"So, Dos..." started Oboyo, walking through the main courtyard on his way to the Shrike Docks. "I've been curious about something for several days now."

Dos grinned some, the back of his hand holding a flare battery in a small harness "Heh, I bet you're wondering why I'm so eager to help?" he rotated his wrist a bit, still getting used to his new equipment.

"There's that..but it's something else. All this time, you've been a prisoner against your will, bound by my orders." Oboyo paused and stared at the Spirit Rune on his left hand. "What would happen to you..if something happened to me?"

Dos scoffs a bit as he let his arm be for the moment "Not sure how my programming would take it. I would either be bound to the next person I saw, be freed, or be bound to you until I rust and rot... speaking of orders, ghosts don't count as killing?"

"Only the phantoms from the fog ship. I still haven't seen one, but I imagine they'll be noticebly different from our allies. You've seen Stretch, Fatso, and Stinky around, right? They'll be going with us in the air. And don't shoot Lady Bow or her boos; you'll see then shortly." explained Oboyo, the duo arriving at the intersection between Main and Korhyuu Street. "If you weren't so Dreadite-bent on killing people, I'd almost feel bad for you if you did have to rust and rot over me."

Dos shrugged again, looking clear ahead, folding out his new gun around his hand, moving his other hand to tug at the chains wrapped across his chest "These are about the only weapons I've held in months. Don't ruin it with talk like that. I can take a hint." he walked along beside Oboyo for a bit "I talked to your robots, they seem to think you guys aren't so bad. Maybe they don't make organics as useless here as they do back home."

"It's a pity that your home even has such discrimination for each other. After you've been here a while, you learn that you'll never find another individual in the world who is the same as you. Too many different kinds." Oboyo led Dos past another intersection, the Shrike Docks rapidly coming into view. A large crowd was already waiting around it. "Even for bastards like you."

Dos chuckles at the last comment, slowly giving way to a laugh as he follows his programmed commander "Ah, you mean the select few who appreciate the artistry of death? You'd be surprised, we hide in the strangest of places." he looked up to the sky "Y'know, with all of your laws, I think I probably know enough to be a lawyer... at least, here, in the city."

"Maybe I should have hit you up for a will." said Oboyo, stepping into the crowd. "Well, here's where we part ways for a bit. Go ahead and get on the Gitmidur; it's on the MK II's pad. If you see Helios or Mekis on the way, grab them too, will you? Egon's already there."

Dos nodded and headed off while Oboyo made his way to the Crusader. The crowd consisted of more than just people associated with the Jinsaka Manor. Families of the warriors who have volunteered to go were present as well as various onlookers.

Upon reaching the deck of the Crusader, Oboyo turned around to face the massive crowd. One by one, voices began to soften into silence while he paced left to right, looking out over everyone. "Take a good look around you. THIS is what this world is about. No matter who or what you are, you've chosen to band together to fight a fight that no one else would. It was never about destiny or the stars..being that special chosen one meant to be here. It was about choice. You heard the truth and you chose to accept it. That's why you're here..that's why we're all here."

Lines and lines of black moogle warriors stood at attention next to soldiers from Cosmo Canyon and students from the White Tiger School. Boos and wasps floated silently in the air, hand in hand. "And we've lost some good people who gave everything to get us here. It's up to us to make it mean something and do them justice. The fog guide, the phantoms..they aren't a threat to us. They're a threat to everything, everyone. Those are the lives we're fighting for. That's the scale."
Off to the side, the Gitmidur's engine began to roar to life as Launchpad lifted the helicopter into the air. "It's been a long journey, and no one's coming out without scars. But it all comes down to this moment. We win or lose it all in the next hour. Make me proud..make yourselves proud. They want to know what we're made of? I say we show them, on our terms. And we'll bring our people home!"

By that time, the Gitmidur made its way above the Crusader, Egon throwing the rope ladder down just behind Oboyo. Raising the Spirit Rune on his left hand, Oboyo reached out to grasp the ladder with his right. The rune began to emit its bright cyan light as the helicopter began to lift him off the Crusader's dead. "This ends here, tonight! With us! For the saviors of the cleft!"

With that, Oboyo began to climb up the ladder while the Gitmidur flew him off. Those designated to the Crusader or the MK II began to make their way to the vessels, ready as they'll ever be to face a war that one could have never been ready for.

"Pretty fancy there, Mr. J! Hehe." said Launchpad from the cockpit, turning back to give Oboyo a thumb's up, who climbed into the helicopter and shut the hatch behind him. "Thanks..let's just hope it was enough. I meant every word of it. We're all coming back alive."

