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.

The sky is considerably overcast on this evening as dusk begins to settle into and around Truce, bringing more clouds with it as the minutes of remaining daylight tick by. Right in the middle of one of the benches, Kyuubey is sat firmly upright, his features as blank and catlike as every they were, staring ahead at apparently nothing. The cat-creature's tail twitches; despite his vacant expression, he is obviously focused on something. Somewhere.

Mogwai dances into the town square, barely able to contain her excitement.

Bahamut walks in from the east his boots making strange cracking sounds as a heat haze seems to engulf his entire form.

Already geared up for another fight, Spitfire's turning to watch Kyuubey, though her bored expression from earlier is strangely absent. "Hey there. Gonna be another crazy night, I can already tell, despite having no psychic abilities."

With cloudy weather comes the potential for rain, so for most of the day, Finn's bummed around in his tree fort, putting the finishing touches on it, and moving furniture in as it arrives. With all of the shipments for the day finished, he heads for the square from the north, noting that it seems to again be time to gather. Pretty convenient, in spite of potential rain. "Evening!" Mostly said toward Mogwai and Spitfire, as they're the ones he recognizes so far.

Helios flies in from the south, dragging several half- melted pieces of the late M82. "We guess these are useful for scrap, if only they wernt so heavy."

A familier Blue Kirby can be seen walking in from the South, but he is battered and bruised. As well as a little dusty. Nagol pants as he makes his way to the Fountain, and collaspes onto a nearby bench.

Gearex leans up against a nearby building and lights a cigerette occasionally glancing over at the white cat at the fountain. "Wherever that cat seems to be, trouble seems to follow." He says as he exhales smoke and continues his observation.

Kyuubey shifts his attention slightly, turning on his behind to face Helios and completely disregarding Spitfire's attention on him as he does so. His cat face is open and unthreatening, and his bright red eyes blink a couple of times before he speaks. "I must say I'm rather impressed. Not pleased, but impressed, nevertheless. Are you proud of yourself? If you are, I'll allow you to savor it for a moment. But let me just say, you've made a terrible mistake, thinking to have outsmarted one such as I." Kyuubey's gaze is piercing, despite is easygoing cat-features.

Mogwai turns her attention to Helios "Hmm? What'd he do?"

Bahamut stands next to the fountain brushing off chared burnt flakes. "They could have just said no.." as he looks around with a question expression.

Spitfire says 'I wasn't conscious to see it, but he stole something, didn't he?'

Finn, again seemingly in the middle of something he doesn't fully comprehend, says nothing, and instead relaxes, moving to settle in against the fountain and listen.

Helios drops the parts, kicking up a small cloud of dust in the process. "Outsmarted? You weren't even paying attention. We are just borrowing it for a while." Helios seems very nonchalant about the cat's accusatory gase. "Oh, we are just using a grief seed for the moment."

Nagol doesn't notice the Crowd and goes over to the Fountain to wash himself off. He then grabs a Medi-kit, and patches himself up.

Kyuubey remains where he is, even as the clouds continue to gather overhead. The threat of a storm seems imminent, but no rain yet comes; the only effect it seems to have is to make the onset of nightfall come that much sooner. "From what I know about the morals of mankind, 'borrowing something' involves asking for permission. Unless you asked another incarnation of me, which I'm pretty certain you haven't, this exchange never took place. Thus, I am forced to conclude that you did not borrow, but stole. And this is no petty theft, I'm afraid. Stealing the soul of a once-living being is not only a dangerous pretense, but when said souls are already linked to someone else, the water you tread becomes that much more treacherous. Do you understand my meaning?"

Kyuubey's tone seems... dark. Decidedly so, even despite his whimsical vocal range.

Mogwai says 'Helios... I think you should probably hand it over.'

Bahamut walks on over to Helios. "Sounds like you scored yourself something interesting?"

For her part, Spitfire isn't daring to move away from her battle-readiness, opting simply to sit down and listen to the conversation. She's flaring her wings, though, in case the order to deploy is issued in any form. "Acting a bit too brave, I think... But, then again, who am I to talk?"

Finn's still trying to piece things together, and thoughtfulness means silence. He folds his arms across his chest and observes. There doesn't really seem to be a clear good and evil in this particular conversation, except perhaps someone who feels they've been wronged.

Helios nods to Bahmut. "Quite, we were able to take down a Yoma and are now running scans on it. We hope to have the basis of it replicated by tonight." He then turns back to Kyuubey. "We know that it is dangerous, but we have everything under control. It cannot hatch in a stasis field, so you can have it back once we finish with it. And, on that note, was it really yours to begin with, hmm?"

The intensity at the fountain sparks Nagol back to his usually self and he says, "Let's see here." Nagol scans the crowd and says, "What going on here? I have no idea what's going on. I just finally got here from crash-landing over at Lea Monde."

Gearex flicks away his cigerette and sighes letting out the remainder of the smoke. He looks over at the group and walks a little closer to get a better hearing of the conversations going on. It sounded like it would be a interesting, yet he didn't announce his presence to the group.

Nagol takes the Star Rod from his backpack and polishes it with a wash-cloth. He says, "I'm just lucky me and Darkmare survived the fall, but I don't know where he went after the crash."

Kyuubey doesn't show any difference in expression, of course. However, he gets to his feet, tentatively, and hops down onto the cobbles at the base, before having another seat. "So, you choose ignorance. This is fine, and, unfortunately, expected. Let it be known that these once-contracted individuals, while not mine by possessive rights, are the rights and responsibility of the still-living contracted individuals that I have brought under my service. Of which, I will not state, you are not."

Mogwai looks curious "Just how are you able to study it, while maintaining that it absolutely cannot change?"

