Free City, Truce - Fountain
A tiered fountain marks the center of Truce, water gushing from its
summit and trickling into a deep, wide basin, wrapped by a ring of benches.
Roads flow like rivers away from the fountain, and houses sprout like weeds
all around them. Not far to the east, the ocean roars in the harbor.
You push the Drop button. Effective?

A somewhat heavy snowfall blankets the city of Truce this evening, and for the most part, a majority of its citizens remain indoors where it is nice and warm. Flakes and wisps of powdered ice flutter down from the heavens gently but relentlessly, bringing winter to Guardia in its every enttirety.

Given her part in preparing for the festival from Fa'diel's end, Mollianne was visiting the other nations off and on, as one who easily could, to ensure that all interested parties were aware of the celebration that was to take place. At the moment, however, her nearly bare self is seen reading a couple things off one of the bulletin boards, a familiar white cat-creature lazily draped over one shoulder. The consistent snowfall doesn't seem to bother her dominant display of skin, flakes sticking to her with a small amount of buildup before they gradually melt away, unnoticed.

((In caverns deep down below the surface lies a door. A computer next to it shines forth "Warning: Firebird containment. Keep closed." A few beeps and the door opens, allowing Mogwai and Eevee access "Ah, nothing like exploring dungeons to get in the holiday spirit."))

Kent enters the fountain area from the west. Kent is wearing his armor, which is has frost on it, and is clutching his cloak around him much closer than usual. Between his teeth he's biting a cigar that was probably lit awhile ago, but has since then gone out due to the weather. His boots trudge through the snow, soaking wet. Kent's nose and cheeks seem bright red from the weather around him. Had he been outside all day?

In response to the snowfall, Twilight Sparkle trots back in from the north, with a wool cap covering her mane and horn, along with a windbreaker tied securely around her neck. She's smiling, however, despite the chill in the air, as she sits down amid the snow covering the ground. "Oh, what a wonderful time... I can't wait for Hearth's Warming Eve...!"

Fiszeradin slithered across the town square, carrying a stack of posters with a distinct warning written on them: WARNING! There Are Reports of a dangerous creature residing in the northern canyon. If you spot any suspicious moving chunks of meat or other lures, do not follow them, and please report your findings back to the guard.

Fiszeradin seemed to be intent on plastering the walls and path leading north from the fountain area with his posters, wearing a coat over his torso (though, what use that was to the rest of his body goes unseen).

Julexa scampers into the square, shivering from the snow that clings to her bright yellow and sultry black fur, the pichu seeks a place of warmth. Seeing a bench, she scampers underneath it, shaking her fur vigourously to expell the snow covering it, looking quite drenched, and shivering; much like anyone who's just been drenched does..

Lucy flutters out into the air of the fountain, keeping herself nice and snuggly inside her bear-skin. Her antennae twitch around, and she practically squeals, dashing off toward Molly, leaning in close to poke her, making sure she's real.

Baldric wanders into the square looking around at the others who are already there. "Did I not get invited to a party or something?"

Kimen stood in her purple jacket with her arms wrapped about herself tightly in an attempt to make herself warmer. She was following a few feet behind Kent, apparently having spent just as much time outside as he had as her cheeks were a rosy red from the cold.

Clayton has been here for quite some time, searching around the benches for something that clearly isn't here anymore, His attention shifts however as he notices the cat creature draped over Mollianne's shoulder. A frown forming on his face he gives up his search and sits as calmly as he can back onto the bench bundled up in a black coat.

(("Eevee.. (I don't think I like the holidays anymore..)" mutters Kalin as he licks a portion of his burned paw. He then glances at the monitor. "Vee? (What's it say? Is there treasure inside??)" asked Kalin in an excited manner.))

Gizmo is sitting near the Truce fountain, a fez on top of her head. She leans back, trying to catch a snowflake on her tongue.

Several heavy thuds herald the arrival of the M85 from the north. As usual, it is accompanied by Helios who peers about the area as they enter the fountain square. "Alright, you remember where to go to get the sandbags?" The M85 nods and tromps off east, leaving Helios at the fountain.

Mollianne looks up in short bewilderment at the large slithery being posted new fliers all around, and peruses one briefly before glancing off toward the north. "Huh. Do you think it might be a Yoma? I am not picking up any signals at all." She has barely enough time to finish her query, likely speaking to the cat-thing on her shoulder, before the familiar-sounding squeal catchers her ear, and she turns just in time to be prodded, producing a grin of her own. "Lucy, hi! How are you doing?" Rivulets of melted snow water run down Mollianne's small frame on pretty much all sides, only to consistently be replaced by more snow as it continues to fall around her.

Kent shivered as he reached into his pocket and lit a match. He held the flame for a little while in his palm until he tried to light his frozen cigar. Unfourtunately for Kent, a gentle winter breeze blew out the flame before the tobacco thawed. "Seven. Days." Kent muttered to himself. "Seven. How hard is it to find a goddamn rabbit in this place?"

"Wish I'd been able to see more of this back home, in Canterlot..." Twilight Sparkle, with a rather cheery expression on her face, rises and trots over to Julexa, reveling in the crunch of the snow beneath her hooves along the way. "There's always something nice about winter, and this is my first opportunity to enjoy it..."

