from.

    "Don't worry about me falling, Toph! I've got ways to deal with that! Just focus on-"

    Wait, was that Kilik that just jumped Toph??? "-/him/? Wait, what's he doing here?" Somebody, apparently, was completely unaware that her friend at Death Academy had thrown his lot in with the Confederates. AWKWARD. Now she starts to wish she had some tranquilizers loaded to at least slow that guy down so Toph can move on ahead. But changing the ammo right now would be too much of a pain-the hi-potion rounds are likely more needed anyway.

    Setting herself against the earthen railing, Kyra starts sighting the various fights on the battlefield. Nothing seemed too dire quite yet (though she does notice that Souji is here again, which draws a frown from the white mage) so she turns around and tries to get a view of Lute and his attempted Giritana summoning.

Mordred (12) has posed:
    "Game huh. Yeah, I got game!" Mordred replies with a big, wide grin. The hurled chakram slams into her gauntlet as she bats it aside, denting the silver steel in and leaving a notch there. It might not be a gaping hole in the armor that draws blood just yet, but wearing down the knight's armor might be easier than trying to wound her through it.

    The Servant slams into the ground in front of Deelel, intent on showing her game. She doesn't quite need to 'attack' yet though, because from the height she hurled herself, when she collides with the earth of the mountain, it uproots several sharp layers of jagged stones, namely directly under Deelel (but in general in a circular pattern around Mordred).

    "Ya'll have to show me yours first, though!"

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Souji moves in a blur, attempting to action-parry the bolt of Darkness with his sheathed blade. However, the bolt sizzles, impacting him in the chest. His eyes widen slightly as he is knocked backwards, staggering for a moment from the impact. "Tch." He emits in chastisement... but he is not directing it at Beli.

Beli might have hoped that the attack left his guard open for Beli to rush past. Despite his failute to stop the incoming assault, the sheathed blade whips to one side, the end striking at Beli's own side. With a burst of air, Souji back-dashes, trying to continue to impose himself in the way. "I am Souji Murasame, of the Murasame Family. I cannot allow you to interfere." His hand reaches for the blade... But then he stops, changing his mind. Instead, he dashes forward himself, going low with a sweeping kick. As he follows through, he strikes upwards with the sheathed blade again. "I expect we will see the efficacy of your objection shortly."

Kirikou (127) has posed:
    Kilik's headlong charge is interrupted by spikes. Fortunately for him, his head doesn't actually MEET the spikes. That sort of thing would seriously put a crimp in his style. The spikes are enough to protect Toph at least though. Instead of punching her with all the force of his downward charge, Kirikou punches the earthen spikes. His fist plows through the hardened earth, shattering the spikes in his way.

    The punch also slows his charge, so Kilik lands on his feet in front of Toph. "You guys shouldn't be here!" he insists, lashing out in a kick aimed at the earthbender's gut. "Just your bad luck. This time won't go so easy for you, I think." he claims harshly. He IS grinning though. He doesn't dislike Toph or anything. Her meddling isn't so annoying as that of the Union in general... but they HAVE got her sticking her nose in where it doesn't belong. Or, in this case, where it might get punched.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
Princess Paladin is also looking for those who may need her assistance, but then she sees someone with a rifle who sems to be eyeballing Lute in the middle of his Giratina-taming. Could it be...

...A SNIPER!? Well, she can't have some shady assassin type picking off her comrade from behind! The pink-garbed heroine dashes towards Kyra, zipping along the various metal walkways and platforms at superhuman speed, and then pointing the Sacred Scepter ahead of her when she's in a position to attack. "Dispersal of the Wicked!" Paladin calls out, using one of the newer attacks she's been practicing. Several tiny stars made of glowing pink magical energy fly from the orb at the end of the scepter, right at Kyra! They twinkle and leave glittery sparkles in their wake! How menacing!

"You shall not interfere, assassin!" she calls out afterwards.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel Says "Then let's go."

Deelel's disc is now flying back to her and she catches it, it seems the heroic spirit is faster than she expected her to b. Then comes the terrain attack upon her and Deelel is forced to leap for safety but she's caught by several, the stones have done some damage and Deelels'g to a glowing wound where the rock cut her. She shifts with her disc once more and launches another throw for Mordred as she again starts moving.

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
    Rubble and rocks fly everywhere as the earthen spikes are shattered and go flying, and Toph huffs, already moving as Kilik aims a kick at her that hits her in her side as she is already in the process of moving to the side and throwing her right arm out, sending a bigger spike towards Kilik. "What the crud are you talking about? We aren't the ones trying to summon a big nasty beast for Lute's freaky petting zoo!" she counters as she recovers from the kick and avoids tumbling down the mountain side, wincing just slightly.

    As for whether or not it will go easy for her? "I beat you before, and I will do it again!" No, Toph doesn't dislike Kilik either, but he /is/ standing in her way when she could be hitting Lute over the head instead!

Beli Klum (238) has posed:
    That sheathed sword swings for her side, and the next thing Beli feels is a painful /crack/ against her waist. She winces, staggering aside in her rush and giving Souji plenty of opening to slip into place in front of her. Such speed...!

    Beli hisses faintly in her lingering pain, grasping her side with her right hand. Fortunately, her left is still free, and she keeps it elevated as she stumbles to a halt and keeps her gaze fixed on Souji. The fact that he doesn't draw his sword is noted; strange, considering the situation, but maybe he doesn't need lethal force in combat?

    Again he strikes out, but this time Beli is ready. His sweeping kick is neatly avoided as she leaps up, but he follows through: the sheathed sword cracks against her chest, and her wings abruptly spread to keep her steady as she falls back and lands on her feet in a slight hunch. Oh, that one hurt.

    This time she's quick to straighten up, composing herself through the dull ache caused by his attacks. "And I am Beli Klum, guardian of Purgatorio," she snaps back. Again her left hand hurls toward Souji, but it's not darkness she hurls at him. Instead, it's a small swarm of buzzing, biting, scratching, stinging flies that twist and flow from a dark portal behind her hand. They lock onto Souji immediately, swarming around him and assaulting anywhere they can reach with their vicious natural weaponry. "And /I/ will not allow you to stand in my way!"

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    White hood, hanging out in high places, sniper rifle...maybe Kyra IS really an Assassin. The world may never know unless she busts out with sweet parkour skills.

    Meanwhile, Kyra lowers her sight and lets her rifle dangle at her shoulder for a few seconds as she turns from Lute and stretches her hand out in the direction of Beli and Souji. She knows that heir is going to start casting haste on himself so he can zip around his opponent at ludicrious speed. Dispelling that would definitely give Beli an advantage for a few moments and force Souji to waste time to recast it-

    Something sparkly hits her in the back and she nearly falls, clutching onto the railing of the earth spire to prevent this. "What the /fuck/? Healer aggro already? You have to be kidding me, I haven't even /healed/ anyone yet!" Turning, she steadies herself on the railing and stares down at the...magical girl? "Assassin? Man, I wish."

    With her free hand, she tears something off her belt and hurls it downward at Paladin. In mid-air it seems to shatter by some arcane force, unleashing a blast of liquid that freezes anything it touches, turning it brittle. "Cool your circuits and /don't come any closer/."