"Something I'm afraid that you misunderstood is what I meant by "treacherous" when I stated the link between souls. Do you think that I do not possess one of my own? And how do you believe these contracts are made? Do you think I just remove their essences, then hand them back to them, in a crystal carrier? If so, you are ignorant and foolish, to boot. Let me make something extremely clear, Helios." Kyuubey wafts his tail, once.

A crackle of magical energy sparks into being directly above Kyuubey's head, and with the sound of the utter fabric of reality tearing open, a dark gate emerges, and from it, a familiar-looking black crystal object; it hangs in the air, as the 'portal' it came through abruptly snaps shut, all without Kyuubey looking away from Helios. "You do not take things that do not expressly belong to you. Not from my Wishborn. And especially not from me. You endanger my mission by retaining Grief Seeds necessary to maintain the life of my contracted individuals. And this is extremely, extremely unacceptable."

Mogwai backs up slowly "Umm... remember what I said about giving it back? New piece of advice: Run."

Bahamut shrugs. "Its like the cat said, technically he did nothing wrong.. its just he's not happy about the risk involved, so does that mean he wants to void the contract or terminate the user.." Bahamut ponders the thought for a second.

"I'm not going to pretend to follow his commands, or be his representative..." There's a sigh from Spitfire, as she turns to cast a disapproving stare in Helios' direction. "Regardless, I know what it means to be in a position of leadership, as the Captain of the Wonderbolts, and tactically, you made a poor decision."

"Well, either way, if he's got it back, through whatever means, I think that you should at least cut him some slack. He didn't know, but now he does. At least give him a chance," Finn offers simply, knowing that he'll probably get shot down. And, honestly, he's perfectly prepared for that, but he does nod slightly in agreement with Spitfire. Tactical or not, the decision was poor all around.

Helios narrow his lens. "Well, according to the telemetry, the scans are finished. You can have it back, we are finished with it either way." There is a rumble of thunder from overhead as a few large raindrops begin falling. "Whatever the case, we now have to implement that data." Helios picks up the pieces and backs away into the gathering gloom until only the now slightly eerie lens is seen. "We will return with the news of our success." The lens abruptly snaps out as the rain begins to fall in earnest.

Nagol is totally confused at the events here at the Fountain, but his Wish-granter senses tell him to keep listening.

Gearex looks over at the cat as it opened some sort of dark gate. He reaches for his sidearm hidden within his uniform jacket and quickly goes on guard.

A few moments of floating pass, and the Grief Seed abruptly falls to the ground near him, with a crystalline clatter of jewelry on stone. Kyuubey turns from where Helios was, and seems to address everyone else, as strange green 'veins' seem to course around the Grief Seed, a warning issuing from it of some kind. It seems to pulse... with life? "This is unfortunate. This Grief Seed has not been fully depleted, and already it is on the verge of reawakening. This sloth in humankind, as well as the true lack of moral tendencies shown tonight, are truly dangerous combinations." He turns, and begins to scamper off toward the north, tail flailing about behind him, leaving the pulsing Grief Seed behind in his wake.

Mogwai picks up the Grief Seed "Wonder why he didn't take it with him... wonder if Rarity's nearby."

Bahamut looks up at the sky and grumbles, with each drop sizzling as it touches his armor, creating a cloud of steam that seems to sit around bahamut. "huh morals, go both ways silly cat..."

With a concerned expression, Spitfire rises into the air, flapping her wings furiously as she watches the pulsating Grief Seed. "Not liking this, at all... I think it's best to leave a wide berth for that thing..."

Noting that the rain is starting to come down, Finn digs around in his backpack for a moment, producing.. an umbrella! He flicks it open, and shoulders it, so he can at least get out of the rain. Though, chances are good that he'll probably wind up getting soaked, anyway. Still, he considers just going back home, not especially in this rainy weather. He keeps an eye on the seed for the moment, though.

Intrigued by the Grief Seed, Nagol walks over next to Mogwai. He says, "I wonder what it does, I don't have a clue about these things." Nagol pokes the Grief Seed lightly.

Gearex looks over at the strange seed like the rest of the group, but his focus was spread out around the area. He didn't show his caution, keeping a level and cool head. His grip tightened on his pistol, "I wouldn't touch that thing if I were you kid." he said to the kirby that decided to poke the seed.

With little warning (oh wait, what WAS that pulsing all about, anyway?), the Seed suddenly jumps out of Mogwai's hand, landing back on the ground and abruptly encasing itself in a dim black-and-neon-green glow. At the edges of the fountain's perimeter, the lines of reality begin to blur and distort, taking on strange new takes of the existing world, but contorting it into darkened formations of their former sights. It almost produces... a boxlike encasement, full of ominous energy, that completely surrounds the Fountain region. Wisps of darkness begins to float about the 'edges' of this encasement, forming barriers against the outside advancement, in or out. In the center, the Grief Seed flashes brilliantly, increasing in its warning of what is about to take place...!

Oddly enough, Mogwai smiles at this "Just as I thought, investigating it was no more dangerous than just standing around. We're gonna find out something new and exciting!"

Bahamut shakes his head. "What an annoyance.. one after another.. Ive had enough of this.. im just gonna destroy this and be done with it... move away..."

"Guys...?" With practically every hint of her trademark casual attitude replaced by military discipline, Spitfire's moving back even more for distance. "Move away from it. NOW."

Finn's eyes go wide, and his first instinct is to run.. and run he does, only to find that he can't quite escape. He learns this the hard way: *WHAM!* This means that he drops his umbrella, but that's the least of his worries at the moment. The thing seems ready to blow: the dragon says move away, Spitfire says move away. He'd trust Spitfire's word sooner, but the consensus is to move. So, Finn corners himself as best he can and hunkers down.

