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Lyner Barsett The day has finally come.

     After weeks of scoping out the depths of the Cello Forest from afar, and preparing for the expedition to head in and ascertain just what was brewing here on the remaining Wing of Horus. A makeshift camp has been set up in the lighter, more traveled parts of the forest. Said camp consisted of a mixture of Tenba personnel, Church Knights, as well as Knights of Elemia.

     Members from all three groups could be seen milling about camp, preparing their gear, and generally chatting one another up. In one particular tent serving as the command center for the leaders of this joint operation, three individuals could be seen standing around a square table with a map rolled out over it. One of them was Lyner Barsett, representing the Knights of Elemia. Another was Bishop Radolf Schneizen, donning his old, trusty armor and cape. The last was a man in his mid twenties, sporting short black hair, and black armor and greaves, pinning him as Tenba's command representative. He had a calm, if somewhat sullen, look on his face.

     The three spoke over the details of the map, exchanging comments and thoughts in a circle while other officers stood by, listening and offering other opinions. It was a regular strategy meeting.

     One that would not last for much longer. For not a moment too soon, the ground began to rumble. Subtly at first, but then it gradually grew worse and worse. That being the signal they were hoping wouldn't come, the entire camp mobilized, forming up into several units. With weapons and equipment ready, three different flavors of soldier, along with their commanding officers all stood by, ready to head in and find out just what in the world was happening here.

     Lyner in particular stood at the forefront with Radolf and the Tenba commander, adjusting a radio piece by his ear. "This is Lyner Barsett of the Knights of Elemia. What we were hoping wouldn't come to pass, has passed. The Wing of Horus is quaking. We're requesting immediate Multiversal support! There's a warpgate that leads into the camp directly at coordinates _______. Those who can make it, thank you immensely. Lyner signing off!"

     He took his hand off the radio piece then, and looked on ahead into the depths of the forest, keeping his feet steady despite the quake happing right at this very moment. "......" They'd spare a moment for Multiversals to arrive, and then they were headed straight in.

     And off into the distance, a voice echoes through the dense foilage of the forest, piercing through the sounds of the groaning land...

                   "In the calmness...only one drop has fallen"              
Yuna Kagurazaka While Yuna hasn't been engaged in most of this particular investigation, Lyner's call for help gets her attention in a hurry, and she heads off to assist as quickly as she can - with the whole Matrix of Light accompanying her: Elner as usual for scans and potential teleportation (and/or forcefields, in a pinch), and Jiina, Marina, and Erina in case Yuna needs one of them to merge with the basic Light Suit.

"Hey Lyner, hello all," Yuna greets the group as she arrives, not at a dead run but at a decent and sustainable jog. "Anything I need to know about the state of things here, besides 'Horusquake happening or happened'?"
Misha     So here's the thing. Misha Arsellec Lune is... Already here.
    The Star Singer came along with the Knights of Elemia, for a very good reason.
    Lyner Barsett is her partner.
    Where a knight goes, so does Reyvateil, after all. Though for the most part, Misha doesn't interrupt the little pow wow of all three factions, she keeps an ear on the conversation between Lyner, Radolf, and the Tenba representative, listening with a casual intentness that says she's being more alert than she wants to let on, about this joint venture.
    It is pretty nice to see Radolf again, too.
    It's the shaking ground that makes the Star Singer frown mildly. And then it gets worse, and worse. At least now, Misha can play off her clumsy wobbling as the quake worsens. "Wah!"
    There's some swaying, some near falling over in a few cases. But somehow, she manages to not fall or land flat on her face, but before long she's holding on kind of tightly to Lyner's arm for balance.
    "... Huh...?"
    But she isn't deaf, even with the quake being a distraction. "... Do you hear that? ... Someone's singing."
Mir     It sure doesn't look like a military detachment is arriving. Ayatane has arrived, all right, but he's bare-chested and wearing just the sword belt and... a pair of striped swimming trunks, with a bag slung over one shoulder full of beachwear. He looks a little exasperated, but who wouldn't, given that he's being forced to carry the beachwear around?

    Mir is also here! But the pale Reyvateil is actually speaking. "It's not that far out of the way, and really, we won't be staying long." Mir is carelessly saying such. She only quiets down to frown at the singing, wandering over toward Lyner. "It isn't me, this time, I swear."

    Also she is wearing a bikini and holding up an inner tube.
Sanary Rondel Sanary's looking a little... Awkward as she arrives today. Not because her last encounters with several of the people here had been less-than-friendly, but because she's come with... Medicine?

     Yes, medicine. Even as a member of the Confederacy, a healer's duty still can't be ignored! "Uh. Hey, Lyner. Yuna. Misha. Mir. Other... People. I'd ask if I should keep this discreet, but you did kinda... Announce it." She clears her throat and holds up an innocent-looking paper bag. The healer's dressed for work rather than combat today in her old white coat, and she's only got a buckler on with her gunaxe today. Did she mishear something?

     "Er... So. Antibiotics, ointment, some numbing cream... Did I forget anything?" Well, that and the odd signing voice, but that's got nothing to do with her, right?
Kazusa Ujikane     There is a very small corner of Kazusa's mind which is disappointed that they will not be diving into Misha's mind again. She has assured herself that some day, she will cuddle the tiny adora-biter.

    But most of her is somewhere between axious and excited, because there's HEROISM! to be done today. So the card-user is bustling her way in at what's nearly a run, very nearly running into Mir from behind before stopping herself. "Whoa-whoa-whoa-! Ah, wow, sorry. I was just... I heard the alert, so I'm here to help." She chuckles a bashful little chuckle, then shifts her way over to Misha. Sidle sidle. Siiiidle. "...so what exactly's going on here?"
Deelel Deelel had been happy to come help with this since her last encounter with this world had legt a mark on her and she was happy to help out with new issue. Lner would find the body suiurte multimedia program arriving shortly after everyone else. She looked to Yuna , Misha, Mir Sanary and Kazusa for a moment though she took a long hard look at Sanary when she dio arrive.

"Greetings lifeforms."

She seemed chipper enough today.
William Pauwel When there are people in need, when there is a call for justice, when the world needs a hero, ONE SHALL APPEAR!

