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.]

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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.

Celestia had very deliberately made her teleportations jump not just horizontally, but vertically, exploiting all three dimensions to confound her foes and minds that were less used to flight. That, however, quickly ended when the ceiling burst into nightmarish black flames, leaving her vulnerable to strikes from the guns. As lines of blood splattered her pure-white coat, she thought quickly, then elected to take inspiration from what she'd seen. As soon as she found the opportunity in the midst of the spiraling seals and attacks, Celestia conjured a wall of flames from the floor to block the sight of her opponents and leave her free to dodge the remains of the spell card without being anticipated.

The reason for the name was simply the the level of such a spell, the reference to the sun goddess simply part of the story and a lending of power. Telling stories of the gods was one of the basic ways of casting magic after all.

"Fire...." Futo didn't like what they were doing. Fire wasn't the answer, this was a creature that no doubt was affiliated with such. She could tell already. They needed water, but they needed a lot of it. "Do not feed into her specialty! Bring forth water!"

She cancelled her spell card and instead switched to summoning water, as much as she could. Surrounding herself in it and causing pillars of water to rise from the ground.

They had no idea if fire was the only specialty of this horse. For all they knew she could have all the elements at her command, powerful as she seemed. Still, water did seem to be the better option for the time being, and that was one thing that Itachi could work with.

While he couldn't summon as much of it as he could with fire, he could still add to and work with what Futo had already brought out. With a few hand signs, drilling spikes of water began lashing out from the pillars that had been created, leaving even less room for Celestia to take cover in.

Itachi had the right of it, or at least close to -- as soon as they began summoning water, Celestia planted her hooves and reached out with her telekinesis to grab the water in an iron magical grip, then hurl it back at her foes. Her eyes blazed as she lowered her head, intent on taking out at least some of them with this attack and thus committing her strength and attention to it.

Sandwiching them all between fire was probably not the best situation for them to be in, but at least it meant that her attention was directed downward at the group on the ground. Sasuke kept his own position high on the wall; the water might hurt the others, but it would put out the flames and keep them from burning, at least, and while she was looking elsewhere he had no time to hesitate.

The giant form of Susano'o formed around him again, draining chakra at an even faster rate than before. He needed to conserve it, but he could only rely on theory instead of practice with this next attack, but if they were trying not destroy her and she held the key to getting to the witch beyond her, he couldn't use the fire again.

Lightning blazed up instead of fire as he forced unruly chakra to take shape, an enormous arrow dragging through the bow in the giant's arm before launching at her back -- and splitting mid-air into a rain of electric needles instead, numbing to the touch.

Everyone else was doing quite well to keep her busy, so Marvelous was taking his relative time. He snuck and dodged behind pillars on the outside of the chamber, ducking under where Luka had her Saber tied up to one of them as the water was tossed back at them all. He didn't want to get hit with that from Itachi again.

A red flash and he reverted back to Gokai Red, loading one Ranger Key into his Saber's cylinder.

"FIIIIIIINAL WAAAAAAAAVE!"

The completely unsubtle and loud proclamation wasn't great for a stealth attack, but it wasn't what he was looking for. He dashed out, sword glowing a bright red, trying to slip towards her from behind, or at least the opposite direction everyone else was aiming. He swung the saber, launching a blade of red glowing energy at her, but aimed to just wing her at best, and hopefully distract her at the least.

"DRACO! ANYTIME NOW!"

Welp, hopefully it was something a simple unlocking spell could handle.

Draco took a deep breath and then jumped out a few steps, dodging around some of his fellow crew members to make sure he had a clear shot. There was no messing this up, he wasn't sure he'd have a second chance.

He lifted his wand, pointing it at Celestia's neck.

"ALOHOMORA!" he bellowed, and then immediately followed it up with a jerking motion of his wand, like he was yanking something back, and a shouted, "ACCIO COLLAR!"

Now please Merlin say that worked, otherwise he was likely to have the entire bloody unicorn flying his way.

Celestia spun in place, one wing raised reflexively as she threw out a bolt of light to deflect Marvelous's incredibly-blatant attack. In that respect, his plan had worked perfectly -- though she knocked away his energy blade, she couldn't pay attention to everything at once. The electrified needles lanced into her back and side; one wing and her foreleg drooped immediately, making her stumble with a surprisingly equine neigh of surprise.

She felt the collar unclasp, and mindlessly seized it with her telekinesis to hold it still, that directive overriding others. But now she was completely vulnerable.

Okay, Luka had provided supporting fire for the last few minutes, but now she knew everyone involved needed as much ranged firepower as they could get.

"HEADS UP, MARVELOUS!" she cried, throwing her spare Gokai Gun to her captain, before running to get into position in case this plan went horribly wrong in the next few minutes.

Controlling her water with telekinesis did little but perhaps bother her companions. However it served it's purpose and it was time to change it, especially since they seemed to finally be on the winning end.

As the others started their attacks and Draco went for the collar and Celestia tried to keep it, Futo changed her element.

"Water grows wood!" the water that was still around, and the water the Celestia had been throwing back started to get absorbed by branches growing out of the ground. They grew rapidly and similar to vines they wound around objects, Futo's goal to use them to help keep Celestia in place by warping her as best as possible in them.

Marvelous raised a hand to catch the gun, while at the same time chucking his saber - Shinken Red Key still inserted into it - back at her. Her caught the firearm, and raised it.

He cocked back the hammer.

The collar was still there, but starting to unclasp. Futo was raising something to try and keep her in place.

For many others trying to do this and not KILL someone would seem utterly insane. In truth, it probably was. Many of those others might not be able to shoot an incoming bullet cleanly out of the air.

Marvelous could.

So, he took some amount of faith that the other distractions would do their job, aimed for the collar... and took his shot, one round bullet erupting from the gun's barrel.

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letteropener - 2014-02-13 16:49 (UTC) - Expand

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forthevillage - 2014-02-17 09:08 (UTC) - Expand

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