Nagol senses the Dark Energy from it, and quickly jumps back a good 10-15 feet away from it.

Gearex looks around as they all became incased by whatever magic that seed was producing. Given by Finn's demonstration, they were all trapped here. "Well it looks like we wont be leaving anytime soon." he said sounding a little annoyed but almost as if he accepted this outcome. Not seeing a way to escape and that the big firey guy was acting all high and mighty, Gear decides to sit back and wait for things to inevitably get worse. He crosses his arms and even manages to yawn.

With a small, whining screech, the Grief Seed shatters, but the pierces do not fly outward; instead, they assum specific 'spots' in the air, creating the dotted outline of a creature that suddenly fades into being, curled about by tendrils of wispy smoke and dark, corrupted energy. At the 'head' of this creature, a pair of glowing yellow eyes stare out, a mouthless (and strangely female!) voice offering a malicious, heartless giggle as its body gradually forms entirely; it is humanoid, but only some somewhat, made of the darkest shadow and enwrapped in tendrils of dark energy that consistently twirl about its form.

The creature issues forth a hiss, her tone as dark as the rest of her. "How foolish... I watched this whole thing happen, waiting eagerly for my chance. How fortunate, not many of us get a second life!"

"Watched... what are you, some kind of premonitionist or something?" Mogwai readies her whip and backs up, ready to retaliate

Bahamut as bahamut holds out his right talon, a swirling of energy engulfs it. As a powerful energy can be easily felt gathering focusing, in the center of his talon.

"Holy...!" At the sudden appearance of the strange 'beast', Spitfire's gawking, though her surprise is short-lived as, simultaneously, the Wonderbolt is formulating a strategy and staring the dark entity down. "Everyone, get close to me. We're going to need an effective strategy to beat this thing..."

Finn covers his head, but.. nothing happens. Well, nothing damaging, anyway. The boy looks up to note the presence of someone new, wreathed in dark energy. He stands up. Well, this is something he can fight.. right? Not like the grenade he assumed that that seed had turned into. His sword is produced, and he levels it toward the female, eyes narrowed. "This can't be good," he mutters to himself, taking note of where everyone else is, if briefly.

The Kirby can sense even more Dark Energy on the thing. Nagol holds the Star Rod firmly in his hands and says, "I wish I had the Light Star Rod Piece right now."

Gearex still appears relaxed even when faced with this creature. "Nothing really surprises me anymore. I'm all up for a plan, but what did you even have in mind?" he says as he steps up next to Spitfire. "It seems like your friend here is ready to do whatever he thinks he's doing." he adds nudging over to Bahamut

The Witch laughs, speeding up the tendrils of darkness that surround her as they continue to vine themselves around her shadowy body. "Oh dear, isn't this a rare treat? Look at all of you; I sense not the presence of a single contracted life. This is a real shame. A real shame, indeed. But you know, I'm a sport. So, for starters, let's see what you've got." She seems to stand tall after speaking, offering her form without the slightest air of defensive tactics or maneuvers.

Mogwai takes a look over at Bahamut, and decides not to engage right away. Instead, she... grabs a fish and starts eating.

Bahamut releases the energy ball with a large blast as it breaks the sound barrier. Althought stangely the aim seems alittle off...

"Something tells me physical strikes aren't going to be that effective against... whatever this thing is." As per her training, and experience, Spitfire's gauging the Witch subtly, before shaking her head. "There are two kinds of warfare, physical and psychological. That's one of the most basic things I learned in my training to become a Wonderbolt commanding officer. I may be wrong, but let's try outwitting it..."

Outwitting is for wimps! She doesn't seem to be putting up a fight, and the only way to find out if things will be effective, is to go right for it. Finn tightens the grip on his sword, and leaps forward. "YAAAAHHH!" The sword, in mid-jump, bursts into a shards of jagged ice, and that sword, naturally, is aimed for the dark woman.

Nagol summons the Stars of Fire, Ice, Water, Wind, and Earth. He knows that this will be a long battle. He hopes he is prepared for the worst.

Gearex simply watches as everyone else seems to launch their attacks aside from Spitfire. He wasn't sure how well they could outwit something they had no knowledge of, but it was worth trying. He simply shrugs and lights another cigerette, "Alright well you all have fun." he says as he takes another step back for distance. He acted like he didn't care, but he had his reasons. He wanted to observe and learn how this creature behaves.

The Witch SPECIFICALLY tilts her head to one side, catching the oddly-aimed energy blast before it reaches the center, and as it starts to split apart, she catches it full on the face! It takes her head clean off her shoulders, leaving a wilting, ragged black rim around where her neckline is; simultaneous to this, Finn's weapon tears a decent hole from one shoulder to her midsection, which issues dark, wispy smoke from the 'wound'.

The wounds pulse gently for a moment, before tendrils of black wrap around her form and 'sew' her back together, complete with the reformation of a new head that pixellates into view where her neckhole just was. Her eyes glow briefly, and she flashes a menacing grin. "Oh, poor babies. Is that all? More importantly, is it my turn yet? Just say 'when'."

"Guys... I think it wants you to attack it." says Mogwai, taking a drink from a thermos.

Bahamut grumbles. "did she figure me out? I really dont want to use that... hrm.. what to do..I guess i really dont have a choice.."

From where she's watching the mass-rush attack, Spitfire's eyes widen in alarm as the Witch's wounds seem to vanish, before she shakes her head once again. "It's a good thing I decided not to rush in blindly, and think it through... This thing seemed a lot different from the outset..."

