Scene #6402: Unethical Battle Royale

Owner	Pose
Aranea Highwind	SIBERIA, 1 AM. It's cold. Of course it's cold. The endless snowy plains of northern Siberia are as unwelcoming as ever, especially in the dead of night. The clouded skies show not a single star, and it's snowing lightly. Probably preferable to being stuck in a blizzard on top of everything else. There are many ways to end up here; warp gates are around here and there aplenty, as long as you're fine braving the cold. And of course there's plenty of reasons to be, too; the slightest ability to sense shady monsters, negative emotions or the likes would lead one right here. As would chance, or answering an anonymous job posting asking for an investigation into sudden monster activity where there are few victims fo them to prey on. But reaching the destination tells a different tale. A pillar of red light in the distance - a Marvel Skybeam, if you will - scatters into a dimly visible red dome around a fortified, metallic outpost. The small fortress seems to have been built on the snow - or deployed there, somehow. There are odd, mechanical men guarding each way in, armed with swords and axes. Naturally, they won't let you in if you ask. All signs point to this being a controlled military area. Well, more than that, it might even be a blacksite, because they won't acknowledge anyone's attempt to get in and see what's up. But what's up is visible, given just enough height, good eyesight, good senses, or even just being patient enough. The base has no roof, and only a handful of small buildings in it, presumably where people stay if they don't want to deal with the cold. The center of the base seems to be a wide open square, and close to a hundred shadowy shapes are huddled up in there. Heartless, easy to spot. Black, shadowy soldiers with strikingly glowing yellow eyes. Daemons, a bit more distinct because of their odd purple, red and black miasma and greater affinity for glowing. A few Bombs, a few small, green humanoids with blades for arms (Imps), and large slime-like creatures colored an icy blue and white (Flans). Clearly someone built an awful, awful monster zoo out in the middle of Siberia, and they're just not all that inclined to let anyone see it.
Riku	The defenses are potent, but they haven't planned for everything. A hole opens in the air on top of one of the outbuildings, and a silver-haired teen steps out into the frigid Siberian air. He looks down at the contents of the 'zoo' and doesn't even pause before he jumps right into the middle of the open-topped area, the Soul Eater flashing into his hand in a wave of darkness as he descends upon a Bomb to slice it in half. Immediately, he lunges for the next, like he's trying to build up a combo meter in a Musou game or something, blurring waves of black seething after his weapon as he strikes. He doesn't say anything. There's no one here worth talking to that he can tell.
Nova Terra	So an information dealer had heard from his cousin, a health inspector working in a gaming commission, who had heard from the cook at a fancy high end casino, who had heard from his fish supplier, who had from the truck driver that transports his fish, who had heard from a smaller ice fisher, who had been travelling across Siberian snow just recently, that there was this strange military facility out in the middle of nowhere. Having recently purchased some unusual information, Nova treks her way across the snow in the direction of the oddly glowing facility in the distance. On the one hand, the cold is not much of an issue thanks to her hostile environment suit. On the other, snow does present a problem for the Ghost's invisibility field. But still, it's better than nothing. So as she gets to a point where she may be detected, Nova vanishes in a brief wash of blue light, before continuing on. Soon enough she reaches the edges of the military facility. She's rarely one to ask for entrance, so attempts to leverage her combination of cloak and stealth skills to get past them and begin exploring the facility. The sounds of battle do not go unnoticed and seem like a good place to start.
Sheriff Marti	A motorcycle growls down the road up to the dome, and stops right near one of the entrances to the closed off areas. The rider, a man dressed in winter gear, climbs off of his motorcycle, knocking the kickstand into place. After a moment of fruitless attempts to get the robots to talk to him, he clicks his tongue and tries to peer through the energy and dark toward the facility. He doesn't get any closer, not wanting to agitate the guards to action, and he happens to spot Riku's... rather unsubtle entrance into the situation. "Who's that guy?" he mutters, his voice shaking from the ambient cold. He sighs to himself and checks his revolver to make sure he loaded it correctly. Yep, all the bullets are there. Click. "Alright... let's get answers." He pulls his radio from his belt and begins talking into it to figure this out.
Deelel	Siberia reminds Deelel of the outland back home. The cold, the endless snowy plains. Doubly so at night with the lack of any real sun. With the discovery of this world and Deelel finding out there had been Heartless causing problems here? That had caught her attention even harder. The job had been picked up not out of want of the money but to see what was going on as she arrives, she was quick to take to the skies on a light jet. She then took to the Russian night sky. She'll give a bank pass over the base at a high level over it she's about to go land and actually try to talk but then she sees them. There's heartless down there, the black forms the soulless golden eyes? She can't forget them even if she were made of flesh. What they did to her home of the Grid and another system known as the Cloud was something that never really left her. She'll banish her jet as she gets lower aiming to join in the battle, as the light jet vanishes, Deelel will land rising up but doesn't go for her disc she holds out her hand and weapon takes shape the Dual Disc. Her Keyblade which might very well get the Heartless attention that she just dropped into, she doesn't say a thing she simply starts attacking them with her weapon in a brutal combo of strikes.
Alexis	As soon as she stepped out of the warpgate Alexis was really glad she wore her overcoat and everything. Not that cold was going to bother her too much, but better safe and sorry. No denying this was a pretty far flung place for reports of 'monster activity'. Still, work is work. Alexis takes out a copy of the job posting to check the location, then pulls back a sleeve to double-check the GPS on her C-Gear. "Hmm. This is the right area. Better get a read on the location." As she starts walking towards the dome Alexis takes one pokeball and flicks it over her head. It splits open with a spilling of energy, that forms into a large falcon-like bird. Alexis catchs the returning ball, and points up and towards the doom. The Talonflame squawks as she makes a turn, and then flies off in that direction, internal Fire-type heat keeping her wings from frosting up in the snowy weather. With a bird's keen eyesight she doesn't have much trouble spotting the black creatures or the scruffy haired guy that drops into the middle of them while staying high in the air. Alexis hehs as the bird circles over the domed complex as she's spotted something. "Bingo." She flicks open a second pokeball, this one releasing a beige and grey dog. "Ruff ruff." Alexis points towards the dome not that far away now. "We want to stay out of sight. Dig us a tunnel down there." "Ruff!" The Rockruff practically dives into the snow, and then the frigid Siberia ground beneath. But even permafrost can only resist the sharp claws and natural tunneling capability of a Rock type so long, and by the time Alexis hops into the hole after him he's already well on his way towards the destination. She's got to get down on her hands and knees to crawl after him, but this is still the best way to get in what's probably a covert Russain base of some kind without being spotted.
Zenos yae Galvus	Earlier...in Ala Mhigo. In the Throneroom of Ala Mhigo, Zenos sits bored on the throne. It had been a day of unimportant officials and policy. Reports of the boring ants that inhabit the country he is supposed to take care of, and rumors of more resistance cells forming. Honestly, he wished to let them roll up into a bigger wave before putting them down. It would be more of a challenge, and allow him to crush them all in one fel swoop. However, one report DID catch his interest. Near a warp gate on some earth, was the rumor of a black site. Dark energy and 'demons' and various monsters, some known and others unknown to them. Zenos saw potential in this as a pretext to alleviate his boredom and handle something. "I want the first company ready to go. Ready my ship, and be ready to depart within the hour," Zenos commands. Now. A Garlean ship starts descending from high altitude. It does not fire yet, but several sky carriers come down, carrying magitek armors, as Zenos himself arrives with a force through the same methods. The man, covered head to toe in his armor, and showing very little care about the cold approaches the front door. "I would have you fetch me your leader. Bring him before me, or I shall take your presence here as potentially hostile to both the Multiverse, and to Garlemald as a whole. You have a minute to comply," Zenos says, as the Gunship takes combat position. The monsters inside are known to him, not exactly what they ARE, but that they are there. "Fail to comply, and this place will become an example to your people."