    Unfortunately, Saitama is out grocery shopping because there's a sale on instant ramen and Superman is busy arm-wrestling a hekatonkhire, so we'll just have to settle with this guy. William Pauwel Jr. answers the call for adventure and boldly leaps out of the warp-gate on... a motorcycle?

Well, he knows how to make an entrance.

    The Mistral whirrs and growls in the language of high-octane vehicular machinery as it touches down, stirring dust and dirt into thick clouds before rolling to a stop. "Howdy y'all!" Will calls, pulling his goggles back up around his hat. "Came as soon as I heard. Y'all said you needed an extra gun?"
X X's means of arrival is pretty simple: Ride Chaser! They're pretty all-terrain, though for a forest he's slowed down tremendously on approach. Can't risk slamming into a tree or anything!

    The template of Reploids has a grim and determined look on his face the whole ride there, and it remains when he parks near the edge of camp, hops off, and tromps over to the group. Several of the people here he recognizes! Yuna and Will particularly. The rest... not so much.

    "Came over as soon as I heard the call. Can I get a briefing? ... And is that singing I'm picking up?" X tilts his head and changes position, trying to improve reception probably.
Lyner Barsett        "surging in, spreading in ripples to the bottom of the well"      

     If it weren't for the fact that the ground was SHAKING RIGHT NOW, Lyner would have facepalmed at the myriad colorful greets he got from all these familiar faces. Well, okay, not all of them were that ridiculous. Yuna for one is given a nod. "Hey Yuna. Uh, as you can tell, we've got some ground turbulence here." He gestured aside to the general area of the forest. "And as Misha has graciously pointed out for us, someone is singing in there. Now call me stupid, but I'm petty sure the two details are conected."

     And there's Mir and Ayatane. ...Never did he ever stop feeling sorry for the guy. Especially now, when in the MIDDLE OF A HAPPENING, Mir shows up in a bikini. "Mir, I.... of course it's not you, you're from another Ar Ciel entirely and-" Wait, why was he even having this conversation? They needed to move! "Okay, well if you're fine moving wearing that, then I won't stop you." Ayatane is spared a sheepish smile. "And good to see you again, Ayatane."

     And then Sanary. "Sanary, hey. Thanks for coming! We'll need a healer for sure. Well more anyway." Misha and Mir can heal, but more conventional healing didn't hurt. "And no it's not discreet!" Because the GROUND IS SHAKING. Deelel is given a wave before he turned to face the forest.

     Will's entrance earns him a blink or two from multiple soldiers, as well as Lyner. "Hey, we did. Thanks for showing up. You'll be us, then. We're going to head into this forest here, so keep your eyes open, okay?" To X, who similarly arrived, Lyner nodded. "We'll brief you on the way, we're moving out!"

     Radolf turned to Lyner and the others, smiling. "Godspeed, Lyner, and the rest of you. We'll see you when this is all over." And then he turned to his assigned units. "Alright, men, move out! And make sure you take care of your Reyvateil partners! Move move!" The knights of the church broke off and filtered into the forest, leaving Lyner behind.

     The Tenba representative turned to the group and looked over all present. "We'll be heading in as well." Everyone was given a general nod from the man. "I'm Luke Faelan, current commander of Tenba's troops for this operation. We won't be seeing each other." He turned away, regarding his men. "Don't die." And then he broke off and dashed into the forest as well, the black uniformed Tenba troops following.

        "Cold blasting wind that rocks the whooshing forest of my heart!"    

     The singing was clear to be heard now, and Lyner sighed, staring into the forest. "Okay, let's go, everyone! Keep your eyes out and stay on your guard!" And with that, the blonde drew his sword and broke into a run, heading right into the forest depths.

     It was at this point, that something odd began the happen. The forest began to...change. The thick tree trunks shifted, their roots pulling up from the ground, growing longer and longer and twisting together, writhing about violently. It was happening all around, and into the distance as well. The sounds of shouting and fighting were already beginning to pick up from the directions that Luke and Radolf's group ran off into.

     And then a a single root swept across the ground in their own path, aiming to crash into everyone and literally swat them away. The root was as thick as a tree trunk, writhing erratically as if it truly were alive in a way plantlife shouldn't be.

     Someone was keeping them out. Such was plain to see now.
Sanary Rondel "That's.. Hm. Well, better than being sneaky about it." Sanary's got the wrong idea, doesn't she? Well, at least it doesn't look like she's got any ulterior motives today. Deelel's look does draw a raised eyebrow from her, but... Well, it's not like Sanary hasn't given people here some reasons not to trust her, either.

     "Guess I'll just hold onto this stuff until someone needs it, then... Er. What's with that ground sha-" And before she can get the rest of that question out, the root comes out of nowhere! The healer deftly jumps to try and avoid it, misses the jump completely, and gets knocked flat on her back several yards from where she was standing just a moment ago! Smooth.
Yuna Kagurazaka There's a crackling flash from the Light Suit's protective aura, as the 'root' slams Yuna back and off her feet, possibly bowling one or two people over before she either tumbles to a halt or gets caught by someone who doesn't get knocked over. "Owww," she groans. "... okay, THAT wasn't normal, right ... ?" She takes her time about getting up; her battlesuit may have protected her (as it's designed to) but that STILL hurt an awful lot, and even with the boosts it provides to her strength and endurance, it doesn't change her actual body mass.

"Elner, keep your sensors live," Yuna instructs as she recovers from getting rooted. "Jiina, if that's a sample of what we've got to look forward to, Powered Form -"

"Might make you too big to travel efficiently along whatever paths are still usable," the green-and-white android interrupts gently. "And trying to widen the paths with firepower could make things worse."

Yuna sighs, grimacing. "All right. Stay as close as you can. Elner, establish data-sharing link, priorities are mapping data and other non-vegetative movement. Treat the forest as 'walls' and other terrain for mapping purposes ..." She pauses, looking around to see if everyone else is more or less okay. "I don't suppose there were trees or other woody plants that WEREN'T affected by that overgrowth spell?"
Kazusa Ujikane     Well, it looks like they're getting started immediately! Kazusa can do that. March, march, marchy-march. That singing doesn't exactly bode well, but they'll manage, right? Especially with such a motley, varied group of ADVENTURING TYPES, like adventure bike guy over there, and that battle robo-

    "-ohmygoshit'sabattlerobot." Zoom.