A successful hit! Finn grins to himself.. but that grin doesn't last long, as the woman seems to regenerate herself without trouble. "You remind me of Science Cat," he muses, before he decides it's best to step back for a moment. His sword drips not just from the rain, but also the ice melting on the blade itself. Would it be possible to attack fast enough to stop her from regenerating? Doesn't help that he's soaking wet, now.

Nagol raise the Star Rod and says, "Let me try." He swings the Star Rod and the 5 Stars fly straight at the Witch.

Gearex rubs the stubble on his chin as he watches the end results of everyone attack. He takes a long inhale of his cigerette glowing his face in a faint orange glow. "So it regenerates..." he says exhaling in a thoughtful manner. He looks over at Nagol as he does his attack. Gearex expects to see the same result as the last attacks did ranging from Finn's slash and Bahamut's energy thing.

With a sly grin, the Witch speedily lunges forward at Finn's retreat, reaching out to attemptedly grasp the boy by the throat, since, y'know, he just so happened to be offering himself to her, right then and there. Assuming success, she'd hold Finn up as a shield against the incoming star assault, as energy crackles around the edges of the labyrinth that has been created in this area.

Mogwai stashes away her thermos and rushes over to the others and performs a dance. "Right, we can do this, let's kick this witch's ass!" The others start moving faster, and feel better than before.

Bahamut groans, "Fine witch you wanna do this the hard way, i can do this the hard way.." Bahamuts eyes take on a strange light.

Even as she sees the Witch rush for Finn's neck, Spitfire's settling further into her battlefield mentality, and calmly approaching the Witch. "You know. I had my suspicions about physical warfare being ineffective, and seeing how you reacted to the attacks from my 'subordinates' only served to confirm what I had been saying. Psychological warfare is the only practical solution to dealing with you."

"Everyone! Stand down, and let me handle this." With a firm gaze up at the Witch, Spitfire's sitting down. "Commanding officer of the Wonderbolts, Spitfire. Now. Was I right in saying that psychological warfare is what you specialize in?"

It's not exactly the first time that Finn's been rushed by a female, snagged by the throat and strangled. But nothing really prepares him for this, as his eyes go wide. All he can manage is a soft 'Oh Glob', before he's snagged by the throat and dangled in the air, to be used as a shield from enemy attack. Naturally, his sword drops with a clatter, as he prioritizes two hands on the woman's wrist, trying to both get air, and get free.

Nagol says, "This is not good..." He sprints over to the Witch and Finn, thanks to Mogwai's Haste Dance. He jumps up and Star Rod forms a Sharp Rocky Blade, and Nagol sends a slice from it down onto the hand that has Finn.

Gearex reacts as Finn gets pulled into harms way. "Damnit, kid." he says as he watches Nagol move and try to cut him free. While the creature was distracted, he decided to slip around and try to flank the creature. Psychological warfare may work on people, but monsters like this it probably won't mean anything to fight mentally. Physical power was useless too because of the regeneration.

As the burst of star-laden blasts come sailing in, the Witch holds Finn's form high above her, allowing the errant discharges to strike the boy full in the back, one after another after another for all five shots. The Witch completely and utterly ignores Spitfire and her query, not focusing on her in the least; after all, she was in the back, and not even a Wishborn; what did she have to fear from her? Or anyone? Nothing, that's what! She tightens her grip on the boy's throat, attempting to not only cut off air supply, but crush his entire throat in the process. The grin on her face is a piece of work, a twisted smile of pure, corrupted enjyoment. She seems completely unphased by Bahamut's impending countdown, focused only on Finn's situation. "You fools don't understand the simple truth when it is given to you. I'll be sure to thank that robot later, after I've finished playing with you all. He's done me a fine, fine service, this day." It goes without saying that as Nagol slashes at her extended wrist with his rocky star rod blade, the darkness surrounding her wrist is also severed, but quickly regrows itself, her grip not leaving the boy's throat.

Mogwai charges across the battlefield, tackling Finn and trying to tear him out of the witch's grasp.

Bahamut wings strench out and seem to glow with a faint power. Bahamut seems to be readying a fighting stance, "I will end this in an instant." A huge amount of power starts to gather around bahamut the very surronding space seems to be falling apart under the pressure.

With a reluctant sigh, Spitfire's rising to her hooves and taking to the air. "First rule of combat: ALWAYS care for the troops you're leading, even if you don't like them. I'm already well-aware of how futile hitting you is, but what choice do I have, since you seem happy with crushing the life out of one of my subordinates?" Suddenly, the Wonderbolt's charging, with her forehooves extended. "LET. HIM. GO."

Each of the star pieces hit solidly, and it's almost as if each piece hits harder and worse than the last. Finn's eyes go wide, wider, with each hit. He knew he should've just stayed in and played video games.. and now he's dying. What a crappy position to be put in. He wants to speak, to ask for help, but.. well, the only thing keeping his wind pipe from being crushed is the Regen, and even that's not going to keep that strong grip at bay.

After a few moments, Finn realizes that nothing's stopping Bahamut from his attack, and even Nagol's attack is futile, and Spitfire's probably not going to do much, either. So he just kinda goes limp, and stops struggling. There's only one thing left right now, unless a miracle happens: come to peace with it. This is how it all ends. His only regret was that he didn't get to say goodbye to Jake..

Nagol sprints back to the spot he had been at before his attack, he uses the Star Rods Wind Star to increase his Speed even more with the help of Mogwai's Haste. He takes a step back and sprints with all his might at the Witch, attempting to knock it over.

Gearex positioned himself behind the creature successfully and came to a stop. He pulled out a bottle of alchohol that he had planned to save for later from his pack and sighed. "I guess drinking alone is boring anyway." he says regrettably as he fashions the bottle into a quick molotov cocktail. He lights the cloth and took aim. "Hey! You look like you need a drink, lady!" he shouts before tossing the molotov into the witch.