"Sorry we're late to the party. Hope we still have reserved seats." Helios's voice crackles over the radio. "We were getting the special present we made for the ghost ship all ready for delivery." The M85 -wearing two smaller turbines and a stubby, glowing missile- flys up beside the Gitmidur and slows to keep pace. "Any idea when the ghosts will arrive?"

"Oh, look outside Mr. J! It's Miss Bow! Boy, look at all those boos!" shouted Launchpad, causing Oboyo and Egon to lean over to the window to look out. Sure enough, Lady Bow floated ahead of a hundred boos with Stretch, Fatso, and Stinky. "Heh..she really came through. Steve would probably have been proud." noted Oboyo, a comment that Egon made no move to respond to. "Tell him we'll know when we see the fog! What about Queen Antoinette? Think she's already there?"

As if on cue, a swarm of battle-ready wasplings moves in toward the Gitmidur, Queen Antoinette at the lead. Only about a dozen of the wasps are clad in metal armor, but the rest of the swarm is ready for battle- Some have lances and spears, others have crossbows and rifles. Even some of the worker wasps have joined, carrying bags of wood to use as building material in a pinch. The Queen nods to the Gitmidur and its crew, hoisting a massive metal lance in one hand.

"Bees too? You really weren't kidding about varying types." Dos sat on the edge of he landing gear of the Gitmidur, staring at the bees for a moment before turning a grin to Oboyo "By the way, pretty little speech. Hope it all works out that way."

Mekis sat in the heli, tying a length of rope to an arrow. Looking about, seeing their allies, he simply thought, 'Wondrous. Now I won't get to take as many foes as I had wanted.'

"Wasps, technically." said Oboyo, leaning over to the other window to see for himself. "Her people have had a rough history, but Queen Antoinette has been working hard to patch that up. I mean, she's out here fighting while the rest of the cleft is sitting around drinking to another night. When this is all over, I'm going to make sure people know of her actions."

Lenai's head pops up to the window, right in front of Mekis' face. She gives a little wave, smiling. "Unya, hi Mekis! Hi! I brought a bazooka!" she says, toting a bazooka on her back, "Think I'll need it to protect you in the Gitmidur?"

"Watch where you aim that thing! Heavens, who gave you that?!" cried Egon from his seat, prompting a laugh out of Oboyo as he waved to Lenai. "Good luck out there, Lenai! We're counting on you!"

"Don't worry Egon, the safety is-- ...Nya? Oh, whoops, lemme turn the safety on," Lenai says, sticking her tongue out, "I'm teasing, don't worry. Thanks boss, good luck to you too! Break a leg, both if you can manage!" Lenai salutes, and floats off a short distance away, ready for a fight.

Mekis looks to Lenai, smiling. He thinks to himself, 'I hope she does well with...a bazooka?' "What's a bazooka?" He says to himself.

"A very powerful weapon in the very wrong hands." mumbled Egon, turning to look out the other window while the Gitmidur pressed on its destination.

---The three vessels departed for the Noctog Ocean, where they lied in wait until the sun sat. Just as Oboyo saw in his vision, an unusual fog formation began to appear seemingly from no where towards the east, causing the Gitmidur to take off from the MK II's pad while the MK II submerged under the water.---

"Alright everyone, look alive! This is it! Launchpad, wait for a break then take us in!" barked Oboyo, glancing outside the window towards Helios and the M85, shouting into the communicator. "Helios! Light 'em up!"

"Thats our que, M85!" The high whine of turbines on the back of the mechon increased in volume as it pulled out in front of the Gitmidur. "Target acquired! Missile engine activated." The back of the missile ignited in a burst of green flame as Helios continued with his checklist. "Missile hot, firing now!!" The missile shot off the rail on the M85's back and arced towards the ghost ship as it appeared through the fog.

The missile flew straight and true until a panel on the side of it blew off and began spewing black smoke. "Agh! Not again!" Helios cried as the missile hit the deck of the ghost ship and bounced across it until it slammed into the main mast. "I-it'll go off any second now..." Helios mutters, more to convince himself than anyone else.

"Look before you, deadbeats! Is this what it means to be a ghost? Living eternally in a filthy old boat, desperate to latch on to the living? Is this how we want the living to see us, lost souls that are bent on taking what's theirs?! NO! These posers don't even know what it's like to be a TRUE SPIRIT! So don't hold ANYTHING back! Let's make these rulebreakers REGRET the day they died! For all spiritkind!" shouted Lady Bow, the boos and Stretch, Stinky, and Fatso roaring wildly with morale.

Dos sat in his chair, messing with opening and closing his new weapon system to pass the time, his circuts essentially used to the battery's flow by now. He watched out the window, viewing the boo brigade and the uncle squad, wondering for half a moment if all the troops positioned everywhere were really necessary. After all, there was no sign of enemies, and then suddenly, there they were "Well, good for you boss, you were right.