    In a heartbeat, the girl is by X's side. "Oh my gosh that armor looks so /cool/, I mean you're all blue, and it's sleek, and you've got those really bulky arms... are they weapons? I bet they're weapons. You're some kind of super... fighty-robot, aren't you?" She very nearly walks into the root. It's the sound of it that startles her into paying attention, and she reflexively dives backwards. "Wah-!"
Misha     Wobbling! Wobbling, wobbling, still wobbling, Misha's still holding onto Lyner pretty tightly. High heels are not as fashionably precarious as platforms, but still probably not the best thing to be wearing during an earthquake. "Ah geeze." The Reyvateil huffs. She is a little distracted from greetings for a beat as she tries to remain upright, but eventually gets some semblance of balance enough to stand on her own during the tremors. Huff.
    No this most certainly is not a Dive, and thus there is no sign of Hama to bite Kazusa.
    "Oh huh, so we need a healer do we?" She sniffs petulantly, "I mean I'm only right here." That's... Kind of a greeting. It regards Sanary, anyway, even if the Star Singer seems to have swallowed a little too much sodium after the events up in Lucrelia. But on to other matters. Kazusa asked a pretty important question.
    "As far as I know these weird quakes have been hitting the Wing of Horus. The Knights, Church, and Tenba pinpointed them somewhere in here, but anyone that's gone looking, before... Kind of hasn't come back."
    And then there's the root. Misha is in high heels and has the combat reflexes of a concussed gnat, does anyone really expect her to be able to dodge this?
Deelel Deelel didn't take long to summon her keyblade for a moment, she gave Layner a grin but she thought for a moment she was about to say omething else but she alts before she opens her mouth fully. She moves to fall in with the rest of group she's not given Sanary any other looks for now She seems to be keeping closer to Yuna more than anyone else tonight it seems to be. However X gets her attention and she pauses looking him over. She looks to X and is baout to greet him whem oh dear USer there is an evil plant.

Deelel just leaps into the air aims her keyblade down and droops back down towards the root and attemps to use her strange weapon to slice into it.
William Pauwel     Hey, there are a few familiar faces here! Will gives X a grin and a wave as the Super Fighting Robot exits the portal. It's that guy who helped him charge head-first into an entire crag's worth of killer robots and come out of it alive! X is a good guy, Will concludes. The blue armor probably should have been a tip off.

He's... Not /as/ enthusiastic as Kazusa about his presence, but that's kind of hard to do.

    "Right," Will nods to Lyner as he fishes what looks like an oversized extension cord from his bike's flank up and into the butt of his oversized handgun. Its barrel sort of slides out then up and begins coruscating with arcs of confined plasma. "Y'all need a gun, and a gun's what I've got, so I guess that means yer in good hands- probably! So..." He frowns, looking a bit lost in thought, "Any ideas who's serenadin' us? She sounds kind of..."

"...Sad," he murmurs, "And angry."

    There's a beat as he glances over at the two Reyvateils. One is... In a bikini that shows enough skin to make Will immediately look literally anywhere else. The other is in /heels/ of all things. "M-miss," he says to... Misha, probably. "Y'all should... probably take those off, 'fore you trip on something?"

SPEAKING OF.

GIANT ROOT.

    "What in tar--" Will starts as THAT THING sweeps down at the group. "--NATION!?" He yelps and kicks at a lever near the back of his bike. A kickstand snaps down, holding him in place as he revs the Mistral's motor. Energy blazes up into his handcannon; Will roars, "Clear the range!" In the seconds between the root sweeping up and the seemingly inevitable impact, Will levels his weapon with the trunk-sized thing and pulls the trigger.

There's a sound like a thundercrack and a flash of blue and white and gold as the Solano's barrel disgorges a veritable geyser of plasma downrange.

    'Cause there's no way in Hell Will's gonna be able to jump that thing on a danged motorcycle, and if he gets hit, it means breaking another set of ribs! He only has so many of those! So his answer is apparently 'SUPERIOR FIREPOWER.' But will man's ingenuity and love of things that go boom overcome nature's unbound wrath!?
X "Definitely singing." And there's something UNSETTLING about it. X is jsut pondering the matter, after nodding to Lyner and allies over the briefing idea... when in comes Kazusa!

    X blinks a few times, then cracks a warm and friendly smile! "Equipped for it, but if I knew my purpose I wouldn't be wandering so much. Hello, miss!--" Oh, woops. Now isn't a good time to get distracted by social things. X's attitude hardens. "Hey, what's with these plants?!" Were Kazusa any closer he'd probably be forced to shove her way or something, but since she gets out of the way he backs up himself. His right hand's engulfed briefly in whirling light, emerging as the X-Buster's barrel... and it's already charging.

    "Right with you!" He shouts, answering Will's dedication to keeping the camp safe with some of his own. X doesn't have much time to charge, so he only gets off one larger plasma bolt before then firing a stream of smaller ones at the plant.

    Maybe Will can make the jump then...!
Lyner Barsett                  "If we could have co-existed like that"                  

     "Damn it...!" Lyner immediately out himself between Misha and the descending root, clashing his sword against the thing and struggling to hold it in place. Unfortunately, it swatted both Yuna and Sanary before they could mount a defense, but it was better late than never! Keeping up with the defense, the knight proceeded to keep the plant busy long enough for Will, Deelel, and X to combine their firepower, blasting the assaulting tree root enough to render it a non-obstacle at this point. Deelel finished the job with her slashes.

     "Phew! Okay, I think we're good!" He looked back momentarily. Is everyone okay? Misha? Yuna? Sanary? ...Kazusa?" He said the latter a bit more exasperatedly than the others. PAY ATTENTION PLS! YOU GETTING THWACKED IS BAD.

     Regardless, once everything was cleared up, Lyner turned and proceeded forward. "Let's keep going! We've got to continue making forward progress!" And so they continued on ahead. And all the while, from all around, they would see more and more new tree roots, vines, and plantlife growing all around. Taking out one was clearly not going to be the answer to this problem.

     "everybody would listen to the quiet voice in this forest and shed tears over the noise"

     At this point, with the ground continually rumbling, something else began to happen, from below everyone's feet was a rush of energy. Currents of golden yellow racing across the ground. It seemed to getting gathered from all over, and that golden glow channeled deeper into the forest, looking to center at a certain point deeper within.