Mordred (12) has posed:
    Huh, so that thing is a boomerang. Well, boomerang-like, it's not quite the right shape. Guess she'll have to watch her back too if she doesn't want to get hit in the back of it. Or that would be the smart thing, anyway. Mordred's a bit more overconfident than that and probably won't think much of it until Deelel abuses the fact.

    It's with a blurry fast arm that the Servant repeats the prior motion, using her gauntlet to slam the chakram out of the way. Another notch in the steel, a bit deeper this time. The armor's obviously sturdier than normal steel, though how much more remains to be seen.

    "Come on, step it up! You don't want to see Lute with divine chick-picking-up powers, do you?" No one wants that. No one. It's surprising the Union didn't deploy about fifty more Elites just to stop the idea of it.

    A thin streak of red lightning arcs across Clarent; Mordred slashes the air between herself and Deelel, the current firing out like a sharp shockwave.

Lute (188) has posed:
     Lute is incredibly glad he has so many Confederates with him. The number of people present, supporting him? It's really astounding. He is not one who expected to have so many friends and allies show up. It's still a surprise to him that he is /getting/ respect from his allies, occasionally.

     He mutters, mostly to himself. His allies might be able to hear this, but with them being so busy, he doesn't /count/ on it. And he'll repeat it, later.

     "Thanks, everyone."

     Still holding the mirror with one hand, Lute pulls out several things, all at once. Three Pokeballs sit between his fingers, and he tosses them all forward. The Pokemon materialize.

     Normally, Lute would use Registeel for something like this. But. He is having a bit of a moment, right now. The three Pokemon he is using? A Tentacruel, an Arcanine, and a Raichu.

     His three first Pokemon.

     Giratina comes out of the portal, completely. He is a /large/ Pokemon. Around fifteen feet tall. It crashes to the ground, and lets loose a roar once again. It seems a bit... Confused, if anything. And, Lute lets out a shout of commands, to his Pokemon.

     "NINJACHU! THUNDER WAVE! Hakan! FIRE SPIN! And... Kaelin! WRAP!"

     It, really, is /not/ fair, generally, to use three Pokemon in order to catch one. But, Lute is not one who usually plays fair. As such the attacks are unleashed. Paralyzing thunder from the Raichu. Entrapping flames from the Arcanine. And, finally, the Tentacruel flings its tentacles forward, trying to bind the Legendary Pokemon with its tentacles.

     And, to Lute's credit? So far, this is /working/. Giratina is obviously powerful, but Lute is doing a /wonderful/ job at keeping it restricted, using his three first Pokemon.

D (232) has posed:
    D's eyes narrow the moment he spots Gaius's reckless advance. It's hard to miss the sparks flying from the Legatus's heels, and the intent-filled /leap/.

    Pulling his reins into his left hand, D pulls his horse into a sudden, rearing halt. The cyborg beast spins to face Gaius as it rises up on its back legs, waving its forelegs in a vicious display complete with a horrible-sounding electronic shriek, but it does not strike at the Legatus. Instead, at D's unseen command, it crashes back to the volcano's surface and lowers its horned head and broad shoulders, presenting the man a clear shot at the Hunter.

    D falls to the ground like a black cloth. He pools in a low crouch, his eyes unseen among the shadows cast by his broad-brimmed hat.

    He has flanked Gaius between himself and his horse.

    The horse delivers a sudden bucking kick right at Gaius's backside.

Kirikou (127) has posed:
    A sudden surge of earth power gives Kilik a moment's warning. The twins, both Earth Shamans, can see the spikes before they erupt from the ground. It's not much of a notice, but it's enough to let the Meister twist away from the spike. He doesn't get away entirely clean however, and the blunt impact hits and accelerates his spin.

    "Clue in, Dirtbender." Kirikou says, forcing himself back to his feet. He wipes his chin, possibly trying to get rid of grit but only managing to successfully smear dirt on his face. "Lute's ALWAYS calling on big nasty creatures. It's his thing!" the Meister claims. Well, when he's not hitting on girls anyways. "Go punch some monsters that AREN'T under control and are a threat to innocents!" he insists, then wading in with fists flying. Big looping brawler punches, taking full advantage of the mass of his weapons. Still, they're also controlled. He remains balanced, defensive, not committing too hard to an attack he knows has little change of reaching the Earthbender through her numerous defenses. He's here to slow her down, after all.

    He's about to shift up the attack, to send an earthen explosion of his own, when Kirikou hears something through his radio. "What? She's here? That's a shame." he mutters. Then he looks up to the sniper-perched girl Toph gave a ride to. "Heeey Kyra. How's it going?" he asks in a surprisingly friendly tone, waving with one metal-clad hand while his other fist remains protecting him from Toph's potential retaliation. Hey, he's not actually fighting Kyra. It's a shame she's gone to the 'good guy' side and all, but that doesn't mean he's going to discard his plans of going to check out Alexander Academy sometime soon.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
Not an assassin, but she wishes she was? AN ASSASSIN IN TRAINING THEN. How awful! The freezing material thrown down at Princess Paladin causes instant frostbite in the parts of her exposed skin where the substance touches. She doesn't even flinch. It hurts terrible. A burning-freezing sensation like none other. But the magic keeps her acting determined and untouchable, even when inside she's screaming. It's a potent psychological warfare advantage, but it doesn't negate the fact that it still hurts, and still did significant damage. "I see," Paladin says in response. Holy lighy starts to radiate outwards from her entire body, making the walkway shake and tremble beneath her boots as it builds, until finally she shatters the ice on her body with explosive force, even if it tears away a couple layers of flesh in the process.

She leaps up into the air, far higher than a normal human could. Then when she is on the same level as Kyra - though in mid-air - she points the Sacred Scepter right at the ULTRA DEADLY HEALER, and yells, "Penance Beam!" A pink laser shoots out from the rod attempting to pierce right through anything in its way like a magical energy drill. "I do what I must!" she retorts as she practically hangs in the air.

The emergency of Giratina distracts Paladin, however, and she turns her head to look in Lute's direction. Her magically-enhanced senses allow her to make out his lips moving, even if she's too far away with too much other noise, to hear the words. She smiles.

But her attention is off of her opponent for a moment.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel does learn pretty fast and she is also very quick on her feet as Mordred is well a heroic spirit. For the moment she's keeping quick and she does however she replies.

"No I don't and I wonder why any of you are helping him with this! You'd be one of his first victems!"

Deelel is able to avoid the worst of the effect so teh shockwave as she flips up into the air and spins. She just ends up getting clipped lightly as he comes down and she pulls a hockey puck like item off her hip she twists it and then lobs it at Mordred, wait is that some sort of display ticking down? Yes it's a photone charge and if Modred isn't quick she may be caught in the blast.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
The hooves of the cybernetic steed slam into the cermet steel armor plating, scuffing the metal work and causing Gaius to lose his foot. The Legatus rolls along the rocky ground, before he gets back up on his feet. His left hand dragging across the rocks for a moment, as his right hand holds his gun blade at ready.

The Legatus studies D for a moment, he has read reports on him. Including his time of coming into the Confederacy and then the betrayal as well. His hand grips slightly on the hilt of his weapon, but loosens up a bit as he also takes notice of the warhorse.

"The Union will not prevail." Gaius says calmly, his voice reverbing from the helm he wears.

