Scene #7109: What I Do, I Do For Friendship

Owner	Pose
Terra	How long has it been since they've found out? Weeks? Months? For Terra, keeping track of time is hard sometimes, but he knows he hasn't stopped tracking Riku since that day. Tracking him. He's riding his glider as usual. Across a rather barren rocky wasteland. Up until he comes across the group. That group. He doesn't know the details of how they've been following him. Perhaps they'll explain, perhaps they won't. He doesn't really care. The vehicle comes to an abrupt stop as they dismount. A massive man in bronze armor approaches the three before pausing. There's a long, awkward silence, and given how their face is obscured, it's hard to tell if he's even looking at them. Eventually he speaks however, his voice firm. "Last chance. Turn back, or you're with him."
Sumiko	A few hours before the fight. Mikoto throws around the battlefield a few mirrors. Right now? Mikoto standing with her friends. "You know, you give a lot of last chances, Sign. However, as I said before I owe Seifer a bit for taking care of me in the Concord. That and I like Riku more than I like you." With that Mikoto summons her soul crystal. There is a flash, as the magical girl light shines through the area, as it crashes up in a spike of Jade around her. Her clothes first crystalize as jade themselves, before shattering into their fabric counterparts, including the mask over her face. In front of her she holds a hand out as a chunk of Jade shoots up into it, before it shatters into the sword. "You see Sign. My friends are precious to me. They are mine, and I have an issue when I see punks like you take away something from me that is /mine/. So get it through your head, you come to take my possessions, and I'll make sure you walk away regretting your choices. It does not matter if it's wealth, luxury, or my friends and allies." With that, Mikoto seems to walk into one of the nearest Mirrors close to her. And out she comes from two nearby. Yes, two Mikoto's try and jump out of mirrors on either side of Terra, attempting to sink their blades into him. "Surprise!" they shout in unison as annoying KH bosses do.
Staren	Rean and Mikoto get a ride on Staren's spaceship. The inside, at least the bottom deck, is a mix of medieval and futuristic decor; if they avail themselves of snacks and such, the rest is more turn-of-the-millenium contemporary-looking. An intercept location is plotted and the ship races through space. Staren is in a robot body again, although he's got a big white coat over it, military-styled. He's offered the others any armor, forcefields, weapons, or flight potions they'd like. When they get close enough... "Now!" Staren races to the teleport pad and beams down. So it is that Terra knows he's been followed when three beams of light hit the ground up ahead, then resolve into the group that's decided to stop him today. Staren sighs as he hears those words. "You know who we're with. Seifer and Riku deserve a chance to become friends again." He makes a wide, sweeping motion with his arm. "With all the suffering in the Multiverse... we spend our days blasting and killing to help people, but if that's the only way problems are solved, it will be a dark Multiverse indeed. If we can give people a chance to try to solve their problems a better way... perhaps there's hope for a brighter Multiverse." Staren drops his arm to his side again. "I don't know if you care about that; I know you're determined, and I'm sorry that this is going to be frustrating for you. But if giving Seifer a chance to choose friendship over bullying and killing people means fighting you... then I choose friendship." "Maybe one day we can be friends with you, too." As Mikoto charges in, Staren dramatically throws off his coat. Panels open all over his robot body and spindly arms stick out with plates of armor, setting them and a helmet in place. He has his arm pointed towards Terra -- more panels open in the armor and a pair of gatling guns on surprisingly sturdy spindly arms stick out and unload, seemingly endless belts of ammunition feeding into them from an extradimensional space.
Rean Schwarzer	Rean Schwarzer, also known as Sword Idiot Number 807, is here, waiting for Terra to show up. One way or another, they've been following him following Riku. A bunch of stalkers following a stalker. ...That sounded kind of bad actually. Anyway, Terra shows up, and gives them one last warning. "With Riku? Of course we are." Rean says, drawing his sword. "I don't know /what/ your problem is with him, but this ends here. I want those two to have a chance to sort out their problems without hurting each other they way they have been until now. If it means having to fight you, then fine." He then looks between Mikoto and Staren and smiles. "Besides, I've already thrown in my lot with both Riku and these two, so it's a bit too late for last chances." Redundant, maybe given Staren's speech. But at least this friendshippy Staren was less of a pain to listen to. Rean rushes in, striking at Terra from all angles as he rushes at him again and again, following up with a sword strike each time.