     Lyner growned. "There's definitely a Reyvateil in here. And her song...you're right." He nodded to Will. "It's sad...and angry. And this energy... Where it is coming fro-GWAH!" And as if to answer Yuna's question; where there was one single root to contend with last time, three of them now burst up from the ground, sending rock and dirt every which way as they aimed to crush the invading group. One of them repeated the same motion as the last root before it. A second rose up, and then came barreliing down to crash into everyone from above. And the third came crashing along the ground to swat at them from the side opposite the first root. It was a death trap from all sides.

                           "3...25...15...21...23...1"                        

     And yet still, that song continued to echo through the chaos of the forest, bestowing not happiness upon those who listened, but death instead.
Kazusa Ujikane     Kazusa rolls up out of her dive for cover just in time to see X switching over to X Buster mode and opening fire alongside Will and Deelel.

    +_+

    Then Lyner's voice pulls her back to reality. "A... heh... yeah, I'm fine." Focus, Kazusa, focus, this is a bad place to be spacing out. It nearly just got you wrecked while you were so focused on the humanoid battlebot! Although...

    Carefully, she reaches down into her purse, pulling out a card - about twice the length and width of a normal playing card, with an image of a bow and arrow amid pitch blackness on one side, and an ornate design on the back. This, she holds up for a few seconds, with the back toward X... and then her eyes light up with glee. "Ooh, I knew it! You're a Marksman! That means-" There are now more roots! And this time she doesn't have an easy way to evade. "U-um-!" She's instinctively backing up towards the only real 'gap' in the formation, which should help, but...
Sanary Rondel Sanary lets out a pained groan as she picks herself back up, eyeing that root with annoyed grunt while focusing a bit of healing magic into her midsection. "Yeah, I'm fine. Everyone else okay?" She looks around slowly while keeping that energy flowing around her, ready to throw some healing happy juice at anyone at a moment's notice!

     Plus, it's an opportunity to get a better grasp on just who's showed upp for this impromptu call for help that's... Not nearly as bawdy as she was expecting. There's a few familiar faces, to be sure, and a lot of them had even been around during that little incident in Lucrelia. Now's not the time to dwell on the past, though, especially with even more of those giant roots coming at the group like some sort of weaponized foliage!

     ... Weaponized roots. Not a bad idea. Now that Sanary knows they're coming, however, she's ready with her buckler to intercept the one in the back! "Someone take this one!" She grunts as that root slams right into her, channelling magic into adding even more magical mass to the buckler to augment her defenses! And... Only partially fracturing her arm.
Misha     "Oh." Funny how it takes Misha so long to react to murderous vines. It takes Lyner interposing himself between her and getting batted aside like a bug, before she's a little more on her toes, making sure to stay behind her designated vanguard. Huff. "I'm fine, I'm fine, thanks lyner." She replies after a beat. "I've run in worse." She says to William, while forging on.
    "... I don't think I've ever seen plants... Grow so fast. Even on the tower." She murmurs as the song continues and the vines grow so rapidly, and the gold light glows from deeper onward and that haunting song continues on.
    Then not one plant but three.
    Now Misha is a little more prepared. Though she remains behind Lyner. Now she chants her own song. Lyrical and flowing, melodic Hymmnos streams from her lips. ... The temperature drops. The temperature drops RAPIDLY, as Misha focuses on her song, soft strings and a smooth, chilling melody washing all around her, frost forming on the ground at her feet.
    It's fairly simple, really. She's trying to arrest the growth and violent vine lunges or at least slow it all down to make defending easier; by trying to freeze them and counter that eerie song.
X The singing is chilling X to the core. So angry, so sad, so... "...Bitter? Who's singing? What's a Reyvateil?!" Questions that will be hard to get answers to when you're being CRUSHED FROM ALL SIDES by enraged plant matter!

    "Plants can't move like this! What's happening?! Magic?!"

    He really, REALLY would appreciate situations that made more sense. If there's going to be a crisis at all, how about something straightforward like dragging people from a burning building? Nooooo. Instead it's DEATH FOREST.

    "If I wasn't seeing this I wouldn't believe it!" Exclaims the robot, who has quickly come up with a solution. Power flares from his buster, a wave of light traversingg the rest of his body, replacing shades of blue with reds and black. "Phaser Beam... this better be enough!!"

    X goes on a mad scramble Kazusa's way, seeing her as seemingly the most in need of help here. She's not even ARMED. "What are you doing?! Run if you can't fight. It's too dangerous for civilians here!" Because, well, she does look pretty civilian.

    He opens fire in a hurry. Instead of the bolts from before, a STREAM of crimson light flies from it. X rakes this widely over one of the roots. Where the light touches there's bound to be LOTS of organic matter being just plain vaporized! His goal? Carve enough of at least ONE root away that the three-pronged crush attack will be drastically less effective.

    And oh right, he's charging for kazusa the whole while. If it looks like he'll have to, he'll throw himself in the root's way and try to provide cover for her. Or shove her to safer purchase!
Yuna Kagurazaka "JUST COMBINE!!" Yuna abruptly shrieks as she sees/hears the roots coming in; there's barely enough time for Jiina to go translucent and phase across Yuna's body before impact.

Fortunately for Yuna, it's not a matter of trusting the transformation process itself to protect her and Jiina; Elner's presence means that the robo-faerie can project a forcefield dome around Yuna and Jiina, while Erina and Marina simply flee out of the roots' reach. Those roots are hitting too hard for even Elner's barriers to stave them off for long, though; the tiny construct's shape is actually sparking with the overload by the time the forcefield collapses. Fortunately, Yuna's also finished her transformation into Powered Form by that moment.

"Shugoseiheki," Yuna calls out, almost after the fact; the reinforced kite shield materializes on Powered Form's left exo-arm, where she usually wears it in this armor. NOW she should be able to take some root-swings. "I think 'magic' is as good a term as any, X! We're going to have to try and cut our way through the forest the hard way at this rate - or just retreat until things settle down, and try again, *if* we can spare the time ... !"