Baldric looks around with slight concern, "It really was a party I wasn't invited to."

Lucy giggles and snuggles herself up in the pelt, smiling very widely as she leans in to tickle at Molly's cheek with her feelers. "Good, very good!" she says, her wings buzzing a little, "Lucy found home... Got promotion, assigned duty here! Yes yes. Kept your feather close." She reaches up to her hair and pulls down the large feather, holding it out, before putting it back.

Julexa shivers some more under the bench, as she tries to dry her fur by rubbing her cheek against it. No good, that only made it worse. The small pichu peeks her head out from beneath the bench, looking for any place that might have warmth for her to dry out. So far, no luck. Blast it, why did it have to snow?

"Maybe they lied?" Kimen said lightly under his breath as he looked around. Eyes lighting up as he saw the angel festival lady and another kid.

((Mogwai bothers to take a look at the panel "It says there's a firebird here. Guessing it has the treasure?" She steps inside, where a darkshape is seen inside a massive glass tube. A computer by the side is flashing "Warning: Do not use this terminal." Attached to it is a note that reads "Mogwai, Eevee, for the love of all that is holy, don't use this."))

"Oh. Hello knight. You seem to be having some trouble there, need a light?" Helios stays well outside of Kent's slicing range as he makes the offer, of course. Moving closer would be dumb. Helios noticed the naga he had helped before putting up some posters and made a note to examine that after a moment.

Kahleen walks to the fountain from the south. Her steps seem misplaced and she seems to be grossed out by her new clothing. Kahleen would be wearing a floor sweeping cyan robe that she held up to her knees as she walked. On this night she would also be lacking a mask. Kahleen fished around in her pockets for a moment. "Unbelievable. Nothing here. AT ALL!" she said looking around at the fountaineers.

Kahleen studied those at the fountain so see if anyone revealed a look that would imply that they robbed her of clothes, her smoke bombs, and her knives.

((Mogwai strolls over to the terminal, quickly reads the note, then tosses it to the side "Nothing risked, nothing gained. Here goes nothing!" she says as she pushes the button.))

Fiszeradin spreads a few of his posters out along the road between the buildings, giving a quiet hiss as he realizes they were likely to get wet, as well as trampled, where they were. He glances at the walls before nodding, "that should probably be more than enough... he nods to himself before slithering back towards the bulletin board, placing one more up on there... and then another just to be safe.

((Kalin keeps close to Mogwai while watching their backs for any more flaming creatures. "Eevee? (A fire bird, huh? Don't you think we should leave it alone?)" asks the Eevee as he watches Mogwai discard the seemingly worthless note. At times like this, he really wished that he could read.))

"Ugh, that went well." A busnessman with a briefcase and shiny shoes trudged in from the west and flopped down on a bench with a tired sigh. Jeffery opened up his briefcase and pulled out some shoe polish and a blackened rag and began to shine his shoes. "Welp, I may as well do this for now."

Clayton goes back to searching around the benches, The cat wasn't doing anything, It had to still be around here somewhere... It wasn't here, It's been weeks but he simply doesn't know where else it could possibly be, he had it in his pocket last time he was here.

Mollianne smiles, nodding once. "Hey, that is wonderful! I am glad to hear that things have been going your way, lately. Kind of wish I could say the same on my end... things have been kind of a mess, this last month." She and Kyuubey exchange a look, briefly, before she shrugs and looks back toward the bulletin board. "The festival will be ready to launch in about a week. On top of that, Witches and Yoma have been coming out of the woodwork. I really miss having Kyrk around, in times like this." Mollianne seems to have gone off on her own little tirade at that moment, not seeming to realize the wasp-girl likely wouldn't understand 90% of what she had just lamented upon.

The unusual presence of the naga is enough to pique Twilight Sparkle's innate curiosity, and she turns to look, levitating her windbreaker over to Julexa so the small Pokemon can stay warm. "I've never seen snakes quite that big, and the Hydra doesn't count... This is something I've just GOT to learn about."

Kent was too frozen to draw his sword and yell at Helios. instead, he swore under his breath at Kimen's comment. "unholy blood sucking bat brained son of a-!" He caught his words as soon as his eyes caught Kahleen. "I mean 'Yeah! That would be unfortunate. But one must even give those that are different from us the benifit of the doubt, as it would be rude to force stereotypes upon individuals based on their lifestyles.'"

((A fierce cracking can be heard moments before a wave of energy bursts out of the tube, knocking Mogwai and Eevee onto their backs. With the containment deactivated, Moltres had awoken. The great bird gives a terrifying squawk, before flying up through one of the magma tubes in a trail of flame. Mogwai struggles to get to her feet "That can't be good. We need to get topside and go after it!"))

Kahleen took note that Kimen and Kent were there. "It is good to see familiar faces. I wonder if anyone here stole my stuff." said Kahleen aloud. She looked at Kimen and smiled at her. "She had promise to be a great thief. I wonder how she has fared." "Well...Where did you say your stuff was?" Kahleen paused, her smile fading. "It was stolen but you knew that." she said to nothing. "I see..." Kahleen came back to reality.

