trans_9 | The Demon Dragon

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The Demon Dragon

The group had gotten an opportunity to gather some information on their mission’s objective, but morning arrived swiftly. In the distance, the forest from the day before still smoldered, though by now the blaze had mostly run its course.

Neese was in attendance, along with a smattering of the villagers. At her side were two familiar faces: Orson and Shiris, the two who had rode out to meet the crew earlier. Shiris looked vaguely mutinous as she clutched a cloth-covered parcel; Orson merely stood back a few paces from Neese, tending to a group of horses the village had provided for their use. The animals seemed a little skittish, as if they knew their destination, but were otherwise well-behaved.

Neese raised the long white staff in her hand, closing her eyes as if in prayer. “Marfa, goddess of creation, bestow your divine protection on these travelers. Guide them to their destination, and shield them from harm.” In response, a soft, warm light suffused the area; the crew would find their bodies just a little lighter, their stamina restored, and their anxieties soothed.

With that, she lowered her hands, blessing completed. “May you find your journey swift and safe,” she said somberly.

And with that, they were off.

Orson helped those of the crew that were amenable onto a horse, giving them some basic instruction on how to steer the animal or tell it to halt. For the most part, however, the horses knew what they were doing. There might have been a slightly uncooperative animal in there. Or two. But you know, for the most part.

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Bone and gristle flew as they forced their way up toward the entrance of the dragon's lair, destroying each of the skeletal warriors in their path. Inside the entrance, there was a steep drop to the path below, a path that might better be described as a set of loosely connected, treacherous ledges. At the bottom, however, was a large hunk of solid rock... and atop it, the massive, maroon bulk that was Shooting Star. He seemed fixated on something, snout pressed up to the nearby jagged rock face.

There were two other things of interest here: the great, bubbling pool of lava that rose up from the volcano's core, not far behind the base of rock upon which the dragon was resting... and across it, on a separate island in the middle of the lava, an immense heap of glittering gold, bangles, crowns, and coins. Countless treasures, all stockpiled here in the heart of the mountain.

At the top of all these was a scepter, encased in large, pale blue crystal.

Orson motioned to the others, beginning the descent as quietly as possible while the dragon was distracted. He didn't see Shiris anywhere, but that didn't mean she wasn't down below, hidden somewhere out of sight. He steadied himself against the rock face, hugging the wall as he went.

Ronnae followed. Trained steps were taken to make sure she didn't make too much sound, even while wearing her heavy armor and equipment. The scepter was there in plain sight but... What was the dragon so focused on?

Had they caught him at a bad time? Something, somehow, seemed to be very wrong with this picture.

If Sofia could have spoken with Ronnae, she would have agreed. Instead, she was also wondering quietly if something was wrong. She moved with surprising grace, her hand still clutching the spear.

As they made their way down, their questions would be answered. The voices of Punchy and Shoutarou floated up from the passage where they were currently staring down Shooting Star. Abruptly, the dragon sent a brief blast of flame into the passage. It was impossible to tell if those inside were all right... but they didn't have time to worry about it now.

Shooting Star sniffed at the air once, twice, then turned, his eyes fixing upon Ronna, Sofia, and the others approaching from the other direction. So the humans had planned this, had they?

"Leave at once," the dragon thundered over the bubbling of the lava. "Or prepare to lose your lives."

Like Sofia hadn't heard that line being given to her before. The only response was to stay there and wait to see what their man in front of them decided to do. She was more than ready to fight the creature again, but didn't want to endanger the lives of the others.

Ronnae was upset, mostly because plans of maybe bartering or diplomacy had been shot out the window or became impossibly hard. But right now what mattered was the safety of her teammates and as such she wouldn't back down. Not afraid for the dragon, but for her friends.

She continued her descent alongside the others planning ahead as to what to should different situations arise.

Wakka held his blitzball to his chest tightly. ~~So manly.~~ He could have hit it from right here if he wanted to. But he didn't want to do that until everyone was in place, or the dragon tried to attack them. So he continued to move down with everyone else.