If any of the roots are still swinging, Yuna braces herself and tries to blast the mobile root with the exo-frame's beam cannons. Otherwise, she's hoping to help the party regroup.
Deelel It's too bad whom ever is behind this mess? Woodn't Leaf the party alone on it but they had to engage in this. Whelp there's nothing to do but to cut into the root of the matter before her. Deelel is able to finish off wht X had started she seems to be looking very wary though and she holds her Keyblade out muttering some strange phrases under her breath and she'll cast protect on the party if she's allowed to. It's a good thing too that she's trying to boost everyone's defence because they have a heckk of a lot more coming at them. More nad more roots were coming and she was forced tpo gall back from attacking for the moment. She had to move quiclly but she's showing some very clear inhuman agility a she attempts to noit end up getting smacked but she's not in a good spot to attack.
William Pauwel     Superior firepower triumphs again over the wild powers of the wilderness. Will breathes a relieved sigh as he lowers his trusty handcannon to his side. "Killer plants. This is conjurin' some pretty bad memories." As long as they don't run into some kind of awful, ultra-psionic fungal colony, they'll be fine. But... Given some of the stuff that they've seen, Will isn't willing to discount the possibility just yet.

    More singing. More mournful, regretful lyrics. Will frowns as they continue onward, deeper into a forest that seems to only grow thicker and denser with each passing moment. The rumbling earth does little good for Will's balance atop the Mistral; but the venerable vehicle seems to have enough spring left in its shocks to absorb much of the tremors. "Reyvateil?" Will repeats, tumbling the unfamiliar word over his tongue. "Ain't never heard of that before. But there ain't no mistakin' what this song's about."

A sense of betrayal, guilt and sorrow. But... who's it coming from? What're they so upset for?

Another thing there's no mistaking.

    "Got no idea," Will says to Lyner as his eyes trace the strange streaks of golden energy across the ground. "Looks like they're headed someplace though. I reckon that's where we want to get ourselves going to, too." It seems common sense enough; where there are mysterious energy trails, there is almost certainly something at the end of it that needs to be dealt with. Basic Dungeoneering 101!

That particular (nonexistent) class does not address what to do about not one, but THREE awful doom-roots.

    One straight ahead, one to the left, one behind. Will whispers an innocent curse under his breath as the forest continues trying to crush their bones into fertilizer. Alone, he might've been pancaked right properly-- but today, he actually has a party with him! Misha's frigid song and Sanary's shield, Yuna's blasts and X's beam might just occupy the vines long enough for him to get out of this in once piece! And he might have, if he was the only neck on the line, but...

Kazusa is just /standing/ there!

    "Hey, card girl!" Will yells, revving the Mistral's engine from a dull rumble to a deafening roar. Its wheels screech as it peels out and away, tearing a jagged trail towards Kazusa's little hiding space. He leans over and jams on the brakes, sending the Mistral into a screeching, drifting turn. Will dips, extending an arm to tug Kazusa up onto the back end of his seat. He's... stronger than his frame suggests; all this adventuring has been good for him.

    "Y'all hang on tight," he barks, throwing his body weight into the curve to straighten his ride. The Mistral's engine growls- then screams- as he guns the motor. He takes off at full speed, aiming for the gap between the overhead root and the arrested arc of the one swinging in from behind. The former smashes into the ground just as he sweeps out of its shadow, a cloud of gust and roiling shockwave smashing into him from behind. Will grunts as the Mistral jukes and struggles beneath him- it strikes a smaller root and tumbles into a wild slide that sees its driver eat a face-full of (mercifully inanimate) shrubbery before he's able to right himself and swing back around behind the overhead-root.

He levels the Solano again, spitting out a few leaves as he takes aim for the root's base. Sound and fury explode from the barrel of his favorite gun as he launches another gout of plasma into the root's base. It probably won't take it out, but it might be enough to get its attention-- or to weaken it for someone else to finish off!
Lyner Barsett         "In this forest the clamor never ends...and with silence"        

     Despite their differences, well some of them, the group manages to defend against the deathtrap fairly well. Misha sings her chilling song, lowering the temperature in the area. A sheet of frost began to grow over the plantlife in the air, and noticably, they began to slow down. Not to a stop, no. But enough to make a difference in terms of striking force.

     With their movements hampered, Lyner, Sanary, and Yuna are all able to shield against the deathtrap with minimal damage. ...Well, Sanary's partially fractured arm is kind of minimal, considering how badly she usually gets hurt!

     To X, Lyner speaks up over the sound of plants raging. "A Reyvateil is someone who can use Song Magic by singing!" Basic, basic explanation. But no time for anything else. He could fill in the gaps! For now, the knight was too busy holding back the top root to say more! "Ergh! I can't hold this thing back too long!" Deelel's protect spell alleviated some of the burden, but still it was not the best place to be right now.

                      "please bring back the peaceful time"                  

     Thankfully, Yuna blasts that upper root with a beam cannon, shearing it down to size. Will's blast came next, shearing through another, and then X got the one in the back, clearing everything up. Lyner looked on ahead, seeing the golden energy ripping across the ground deeper into the forest. That's definitely where they need to be.

     Will gets a nod at his comment over the radio. and immediately, he scoops Misha up into his arms. "Sorry Misha, hit me later!" He steeled himself and glared right ahead into the forest. "Alright, everyone, MOVE!" And then he broke out into a mad dash, peeling across the forest floor and chasing after the trail of golden energy.

                             "to my whooshing heart"                          

     Assuming everyone is accounted for and running through the forest, if one looks back...

     They will notice that a CRAPLOAD of tree roots are coming out of the woodwork, chasing after them. Literally, a wall of plantlife, coiling together angrily. And if one looked closely, they would notice that they were vaguely shaping into the head of dragon with it's maw opened wide as if attempting to catch and eat them! ..Not that anyone had time to look closely at that.

     Misha's freezing song was keeping them from overtaking the group immediately. Rather, it turned into a chase where the pursuers were gradually catching up, almost about to nip their feet. And off ahead...