Terra	There's no words spoken as the party refuses his ultimatum and attack. In an instant, the vehicle that they came on vanishes in a wisp of light, their once empty hands now firmly grasping on to a key-shaped blade. Mikoto attempts to attack Terra from two angles, meeting with modest success. Though the duplicate is easily dealt with via a simple parry and counter attack, it leaves the real one a chance to land a blow from behind. There's a solid shunk as her blade squeezes past armor plating and clearly pierces flesh underneath, but his response is anything but human. Terra grabs on to the blade with a free hand, before simply slamming the guard of his weapon into the face of the magical girl behind him. Given that he doesn't even turn around to acknowledge her, it probably feels extremely impersonal. Success or no, he begins vanishing in and out in flashes of light to avoid Staren's gunning attempts, bullets glancing and piercing parts of his armor, riddling it with scratches and bullet holes until he's face to face with the cat man. There's a weird, non action from the knight as they simply hold out their blade, before suddenly a blinding slash is performed in the blink of the eye and they're now standing behind them. If there was ever a time to sheathe their weapon, now would be the moment, but unfortunately keyblades don't have sheathes. There's also Rean who would also completely ruin that moment as well. He gets several well placed slashes in, up until he triggers Terra's revenge values. He suddenly warps out mid combo, retaliating by transforming his keyblade into a strange, shield-like object. It's not a shield though, as when he goes to slam the object into the boy's backside, a magical drill manifests right before the moment of impact.
Sumiko	The hand grabbed the blade, which was both daring and unexpected. Mikoto pulls back, trying to get control of her blade, and just in the nick of time she does. The blade gets in the way of the head, but this still manages to smash the metal into her face, without being a direct hit on her. She flies back, skidding to a halt. Alright, this was going to be annoying, she thinks to herself, but whatever. Spinning the blade away as a free hand wipes away some blood that had started to trickle down her forehead she maneuvers her clone to the front of Terra, while she stayed behind him. Both clone and real Mikoto thrust their sword into the air, as a magical symbol appeared on the ground. The green light forming a beast in front of them. Two elephants stamped out of the magic symbols, attempting to charge Terra from two separate directions.
Staren	"Man of few words, huh? C'mon, for a fight like this we at least need some--" Staren sees Terra preparing SOME sort of attack and starts to try to leap back out of range, but -- too slow. A gouge appears across Staren's side, multiple layers of armor rent through and baring wires and interlocking tiny metal bits. Staren stumbles back. "Ghh!" He turns to face Terra, but Rean's going in and getting Teleports behind u'd and drilled. Staren suddenly sprouts wings of energy from his back, not actually touching him, but they seem to affect him, buzzing like an insect and assisting his thrusters in helping him make a quick, sharp movement to try and get behind Terra in turn while he's attacking Rean! Staren just... punches, aiming for the small of the back. There's robot strength behind it, but the real attack is the electricity suddenly coursing through them! "Teamwork! It makes the dream work! See what working with friends can accomplish?"
Rean Schwarzer	Terra suddenly warps out of Rean's vision as the two fight, and having learned from the fight with Riku, Rean opens his senses to see if he can find Terra and avoid whatever he was up to. 'There!' Rean shifts his positioning as Terra appears behind him, narrowly avoiding the drill shield attack. That would've been nasty if that hit him. He retaliates, igniting his sword and making a strike at Terra's arms, trying to knock the shield out of his hands, or at least injure his arms. He can't help but let out a snicker at Staren though. Even if he's the last person who should be laughing at things like that.
Terra	Rean delivers a flaming slash at Terra's arms, knocking the keyblade from the knight's hand and causing him to look at the Thor's student as if he's about to say something. Nothing is said though, rather, they just retaliate with a well placed punch at their head, enough power behind the attack to probably rattle all their bones should it connect. It gives Staren more than enough time to slap him on the back with a punch, delivering a current that shakes him for a moment, right before the previously thought to be lost keyblade finds itself in their hands again in a flash of light. He spins around, slashing down at the cat with surprising deftness before vanishing away to deal with Mikoto's nonsense. The blade in his hand is gone again, as he chooses to tackle the two charging elephants head on. The nobody skids back a bit, clearly struggling as his bones creak and crack. But they eventually come to a halt, and soon, he's lifting them off slightly off the ground to throw back at the magical girl. There's no funny retort when he throws them back either, unless you really want to count the strained noises he made.
Sumiko	The elephants are thrown back at her and her clone. The clone shatters upon being hit, while Mikoto herself is buried under the phantasmal creature. The thing vanishes a moment later as Mikoto is flattened against the ground. Slowly picking herself up, she growls a little. Pulling herself finally forward, she draws the blade down, as a shadow passes over her face. The eyes that come out from said shadow are green, monstrous eyes. She does not plan now, instead, she just rushes forward towards Terra. Disregarding her own pain, she attempts to face the man directly. Swinging her blade in an overhead fashion, attempting to try and crush through his armor and send him flying. She follows, aiming to try and leap on him from the sky, and come crashing down like a missile.
