Scene #2494: Sphere Hunting!

Owner	Pose
Tomoyo Daidouji	The Calm Lands. A vast expanse of green plains enclosed with rocky ridges. Deep gouges and trenches scar the placid beauty, remnants of battles between Sin and summoners. However, with Sin gone, the Eternal Calm has arrived, leaving the Calm Lands a safe place for entertainers to set up. However, this is not what the Elites are here for. Off to the side of a ridge that goes down to the plains, there is a remnant of a bridge that has long collapsed. However, the gap it once crossed is small and the other side is lower than the ridge, making the jump a simple one to make. On the other side, the grass is tall and thick, showing no signs of repeated travel like the short, treaded grass below. A path slips in between the mound and ridges of earth, leading to a spot that lies out of sight of the Calm Lands proper. Remiem Temple. A dilapidated bridge of rotting wood and worn ropes stretches from the path to the temple. Though clearly decrepit, it still has a noble bearing that comes from fine architecture and long history. The bridge connects with a stone path that wraps around the temple, with extensions rising up from it all around, embedded into the surrounding rock walls with ornate, faded pillars built on them. Below, one could see the remains of what appears to be some kind of maze or track. However, in more concerning facts, the bodies of chocobos litter this circular path, and the gaping bloody wounds are clearly indicative of foul play. The temple itself is vaguely dome-shaped and has a multitude of pillars and statues of renowned monks and priestesses built upon it. The path goes up the door, once made of three parts but now lying in ruins, apparently smashed open with great force.
Ainsley	Ainsley is not really made for combat anymore, but the prospect of finding lost knowledge and returning it to the living is something she couldn't overlook. The lizard woman that's passionate about emotions and information finds herself in the Calm Lands, though not before the others arrived. She brought her sword as well as the Armor Journal, but that's about all she has. She floats in the air, using her ability to fly to hover around the area and take stock of their surroundings. She fixes a sympathetic gaze upon the dead chocobos, and then turns her attention to the broken doorway. Her eyes close momentarily, the bloodshed clearly upsetting her. It's clearly not just an animal attack. When she opens her eyes again, she turns to rejoin with the group, floating somewhere behind them. "Once we get the sphere, I would like to examine it with my Sight. If it is damaged or corrupted, it may be easier for me to pull the data off and have it repaired if I can study it for a while," she tells the group as a whole. It's pretty much the whole reason she came here, to make sure whatever is on the sphere is intact enough to be worth anything at all.
Rarity	A hop, skip and a jump off the beaten path. Literally, on the last one. But that's how they got here, and that's how they now stand before what remainds the temple. "It at least appears to be in better shape than the former castle of the Sisters when we had to visit it in the middle of Everfree," Rarity notes, mostly to herself. "But ruins do have a tendancy to attract, as you could say, squatters." The unicorn makes a scrunched face at the thought. Just the thought of having to live in such degraded means makes her shiver all the way down to her perfectly coifed tail. But that potential for 'squatters' is why she summoned her Element of Generosity at the ridge, and everyone got to see the quick yet stylish (and very magical girl like) shift into the lightly armored outfit. It also meant Rarity could use the magic parasol she pulled from the cloak to glide down to the lower ridge like a paracute. "Difficult to beat an esemblem accessory that is both fashionable -and- versatile." She mainly came along because this is, to some degree, a fashion related problem. That and she had been intended to meet the other fashion foward femme for some time.
Sarah Parsle	Hey look, adventure. Sarah needed to get out of the house anyway. But maybe noy THIS far out. The btight, pleasant swathes of the Calm Lands are something that Sarah isn't all that prepared for. Well... tempermentally. She can handle the walking. And walk she does, Sort of scurrying forward to join the others, she practically /radiates/ gloominess to those sensitive to such things. "So. This is the place, huh." She says, waddling up to the rotten bridge. "So, let's not walk over this thing, it's going to kill someone." She comments to the others. "Unless someone likes falling to their doom. I don't judge." She loks back over to the dead chocobos. "And dead birds. Doesn't look like any of you guys did this either, so we're looking at horrible hungry monsters."
Yuna Kagurazaka	Yuna has largely been out of sorts since the incident with the Chaos Titan a couple of nights ago; she hasn't talked about it with anyone, but it's not hard to tell when she's either depressed, or feigning good cheer despite shadows weighing on her heart. But between Elner and Rarity, she pulled herself together to come help hunt for spheres ... whatever those are, exactly. She doesn't care about being paid (although if Tomoyo insists, she won't refuse the money - she can use it), but at the moment, it's more the exploration that has her interested. The rest of the Matrix of Light isn't here, except for Elner; the robo-faerie is drifting a bit further behind Yuna than sometimes, possibly to help keep watch over her rather than being entirely focused on scanning the surroundings. Yuna herself seems happy (at least, happy enough to put on a decent smile) to see Ainsley and other familiar faces here as well. "What kind of 'squatters,' I wonder ... ?" she says quietly as she carefully makes her way across the bridge (since Erina isn't here for her Flight Form), cringing a little when it wobbles more than a little underneath her. She deliberately averts her gaze from the dead chocobos; it's possible that she's trying to ignore them. Actually getting up to the temple doorway seems to be a relief to her ... at least a partial one.
Crys Gattz	Crys Gattz had come to help Tomoyo out with her quest, she could understand her want to be more of use and not need to always need to hide bhind others. Heck Crys liked stuff like this to be perfectly honest so here she was right behind the young woman and seemed to be ready. Her mag hovered by her head and she was ready to go as she falls in with everyone else. "Humm ruins so long as there isn't an eldrich horror sealed here this should be a lot of fun."