Sarracenia	Sarracenia almost didn't come to this forsaken frozen wasteland, but one of her advisors suggested it would be a good way for her to improve both her reputation and her fighting abilities. So, the Princess of Sundew made her way here with haste. Well, actually, with an airship. Smaller than her usual ships, this one is only about the size of a large yacht. Still, it is outfitted with several cannons, propellers instead of sails, and a number of plant creatures with bulbous red heads, single large leaves for arms/hands, and roots for legs/feet. From her higher vantage point and slightly late arrival, she sees that things seem well underway what with Riku attacking things and Zenos confronting the guards. Confronting the guards seems pointless with people already attacking the Heartless, so with a bit of a shrug Sarracenia dons one of her tanuki suit power-ups and leaps off her airship. She rides her hammer down and lands very near another set of guards, hoping to knock them aside without causing much actual harm so she can dash into the facility and help the others with the Heartless.
Zero	Being somewhat of a wanderer, it's not much of a surprise that'd Zero would find himself in Siberia, having overheard from others that there was some sort of problem. What kind of problem though? He didn't know. Or really care. If he wanted details he'd have seen if there was some sort of job listing. Besides that, the situation didn't seem that hard to grasp. At least to him. There's a large structure full of monsters. Monsters are generally bad. Therefore, he should probably be dealing with them. The fact that there seems to already be sounds of some sort of commotion inside just kind of cements the idea that his logic is correct. Deciding to just completely ignore the guards surrounding the complex, Zero finds the least occupied part of the structure and begins the process of kicking himself up it. Once up and over, the red reploid would unsheathe a bladeless hilt from a compartment on his hip before mindlessly jumping into a small group of imps. The hilt doesn't remain bladeless for long however, as when Zero goes to swing it at the group of monsters, a large triangular shape presumably made out of energy sprouts out and forms to serve as a cutting edge.
Aranea Highwind	Nova isn't stopped, because none of the machine-men can see through her cloak. The facility is very bare-bones- it's a single building that serves as barracks and quarters, and then another, reinforced building overlooking the large magical cell/cage area in the middle, from which one can glance a few assorted men in labcoats watching with interest the utter lack of activity in the center. They must have thought monsters would attack one another. Or maybe they're trying to incite it, and failed. Whatever study they're conducting looks terribly boring right now. At least until Riku jumps in. It's like throwing blood into a shark-infested tank. Daemons and Heartless alike come alive at the intrusion of someone or something with... well, life. Something that isn't them. And where one Bomb is sliced in half before it can detonate, things quickly take a turn for the worse within the confines of the magitek containment area. That is to say, the monsters start beating on the red beams keeping them in. With vigor that, evidently, had not been there since now. As if the intrusion had given them their signal for breaking out. Luckily, the cell is holding... for now. But the red skybeam generator is being strained, visibly, and the scientists in the watchtower are beginning to get agitated. Moreso even as Zenos makes his demands. As additional Daemons and Heartless fall to Deelel, the machine-men come to life. The forces of the outpost begin converging on the center, raising hands that literally click off to reveal guns inside their arms. They say nothing. But someone sure does. "This is Brigadier General Loqi Tummelt of the Niflheim Empire. You have fifteen seconds to get away from our base or we'll open fire! This is strictly military territory, so off you go!" On cue, his machine emerges from an underground hangar. It's a very large walker, an MA-X Cuirass model of magitek armor, a bit too short to be considered a mecha but too large to just be walker armor. Red and white. It clearly has a cockpit and all that. He also sends a private transmission to Zenos. "I'm busy right now, man of Garlemald, but if you lend us a hand we can work out some talking afterwards." It gets worse when Sarracenia smashes two of the machine-men into pieces, and Zero enters the zoo as well. Loqi is obviously not amused. "Very well! Glory to Niflheim, death to invaders! Highwind, get off your ass and help!" Aranea clicks her tongue, sitting atop the watchtower. She takes her earphones out, putting her cellphone away. Lowers her helmet, and calls her spear in a flash of red light, entirely alike the light powering the base. "Right, right. Time for work. I'm charging you extra for the night shift and the Daemon clusterfuck." She leaps off the watchtower.
Aranea Highwind	Machine-men begin firing at Riku, Zero and Deelel, even as they're still in the awful monster pens. And they must contend, at the same time, with the Heartless and the Daemons rioting inside. A Bombs attempts to detonate in Riku's face. A Flan casts some manner of ice spell at Zero, forming and launching massive icicles at the android. Deelel is swarmed by humanoid, armored Heartless wielding techy blades. Meanwhile, Loqi's magitek armor sends a volley of missiles towards Sarracenia, and Aranea's flight down from the tower takes her straight towards Riku, spear-first, like a proper dragoon ought to. "Don't supposed we could work this out outside, pretty boy?"
Nova Terra	Nova's scouting reveals the facility to be pretty minimal in function. This suggests to her it's only temporary. The combination of some kind of containment system and the clear presence of eggheads makes it fairly obvious it's some form of expendable experimentation facility. What's the experiment though? Probably something related to the strange creatures that some of the others have begun destroying. But to what end? The base commander taking to the field does nothing to dissuade Nova from continuing her reconnaissance as she makes a beeline for where she can sense the scientific observers. She tries to get close to them in order to focus on their surface thoughts, listening in on an attempt to try and learn what they expected to discover here.
Zenos yae Galvus	When the initial threat comes out, Zenos raises a hand. The Garlean firing line comes up, aiming gunblades towards the soldiers drawing guns. Magitek Armors being deployed are something that the Empire is not used to having had happened to them, but they do not show fear. Years of using them mean they have just as much knowledge in DEALING with them. That and the Empire has both a Gunship AND sky armors to farry in more. Oh and their own Magitek Armors, who shift, starting to charge their Magitek canons. However, a private message comes to Zenos. Zenos does not do what is expected and instead taking a moment to consider his options. After a moment, his hand lowers, and the firing line lowers their weapons, the cannons stopping their charge as they shift back into walker stance. "Very well, I find these terms agreeable and considered your Nations Sovereignty when I came here. All Garlean forces, we are currently acting to aid the Niflheim Empire. Repel all intruders, but do not allow yourselves to be eaten by their monsters." However, with that, the Garlean troops move to aid in defense of the Niflheim's forces. While Zenos himself turns towards the Princess, walking slowly as he moves to draw a blade. Slowly, and purposefully, he points it towards Sarracenia. "Princess. What will you do? Fight, and die, or will you run away to live again? Today, there is nothing stopping me from drawing steel against you. Your attitude and the belligerent attitude towards your betters will come due today, should you stand." However, he does not strike first, to see if she will stand against him...or crumble before his might before a blow is even struck.
