high_seas | To go with your crew...

Entry tags:

To go with your crew...

Who: Everyone who is fighting in the battle to kill the witch.
Where: The Black Fortress in the East
When: Jan 24th-25th
What: The grand battle to get back what you have lost, get revenge for what was taken, and avert disaster.
Warnings: Language. Death. Victory. Defeat. True love. Miracles.
Style: Text or prose
Status: Open to all

The black fortress ripples with shimmering iridescent energy, the piles of black coral heaped on roped together barges around it, bobbing in the waves. On the largest barge stands a slender man with a copper belt, wearing a face mask, orange red hair flecked with black from ash or dust. As the dawn slowly folds over the ocean, he'll look up, as if hearing some hidden voice.

At the top of the fortress, a figure climbs into vision, a woman, dressed in gray, features obscured by a hood with impenetrable darkness behind it. She staggers a moment as if she is weary, then straightens to her full height. As she speaks, her voice comes out of the journals, echoing over the water, low but clear.

"This is no small task ye do. She that rots within'll do anythin' ta stop ye. Don't hesitate to kill what ye find. If they were human once, they hain't no more. Watch out for her golems, too, or they'll drain ye dry quicker'n a wink. But if ye can get rid of 'em, it'll weaken her." She hesitates, cants her head to the side. "And if ye lot aren't as much of a bunch'a idiots as usual, ye might come out alive through this."

That said, she raises her hands. After a moment so does the man on the barge. For a moment, nothing seems to happen and then iridescent light shimmers over the coral, seeming to match that which surrounds the fortress. It crackles and dances like a fire, and then without warning bursts into a furious life, slamming against the energy of the fortress. There is the sound like thunder and light snaps and crackles, zipping with energy. Then with a woosh the light flies upward, taking the figure with it. The man on the barge lets out a cry like a seagull and dives into the water as if intending to swim after her.

For the boats that remain, a part of the fortress will crumble away into the sea, revealing a small harbor and an open doorway. Enter all ye who dare.

[If things become too crowded, feel free to make another thread outside of these. Just put where you are in the header.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Draco...was still hanging back outside of the room for a moment. Who would've thought that being involved in a bloody huge zombie war would be so exhausting? This was definitely something he was going to have to work on. Though, how, he wasn't sure.

But that wasn't important right now. He'd been dallying long enough, and while he was reasonably certain the rest of his crew didn't actually need his help as they all seemed to be fully capable fighters, he still figured he could at least pretend to be useful.

Being a burden wasn't a very appealing option, surprisingly.

Wand gripped tight in his hand, he leaned around the doorway and tried to make heads or tails of the situation. He couldn't see just what they were fighting, and so assumed whatever it was must be farther into the room. Instead, his eyes darted around to Sasuke and Itachi, then over to where their captain was standing in front of a huge hole in the wall.

Really, there was a door.

Then he found Link. And the sword in his hand.

He stared.

That sword.

He had to have to have it.

If he was back home, he would've instantly demanded that his father buy it for him at once. But alas, that wasn't the case, so Draco was just going to have to take care of this himself.

He lifted his wand, pointed it right at Link, and shouted:

"ACCIO SWORD!"

It took Futo a bit of time to arrive to the scene, so she wasn't there for Marvelous' spectacular entry. Instead she was there just in time to see Draco, though she was still unaware of what was happening inside the room.

"Should you not keep to somewhere safer?" Children and students should not be thrown into battle, until it was deemed they were ready enough.

Though as she spoke she entered the room only to witness his spell, and the brightness of the light that shown above. What were they fighting? The disembodied voice of Itachi from the questionable artifact had spoken of a magical horse.... Perhaps a kirin? That would explain the brightness. But kirin were divine beasts. The situation was quickly becoming overwhelming and uncertain.

Excellent. And here came Marvelous and his own gaggle. Perhaps a moment or two earlier would have been preferable, but who was Link to complain? But when Sasuke approached him asking, no, demanding for his sword, his grip tightened. He frowned.

"I will use my own blade, Sasuke." It was just as he was about to dash in once again when the sword flew from his hands toward Draco. He took no notice to Celestia's new attack, already taken by the want, the need for his sword. But he recognized the magic boys' abilities when he saw them, by now.