                        "noise is born is born is born *"                    

                     "sinking sinking in the ocean of noise"                  

     They were coming out to what seemed to be a clearing... Well, as much of one as it could be called. Stranger still was the *massive metallic spherical object* rising high above into the sky as they rapidly cleared the trees. They would see that all of that golden energy was seeping into it, and being absorbed.
Kazusa Ujikane     Kazusa is not expecting to be saved in such a loud and fast manner - she lets out a yowl of surprise, but it quickly dies out when she realizes she's been saved. "...oh. Thank you!" It's still a crazy ride, though, and the rescued girl holds on as best she can while Will goes on a skidding, swerving ride to safety!

    And with the combined efforts of 'freezing song magic' and 'lots of effort', everyone manages a temporary escape. Long enough, at least, for Will and X to draw up next to each other. "Here, I- I just have to kind of hold it out like this, and..." Carefully, Kazusa holds out her card, and-

    It's not quite a voice. It's something more basic, more primal. A sort of... concept. A very basic concept, a request for permission, formally and respectfully. There are no words to it. It's too simplistic for that. But if words could be put to it, they would sound something like...

    O keen-eyed ranger, will you lend your eye to this brave soul?
X Magical song huh? X casts a short-lived glance Misha's way. "Like her?" He grunts... as a CLANGTHUMP heralds a half-destroyed root's final efforts, efforts that dragged his Ride Chaser from its parking spot and landed it upside down nearby. X easily flips the thing over and hops on though, wasting LITTLE time... espeially after getting a glance at the onrushing WALL of roots.

    "That's what I was worried about!" VROOOOOOOOOO!!

    If someone's nearby they can probably get on. The Ride Chaser's powerful enough to hold two, but it won't be a very COMFORTABLE ride. More holding on to X and sitting on the bike's rear...

    But he swerves over Will's way just in time to get the FUNNIEST sensation running through him.

    Help? Of course he will. That's what he's here for. X's expression softens and turns inwards. He's not sure what just came over him. Weirdest feeling!

    But that moment of introspection lasts no longer than a breath!

    OF COURSE HE WILL HELP! And see this through.

    Though with the momentary funk over he's now got a good view, peeking over at Will's cycle periodically and its passenger. There's that card again?
William Pauwel     Saving damsels in mild to moderate distress is one of those things that Chasers just /do!/ Sometimes the damsel is a burly guy, but there are no rules on who gets to be a Chaser, so to each their own! "T'ain't nothing," Will says to Kazusa as he guides the Mistral deeper into the woods. It's just like he said on the radio; if they keep stopping to deal with every cluster of roots, there's no way they'll get to the bottom of this mess before they're mulched.

    He ends up sidling up near X as he drives on, though- close enough for Kazusa to do her thing. Is this 'magic' too? The world is full of some really weird stuff.

    ...Like a gigantic root-dragon THING that Will only catches sight of because he got magic-curious. Curse you, inquisitive spirit! "Wh--" Will stammers at the roiling mess of plant-based obliteration. His response is to *gun the engine even harder*. The Mistral is a venerable machine; parts of its construction date back to before the Catastrophe! But she goes fast when she's pushed, and right now, Will is pushing her.

    The road ahead is rough, though; it's a forest, of course it is. He weaves and bobs between trees and ducks under branches as the wave of wood threatens to swallow them up. Misha keeps them at bay-- but barely. Will struggles to do his part, raking gouts of superheated plasma across the wrathful forest whenever he has the opportunity to turn and fire without running head-first into a tree.

Soon, though-- soon they don't have to dodge much of anything, anymore.

Because there's a clearing in front of them, with a giant metallic orb that looks like it's sucking the energy right out of the world.

...In fact.

"Hey Lyner," Will yells over, "Y'all think this thing's what's behind your earthquakes!?"
Yuna Kagurazaka Oh, they can advance now? Yuna is too frazzled to either cheer or sigh in relief; she settles for kicking her armor's hover-thrusters into gear and accelerating forwards down the currently-open path. She swerves to one side to try and gently scoop Sanary up; Powered Form's right exo-arm may not be the most comfortable seat, but it's good enough for carrying a passenger, and still leaves Yuna's own hands free for the Matrix Divider. She may not be able to do much with the beam cannons, but they're recharging right now anyway - she's not going to worry about the heavy artllery until she can fire it off again.

The downside is that while she's barreling ahead down the path, Yuna can't turn around to snipe at the pursuing foliage; Powered Form's hoverthrusters just aren't arranged like that - and even if they were, the turbulence would likely jar Sanary around too much for her good. Any threats or obstacles *ahead*, though, she can try and snipe at with the Matrix Divider - having materialized it in her hands as soon as she finished picking up Sanary.
Deelel Deelel understand the basic power of music even before what a Reyvateil can do, music has a power that can cross lines between species that are very alien to echother like Deelel and the being who mde her people. Namely humans and those like them. She pull out a light rod and a light cycle takes shape about Deelel and it's rangine whines to life. She takes off after the others and is not using her light wall for fear ot clipping her allies as she goes. She guns it more and she's going to keep up with both Will and X's rides

"That's likely Will! Let's get going to the core of this before it's too late.
Sanary Rondel Sanary keeps that root at bay for as long as she can with Misha's freezing song and Deelel's protection spell making it easier for her stand her ground, although her exit strategy is still probably in question with how little actual exiting she's doing on her own. She can't afford to turn her back on that root, but neither can she afford to stay there! Thankfully, Yuna's there to get her out of that pickle, and the one-eyed healer...

     "Eh? Uh... Thanks." It's a confused-sounding thanks, but it's still an appreciative one! Now that she's free to actually see just what the hell is going on, meanwhile, the healer squints slightly as those... Those vines are coming after them, aren't they?

     "I got...!" Reaching for her gunaxe, Sanary reconsiders what with being carried by the idol. She doesn't want to risk throwing her off balance, after all! "...Uh. Take some of this!" Instead, she just channels her own magical energy into Yuna directly to act as a battery for her. If nothing else, it might make the heavy healer a little less burdensome to carry!
Lyner Barsett         "In this forest the clamor never ends...and with silence"        

     Lyner set Misha down behind him before turning to face the oncoming PLANT DRAGON, sword and dagger drawn with lightning crackling along the edges. Will gets a glance and a nod. "Deelel's right. This is the most obvious place. But we don't have time to figure it out!" He glared ahead at the wall of anger and rage barreling right for them, and took a stance, prepared to launch forward, but hoping he wouldn't have to.