Guest Vivio	A chance to help a friend, while testing herself by beating up some bad monsters? Vivio doesn't pass on this, which is why she joined the group at the meeting place, finishing off a piece of toast as her breakfast. Now the young girl walks along with the group, hands holding the straps of her pink backpack as she jumps down to the lower bridge easily enough. She makes her way along the path, sticking close to Rarity with a huge grin on her face. Her first time seeing one of the ponies in person. No doubt there was a lot of squeeing and fussing earlier! As the temple comes into sight and they begin to make their way up the path, Vivio looks on the old structure with awe, "Woooooow..." Of course, as the dead Chocobo's are spotted, Vivio's face fills with sadness as she runs over to crouch near one of the poor birds. She looks it over with slightly moist eyes... The poor creatures, their lives ended prematurely just because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Soon enough she stands again, moving on with the others. Finally as they reach the broken doors of the temple, Vivio comes to a stop and tries to peer inside. She then turns to look at the plush bunny floating in the air beside her, "Chris, can you detect anything inside the building?" The bunny flies up into the air a little and stops, looking intently at the temple as he tries to scan for any signs of life in the old structure.
Tomoyo Daidouji	Entering the temple proper, the sounds of battle ring out. The snarl of a massive beast, the whoosh of flames and the crack of rifles. Chris's sensors would pick up four humanoids, some kind of massive beast and three smaller... things, deeper inside. The inside of the temple is cool and dim, lit softly by a blue light that seems to come up from the pits around the circular floor. Like all temples, the inside bears many statues of High Summoners from years gone by, as well as two grand statues built into the walls of Zaon and Yunalesca reaching out towards one another. At the opposite end are three doors into small cloisters, and a flight of stairs leading up to the entrance to the Chamber of the Fayth. But, more importantly, a Behemoth is currently engaged in battle with what appear to be four warrior monks of Yevon. However, on closer inspection, their uniforms bear a lot of individual alterations and customisations, marking them as deserters or those who were discharged. However, they are a skilled team, flanking the Behemoth and dodging its goring lunges and swipes all while keeping up a constant volley of machina rifle fire and flamethrower blasts. The Behemoth slumps, its body dissolving into a cloud of pyreflies that drift away, humming their little song as they do. The not-monks all cheer and go to engage in all forms of manly displays of how proud of each other they are, all of them stopping when one catches sight of the group and levels his rifle at them. "Hold on you lot! The Sin Eaters have staked this claim. The sphere here is ours! You lot had better clear off before we make you leave."
Rarity	Rarity was about to answer Yuna when the gunshots are heard. The unicorn stops, ears standing upright at attention from the interruption as she peers in the direction the noise came from. "Squatters like those?", she replies flatly. 'Squatters' that all turn their magitech guns towards them. Eep. "Really now, that is no means to greet other visitors. How rude! And watch where you point those things!" A flicker of magic glows around Rarity's horn, and her telekinesis is used to nudge one of the rifles away from her direction. "You could seriously hurt someone."
Guest Vivio	Chris floats back down to Vivio and waves his arms a few times. He then swings them to the side and then up. Then spreads them out and eyes looking vagulely menacingly. Vivio simply nods along as she her Device's movements are translated into the report about the things inside the temple. The sounds of battle simply confirms what Chris said and she hmmms, "Seems someone got here before us!" Though she does wonder about the inconclusive things detected further in. As the group moves on and the battle comes into view, Vivio watches with wide eyes at the large creature battling the four people. She's not familiar with this world so doesn't recognise them. But as the Behemoth is defeated, she focuses her attention on the apparently hostile group. She doesn't make any sudden movements so as to not spook them, responding to their demands with, "Ummm... Well, we can't really leave... See, we need that sphere too!" This could be a problem!
Yuna Kagurazaka	"Sin Eaters? Seriously?" Yuna asks flatly. "That's the best name you could think of for your group?" The rifle being pointed at the group doesn't seem to do much to impress her, either - particularly when she utters, "Shugoseiheki," and a kite shield materializes on her left arm. There are bigger shields, but this one is sized proportionately for Yuna ... and she keeps it in front of her as she advances to stand in front of the group, whispering, "Excuse me," to Rarity as she passes the unicorn. Yuna grounds her shield, digging its bottom point into the stone in front of her feet, and looks over it at the Sin Eaters. Never mind that the shortest of them is probably tall enough to loom over her; never mind that their behavior thus far is pretty much the opposite of her own personality. "We've travelled a long way to get here," Yuna states, "and we're not about to turn around and leave just because a bunch of ill-mannered ruffians think the Temple works on first-come, first-served. A friend asked us to find the sphere for her; what do you want it for?"
Sarah Parsle	They manage to enter the temple, and Sarah looks over the inside of the environment with a sort of narrowed eyes. "This is a hell of a temple all right. Wonder why they had to build it way out here." Oh, right, the giant monster. The Behemoth's throes cause Sarah to fall back, eyes wide. That thing is /huge/ and deadly. LOOK AT THE HORNS, MAN. Watching it get killed, though, causes the ecto-youth to pause, and look to the others. "Well, looks like they're here first. They're pretty strong, too." She shrugs. "You win some, you lose some, right? Let's just go, fighting over this isn't going to be worth it." She sort of just looks at the others, and shrugs helplessly as she looks to the Sin-Eaters. "Nice job, guys. Looks like they're pretty dead set on pressing the issue though. Oh well, I guess it was bound to happen."