Gaius then pushes off and then kicks off the ground. He does not go in for a straight in attack, instead he moves to the flank. While at the peak of the leap, his Gunblade leaves down and several shots ring from the barrel of the sword. Blue sparks seen popping behind the bullets as they fire out one after another.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Souji moves with flowing grace and lighting-quick speed. His movements are efficient and ruthless as bared steel. However, his opponent is an unknown. And not just an unknown, but an unknown with unusual capacities. He immediately snaps forward, getting distance in a tumble as he flips back to a standing stance, but she does not retaliate in the way that he expects.

the incoming swarm of flies causes Souji to dash to one side, forcing him to move as he analyzes the situation. He grimaces, the flies biting at him and beginning to draw blood. "Different." He says, his voice clipped. There is a swift motion, and his free hand dips into his coat, revealing a hand with gleaming 1 Gil coins clutched between the fingers.

    > Samurai
        > Gil Toss
            > Amount: ___1000

There is a flash, and Souji's hands blur as gleaming coins slash through the air, the blunt objects flicking at intense speed through the air. Dark flies are cut down as he works to counter the incoming swarm, and Beli is not spared herself, as in the span of seconds Souji fills the air with gleaming, painful coins. "It is a pleasure to meet you." Souji speaks, his voice professional and businesslike even in the middle of battle. "I have not had much of a chance to test myself against those of other universes. Are you considered a power of your world?" He asks.

Mordred (12) has posed:
    "'cuz spoiler, I'm not a girl, so that shit wouldn't affect me," Mordred grins. It's not clear if she really thinks she's male or just strongly identifies with the concept-- Tumblr would probably go wild with her case, if they got ahold of her.

    The photon blast is met with an overconfident repeat. Mordred bats at it with her empty hand, but the result is that her gauntlet is badly scorched and knocked off her hand completely, leaving nasty marks on the skin. It lands on the ground and dissolves into red wisps of magic, and she glares down at her hand, then at Deelel.

    "Shit, ow. Man I'm kinda pissed now."

    A flicker of rage and flames, which bleeds down from her arm into the dazzling silver sword. There is a surge of magic across the area. A consent effect, which instills rage and anger into all those present. Easy to resist. Easy to track to Mordred. It's not like it sends you into an uncontrollable rage anyway, it's more that it makes you angrier in general. More prone to it.

    With the flames coating her sword, the Servant dashes for Deelel, trying to cut her with the blade. No fancy maneuver; actually it's pretty primitive. Strength-driven swordplay, rather than technique.

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
    It's to be expected... the twins give Kilik a warning about her bending, and it seems like they are getting better at it than they were during their first fight back in the WMAT. "That's not a good reason for him continuing to do it, moron," Toph mutters. "In case you didn't notice he beat up a friend of mine, and if he plans to use that thing to hurt more people I actually give a squirrel rat's ass about, then like hell if I am just going to sit by!"

    Even during the talk Toph is busy keeping up with Kilik, raising earthen spike after earthen spike to slow his punches down, more rocks and rubble flying at great speeds. The controlled punches makes it hard to do anything else at the moment... at least until the Meister is distracted.

    What. Seriously. Is he /flirting/ during battle now? As Kilik turns his attention to the earthen spire and to Kyra Toph blinks, arching an eyebrow. But this gives her an opening at least, and Toph brings her arms in against her torso and /smashes/ her heel into the ground. In response a large earthen spike shoots up underneath Kilik, launching him up into the air and in a direction going off of the mountain itself. "... that's what you get for not paying attention!" she huffs, then raises her arms in front of her as an earthen plate forms breaks loose underneath her feet... and then she continues up the mountain side, heading towards Lute.

D (232) has posed:
    D leaps to meet the Legatus mid-attack. A long, thin blade portrudes from his hand, gleaming silver along its curving edge. It is an elegant weapon from an era long-gone, much like its wielder.

    Blue flashes split the air between the Hunter and his prey. Only two bullets fail to strike him; the rest find his torso. Blood spurts from his chest at each injury, and D's teeth are bared in gritted reaction to the sudden, sharp pain, but his momentum carries him forward despite the surprised of Gaius's weapon of choice. This isn't Hollywood -- a few bullets can't slow down a dhampir's leap!

    The tip of his sword skims past the edge of Gaius's aimed weapon, and thrusts forward in a sharp stab meant to test the man's armor. Some armor types are less resistant to piercing than they are to bludgeoning strikes, such as a horse's kick. Perhaps D's sword might carve a chink into that armor.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "...hi Kilik!" Kyra calls back a bit sheepishly, not because of the alleged flirting, but because it seems like they've ended up on opposite sides of this conflict today. It...kind of sucks, actually, Kilik's a pretty decent guy. She didn't WANT to have to shoot him or anything like that.    "Hey, if I were you, I wouldn't move very much right now!" Kyra warns. "Your skin is kind of brittle and it could crack-eeeeeeeewww." Kyra makes a face as Paladin shakes the frost off at the cost of skin and flesh. "You brought that on yourself, just so you know!" Now interesting, though. Holy powered magical girls helping Lute out? Wait-

    "You-" Kyra realizes, "Are /you/ Lute's wife?! Is that why you're here?"

    Kyra throws herself to one side, her left arm being blasted and a hole being punched through the earth spire railing from the Penance Beam. She clenches her teeth at the pain, not that it isn't an uncommon sensation for the white mage. She takes notice of her attacker's distraction towards the top of the mountain where Lute is fully battling Giritana now with other monsters.

    In that moment, while Paladin's back is turned, Kyra starts slapping spells onto herself, the effect of Float being a bit more visible than the Shell she follows up with. Kyra begins to hover a few inches off of the surface of the earth spire and when she leaps off, she drifts to the ground rather than plmmets. The hovering effect remains, meaning she never strikes the ground, yet somehow she still runs forward as if she had traction against it.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
The Legatus can't control gravity. He doesn't have the sphere for that, nor has Garlemald really found the means to create such a thing small enough for the use of troops. So when D comes, the Legatus has to suddenly change up tactics on the fly.

D's sword strikes out and Gaius moves his left bracer in the way of the impact. The blade clips the metal work, carving off a bit of the cermet and cutting a few strands of the leather-like kevlar material.

Gaius then lands down on the ground and has to quickly catch his footing as his body is ready to just slide down the slop given the armor's weight and all. Though with a bit of glow on his boots, the Black Wolf then changes his stance and pushes off.

With some inhuman speed he comes up on D, and swings his body around, for a rounded slash of his sword, hoping to catch the half vampire with the edge of the blade.

Beli Klum (238) has posed:
    If Beli's methods are unorthodox, Souji's aren't much better. The swarm of flies is countered...by a horde of coins. Well, that's certainly different.

    Beli's eyes widen in surprise, and in the next few seconds, a few different things happen. The crimson along her wings and in her halos suddenly flares to cyan, and her right arm thrusts out in front of her. Almost at the same time, what flies still remain that weren't completely smashed through by those coins suddenly dissolve into wisps of shadow, and instead, a great sphere of pure golden light suddenly gleams into being around her form.

    The air is abruptly filled with the pattering crashes of a thousand solid coins crashing into a surface not unlike a window pane. Cracks form along the barrier's surface, snaking out into intricate spiderwebs until, finally, one more shatters right through what remains of the barrier. The air is filled with motes of sparkling golden dust, coins clatter to the ground...and a sharp cry rings out as that final coin slams Beli right in the forehead.

