Tetrispace

And unusual place, this area is a winding stairway of irregular blocks, leading through the clouds and toward the Palace of Power. Blocks and collections of blocks float in the air here, drifting freely in a particular block-like lifestyle. It is quiet and peaceful here, and the stairs can even dissassemble on command, making the castle almost totally inaccesible. Strains of unusual music float through the air here, as well, giving this place a peaceful aura... the center of good in Videoland is near.

The recent assault has come as a surprise to most heroes, but at the very least they can learn from this and plan some better defenses for their perimeter.. if they manage to push the villains back this time. At the moment Ziggy isn't thinking about defeat, he's just focussing on doing his job as a member of the Palace Guard. Patrol and defend, that's all he has to be concerned with for now.

When you're constantly fighting, it's good to have a ship that can rebuild itself from scavenged parts. Of course, it's not as good as having it drydocked for service, but hey. You take what you can get.

Having cunningly shortcut around the Balloon Flight Mountains, the Arcana advances, Travis standing on the prow of the craft with a dramatic flair. Into the aether of TetrisSpace it flies, laden with many, many troops. "Men! We're here to secure a path to the Palace! Lock down the Tetrads to form a stable bridge!" With a cutting motion from his saber, Travis yells. "Focus fire on the defenses! FIRE AT WILL!" The Arcana's cannons swivel to the heavily-defended Palace emplacements in their Tetrad forts, and begin the bombardment... Except Travis is playing dirty. The cannons fire Tetris blocks at the emplacements, attempting to latch them onto the forts to cause lines to clear and thus destroy the defending force's advantage.

It's a good day to be a bastard.

The drums of war-a tradition picked up from the Moblin and Orc tribes-resound throughout Tetris-space. At the front of a small horde of Space Pirates, is an Omega Pirate. Altered by the power of Phazon and Mother Brain's genetic experimentation, Omega Pirates are huge, vicious monsters, generals of the Space Pirate armadas. Two dozen Space Pirates follow, teeth gnashing and arm-weapons loading. The Omega...speaks.

"Troops! Follow Lord Gameshark's orders! I want a stable bridge set up by the cycle!"

Oh, and massive speakers on the Arcana are belting out the Tetris theme. Oldschool, yo.

It only took Lloyd a bit of time to figure out what the melody that was playing... and with that, he ended up being pointed towards the Tetrispace... Of course, once he's in the area, he can hear that song- it's pretty obvious that he's near where Gameshark is. The boy hops from block to block to block- pausing to flail a bit and regain his balance before he repeats this cycle all over again. He looks about the area, before he raises an eyebrow at the weapons and such... Then he pokes at the blocks below him.

The bridge is what they're trying to do, right? They just need to build a bridge to get across to the Palace...? Lloyd pauses to look back behind him, and at the Palace in the distance. He looks forward again to kneel down and wrap a gloved knuckle upon the block... Pretty sturdy. He stands up again, then hops to another set of blocks nearby.... until he looks over to see whoever else is in the area. They have to act fast, right? Then it's going to be time to make sure this bridge isn't built. Leave the craftsman up to doing that job! ....once he figures out the 'craft' of these blocks, that is....

Let the warps open! And let the forces of darkness come forth, to overrun everything before them! And from several large, swirling portals that appear from other approaches from Videoland proper, the forces of Castlevania are unleashed to do battle at long last! There can not be too many of Dracula's minions left at the castle - for it seems a great number of them are here today, and they are intent on helping Gameshark to secure a path so the ultimate conquest of the Palace itself can be made.

At the vanguard are some of the mightiest creatures that Dracula commands - he has not yet unleashed his ultimate minions, for he seeks to save those for the final push to take the Palace - but there are others here. The Durhallan, leading an entire legion of armored knight minions, and several gigantic skeletons pull themselves across the ground, leading a horde of bone creatures and zombies, from lowly skeletons to the heavily armored skeletal knights, armed with bows, spears, and sword, to the blood drenched red skeletons, and the blue tinted beam skeletons.

Air support is given in the form of a veritable armada of medusa heads, which seems to darken the sky slightly with their numbers. Other horrors make up the remainder of the army, including a curiously dressed batallion of monks, their faces covered and bearing icons of Dracula among their ranks, swaying in time and walking in lock-step towards the Palace lines.

The War-horde doesn't just have space pirates in it. Accompanying them, much to their own dismay, is a sizable troop of Desian soldiers, decked out with whips, shortswords, and spears. Some bigger, fatter ones even carry large warhammers with them. They don't seem that thrilled to be here, considering the company they are currently in. Inferior beings and undead. Not one dare speaks up upon this matter, however.