                      "please bring back the peaceful time"                  

     Kazusa and X seemed to be up to something though. He looked their way and shouted. "X! Kazusa! Whatever you're doing, I suggest you do it NOW! That thing is almost on top of us!" He looked Yuna and Sanary's way then. "Yuna, Sanary! Clear the area!" And then to Deelel. "Deelel, can you cast that shield spell again? For insurance." Can't be too careful when lives are on the line here!

                             "to my whooshing heart!"                        

     And then it came. The massive root dragon was upon them, maw opened wide as it burst into the clearing, aiming to literally take a bite out of the earth, with everyone in the target chomping zone.

     "If you have any firepower left, USE IT NOW!" Lyner shouted staring up as they huge jaws descended upon them, casting a shadow over the clearing in the process.
Kazusa Ujikane     When X assents, a broad grin spreads across Kazusa's face. The bow-and-arrow design on her card is replaced, by an image of the X Buster. "Thank you~!" It's been a very fortunate distraction from the root-beast dragon behind them, but that distraction is now over. And Will might be having a slightly difficult time breathing now. Behind, a serpent born of the earth itself, and ahead a strange sphere- she's not going to be able to save this card for later. It's gonna have to be now.

    Kazusa doesn't even wait for Will to stop. She takes a breath, steels herself, holds the card up, and declares:

    "By the card I choose, I stand as a hero! THE MARKSMAN!"

    A shower of sparks travels down her body in a wave. Where it passes, blue armor is left behind. Bulky gauntlets, robotic joints, even her skin becomes more artificial - though her facial shape does stay the same. But while being Will's passenger gives her plenty of safety, it doesn't do much for her aim, even in this form. So rather than wait, she simply leaps off, rolls to a stop, and comes up with her right arm held aloft, supported by her left, in a shooting posture that's a mirror image of those X himself might adopt.

    And there's the familiar sound of the X Buster, charging up and loosing a blast of plasma.
Yuna Kagurazaka The energy being channeled by Sanary is a welcome recharge; Yuna's Light Suit was noticeably depleted with that very first hit she took, and while it wasn't immediately disabling, she was still feeling it. Sanary's assistance helps make up for that, though - and even Elner can benefit from it, if indirectly. "Thank you!" Yuna calls out -

Followed immediately by an urgent, "HANG ON REAL TIGHT!!" just before Yuna veers *HARD* away from the plant-dragon, trying to get out from under its jaws. Fortunately, she makes it, even with a passenger that gets her weight a little off-balance.

And then they are, at least temporarily, clear of the plant-dragon's attack. A brief consultation lets Yuna sort out how best to position the exo-arms for Sanary's benefit and a stable shooting platform; the hover-thrusters power down for the moment, letting Yuna dig the suit's heels in so the recoil won't push her back. Lenses slide back to reveal the emitter arrays in the suit's shoulders, while Yuna raises the Matrix Divider and charges as much power into her weapon as she can; if she only gets to take one shot, she wants it to be as damaging - or perhaps more accurately, as destructive - as possible. And she has to do it without hurting Sanary, directly or indirectly.

She can at least give the Confederate combat medic a countdown to when she's going to fire; five seconds should be enough, and Yuna counts them off, from five to one. She doesn't bother calling 'zero,' though: the combination of both beam cannons and the Matrix Divider unleashing all the firepower she can dispense at once should be more than clear enough - and if Sanary wasn't hunkered down out of the way by THAT point, there's not much else Yuna could have done to warn her.
Sanary Rondel Looking back at the odd-looking dragon coming from behind them Sanary refocuses her energy once more. Although she maintains that link to Yuna to keep her powered up, some of that energy gets diverted into the gunaxe as she draws it off her belt. She takes aim at the root dragon, trying to get a clear shot at it's face. A few seconds later, she instead raises the weapon to aim its barrel in the dragon's general direction instead, although she is aiming high to avoid the risk of collateral damage!

     "Don't worry. I'm holding!" Sanary is. She's got a real strong grip, even! She's still trying to be careful, though, even with all of that armor on Yuna. "Just need to aim, and... Ah, screw it. I'm taking the shot!" Once Sanary's satisfied with where she's (sort of) aiming, she tightens her hold around Yuna's arm with her own free arm while leting loose with rapid stream of fireballs, each one exploding on impact and feeding more explosions into the explosion to create EVEN MORE EXPLOSIONS

     It's very burning-y.
William Pauwel     Will's seen some pretty strange stuff since he's come out into the multiverse. It's a very weird spot to be in when 'gigantic, angry root-dragon' isn't actually the most bizarre thing he's ever borne witness to. Of course, that doesn't make it any less dangerous! Heck, he can feel it choking the breath out of him, and it's way over th--

Oh.

Wait no, that's Kazusa.

Man, girl's got strong arms. Strong... Metal arms.

Uh.

    The Mistral jerks and jukes as suddenly Kazusa becomes SO MUCH HEAVIER. Will wrestles it back into line just in time for Mega Lady to leap from the back of his bike and right back into the fight. Dust blasts up in a thick cloud as Will dips, pivots and drifts into a firing position.

It's all or nothing now. Either they take out the dragon-thing, or...

Or, well, bad things.

    "You got it, partner," Will calls over to Lyner as he braces himself against his bike. He kicks down its stand again, but this time goes a step further and jams his foot against the lever a second time, sending a pair of hydraulic spikes down into the earth. A pair of braces slide up to support his legs as he slides the Mistral's motor into full generator mode. Electricity crackles up the length of the extension cord and into the Solano.

Will takes it with both hands. The archaic gun's barrel begins to glow, its metal components shining red, then orange, then gold, then white. Brilliant, wild energy arcs and leaps in scorching tongues from the weapon's split barrel.

Will depresses the trigger and unleashes a catastrophe of light and fire.
X X /BOGGLES./ Did that ordinary-seeming girl just... turn into him?! Something like him?! "What the...?!" No time to worry about it now though! X gets a pretty sharp reminder of that from Lyner's yelling. Thankfully he's not been idle all this time. The Ride Chaser's noisy engine was serving to mask early buildup of energy, a buildup he unchains! Holding a full charge for prolonged periods can damage the X-Buster or he'd have one fully prepared LONG before it was needed.