Sheriff Marti	Marti breathes a long sigh through his nose as things get... messy. He pulls out his Sheriff's badge, and grips it in his off hand, and begins tromping into the area with his revolver down at his side. His scarf is tugged in the wind, and curly hair catches snowflakes while he heads into the fray. "I'm with the loud guy!" he'd say to anyone or anything trying to stop him, and gestures vaguely toward Zenos. He's at least aware of their shared allegiance. He doesn't make a big show of it, he just walks along, casing the battle as it explodes into violence, magic and blades flying this way and that. He spots a set of footprints, and follows them, his eyes half-hidden behind his hair. He traces the trail with the end of his gun, eyeballing the path of its owner as he crests a hill. He cants his head and squints into the distance... "Persona." A ten foot tall man in a poncho, with a large cowboy hat that casts a shadow that utterly conceals his head, emerges with a flash of blue fire that crawls up his off-hand. The Persona Cowboy, the Man with No Name, lifts a cigar to his mouth, and blows a great big puff of glowing smoke over Marti, casting the man in a brief haze. It'll render his weapons non-lethal for the duration of the conflict, so he doesn't have to worry about killing whoever thinks they're slipping under the radar here. Bang. A .44 revolver is fired, its round's lethality blunted by magic. It will, however, still bruise and still knock the wind out of a target, if it hits.
Riku	Riku is fast, but being faster than bullets is hard. He twists in the air, blocking several of them with his blade as he tries to ignore them, trying to remain focused on his goal of killing every Heartless and Daemon in the area. It doesn't work all that well, several of them grazing him and opening flesh wounds across his chest and back. The Bomb tries to blow up in his face, but moments before it does, Riku opens a Corridor of Darkness and roundhouse kicks the thing, punting it right through the hole. Where did it go? The rushing strike of Aranea leads to a clash, Soul Eater striking up against Gae Bolg, sizzling sparks flaring out as the pair push back against each other for a deadly moment... And then Riku spins, diverting the spearpoint to one side as he jolts forward, darkness writhing over Riku as he shoulder tackles straight into the mercenary. "Flattery isn't going to help you." He says as he kicks backwards, launching into the air while his body is covered in suit of dark purple, crimson, and white... And then Aranea finds out where the Bomb went as the Corridor opens up behind her, the bomb launching out of it and right for her back. Twisting, Riku doesn't waste a moment, rebounding off of the air as he drives right back in at high speed, slashing past Aranea in a blurred stroke of blackness. "Work for your money."
Deelel	The Heartless and Daemons are on her, and she's fighting she complained a bit and Riku shoots it down so hard? One might almost hear the sound of an airplane crash. More of the creatures come and she keeps fighting. She will cast a few aero spells and then dive into their ranks more as the humanoid ones come after her, a few of the attacks score hits on her. Cutting into her bait leaving several glowing blue lines in their wake. She'll counter attack but it gets worse the machine-men are now after them. "This base is infested with Heartless! I am doing you a favour!" She calls back and she keeps fighting even as more people show up. What in the name of Kevin Flynn was going on here?" She will keep fighting for the moment. She uses the Keyblade to strike again and again while she will cut down daemons? She is clearly more focused on the Heartless. She also throws a bolt and a fire spell into the mix as she fights, time is also running out as some serious heat has arrived in the form of the Paladins.
Sarracenia	Sarracenia blinks as the machine men fall to pieces. "...not quite as sturdy as they look, I guess." she says as she keeps running. That is, until the mech appears and declares this is actual government property and not just some random site being run by criminals or evil scientists or something. She skids to a stop. "Well...that complicates things." she says, only for those missiles to blast her back out of the facility boundries. Her Tanuki Suit disappears in a puff of smoke and she lets out a little squeak as the cold suddenly hits her. "Guh! I...could have planned that a bit better." she mumbles to herself, then reaches into her satchel and pulls out a circular changing blind. She listens to Zenos as she changes, and soon emerges in a cute and stylish winter coat and dress that thanks to her usual color scheme looks much like some kind of female Santa outfit. She gives her reddish-blonde hair a toss and smirks lightly. "Well, I was going to withdraw. Buuuut...you made the mistake of assuming you are my better. Such an insult cannot simply be dismissed, especially after the disrespect you have shown in the past. So, I will fight you, but not as an invader of this facility. Instead, as a proud royal who has had her honor inpugned." She speaks through her radio to the commander of the base. "My apologies, Brigadier General Loqi Tummelt of the Niflheim Empire. I was under the impression this was an illegal site run by a disreputable organization. If that is not the case, then I have no quarrel with you and will pay for replacement robots. I am outside the borders of the facility. However, I will not be leaving quite yet as a matter of honor must be tended to. I hope you understand." That done, Sarracenia smirks to Zenos and raises her hammer. "Now, have at thee, ruffian!" she declares, rushing toward him.
Nova Terra	The keen eye of detective-sorry-Sheriff Marti leads him to the spot where Nova has been patiently observering the scientists. He's able to deduce her location by noting the end of her tracks as well as the occasional snowflake coming to rest on some unseen object before fading away. It would appear he has just snuck up on the one doing the sneaking. But we all know appearances can be deceiving. The bullet fired by the Sheriff passes harmlessly through the space where Nova was just moments ago. Warned of his approach by her sensitive psychic senses she was able to sneak away at the last moment. Nova speaks up, her voice heard in the direction behind Marti, "You're a sheriff, huh?" A few moments later, Nova's voice has moved to a different direction, "I'm not particular fond of sheriffs." Finally, there are some new foot steps in the snow, quickly heading towards Marti from yet another direction. They close the distance quickly as Nova launches an invisible right hook at Marti. Shortly after the attempted blow, blue light washes over Nova to render her visible once more as she finishes, "But I'll try to not hold that against you." She smirks.
Zero	Gunshots are fired, and Zero pulls himself away from the group of monsters to focus on not getting shot. The reploid knocks a few of bullets away with his Z-Saber at first, though after a few manage to scuff his red armor, he resorts to a more practical method. Raising his forearm in front of him, Zero produces a large spinning green disk on his arm, which not only acts as a shield against the onslaught of bullets, but also doubles as a way of counterattacking the guards by sending their bullets right back at them. It's pretty easy all things considered. What's not as easy though is when a flan decides to throw a handful of ice magic in Zero's direction. The spinning shield still does its job of redirecting the magic at the gelatinous monster, but unlike with the bullets some of the magic still manages to sneak through his defense. The sheer cold manages to seep through the robot's arm, wrecking havoc on its internals and ultimately causing the shield to fizzle out. It's FINE. He didn't need the shield anymore anyway. Totally. Deciding to take his chance to retaliate, Zero dashes in towards the flan, swinging a leg back before kicking the magical slime towards Aranea as he takes a page out of Riku's book. It's a pretty good book, truth be told. He's not quite done though. "Kougenjin!" Zero flicks his Z-Saber at incredible speeds at the flan he just launched, creating a crescent shaped projectile that aims to both cut through the monster and hopefully hit the dragoon girl.