"Trust me, I'd have preferred to have been wrong." Oboyo mumbled to Dos as a legion of red phantoms began to swarm out of the ship. He eyed the missile for a few seconds before turning over to the communicator. "Helios! What happened?!"

Hearing the commotion, Mekis stood, and stood by the door of the heli. "Well then, I guess they're here. Finally. How close are we to the enemy then?" Mekis stood waiting, his hands lightly flexing in anticipation.

"Ugh, part of the containment field for the spirit rune energy must have failed and fried the contact detonator. We tried to fix that flaw, but it must not have worked." Helios groaned. "Give us a few minutes and we can go set it off manually. The M85 should be able to handle the deck and give us some cover while we fix it." The mechon accelerated towards the ghost ship. "More backup is always better, though."

Dos looked at his arm as the mechon flew away "Oh, nice to know about the battery connectors, thanks beach ball, I always wanted to Fry My Circuts." he didn't move to get rid of his hand weapon, keeping it attached.

"We don't have a few minutes, Helios! Lenai! Can you hear me? The boos can still engaged the phantoms, get Lady Bow to cover Helios!" shouted Oboyo to the intercom, sitting back and digging through a supply box for some magazines for his handgun.

"Nya, why don't I just detonate it with my bazooka instead?" Lenai asks over the intercom, loading it up and aiming it, "Two explosions are better than one! Trust me!"

"NO! No no no no, that's a bad idea! Lenai, listen to me, please. Save your shots for the big ones, alright?" begged Egon, who was pushed back to his seat by Oboyo. "Launchpad! We've got some coming up on our right side!" Just as Oboyo noted, four phantoms were rapidly closing in from the right. Oboyo dug around the supply box for a flare gun and began opening the right hatch. "Hope your shooting arm's not rusty, killer!"

The M85 barrels through the cloud of red phantoms and smashed down onto the deck of the ship, lumbering towards the central mast. "Alright, cover us" Helios hovered down towards the missile and looked inside the missing panel. "Alright, weld those two connections there..." He trails off into various snippets of technobabble as he works on the guts of the missile. The M85, meanwhile, cuts down phantoms left and right with it's soul rune charged weaponry, but is becoming slightly overwhelmed endless hordes.

Dos leaned out the hatch as well, picking off one of the ghosts from behind Oboyo with a spirit imbued shot before he could flare "Does that answer your question, sir?"

Mekis stood by Oboyo, pulling out his bow and an arrow. "Tell me which ones I can hit." He began tracking the various phantoms, waiting for the reply. He didn't want to waste any arrows.

"Any that are brighter in color..like these guys!" shouted Oboyo as he held out his left hand, the spirit rune glowing brightly before emitting three hazy balls towards the remaining three phantoms approaching the Gitmidir's right side.

Lenai quickly shifts her left arm into a large metallic crossbow, filling one of the ghosts with several bolts. The other two ghosts are quickly pierced through the chest with lances at two of the wasplings zip up to them, jousting the poor souls into oblivion.

"There's too many ahead of us, Mr. J! I can't get close enough!" hollered Launchpad as five more phantoms approached from the left side. "Any day now Helios!" Oboyo made his way to the other side, holding his left hand out and firing more spirit blasts to the pursuing phantoms, rendering them tangible.

Queen Antoinette floats up, a line of riflewasps behind her. She holds her hand up, finger pointing up before... She points forward, the line firing bullets, shot and bolts into the group of tangible ghosts before the Gitmidur, before beginning to reload.

Dos turned toward the tail roter as he slid partially out the hatch, wrapping his legs around the underside of the chair and switching modes, disconnecting the battery's flow as motes of energy built around his fist "If I fall, blame Helios." he let go of the charged shot, the ball detonating on contact with a phantom, taking out two beside it as the recoil pulled Dos back from his perch, forcing him to grab onto the leg of the helicopter as he slid out the door.

Mekis followed after, then began tracking one of the phantoms for a few moments. "On this day, I ask my ancestors, lend me a hand and let my arrows fly true." Mekis released the arrow, watching as it came to bury itself in the chest of one. Good. He drew another arrow, preparing to strike another.

"Annndd... Done! Stand by for detonation!" Helios hovers back towards the M85, taking cover in it's protective embrace. Behind them, the missile beeped once, twice, a third time... Helios looked over at it. "Dammit, not aga-" FOOM! The missile exploded, a blast of spirit rune energy rippling through the air and making every spirit it touched tangible. The explosion also ripped apart the base of the central mast which began to topple with the groan of stressed wood and snapping ropes.