Kahleen picked up her robe and ran over to Kent, kissing him on the cheek. She flashed a smile at him and looked down to Kimen. "Hey you! How have you been, ya little incognito pick-pocket?" Kahleen asked trying to not steal Kimen...Into a hug.

Julexa was just about to make a break for a warmer place, when she feels something caress her form. Blinking, she looked about herself: A windbreaker draped itself around her form. Almost immediately, she snuggled into it, her saving grace. Hwer eyes swivel towards Twilight, and give her a big smile of thanks.

Lucy sits there, smiling, looking rather perplexed. "Yoma? Witch? Kyrk? Woodwork? Festival?" she asks, her antennae twitching in confusion, "I know not these words..." She taps her chin a moment, then blinks, gasping and hugging Molly. "Oh no! No, badness! Molly is sad?" she asks with a frown, "No!"

Kimen shifts from foot to foot in an attempt to keep herself warm. The child hadn't meant to anger Kent with her comment, but after a freezing week of trudging through the forest and having nothing to show for it, Kimen almost didn't care at the moment. "Hello again Fobelid!" Kimen greeted the woman as she approached them. Head tilting slightly when she kissed Kent. "Have you been well?"

"Well, suit yourself then. Enjoy your unlit cigar." Helios moves over to look at one of the posters Fizeradin was putting up. "A monster north of Truce? Hey, you don't mean us, do you? we havent seen any lures there."

Jeffery looks around at all the strange creatures that were wandering around the fountain square and mingling with what he assumed were regular humans. There was even that girl talking with some kind of giant bug who looked kinda- she has wings. Why does she have wings? "This place is crazy." Jeffery muttered as he finished polishing one shoe and moved on to the next one.

Fiszeradin blinks a moment "Hmm? I'm sorry, but no, I'm fairly certain what that child described" he shudders a little and shakes his head "Would probably be larger than a chathka" he raises one of the shiny orbs adorning his tails for example.

(("'Nothing ventured, nothing gained!'" muttered Kalin as he turned over and rose to his feet. "Vee! (Come on!)" he barks towards Mogwai as he takes on his Sylphideon form.))

((While the fluffy moogle's added weight made flight difficult and highly unstable, past experiments have yielded the possibilities for Kalin to carry the exotic moogle in manner not reccomended by masters of the sciences of flying. Each experience generally resulted in disaster, but desperate times called for desperate measures.))

Clayton sighs and refocuses again, This time on Kahleen.... The crazy lady who yelled at him, She was there when his journal went missing. Maybe she picked it up, or saw where it went, yeah that's a good place to start. Clayton gets up and starts to approach Kahleen, staying as non descript as possible.. Which is what he does anyway.

Mollianne smiles a bit again, not fighting off the hug and allowing herself to be embraced. She pivots one foot slightly in so doing, so as not to put off Kyuubey on her other shoulder, who has since gotten up in a sitting-perch at this time. "It is fine, Lucy. The best way to explain it all is to just say that a lot of has happened since the masquerade party. It would take a long time to try and explain the ins and outs." Kyuubey gives a look between the siren and the wasp-girl, blinking only once. His expression could just as easily proclaim 'Indeed.'

Lucy just tickles all over Molly's cheek as she frowns, and steps back. "Okay Molly..." she says, trying to smile a little, "Does Molly want hot cocoa?" She reaches down and pulls a large thermis of cocoa from her hip, holding it up with a smile.

As she trots closer, the unicorn slows down somewhat, before finally taking a seat near Fiszeradin and tilting her head in poorly-concealed curiosity. "I couldn't help noticing you, and wanting to learn about what exactly you are... My name is Twilight Sparkle."

"Well, that's a relief. What did the witness describe the monster as?" Helios now seems to be surreptitiously comparing his size to the soze of one of Fizeradin's tail orbs. He stops and looks up as Twilight approaches. "Oh, hello Twilight. Have you been enjoying that book on electronics we gave you?"

Kent put on a dumb smile when Kahleen kissed his cheek. Of course, the kiss could only warm his heart so much, and he was still freezing cold. "Hello, dear," He said to her. Then, kent got a little confused at Kimen's look and comment. "" He whispered into Kahleen's ear, not quite knowing what to say.

Kahleen 's smile turned into a frown and her eyes scowled at Kimen, as he pupils turned into slits. "How dare you, a child, insult me with such words of disgrace! I will not stand here while one as little as you tries to belittle ME! In fact, if I had a dagger or a knife I'd tak-"-"She simply called you by the name you gave her." Kahleen froze in confusion.

"I would have NEVER said THAT was my name." she said pointing a finger at the gap between Kimen and Kent. "Fobelid? That IS the name you gave her, after all." "Oh? Is that was she called me? Huh...I heard something else entirely!" Kahleen broke into laughter. "Yes, yes! I've had better days to be honest!" Kahleen threatening Kimen might have escaped Kahleen by this point.

Kahleen put her arm across Kent's back, along his waist. "You havent seen anything strange...Around here have you?" she asked generally looking over at the strange naga over there...Being a naga.