    Strange, how perfectly timed that strike which makes her stagger back and clutch at her forehead is paired with the abrupt rush of angry magic from Mordred. The angelic demon hisses in pain, and the cyan hue she gained once more flickers back to bloody red. "...yes," she winces, looking back up at Souji again. "Yes, I am a power of my world, right now. One of the three greatest powers who decide the fate of humanity."

    Odd, she doesn't /usually/ speak about herself like that. Whatever the case, she's lashing right into battle again: her left arm hurls forward, and a whirl of shadow lashes out to strike the ground near Souji's foot. It's not that strike that's meant to hit him, but instead the gout of hellfire and shadowy shrapnel the darkness explodes into a second later, like a mine of agonizing crimson fire that seems specifically tailored to cause /pain/.

    "And you?" Beli seems willing to maintain conversation, at least. "The Murasame family is significant, I am guessing?"

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
When Paladin turns her attention back on Kyra, right as the healssassin goes running off through the air! The magical girl frowns as she starts to fall down through the air, her leap having finished long ago, and gravity beginning to re-assert itself. But she kicks off the toppling earthen spire, and comes arcing up into the air behind Kyra - looming up suddenly like a menacing pink shadow. Miko, within the magical girl, is somewhat angered by the insinuation she might be Lute's wife. She isn't sure why. She just feels irritated by the notion. But Paladin seems perfectly at ease, as she says calmly. "I am no wife of his." Paladin speaks from like RIGHT BEHIND KYRA. "But he is my friend. And I will do anything to protect him. You have my apologies." Then she lifts the Sacred Scepter up and brings it down with both hands aimed at the back of Kyra's head, aiming to knock her down towards... Oh, shoot. There's lava beneath them isn't there?

Walkways too, but there is a non-zero chance of landing in the molten rock instead of on the steel platforms! Can Kyra's magical enhancements protect her from what may be a quite painful attack if it lands directly!?

Deelel has posed:
Deelel pauses and like a famous construct before her "But the extr...."

she stops stared and isn't going to argue at this point, she's not going to /aruge at all s she's pissed of Modred it seems as she notices the magic surging into her blade. Oh this was going to be bad, Deelel attempts to parry the strike with her dis it doesn't go so well and it slide os ripping into her arm and that's when the damage is bad the illusion of flesh is tone there's a glowing wound and some strange cubes are falling out of it. Deelel comes baout not throwing her disc but using it as a melee weapon attemping to just rip into Mordred's armour with it.

D (232) has posed:
    D lands without the steady grace expected of him. He skids down the slope a few feet, and by the time he recovers his balance enough to turn, Gaius has already launched his next assault. A dhampir, D possesses extreme speed and reflexes, and an endurance no human could hope to exceed. He is a fine combatant, and a masterful swordsman. Despite what his vanity may want all onlookers to believe, however, he is not perfect -- and it's not very easy to fight whenever one's chest is riddled with bullets.

    Ah, there's one less. It plinks out onto the rocky earth as D's flesh heals itself and forces the bullet out.

    Gaius's sword might clip off another, it cuts so deep. The slash drives D back as a torrent of his own blood spills hotly down his chest to soak his garments in yet more vitae. His upper lip curls -- cracking his beautiful facade -- and D retaliates in unusual fashion.

    He circle-steps right, weaves left, then circle-steps in a second time to place himself behind Gaius. He moves like a shadow, fast and fluid, difficult to track in the chaos.

    There, behind Gaius, he reaches forward to grab the Legatus behind the collar...and to shove. With all his might, he tries to push Gaius Van Baelsar down the hillside in an uncontrolled and painful tumble.

    "The Union need not win the battle; only the war."

    D turns his attention briefly toward the battle raging around Lute.

Kirikou (127) has posed:
    "Your friend killed my mentor." Kilik claims, though he doesn't sound particularly upset over it. Medusa may have been a mentor, but he never really got along with her. At most he respected her, and in his mind both Medusa and D got what was coming to them. Anything worse done to D would have been unpleasant in his mind. As for Medusa's death... well, he's hardly going to go into details on his feelings there.

    "... You don't see me trying to get in his face over it, do you?" he claims, breathing out the words between furious punches.

    In point of fact, Kirikou's not actually flirting. He's being no more friendly with Kyra than he would be with Dominic. She might be a lot cuter than the merchant prince, but the Meister simply has no clue how to do something like flirting. He's also half paying attention to Toph even when commenting on the radio. Battle Dialog is a skill taught at Death Academy, just like it's taught everywhere else in the Multiverse... if informally. One can carry on taunts and conversation even when violence is flying through the air. Besides, he's got the Twins to warn him.

    Kilik is warned of the powerful earth launch platform, both by his shaman twins and by the posture and stomp of Toph. He's seen enough of her bending to have some idea what to expect. He can't exactly counter it, but then he doesn't have to. He drops low, protecting his vulnerable areas with his shins, and absorbing some of the upthrust with his powerful leg muscles. When he's flung into the air, away from the mountain, he has time only for a rapidly-departing wail. "I'll be back before you know it!" he cries, and his voice describes a careful arc up and away from the mountain's side... conveniently for Toph.

    This, however, isn't as dire for Kirikou or for his side as it might seem. The boy spreads his arms at the peak of the arc, calling upon his totem animal. Nothing changes, not outwardly, but his fall is suddenly arrested. Banking through the air, Kirikou turns and starts gliding back to the mountain, taking a bead once again on Toph.

    Normally, Kirikou would give Toph some warning before pouncing. Would consider sneaking up on a blind girl to be an unfair act, well beneath him. But he's struck by the effects of Mordred's power, struck by a burst of rage. She THREW him off the mountain! She could have KILLED him! And now she's trying to kill Lute too! While Kirikou wouldn't care overmuch if Lute was beat up, that would be a horrible failure on his part in the eyes of the Confederacy. Determined not to fail, and emboldened beyond his normal nature by crimson rage, Kirikou glides silently down, aiming to intercept the back of Toph's head. As he approaches, his right fist begins to blaze with a silent sullen yellow-red aura.

Lute (188) has posed:
     Lute's Unown in the sky, thankfully, helps him notice that Kyra and Toph are moving in for him. Well, it's at the point where they are going to go after him /despite/ the risk to their own personal safety, then? Lute remains on guard, but his focus never leaves from Giratina.

     But, suddenly, as Lute stares at Giratina, he feels something. He has been at the Pokemon Training thing for a /long/ time. An /incredibly/ long time. So, sometimes, Lute picks up things from Pokemon. Their attitude, their emotions. As he looks at Giratina, he picks up subtle clues from a species he has not seen before.

     He walks forward. Slowly. He lets the mirror simply drop to the ground. The gate to the Reverse World, the realm of Giratina, is still present. He, fearlessly, walks towards Giratina. Now, why would he be approaching such a beast without /fear/?

     Well. Because he seems the fear in its own eyes. It was forcibly pulled to a place it has /never been/. A place opposite of where he is from. Of /course/ this thing is scared. But, what is more, Lute can pick up another subtle thing from it. Though it is from another world, it is /understanding/ what Lute is saying. It seems to be showing /respect/ to Lute. It is not as alien as he thought it might be. Which...