"Coward! Return it!" Empty handed and a sitting duck in this fight, Link's attention was torn between Draco and the horse that had now taken to the air.

Luka brought up an arm to shield herself from the blinding light, crying out as it was effectively filtered and intensified through the visor of her helmet. She let out a cry as she stumbled forward, seeing spots and effectively blinded... as her Gokai Saber flew out of her hands, flying towards Draco.

The wizard hadn't specified which sword, after all.

His eyes narrowed at first, irritation flashing over his expression at Link's refusal -- they clearly had bigger issues to worry about her than who carried what sword, so ... but if they had bigger issues, why did he need to exchange his sword for Link's? What purpose would that serve?

The frown was turning confused when suddenly he heard first Draco's voice and then felt his own sword fly out of his grip, heading point-first at Draco. His uncomprehending gaze watched the arc of it for a second, just long enough that he was looking away from the now-airborne horse's when she attacked. Through the bright light, he saw that Link's sword had flown toward Draco as well, and another --

"Get down!" He yelled at the boy, chakra bursting to his feet as he sprinted towards the flying weapons, aiming to snatch them out of the air before they were stuck with a pincushion instead of a lock-opener.

Itachi glanced up in some confusion at hearing Draco's spell, only to have both of the swords at his waist slip out and fly in that direction also. Then Sasuke was moving, and the idea of his brother running toward the center of a mass of flying weaponry didn't sit well with him at all. His own Susano'o wasn't nearly powerful enough yet to reach out and block them. He had to trust in the other ninja's abilities to protect himself.

Perhaps their opponent would be distracted by this. If she was, it would be a good time to attack. As long as one of the others didn't grab Link's sword in the process... which admittedly was a thought distracting him...

No, he had to focus on her. If she was defeated, then the immediate need for the weapon by others wouldn't be as strong, and he might be able to grab it up in the aftermath. Collar removed, he made a few quick hand symbols and blew out a fireball in the pony's direction.

Celestia rolled to the side neatly; a thousand years of practice made her a fairly decent flyer, after all. That curious summoned creature had blocked her first blast in his direction, so Celestia took a different tactic -- she levitated a large piece of rubble behind Itachi, then flung it at his head with every intent to strike him in the back. If he didn't know it was coming, he could hardly block it this time.

Like Luka, Marvelous was temporarily blinded by the light. And like everyone else, his sword went flying from his grip at about the same time. Blinking spots out of his eyes, he didn't have the luxury of checking to see where his Gokai Saber had went.

He just knew that this damned horse was still trying to kill them, and Itachi in particular at that moment. Growling, he moved further into the chamber, training his gun on her as he trusted the ninja to have enough mobility to get the hell out of the way. He focused as best he could and noticed...

A collar.

With a stone.

"Huh. Neat," he mused to himself, and quickly brought his gun up, firing at her wings as she was busy attacking Itachi. "Hey! Can everyone just FOCUS FOR ONE DAMNED MINUTE?!"

No, seriously, they seemed scattered. What the hell was going on there? But for the moment, he just focused on aiming.

Edited 2014-01-29 06:35 (UTC)

Focus? Ha, not bloody likely, not until he had that sword in his hand.

Draco watched in giddy anticipation as the spell worked, already feeling slightly smug that the sword would soon be his. It came zooming towards him, and—

And so did Luka's. And Sasuke's. Oh, for Merlin's sake, there were like six swords coming at him all of a sudden! Honestly, that was just incredibly unnecessary!

Also pointy.

And probably dangerous.

It took a split second for it to register, for Draco to get past the overwhelming need to be the owner of Link's sword and realize somewhere in the back of his mind that getting out of the way would be a brilliant idea right about now. His eyes widened and he heard someone shouting at him, but it sounded as if the words were coming from underwater and he was too busy ducking back around behind the doorway as quickly as he could to pay them any mind.

Those swords were still going to come to him, though, he'd summoned them after all. Panic seeping in, he slid down the wall until his arse hit the floor, flung his wand hand out in from of him, and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Arresto Momentum!"