((After an exciting trip to the surface, Mogwai and Eevee take off after Moltres in the moogle's bus, launching whatever attacks they can get their paws on at it. This does little more than piss it off further, resulting in a few sharp turns to avoid liquified parts of the road. "Ok, new plan: We need backup. Gonna hit Truce, find some folks to help out. If anyone asks, just act natural. We did nothing wrong."))

A bit of off road driving later, Mogwai comes barreling into the center, snow melting on all sides around the bus. "Oh, good, I've never been so happy to see the place crowded."

Julexa scampers out of her hiding place, her body mostly concealed by the large windbreaker that's been drped over her form. She makes her way out, looking around for a bit. What she does notice is a bus screaming up to the fountain. She sits and stares, knowing exactly who that bus beloged to. What she doesn't know is..what kind of hurry it was in.

Kimen's head tilted even more, and he looked at Fobelid with a little bit of worry. "Did something happen since I last saw you?" He asked. It HAD been a long time since the child had seen her. Kimen didn't even know this was the woman Kent had been taking about all this time... Though the name wasn't the same. Maybe Kent had 2 girlfriends?

((The comfort and safety in Mogwai's bus was short lived as Kalin soon as saw the flaming bird chasing them behind. He then floated up to a hatch on the ceiling of the bus and popped it up. "Sylphideon! (I'll try to slow it down!)" said Kalin as he made his way out of the bus. However, Kalin's actions did little to deter the fiery monster. As a while, he then returned to the bus to hear the next step of Mogwai's plan.))

(("Sylphideon!? (You want -me- to act natural?)" asked Kalin sarcastically as an enormous fireball barely misses the bus. "Sylphidon! (Urghh! Can't this thing go any faster?!)" complained Kalin as he eyes the spinny mechanism Mogwai uses to accelerate the bus. He knew better than to mess with the controls though, unlike his past self. Along the way, he reverted to Eevee form and followed Mogwai's lead and a totally unsuspicious manner.))

Fiszeradin glanced down at Twilight Sparkle, blinkinga few times "I could probably ask you the same thing. My name is Fis'zeradin, and I am a Ban'khet." he gives something of a short bow "I don't think I've seen anything wi-" he stops to think "Well... quite like you"

Mollianne holds up a hand in thanks-but-no-thanks. "No, but I appreciate it. Go ahead and keep it for yourself, I imagine you may not handle the weather as well as I do." Snow continues to fall all around the unconcerned siren as she speaks, as if emphasing her point. "But thinking back on it, you mentioned being 'placed' here. Is your colony some kind of military collective, then?"

"Not really surprising, I would imagine... It's not common to see unicorns here, let alone ones that can talk." With a smile, Twilight Sparkle once again extends one of her forehooves in friendly greeting, straightening the cap on her head with a brief flare of magic from her horn. "It's nice to meet you, though, Fiszeradin."

Mogwai runs up to the fountain "Hey, guys, we need your help." Gizmo perks up from her seat at the fountain "What'd you two do?" Mogwai feigns innocence "What? Nothing." On cue, Moltres starts setting the Rabite forest on fire before turning its sites on Truce "You two ignored my note, didn't you." "No. Yes. Doesn't matter. Good news is, everyone's fixing to have someplace warm for winter, bad news is... fuck it, I can't joke, just help me kill that damn thing."

Julexa pops her head out from the windbreaker, twitching her ears as snow starts to cap them. She wonders what's going on...until she sees the forest on fire. Welp..there goes that plan. Time for action! She just lets out a small squeek and covers up in the jacket again. Too cold, yup, let's go with that...

Kahleen leaned in close to Kent "< I cant keep track of the names I give, either. And I refuse to even try! >" Kahleen looked at Kimen. "Something did happen to me, Kiddo. When I woke up this evening..." Kahleen sighed a depressing sigh of all depressing sighs. "I woke up wearing...*Gulp*...This!" she said waving her hand down her self, displaying her attire. "And my knives, daggers, bombs, my mask-" Kahleen placed a firm grip on Kimen's shoulder. "-THEY TOOK MY MASK, CHILD!"

Kahleen seemed winded and worked up. "Its all gone, Kimen. All of it." she said as her shoulders started to slouch. She seemed to have shut down but suddenly, in a spaztastic motion, she displayed a receipt for Pandora's Box high above her head. "But, as fate would have it, they left this one damning piece of evidence behind! I shall find this thief and bring them to justice, for I, the robbed, will rob the robber."

Lucy raises a finger up. "Well, military complex, not so much...just..." she says, before trailing of, looking at the giant flaming bird in the distance. She jumps back and drops her bear-pelt, her wings fluttering, flying her high up into the air. Leather, studded armor surrounds her body, with a small lance on her hip, which she grabs quickly. She takes a moment to close her eyes and emit a scent, hoping it would be carried off to her hive.

"Dammit Mogwai!" Helios sighs and shakes his central core. "Well, we do owe you for the latest expidition. Let us get the M85 and we can help." Helios pauses as he sends out a quick wireless message. "Ok, it is on its way." The M85 marches into the square a few moments later with several large sandbags slung over it's shoulder.

It looked over at Helios questioningly. "Look, there is a fire-bird-thing that needs to be killed. We require your assistance for this." The M85 nods and arms its cannon.