Staren	Staren raises his other arm to parry the keyblade -- it slices across his armor, but at a bad angle, leaving a huge scar of shiny silver standing out against the red paint. Then he has to leap back, wings buzzing again, to get out of the way of the elephants. "Nothing to say? Come on, man. I'm aware of the irony of fighting you while talking about friendship, but you're not really giving us any other choices here. I really do want to help /everyone/. I'm not saying Seifer and Riku deserve happiness, but you don't. What future are you fighting for? How is the world going to be better after you kill Riku?" As Terra struggles with the elephants, Staren holds out his arm again. This time the weapons that come out fire a pair of tiny missiles, which airburst and turn into lances of hotter-than-molten metal in midair, headed straight for Terra! "...Besides the obvious, I mean. It'd be nice to not have to listen to him on the radio, noone's saying it wouldn't be. But I'm hoping that maybe... maybe if he can be friends with Seifer and Sora again, he'll become less annoying."
Rean Schwarzer	Rean raises his sword to block Terra's punch, but there's enough force behind the hit that the student just takes both tachi and fist to the face. He lets out a grunt, staggering back. Staren is...still talking at Terra. "...Hey, Staren. I don't think he's listening." Rean says. He rushes Terra from the opposite direction of Mikoto, striking with enough speed that his single strike becomes many. This also would put him closer to Mikoto's position, able to follow up if she needs it. The look on her face is familiar, and if she's starting to flag, she'd need it soon.
Terra	Powerful sword strikes and missiles strike the nobody, sending them flying back. They eventually stop themselves from flying off out of view though, grabbing hold of the ground below to catch themselves before warping back to the group in a flash of white. There's various cracks, holes, and dents in his armor at this point, though probably the most stand out thing about them at the moment is that there's a sizable hole in his helmet. A single blue eye stares at the three, and for the first time since the beginning, he actually speaks. "One day..." There's barely contained anger in the man's voice. He draws his weapon once more, before thrusting it into the ground with enough force to embed it into the rocky soil. "One day, I will set this right." The ground shakes, and soon numerous spikey spires of pure rock erupt from underneath the group's feet, attempting to skewer them.
Sumiko	The spikes erupt under Mikoto and company, and she twists to try and roll out of the way in time. She is rewarded with only being smacked across the side, instead of impaled. Rolling across the ground she desperately tries to flip to her feet, but she's hurting badly. That same expression is still in her eyes, but looking at those blue eyes and hearing those words... She grips her sword. No, he is trying to take from her. /From her/. Again, they always take and take from her. Not anymore. "NOT ANYMORE!" she booms, and jams her blade into the ground, as jade spikes rip out of the ground to attempt to impale Terra where he stood.
Staren	"Set what right? What Riku did, or us having to fight here?" Staren asks. He sees Terra doing SOMETHING, and puts up his forcefield... the rock spikes pierce through it, and into his armor as well, breaking through the outer plates and denting his metal skin in ways that would crush organs if he were human. It's still not... exactly GOOD, but he can still fight. As he pulls himself free of the spikes, it's clear the very tips pierced the skin too, exposing more sparking electronics. He takes a breath. "I was hoping you'd talk. That maybe there'd be a chance, even one in a thousand, of us reaching an understanding. But if you shut everyone out... even a one hundred percent chance drops to ZERO!" He throws up his arms in an expansive gesture as missile launchers ready to fire. "We're just going to have to pound you into the ground so that Seifer gets a chance to talk to his friend." A half-dozen minimissiles arc through the air and rain down on Terra, exploding with disproportionate force for their size thanks to advanced technology.
Rean Schwarzer	Rean listens to Terra's words and files that away for now. Set what right, indeed. What happened? Several pillars of stone come out of the ground and scrapes against Rean's shoulder, cutting into his uniform jacket, and scraping into skin. "Ugh..." Rean mumbles. Mikoto is still freaking out a little, and Rean moves to her side. "...We're still here. You won't lose us that easily." Rean says, taking a stab at whatever is eating Mikoto. "It'll take more than this to take us all down!" Speaking of stabbing, Rean goes in after the spikes and missiles, sword blazing. He makes two diagonal slashes at Terra, and then a third horizontal slash aimed for across his body.
Terra	Mikoto desperately attempts to stab through Terra, which prompts them to react. Much like last time, they don't bother with moving out of the way, but there's now a clear attempt to stop the attack. An armored hand reaches out to grab the weapon, the blade sliding between some of the gaps and drawing blood, though much like last time, they don't seemingly care. They quickly yank the girl in close before shoving them aside with inhuman might, attempting to rid of the nuisance as they turn their attention towards Staren and Rean. The missiles come and strike down on them, followed by Rean's blazing slash. They stagger back once more, before disappearing in a whisp of light. Once the dust settles, both of them would find that Terra is now completely without armor, the remains of it strewn across the battlefield. He's also without his keyblade, again. In it's place, he's haphazardly holding a massive cannon over his shoulder, a blue light being emitted from the end of its barrel as it charges up, and then fires. A streak of blue and white flies across the battlefield, towards both the cat boy and the Thor's student.