     ...Completely meshes with his notes.

     A sudden burst of information fills Lute's head. The final pieces of the puzzle put in place. The trigger isn't really Giratina itself, though. It's the emotion of finally having reached this point, finally reaching his chance to /capture/ Giratina.

     He places a hand on the creature, despite the ring of fire surrounding it due to his own Arcanine. He'll take this bit of pain. Giratina itself does not respond negatively to this.

     Lute looks up at the beast.

     "You are mine, now."

     "POKEBALL, GO!"

     He pulls out an Ultra Ball. He touches it to Giratina. And, Giratina goes into it.

     Shake.

     Shake.

     Shake.

     *Ding*

     Lute turns around. He presses the button on the Pokeball, and speaks.

     "Go, Giratina! OMINOUS WIND!"

     Large black clouds of energy burst from Giratina. They fly, towards Kyra and Toph. Kilik /might/ get caught in the cross fire, but Giratina is not aiming to hit him, or Princess Paladin. Instead, it is simply trying to let loose a raw burst of Ghost type energy at both of the fighters.

     And Lute just /laaaughs/ like a madman.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
The Garlean watches as D moves with grace and fluidity-- this oddly reminds him of someone else he spars with at times. A female vampire who is quiet the minx; Not that he ever complain. As such he handles the situation as he would handle her.

Waiting...

As soon has D moves again, Gaius comes around to parry away the man's hold. However it is only partly successful, cause while the force perhaps is not applied as D would have liked. The Garlean is still thrown off balance.

He looses his footing and has to rotate himself in an odd way to grab his footing once more. In such a moment can be capitalized by someone like D who has greater speed then the war veteran can demand out of his suit in the moment's notice.

After all---
-- There is something to be said about natural speed versus manufactured.

Mordred (12) has posed:
    Mordred has good armor, but it turns out to be just that. 'Good armor'. Not exceptional, certainly not invincible. Many are the legends surrounding Mordred, none of them concern her armor. Strictly speaking it's no more sturdy than her skin, which is admittedly pretty damn hard. Gotta love being a Servant. But all that to say: Deelel digs in. Her weapon tears straight through the metal, leaving a clean cut in the heavy plate that drew blood underneath. Mordred clenches her teeth, evidently growing angrier by the second. There's another surge of the same rage-filled magic, although this one mostly seeps into the ground. Some still echoes out towards people, but it's far less than before.

    The ground under Deelel rumbles, and two sharp blades dig out of the earth. Something, vaguely humanoid, but completely skeletal and petrified, obviously some sort of fossil, angrily tears its way out of its slumber. The KABUTOPS, or what's left of one anyway, glows an ominous red. It isn't really alive. It's not even a Pokemon. It's an animated pile of stone and bones, filled with the same fiery magic as Mordred's sword it. It lunges towards Deelel, trying to jab both of its blades into her.

    But Mordred herself is not far behind it, trying to use the opening to punch the program in the face with her bare, injured hand, rather than using her sword.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
If Souji was surprised before, now he is comparatively shocked. "Light and Darkness?" He says, pausing. "The union of opposing forces. Fire and Ice. Lightning and Water. Air and Earth. And more than all others, Light and Darkness. Normally, one does not see this facility, but you... You are different." Curiosity? Respect? Perhaps they might tinge his tone as he speaks.

The shattering of the barrier, however, and the subsequent response of hellfire cause him to blur to one side, the hellfire scorching him as he barely avoids getting completely immolated. He hits the ground in a slide, and comes to a stop, breathing heavily for a moment.

He couldn't be winded already, could he?

His hand upon the sheath clenches, his flesh pressing into the ages leather with a terrible creak.

His voice bears the chill of winter as he straightens, an almost ritual air about him as he hods up the blade before him hoizontally. "My lineage is ancient and steeped in tradition. Nobles of the skies, we stand in challenge. We are the blood of the Great Judge. I am he who stands atop the cito of thunder and light, who will seize the heavens and rend the skies to bring a new path."

There is a terrible tone in his voice as he speaks again. "You are worthy." As he speaks, the crimson ribbon that binds the blade to the scabbard looses itself, and he grips the handle. "Murasame hungers."

There is a sudden motion, and Souji slashes forward in a blur, the air splitting with lightning and darkness as he rips upwards into the air, slashing up past Beli with a streaking motion. It is at this point as he hangs in the air that Beli can see the slim katana blade itself, forged of some terrible black metal and etched with crimson runes of hunger and desire. Any blood that touches the weapon is quickly absorbed, as if the weapon itself drinks it.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel pulls back from the rest of the strike in the more typical lethal combat styles for her people's close combat was to drive the disc through the center of mass of their foe. It doesn't work well on organics not to mention is messy as heck too. She also does not want to stay too close to Mordred if she can help them on that one.

Deelel moves quickl;y from the horror, and Mordreds coming in to Punch her she just gets nipped by the claws from the beast but is able to weave her way out of the punch, sh twist he body about drops low and attemps to sweep kick, whatever happens there she'll flip up into the air and drops down to attempt to land on Mordred and them flip away.

D (232) has posed:
    As the Giratina submits to Lute's command, as the volcano's summit becomes a tempest of black energy, there is little else for D to do but survive the engagement. After all, he is a pragmatic soul, and with the primary objective already achieved by the enemy, why bother continuing to fight to the mountaintop?

    D lunges past Gaius, his silvery blade a streak of lightning through the fluxuating shadows flicked from his cape. On passing Gaius, the streak changes course abruptly, sweeping at a diagonal angle from the Legatus's hip to his shoulder. It's only the very end of D's sword dancing past the Legatus's defenses, but even this kiss could be fatal, if luck is in D's favor.

    It had not been in his favor thus far. Perhaps the tides will now turn now that Lute has found his fate?

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
    "Good luck catching up with me, Gloves!" Toph calls back, even as she hears Kilik's voice moving away. Though Kilik is gravely misinformed if he thinks Toph's intentions are of a lethal nature. If Kilik wasn't so tough she wouldn't be launching him off of the mountain in the first place. And her intention is not to kill Lute, only to stop him. Sure, she's rough, but she is not bloodthirsty. Then again, he might not be thinking that if it were for the rage.

    Up ahead she feels Lute approach the Pokemon, and she wills herself to go faster. Damnit, he's caught the damn thing already?! It's too soon! Not that she knows much about capturing Pokemon, if anything at all, but shouldn't capturing a legendary beast take /some/ effort at least? And just as Toph gets to the top of the mountain, still some distance away from Lute, he turns around. Her expression is serious, her brow furrowed, and she doesn't seem happy. Then he calls out, and Toph braces herself, clenching her teeth together.

    The dark energy crackles around her and into the ground, and Toph skids along, keeping her footing but forced back as it cuts into her and makes the stubborn earthbender wince. Then there's Beli's cry coming at the same time, ringing out from above, and Toph's eyes widen. Kilik? Above her? How the hell did he do that? Unfortunately it's not that much info, and Toph brings her arm up even as she does her best to not be swept back by Lute's attack. But it's not enough, not when Kilik is silently gliding down.