...When a beat passed and he hadn't found himself skewered six times over, he cracked an eye open -- only to find all six swords still coming at him.

Luckily, they might as well have been moving through molasses now with all the speed they had.

Well then! Shouldn't be too difficult to hop back up and pluck that sword right out of the air now.

Draco grinned.

Magic was awesome.

Oh for the....

Draco was going to be a burden, and before she could even attempt to assist in the battle with the horned creature she would have to make sure the silly kid didn't kill himself. At least she could trust the others to figure themselves out, at least she hoped.

She took a place in front of Draco, facing towards the swords and holding in her hands a rather unassuming short sword, it almost looked more like a sheathed long dagger. She used the item to trace the outline of a five pointed star, with each point she spoke, and each line in the air took on a soft glow. Her words were quick and no doubt hard to understand. There were mentions of north, south, east, and west along with elements such as fire, earth, metal, water, and wood. As she cast her spell the Futsu no Mitama no Tsurugi which was what the unassuming sword in her hand was took on a faint glow, not something one could really see, but more something they could sense.

After her set up was complete she brought her hands together, sword in hand in a clap and then pushed her right hand forward with a measured 'Ha!', holding the sword pointed upward as she did so as if shoving something hard out from her.

The star pattern flared before seeming to fire something out, but it was too quick to really see, the only thing one could grasp was that each sword, though moving slowly, now stopped and fell to the ground. And though she had been trying to simply cancel Draco's spell, it also canceled Celestias original one.

Attacking Celestia's wings, while not a very bad idea on the surface, had little effect -- the bullets punched through and shredded a couple of the long primary feathers, but she had plenty to spare. She dropped back down to the ground, because transitioning between ground and air was effortless for somepony who had been flying for centuries.

Irritated as she was that her Want-It-Need-It spell had been negated, she nevertheless saw a bright opportunity in Draco's summoning. She quickly hurled a broad Come To Life spell onto the fallen swords, animating them to attack their fellow owners and swirl through her enemies like a whirlwind.

And if Futo tried that same negation again, Celestia would blast her in the middle of it.

The Sharingan granted its owner a powerful set of eyes, capable of seeing and being aware of actions so quickly that to some it might seem as if they see things coming before they happen. It also allowed them a range of vision beyond that of the average ninja. That the rock was behind him made it more difficult, but her look of intent in his direction accompanied by his own keen senses caused him to throw his own Susano'o up around him as he ducked. This sheltered him just enough to avoid serious damage.

With the spell negated, the need for the sword cleared. The desire had been so unlike him that it didn't take much thought to come to the conclusion that his mind had been influenced again. Again. It really upset him that such a thing could happen so easily here. Still, his judgement had been clouded enough. He couldn't allow himself to get angry on top of that.

He had to wonder if it was possible to catch this creature in one of his illusions. Something simple such as displacing his location could work, and she had already looked in his direction so catching her eyes shouldn't be difficult.

Should he keep her attention on him with further attacks, or should he help with the mess the others had made? Itachi was still used to being a solo operative, so he worked on trying to get her to face his way again, shooting several small birds of flame at her from different angles.

Sasuke was already halfway to the swords when Futo cast her counter-spell, and the startled momentum carried him right into their path when he realised that it made no sense for him to need to trade swords with Link -- and the next infuriated realisation that it must have been some kind of control of the mind -- it was only the fact that whatever magic she used to animate the swords reflected as chakra that Sasuke managed to react in time. The purple ribcage flared up around him just before the actual swords completed the path of their intent, metal clanking against solidified chakra as Sasuke whirled around to face the proper enemy again.

Clearly, shinobi techniques couldn't counter her magic, but if the body that controlled the magic were taken out, it would probably amount to the same thing. With their least combat-experienced out of the way, there was room for more damaging jutsu.

Susano'o vanished as Sasuke refocused his chakra, sending out a spray of crackling lightning-needles into the path the horse would need to fly to avoid Itachi's fire. Though not physical, when one buried into the body it wouldn't slice flesh but disrupt electrical signals, interrupting the flow of energy that kept her moving. With any luck, enough would strike that her speed would be affected.