But he knew what he was leading off with this time. Triple Foul. No sense in playing games. Even though he was a pro sports player. And used a piece of sports equipment for a weapon.

Shooting Star suddenly roiled backward from the opening, opening a momentary window in which the crew could see the rest of their team -- Shiris, arm still extended and frozen, as if she couldn't decide whether to run forward or retreat, Punchy, who was slightly on fire, and Shoutarou, in his new form.

A slender spear, of the same make as the one Sofia and Orson currently held, protruded from the beast's snout.

As Shooting Star attempted to dislodge Shoutarou, Soren raised a hand high in the air, cradling his Bolting tome in one arm. The skies above, visible from the volcano's opening, were already darkening as he summoned a lightning bolt to strike at the dragon.

He was shelving negotiations for now. For better or worse, the others had made the decision for them.

...and it wasn't as though he were particularly fond of this dragon.

So much for being pacifists about all of this. Sofia realized that as Soren cast his spell, an opportunity arose for them to combine spells. As he did so, she did her own movements to cast Kazapple, sending additional bolts of lightning from the sky towards the dragon as well.

~~Double lightning across the sky!~~

Damnit! It wasn't often that Ronnae cursed, but the thought did immediately cross her mind as soon as she saw the attacks. Right now, of course, her loyalty was to her friends and comrades and she soon found herself disregarding safety and simply jumping off the wall and in line towards the dragon, already unsheathing her swords and ready to have at the giant creature.

The two lightning spells hit Shooting Star's flank at almost precisely the same moment -- as before, some of it simply rolled off of his scales and dissipated into the air. This time, however, there seemed to be a distortion in the dragon's magical protection. Shooting Star snarled half in surprise, half in pain as the rest of the energy seared him.

In the brilliant light of the lightning blast, a mantled figure appeared high above the crew, near the entrance to the lair. Karla watched the battle begin in earnest, her smooth, unlined face still neutral.

"Yes," she said; though her voice was not loud, it seemed to carry all the same. "Defeat the dragon. Destroy him, and bring an end to this age."

Whoever that lady was, Wakka wasn't paying attention to her. What he was paying attention to was the fact that everyone was hitting the dragon. So, he pulled his arm back, and filled his ball with his magical power.

Magical ball power. Triple Foul.

The ball crackled with energy. He leaned back, and then let it fly at the dragon's snout. If the dragon were susceptible to being blinded, falling asleep, or being incapable of using magic, this would do those things. If it was not, well... Wakka really didn't have a ~~talking pink~~ pony in this fight.

Ronnae followed Wakka's attack with one of her own, focusing the built up energy from her rage aura into a massive attack aimed not at flesh, but at the target's life force. It was meant to do massive damage and criple the ability to heal or regenerate and it was greatly feared by many.

Upon landing on the massive creature and delivering her blow, she used the momentum to leap across and towards it head and start a flurry of attack at full strength. Her orcish blood making her stronger the longer she stayed in battle and the souls of Shadowmourne screaming for more bloodshed, slowly making the runeblade shine with the deadly purple aura of death, at the same time, triggering the holy, fiery aura of Lightshope to start building up as well.

Shooting Star was not particularly vulnerable to status effects, but as he lunged forward, attempting to grab one of the crew members in his jaws, his strike was knocked off course by the awesome force of Wakka's magical ball power. The dragon ended up snapping at a nearby rock face instead.

Incensed at being suddenly balked, it inhaled deeply, then bathed half the battlefield in a searing hot swath of fire.

Never had Soren been quite so grateful for that particular barrier spell. From his position at the rear of the battle, he lifted his Physic staff into the air, ~~reluctantly~~ casting a restorative spell on Punchy.

Orson took one glance at that ridiculous Blitzball throwing arm, then tossed Wakka the spear in his hands, drawing his own broadsword instead. The meaning was quite clear: I'll cover you, you hurl that thing as hard as you can.