Fiszeradin simply tilts his head a moment at the hoof, before extending a large paw out that dwarfs the hoof, his hand closes gently around it though, claws well away from any fur "I believe I am the only one of my kind to be rifted here" Twilight would probably feel the suckers along his digits gently twitching against her fur, before he released from the handshake.

Fiszeradin glanced up just in time to watch the flaming bird fly overhead, setting alight the forest, he gives a small foreign curse as he drops the fliers, leaving a winding track through the snow as he makes his way towards the guard barracks.

Clayton Reaches his arm towards Kahleen, ignoring the bird. The fountain has no shortage of "heros" it's not even worth turning around for. it'll be gone in like 10 minutes. This was more important! Also he was being brave! can't stop the forward momentum He tugs on her robe, "Excuse me Miss. Do you have a second?"

"Eevee! (Well we were enjoying a fine getaway in an underground cavern filled with lava and angry creatures in search for glory and legendary treasures when suddenly--)" Kalin was cut off by Moltres' shrieking cries. Upon hearing Gizmo's comment and Mogwai's response, Kalin glared towards Mogwai, "Vee! (-She- left that note?!)" Not that he visits the forest much anymore, but he could only hope that his nest wasn't incinerated. He hasn't quite noticed his freezing sister yet. (Eevee)

Kent shrugged. For right now, just 'dear' or any other nondescriptive pet-name would probably work. He winked at her. "Personally, madame, I find your current attire to be quite fetching. It compliments your curves nicely." Kent really really hoped Kimen wouldn't ask too many questions. He'd have trouble coming up with an excuse.

"Is it just me, or is it get-...oh, no. No, no, no, this can't be happening...!" As the Moltres flies overhead, and sets the forest ablaze, Twilight Sparkle closes her eyes with a sigh, before focusing on a teleportation spell to take her into the burning trees. "Got to put those trees out, and rescue any animals in there!"

"Aand... Done." Jeffery puts the polish and the rag back in his briefcase. He looks over at the flaming forest to the west. "You know what, I think I'm going to go and look for a job over this way..." Jeffery slinks off to the east where it is closer the the water and farther from the chance of death by fire.

Mollianne blinks as Lucy abruptly sheds her [bear]skin and takes to the air, only just now noticing the giant phoenix a short distance in the west. It kind of reminded her, for a moment, of when she played a phoenix in a school play several years ago. Either way, Lucy apparently had some beef with it, but this wasn't really her domain, so unless it seemed like it was going to present a real threat AND not have people ready to engage, she would leave well enough alone. Besides, part of the reason, beyond Mollianne's ambassador-like business, she had come back to Truce at the moment anyway was to see how Crossroads and the others had been doing. And... something else, too. She frowned softly, looking between the gathering "heroes" about to depart. Yeah, to each their own, she supposed.

Kimen blinked, "You mean someone stole them from you? Any idea who?" She asked. Her back was to the smoke billowing from the trees to the forest, and she really wasn't paying attention to the commotion at the fountain... since that seemed to be quite typical of this place. The child looked to the north though after asking this, wondering if she should leave Kent and Fobelid alone while she spent a couple coins on some hot chocolate.

"We can't stay long, you know." Kyuubey spoke up suddenly, as if reading Mollianne's thoughts. It was highly likely that this was the case. "The Twins can take care of themselves in your absence, but you shouldn't allow yourself to do what you did a month ago, every time they are in trouble. It's not healthy."

Twilight Sparkle rematerializes in the forest, paying no mind to her charred look and racking her mind for an appropriate spell to extinguish the flames consuming the trees. "Water, water... Why can't I remember any good water-spells...?

Julexa peeks her head from her jacket again, seeing Eevee and lets out a loud squeek. "PI~!(Eevee! What's going on?!)" She calls out as she snuggles up in the windbreaker, as snow falls all around her. "Pi-chu!?(What is that thing, and what is it doing here?)"

Gizmo looks up at Moltres "I have an idea, but I'll need time. Distract it." she says, before running off. Mogwai groans "It's flying, what am I supposed to do..." Idly she picks up a cobblestone and chucks it at Moltres. By sheer luck, she beans it right between the eyes. By sheer misfortune, Moltres takes great offense to this and starts chasing her around the square with firebreath

Kahleen looked at Clayton in shock. Kahleen kept her hand that was gripping the receipt held high. "Well look at this! Now you want seconds? Didnt you get enough from me the first time thief? Come back to reclaim your evidence, maybe? Well, it is too late for now I know your face and I will never forget it....ever." she said looking at Clayton as if she had never seen the kid before. She stood in silence for a moment and glared at Kent.

Kahleen shook her head in response to what Kent had to say. "Kent...This is stupid and you know it but thanks for trying." She looked back over to Clayton. She seemed lost while looking at him. "Wait...Are you-no! I'm mad at you!" she said, her face turning back to a display of anger. "Well, spit it out!" Kahleen glanced over at Kimen. "I think I found the person." Kahleen said as if Clayton wasnt there.

Lucy zooms down toward the Moltres in an attempt to slam her hard, chitinous foot directly into its ribcage. If it were to hit, she would slam her other foot down next, and float up high in an attempt to draw the bird away from the fountaingoers.