Sumiko	Mikoto's assault stops the moment Rean drops by her. Reminding her that she isn't alone and they're not gone yet. She can't stop, not now, but she does give a nod to Bean. However, in that moment of distraction, she's yanked close to Terra, before being thrown like a ragdoll away. She hits the ground and rolls, finally stopping. She can't move anymore and finally passes out.
Staren	Mikoto's tossed aside and stops moving. Staren knows she's not dead, but she's clearly out of the fight. His expression hardens. The missile launchers go away, and panels open all over his body, out popping armatures with all sorts of guns -- gatling, rail, laser, particle beam... An arsenal that would take multiple squads of high-tech soldiers to match is aimed at Terra. And then Terra fires. Staren tries to put up his forcefield reflexively, but it's already gone. The beam engulfs him... ...and leaves what at first appears a burnt and blackened husk. The outer armor is almost completely slagged, and so are a fair number of the guns. As Staren moves, soot falls off, and the armatures struggle to move, one or two disappearing back into the pocket dimension but many half-melted, spindly arms stuck in extension. Parts of his metal skin crumble away, where it's oxidized to become brittle and paper-thin. As he rushes to Mikoto's side, what's left of Staren's helmet crumbles away. The synthskin face is intact, if a little scorched around the edges. He kneels by her side to check her soul gem, then looks from Terra to Rean. "I didn't mean for her to burn so much of her magic... I just hope we bought Seifer enough time..."
Rean Schwarzer	Rean smiles when Mikoto nods. It seems to have calmed her down a little. And then Terra uses that as an opening to throw her away. "Mikoto!" Rean shouts, his eyes following her as she goes flying. ...She's not moving. She had to be ok, right? As long as her Soul Gem didn't break, she'd be fine, right?! He moves to go check on her, but then he hears the sound of something drawing power, and turns towards Terra, right as he fires. Rean braces for the attack, and the laser burns him, scorching his jacket and skin as he's engulfed in light. As it fades, Rean falls to his knees and just sits there. For a moment, it looks like he's knocked out too. But, like he said, they weren't done yet. "...Get her out of here." Rean says to Staren, slowly rising to his feet. "If she's burnt a lot of magic, she can't be near me when I do this." Rean winces as he places a hand over his heart, as a flare of darkness surrounds him. His appearance shifts, and he's got the same look on his face Mikoto did a moment ago. Rean ignites his sword again, this time it being engulfed in shadowy flames. In a flash he's in Terra's face, slashing at him from as many angles as possible before finally slamming that burning sword into the keyblade knight's face, over and over again. He'd be damned if he just let this guy continue on to go hurt Riku or Seifer after he'd already hurt Mikoto. Turns out, Mikoto and Rean did have something else in common. Neither of them could stand having the things they care about taken from them. She was just the one who knew it on a conscious level.
Staren	When Rean gives that warning, Staren and Mikoto immediately beam up, turning into bolts of energy and shooting into the sky. Hopefully Rean will contact them and confirm; but if he doesn't, Staren will wait a few seconds and then start trying to get a lock on Rean and beam him up too; it should be possible once Rean's out of combat. The erchius /knows/, somehow, when it's dramatically appropriate to work, and refuses to beam anyone out of a situation they couldn't escape themselves. (Being unconscious but left alone long enough for Staren to go get them counts.)
Terra	Terra's too tired to move outside of bringing his keyblade to his face as Rean moves in to attack over and over. And over. And over. Though his face is well guarded, the rest of him isn't. Even if he's naturally resiliant, his clothes are cut into burnt rags in an instant, and for a moment, there's uncertainty if he can even survive the onslaught as he's covered in deep cuts. But if he loses, he wins. The fire of anger within burns bright within him once more, and as Rean attempts one final thrust towards his face, Terra quickly slaps it away with his weapon, redirecting it towards his stomach. There's an audible squelching noise as it pierces through, though Terra ignores the pain, instead taking the moment to look the teenager in the eyes. "I will return to this land..." He doesn't elaborate on what he just said. Rean doesn't even get a chance to ask. Terra just slams his head full force into theirs, attempting to knock them out before tossing them aside. "And protect my friends." The damage is done though, and he limps to the side, kneeling down as he plants his weapon into the ground to lean his head against. The remains of his armor reappear on top of him as he does this. He needs to rest. Just for a bit. He'll definitely be fit to move before any of them are capable of moving in any meaningful capacity, but at least they succeeded in what they set out to do. They stalled the mad man, and all it costed them was a date with the floor.
Rean Schwarzer	Again Again Again Stop him Don't let him escape Make him pay- /Thud./ Terra slams his head into Rean's and Rean's already flagging stamina finally peters out. He falls onto his back, dropping his sword, and his appearance returning to normal. Welp. Now would be a good time for someone to come get him, maybe?