Wandering Dragonman [With Emi, from FM]

[Administrator]

Arc shrugged. "I'm a wanderer, not one for planning. I assumed we would cross that divide when we reached it." He wasn't exactly one to plan ahead, but if they did reach this Radiant Garden, then he was, at this moment, willing to part.

But, if it took enough time, and they became closer friends...then, he wouldn't want to part with her. That was a circumstance that, if it occurred, he would worry about when so. But, if not, then-

Right on cue, the Heartless appeared from their dark portals, breaking the thread of Arc's thoughts. This time two Neoshadows and two Darkballs appeared. "They are getting bigger," Arc said, impressed, as he redrew his katana.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Emi jumped up the moment she heard the tell-tale sound of Heartless emerging from thin-air out of their dark portals. They were getting bigger. She had a feeling these weren't gonna go down in one or two strikes like the previous had done. After a moment's hesitation (and a close call from the claw of one Neoshadow) Emi got to work. First, she made quick work of the Neoshadow that had attacked her. Then, she threw her right hand kali stick at the other Neoshadow making its way towards her. With a metallic ping, the stick slammed into the Heartless, obviously hurting it. Emi grinned.

[Action Recap: Emi used 'Strike Raid' equip; 5 uses left this battle.]

[Administrator]

Arc watched his Nobody companions swarmed a Darkball. The Creepers swarmed the Darkball, but it flung itself about frantically to escape the Nobodies. Arc dismissed the Creepers. They had done all that they could. And now, it was his turn.

The dragonman charged in, leaping on top of the Darkball. It was tired after leaping about to be rid of the Creepers, so it wasn't expecting this. He stabbed both blades into its...body, as it didn't have a head. It dissipated, leaving a pink heart floating in the dark as the Heartless was destroyed. He turned to face Emi to make certain she was alright. And she was, so he turned to the other Darkball. It was going down!

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Emi's stick appeared back in her hand. The Neoshadow loped towards her. She ran to meet it. She jumped into the air, brought both of her sticks down onto its head. She fell back down to Earth, hopping backwards and then going in for another attack. Her right stick she swung to the left, ringing it in hard against the Heartless. The recoil stung her hand and quivered up into her head, but she swung her left stick equally as hard to the right before the creature melted into the ground.

One more strike ought to do it, she thought as she ran away from the black puddle seemingly chasing her. Just when she thought she'd gotten away, the Neoshadow materialized behind her and took a swipe at her. The Heartless's claw connected her back. She stumbled forward, yelping.

"Yeah, that hurt," she muttered, trying to gather herself. Tears sprang to her eyes, but the surprise attack gave her drive. She jerked around, throwing her left-hand stick with every ounce of strength she had. She actually felt her shoulder crack. There was another metallic ping.

But it did the job. The stick slammed into the Neoshadow and it exploded.

And with Arc taking care of the last Darkball, all seemed well.
Emi doubled over, and concentrated on making the pain in her back go away.

[Action Recap: Emi used 'Strike Raid'; 4 uses left this battle.]

[Administrator]

Turning to face the last Heartless, a Darkball, Arc stared it down for a few moments, after which it promptly opened its mouth and started chomping air and moving towards him. Realizing what this meant for him, Arc dove to the side. He landed roughly, but he got up and ran at the thing anyways.

Arc slashed it twice, tearing open two holes from which oozed darkness. The Darkball floated around, shaking every so often, before finally admitting defeat and fading into the shadows, releasing a pink heart as it did so.

Before Arc could celebrate this victory however, three more portals opened up! Out of them stepped two wyverns and...a rather large Defender! It was over sized, easily as large as a large body. The shield spun around and its eyes glowed red. There would be fireballs coming.

((OOC Note: The Defender I will refer to as the Champion from now on, as it is a Boss-sized version))

[Oathkeeper Emi]

No sooner had Emi cheered "Yeah!" at Arc's defeat of the last Darkball did three more Heartless show up. She groaned.

"Aw, come on!" she whined, rubbing her head. Oh well. Might as well get to work. Of course, defeating these Heartless would be more of a battle than she thought. The Wyverns flew around too much. She found herself trying to jump in the air and swat at them as if they were irritating flies. Of course, that wasn't working, because she couldn't reach them until they started dive-bombing her and at that point she was ducking for cover.