With a cry, Orson launched himself forward, relying on the power of Neese's blessing to deflect the heat of the flames.

Punchy staggers to his feet and tries not to (superheroically!) puke on his boots while the effects of heatstroke leave him. He gives Soren a little thumbs and a wink of "I owe you". Soren may be a total jackwagon, but he's a good enough guy in combat, and for that, maybe Punchy can go a little easier on him when they get back to the ship. Let him have more alone-time in the room, maybe get him a little reading light...

...Nah.

Not to mention that his attention's been captured by Karla, who, aside from being fairly attractive, is looking way too breezy about this whole thing. Punchy tries to clamber to her but she's too high up.

"A little backup couldn't hurt, shawty!" he yells at Karla.

Oh look, he had a spear tossed at him. And the dragon didn't appear to fall over or have a haze in front of its eyes or kind of slump over, all unable to cast spells.

This was not going in a way that Wakka wanted it to go. The blitzball he'd thrown at the dragon hurtled back in the air towards him, but with the spear in his hands he couldn't grab it. He'd have to go looking for it behind him once he got rid of the spear. And the flames. When the flames went away.

He pulled his arm back as the flames began to clear and he was less burned than he should ahve been. This wasn't quite like throwing a blitzball, but Wakka's totally badass throwing arm could throw anything. Throwing things was his thing. As long as they weren't too big and heavy. Anyway.

Wakka wished the spear was more spherical, but he supposed he couldn't get everything that he wanted. He didn't say anything as he leaned forward and let the spear fly from his hand. He just grunted.

Amidst the part where he'd gotten thrown off and when he recovered, Shoutarou had switched back to a form he was more used to using. Getting back to the others, however, would prove to be a bit tricky since Shooting Star was trying to flambe everyone.

Being closer, however, had its perks. He shoved the Joker Memory in the hip slot and smacked the button. The Maximum Drive call came through the air as purple energy surrounded his fist as he barged toward one of Shooting Star's ankles, throwing his fist at it.

"RIDER PUNCH!"

In order to provide extra assistance and make sure that the spear didn't get noticed, Ronnae decided it was time for a bit of dirty work. As such, she rushed through the grooves and spines along the massive dragon's head and charged... at his eye!

Even if the dragon moved and flailed from the damage, the spear wouldn't miss, but this way, he couldn't intercept it either! Or so she hoped. She used both her massive weapons to deliver one of her stronger attacks, using all the boosts from her repertoire and the enhanced cry of the thousands of souls inside Shadowmourne along with the burning holy energy from Lightshope.

Here goes nothing!

If Karla heard Punchy, she gave no indication of it; she was fixated on the now beleaguered Shooting Star. It seemed that the spears had done their work disrupting the dragon's magical protection.

Shooting Star, distracted by the two-legged creatures now harrying him in the relative safety of his own lair, failed to notice Wakka's throw in time. The weapon hit its mark -- and did one better, lodging itself in the immense dragon's eye. The dragon roiled backward, roaring in surprise and pain, thick blood running out from under his armored eyelid, which was now shut tight. A cascade of blue sparks exploded into the air, a magical discharge that ran along the length of the dragon's body.

Even as the dragon drew back, Shiris was busy taking advantage of his distraction, driving her spear into the dragon's right claw, where it lodged in the relatively soft webbing between his talons. Shooting Star batted blindly at her; Orson rushed to her side, but in the end, the dragon caught the young man squarely in the chest. Orson and Shiris both were sent flying into a nearby rock face.

Shooting Star stumbled forward, hissing angrily as the Rider Punch made contact with his ankle. Even as he drew back, aiming to snap at Shoutarou once more, however, Ronnae's approach from what was now his blind side caught him by surprise. One of her swords slipped past the scales of his lower jaw... and lodged squarely in his throat. The dragon drew his head back in agony, about to carry the blade right up into the air with it.

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guardian-wakka.livejournal.com - 2011-10-30 04:47 (UTC) - Expand

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