A beeswax candle set upon a tarnished brass holder goes out.
Kent didn't even wait for a response from Kahleen. He smelled smoke. Smoke means fire. His head turned west to where he saw the forest ablaze. "About damn time I get myself a proper foe!" He said ecstatically as he drew his sword. "Sorry, Consiland, I got too do something here. I'll be fine!" He said the word fine very self assuredly. He sprinted towards the phoenix without noticing he let the wrong name slip out.

The M85 quietly analyzes the flaming rubber chicken looking thing. It picks up one of the sandbags that it was holding and swings it at Moltres on its next pass, hoping for a hit. Helios merly hovers beside him and shoots an occassional bolt of lightning. It would be impressive, if the lightning wasn't dispassating before it got anywhere close to the bird.

And just like that Clayton's resolve died a bit. Being honest with himself, he couldn't handle this.. What would he even do if she grabbed him again? yell for help? His voice shakey now he "spits it out" "A f-few ww-eeks ago you grabbed me and I just. I lost my journal!" He was practically yelling (talking near what one would call a normal voice level) His confidence was back! and he was damn well gonna make use of it "Did you see it? It's the most important thing I have!"

Kimen looked between the other kid and Fobelid looking perplexed, "Wait a moment, how do you know it was him?" Kimen scratched the back of his head, "It sounds like he has lost something too. Maybe you are both victims of theft."

Kalin blinked a few times as he suddenly snuggled by the little Pichu. It suddenly dawned on him that he went off on an adventure with Mogwai without telling Julexa he was back, or even left to begin with. Though now really wasn't the time for that. "Vee! (Oh, hey sis! It um..may or may not be our fault.)" he comments as fiery blast aimed towards Mogwai barely misses him.

"Eevee! (Look uh..now's not really the time for this. You should probably hide for a bit.)" says the older pokemon, as overprotective as usual and underestimating her capabilities. He then closes his eyes and concentrates on Undine's blessing, causing his body to plop into a liquidy mess briefly before coming together again to form Undineon.

Kalin then proceeds to take a deep breath while eyeing the bird, waiting for the right opportunity. He also notices others jumping to help with the monster. It seemed Mogwai's backup plan was working.

Julexa hears a loud shriek and gets scared. You know what happens when a pichu gets scared, right? That's right, electricity goes flying in every direction around the Pichu, who can't seem to contain it as it arcs and leaps around in a colorful display of yellow and blue, one bolt extending into the sky as this is happening..

Mollianne really doesn't feel inclined to want to be a part of this. She sighs, shaking her head as she turns and heads south, Kyuubey on her shoulder. Heroism is one thing, but stupid moogles aside, what great 'hero' ever went looking for trouble? It was no wonder she rarely left Fa'diel. Save for her comrades, people were pretty moronic around here. But oh well, like she mused early: to each their own.

Twilight Sparkle groans lowly, shaking her head before planting her hooves in the ground and charging a simple magic-blast atop her horn, all while taking aim at Moltres. "Just worry about the fire later, and take that thing down!"

Mogwai stops for breath as she notices Moltres has stopped attacking her. It's turned its attention the the wasp kicking it in the chest, bringing its wings down hard in an attempt to embrace Lucy in flames. A spark of Julexa's lightning just barely misses, giving the scene dramatic lighting.

Fiszeradin comes slithering through the plaza, a few guards trailing after him, looking up at the scene above as him and the guards stop "I think they have this, lets go! The forest'll burn down otherwise. the guards exchange glances and nods before running after him as he slithers his way west, skirting the battle as best he can.

Julexa finally works up some inner strength as the lightning fizzles out to a spark and occasional pops. Her face is red, not from embarrassment, but from fatigue and the biting wind buffeting her face...despite her fur...which does nothing when wet to keep her warm, she tries to shoot off more electricity, but it seems that all she can produce is a small spark. Welp, there goes her usefulness...in this fight, anyway.

Lucy pulls the feather from her head and holds it close to her chest, holding her wings and legs to her body as the flames hit her, letting the brunt of the fire slam into her chitin. Tumbling down through the air for a moment, she attempts to regain her focus, her wings buzzing and moving her off toward the side, whimpering from pain.

Moltres seems pleased as the wasp tumbles down, before giving a squawk of surprise as a sandbag nails it in the face, causing it to reel a full circle backwards (Mogwai)

Twilight Sparkle closes her eyes again, as the magic orb on the end of her horn turns a harsh white. "Almost... There!" With that, the Magic-bearing unicorn is firing her attack off at the Moltres, with residual sparks falling on the ground. She quickly casts another teleportation spell, however, to return to Truce, with only a flare of white light to mark her previous location.

Spotting the right opportunity and with lungs full of air, Kalin proceeds to fire an icy beam towards Moltres in hopes that it would connect.

Julexa decides that, since it's out of electricity, the next best thing? She grabs some snow, turns it into a ball and chucks it upward at the Moltres like a small child who's angry at a much taller, and older sibling for hitting them in the face with a snowball. She proceeds to do this as many times as she can gather snow, turning what seems like vindication, into a small hail of snowballs aimed right at the Moltres' stupid face.