Leading them all is the largest Desian, Magnius. Naturally, the Cardina has his large battleaxe with him, carried in both hands as he strides along, much faster than his own men. "FOLLOW THE WORDS OF THE GAMEMASTER WITHOUT QUESTION!" he orders, calling over his shoulder. "INSUBORIDINATION TO OUR ALLIES WILL NOT BE TOLERATED! ASSIST IN THE STABILITY OF THE BRIDGE!" The Cardinal continues his gait, a grin spreading across his face.

Five griffons are flying in, too. Not to help Mother Brain's forces, though. Not at all. They're carrying people on their backs, one each: a werewolf, a berserker, a fencer, a ninja and a sorceress. They're here to...see what's going on, actually. Not fight. Not /yet/, anyway, although if everyone's least favorite bloodsucker shows up, they might. And his troops are definitely a cause for annoyance, or would be if they could tell whose they were. As they are...they're just flying nearby.

Biske must've paid a large sum to a Beast Master to be lent griffons as mounts.

Seems it wasn't a waste to be sent out to this region to patrol. Apparently Gameshark even announced his own arrival, though Ziggy is currently more concerned with the group of Space Pirates, and the Omega Pirate commanding them. Fell the commander, and the rest will disban, right? Well it's as good a strategy as any. And since he assumes Lloyd will handle Gameshark and his forces (go get 'im, trooper!), he'll do his part with what he is best at.

Leaping off of the group of tetris blocks he was patrolling, he heads towards the Omega Pirate, making no effort to disguise his approach. Stealth would do no good in this situation, anyway. Slowing briefly as he approaches the Omega Pirate, the cyborg simply states "You are to cease and desist your advances into Palace territory, you won't be going any further." His elbow-blade switching up, he slashes at the Omega Pirate, just to let his point get fully across.

Ziggurat 8 strikes Mother Brain with his Jack Knife. attack.

Beatrice just watches the show from HIGH in the SKY. And that's about it. She isn't flying, she just isn't falling.

The Omega Pirate is throughly stabbed, stepping back a...step. It glares up at the cyborg. "Nice knife, Royalist."

It raises its arm, revealing the upper portion of its weapon; a long, scythe like blade, emblazoned with obscure Space Pirate iconography. The Eye of Mother Brain seems to be a running theme. The Pirate snarls, and swings the massive blade at Ziggy, while the Space Pirates desperately work. "Mine's bigger."

Mother Brain strikes Ziggurat 8 with her Measureing Contest attack.
You have taken 21 damage.

Gameshark cackles as he stabs the saber into the deck, and begins gesturing with his hands like he's tumbling some object through the air. It becomes quickly apparent that he IS controlling the blocks being fired, as they arc and spiral through the air, attatching to reinforce in some places, and detonate in others, sending lines of Tetrads vanishing into the aether. Flashing plans and designs are constantly fed to the troops, shwoing what versions are GOOD, and what ones are BAD. Also, grappling hooks and tractor beams are provided to pull in additional building materials from the floating areas. Severals ziplines dangle from the Arcana, allowing disembarkation for those willing... Or perhaps a way up for the particularly foolish.

The Arcana, meanwhile rocks a bit from the incoming fire of Palace defenses, though their effectiveness is being heavily disrupted by Travis efficiently droppign the floors out from under them.

Ziggy attempts to parry the Omega Pirate's blade, but misjudges the sheer size and speed of it, and winds up taking a hit across the lower midsection. He never expected the Space Pirates to just leave, so he'll stop with the battle banter, that's not his thing, anyway.
He steps back for just a moment, to widen the gap between him and his opponent, then leaps forward lifting his left leg to deliver a spinning kick to the Omega Pirate's jaw. And given the size and weight of Ziggy's leg, that's more like getting batted across the face with a giant iron club.

Ziggurat 8 misses Mother Brain with his Cross Kick attack.

Lloyd hmms, then he quickly hops off of his feet and quickly starts on his way across the blocks. Fine then. You know what he thinks he'll do? He drops down on a block near where Magnius is ordering his troops around. "Hey! What's up? Fancy seeing you in a place like this." The kid grins before he looks down the drop a bit from the block he's standing on. He offers a grin at this point. "You're not afraid of heights are you? I'd hope not if you're planning on attacking in a place like this."

Of course, the kid in red is standing out of reach of the Desian Cardinal. ...or what he thinks is out of reach.... He has his hands settled on the hilts of his twin blades, that grin being pretty obvious at the moment. "So. How do you work this bridge anyway?"