Sheriff Marti	Marti knows he missed. He lowers his gun, frowning at the absence of a response from his target. When her voice pipes up behind him, he whips around, his gun pointed that way. But his eyes flick, and scan the area around him, scanning his surroundings. He knows someone like this is likely to pull trickery in a fight, just from his intuitive senses. She manages to clear the distance and hit him, and he staggers a step or two. Then he spits out blood from his mouth onto the snow at his feet and wipes his mouth on his sleeve. "Burn." The Man with No Name whips around to float behind Marti, and aims its gun down at Nova over his shoulder. Then it fires, and unleashes a cone of flames that blast outward like a shotgun, melting snow and blowing air back. Marti's neutral face can be seen as it blows his hair back and lights up his features. Despite the theatrics, this is also a non-lethal attack. That spell is very powerful, changing the nature of even the most dangerous looking of his abilities. "Just doin' my job, ma'am," he quips back.
Alexis	Even in the chaos erupting below Windburn picks up a familiar face -- that Princess Alexis had been training with before. And it looks like she's already gotten into trouble with some other men threatening her. Well, she doesn't need her Trainer to know what to do, just buy her a little more time. With a screeching cry the Talonflame drops from her circling and divebombs towards Sarracenia's accousters with a tremendous amount of speed. Not to mention her entire body erupts in flames as she does so, proving to be a lot more than your average raptorial predator. The cry also provides a familiar noise for the dog to hone in on, and a few moments later the ground near by crumbles inward to open the tunnel and Rockruff jumps out. Only to hunch down, hackle up and growl at the sight as Alexis climbs out after him. "Well Princess, fancy running into you here... And I was starting to think we'd miss the party." So much for monster hunting, looks like she's got a friend to possibly bail out of trouble.
Aranea Highwind	Riku uses Corridor Treachery to lob a Bomb straight at Aranea, and predictably it explodes right against her. But of course, once the smoke clears, Aranea isn't there anymore, a bolt of red having escaped upward in the flash of light. Deelel wades in with fire and wind spells alike, along with that trusty Keyblade, which is ever the effective weapon against Heartless. A few of the generic soldier Heartless are shredded by her, but they don't relent, sensing a Heart. Zero, conversely, appears to be of No Interest to the Heartless, only to the Daemons. This makes it a bit easier to navigate the chaos and slice a crescent precisely aimed to slice the Flan in two, which it does. The Flan breaks apart into red, purple and black mist, which sinks into the ground. With Aranea out of view, it seems she escapes a similar fate! At least until she reappears. Like a bolt of lightning, she comes crashing down, but not aimed at anyone in particular. When she impacts the ground, ripples of blue lightning shoot out in every direction - not threatening only Riku, Deelel and Zero, but also very deliberately the Daemons and Heartless. Huh. The beasts, of course, haven't let up either. A Bomb charges at Deelel, while soldier Heartless hurl their blades at Riku. Loqi, meanwhile, disengages from Sarracenia, as Zenos is handling it. The MA-X Cuirass turns its attention on Zero, leaping across the base to slam into the monster pen, as if that were safe or recommendable. "Behold! The might of the Niflheim Empire!" he exclaims, because he is that kind of person. The Cuirass shoots its flamethrower at Zero. It sets a Heartless on fire too, because splash damage is hard to avoid.
Nova Terra	That's the problem with going up against two opponents. It makes it more difficult to keep track of both of them. Nova manages to jump back away from the two, but not before part of the flame washes over her. Nova lands again. She looks a little wobbly and also somewhat surprised, but otherwise unharmed. There's a brief moment where she's studying Marti with a critical eye, curious about this non-lethal ability of his. Nova quickly grins, "Thanks, I was getting a bit cold." She just stands there for a moment, asking, "It's your job to interfere in covert military operations? I thought you were a sheriff, not a soldier." Wait, it's a trick! Nova's seemingly passive stance is just to lull Marti and his companion into a false sense of security. Meanwhile she uses her telekinesis to pick up one of those metal barrels that all military bases have lying around and send it flinging at the The Man with No Name from behind. Thankfully this barrel is not red.
Zenos yae Galvus	The Hammer swings for Zenos, and with a measure of calm his hand moves out to take the head of the hammer directly to an outstretched hand. The force of the blow still travels up his armor. However, it hardly seems to bother him in a meaningful way. His gaze looks towards Sarracenia, as he starts to slowly push back. However, he is quickly distracted by a firing bird diving at him from the sky. He moves, bracing himself from the flames as it flies by. Narrowly from getting bowled over, but still caught in the dangerous part of the attack. The armor sizzles but does not catch fire. "Ah, your bravery comes from having a friend. I see," he comments, before slowly walking towards the pair. That is until he vanishes. Simply appearing to the right of both of them, as he swings the blade once, aiming a stream of energy across the field of snow, aiming to send both of them flying. "Come, let us enjoy ourselves. I can see it now, beyond your lack of bravery you feel you can just do whatever you want? Good, embrace it...make that your own," he says, commenting towards the Princess. However, he does regard Alexis, "You, tell me why are you even fighting?"
Sheriff Marti	Marti retorts in the calm sort of way that no normal person would do in this situation, "Nah, it's my duty to stop interlopers from intruding onto the lawful activities of people minding their own business. Such as spies, like yourself." He lifts his gun, but flinches quite animatedly as his Persona is struck in the head with a metal barrel. The Persona doubles forward, and Marti lets out a "Ghk...!" noise of pain from the psychic shock of the impact. Then he sucks in a breath, ignoring the headache he now has to try to line up a shot. He fires at Nova three times in quick succession, trying to wear down her energy. He takes up a gunslinger stance, using his off hand to speed up the hammer of his revolver. Bang bang bang!
Riku	Riku has his talents and he makes the most of them. The Heartless begin lobbing swords at him since he seems to be taking his sweet time to drop back into melee range. The blades sweep in for Riku's back, attempting to impale him... Until his shadow reaches up and catches them. Leaking out around him, the shadow rises, hulking, dark, with burning eyes and a wrapped harness around the inky-skinned genie-like entity. Riku flicks his hand, and his Eidolon hurls the blades right back at the Heartless, skewering what he can as he drops to the ground, preparing to cleave more evil. Aranea interrupts this with a lancing THUNDAGA JUMP. The wave of lightning catches Riku, sending him reeling back sizzling. "Gggh! Looks like you're not all talk!" He mutters... But he sees how she's crisping some Heartless too. He smirks. "Huh." He says, nodding to himself... And he lashes forward, slashing out relentlessly at Aranea and forcing her to parry the attacks before he dives backwards, the Eidolon rising as an arm sweeps out, hurling a wave of dark energy. Maybe it'll hit Aranea, maybe not, but there sure is a bunch of Heartless in the same direction...
Deelel	Deelel does not ever expect the Heartless to relent when she fights them and this is no different. She will give the people who are running this show? They have it in the middle of nowhere, still, she's never seen screwing about with the heartless end well. For the world, it was on or whoever was doing said research. She is not taking Aranea's actions personally mind you, Deelel just has what she sees as part of her function to do. She keeps fighting even as more Heartless do pile on the hits its paper cuts but they will add up and she keeps going as there are still more of the little glowy eyed horrors hunting her. She also sees Highwind isn't worrying about friendly fire against them either. Then there is a bomb? There's no time to evade Deelel tries to ride through it and it does not go as well as she'd like it to. She's kinda of toasty in the aftermath of the blast but she is alive and she will continue her assault oddly she seems to be intending fight Aranea unless she has to. Her Keyblade is thrown like a boomerang into the Heartless' ranks. Then she launches a bolt spell in the wake of the attack, after which she calls her weapon back to her hand.