Covering her head, she looked for an easier target. The Champion didn't look any easier than the Wyverns. It had a shield and Emi got the feeling she wouldn't be able to attack it in her usual head-on style.

No wall to run on. Not many uses of Strike Raid left either. She had no magic and could only jump so high. It seemed she was going to have to be a bit more intelligent to defeat these Heartless. She'd have to persuade them down to her level.

She ducked, and a Wyvern narrowly avoided taking her head off.

Well crap.

[Administrator]

Arc jumped up, slashing a wing off of a Wyvern. It crashed off to the side and started to try to fly again, refusing to die. He lumbered over and stabbed its neck, killing it and relinquishing the heart it held greedily and causing it to dissipate.

He turned to see the Champion firing three balls of flame at Emi. Instinctively, Arc leapt over to protect her, jumping in the way of the fireballs. It didn't harm him greatly, however, as he went on one knee. "Here," he said, "climb on my back. You can more easily hit the Wyvern that way." He waited for her to climb on as the Champion seemed to glare. That is right, you dumb beast. I will protect her from you.

[Recap: Arc used Cover! New ability, yays~]

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Emi's eyes went wide as the fireballs homed in on her. Like a deer caught in the headlights, she was frozen, seemingly entranced by the flames. But Arc leapt in front of her, taking on the hit. Emi shook her head and blinked rapidly.

"Are you okay?" she asked. He didn't hear her, and also didn't seem to be hurt. He went down on one knee and told Emi to climb onto his back to take care of the last Wyvern. She did as she was told. As silly as it was, she knew it was the only way.

Up she went. Now then. That was better. The Wyvern was easily within her reach. She'd lost a bit of her agility, having to balance on the shoulders of her dragon-like friend, but she had enough strength in her arms to be able to still deal some pretty hard blows.

After a few minutes of flailing, slashing and stick spinning the Wyvern went down in a puff of blackish smoke, a pink heart floating up into the sky. Emi watched the heart float away, then climbed down off Arc.

"Ready to take on the last one?" she asked.
She didn't thank him. There was no need to. Her gratitude was apparent in the way her face softened and sudden shift from her usual sharp demeanor.

[Administrator]

Arc nodded. He was indeed ready to face the opponent. The Champion seemed eager to face his opposition...although, it had not much of a face to speak of. The dog head on its shield was about ready to leap at them and bite. "It has a rather large shield," he commented, turning to Emi and continuing. "If you were to go around to its back, and I distracted its front, it shouldn't prove so difficult an enemy to defeat."

Arc charged at its front, slashing at the shield. And his arm nearly snapped off from the pressure as it flew backward. "Mmm, this beast is strong." The dog face growled and snapped its fangs at him. He dodged to the side, breathing flames onto it and its wielder. Hopefully, Emi would be able to get in enough blows to at least slow it down.

[Recap: Arc used Draconic Flames, uses are 1 per 3 posts]

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Emi wasted no time. While Arc had the beast distracted, breathing fire on it (oh, duh, dragon?), she snuck around to its backside and unleashed a flurry of attacks. Just like the Soldier before, she struck the Champion impossibly fast. Again, sounding vaguely like a drum roll. Despite its size, the Champion flew into the air. Not nearly as comically high as the Soldier had, only about a foot. But it was stunned from the hard impact back to earth.

The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

The Champion was only stunned for a few seconds. Emi skipped backwards a step or two and then attacked with renewed strength, taking advantage of the creature's stunned condition to land a combo. Or two. Left stick right, right stick left. Both sticks left, both sticks right. Both sticks down, right stick uppercut. She spun her left stick in her hand and then stabbed the Champion with it. Hard. She heard wood crack and screamed.

"Aahhh! It broke my stick! IT BROKE MY FREAKIN' STICK!"

[Action Recap: Emi used 'Drumroll, Please!"; Two uses left (I'm guessing. Its just the two of us so rounds are very short.)]