"Good show, M85! Now, knock it out of the air!" Helios fires off a laser while the M85 hurls the entire sandbag at the slightly stunned Moltres.

Kahleen though about what Kimen had to say, though she wouldnt fully buy into Kimen's theory. "A victim of theft would instinctively know to track down a fellow victim of theft and seek to merge resources to get their stuff back as a team? HA! I find that to be unlikely, young child." She glanced back to Clayton. He was rambling on about something. "Look kid...I dont know why you would think I know where your misplaced things go but I have some problems of my own to deal with."

Kahleen tapped a finger on her chin as she stared at Clayton. He seemed sincere. "I've been knife-jacked..Jack-knifed...Something...MY stuff, which is more important than your stuff, is missing as well. Did you see anything...Strange around here?" Kahleen said oblivious to the epic fiery battle taking place around the city.

Kent ran, trying really hard to ignore the icy sting of wind in his face. Hit boots hit the snow, only slightly slowing down his assault against friction as he flew west. Finally catching sight of the bird, he was awestruck. But only for a moment. A flying death bird of pure flame was exactly the kind of thing he'd been waiting for. This was better than hunting a rabite anyday.

With a quick calculated turn, Kent ran into one of the taller buildings and sprinted up the staircase. The sheer bodyheat of his blood began to thaw his cold bodyframe as his momentum increased up the steps. Finally reaching the third floor, he held his sheild and aimed in full sprint towards a closed window. He brace for impact, made contact, and his shield protecting him from broken glass as the window shattered with him flying through it.

Trying to aim his fall, Kent fell towards the bird. He projected his feet towards it's back and held his sword in front of him. If he couldn't land on his feet, at the very least his blade would make contact.

Moltres is unamused at the snowballs and ice, glaring down at the two pokemon before letting loose a blast of flame. Occupied as it is, it doesn't notice Twilight's blast before being jolted to the side, making for a rough landing for Kent.

Lucy blinks and watches the Moltres fall, and then suddenly, Kent! She zips forward, dashing up to snatch Kent in her arms, and hopefully bring him to the ground without any mishaps.

Julexa sees the blast of flame heading straight for her and squeeks as she tries to move, but gets tangled in the windbreaker and wrapped up in it as the fire washes over her. When the fire stops, the jacket was burned away, but she was mostly unharmed, saved for a few random burn marks embedded in her fur and skin underneath, her body covered mostly in soot and ash from the windbreaker. Boy, was she unhappy. And freezing again, don't forget freezing.

Fiszeradin and the guard quickly move to the forest, starting to do as much as they can to try to contain the roaring blaze that backlit the battle behind them, their own battle of sorts under way. Throwing snow, dirt, and anything else they can find that wasn't flammable at the fires sprouting up throughout the woods.

Kent's feet hit the flaming back of the monster with more force than he intended. He feel on his back and had to drop his shield to avoid injuring himself too badly. The shield proceeded to slide off the pheonix's back, preventing Kent from using it further during the battle. Not matter. Carefully, Kent began to work his way up the pheonix's back until he could reach it's neck. There, he could strike.

Clayton frowns and considers turning and leaving. But no, Clayton's not a scared little kid! For the love of god he's a soldier! Well close enough to one anyway. This woman -KNOWS- Where his journal went. She had to. He had it before he talked to her and didn't have it when he got back to his room. With a new level of confidence to his voice! craps out and brakes back down to a whisper, squeaking out a "Please".

Twilight Sparkle opens her eyes, preparing another - considerably larger - blast of magic and once again taking aim at Moltres before firing it off. "One more strike... That should bring it down!"

Unlike Julexa, Kalin wasn't quite as lucky. He had considered dispersing into water, but reforming amongst the snow would be extremely difficult and slightly even impossible. And as Undineon, he wasn't quick on his feet and his instincts warning him of such attacks has weakened since growing attached to civilization. As the fiery blast makes contact, Kalin flies a little ways backwards away from Julexa.

Unable keep his form up and also slightly writhing in pain, Kalin's Undineon form 'drips' off his body to reveal his Eevee form once again.

Julexa can only watch as Eevee is blasted back, and she quickly scampers over to where Eevee has landed. Looking down at him, she gently nudges his cheek with her nose, to see if he would respond. She looks up at Moltres now, and realizes she can't do anything of rel use, except make it mad. That won't do..so, she stays by Eevee and sits down in the snow, letting it wash off the soot--only helpful thing it did for her today.

Kimen shifted from foot to foot in an attempt to keep warm, "Why don't we all go get some hot chocolate? I am sure the three of us can go over what was stolen and such in a nice warm room just as easily as we could out here in the cold." Kimen had been outside long enough today.

Suddenly, out of the blue, Lucy's hot chocolate thermis hits Kimen in the head, and lands in his arms!

Moltres struggles to try and lose Kent, accidentally dodging the sandbag in the process. Mogwai rushes over to Eevee to try and get him to cover "Come on, you'll get through this, I promise."

Kahleen looked at Clayton then to Kimen. Kimen was a happy-go-lucky kind of thief, maybe. "Look kid..." "Dont give up your earned possessions, Kahleen." "I've never seen the kid b'fore!" "The box of chocolates that was really just a book?" "Oh that! The book about crazy dreams...Like where the writer was living other sub par lives?" Kahleen said coming back to reality. She looked at the kid. "Fine...I'll give you your book back but It's at my house."