Nova Terra	Nova shows both quick reflexes and impressive speed as she starts moving just as Marti starts firing. The bullets pass barely behind her as she circles around him. She then skids to a halt, hand reaching out in a more noticeable use of her power. A large metal beam is ripped out of the side of the nearby building. It floats in the air for a moment as Nova asks, "How do you know that what they're doing here is lawful? I mean, I sure don't. That's what I was trying to find out." The large metal beam sweeps towards both Marti and his Persona.
Sarracenia	Sarracenia's confidence does waver a bit when Zenos catches her hammer and starts to push her back. She blinks in some confusion when the firebird dives down at sizzles Zenos before she looks back to see Alexis. "What...oh, that is right! I do have a friend!" She seems a bit overly happy about that, and it doesn't seem totally linked to facing a strong opponent. She smiles and waves to Alexis, then looks at Zenos with a frown. "But no. I did not think she would assist me against you. Loyalties are an uncertain thing, and we have not had much time to bond as of yet. My bravery is my own!" She pulls her hammer free of Zenos's grasp and is winding up for another swing when he unleashes that beam. With a yelp Sarra gets blasted away and lands headfirst in a deep snowbank. Her legs flail and there is another much more muffled yelp as she realizes she could be in a compromising position! With some wiggling she manages to extract herself, then she hops to her feet quickly and huffs. "There is a reason that Gilgamesh considers me someone worthy of his attention, you know! And if I thought I could just do whatever I wanted, I would have continued into the facility!" she says as she reaches into her satchel and pulls out...a fire flower! She holds it up and in a puff of smoke her dress takes on more fiery colors. Brighter red, fire yellow accents, and a charcoal black skirt. Then, she starts throwing fireballs at Zenos, which bounce across the ground until they hit something. Hopefully him!
Alexis	After literally blazing by Zenos the Talonflame banks around, at first considering another attack but sees Alexis coming into the corner of her vision field. So instead she pulls up from the turn and brakes speed a bit. Alexis holds out one arm as a falconeer would and the bird lands, the overcoat's thick sleeves protecting her arm from sharp and still mildly hot talons. "Me? I was looking for supposed monsters." She glances over her shoulder at the fight with the Heartless and Daemons. "But that matter seems to be in hand." Then back to this encounter, and shrugs a little. "What can I say. I've got a habit of poking at things. Especially when a friend looks like they could use a hand." She doesn't necessarily use the word 'help' because she knows Sarracenia isn't helpless. But that doesn't mean she can't use a little backup. And while it's true they haven't had that long to bond, it doesn't mean it's a small thing either. The energy blasts shoot towards them, and the bird's reaction time is the fastest, leaping off Alexis' arm and spreading wings to intercept the attack. It still hits with enough force to send the avian sprawling backwards with a squack of frustration as she hits the ground. "Howlinger." Alexis snaps her fingers and the dog in front of her perks up. "Pin him." Rockruff bobs his head in a nod, and slams both his forepaws into the ground. It doesn't produce much of a shockwave in itself, but the ground around Zenos' feet does break upward, forming rocky spikes and chunks trying to keep him from moving too easily.
Sheriff Marti	CLONK!! Marti is thrown off his feet, his Persona shattered like glass, and he flies through the air with a startled scream. And then, somehow, he gains his footing instead of falling right on his back. He slides and staggers in the snow, and wheezes, a hand going to his chest and his eyes focused from the combo of psychic and physical damage to his being. He shakes his head to get his wits about him. "Shine some light on this! PERSONA!!" Blue fire and light wraps his form, and his Persona appears. The Man with No Name lifts the brim of his hat, and from the shadows a single yellow eye flashes from the dark. When this happens, a blast of searing white holy light slams down toward Nova like the hammer of God himself. "Not buying the innocent act! You don't belong here!"
Zero	Did you know metal conducts electricity? Zero does, and it sucks. No matter how fast the crimson machine is, he can't quite dodge the surge of thunder that Aranea generates from her jump. Internals pop and fizzle inside the relpoid, and dark smoke billows out from some of the cracks, but other than that, Zero seems to be alright. Then along comes Loqi and his giant armor, spewing fire and making the robot's life more miserable. Apparently that's the price you pay for only drawing some of the monster's attention. Zero jumps out of the way of the billowing flames, the heat from them causing the red paint on his calves to bubble a bit before he lands on top of the giant mech's cockpit? At least he assumes what he's landing on is the cockpit, he's not sure. "So when you say the might of your empire, do you mean you're the mighty one or this ride armor? I hope it's not the armor, for the record." Zero delivers a cold taunt as he grips the hilt of his saber with both hands, aiming the triangle-shaped blade towards the main block of the machine before stabbing downward with suspiring strength given his stature. He's gambling on the fact that if this isn't the machine's cockpit, that it's at least something important. Given the fact that the rest of the robot seems to be a gangly mess, he's pretty sure there is indeed things inside that do not want to be stabbed.
Zenos yae Galvus	Towards Sarracenia's claim of worth, Zenos lets out a laugh. A genuine laugh, as he holds a hand out towards her. "Oh, boy, that was funny. The fact that you do not see the truth in his value in you is so sad it is funny. Or did you not understand? It is because you are blonde," Zenos says, barking another laugh. He walks forward, even as balls of fire hit his armor. Bits of it melting, and DEFINITELY doing something, but the man seems to shrug the blows off. This until the ground beneath him starts to spike up, impaling his armor and causing more injuries. However, the strength of his armor forces it to mostly be superficial. It's doing something, but the man with a swing of his blade cuts the rocks down an uses his massive legs to pull himself out. Once more he starts walking towards them again, before stopping. "Really? Friendship is why you fight? How...disappointing. Man should fight for its own sake, but here you are. Trying to hide behind justification. How...drull." A blade drops out of the sky, landing right between the two warriors. Green ether starts swelling around before a burst of wind aims to blow them both in different directions. Attempting to launch them into more of these swords the drop. These blades spark with electrical power, aiming to stagger them. "Now...let me put a bit more effort into this. Entertain me."
Aranea Highwind	Riku charges, and Aranea brings her spear up, predictably. His blade crashes into the weapon, denting the magitek components. When he withdraws to shockwave-slash, Aranea leaps up and out of the way, blasting off with the thrusters on her spear lighting up bright red, while a cluster of Heartless is consumed by the weaponized edge. RIP them a lot. Deelel's lightning manages to snipe another Bomb! Counting the one that blew up at her, that's two of those glowing orange Daemons out, and her Keyblade being thrown can even handle a few Heartless on the way. It's working out! But it's not working out so hot for Zero. As his blade sinks into the cockpit and tears it open, the hatch suddenly swings open, possibly hurling Zero off the magitek armor! Loki, in all of his absolutely overwrought armor indicative of a man who really wants you to know he's IMPORTANT, draws the saber (non-beam) and levels it towards Zero. "Why don't you find out!" He leaps towards Zero! He is... actually, surprisingly fast. The red glow of the area is washing around him, so it might be powering his armor up in some manner. Either way, he's going to CUT YOU, ZELLLLOOO! This is probably not a good long-term plan for him. He doesn't care. The horde of Heartless and Daemon is... actually getting kind of small, one murder at a time. There's about half of it left by now, which is decent progress. A few of the Imps suddenly disintegrate, however! They crumble into the ground, and are replaced with... a yeti? The massive snowbeast is half-skeletal, glowing with the red, purple and black miasma of Daemons. It charges for Deelel, trying to pound her into the ground! And Riku, finding a number of Heartless now dead from having been pierced by their own blades, suddenly only has to deal with Aranea for a moment! She smashes into the ground in front of him, not trying to impale him outright, but rather knock him down with the shockwave of the impact and then flip-kick him into the remaining Flan. "Can't be all talk, or I'd be dead by now!" she tells him, nicely.