Ainsley	Ainsley follows the group into the temple and directs a stoic gaze toward the aesthetics, trying to discern the purpose of this place from all of it. From her understanding, the temple is a deprecated place based on a tradition that is no longer around. Now, it's just another place for scavenging groups to find old knowledge and bring it back to those who pay for it and appreciate it. Speaking of which, her gaze turns to the battle with the Behemoth. Her eyes shine and then manifest strange magical symbols on them, glowing in the dim lighting of the temple. She reads the teamwork between the various Sin Eaters, and watches the whole battle as it occurs. A lesson in how to use spells to help teamwork with her own party. Her eyes deactivate when she overhears the Sin Eaters threatening them. She looks toward the others, and rubs the back of her neck gently... "I prefer not to fight," she decides, "We all want the same thing here. Fighting over the Sphere will just be more costly than the reason you're fighting itself. Let's figure this out, we can resolve this peacefully." She punctuates these words with a gentle smile and a raise of her hands in a placating sort of way. She tries to step forward toward the fore of the group while she speaks. "No need for this to turn violent for any of us," she urges.
Crys Gattz	Crys Gattz is now moving in deeper now and moving as best she can in with the others at this point. She hears as they are told to hold off. She looks at them for a moment narrowing her eyes. So it's a fight over epic lute huh? There's a faint smirk on her face b ut she says nothing for the moment she's muscle she's not the party's face after all. So she's aware of this and cool with that fact. She'll leave those who can talk better than she to handle this.
Tomoyo Daidouji	Ainsley's scan identifies the temple not only as a place of worship, but as a place of power. There's a vague sense like there used to be a means to obtain strength here... but it's gone now. As for the tactics used by the sphere hunters, they always make sure that no one other than the target is in their line of fire, and they only fire once the Behemoth's attention is on someone else, to keep it constantly turning. But, things start to get tense right away as Rarity starts trying to nudge the rifle down. The ex-monk holding it looks confused, and then outraged, struggling to keep it lifted, and pointed specifically at Rarity. "I don't take orders from some talking fiend!" he spits at the pony. Yuna's brash approach, and the challenge she lays by planting her shield gets a few snide chuckles from the other rifle-packing monks, as they simply... fan out, pointing around her to keep her friends covered. "We're the Sin Eaters because we search ruins that Sin left behind! And we don't care if Gandof himself asked for the sphere," He looks at Yuna and Vivio, gesturing his head at one of the statues. "We got here first so it's ours!" The monk with the flamethrow gives a hearty chuckle at Sarah and Ainsley's words. "Listen to your friends, they have the right idea." He seems much older than the others, and has a bushy beard and a fatherly voice. Pushing past his comrades and pushing their rifles down, he speaks. "Listen folks. I know how it feels to get beaten to the punch. But we did get here first, we did do all the hard work, so we should claim the reward, it's only fair. But hey, more spheres are getting unearthed every day. You'll get another shot. Unless... you wanted to buy this one from us right away?" He offers a winning smile.
Tomoyo Daidouji	One of the other monks snorts. "Hard work, sure. That thing was the only fiend around! Whatever killed those chocobos must have dealt with the re-HKK!" Chris's sensors may have picked up two of those unidentified things emerging from the cloisters at the back. The monk that was speaking slumps, revealing a squat green thing clad in brown robes. It has no mouth, but two glowing yellow eyes that seem to judge everything it beholds. Poking out from the back of the robes is a green tail, similar to that of a fish. Held in its little hands is a lantern and a butcher's knife, now stained in the hunter's blood. The others scatter, one of them narrowly dodging the swipe of the second green thing, the blade making the air hiss hatefully. The door to the Chamber of the Fayth slides open, and the third one emerges. It's slightly larger, and has a little golden crown atop its head, but is otherwise exactly the same. A sphere hangs from its belt. "T-TONBERRIES!" the bearded monk yells, blasting his flamethrower at the one not standing over the limp form of his friend. The one with the bloodied knife looks towards Yuna, and begins to slowly walk towards her, as the one with the crown makes its way down the steps.
Ainsley	Ainsley smiles sadly, nodding at the monk's words. As he speaks, she looks over to the others in the group, and her brow knits painfully, because she's not sure this can end peacefully if the bunch of them can't agree to let the first-come, first-served rule apply here... The lizard girl startles when someone gets ganked over there, her eyes widening. She takes to the air and -- "Do not let them stab you!" she tells the group, "Ranged attacks, those knives are EXTREMELY deadly! All it takes is one good poke and you can bet on being seriously injured if not outright killed on the spot!" She shouts this to the group, thanking her lucky stars her boyfriend is from a world where Tonberries exist, and she's betting on the monsters being similar across the worlds ... they do look like what she saw in the books she had read of monsters found on Faruja's world, it's hard to miss such an iconic creature. "They might cast magic, keep an eye on their lanterns!" She then pulls her book off her back and opens it, flipping it open. She tears out a page and slips the tome back onto her back with its strap making it hang loosely from her shoulder. She holds the piece of paper up above her head, and bellows a single word: "OBSCURA!" She tries to cut off the communication of visual information for the King Tonberry by corrupting it as it reaches the eyes, the magic circle in Ainsley's hand lighting up with a Dark glow as it focuses the magic. She can only focus on one at a time, however, because she lacks proper study of Tonberry, and the spell might not even work against these things.
Rarity	And then the man in the robes slumps from a knife in the back. Rarity lets out a frustrated snort. "Please! We were having a conversation, there was no reason to interrupt! I swear, how -rude- can people get around here?! Absolutely no class at all." Really Rarity might of just walked out at that point, but when the third robed squat figure trundles out of the central doorway she spots the sphere hanging from his belt almost immeadiately. That must be the item they were sent to retrieve. "Seriously? I mean.. Seriously?! You're carrying a bright orb around on -those- grungy robes and -those- hooded shadowy complexitions? I certainly hope you don't go into public with that clashing insult to the sense of vision." However it isn't all just ranting about their terrible esemblems from Rarity. Even as she's doing so her bejeweled bow appears in front of her, held in her magic and the trio of blue diamonds inset in it to resemble her cutie mark glowing with the resonance. She pulls a crystal tipped arrow from the depths of her cloak, notches it into the bow, draws back... and then tilts it just enough to shoot into the air instead of at any one target. The crystal arrow bursts at the arc of it's flight, sending a shower of rigid crystal shrapnel raining down on the three forms.