Kahleen looked at the receipt then back to Clayton. "Fine. You can have your crazy book of craziness back, which makes me look good in comparison, but it's at my house and if you want to come there, I'll have to bleed you out." "Blind fold him?" "Yeah. I mean...Keep your blood, I'll just, ya know, blind fold you. As Kimen said we'll have bloo-hot chocolate and swap stories! Deal?" she said smiling sweetly to the boy.

Even as she turns to face the burning forest, Twilight Sparkle focuses magic to the tip of her horn, for a third teleportation spell back into the thick of the fire raging. Shortly after, there's a third burst of light as she disappears, reappearing near Fiszeradin and the guards a moment later. "They can handle that thing... I need to protect the town, and the forest!"

Kent slowly got onto his two feet and inched up the monster's back. finally reaching its neck, Kent strattled the pheonix with his knees. He leaned down and held his sword just beneath it's neck. He looked at one of it's eyes, it felt pain. It had been so long since he had made such a mighty beast fell terror. And the more it felt terror, the more Kent felt bliss. Ash and heat tried to burn Kent's eyes.

With a quick motion, Kent slit the beast's throat and braced for impact. He didn't know how he would land the thing, but when he hit the ground, he did know that it would be dead. And that's all Kent asked for.

He was clearly on fire, but the knight didn't notice. The slayer had killed demons while he was in the same state. His profession needed comfort in blazing heat. He had it. He leaned in close before his killing blow. "Hear me, beast. I am Kent, exiled knight. Once I was called Sir of the Legio Aurea. But, a hundred times since I was called slayer. Fear my wrath."

With a quick motion, Kent slit the beast's throat and braced for impact. He didn't know how he would land the thing, but when he hit the ground, he did know that it would be dead. And that's all Kent asked for.

Clayton was angry.. Really more embarassed then angry, she read his journal, the place where he writes everything down. The place where he makes sense of everything. No worse, She stole it, he should be furious, he should yell at her or. or something. Clayton squeaks out an "okay" Or something indeed.

Lucy flutters to the ground. So many people taking care of this, it wouldn't hurt if she just... Left, adnd went off to find Mollianne to the south. Taking steps, holding the burns on her arms, she grabs her bear-pelt and sets off.

Kimen clapped his hands. Finally it was time to get out of the cold! "Great!" He said excitedly. Hot chocolate, warm house, and maybe he could make a new friend closer to his age too. Kimen couldn't help but smile.

Julexa helps Mogwai to carry her older sibling to the side, and she glances up at Mogwai with concern and a little bit of bewilderment. That, and the fact her face is raw fro the wind, but that can be overlooked because she's pretty much the equivalent of how a miner looks after digging in a mineshaft all day. Yeah, that bad.

Kahleen looked at the direction Kent ran off to play with a candle bird and shouted, "Kent! We're going to my house to drink whatever Kimen is talking about. If you wanna come drink Kimen-drink-stuff when you're done playing, swing by! I miss you!" Kahleen tore her hood off of her robe, at the seam. She rigged it onto Clayton's upper face, covering his eyes.

Kahleen placed a hand on Clayton's shoulder and gave it a tight grip. She looked over at Kimen and nodded. "Lets be on our merry way!" she said as she started to walk south, guiding the blind Clayton along by his shoulder. "So, this hot chocolate is non-alcoholic, right? I mean if Kent comes over and gets drunk again...I might have to hit him with like a rock or something. Like...Like a stone." Kahleen started to ramble nonsense as she guided the children.

Eevee is on the verge of consciousness, being carried off by Mogwai and Julexa.

Gizmo comes running back with a pair of pokeballs "Ok, I'm back and I've got... holy fuck guys. Umm... yeah. Guess I don't need these anymore." she puts them away "Mogwai, Eevee... since you two, ya know, led it here and all, you get the job of dragging that thing back where you found it." Mogwai groans "Ugh, why, it's dead. And it looks heavy!" Gizmo chuckles "It's a goddamn phoenix, why do you think it was sealed in the first place. Now get moving."

The M85 sighed as it watched the sandbag fly across the square and smash into a store on the other side. "M85?" The mechon looked over at Helios. "That was an abysmal display of accuracy. You need some calibrations done on your systems." The M85 whined sadly and hung its head.

Fiszeradin nods to Twilight as she appeared, his lower body writhing and slinging snow and dirt at the trees. Having given up on ising his arms by now.

"Of course..." Twilight Sparkle turns to the thick blanket of snow untouched by the fire, seizing a good amount of it with her magic and packing it into a ball which gets flung at the nearest tree. "Snow melts with heat! How could I have not thought of that?"

Kent got to it's feet. He patted down the flames he had and wiped his sword on his singed cloak. Turning to the beast, he noticed a group of three discussing it's death and began to deal with it. A quick clean up. The exile kind of wish he had gotten a trophy from the kill though. He looked around town in attemped to find his shield. When he did, he strapped it to his back and began heading south. He had quite the story to tell Kahleen and Kimen. And he felt GOOD!