Nova Terra	Blue light washes over Nova as she cloaks once more, moments before The Man with No Name is able to unleash his blinding blast of light. This no doubt makes it more difficult for the Persona to aim at Nova. And judging by the lack of any signs of a response from the Ghost after the blast strikes, quite difficult indeed. In a repeat of earlier, Nova's voice once more floats in from one directions, "Of course I don't belong here. Wouldn't need to be covert if I did." And then from another, "Of course I wasn't planning on harming anyone, except in self-defense. But it seems you won't give up." Finally, "Don't take this personally, it's just my job." There's a muffled gunshot, the air shimmering briefly to reveal the light distorted shape of Nova down on one knee. Her large rifle, which had only been on her back through the fight so far, is now in her hands and aimed at Marti. The shot, unlike the sheriff's, is very much a lethal one.
Sheriff Marti	"Shit...!" Marti avoids getting killed, somehow stepping aside just enough to throw off the precision but not enough to stop it from hitting him, but this still results in a spray of blood. He's lucky to be alive, and he nearly collapses from the pain of the impact. He grips at his coat, where a bullet-proof vest sits beneath it, and he squints off in Nova's direction... Then, he holsters his gun, and turns to leave, sprinting off into the distance to get on his motorcycle and leave. He isn't going to slug it out any further than that... he knows when he's beat. He does fire off a potshot at Nova as he goes, but with his Persona, to cover his escape. A blast of fire is shot in her direction.
Riku	The unspoken collusion between Aranea and Riku seems to be working out. However, Aranea still needs to earn her pay, and thus the stabbing is still quite on. Far be it for her to be accused of not doing what she's paid to do after all. Riku can appreciate that. At least she's sticking to what she was hired for. Less appreciative, however, is the shockwave that destablizes his guard for a critical moment. A moment that he finds his chin getting impacted by Aranea's foot as she efficiently flipkicks him right into the air, sending him spinning towards a Flan. "No!" He yells, reaching out to Vader Grip the Flan as he falls towards it. The jiggly thing is suddenly wrapped in Darkness (as opposed to bees) and is compressed, sizzling energy crushing down on it as he air-recovers and drops to the ground with one hand burning with shadows. A moment later, he hurls it directly towards Aranea, the packed flan-mass full of energy exploding promptly in her vicinity... But he's not expecting her to fall for that. A moment later, a Corridor of Darkness opens up behind Aranea, Riku appearing right after the explosion to drop down and attempt to shiv Aranea in the back with Soul Eater.
Sarracenia	"That is not true! That is merely what sparked his -initial- interest!" Sarracenia shouts at Zenos! "And besides that, I am not fully blonde!" The princess blinks as that blade drops from the sky. "Wha-" That's all she manages before being blown off her feet again. She bounces off the snow a couple of times before getting caught by a couple of the electro blades. Staggered she is, her dress scorched and torn and one eye closed against the pain. "I even got him to admit that I am not a mere mongrel like everyone else who needs someone else's glory. I am glorious all on my own!" She reaches into her satchel again and in a quick flurry of movements throws three bullets that have shark faces and...are as large as she is. "And I will get you to admit it, too!" she growls at Zenos as she goes into a spin, expertly hitting each of the Bullet Bills on the flat at the back of the bullet. A sound much like a large cannon firing is heard with each hit. Three in quick succession. Which sends three huge projectiles flying straight at Zenos, each one hitting like a train before exploding powerfully enough to leave a small mushroom cloud in its wake!
Nova Terra	The shimmering of Nova's cloak only lasts for a few moments after she fires, presenting only a short window in which to identify her precise location. Given Marti's condition and the nature of the parting shot, it would seem he's not able to capitalize on that brief time with his Persona. Nova disappears from view once more, The Man's flames washing over her former position with no apparent effect. There is no counterattack though. No attempt to finish off Marti. He was not Nova's objective here, which means he is free to leave. Now, what was she doing again? Oh that's right, trying to spy on the scientists. Sneak. Sneak. Sneak.
Alexis	A pokeball is briefly flicked to retrieve the downed bird and bounces back into Alexis' hand. Then quips, "You're the one that asked," back to Zenos. Though dang, that armor is good, they didn't make much of a mark on him. "You don't like the answer, too bad. Not everyone is out to just stop down everyone else, clanky pants." That's about all of the snappy retort she gets out before the winds kick up. The tails of her overcoat flutter in the blast as she holds up an arm trying to shield herself from some of the snow and debris being kicked up, but it's not enough and she ends up tumbling over backwards to slam into one of the swords. That's going to be a nasty gash against her back, but thank Mew it wasn't something nastier like her spine. Having a lower profile and better traction with his clawed paws her Rockruff manages to weather out the wind a bit better. Though seeing Alexis get blasted backwards into one of the blades is arguably worse than it happening to himself. The canine growls. First his eyes glow a bit, then the stoney knobs decorating the collar of fur around his neck also do. And Zenos isn't the only one that can drop things out of the sky, as Rock type powers manifest several large stones and let them drop heavily towards the armored man.
Zero	Loqi busts out of his ride armor and attempts to stab the reploid known as Zero. There are people who would laugh at someone trying to attempt that, but it works. Sort of. Zero attempts to side step the attack, and is rewarded with a blade piercing through his left side, exposing some of his inner circuitry and mechanisms and revealing to the man that his opponent was in fact, not human. Though truthfully, he probably could have already guessed that. Zero grimaces a bit, but the pain doesn't seem to slow him down too much, rather he takes the chance to retaliate by swiftly bashing the butt end of his saber's hilt into the man's face in an attempt to catch him off guard. And maybe knock out a few teeth too, but mainly to catch him off guard before following up with a diagonal slash against the man's armored chest.
Deelel	Deelel cooks off another bomb thankfully before it gets he and things do seem to be working out well enough for her, but she is starting to show signs of wear and tear from all the attack she's taken but she is still standing then comes something she does not expect. As the horde is getting smaller and smaller with each kill and half about it is gone. The Imps are going down crumbling and a yeti? What the heck is this thing? The strange thing is coming after Deelel and does hit her. She goes skidding across the combat zone leaving herself beaten dazed as she gets back to her feet. "Oh so you guys do have some game, all right then." Deelel will pull something off her hip it looks like a hockey puck and then she lobs at the Yeti. "CATCH!" Catch or not? Should the thing hit it the light charge will detonate in a controlled explosion hopefully doing some damage to the Yeti and giving her some more time to set up something far more effective.