Dos struggled to grasp the railing with his arms and legs, aiming at the less tangible ghosts in the way as he locked his arm in place, shouting over the wind "You really think this is going to stop me? Huh?" he fired off a shot at one of the phantoms, destroying it with a burst of solid spirit infused energy as he slid a bit on the rail.

With the bomb detonated, Oboyo let out a brief sigh of relief. "Phew..good work, Helios! Lenai, have Antoinette and Bow clear us a path! We're going in! Watch for your opening, Launchpad!"

The swarm of wasps moves in, Queen Antoinette at the head. The push back the lines and begin carving a V into the enemy formation- Most of the wasps do little more than enter small struggles with the front lines, however Antoinette and her elite squad pierce through as many of the ghosts as they can. A path is being cleared by pushing the enemy apart, rather than cutting their lines down with ease.

Meanwhile, once the main mast had fallen and taken out the forward one in a tangle of snapped timbers and torn ropes, Helios hovered out of the grasp of the M85. "Alright, now we need to make a hole so they can get deeper." He looked at the nearest structure, the forecastle. "M85, crack that thing open like an egg." The death machine charged at the wall and smashed a gaping hole in it before turning around returning to flatten the part of the deck that had once had the central mast. "Good work! Now, go on to do your next job." The M85 nodded and dove off the side of the ship.'

Lenai moves over to Lady bow and her Boos, shouting as she swaps her right arm to a gatling gun, dumping bullets and bolts into the ghostly lines. "GIVE 'EM HELL, CUT A HOLE THROUGH THEIR LINES LIKE BUTTER, A-HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Spotting an open path, Launchpad adjusted his goggles before taking the Gitmidur through it. "Hold on tight, fellas!" Swerving around the tangible phantoms, the Gitmidur made its way closer to the ghost ship before hovering not far above it. "This is as close as I can get! Go!" shouted Launchpad loudly. Oboyo peered over the edge; a bit too high still, but it had to do. He gave Launchpad a thumb's up before leaping out and falling through the rotten wooden deck into the ship below.

Mekis looked upon the carnage, and a smile donned upon his face. "A battle truly worthy of song. We must make sure that we are the ones to write it." Mekis drew an arrow, a bit of rope trailing from it to his backpack.

Dos lept down after Oboyo, giving a grumble as he fell through the flooring after his 'glorious' leader "Those two weeks, I had you gone! I still couldn't lift a finger! I want you alive you jerk!"

Mekis aimed for the lone standing mast and fired the tied arrow. He jumped down, watching as it struck. As he fell, he grabbed the rope in a hand, drawing his blade with the other. He shouted, "Fuzzy wrecking ball of slicy deathness!!" As he swung across the deck, swinging wildly at the various phantoms.

Oboyo coughed loudly as he rolled over, glancing around. "Relax..I'm fine, just, ow..I'd have preferred to have taken the normal method down. Where's Egon?" Right on cue, the screaming of a man could be heard from above as Egon crashed through the deck and landed next to Oboyo and Dos. "..answers that." Oboyo nodded at Helios and rose to his feet, extending his hand out to help Egon up. "Mekis?" asked Oboyo, looking upwards. Of course, the moogle not only had wings, but wasn't as heavy as they were.

"So, where is the fog guide, exactly?" Helios shot a hole through another phantom. "The captains cabin, we presume?"

Dos begins to charge up another shot, giving a scoff "Remind me to see those crazy bots about pneumatic traction spikes... where do you want a hole?"

"That'd be too obvious. My guess is somewhere near the bottom of the ship." said Egon, releasing Oboyo's hand after standing up and adjusting his glasses. Oboyo reached into his jacket and retrieved his custom staff, snapping it into place. Oboyo glanced around the room they were in. The ship was designed for ghosts..there really -weren't- staircases or doors that one would find in a real ship. He then looked towards Dos and gestured towards the ground.
"We'll go with Egon's gut. But let's wait for Mekis first. Assuming he didn't get carried away topside.."

"We'll go get him. Hold on a moment." Helios hovered up through the hole in the ceiling. "Mekis, hurry up and..." He sighed when he realized how distracted the moogle was. He took aim and shot several of the ghosts around Mekis, hoping to get his attention with that.

Dos nodded and moved back a few steps before jumping as he fired his shot, getting launched back a short ways and landing on his feet as the floorboards exploded in a mass of protoplasmic wood and heated debris.

As Mekis swung, he saw a few ghosts falling by him. but the funny thing was, he had not struck them. "Who lessens my victory with their assistance? Oh. The ball..thing." Mekis, about to swing back, was caught by Esteban. "Esteban! You interrupt as well? A conspiracy, I say. Take me to the ball." They glided over, landing by the hole. "What is it?"