[Administrator]

The Champion felt the blows on its back and realized it had been tricked by the frontal assault. It spun its shield around, knocking both Emi and Arc backward. Arc got up and shrugged it off. It wasn't much of a blow. Actually, the fireballs were worse.

[Arc has Draconic Endurance passively active, 15% damage reduction]

Arc got up and ran over to Emi. "Are you okay?" He turned to face the Champion. This would be a tougher fight than he had expected it to be. The shield spun again, the eyes flashing blue. This time, it would be using an icy breath. Arc stood defensively in front of Emi, then he leaned forward. "When it uses its next attack, run up my back and leap down on its head. Use this," he handed a katana backward, "to stab through its head. I'm hoping that will be the end of it."

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Pay back for the stun. She lay on her back for a few seconds, watching the butterflies float around amongst the sparklies. She sat up and shook her head to clear it.

"Ow. That hurt."

Arc was giving her directions and handing her a sword. She nodded and seized the katana, holding it awkwardly. She wasn't used to using a sword. But still...it should get the job done. She placed her kali sticks into the inside pocket of her jacket.

"Okay, I can do that."

Emi saw the Champion shift. That was it, it was going to attack. It hadn't even properly processed in her brain before she found herself running literally over Arc- up his back like he'd asked- and flinging herself in the air. She didn't even see the Champion's shield breathe a frosty cloud of ice over Arc. She felt the bitter cold and heard the familiar crackling of ice, but only a second later she was hanging off the side of the Heartless's head, dangling by the katana she'd stabbed into it.

She flailed. Wondered for a split second if Arc was okay. Wondered if the Champion was freaking dead yet. The creature thrashed about violently, flinging Emi along with it. Her hands were going to slip...

She slipped. She fell hard on the ground, rolled onto her feet and cursed. And cursed some more. She retrieved her sticks and shouted "Sorry about your sword, man. Want me to go get it?"

[Administrator]

Arc felt the bitter sting of ice. It was a bit worse than he had expected, but it was bearable nonetheless. As he called his katana back to him, Arc flourished the other. The Champion seemed to understand that he was not going down without a fight. So, it spun around, facing Emi. The semi-intelligent Heartless realized that Arc would try to protect Emi rather than try to get a good attack in, so it spun the shield again, the eyes glowing yellow.

Arc roared, a bestial sound, and sprinted over to the Champion, leaping onto its back. The dragonman stabbed his katana, both of them, into the Champion's arm, pulling upward with all of his might. The result was the shield raising up several feet above the ground. "Emi," he grunted. "Attack now!"

[Oathkeeper Emi]

"Stop trying to protect me, moron!" she hissed when he, once again, put himself between her and the Champion. It was going to get him killed. But then he was gone, sprinting away and throwing himself onto the back of the beast.

She did as she was told. From where she stood, she threw her stick at the Champion. There was the tell-tale metallic chime of the Strike Raid. She'd thrown the cracked one hoping that it wouldn't take anymore damage and momentarily contemplated throwing both sticks for another hit. However, she decided not to as it would leave her without a weapon for a short amount of time and right then, she needed all the help she could get.

She charged the Heartless, dragging her remaining stick behind her. Using the beast's own body for a jumping point, she dashed from its arm-blowing past Arc- and jumped, slinging her stick so hard against its head she thought she might have cracked this one too. But it wasn't broken. She fell back to earth, landed on her feet and.... didn't know what to do.

[Administrator]

The Champion was stunned, only momentarily, but even a few moments was enough for Arc. The drake leapt off of the back, ripping out hit katana, and slashed two even cuts down the Heartless' back. It turned slowly, as if in shock and awe that it had been destroyed.

After their combined efforts, it was no doubt that the creature was out. It fell, the shield staying stuck in the ground, looking at Arc with a pleading look on its face. "I apologize, but I must put you down." Arc stabbed the blade into the Champion's neck, and ripped it out. The effect was almost instantaneous.

The creature oozed darkness, slowly dissolving into smaller and smaller bits of darkness before fading away wholly. A pink heart floated away, disappearing into the sky.

"Well, we have done it." Arc said, looking at the road ahead of them. It would not be so bad now, with a traveling companion. "Let us see where this road will take us."

FIN