    The firepowered punch from Kilik utterly demolishes the wall Toph raised, and his fall adding to his speed and force, and while he doesn't hit the back of her head he is successful in punching her. Right in the face.

    Toph's cry echoes across the mountain top, and the force of the punch sends her flying back a fair distance, tumbling across the mountain top, groaning out in pain as she weakly tries to collect herself and push herself up. But for now, the world is spinning too much.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Landing, or rather continuing to levitate, over one of the platforms, Kyra moves to join up with Toph. She thinks she's outpaced the magical girl a little when, suddenly, she hears the voice speaking from RIGHT BEHIND HER. "-GAH!!" She spins suddenly, gripping her rifle in both hands, making a swing for Paladin's head. It doesn't hit and instead manages to catch the overhead blow of the Sacred Scepter, preventing it from bashing her skull in. Wide-eyed, she slips one end of the rifle down to allow the scepter to slide off. As she does, she swings the other end forward rapidly, trying to strike Paladin in the head with the butt of the rifle.

    She allows the momentum to carry her around, re-righting herself so she can continue running. She sees Lute and Giritana and-

    Nope, too late.

    "Oh shit." she grumbles, only to repeat the phrase with a bit more urgency when the dragon ghost thing is turned upon her. Not even her Shell spell seems to help much against that force. It's enough to send her flying, skipping like a stone from one platform to another.

    Frantically, she scrambles to catch the edge of the platform so she doesn't fall into the lava-while Float would enable her to hover over it, eventually that spell is going to run out and Kyra would have a bad day if it did over lava. Her heart sinks as she stares up at the enormous dragon baring down on her and Toph and lifts both of her arms, as if in surrender.

    A white, glowing spellcircle suddenly spawns beneath the ghost dragon and the sky splits to allow a radiant white light to drop from the sky.

Beli Klum (238) has posed:
    And things just proceed from bad to worse. Giratina is captured and turned against Beli's allies. The rephaite only has a minute to cry out and warn Toph, in particular, of the attacks coming after her. Then Souji is getting her attention again with that frigid, malicious air, and a Beli's teeth clench in a tense, quiet growl. This is bad.

    Flickering from angelic to demonic powers over and over again so quickly is not something Beli can manage, and Compassion needs a few moments to recover its durability. And with that sudden clearing of the space between them, there's nothing Beli can really do. He moves too quickly, too precisely, and the sword is free to drink.

    Beli's cry of pain echoes out among the arena as the sword slashes up, cleaving through the front of her shirt and up from her hip to the opposite shoulder. Vile black blood sprays from the wound, thick and viscous with demonic taint, and the angelic demon staggers back as her deep wound bleeds along her clothes. A hand settles on her injury, but there's not much she can do right now: it's far too long to easily staunch.

    But Souji is in the air above her, if only for a minute. A minute that she can thrust her left hand up, though nothing comes from her arm. Instead, four dark portals emerge in the ground below Souji, and from each one flies out a rusty chain caked with old blood and equipped with a single, vicious meat hook. Beli says nothing, aside from a shout of exertion: the chains rattle as they leap up to dig their large hooks into Souji and /yank/ him down against the metal platform. It's vicious, violent, perhaps even cruel, but such are the powers of Inferno.

Mordred (12) has posed:
    "WILL YOU QUIT MOVING?!"

    Deelel is much faster than she gave her credit for. And let's face it, that Kabutops, animated by Mordred's rage or not, is still "just a Pokemon". It's not especially fast or strong, and while its arm-blades are sharp (well... for fossils), it's not much more dangerous than any other Pokemon you'd cross in the wild.

    "RRRRGH! I SAID!"

    Deelel comes in with a kick-- the Servant ATTEMPTS to grab her leg after the impact, which caves her armor in a bit. The bare hand wraps around the program's ankle, or at least tries, to prevent her from bouncing or hopping away.

    "STAND STILL!"

    If she can hold on to Deelel at all, she attempts to swing her like a mace. Into the ground once, twice, and then into the Kabutops. It will almost assuredly completely obliterate the fossil and take it out of the picture, but there's the risk of getting chunks of it stuck into her. Like the blades.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
The blade catches true this time and claims a deep cut into the Magitek cermet suit. Sparks fly as the blade slashes across the metal. It clips some of the fabric, getting to the skin as blood finds its way on D's sword.

Gaius however does not howl in pain, he does not reel away. Instead it only seems to bring the Black Wolf in on the half vampire stronger. Perhaps like his title given to him by his Emperor entails. The Black Wolf is even as cunning and can ever carry greater ferocity. As we all know, when you injury a wild animal-- they do not always back down, sometimes they only become far more dangerous.

While Lute seems to have claimed his prize, no order was given to fall back and until such order is given. The Legatus plans to stay onto of D. As he moves in with his sword at ready he speaks to the half vampire with a cold rumble in his voice, "And the Garlean Empire, the Confederacy-- will see the Union's defeat in the future to come. For this I will see until my dieing breath!"

The Black Wolf comes in with sword swing to sword swing. Seeming to take this from a distant fight to purely melee battle. The clashing of the blades may be seen by those who look down as the sparks fly. The two locked in a heated combat of witts, speed, and endurance. For so long as Gaius Magitek suit of armor has the power-- he will push the core's output to fully keep up with the Vampire Hunter.

Just as he knows D will more then likely, not stand down in this hour...

Kirikou (127) has posed:
    Caught by the eddies of the Giratina's ghost wind, Kirikou feels a chill go through him. Though he's only on the edge of it, he feels it. Fortunately too, or he might have done something he'd regret the rest of his life. While the Meister has no qualms killing someone who deserves it, he has nothing but respect for Toph and would forever regret the rage-induced act if he'd actually tried to kill her.

    That doesn't happen however. As he's buffeted, he transmits a message internally to Fire at the last moment. <Modulate soul energy! Non-lethal attack!> he directs. It weakens the soul link at the last moment. If he'd gone non-lethal from the start he'd have had more power. If he'd stayed the course and attacked lethally it would have been more powerful. Changing his mind at the last moment, introducing disharmony, makes the blow considerably weaker than it could have been.

    The punch still has fire though. As a nonlethal energy surge, the attack hits spiritually as much as physically, leaving Toph the impression she's been burned as much as she's been punched, though there's no actual flame damage.

    Kilik advances once he reaches the ground, drawing back his left hand. He doesn't strike though. He's not here to destroy Toph or the other Unionites, he's here to protect Lute. Not that the Pokemon Master needs protection right this moment... but in a way, he's also protecting Toph. The energy flows though him, and his soul resonates with Thunder. There's no internal conflict now, and the surge of electrical soul energy makes his fist crackle with blue and yellow actinic pulses.

    Drawing his fist back, Kirikou smirks down at Toph. "You and your friends are beat." he says, rather harshly. Still, he needs to say this for Toph's sake as much as anything. If she doesn't back down, he'll have to do this the hard way. The electrical surge of Thunder's power can probably be felt by Toph, and it's enough to make her feel her hair beginning to stand... even if the sensation's only in her mind. "You need to look after your friends. They got no way down without you, and you can't gain anything by trying to tackle Lute now. Go, get out of here!" he says, voice rising to a shout.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Souji is about to take advantage of his momentum to clear into a follow-up strike. The black blood vanishes into the blade, and the hungry spirit of Murasame seems to enjoy the powerful blood.

but hunger is not so easily sated. It desires more. Souji's focus is intense as he brings the blade around to strike again, but the hooks of Fraud erupt around him. He turns, deflecting the first and the second with quick, efficient blows, but then the next slips through his guard, striking him and sinking in cruelly. There is a grunt of pain as others follow. His midnight-blue suit darkens with his own blood as he is ripped out of the air and slammed into the quivering metallic platform with tremendous force. He rebounds upon impact, the hooks ripping from him as he finally allows himself to cry out from the intense pain.