Dos pointed to the floor "Hey fuzzball. Door's open."

Helios nods. "Yeah, what he said."

"Ah. Alright then." With that, he leapt in, Esteban warely following. Esteban had half a mind to just return to the helicopter, but he had to follow his master. It was his duty, and Mekis was his caretaker and friend. There was no way he could abandon him.

After Dos cleared a new path, Oboyo hopped in and glanced forward, his eyes widening. Well over a dozen phantoms waited in the room, turning to meet their visitors as Egon hopped in next. "Wrong room! Dos, make another exit!" shouted Oboyo as he held his left hand out and focused energy on the spirit rune, firing off blasts to render the spirits tangible while Egon opened fire with his proton gun to stun the translucent ones.

Helios hovered down after them and opened fire, buying time for Dos to smash holes in whatever he pleased.

Dos sank a few mid sized bullets into the floor, not wasting time charging something larger, before leaping and stomping through the old flooring, falling down with a chunk of the floor to the next level below "You guys, get down here, I'm not planning to drown alone if this thing needs to sink."

Mekis fired an arrow or two into the group of ghosts, backing toward the hole slowly, then jumping into it. Esteban followed, keeping a fair distance from the things that chased.

Helios followed after shooting now more laser into the crowd of phantoms. "Ugh, our lens must be made out of shoddy materials..." The mechon's lens is glowing slightly red from firing all the lasers. "How many more of these guys are there?"

Dos was already charging up a spirit blast, blue motes of light dancing around his fist as he pointed it at the large phantom "Boss? Please tell me you're on your way..." the gun hand began to whine as he held the charge.

Helios looked where Dos was pointing and promptly forgot about his lens problems. "Oh dear... Say, Dos, do you have a spare battery? We might could do something with it."

Upon seeing the large phantom, Mekis smiled. "It appears we are approaching the crescendo of our song, aren't we?" He drew an arrow, then, thinking on it, drew a second, readying both to fire simultaneously.

As Oboyo arrived, he scrutinized the 'phantom' a little further. It was a dark creature, not red like the other spirits. It had the heads of various creatures as tails wrapped around its humanoid head, such as an eagle, a snake, and a horned lion. It floated in the air, a large tail acting as its 'legs'. "That's..you're not like the others..are you? You're.."
The creature cut Oboyo off, glaring at the intruders in the room. "I am one who wanders a countless worlds, and one who has watched this world's fate for generations. Wilt thou come with me?"

The gun that was Dos' hand was whining louder "Sir, can I just shoot this bitch already?"

Oboyo nodded at Dos. "Yeah. He's not worth our time." He then held his left hand out, the Spirit Rune glowing brightly. "Fog Guide! If that even is your name..we've been expecting you! You picked the wrong world to invade, asshole."

"Do not defy thine own fate! I have come for thee! Do not let my journey be for naught! This world, too, shall end someday..come..be eternal..is that not what thine ancestors wished? Is that not why thy rune is here??" asked the Fog Guide, glaring out over the crew before him.

"Guess again! I don't know what kind of deal you made with my ancestors, but it'll be a cold day in the underworld before I fork over what you want. Leknaat was right, you should be afraid of this rune. Your wandering ends here!" shouted Oboyo, firing a spirit blast at the creature.

"Nobody has a spare battery?" Helios looked around. "Bah, no matter. We can charge the laser too." His lens begins to glow red as energy builds up in the laser. "Dos, shall we fire at the same time for maximum damage?"

Mekis smirked. "How cliche. He knows he's going to be defeated, so he tries to make an alliance." Mekis drew his bowstring a bit further, training his shot on the amalgamation of heads before firng dual arrows. "You two take too long."

Dos launched his powerful spirit laced blast at the ghost, dumping the whole battery into it as it tore apart his hand in the process, with a yell he gets sent skidding back across the wooden floor as the giant ball of energy coveres the distance to collide with the Fog Guide.

Helios let loose with his laser right after Dos fired, a thick, bright red beam lancing out and burning away at the fog guide. However, it distorted and quickly dispersed as Helios' lens warped and melted slightly from overuse, rendering him practically blind. "Agh! Stupid thing!" He took cover behind a nearby object, though he couldn't tell what it was.

"I see..so the Executor of Balance reached out to thee first. I did not expect her to be so vigilant in stopping me. So be it..I will pry thine rune off from thine own hands!" roared the Fog Guide loudly, being partially cut off by Dos' blast, Helios' laser, and Mekis' arrows.