Sarah Parsle	Sarah was just about to comment again when a guy gets TOTALLY SHANKED. The color drains from her pale face as she sees the man slump over, revealing a small, strangely cute lizard with a chef's knife and a lantern. This has immediately escalated Sarah's Danger Levels to NOPE.JPG. "Holy crap! Run, people!" Sarah calls out, falling back and preparing to ABSCOND... And noticing no one else is. "Of course. No one's going to do the sane thing. Okay, fine. Strife time." There is a flash, as Sarah produces her JENGA STACK from her PUZZLEKIND STRIFE SPECIBUS. The stacked balsawood planks don't look all that intimidating... "Stay at a distance!" Sarah calls out. "We don't have to kill these things, we just need the Sphere!" With a quick motion, she pulls one of the blocks from the JENGA STACK and hurls it at the closest Tonberry. pok It's not very effective. Maybe there's some trick to it.
Guest Vivio	Vivio is a little torn. She wants to help her friend by getting the sphere, but the strangely named Sin Eaters are correct in that they were here first. Plus they did the work defeating that big monsters... Hmmm, maybe the group could buy the sphere from them. It seems like the Sin Eaters are just interested in it for the money... Vivio's eyes go wide at the sight of one of the Sin Eater's slumping over, revealing the Tonberry with its blood stained knife. Everything seems to go quiet for a few moments, atleast from Vivio's perspective... But her shocked face changes to that of determination as she shrugs off her backpack and calls out, "Chris!" The plush bunny flies down to join its master, sinking into Vivio's chest with the glow of magic. Iridescent light surrounds the girl, mostly hiding her from view. Her silhouette inside the lights quickly grows in size and in a flash, the light vanishes to reveal an older looking Vivio. She is clad in the stylish and deceptively functional battle outfit that is her Barrier Jacket. Vivio lowers herself in preparation of moving and then in the blink of an eye, she closes the distance between herself and the Tonberry that just shanked the Sin Eater. Is she mad? Ignoring everything everyone else has been saying? Perhaps, but for good reason. She doesn't stay near the rather cute but obviously dangerous monster for very long, just long enough to scoop up the fallen Sin Eater and jump clear. Soaring back to her starting position, Vivio lands and gently places the man down on the ground. She then checks for signs of life... Hoping...
Yuna Kagurazaka	Before Yuna can seriously weigh whether to ask how much the Sin Eaters (she still thinks that's a stupid name) are charging for the sphere they don't even have in hand yet, one of the (ex?-)monks is unceremoniously ganked by a Tonberry that snuck up on him. And judging by how the rest of both groups react ... Well, it's too late to try talking - Ainsley's already on the attack, Rarity and Sarah are following suit. Yuna just sighs heavily, leaves her shield planted, and materializes the Matrix Divider in her hands, charging up a decently potent blast before aiming at the approaching Tonberry with the first guy's blood still wet on its knife - And has to stop to squelch a deep, burning desire to simply freak the heck out. Ainsley's warnings are one thing, but just seeing anything walking impassively toward you with a recently-used murder weapon ... Her jaw clenching to stifle the first scream of what would probably become MANY, Yuna fires her readied blasts. Then keeps squeezing the trigger, following that first concussive bolt of radiance with a fast series of less-potent beam pulses, all aimed at or near the approaching Tonberrry.
Crys Gattz	Crys Gattz had heard of Tonberries before and Crys's normally confident face turns to one of terror. Given her life as a hunter and Union operative. Thes battles she fought her way through. She's freaking out at this point the Tonberries are freaking things. She's now moving to get back from them. Crys summons her claws but she seekms scared yes she's cared at this. "Great Light! These things exist?!" Given Crys' situations he's very freaked out and doesn't even engage them yet she's actally /frove up in fear.
Tomoyo Daidouji	The Tonberry King raises his lantern, staring impassively at the group as Ainsley's spell hits it! It seems... confused for a moment, turning its head and lowering the lantern for a moment... but ultimately, it doesn't seem to care, pointing the lantern in the general vicinity of the party. \| Karma \| Purple flames suddenly spring to life around the frozen-in-fear Crys! Assuming they latch on to her, they burn, not feeding on oxygen, but her own sins. The things she has killed in the past would flash in her mind as her flesh chars! While adorable, Tonberries are feared by all for a multitude of reasons. One of those is their sheer tenacity, which becomes evident as the sphere hunters and Elite party go all-out on them. Rarity's crystal skyburst pierces into their flesh, but their knees don't even sag and they don't even bleed. The one approaching Yuna tanks her blasts, only stopping for a moment before continuing on. It even manages to survive Sarah's Jenga piece! As it approaches Yuna, those yellow eyes seem to shine all the brighter. \| Knife \| It stabs upwards with shocking speed and ferocity, the blade hissing with sheer hatred. Any armour that gets in its way only slows it for an instant! Yuna's only chance is to try and dodge it! As Vivio goes to rescue the injured monk, she feels a weak pulse as his blood pools out, dripping all over her. One of his rifle-packing friends rushes over, nodding his thanks and starting to pack reddish feathers into the stab wound. They glow, and it begins to close. Meanwhile, the friendly flamethrower-packing hunter keeps up the heat... only cursing and stepping back as that Tonberry slashes at him! The barrel of his weapon comes loose, flames spraying all over the place! The final monk is taking shots at the Tonberry King, but it continues down the stairs even in the middle of taking a hit!