    The robot's entire body glows from within, a high-pitched whine building and building as the power intensifies and motes of light begin congealing and coaelscing at end of the X-Buster. X braces the weapon with his free arm as the Ride Chaser comes to a halt. "This better be enough. It's all I have left! One good CHARGE SHOT!"

    With that yell he lets loose with an enormous bolt of crackling, sizzling, burning white-blue plasma! The shot's about as big as he is, DEFINITELY enough to leave a mark. But will it be enough?
Deelel Deelel is going to press in her machine moving at top speed now as she calls out.

"Got it!"

She does not say anything further and starts to cast again causing another mass cast of protection to get anyone willing whose in range but it's a very good thing they did the Root Dragon was on them now ans it was time to put it to use. Deelel picks up speed and tries to hege the thing in using her light walls which would hurt like heck if one were to get caught up in them. This however is not her main attack, her keyblade appears in her right hand as it lets go of the controls of the craft, and she'll spin it around and ramp trying to fly by and cut into the dragon with the weapon of light!
Lyner Barsett Their teamwork is excellent. X and Kazusa let loose twin X Busters, which send two huge bursts of plasma hurtling above into the root dragon's gaping maw. Yuna's triple assault of beam cannons and the Matrix Divider adds more force to the mix, and Will and Sanary follow up with twin bursts of their own.

     Energy, plasma, flame, and other such forces crash into the plant-like creature, keeping it at bay, and then forcing it back. It's that this point that Lyner, alongside Deelel decides to act. "NOW!" Digging his feet into the ground, he launched forward, blades held at the ready as he and the Program both cleaved through it, opening up a hole through the monster by slashing through the area that the others had scorched their way into.

     The rest of the root dragon's body then began to crack apart and light up as the thick trunks that comprised it began to combust and turn into ash rapidly. Right at the same time, the mysterious, regretful, and angry song faded out to an end.

     THWAM, the body hit the ground, turning to ash before the forest finally grew quiet. Lyner landed nearby, letting out a breath he forgot he was even holding before glancing aside at Deelel. "...Nice swing there, D!" He complimented, raising a fist towards her for a friendly bump. And then he looked towards everyone else, then all around.

     "...It's quiet. The song stoppped." He looked towards the giant metal structure before them pensively. The earthquake had stopped too. As well as the energy absorbtion that seemed to have been happening. "...But we now know for sure that where we need to be is in there."
Kazusa Ujikane     It's down. They unloaded enough firepower into it to bring down... well, a dragon. And it worked. A last trail of smoke and vapor wafts out of Kazusa's buster for a moment, before she stands back up and shakes it out, re-enabling her hand. This is for the sole purpose of lifting it up to give both William and X himself a thumbs-up, and a beaming, genuine smile.

    "Whenever you're ready to head in, I'll be glad to come along and help," she replies to Lyner.
Deelel Deelel brings her lightcycle to a skidding halt as the battle seem to be over thankfully it seem everyone's made it thought nd she grins at Lyner.

"Thanks, your got pretty good Game yourself, Lyner." Deelel grins widly at her friend as she sees that everything else is done and she fist bumps him back. It's a human thing sure but she's been doing quite well on picking up on things. She banishes her bike in a flash of light but keeps her keyblade out as she gollow Layner in.
William Pauwel     The Solano is an old weapon. Older than Will is- older than his grandfather, who wielded it before him. Neither are quite sure just HOW old it is, only that it's been around for a while and still works better than anything else they've been able to find. It can blast holes into a giant robot, and it can sure as shit roast at least part of a giant, angry root-dragon.

Even if it does leave the barrel severely overheated afterwards. It's so hot that Will's forced to set it down and blow on his gloved palms a little while the thing cools down. Its barrel slowly fades from glowing white right back down through the black body spectrum as it sits and the dragon turns to ash.

    He glances up at Kazusa and X, and gives the two blue bombers a grin of his own. It's a silly, proud sort of expression- one that says 'heck, we made it through another one! How's them apples?' "Heh, that sure was a chase. Y'all doing alright?"

He looks to Lyner, then, and gives him a shrug. "You sure we don't want to crack that egg open now? I don't like what it's doin' with all this energy. Seems like it might be comin' from someplace important."
X "Is it over?!" When the 'root dragon' collapses into ash and dust, X lowers his buster. He's not so naive that he REALLY thinks it's over. He takes a very focused few seconds to listen. No more singing. No more rustling. "Almost suspiciously quiet. But that singer was so upset.. I don't feel right leaving them alone out here. They're troubled, and and anyone else might've been KILLED by that assault!"

    He's not sure if this attack was DELIBERATE. If it was singing magic, powered by emotions, stands to reason that the singer maybe didn't INTEND to animate the forest to attack anything that moves...

    "This isn't over until we take care of the source." he ends up declaring, unsure whether he should try and hunt them down himself or not...
Sanary Rondel By the time everything is unloaded on the dragon and it's little more than a pile of ash, Sanary's looking... Better than it, at least. Positively drained, but still not ashy!

     She'd probably be looking a lot better if she had actually let go of Yuna during the use of those beam cannons and the Matrix Divider. She was just doing her job as a battery and secondary weapons platform! A fairly drained one at that, even.

     "Everyone alive?" She asks as she hunches over on Yuna's massive arm, seemingly content to just stay there despite just being a smidge tuckered out from that whole ordeal. "Doesn't look like anyone's dead, at least... Er. Aside from the dragon."

     It wouldn't be so bad to stay where she is for another hour or so, but the mention of a person being inside the giant enclosure does force the healer to at least sit up. "Anyway.. Uh. X, yeah? Kazusa? We'll take care of it, but... Let's check this out some other time, eh? I'm feeling kinda beat already, and we're not gonna get anywhere if we head in like this."
Yuna Kagurazaka "You were a big help, Sanary," Yuna smiles to the healer. "Thanks for the energy, too. I should probably offer you a ride back to somewhere easy for you to get home from, so you don't fall over trying to get there .."
Lyner Barsett Lyner nodded to everyone. "Yeah. I agree. We should head back for now. We won't get anything done like this, if we try to get in now." He smiled, rubbing the back of his head. "When it comes time to head back, I'll let you all know." He took one last look towards the metal structure, and then turned away. It was time to go.