Its material largely broke down due to Dos', Helios', and Mekis' efforts but was still intact. With the wave of his grotesque arm, four phantoms faded in through the nearby wall, pairs merging together into larger, dual wielding spirits.

"Oh yeah? Well take this!" Helios popped up from behind the barrel and shot off another laser. Well, tried to. He had somehow forgotten that his lens was warped and wrecking the focus for his lasers. The beam was too scattered to do any real damage to the Fog Guide, but enough of it hit a particularly dry beam to ignite it. Flames began to spread to nearby timbers as the group fought.

"Another tactic that shows his fear. Calling in minions to try and stop us. How original." Mekis drew back an arrow and fired once more at the Fog Guide. "Oboyo, do that thing you do. The solidifying of ghosts and such. I wish to shoot them, posthaste."

"Friends, huh..? Egon!" snapped Oboyo while Egon gripped his proton gun tightly and aimed it at the Fog Guide before unleashing a stream of proton energy. "I'm on it!" Oboyo then held his left hand out, the Spirit Rune glowing brightly before launching hazy spheres at the new arrivals. The Fog Guide roared loudly as he struggled Egon's hold and Mekis' arrows, breaking down slightly further.

He held his monsterous arm out, the mouths of the creatures on his tails opening wide and forming balls of light out of them. Once charged, the creatures fired the white spheres out at Oboyo, Mekis, and Dos. Evading the ball itself was a simple task for Oboyo, but he did not expect the ball's after effect: a runic explosion that shook the room and forced him quickly to the floor, bloodying his nose.

Dos looked up at the flying ball "Oh, son of a-" he rolled out of the way as the orb collided with the wall behind him, getting sent rolling further from the blast, sending him to crash into the wall. He pushed the debris off him as he stood, wrapping his working hand around the chain strapped to him "Right, time for plan B."
Dos' synthetic skin was scratched and torn in places, but he paid it no mind as he began to swing the end of the long chain, strapping the other end around his mostly useless forearm.

"And now ranged attacks?" Mekis started to move as fast as he could, drawing another shot. "What next coward? Your defeat will be quick and ju-" The orb hit behind him, sending him flying into a wall. Being so small wasn't always easy. "Ow.." Mekis fell to the ground. A moment and he was standing. "Esteban. A hand, if you would." Moments later, Mekis was airborne, and drawing a new arrow.

"Is that a fire?" Helios struggled to make it out through the massive distortion effect his melted lens was causing. "Oh, it is. Hmm, wonder which loose cannon caused that." He hovered back towards the bow of the shit, away from the fighting and the rapidly spreading fire. "Ugh, this is going to be a problem." He contacted the M85 -busy playing 'ride the ghostly horse underwater'- and used it's stronger transmitters to contact the manor and dispatch the repair drone to his location.

Oboyo grit his teeth and forced himself up to his feet, retrieving his staff and eyeing one of the dual wielding phantoms. Those two were going to get in the way if they weren't dealt with soon.
Egon let out a long shout as he focused his beam on the Fog Guide, a few missed runic explosions from the creature going off behind him while Launchpad's voice rang through Oboyo's ear piece. "Uh..hey, Mr. J! Are you there?"
Oboyo approached the phantom before spinning his staff through through it, reaching into his jacket for his handgun and firing off four rounds afterwards. "I'm a..LITTLE BUSY right now, Launchpad!"

Dos ran up a little closer, whipping his chain out, trying to catch the ghost off guard so he could wrap up its weapon, continuing to move as he pulled his chain back in the direction of the other ghost.

Mekis looked between the minions and the Fog Guide, and found it best to keep focus on the coward. Esteban, meanwhile, had noticed the growing flames. In one way, he liked them, making flight easy. However, they could also burn them both to death. Mekis drew back an arrow and fired into the hide of the mass phantom as they began circling about it.

After a few moments of waiting, a portal opened up beside Helios and allowed the repair drone to fly out. The drone was covered in bits of ectoplasam and looked like it had been in the middle of discecting an unfortunate ghost before Helios had called it away. It promptly began removing the ruined lens from the mechon, making chirping noises oddly reminiscent of scolding. "Oh, and after you finish repairing us, Dos broke his hand. Can you fix that?" The repair drone turned and eyed Dos for a moment before nodding.

Oboyo took a few steps away from the phantom as he reloaded his gun, Dos' chain finding its way around the spirit in the process. Helpless, the phantom followed Dos' pull until it collided with the other dual wielder, their ghostly materials combining and forming a larger phantom. Oboyo glared at Dos for a second before tossing him his handgun and a couple magazines. "You're not helping, rust bucket! Use that for now! Egon, change targets!"