And if she managed to avoid both of their attacks -- hopefully someone else would pick up on barraging her.

Marvelous spared a look to see just what the hell the commotion was behind him when he saw his (or maybe Luka's) Gokai Saber flying back towards him. He didn't have enough time to dodge, and the blade caught him in the shoulder. Sparks flew as he was tossed back, tumbling back a bit, but rolling back into a crouching position. He cursed and grabbed his shoulder for a moment, thankful for whatever protection his suit provided.

How did that work, anyway? ...dammit, no, that was not the time for Sasuke's earlier prying questions.

This was not going to work.

He rolled back to his feet, dodging another blade, chucked his Gokai Gun in Luka's direction without a word, and pulled out his Mobirates and Shinken Red Key.

"GOKAI CHANGE!"

Edited 2014-01-30 05:50 (UTC)

"SHIIINKENGER!"

As kanji flew out over his helmet and his suit began to glow brightly, he threw a hand out and caught a Gokai Saber by the handle. Still not sure which one it was, but it didn't matter, as the saber changed with his suit, and into a very strange looking katana.

Flipping the Shinkenmaru around once, he then sheathed it.

Different sword now, technically. Even if it was a pirated version of it.

Rushing her would only prompt her to go back to the air, Marvelous knew. They couldn't afford to let this drag on, but at the same time he did not want this horse dead.

So he spun around, ducking the other Gokai Saber, and unsheathed the Shinkenmaru. A spin of the disc, and it grew into the giant sword, Rekka Daizantou. He then dropped the handle down on it, forming what now looked like... well, a rather large cannon.

"Rekka Daizantou - Ozutsu Mode!"

Sparing the chance of getting hit with one of the flying swords again, Marvelous took aim - launching one powerful, spinning disc of flame straight up above Celesia. Into the ceiling. An explosion followed, and then rubble descended straight down towards her.

These attacks all had one major flaw -- they came from the front. (Okay, technically Marvelous's came from above, but she still saw it coming.) Celestia planted all four hooves powerfully, then tossed her head back. A spherical shield grew around her, a spell she'd grown much more proficient in thanks to being able to study Shining Armor's. As rocks and fire and electrical needles clattered off it, Celestia poured more power into it, expanding it in a burst that transformed it from shield to shockwave, the better to sweep everyone off their feet and slam them into walls.

Draco was reaching for the sword when suddenly Futo's spell cancelled everything out and they all fell to the ground.

"What, hey!"

A second later, he didn't know why he'd wanted the damn thing so much anyway and realized what must have happened. He glanced in Futo's direction, giving her a brief nod. Probably whatever spell she'd just performed was responsible for snapping him out of his madness. Then he stepped back around the doorway into the room, spotting what they were fighting for the first time.

A...unicorn? Or pegasus. Or both—oh. Oh, he'd spoken to this one before through the journals. Bollocks.

Things seemed like they were on the verge of plunging into chaos, as the swords he'd thought were safe on the ground suddenly sped right past his head again in the opposite direction.

Scowling, he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "OI, DO WE HAVE SOME KIND OF PLAN HERE?!"

Which was about the time that Celestia decided to blast them all into the walls.

Draco cursed, wand coming up as he blurted out, "Protego!" and then spread his arms wide to throw up a shield charm that managed to catch the brunt of the shockwave along the length of the back of room. He skidded backwards from the force of it, but it was better than breaking his back against the stone wall behind him.

Edited 2014-01-30 19:45 (UTC)

Futo was about to yell at Draco to go somewhere else when the shock wave happened. It threw her back, though she managed to avoid getting slammed too hard into the wall by taking flight and using her legs to land in a crouching position against it.

Their opponent was just too strong and they were completely disorganized. The creature also seemed to counter all that came towards her. Very well, Futo would just use something that didn't just come from the front or somewhere easily anticipated.

"Saint Girl 'Sun Goddess's Sacrifice'!" she flew upward to have a more central location before the room began to fill with charms and balls of light. Her crew mates would find they were harmless to them, however Celestia may find each one that touched her stung.