Yuna Kagurazaka	Well, it's not like Yuna is still wearing her kite shield; she needed both hands to use the Matrix Divider, and Shugoseiheki is still wedged in the ground. And unless the knife stabs with enough force to knock it over (which it might; that shield is VERY sturdy, so it's more likely to topple than to be pierced), it's going to stay there while Yuna runs away shrieking when the Tonberry gets into stabbing range. The clatter of her shield getting knocked over seems to bring her back to herself, though, and she turns to resume firing at the Tonberry that's stalking her like an overly determined fanboy. Rather than her frantic rapid fire from a moment before, she's charging for about a second in between shots - enough to put some punch into them, hopefully optimizing her DPS curve. She's also collected enough (if only JUST BARELY) to keep her shots more or less on target ... specifically, trying to hit the Tonberry between its bulbous yellow eyes. If nothing else, the sheer light of her attacks might dazzle the Tonberry into backing off a little.
Sarah Parsle	Surviving Sarah's Jenga attacks aren't hard, she has all the combat power of a wet noodle unless she can build up a high JENGA COMBO. At least, under normal circumstances. The combination of needing to stay mobile and keeping her STACK balanced is becoming a full time job for Sarah. Is it any wonder why she hates fighting? She doesn't even bother trying again. It's pretty pointless,in her mind. Instead, she focuses on trying to get a clear bead on that SPHERE. How is it attatched to the King's robe? "Don't Stand in the fire." Sarah advises. That's one of the first things you get taught in Death Game High, you know.
Ainsley	Ainsley frowns, not happy that the Tonberries are shrugging off all of the assaults of her side and the Sin Eaters. The damage taken by the others gets the lizard to suck in a breath. While she maintains the Obscura spell, keeping the King Tonberry from using that knife on anyone, she prepares another spell with her off hand. Her fingers create several symbols, and her eyes begin to glow gently. She floats through the air until she reaches a vantage where she can take in the whole battlefield. Then she makes a heavy straining noise... "Hrrrrgh--!" Her body shudders and the glow grows! Then she transmits the subconscious knowledge of everyone's locations, friend and foe, just to the Sin Eaters and her allies, and speaks the word, "Conexión!" She's hoping that the spell will help the group organize themselves a little better and coordinate to avoid the Tonberry knives wherever possible. But it puts a hellish strain on Ainsley, who is not actually used to doing anything like this. The air flickers and warps around her as her magical aura wavers, her concentration threatening to buckle under the strain.
Guest Vivio	Vivio is relieved that the monk is still alive. Also that one of his friends is able to help treat his wound, likely better than she could. So leaving the monks to their work, Vivio turns her attention to helping her fellow adventurers in fighting off the Tonberries. Not being able to get up close for her usual combat style makes things difficult. She could probably survive their knife attacks, probably by dodging them or taking the blows on a barrier, it's more of a risk than she needs to take at this point. Thankfully she still has other options! Completely unaware of the true threat these monsters represent, being unfamiliar with them, Vivio justs sets herself to testing their defense against her ranged magic. She swings her arm out to the side, a triangular spell circle of light appearing on the ground beneath her. She begins, "Sonic Shooter..." Several orbs of iridescent light appear floating in the air around her, growing in size as they crackle with energy. Finally Vivio swings her arm around in the direction of the little green men and finishes with, "... Assault Shift!" The orbs of light begin to launch beams into the air. The shots arc as they close in on not one, but all three Tonberries thanks to the location information provided by Ainsley. The beams strike from multiple directions, exploding on contact with their targets. Vivio keeps channeling her mana into the spell, the orbs firing off follow up volleys in an attempt to overpower whatever magical defenses the creatures might have and knock them out.
Rarity	Rarity lowers her bow for a moment, muttering under her breath something about where's Fluttershy and her STARE when it could be of use. Then again, these things might be too persistant even for that. She takes a few steps back, and lets out a slow, soft sigh before lowering her head and recomposing herself. The things she gets into these days for the sake of her art and helping others. Ming you that's mainly frustration at it never being easy, rather than any sort of regret. Generosity is too strong to feel regret over such things. "Well, if they're not going to stop, we shall simply have to make them stop." Rarity slings the bow to her back for a moment, and instead pulls out several small gems of various colors. She tosses them to the floor between the group and the Tonberries. Followed by her horn glowing brightly as she infuses them with her gem manipulation magic, and in moments several crystalline protrusions grow from the ground where they were tosses, creating barriers of sharp crystalline edges. It most likely won't stop the Tonberries, but it will hopefuilly slow them down, giving other more powerful attackers a chance to lay into them.
Crys Gattz	Crys Gattz had fought a lot of horrors, insane wildlife, mutant things, horrifi dcell horrors. That was just in her early life then all the demons, monstes and others of Laines world and so many other things across the multivberse and this is all shoved back in her face the fire burn she screams and it's just going right past all of her defences and she sinks to her knees sobbing for it to stop.
Tomoyo Daidouji	Shugoseiheki is indeed torn from the ground by the force of the Tonberry's stab, the edge of the blade missing its owner by a hair as she flees! It doesn't seem overly concerned, simply opting to pursue her further, taking those charged shots right between the eyes with little concern. Until... it gets pushed back slightly? Yes, that shot definitely got to it! As for Sarah, as she begins to kite her way over to the Tonberry King, it turns to look at her with its full attention. Before, the sheer hated it radiated was diffused, but now it is on her like a laser! It begins to approach her, the flames of Karma vanishing from Crys as it does... just as Rarity's gem barricades spring up, cutting it off! Vivio's laser bursts rain down on the Tonberry at this instant, pounding them again and again! The one approaching Yuna actually... slumps over, a thick cloud of pyreflies flowing from its form. One down! But now, the hunter formerly with a flamethrower gets knocked back by the blasts, banging his head against a crystal and slumping. The Tonberry he was fighting stands over him, knife poised... "CAPTAIN!" The monk that was taking shots at the king is fed information by Ainsley! Suddenly aware of his comrade's predicament, he vaults the crystals while firing, drawing the Tonberry's aggro! For a moment, it looks like everything will go their way... when the King Tonberry suddenly seems to shimmer, the air becoming heavy with the weight of the grudge it bears. It steps up to the crystals separating it from Sarah, and presses the tip of its knife against it... causing it to violently shatter, sending shards blasting about! It continues to walk towards the Jenga-packing girl, eyes even brighter.