Egon grimaced and released his proton stream on the Fog Guide. It wasn't working very well, anyway. He aimed for the newly combined phantom and focused his stream on it, slowing it down immensely. The Fog Guide roared loudly as Mekis' arrow told him where to shove it, causing the creature's multi-headed tails to swipe and lunge at the airborne moogle. If he didn't have beefy backup, he wouldn't have much longer to go.

Dos dropped and unwound the chain as he backed off, catching the gun as the magazines skidded across the floor, uncaught by his absent right hand "Hey, think of it this way, theres only one now." he began to fire at the ghost, one round after another, adjusting his aim on the fly to account for the recoil, weight, and pull, the third shot hitting the ghost square as he continued to back away.

The repair drone fitted in the new and more durable lens on Helios' core before tightening it and making sure it was secure. It nodded and chirped a few more times before hopping into another portal to get things to fix Dos. "Alright, back into the fray." He turned and looked around, noticing the Fog Guide' tails lunging at Mekis. "Time to test this lens out." Helios shot off several lasers at the tails, hoping to throw their aim off.

Mekis had a feeling attacks would soon be incoming, and low and behold, here they were. "Esteban, evasive manuevers!" Mekis leaned forward, allowing Esteban easier control. Esteban's focus increased as his instinctual response was, often, flee. Dodging and diving, weaving through the oncoming attacks, Esteban never enjoyed this. It just scared the hell out of him, but he made it through, thanks to the assistance from Helios. Mekis popped up quickly and fired another shot. "Excellent Esteban. You've done well. One more manuever to go. Fly me as close as you can to the beast." Mekis finished by drawing his blade, a look of victory in his eyes.

Dos' bullet served to break the combined phantom down a little as Oboyo moved in closer, spinning his staff vigorously before unleashing a series of strikes. More and more of its material dissipated until it swung its blade down towards Oboyo, who parried the sword and took its accompanying arm off thanks to Egon's support. Neither spirit had much material left.

With the rain of lasers pouring in its direction, the Fog Guide turned its attention on Helios, forming more runic explosive orbs in its mouths to charge.

Dos shot a couple more times at the phantom before noticing the charging explosive orb being pointed at Helios, swinging the gun towards the fog guide "Lets see how revenge tastes." he fired off the rest of the clip toward the fog guide's open maw.

Mekis leaned in as Esteban flew at the beast toward the mass of heads. "Which to attack? So many choices. Human is my bet." Esteban did a swerve behind the thing, Mekis jumping off onto it. "Now go Esteban. But not too far." Mekis ran across the creature, running his blade across it, lacerating bits as he got near to the head. As he did this, he roared, "Beast! Before I end you, I want you to know your killer's name! I am Mekis, The Small and Fuzzy! You may call me Mekis, The Small and Fuzzy! I prefer the full TITLE!" Mekis leaped, his blade readied to bury itself in the humanoid skull.

"Wait, that's pointing at us!" Helios yelped and ran aw- made a tactical withdrawal back behind a support beam. He turned and fired at the combined ghost to take some of the head off of Oboyo while he totally didn't cower. Meanwhile, the repair drone appeared out of another portal and approached Dos with another hand in it's grasp. It chirped and motioned towards his stump.

Set off by Dos' shot, the runic ball exploded in the Fog Guide's mouth, leaving it at the mercy of Mekis' finishing touches.
"It's over." Oboyo said simply as he spun his staff vigorously and landed the final blow on the combined phantom, dissipating what was left of it thanks to Helios' fire support. He glanced over at Mekis and watched as the Fog Guide gave out one last roar before the last of its material broke down. "Hah..hah! Yeah! We did it!" shouted Egon victoriously.

"An astounding victory!" Helios cheered from his little wuss corner. "But no seriously, how did we manage to do that?"

Dos lowered the empty handgun as the creature fell apart, tossing the gun over to lie with its magazines as he looked to the droid "You can give it a try, but unless you have superglue in that chassis, I doubt it'll fit. Casing's a little cracked." he held out his empty stump to the repair drone anyways, completely ignoring the dying fog guide.

Mekis fell through the air, joyous at his victory. Esteban flew in, saving Mekis from falling on his face. "An excellent day. Too bad there aren't any mementos to remember this by. Meaning I must make a song to remember it. Wouldn't you agree Esteban?" Esteban quacked in reply. "I knew you would. And I'll make sure you are in it as well. You did well, my friend." Esteban didn't really care about the song. He was looking forward to the special treat he would get.

The repair drone rolled it's core, offended with the lack of faith, before getting to work. It removed the cracked plating from Dos' arm and repaired the modular connections for the hand before replacing the plating with a new reactive version, designed to return impacts with equal force. It then connected the hand and brushed it slightly, removing some of the remaining dust from it's production. It looked up at Dos and chirped, announcing that it was done.