It started off with a pattern of light only to change to sealing charms everywhere going in every direction. Even if her spellcard didn't work, surly it was distraction enough to be focused on.

All this time, Luka had been dealing with her own Gokai Saber trying to attack her. Eventually, she ended up grabbing it out of the air, and stabbing it into the nearest wall, pulling out the cable, and effectively tying it to a nearby pillar.

"NOW STAY THERE!" she said, before turning around and taking aim at Celestia... only to be thrown back by the shockwave she created.

"I am so damn tired of that..." she muttered, as she picked herself up.

Taking aim with her gun and the one given to her by Marvelous again, she began unloading bullets at the winged unicorn.

Marvelous spun the Rekka Daizantou around, slamming it into the ground and breaking through the stone as Celestia's shockwave sent him flying back. He managed to ground himself, and NOT fly right into the wall, but he tore a nice trench through the stone flooring as he did so. He wound up holding onto his weapon with the same arm that had been struck by his saber earlier, and holy hell. That hurt.

Draco was right, they did need a plan... and seeing everything so far, and what she was capable of, seeing they'd have difficulty getting CLOSE...

It was ironic that Draco was the one to bring this up.

"Already got a plan!" he said, regarding the one he just came up with ten seconds before. He yanked the large sword out of the ground, and reverted it into its katana mode. "Everyone, flank her! Hit her from all sides, not just one! Keep her busy! But don't kill her!"

He cocked his head towards Draco. "Meanwhile, you. How close you gotta be for that levitation stuff?" he asked, and pointed to his neck. "I want that collar off that horse."

Plans were good. Being a Slytherin, Draco was rather fond of them. Anything was better than that whole 'charging in blindly' thing, especially if it meant he had a better chance of coming out of this alive.

He held his shield charm in place in case any other attacks came his way, and then glanced across at Marvelous, then over to Celestia, before finally looking down at his wand, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Distance isn't so much a problem, I just need a clear shot at her! The bigger question is how to get the bloody thing off -- is it a lock of some sort? Because that I can handle."

Edited 2014-02-02 07:45 (UTC)

The irony of using something called 'Sun Goddess's Sacrifice' on Princess Celestia would give everypony a laugh later no doubt, but the alicorn addressed herself to both the spell card and the continuing onslaught of bullets by the simple expedient of teleportation. The chain-teleports necessary to leap from safe place to safe place within the convoluted seal patterns bought them time, however, time to plan...

Itachi's careful eyes watched Celestia as she moved. She could teleport, much like the flash-stepping some ninja were capable of, though he had a feeling it was a little more complex than that. The Sharingan allowed him to take in everything easier than most, so he watched for openings in Futo's attacks, watched which ones the unicorn chose to move to until he began to get an idea of how she chose a safe location.

He aimed another, larger round of phoenix flames then - not directly at her, but at the next best openings she was bound to teleport herself to.

This was a case where Luka's sharp eyes, again, came in handy. Thanks to those and battle honed reflexes, she was able to quickly spot and take aim and fire at Celestia when she changed positions. Not powerful enough to kill her, by any means, but still, they would hurt.

Edited 2014-02-05 03:01 (UTC)

Susano'o was going to be a serious chakra drain if he kept needing to pull it up like this, but it kept the shockwave from impacting fully, giving Sasuke the time needed to leap onto the wall and race up it for a better vantage point. Marvelous's shout only confirmed Sasuke's plans, and whatever he and Draco were discussing would hopefully capitalize on a mass attack launched on the flying creature.

The biggest difficulty would be not killing her -- worse even than trying to capture a bijuu, given that for all she seemed powerful she didn't look like she would have the physical resiliency of a bijuu to being brought to the brink of death. Itachi was using fire, the Sharingan reading her movement and intent; with that attack coming from Itachi on the ground and the net-like thing Futo had cast spanning horizontally across the room, that left her the option to lower altitude for her next flicker, forcing her closer to the rest of the crew, or to attempt to go higher.

So he'd cut off one of those options: Mangekyou flaring to life, Sasuke drew on his chakra and focused: in the next moment, black fire raced across the ceiling, webbing across it and making it impossible for anyone to attempt to head closer to it.

To go with your crew...

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