Gearex figures if he can keep a constant damage like fire, regeneration would be near impossible because the fire would eat away at her faster then she can recover.

The Witch seems, almost -TOO- gladly, to let Finn go; Mogwai's tackle takes Finn clear out of her grip, which loosens upon impact, so that the two of them may sprawl away together. At that time, she opens her arms wide toward Bahamut as his countdown nears its end; Spitfire goes WHOOSHing past, causing her form to ripple and blur as the pegasus shoots right through her shadowy body and across to the other side of the fountain, still contained within the labyrinth's barriers. Needless to say, Nagol follows suit; his mad dash cuts right through the Witch, which rips opens a comical Nagol-shaped hole in her wispy body as he rushes past. This hole remains open as Gearex launches his molotov, which ALSO sails through the Nagol-shaped hole in her body, soaring after the pegasus and Nagol in their individual wakes, before the threads confining her body seal themselves closed once more.

The Witch smiles maddeningly at Bahamut, arms still extended. "Let me tell you all something. And listen close, since you may not hear it a second time. Did you ever stop to wonder why the contracted are the only ones called upon to engage us? Did you never suspect something particular about their power source that differs from your own? Or maybe that you were never clear on why my kind and our Yoma brethren differ so? Well, here's a thought, before this overstuffed, scaled bird does you all a favor in my stead. This realm doesn't exist. I'm not really here. But you are! Think of it as a nightmare you are all having, trapped in the grasp I have constructed, until your happy little Wishborn friends come to rescue you. But in this case, it doesn't seem likely, does it? Best say goodbye now, while you have the chance." She smiles, as corrupted and dark of joy as ever before.

Nagol had thought this might happen, but he did it as a last resort. He just hopes that now he isn't going to be caught in Bahamut's Attack.

"This realm doesn't exist. I'm not really here. But you are! Think of it as a nightmare you are all having, trapped in the grasp I have constructed, until your happy little Wishborn friends come to rescue you. But in this case, it doesn't seem likely, does it? Best say goodbye now, while you have the chance." She smiles, as corrupted and dark of joy as ever before.

Nagol had thought this might happen, but he did it as a last resort. He just hopes that now he isn't going to be caught in Bahamut's Attack.

Mogwai picks up Finn and runs away from the blast radius

Bahamut seems to tense up; the huge amount of power start together around bahamut is staggering, the space seemed fluxate under the immense pressure there is so much power in the air that it has become difficult to breathe or even move.

Secretly thankful her charge had no effect on the Witch, Spitfire's sweeping wide to get clear of the potential blast radius, speeding up to get out of danger.

Gearex scowls slightly that his attack missed and that he just wasted a fine bottle of alcohol. "Hey lady, I don't care if you exist or not. That stuff was expensive and the fact that I wasted it on you, you should feel honored."He notices the power fluxuation over at Bahamut. He turned and pulled out his pistol and fired off a few shots at the dragon mostly out of iritation that he was taking so long and that he would even use something with little concern for others.

Gearex says ' Hey you, either get it over with or calm down.'

Bahamut hunches over has a light seems to glow from his jaw's and the feel of time itself slows as the energy mass collapases and expands blasting outward with amazing speed and power that seem to rip the very fabric of the world itself.

The darkness starts to fold over Finn's eyes. It's a good thing he's come to peace, because things would've been even worse than they are now, no doubt. But as he closes his eyes to finally embrace death, gravity takes hold of him. His eyes shoot open, and he releases a deep gasp, as his lungs take in much-needed oxygen.. and his body hits the ground with a sick *THUD*.

Naturally, this exacerbates Finn's wounds already sustained thanks to the earlier assault from Nagol's star pieces. He releases a scream so loud it's silent.. or, well, his mouth opens wide but nothing comes out. Needless to say, he just wants to curl up somewhere and go to sleep, but.. that's not a possibility, not with Mogwai grabbing him and carrying him out of the blast radius. He can't even utter thanks, his body too preoccupied with dealing with the excruciating pain.

Moments before Bahamut lets his ultimate attack unfurl, the Witch only smiles. "Oh, speaking of. Did I mention what I wished for? It's a popular notion, all the rage with many boys and girls. In fact, I sensed the very same wish within someone else, that day. Everybody loves the ability to screw with time, don't they? Well, so do I! But everything has its limits. Allow me."

The Witch, at the moment Bahamut lets loose with his megaflare, snaps her fingers; at that point in time, the blast is frozen in mid-surge; nobody else is affected, and free to roam and cower as they please, bahamut included. The humongous energy blast, however, is frozen as an enormous ray of destructive force, merely hanging in the air between them, suspended in time.

Nagol braces for the Impact of the Blast that would be his final moment living. He closes his eyes and thinks to himself, "Game Over, I'm doomed. I am the worst gaurdian of the Star Rod."

Sweetie fails to resist the urge to shout... "What the horseapples is happening here? Kyuubey could you please explain in a way that my pony mind would understand?"

The Witch smiles at her handiwork, looking over the frozen, suspended blast right in front of her. "How quaint. You would truly destroy everything around you, just to eliminate one threat? What a despicable 'god' you are. Ha!"

The labyrinth's barriers repel Sweetie as she attempts to get through to the Fountain, keeping her on the outside and forcing her to watch from a distance.