Yuna Kagurazaka	Yuna lets out a DEEP sigh of relief as her stalker finally collapses and dissipates into a cloud of pyreflies. She would probably have kept shooting it if it had remained intact ... score a point for Spira's metaphysics, probably. That leaves one regular Tonberry and the one with the crown - and the King Tonberry is pressing its attack towards Sarah. That easily trumps Yuna's terrified state; she grabs Shugoseiheki from where it fell, bracing her arm through the straps, and lets the Matrix Divider vanish, instead brandishing her pistol in her free hand. It's not the pistol she's going to attack with, though .... "GET AWAY FROM MY FRIEND, YOU STABBITY LITTLE STALKER!!" And with that shout, Yuna runs at the King Tonberry, trying to plow into it shield-first and knock the Tonberry monarch off its (his?) feet, or at least to force some extra distance between it and Sarah and buy the other girl some time.
Rarity	Rarity yips and scrabbles back a few steps as the King just smashes right through the crystals. Not good at all. That puts Sarah in danger! And Yuna, being the heroic she is, charges in to try and help her. But that's getting her into melee range as well, and if he smashed through harded gem stone, what might he do to that shield and her friends! Let's not find out. It's hard to tell if it's from the magic of her Element armor reacting to her flash of emotions or just something reflexive, but the battle scarf around Rarity's neck whips to life either way. Stretching out to keep the unicorn herself at a distance, they try to wrap around the arm wielding the King Tonberry's knife and pull it away from doing something brutal to Yuna or Sarah. "Somebody just grab the sphere already!" It's right there on his belt after all.
Sarah Parsle	Fear. It's something Sarah lives with, a companion of hers. It's something you develop when you know just enough about your preesumed future to be dangerous to yourself and othrs around you, but not enough to really do much about it. But that's just Predestination Academy. This is something entirely different. Something not in the cards. Sarah sees the massive crowned lizard staring at her with a brilliant hatred. A hatred as pure as sunlight, a hatred that can see for miles. You can't hide from something like that. Her blood freezes as she sees the being crush through the barrier, and she stalls out. She's doomed, and she knows it. They can't kill this being. It's not going to work. Every time she pops her head out of her house, she almost dies. At least this time it's not to tentacles. But then Yuna plows into the Tonberry King, and Rarity's words cause her to snap out of it. Her breath quickens, her heart pounds in her ears. "If I'm going to die anyway, then fine, let's do this!!" She suddenly snaps, her eyes wild. With a sudden movement, Sarah lunges forward, YOUTH ROLLING past the Tonberry King in an attempt to grab the MYSTERIOUS SPHERE and CAPTCHALOGUE it into her SYLLADEX before she gets shanked.
Crys Gattz	Crys Gattz is only now recovering 2with help from the others. She's looking shaken she's clearly been hurt but those figres burned perhaps harder than they should of. There's something else about Crys after all and the flames might have tried to use her as a conduit to get to it. WHo knows but Crys is now trying to get back up and she sees it going for Sarah. She tries to act but she's clearly staggered as she attemots ot send a fire ball at the Tonberry yelling out. "Foie!" She wants to run but she can't bail on the others, right?
Guest Vivio	Oh no, exploding crystals! Vivio raises her arms instinctively to protect her face. The flying crystal shards slash through her protective Barrier Jacket and cut into her skin, though thankfully the former does its job and keeps the injuries from being too life threatening. Lowering her arms again, Vivio sees a number of her allies jumping on the Tonberry King. They seem to have that one handled well enough. The other Tonberry though, it seems to be threatening the monks! While the monk proceeds to draw the aggro away from his comrade, Vivio raises a hand in that Tonberry's direction and calls out, "Hoop Bind!" Several rings of iridescent light appear in the air surrounding the Tonberry. After a few moments, they all constrict around the centre of the little monster's body, to try and halts its movement and bind it, making it an easy target for the monk and hopefully keeping it from launching its own counterattack.
Ainsley	Ainsley's spell shatters, and she makes a strangled squeaking noise, the paper for the Obscura spell exploding in a shower of purple flame and the other spell dissolving under the weight of her lost focus. She can't easily multitask, and it seems she's overworked herself. This also means she drops out of the air, only barely catching herself. Her flight magic doesn't work right when she's mana shocked! Ainsley staggers away from the fray, trying to avoid the ire of the Tonberries. She really doesn't want to get noticed by those things when she's vulnerable like this. "A l-little help, please," she calls to the others while she blearily staggers to safety.