He forces himself to flip to a resting position, kneeling as his eyes burn with cold fury. He does not immediately strike, instead holding out a hand. "Thunder-2." He pronounces as Magic Particles form into a greater pattern in his mind, surging forward in a significantly more powerful blast of electricity in multiple forks that clash towards Beli.

His other hand quickly pulls out a squeezetube from his coat, and he bites the end off, drinking the contents quickly.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
Paladin gets rifle-butted in the face. It stings, but it's not terribly damaging. It's mostly the fact that she can't fly or float that hinders her now as she starts falling through the air and can't do anything about it. Okay, maybe she could, like, keep shooting at Kyra while falling, but following the storm of darkness that Giratina unleashes, Paladin is disracted when she sees a massive column of light come down right on Lute's new pokemon. She doesn't know if he took damage from proximity or not, but an attack that strong is worrying.

Mikos breaks out a little bit as the mature and collected Paladin reacts to the devastating holy attack. "LUTE, NO!" she yells out, right before landing in the middle of molten lava. Pink sparkles are radiating outwards from her entire body, however, and that is turning the boiling rock into hardened volcanic rock as her powerful healing magic...

...HEALS the stone back into a state of being non-molten. The heat is still intense, scalding her skin all over, adding to the freezerburn and bleeding all over her body from Kyra's ice attack earlier. But she is running across lava by healing the terrain into being not-lava with every step she takes, as she speeds towards Lute, hoping to get to him before he can get hurt worse.

He GOT Giratina! The mission is complete! Now they just need to all get out of here alive! But the Union... These damn Unionites...! She isn't sure why she feels so angry, but her desire to protect her friends - the quest she set out with - is becoming entangled in the desire to punish her foes.

Lute (188) has posed:
     The giant ball of Holy comes down up, it strikes at the Giratina. Though its body is somewhat solid, bits of gaseous black matter of some kind burst off of it as it is torn at by the holy attack. It lets out a roar, of pain and rage. Though Ghost type Pokemon are not 'undead', the spell Holy is still a dangerous one.

     But then, Giratina is healed. His power returned to him. And, Lute gives one more order to Giratina.

     "Giratina. Gather energy for Shadow Force."

     And, Giratina... changes. Its body is now /completely/ gaseous. The dark clouds in the sky? They flow down, into Giratina. Even the portal is being absorbed by Giratina, drawn into it to increase its energy.

     Lute smiles, looking around at the various Union members. He motions with his arm across the battlefield.

     "I have to say, this really isn't worth it anymore for you guys, is it? Maybe it's about time the Union just... Leaves. Confederacy goes our way, you go yours. Or I could show /all/ of you the power of Giratina, if you /really/ insist. I mean you're all worn down and tired, right?"

     Yeah, he's grandstanding a bit, but it's true. The Union is weakend. The Confederates are, too. But, it still might be a good point for both sides to make a mutual retreat.

     Lute has already succeeded, after all.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel Says "No I will not."

Deelel keeps moving to stop moving is to die in combat on the grid when your on foot and so move she does this is why she's not dead even when she's cuagh finally with one of the strikes that catches her with good deal of the rock shards and it's not pretty there's no illusion of Deelel being a creatuer of flesh anymore. She's pained but she's still very much defatuiant and the disc goes on her back she pulls a rod off her leg and it expands into a full out staff, the ends hum to life much like the edge of the discs. She then moves in on Mordred and says "Not cubed yet."

And she startrs going in for staff strikes trying to force Mordred back and also aim for several strikes with the powered tip of her staff.

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
    It seems like somebody is talking to her. Toph arms quiver slightly as she pushes herself up, and she winces as a wave of nausea hits her. There's chatter on the radio she can't quite catch at the moment. Her hair stands on end, and she is aware of Kilik's form walking up to her and stands ready to punch. If he really wanted to seriously harm her, he would have done so while she was stunned. Not that she feels on top now, but at least her head is slowly stopping its furious spinning.

    There's a defiant look on the blind girl's face as she raises her head a bit from the ground, and she spits out some blood. Her face is seriously bruised as well, and she's probably going to have a black eye for a while unless a healer tends to it. No, she doesn't like this one bit. They failed to stop Lute...?! If he's already caught Giratina, is there anything they can do to take it away from him? As she is no Pokemon master herself she has no clue, but somehow this doesn't seem promising at all. Some part of her wants to continue fighting, to show Kilik that no, they are not beat. But then again, there's her friends and allies. Lute even has the nerve to threaten them with the legendary Pokemon. Still... would it really help?

    Slowly Toph pushes herself up on her feet, a sour look on her face as she does her best to /glare/ in Kilik's direction, then she turns around and /marches/ to the edge of the mountain. As she walks she refuses to wipe away the blood running from her mouth or down the side of her face, her expression hard. Upon reaching the edge of the mountain top she kicks the ground once, /hard/, and an earthen plate forms underneath her, and she goes to pick up the other Unionites who might need a lift down from the mountain.

    This day has been /awful/.

Mordred (12) has posed:
    If Mordred weren't kind of giving in to the Shajem of Rage right now, she might congratulate Lute. Give him a pat on the back. Say something nice, possibly thoughtful, but not especially smart, since she's not that sort of person. If she were in control she would surely contribute something to Confederate morale.

    Instead it mostly comes out as: "FUCK YOU AND YOUR STAFF!"
    This is admist the beating she's receiving from Deelel, and in light of not understanding this 'cubed' thing at all. She stands her ground, displaying fairly significant durability and staying power, although the dents in her armor, red marks on her skin, and the blood from the deep cut aren't telling the same story as her attempt to be stoic and stay in place.

    "AND FUCK YOU AND YOUR GHOST DRAGON TOO!" she barks towards Lute, apparently without any prompt. She... might need to be ordered to back off and calm down. If you could get ahold of Elliana that would certainly be ideal. But for the time being?

    The wounded and battered Servant swings her blade once towards Deelel, a shockwave of fire and red lightning launching from it with a thunderous roar. It might be enough to send Deelel sailing back to her allies... if she can hit. Mordred's being kind of wild and techniqueless right now.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Oh fuck no, I am not soloing a giant ghost dragon." Kyra mutters, pausing for a moment to glare in Paladin's direction. If she hadn't got in her way, maybe she could have gotten in fast enough to hit Lute with tranqulizers.

    At this point she has no desire to deal with the psychopath and his pets. Fortunately, Float is still active and it lets her catch up with Toph pretty quickly. As she passes Kilik, though, she looks at him with frustration before moving on. "Hey, Toph." She pushes a flask into her hand. "Here, drink this, it's a hi-potion." No magic or healing at the moment-she seems to be saving it just in case.