"Huh..guess we did..well done, you guys. I couldn't have taken him on myself." said Oboyo, releasing the holds on his staff and putting it back in his jacket while picking up his discarded handgun. They had won. Still, Oboyo couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't over. The thought clouded his mind so much that he didn't notice the sound of footsteps echoing through the darkness of the ship's hold at first. "..Do you guys hear something?" he asked, turning to look around the best he could. Step. Step. Step.

Mekis looked toward Oboyo, his ear barely picking out over the sound of the crackling flames. "Is it another thing to slay? Because that's always fun."

"Over there?" Helios turned and peered into the gloom of the hold, lamenting his lack of night vision.

Dos looked over his new hand and partial arm, wincing at the feel of new optimized connectors "You realize, every time you do that, it takes a little longer to get back up to speed with my arm?" he walked over to the gun with a sigh, kicking the magazine from it into a compartment before sliding another into the gun and holding onto the other just in case "Can it be too much to ask that these ghosts just stay down and give up?"

Eventually, a figure came into a view due to the light of the flames. The silhouette of a young human boy. Oboyo's eyes widened as he stared at the child. "It..it can't be.."
"I'm impressed. I didn't think that the Fog Guide could be defeated so easily. Truly, the determination of this world to resist me is commendable." said the boy.

The drone huffed, deciding to examine Dos' system to streamline the adjustment process to the new limbs. Later, though. It had more important things to do, like dissecting a preserved ghost. It opened up another portal and hopped through.

Helios tilted his core. "Oboyo, who is that? What is he talking about?" His lens lit up with another charged laser, showcasing his nervousness.

Mekis sighed and drew an arrow. "This one looks hardly like a challenge. Especially after the beast. Can I shoot him?"

Dos holds his gun pointed at the child, assessing its danger "So, boss, what is this one classified as? Still a viable target?"

Oboyo glared at Mekis and stood in the moogle's way. "No! This is..It's A.J..my little brother!" He then turned around to face the boy. "Who are you, really? What have you done to him!?"

"I have no name. I am dominion itself, that which is meant to encompass all. As I have with every world this ship has visited, so too, shall this one be mine. It would seem your family kept its end of the deal offered to them after all. Yet you do not seem to desire the exchange."

"Hell no I don't! Get your hands off of him!" shouted Oboyo to the boy. "Or what? You'll 'kill' me, like you did the Fog Guide? Your kind is too simple minded. You cannot grasp existance on the scale that it encompasses. You should be thankful that I have come to this world to bring it order."

"Um... Thats bad, right?" Helios looked at the boy over the flames. "Oboyo, your family is weird."

Mekis looked at Oboyo as if he were a little crazy. "You sure? Illusionary tricks aside, this thing is clearly evil."

Dos kept his gun up, removing his finger from the trigger "That is not a yes, nor a no..." he shifted the handgun to his other hand to rest beside the magazine as he folded out his gunhand "We can do this quick, the kid doesn't sound like he's brotherly anymore." he doesn't bother getting his hopes up, and so, doesn't charge the buster gun.

"Enough of this. Spirit Rune, by the authority vested in me, heed my words and leave this mortal!" Oboyo cried out as he gripped his left hand in pain. He could feel the rune dislodging itself from his skin, forcing his right hand away as it left a bloody hole in his left. The Spirit Rune floated ominously before him, sending him to the rotten wooden floor below when he tried to reach out for it. "How.."

"Did I not make myself clear? I am dominion itself. All existance belongs to me. The sooner the living accepts this, the less painful it will be." said 'A.J.' before holding his hand out towards Oboyo. "Spirit Rune, strike this one and his companions down." At his command, a cyan light began to shine down under the rune, forming the silhoutte of a knight-like figure. It rose its cloudy blade above Oboyo as it gazed down on him, ready to end his life at any second.
"Think about this mistake that you have made while your soul joins the legion governed by the rune."

Dos gave a sigh and began charging his hand up for a shot "Boss, I'm fairly certain this one is in no way related to you, can I please shoot one of them?"

"Yup, definitely bad." Not knowing what else to do, Helios began to scan the floating Spirit Rune while he kept his charged laser aimed at not-A.J.

"Don't..Dos.." said Oboyo while the knightly spirit brought its blade down upon him, halting inches above his body.
The cyan silhoutte then held its blade up high, creating a large beam of cyan light that shot straight through the air, leaving a sizeable hole in the floors above. It turned to face A.J. and swung its blade above the boy's head, exposing the ghostly image of a humanoid boy strongly resembling Lucass.