Zenos yae Galvus	The bullet bills fly directly at Zenos, and there is a momentary flash in his eyes. He moves swiftly into a defensive stance, no longer moving in a slow Jason-like motion. The sword is bright down, aiming to try and parry the blow. To a degree, this is effective, two of the bills are sent wide, while the third crashes head-on. There is an explosion, but afterward, the Garlean walks through the smoke. The armor is damaged considerably now. The helmet blown away in the attack. His face is a beautiful one, long blond hair hangs at his sides, and a strange pearl-like stone sits on his forehead. "I will admit that you are slightly better than I gave you credit for. I suppose I can show you something interesting. Let us see if you are special enough to survive it." However, massive rocks fall from the sky. Zenos continues to move through them. Even as they catch his shoulders, and nearly cause him to fall to a knee, he still continues to march forward. The armor has seen better days at this point. Blood runs down parts of it...but it's like he's somehow pushing beyond human limits. "Your answer is disappointing like you are," he says dismissively towards her. "You are interfering in an issue that involves your betters. Your reasons for fighting are as hollow as your words. You bare your teeth at the preditor, for you are afraid and have no other choice. Very well..." Zenos brings the sword up and then jams it into the ground. From him the ground starts rumbling and splitting apart, energy surging through it in all directions. This is followed by an explosion of energy, the force of this simply attack is massive, and with it brings a wave of debilitation. Should this hit... It would feel like all strength to fight is drained. "Withstand this!"
Aranea Highwind	Riku compresses the Flan into a ball of Flan with GRAVITY AND DARKNESS, the greatest weapons in his cutting edge arsenal. It is lobbed at Aranea, who runs it through immediatly, the Daemon dissolving into that red, purple and black miasma. Riku's sudden teleportation is a bit harder to deal with, though - credit to Aranea, she manages to turn around in time to smash her spear against his sword, but the blow still sends her spinning off to the side, before a burst of red light from her spear immediatly rights her and sends up UP! Back on the ground, Loqi is having much, much worse luck. Cool magitek armor and a sword are not a replacement for frontline experience, and Zero isn't exactly the average soldier to begin with. Zero breaks his teeth in, quite literally, sending Loqi to the ground. He rumbles, furious, like a child throwing a tantrum. "You dare! YOU DARE LAY A HAND ON ME?!" It's a bit slurred because of all the blood in his mouth. And then Loqi is surrounded by Heartless. "FFFFFUCK!" He slams his right vambrace. The MA-X Cuirass roars to life, remote-piloted. It unleashes a hail of lead and missiles towards Loqi, Zero and the Heartless, with enough precision that Loqi is in fact unharmed. RIP the Heartless though. Deelel sends a blast of light, and the yeti Daemon slams into the snow, hard. It clings on to life, barely! Barely. Enough to swing one of its massive arms towards Deelel, because what else is it going to do from the ground? Aranea, at the apex of her jump, glances down. She twirls her spear, sets her foot on the large magitek head, and then bolts straight down towards Riku, with all the force she can manage, and red lightning backing the spear up! But she doesn't stop there. If she can get a good bounce off Riku, she ricochets like a deadly bullet, straight for Deelel and then, begrudgingly (because she likes seeing Loqi put in his place) for Zero as well, likely intercepting a few Heartless along the way.
Aranea Highwind	Nova, freed of having to fight a Sheriff, has a nice view of the scientists essentially LOSING THEIR SHIT because wow this is NOT GOING AS PLANNED and THESE PEOPLE NEED TO LEAVE and OUR SAMPLES ARE ALL DYING THIS IS AWFUL. Among other, similar reactions. From what she can gather, they were planning to incite aggression between Heartless and Daemons to see what would happen. Well, evidently, heroes is what happens.
Deelel	Pain, that is one thing she does understand when it comes to things in common with humans and other beings of flesh. Pain is bad and she agrees she tries to avoid but it's too late for her to deal Aranea Highwind and by her User does it hurt. She also gets the demon's stomp and Deelels not looking so goods. She seems to have had about enough from the look on her face and she'll spring into action. She tracks all the targets in the combat zone. She then springs into action she lets loose a barrage of bolt and fire spells as she goes. That's just the warm-up as she will rush at the Yeti and flip into their to hammer it with her Keyblade several times and if she can pull it off she'll break off and make a run for Highwind, she's not a dragoon herself but she is fast and fairly agile and she will make a go-to engage Aranea with the Keyblade and will mix in an aero spell into her assault before she'll attempt to break off.
Nova Terra	Nova has gathered enough information to cure her of her curiosity. She doesn't see much reason to get involved in the battle that's still taking place. Having no current beef with either side, nor any issues with what the Niflheimers were doing. So she quietly makes her away out of the base once more. It's as if she was never here, as it should be for a Ghost. Except for that whole shooting the sheriff thing.
Sarracenia	Sarracenia is taken aback when Zenos loses his helmet. Sure, she's seen his face before, but it is still striking compared to his armor's fearsome and somewhat grotesque appearance. She frowns though when he only admits that she is slightly better than he thought. How is he still so unphased? She grits her teeth a bit and grips her hammer more firmly. "I am Princess Sarracenia Sundew, Crown Princess of the Sundew Kingdom! And you will recognize my greatness!" But, it seems it won't be today. That wave of debilitation hits and...Sarracenia lets out a yelp before falling to a knee. "Wh-what...just happened?" she manages weakly, only staying upright by leaning on the haft of her hammer. "J-just what are you?" she asks Zenos. She looks over at Alexis after that. "Alexis...!" It seems like Sarra was trying to shout dramatically, but in her weakened state she only manages a soft exclamation.
Riku	Aranea is a powerful opponent, this much is to be sure. As dangerous or moreso than a greater Heartless, a match for many of the threats he deals with. However, she is the enemy. He can't afford to get off track. As Aranea launches into the air, Riku clenches his teeth. "You're not going to!" He yells, blurring through another Cooridor... And the moment Aranea engages her deadly leap, Riku is /right there in her face/, lashing out. The air flares with crimson lightning and shadow as Riku and Aranea bounce off each other repeatedly, Riku hitting a wall and skidding along it as the destructive strike rips behind him, running as if gravity was shifted... And then her bolts off the wall to crash right back in against Aranea, weapons hammering together... And then the spear rips past his guard, cutting a deep slash into his chest. Riku yells, falling back as Aranea kicks off of her to continue her deadly combo attack as he slams into the ground. But it doesn't end there. The moment Aranea's attack ends, she feels the shadow wrap around her, grabbing her tight as Riku grips in the air, his shadow stretching across the battleground... "POWER!" Riku yells, energy writhing around him as he turns and /hurls/ Aranea into the air. One might think this would be an idiotic move. she's a Dragoon, the air is /her/ domain. But Riku launches upwards, Corridors of Darkness opening up throughout the air as he blurs, vanishing into one with a quick lunge. Suddenly Riku is lunghing out of another one, striking at Aranea in a passing slash only to duck into another. Then he's attacking from another angle, repeating the attack from another direction. And another. and another, Riku getting faster and faster as the sky crackles with light and darkness, the Eidolon interspersing blasts of Darkness to keep things unpredictable and keep Aranea from settling into a groove. Finally, he ends hanging above, Soul Eater in hand with his Eidolon overlaying him, a visage twisted and terrible as the power spikes. "NOW FALL!" He yells, lashing downwards as he blasts a meteoric, annihilating sphere of Darkness straight down to carry Aranea right back to the ground.