Beli Klum (238) has posed:
    Earlier, Beli was fortunate enough to have some advance warning before lightning struck at her. Now, however, it's too close, and forking and spreading besides, covering a broad area that an already large frame encompasses. She is struck, and electricity courses through her.

    The rephaite cries out in pain, crashing down to her hands and knees as she fights against the ringing in her ears and the jolting of her muscles. Her breathing comes heavily, and as she struggles to push herself up to at least a /kneel/, she has a moment to look around at the battle surrounding her. It's a grim situation...and as the ranker of the Union here, it falls on her to make the call.

    It's not one she likes.

    "...fine," she calls, irritated and tense as she tries to catch her breath. "Let us retreat. I do not care to expend any more of our energy on this. You may have succeeded, Lute, but you are /not/ going to enjoy victory forever."

    Her frown deepens, but she turns to Souji next with a brief nod. "...I am sure we will be meeting again, as well," she remarks, before unevenly rising to her feet and turning off to retreat. She'll manage to fly soon, once she has a bit of time to wear off of Souji's lightning assaults, but for now she's going to take the helpful offer of Toph's plate. That should get them out of the area nicely.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
Paladin is still pumped up on rage from Mordred when she arrives besides Lute, looking up at Giratina briefly before determining it is safe to be around - except for the GIGANTO ATTACK being prepared, but that probably doesn't hurt allies, right? Right. The pink-haired woman just stands there next to Lute for several moments, as enemies begin to withdraw, her own gaze going back up to Kyra. She scowls, and actually points the Sacred Scepter up at the White Mage. That anger is flowing through her. The desire to shoot the enemy right out of the air, even as she attends to one of her own allies, is almost overpowering.

But when she tries to act upon it, eyes widening as a surge of magic flows through her... She is violating the terms of the quest she was using the enter into her transformation. She came here to protect her friends, not to seek vengeance or to fight when the battle is over.

Pink magic flies outwards from Princess Paladin! There's a bright flash of light!

...And then Miko Fujimoto, a girl considered a harmless unaffiliated party by the Union until now, and thought to be completely unconnected with Princess Paladin (even by most of the Confederacy), is now standing there next to Lute, looking confused and pointing a wooden wand with paper streamers at Kyra, with no sign of any magical anything coming out of it.

There's an awkward silence, and then Miko says, "...Um. C-congratulations, Lute?"

She is also kind of bleeding heavily from the wounds that transfer over from magical girl form to civilian form. Oops.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Souji allows Beli to flee, standing up and not interfering with her retreat. He is smoking and wounded, a far cry from the impeccable figure he cut before the battle begun. But he is still strong enough.

"A worthy opponent indeed." He says, and looks down at his blade. He frowns, and brings the blade up against his hand, drawing it across his palm. Red blood seeps from his hand, quickly and greedily absorbed into the blade as he flips it around and sheathes it. The ribbon wraps itself around the hilt once more, turning away to watch Lute.

He has achieved his heart's desire. Souji nods, faintly.

Lute (188) has posed:
     With the Union on the retreat, Lute just smiles. He doesn't want to rub in /that/ much that he won, but, still. It's hard for him not to be happy about it.

     But, then, as he spots Princess Paladin transform back into Miko, he's... Honestly surprised. He had absolutely no idea they were one in the same! It explains a lot of why Princess Paladin even came, aside just 'helping out the Confederacy'. She came to help out a friend.

     But, this narrows things down. Lute /was/ going to pick one of the girls here to steal a 'victory kiss' from. His first inclination was, in fact, Mordred. But with Miko here, well.

     He walks over to her. And, despite the fact she is /bleeding heavily/, he moves in to kiss her. In one of those deep kisses where the girl ends up leaning back from how intense it was.

     Dear god it is a good thing he didn't try this on Mordred.

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
    The flask from Kyra is taken, and Toph opens it without a word, though she does offer a weak punch to Kyra's shoulder as she tips her head back and downs the entire bottle in one go. When she finishes drinking the potion she lets out a sigh, then hands the bottle back. "... thanks." It's not often Toph is so quiet, and she looks annoyed still. But even the stubborn earthbender knows when it's pointless to fight. They failed at their goal, and they are injured.

    And then Lute has to go all oogie on one of the other Feds. Toph can't help but roll her eyes, oh man the left side of her face hurts so bad. "Get a ROOM!" she calls out, then gets the earthen plate moving down the mountain side along with her allies.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel has well a very angrry Heroic spirit as Mordred yells all sorts of obsinites aty her she's also caught up in some very brutal attack the magic does send her sailing bacl she goes flying and it does't look like she's going to come back. She might have somethin to say to Mordred but she'll save it late, she's got a worse fate, she's being left with Lute while he's like this, and he's likely to do something very dumb. Deelel hits the ground fairly hared and takes a moment to get up look back once at Mordred before she follows after Toph as best she's able.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Kyra gets the DISTINCT FEELING she's about to get shot in the back, just after she hands Toph the potion. She whirls, her hand reaching for one of the guns hidden beneath her hoodie (it, in fact, is not a needlegun but a normal looking handgun). She's all ready to retaliate but-

    The attack kind of...fizzles and the Paladin turns into an unassuming-looking girl. "-YOU!" Kyra points dramatically at Miko, "-I have NO IDEA who you are!! But you'll /rue/ the day you got in my way. I guesssseeeeeeeeeeew." She turns away.

    Kyra will just nope the hell out of watching psychopath makeouts, thanks.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
Miko was expecting surprise. She was dreading anger for her deception. What she was not expecting was Lute to approach her the way he was while she was nervously trying to explain herself, all, "L-Lute-senpai," she starts, hoping her familiar way of addressing him will ease whatever temper issues he may have at the moment. Then she is unexpectedly dip-kissed. Her brain shorcircuits in a way that has her arms flailing around wildly without actually doing anything. This is, infact, her first kiss. As a defense mechanism with her being unable to comprehend what's going on, she just kind of goes limp and shuts down completely.

This is either a testament to Lute's skill at kissing, Miko's inexperience at receiving such, or the fact that she is injured in a way that a normal girl's body with only normal pain tolerance is probably not going to cope well with. She hears Kyra's words right before she gets a mental blue screen of death, at least.

Great. So she has revenge to look forward to when she wakes up!

Mordred (12) has posed:
    Deelel runs.

    This angers Mordred more than anything else that happened today. FORTUNATELY, Lute goes and kisses someone. The sight is sufficiently shocking to knock the Servant out of her berserker rage. A sufficient spiritual sense can tell the Shajem of Rage briefly switches its tune from untold, constant anger, to sheer disgust.

    Mordred glares down at her numerous injuries, feeling their impacts now that she isn't so focused on smashing a face in. She grumbles something about Lute, and then dematerializes in a flurry of red and blue motes and wisps of mana, which dissipate in the wind. Her presence loosely shifts back towards her allies, but she doesn't speak up further.

Lute (188) has posed:
     And, Miko faints.

     Lute smiles. "...Well. I have that effect on women sometimes. ...Also it might be the bloodloss. Uh. Let's get her to medical."

     And then Mordred vanishes in a huff. Ltue calls off after her, though.

     "WAIT! I can give you a kiss, too! I only picked to kiss her instead of you because she looked like she would pass out, first!"

     Sigh.

     A look at everyone else.

     "...I guess we go home now, then."