Crossroads is breathing heavily, holding out her soul gem before her as it guides her to the fountain area. "Damn it." She said with a gasp when she finally reached her destination. Looking around she didn't seeing any of the others waiting for her. Had Tyr gone in already without her? Considering his injuries the thought horrified her. And she hadn't seen Lora in a while Either. Was she in there? Biting her lip as she considered these possibilities, she found she had little other option than to go in herself and see what she found. With a deep breath, Crossroads tightly clentched at her plaid white and yellow sundress as she braced herself and stepped in through the barrier.

Bahamut grumbles. "Well it was for saving time.. but i guess I've had my fun.. an insect like yourself was never a match for me.. but it is time to end this." Bahamut grins evilly....

What Crossroads found within the barrier was not her companions at all, but regular people. Civilians! Her mouth hangs open for a moment at the scene before her, "What are you all doing..." She didn't think normal people could enter the barrier. After that moments pause, she shook it off. She had a job to do after all, and standing around gawking like this would leave her vulnerable.

Crossroads closes her eyes and clutches her soul gem within her hands, holding it close to her chest. The air around her begins to ripple softly, bending the light around her as her hair and clothes seem to become weightless, almost as though she is standing in a deep pool of water.

Her body then becomes awash with a bright glowing light and the threads of her clothes begin unravel and fall apart around her, drifting away and disintegrating into nothingness. The light around Crossroads then begins spreading, bending, collecting and shaping itself around her body forming into physical substance to cover her naked form.

The light then slowly begins to wash away as well as the weightlessness leaving Crossroads standing dressed in a long white robe trimmed with blue ribbon, the fabric seemingly alive and moving with a soft light that quietly dances upon the surface like small waves of water.

In her hair is a decorative blue head band adorned with two large matching blue flowers resembling lotuses, ribbons and metallic beads steaming just below them down to her shoulders. At her arms are wide sleeves tied at her shoulders displaying a delicate patterns of the same flowers upon her headband. Tied around her waist is a sash of varying shades of blue, a row of tiny silver bells hanging at its ends making little more than a soft chime as she moves.

Crossroads opens her hands and the soul gem drifts out of it, its chain flattening out and changing color, taking the form of a ribbon and shortening in length till it is resting around her neck in the form of a choker with the gem dangling from it.

The barrier crackles with distorted energy as Crossroads steps through, reacting to her position as a contracted individual under Kyuubey's wish-granting; it snaps closed behind her, resuming its barrier effects.

Mogwai holds Finn close to her, taking a healing potion from her stash and trying to get him to drink it.

Bahamut opens a strange box and takes somthing from it holding it in his talon and with a single step is standing right next to the energy blast smiling. "You know I can cancel magic right? i hope your ready to die." the spell binding megaflare slowly starts to move again but seems slightly smaller then a moment ago.

Spitfire, with a heavy sigh, touches down near Mogwai, folding her wings closed and just watching the situation with an impassive expression. "War... Never an easy thing to deal with, is it? How is he?"

Finn shudders softly, mostly from the cold, the rain and his soaking wet clothes only sapping the warmth from him. Occasionally, he coughs, though that's just his lungs begging for more air than he's currently intaking. He feels glass hit his lips, and he tries to take in the potion as it's offered to him. Every part of him wants to thank Mogwai, but.. he doesn't seem to have the energy to do so.

Nagol relizes that the blast has not hit him yet. So with the last of his wind haste and Mogwai's Haste Dance, he quickly sprints with the little energy he has and barely makes it out of the Blast Radius in time.

Gearex braced himself for impact and death before notcing death never came. He looks up to find the ball of destruction seemed to be slowed and a new girl had appeared through the barrier that kept them captive. His initatl thought that she was foolish for stepping into this zone where she would be trapped like the rest of them, but when she changed, it made him think that she could be knowing what she was doing.

The Witch seems unamused at Bahamut's continued tinkering with the fabric of her created realm. In so doing, she offers a flick of her wrist; as the blast closes in on her shadowed form, a wide column of something dark suddenly plummets from the sky, cascading over the blast and engulfing it within its spacial confines! The sound of a ticking clock and be heard, plicking away slowly at first, then faster and faster..!

With a final explosive 'GONG!' of a grandfather clock's chime, the column of black light shoots back into the sky, taking the destructive blast held within, with it! The Witch mock-brushes herself off, sneering at Bahamut. "You'll be seeing that one later, I'm sure." She looks like she's about to jest more at Bahamut's expense, but the crackling entrance and brilliant display of Crossroads' entrance forces a change in her demeanor; a very sour one.

She recoils in horrow at the transformation, snarling viciously. "You weren't supposed to be here! Don't you have worthless people you need to be looking after? I don't need you interfering in my fun, you bitch!"

She recoils in horrow at the transformation, snarling viciously. "You weren't supposed to be here! Don't you have worthless people you need to be looking after? I don't need you interfering in my fun, you bitch!"

Crossroads holds up her hand, summoning her bow to it. Immediately a quiver shows up at her back. She tries steadying her breathing, her body giving a small shudder at the memory of her first witch battle and her failed attempts to get people who wanted to play hero to leave. Then as the witch addresses her she draws an arrow and knocks it, "Oh shut up!" She said. For all she has been through with the last talking with she faced, she was done listening. On top of that, this interuption in her job hunt and the situation with Tyr among other thing had left her in a sour mood. To everyone else she simply yelled, "Everyone fall back! You can't do a thing to it!" This time around, it would be her only warning.

Mogwai yells back "Thank you, already figured that out."

Bahamut smiles, "Well now that was differnt.. but really there are only two ways i can see me beating you.. first is just traping your soul... the second one gos abit like this." As Bahamut disapears and repears behind the witch in an instand his talon moving so fast for her core that it creates a sonic boom.

Crossroads says ' With THAT ordeal, Needing to find a new job, tyr getting the shit beaten out of him, and now all of these idiots are making her relive her first fight? Screw this.'