Tomoyo Daidouji	The King Tonberry has its prey in its sights. It squeezes the knife, pulls it back... \|Kni-\| BLAM! It takes Yuna's shield charge full on! As she impacts against it, it's almost like she slammed against a deeply entrenched rock, the King Tonberry's heavy grudge weighing it down! It begins to bring the knife to bear again, aiming to stab through Shugoseiheki... but then Rarity's scarf whip wraps around its arm, and Vivio's Hoop Bind keeps it in place! The fireball from Crys hit sit dead on, distracting it long enough for Sarah to somersault pass it and snag the sphere that hangs loosely from its belt! Oh, King Tonberry is NOT happy. That fury that infuses the air seems to intensify, becoming a force that seems to drag everything towards it. The hunter that protected his leader is trying to kite that Tonberry away... only for it to suddenly dissolve into pyreflies that fly towards the King Tonberry. Furthermore, the lingering pyreflies from the Behemoth and the slain Tonberry are dragged towards it as well! The leader of the Sin Eaters gets back to his feet, groggy. But when he looks over at the King Tonberry, fear cuts through the mental fog. "It's Oversouling..." he mutters. Then he begins to bellow. "OVERSOUL! EVERYBODY OUT NOW!" The crystal barricades begin to crack under the increasing hateful force as the Sin Eaters begin to make their escape! The leader goes to help Ainsley out of the temple, with the ex-monk protecting him going to support Crys. The one that was wounded is carried out by the last remaining one.
Rarity	Rarity has to dig her armor clad hooves into the ground to keep up the resistance against King Tonberry's arm. You'd think such a lithe pony would be all that strong, but Rarity is more than the sum of her appearances. Of course motivation in protecting her friends plays heavily into this to. At least until it starts charging up and the ex-monks say to run. That sounds like a very good idea. The scarf lets go and rewraps around Rarity's neck, even as she turns to run out of the temple with the others. "Of all the worst possible things!" she gives her usual protest of things going south fast. But doesn't stop running to do so.
Sarah Parsle	Sarah engages in a RISKY MANEUVER and it PAYS OFF. KIND OF. She quickly stashes the SPHERE in her ENIGMA MODUS so she's not in danger of it getting taken away for the moment... And then she feels the Tonberry King take it to the NEXT LEVEL. "Oh...!! OH HELL!" She yells, immediately turning to run as fast as possible. She's the one with the Potato Of Doom, she knows EXACTLY where that King is going to go. "RUN!! RUUUUN!!" She yells, as she ABSCONDS for the exit of the temple, scrambling over the stones.
Yuna Kagurazaka	Yuna has never heard of 'Oversouling' before, but it sounds bad ... and the fact that it's drawing in energy from the other Tonberry AND from the two monsters who were already slain here confirms it. The leader of the Sin Eaters is going to Ainsley's assistance, which is a much-needed bit of good news. Yuna starts running too, dismissing her shield and her pistol so she can run flat-out. Elner flits along next to her, maintaining scans to the rear - if the King Tonberry shows signs of catching up, the robo-faerie will deploy a force-field barrier to try and slow it down. And if push comes to shove, Elner CAN teleport small groups ... but this group is too big to get in one group 'port.
Crys Gattz	Crys Gattz stares at the tonberry is making like a Sayain. She's so damn out she is totally and damn well out. She's out art this point as the King gets super powered she sees the others getting up. She looks at the thing oversouling she looks back to the others. She's going to do what she can to help the get out of there and soon she's got some help she thanks them for it. She'll worry about the Sphere later. Right now l3ts get eveyrone out. So she's going to get the heck lut of here and make sure the one who came to help her s out too. "Don't need to tell me twice!" IF she had time she could use a Telepipe but? The tonberry could come through it after them. She'd rather not risk that.
Ainsley	Ainsley eagerly accepts the help of the Sin Eater and hurries as fast as the ex-monk can help her. She spares only a short glance behind them toward the King Tonberry, frowning powerfully at the being's apparent ability to get very seriously dangerous by absorbing other monsters. "Thank you," she murmurs to the Sin Eater, in a gentle tone of voice.
Guest Vivio	Inside her, Vivio can feel Chris waving frantically at something. At first she doesn't understand by what he means, but it seems the others do. Whatever is coming is supposedly really bad, so they're already booking it. Well, they do have the sphere... So there's not a whole lot of point to risk their lives right now! So Vivio joins the others in getting outta dodge. Thankfully Vivio is quick on her feet, making a mad dash for the exit and scooping up her backpack on the way. As she does so, she looks over her shoulder to make sure no one else is getting left behind... And wondering just what the Tonberry King is doing... Though she's not so curious about it as to stick around and watch! "Leaving!"
Tomoyo Daidouji	Fleeing becomes a lot easier when the grudge in the air causes the crystal barricades to shatter! However, the flying shards might wound some people on their way out. Anyone who looks behind them through any means would see that the King Tonberry is now constantly surrounded by a shimmering haze. Its eyes are so bright that they leave trails of gold whenever it moves its head. It stares balefully at the fleeing crew... and suddenly dissolves into pyreflies that fly a short distance before recombining back into King Tonberry. It does this again and again, these short teleports far faster than its usual pace! Out the temple doors and across the bridge! The rickety old thing barely manages to hold together under the combined weight of everyone. Once on the other side, the Sin Eaters look back... and see the furious yellow eyes peering at them from the temple. They disappear, once again becoming a cloud of pyreflies that begins to chase them, recombining as a Tonberry at the bridge. Again it teleports, starting to cross! "CUT THE ROPES!" the leader barks. The rest of the Sin Eaters draw knives and begin sawing at the ropes of the bridge. It's a tense few moments as the Tonberry continues to teleport towards them. Eventually, and perhaps with some Elite help, the ropes give way, and the bridge falls out from under the Tonberry just as it finished recombining! It begins to fall into the ravine below, its eyes never leaving the team, burning its hate into their minds. Even when it falls into darkness, its eyes glare up at them for several seconds more before their light is swallowed also.
Rarity	Cut the ropes? Cut the ropes! It probably helps that Rarity pulls out a large pair of scissors from her cloak and uses them to help do just that. "What horrid little beasts," she mutters afterwards.