Alexis	Alexis grunts as she digs her hand into the ground to push herself back up. "Y'know." She pauses to spit something out of her mouth, it's hard to tell if it's grit or blood or possibly a bit of both. "That high horse you're sitting on would maybe mean more if you don't have to compensate by constantly pointing it out." Despite the snappy attitude her head is ringing and she knows this fight isn't going so well. Okay, so he's not entirely wrong about her just butting into it. Not that she'd admit it out loud. Nor would she really care about whatever he's got to say. He can posture and talk smack all he wants, Sarracenia IS her friend and that's all that matters. Other people don't like it? Too bad. That said, it looks like he's powering up something nasty. She needs to improvise fast. "Fuck. Howlinger, Stone Edge defense!" The little rockhound growls as he focuses on the ground again. Part of it in front of him rips upward not from the explosions but from the series of jagged spikes bursting out of it to form a wall of stone in front of him and his Trainer. Which the explosion tears into with little trouble. It obliterates the makeshift barrier, sending rock and ice flying in every direction. It does absorb the worst of the direct impact, but the resulting shockwave of blasting through the stone wall is still enough to send anyone reeling. Not to mention the stone shrapnel. Alexis kinda didn't consider that in the urgency of the situation. Poor Rockruff took the worst of it though, and even being a Rock type he doesn't have the defense to avoid being knocked silly. Sarracenia's call doesn't go unheard though. From the cascading cloud of dust and rubble resulting from the explosion bursts an elegant form. It's dragonic and sleek, though with wings like one would expect to see on a giant insect rather than a dragon. There's also a pink haired, barely conscience Alexis slumped over her back. The Flygon buzzes over to grab Sarracenia as well, and then makes a, pardon the bug pun, beeline for the Princess's airship with both battered girls.
Zenos yae Galvus	"Pointless," Zenos says to Alexis as she tries to defend. However, when it was over he only regards her and her words with a shake of his head. He does not move from his position, even as wounds ALREADY seem to be healing. "See, the issue is that you think I am simply lording my power over you. I was hoping to be proven wrong. Your power is disappointing, your moralizing and attempts to puff yourself up is even more disappointing." Towards Sarracenia, he looks at her and says simply, "Powerful. I see potential, but you are not ready yet. Go, get stronger. Obtain power, and challenge me again. Or else.." he says, turning away and walking back towards a transport. "You really are as weak as you fear."
Zero	"I see. So it was your ride armor. Can't say I'm actually shocked." Despite clearly not being in the best shape himself, Zero can't help but talk smack, if only because it seems to actually get under this man's skin. It's taken him a while to figure it out, but assuming that this man in front of him is a living being, and given the fact they're bleeding, they probably are, it's safe to guess that the shadowy creatures they're keeping here don't much care for robots. That's pretty good for Zero, but not so great for Loqi. As the pitch black creatures appear, the reploid focus seems to change to them. As pathetic as the person he's fighting is acting, he doesn't deserve to get ganged up on. That ceases to be a problem though when the giant mech that Loqi was previously riding decides to fire a deluge of missiles. Of course it can do that. Why wouldn't it be able to do that. He's a fool for not even thinking it could do that. Well, good news is that the third wheeling monsters are dead, bad news is that now Zero is playing a bullet hell. Gritting his teeth, Zero decides to just power through the explosions as best he can, avoiding whatever possible as he aims to close the gap between him and his opponent. It works as well as one would imagine, large splotches of paint are scoffed or outright vaporized revealing bare metal while small chunks of the reploid's outer shell are blown off to showcase more of his robotic innards. Despite this, he doesn't slow down, nor can he really afford to now, given that stopping would probably mean he'd be fully blasted to bits. By the time he reaches Loqi however, there'd be something noticeably different about the blade of his sword, which was probably hidden thanks to the LOUD NOISES and smoke caused by all the explosions. The Z-Sword was humming extremely loud, and green particles surrounded the triangular blade. It was if Zero had charged the blade. Actually, that's exactly what what he did. And now he's bringing it down against Loqi in the exact same spot he had hit last time, expending the charged up energy and empowering his strike even more.
Aranea Highwind	The yeti was down to begin with; it's in no shape to take another barrage to the face. With how Deelel spreads her blasts out, it even catches a few of the Bombs left that were headed straight at her, and the pile of Daemons just breaks apart into that awful, weird miasma. Aranea, meanwhile, is not actually used to fighting someone who can use weird, esoteric powers to match her zipping around in the air. Even a few brief encounters with members of the Kingsglaive hadn't proved all that problematic - but Riku's use of those Corridors is hard to keep track of. Harder than a thrown weapon, that's for sure. Blows are traded several times. Aranea wounds Riku, and in response he locks her in darkness and sends her crashing down into the ground hard. It seems to be quite painful, especially since she hands on the last surviving Imp, all by his lonesome. And Loqi. Poor Loqi. Luckily for HIS FACE, when Zero's strike comes, the MA-X Cuirass extends one of its incredibly long arms to intercept the blade. It loses that arm, but it gives Loqi just enough time to crawl away like the beaten sidekick he is, at which point the magitek armor sparks and falls down, energy spent. Perhaps one might then notice the ring is devoid of further Heartless or Daemon activity. Aranea heaves herself back up, laughing. "Well, that was fun. But it looks like my job here is done. I recommend you lot turn tail and run before reinforcements show up, but I doubt they'll keep this place running after this." It wasn't a stationary base, after all. Aranea's spear vanishes, and she leaps towards Loqi, to pick him up before he goes and gets himself killed by the weather or something.
Deelel	Deelel has finished off the Yeti, and that is good for her as she had to keep fighting it and Aranea it would be pretty bad for her even now though things are looking not so good for her Aranea is one hell of a Dragoon. Finally, though she will notice there are no monsters left and she'll lower her weapon. "You gave me a workout. Nothing personal I hope and love the fashion." With that Deelel will banish her keyblade, summon a baton. It forms wireframes out from her and it rapidly takes shape into a small jet, which she claims on to, and it takes off into the sky it's time to get the heck out of here.
Riku	Everything ends explosively and murderously. The Heartless and daemons are gone. Riku hits the ground, energy expended in trying to push Aranea to this point. Slowly, he stands, breathing, and he nods to the mercenary. "See you around." He says to the merc, and then stares at Deelel for several moments before turning away, a Corridor opening as he walks through. This time, he won't be reappearing here.
Zero	Zero doesn't pursue Loqi or Aranea as they retreat, instead he simply falls to one knee. He's not winded or anything, robots can't be winded, but he's definitely feeling a bit low on energy. The injuries he built up over the fight also weren't really helping. Fumbling through his red vest, he manages to produce a container of something, and with a press of a button he glows a pale yellow for a brief moment. Whatever it was, it seemed to give him a second wind of some sort. Enough for him to stand back up, but that's about it. His injuries are still all there. "Mission accomplished. Returning home." He mutters these words to seemingly himself as he begins the process of leaving the facility. The monsters are gone, so his job is done here.