At Crossroads' sudden arrival from outside the barrier, Spitfire's expression changes from one of pure concern to a mix of concern and relief, punctuated as she finally smiles. "Good timing... I'm grateful you came." With a nod, the Wonderbolt's gently ushering the rest of her team towards the very edge of the barrier, unsure if she can actually lead them out to safety. She shares a look with Gearex, however, on the way to the new spot.

All things considered, Finn's at the mercy of Mogwai, since she seems to have him. Having coughed down most of the potion he'd been given, he feels better.. far less miserable than before.. but his neck hurts like hell, his back feels like he's been hit by a runaway bus (or five), and he's trying not to move or talk to conserve energy.. and heat.

Nagol does what Crossroads said, and get's farther away. He runs over to Mogwai to help Finn.

Gearex seems content in listening to the new girls orders. He simply held up his hands and walked to the edge of the barrier. "Alright, I'll leave this to you." he says to her as he rests against the wall. Not like he wanted sit this fight out, but he understands when he doesn't stand a chance. Judging by the witch's reaction, she wasn't all that happy this new girl was here either. Looking over at Bahamut's futile attempts to defeat the witch was almost comical to him as he lit up another cigerette to enjoy the show, wishing he didn't waste his booze.

The labyrinth barrier snaps and crackles sharply at Spitfire's attempt to usher the others outside of it, fully retaining its properties and keeping them trapped within the supernatural confines.

The Witch rends a suddenly-clawed hand at the air in front of her, lunging forward (and by coincidence, narrowly avoiding being clawed in the back by Bahamut!) as she charges Crossroads, plumes of dark energy swiveling about her body. "You know nothing of pain, nothing of fear! You think your mortal worries are plenty to keep your fuzzy mind occupied? You have NO idea what true anguish is! I'll MAKE you understand!" The Witch raises a clawed hand, intending to strike at Crossroads once she is within range!

Seeing the witch charge at her, Crossroads eyes widen and she instinctively draws herself from another timeline, splitting into two. Both selves stumble slightly as they take off running opposite directions, fearing that the witch would be striking them at any moment.

Mogwai sits by with a bowl of popcorn, sharing with Spitfire and Finn "Shoot her in the face!" she yells out.

Bahamut grumbles.. "was that a fluke or... Hrm. but at least with a distraction.." launches an energy ball at the center of the room, an in stand split into four and shoting across to the ajacent corners of the room.

The reaction of the shield to her efforts elicits a groan from Spitfire, as she sits down within the barrier and starts tending to Finn alongside Mogwai. "Doesn't seem like I'll be getting out of here, so I might as well just enjoy the show. And thanks for the popcorn."

Where the heck did the popcorn come from? Either way, Finn seems to be a bit preoccupied with suffering.. but, somehow, he manages to sneak a hand over to snag some popcorn here and there. There's always time and energy for popcorn.

The Blue Kirby sits down with the others and watches the action unfold. Nagol holds the Star Rod over Finn and says to him, "I'm going to drain some of my energy, and give it to you." Nagol's Energy goes to the Star Rod, and then to Finn.

Gearex sits and watches the action, hating to feel useless. He knew he couldn't damage the witch, but he could still be really annoying. With flash of a grin on his face he pulled out his pistol and took aim at the witch. With his enhanced training and augmentations, his accuracy would prevent him from hitting Crossroads. He quickly fired off a few shots in succession in order to mess with the witch.

Bahamut's energy blast splits at the center of the labyrinth interior, seeking out the four corners of the region and assailing them; however, with an enormous, static-y jolt of corrupted energy, each one of the four are reflected backward, all turning to seek out the source of their creation (Who's have guessed? it's Bahamut!) and turn on him, seeking him out as their target in turned retaliation!

The Witch shears at the air as she assaults where Crossroads juts was, and darts after the one split off to her right, darting out a hand and conjuring a whiplike jet of corruption to attemptedly ensnare her and drag her back, if successful!

Both Crossroads turn, but while they both draw and release their arrows and reach for a new one, there is a difference in the looks upon their faces. The one the witch targeted looks on in horror as the tendral takes hold and and she falls, fresh arrow clattering to the ground beside her. The other simplly smiles and divides herself again into two more. All three drawing back their arrows and firing.

Mogwai eats another handful of popcorn "That's a neat trick... you do not want to know what I'm thinking right now."
The moogle trader has arrived from the west.

Bahamut smiles, "That was a very large mistake.." and with that struck each with his tail sending them spiraling back into their appoint corners with tremendous speed, sinking deep into the corners of the room. Strange silver lines start too appear along the borders slowly forming strange sigils.

Spitfire casually eats a hoof-ful of popcorn as she watches the fight, pushing the goggles up off her eyes and absently fussing with her flame-like mane. "For once... I found myself outmatched in a fight. Who would've thought the day could arrive?"

"I can guess," Finn offers weakly to Mogwai.

Nagol watches the fight and eats some of the popcorn.

The Witch seems to realize something as the arrow clatters to the floor, but only a wee bit too late. As she yanks on the whip, now securing 'Crossroads' tightly in its grip, and attempts to swing it around behind her, the first arrow strikes, landing deeply in her rump! She shrieks more in anger than pain, and turns halfway before the second arrow is buried in her side!

Finally facing her opponent, the Witch snaps her corruption-whip around... and receives one final arrow in the face, right between the eyes! The force of this last one pushes her back, and she drops the whip (and Cross, about a foot in the air from the swing) just before she explodes in a massive flash of black speckled lights, the tinkling of a small black gem marking on the ground where she was only moments ago.