Guest Vivio	Vivio watches the Tonberry King getting closer and closer as it teleports onto the bridge. She doesn't really have much in the way off cutting... Punching, kicking, shooting, sure. Not much cutting though. So she simply stands there at the end of the bridge, ready and waiting in case the others don't finish dealing with the bridge before the Tonberry arrives. But thankfully it seems that success is the order of the day, as Vivio watches the strange creature begin to fall into the ravine, following the once bridge. She sighs in relief, falling back to sit on the ground. She rubs the back of her head, "Those things were tougher than I expected!"
Sarah Parsle	Sarah gets hit by shattering crystal, creating long cuts in her flesh as she runs for her life. The Tonberry King quickly chasing after them with very, very deadly intent. With a yell, Sarah stumbles across the broken bridge, finally hurling herself across the other side. She has no bladed objects. She can't cut that rope. All she can do is look on, wounded, tired, and aghast. If it gets across that bridge, they're all dead. They can't run far and fast enough to... And then it falls. Sarah looks up over to Rarity with a thoughtful expression, and nods to the pony. "Thank you all." She says, simply. She's too tired even for her manic behavior to properly show.
Tomoyo Daidouji	The Sin Eaters don't seem to match the relief that the others show. "They say that Tonberries will pursue you to the end of Spira once they have you in their sights..." one of them mutters. They all peek down at the ravine, hoping for some kind of sign... A minute later, a vast, thick column of pyreflies rises up from the bottom, floating away into the sky as they make a beeline for the Farplane. /Now/ all the Sin Eaters show relief, flopping onto the grass. "Right... since you lot helped save our hides, and we're in no condition to fight you for it, you can keep that sphere," the leader mutters, scratching his chin. "We're just going to sit here for a bit, lick our wounds..." the injured one says, nodding his thanks to Vivio. "Thanks for saving my hide miss."
Yuna Kagurazaka	Yuna's primary inclination, really, is just to keep running like hell. Even with the bridge being cut behind her, what if the High King Tonberry can teleport back to the level of the ridge and continue trying to murder all of them? When the Tonberry plummets into the ravine and fails to continue threatening them, though, Elner teleports ahead of Yuna to report, "The threat's been eliminated." Yuna promptly trips on a rock and falls flat on her face ... but instead of making any noises of pain, she flips over onto her back and calls out, "Is everyone okay ... ?" She would sigh in relief, but she needs to catch her breath first.
Ainsley	Ainsley stares into the ravine, and then turns a look to the Sin Eaters as a whole. Her gaze focuses on their leader after a few seconds of vacant staring. "Yes..." she says, dimly, still shaken by the mana shock and a little loopy now that she's not in immediate danger. She smiles at the monks and turns instead to look toward Sarah, who she noticed grabbing the sphere earlier on in the scuffle. The lizard girl puffs a sigh. "I'll ask the person who put up the ad for permission to examine the sphere," she murmurs, nodding slowly at her own decision, "Good job, everyone." She seems to mean the Sin Eaters, too, who had been fighting the Tonberries alongside them. She digs in her clothing and pulls a wrapped-up giant cookie out to hand over to the monk leader. "Sorry for the trouble," she murmurs to him.
Rarity	The initial meeting in the temple may not of been on best of terms, but Rarity just can't walk away and leave the men empty handed. "Nonsense. You did defeat the other creatures infesting the temple before we arrived. That deserves something of a recourse, even with your gratitude." She pulls a few shiny gems out of a pocket of her cloak and puts them in one of the ex-monk's hands. "Those should be enough to get you fellows a good meal and a nice inn room to clean up and recover for the night. Ciao~" The Element of Generosity turns and walks away before they can try to object or give them back.
Sarah Parsle	"It's cool. We're all cool!! Everything is fine!!" Sarah says with an unusual vehemence. She nods to the Sin-Eaters, and then turns away and marches off. She'll have to code-crack her Enigma Modus to get the sphere out before it can be delivered to the requestor through Syndicate channels regardless. MISSION COMPLETE. WE ARE NOT DEAD. EVERYTHING IS FINE.
Guest Vivio	At the question of their condition, Vivio looks herself over. The holes in her Barrier Jacket are noticeable, as are the cuts and blood. Plus there's the pain, but it's nothing serious. Plus she has a way to mitigate the injuries somewhat. Releasing her magic, Vivio is engulfed by it once more, shrinking back down to her normal ten-year-old form. Once the light fades, her injuries don't look as bad, mostly just minor cuts, a little red but certainly not life threatening. Vivio gives the Sin Eater a grin and says, "No problem! Couldn't just let you die in there!" She gets back to her feet, picking up her backpack and putting it on. She then looks at the rest of her group, "Time to go back!" She starts to walk off, looking rather happy for completing the mission and getting out alive.
Crys Gattz	Crys Gattz ses that the Tonberries are handled and she relaxes she looks to the Sineater and nods for a moment pausing as she looks them over. "Thank you, I wont' forget this either now hold on let me see if there's something I can do." She's seen other merc types be not very thankful for being saved, these guys are. A few nice union related jobs might just float their way as a means of thanks. She's also going to try some minor healing abilitis which should help them a bit.
Yuna Kagurazaka	Yuna gets back to her feet after a few moments spent getting her breathing back to normal, and takes a look around. It seems like the parties are going their separate ways ... but first, she walks up to the leader of the ex-monks. And she bows. "I'm sorry about your companion getting hurt," she says, her tone solemn. "If I'd seen that he was in danger sooner ..." She trails off, straightening up and looking over to where the guy who got shanked by the Tonberry on arrival is - standing or sitting or whatever - and inclines her head to him. Then she turns away, following her friends and her allies towards the warpgate. It's a great relief that nobody died ... apart from the monsters. Not that this solves all of her problems ...