As soon as this happens, a rushing sound, like that of wind filling the room (but without any wind present) is heard all around, and the barriers gradually disperse, returning the presence of the Fountain of Truce to its former glory!

Mogwai almost spills her popcorn while cheering "I knew it! Boom, headshot!"

Bahamut grumbles to himself, not happy with the out come. "May we never cross paths again." and vanishes in a silver light.

Mogwai runs up to Crossroads after "Hey... I don't suppose you have a cell phone do you?"

Sweetie enters the fountain area to take a drink when everyone just appears out of nowhere. Judging by Mogwai's popcorn, Sweetie figured they all must of went to see bad movie and used rings of recall to escape.

"...alright. Two things I'm going to be doing, now that this thing's been taken out. First: Find out where that rust-bucket got off to, and give him a sound beating. Second: Speak with that cat-thing about joining the ranks of these 'Wishborn'. I'm not just a Wonderbolt any more, and it's time I got serious." Spitfire gets to her hooves, glaring at the remains of the Witch she'd tried to reason with before flying away. "Stupid thing, causing all of us this trouble..."

All the extra Crossroads dissapear as the one who was captured impacts with the ground and rolls. Slowly she sits up and draws herself back to her feet, rubbing at her shoulder as she collects her bow, as well as the grief seed.

When the barrier disappears, Finn heaves a sigh of relief, slowly pushing himself up to a sit, now that he has more energy. "I'm exhausted." He shakes his head slowly. "And I hurt all over." He doesn't mention his neck, 'cause that goes without saying. "Mogwai.. can you help me back to the Tree Fort?" 'cause he's not sure he can manage himself, to say the least.

Whatever the case may be, Finn manages to get up long enough to cross over to his sword, sit next to it, and pick it up. Being exhausted, and in pain, the sword feels like it weighs a ton.

Sweetie Tackles Spitfire and hops up and down on her barrel (Aka the chest). And YELLING "NO STAY AWAY FROM THE CAT! HE'S NOT LOOKING FOR ANY MORE MARES TO JOIN ANYWAY!"

Nagol stretches and says to Finn, "Is it ok if I tag along with you, Finn?"

Gearex looks around happy to be back to the normal world. He looks over at Crossroads and nodded to her. "I don't say this often, but thanks. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be here if you didn't show up to save our asses."

Crossroads rubs at her shoulder again, expecting there to be a bruise there later at the vary least. She looked up at the people who had been trapped within the barrier, looking at each of their faces, stopping at Gearex's, "How did this happen?"
The sun slowly disappears in the west.

With a raised eyebrow, Spitfire looks down in mid-flight, just before she's knocked off-balance by Sweetie's jump-tackle. "Whoa, easy! Oof! That's not going to be happening for a good while, until I get my hooves on that pile of scrap metal for causing all this trouble in the first place. So relax, will you, kid?"

Finn glances down at Nagol. "Huh?" Inwardly, he wants to be upset about Nagol's attack from earlier, but.. well, it's not exactly the Kirby's fault, either. He shrugs a little, and slowly pushes himself to a stand again. "Yeah, sure, why not?" He presses forward, not wanting to really burden anyone, it seems. Besides, the Fort's not far away.. may as well push his way there and pass out.

Nagol packs the Star Rod back into his backpack and gets ready to follow Finn.

Gearex shrugs at first. "Honestly, all I knew was that a little robot had pissed off that white cat thing. Something about a seed." he explained, continuing on with the rest of the events he witnessed. "Then you showed up and I'm sure you know the rest."

Sweetie Finally realized just how loony her actions were making her look. Sorta like the time Rarity's hair was turned green. It looked like she was actually overreacting... But she was told that things that involved soul gems were a matter of life and death.

Sweetie says ' Ummm sorry miss Spitfire, I panicked

Doubling back, Spitfire touches down in front of Crossroads, prepared to give her full report. "To start, there was a confrontation between that machine, and Kyuubey, before both of them left the area and the object in question. I was present, as was everyone else, when the situation took a turn for the worse. Naturally, I sought a largely non-physical approach to prevent an escalation until help arrived."

Spitfire says 'But, even I realized I was losing ground, so to speak...'

Crossroads eyes narrowed somewhat as she tried to make sense of things. "Where did the grief seed come from?"

Sweetie looks like she's about to go nw, but suddenly stops short and looks confused.

Mogwai says 'Apparently Helios had ahold of it. Kyuubey someone managed to retrieve it... but then he simply left it here. I decided to take a closer look, when it went off'

Mogwai says 'Oh, and before I forget: We were kinda screwed with no wishborn, do you have a cell phone I can reach you on?'

Sweetie says ' they usually come from the Witches and Yoma.'

Spitfire says 'It was from a previous encounter with a Yoma south of the city, which I was present for as well. This 'Helios' took off with it while I was out of action, after the death of the aforementioned Yoma, ma'am.'

Mogwai says 'Come to think of it... I'm the one who defeated that yoma. If that's significant at all.'

Crossroads stiffens at what she is hearing and she clentches her fists. "Listen up everyone." She shouts, anger apparent in her voice, "If you have not made a contract with Kyuubey you have no business fighting our battles.

Crossroads says ' As for the grief seeds, only the contracted can use them. By taking them you are not only recklessly and stupidly endangering the lives of yourselves and others, but you are also preventing one of us a chance to continue living.'

Crossroads with that, Crossroads turns and starts heading back home, transforming back and sliding the grief seed she had aquired into the pocket of her dress.

Mogwai growls as Crossroads walks off "...which is why I wanted her damn cell number, sheesh!"

Gearex didn't seemed phased by Crossroads scolding them about the grief seeds. It wasn't his choice to get involved, he just was in the wrong place at the wrong time.