The horde of Dracula begins to advance towards the Palace defenses, obviously being more concerned with spilling blood than with helping to build a bridge. But what can you expect of creatures of darkness? Many of these things often only served the Count because he could ensure that their bloodlust would be satisfied in full - often many times over. They continue to march forward, the Medusa Heads all racing forth to ensure that they can launch their fury upon the hapless defenders atop the wall. Hopefully someone has brought a lot of softs - else there may be some defenders who are reduced to nothing but statuary from the touch of these deadly heads.

The remainder of the war horde lets out a titanic bellow, and begins to race forward, weapons at the ready as they get ready to take the defending forts at a run. And at the vanguard... are the robed and cloaked monks, all of whom are chanting in unison. Perfect, lockstep unison.

"Blood for Lord Dracula, death to all whom oppose his will. Blood for Lord Dracula, death to all who oppose his will." The chant is endless and monotone, even as the monks pull forth spiked maces and other implements of war.

The Pirate dodges back, quickly, barely avoiding the swing of the cyborg's massive foot. It grins, under its insect-like armor, and continues to stand between Ziggy and the worker Pirates. It swings its massive claw...wide, purposly, trying to distract Ziggarut as its other Weapon-Arm activates, charging a mixture of internal energy and Phazon into a wave-like beam of dark blue light.

Aside, the Pirates continue to work on supports for the bridge, useing their superior climbing abilities to their benefit. One looks up at the blood monks. "Showoffs." It mutters.

Mother Brain strikes Ziggurat 8 with her Trick Shot attack.
You have taken 18 damage.

Dracula? Well then...
There's someone that the werewolf hates. That bloodsucker owes him /pain/. And a house. But the house will wait. Time to strike first. Sarah, the sorceress, has already pulled out a book and prepared a spell, which she is chanting. Over her head, a pair of simple yellow lines appear, the symbol of Harnella, the wind goddess of Ogre Battle Zone. She ends her chant, raises her staff, and points amidst Dracula's troops. A lightning bolt arcs from just over the symbol down towards them. A simple spell, but effective.

Biske La Varet misses Dracula with his The same thing that *BRICK'D* attack.

There was a voice he recognized. The desian cardinal cranes his head upwards to view Lloyd, a sneer spreading across his face. "Lloyd Irving! You seem surprised to see me." Well, he didn't look that surprised. Just insufferably cheerful, and this aggrivated him. Don't worry, Lloyd, Magnius will wipe the smirk off your face. "And I am /far/ from afraid of heights, vermin!" Gripping his axe in both hands, the Desian suddenly springs into the air. Lloyd may have defeated Magnius before with the help of his friends, but will he be able to do the same alone?

Lloyd's final question goes very unanswered. Not that Magnius knew the answer anyways. No, Magnius isn't considering how the tetrads work, he's considering how nice Lloyd would look without his head and how he should use that large axe of his to accomplish this.

And, for the record, the Desians are not impressed with Dracula's cheerleader squad. One Desian in particular shouts a "MAGNIUS MAGNIUS HE'S OUR MAN, IF HE CAN'T DO IT NO ONE CAN!" quite loudly, though as he's about to repeat the chant, he gets some strange stares from his colleagues.

Magnius strikes Lloyd Irving with his Head's up-er, off! :D attack.

With such an obvious trick, someone as experienced as Ziggy has to see the shot coming, right? Well even those who have been around for a century make mistakes. In the middle of the struggle, Ziggy never expected the Pirate to pull such a cheap shot, and instead focussed on dodging the easily-avoided claw, only to get blasted in the gut by the Phazon laser.

This doesn't deter the cyborg, however, it just forces him to use a bit more caution. He takes a leap back to put some distance between the two battlers, in order to better judge his moves if anything else, and starts channeling his electric ether circuit to form a small yet effective electric 'dart', which he promptly flings at the Omega Pirate.

Ziggurat 8 strikes Mother Brain with his Laser Knife attack.

"Nah! I'm not really all that surprised." He shrugs his shoulders a bit, though he does shift positions slightly, taking on a fighting stance as Mangius leaps up onto the blocks that he had been standing on. "Hey! This is my spot!" He offers a bit of a quirky pout- all in all, it's hard to tell if he's serious or not at the moment. He takes the strike, wincing heavily as he realizes, the hard way, that he's still in a great deal of pain from his previous injuries from Gameshark. The kid wobbles slightly on the edge of the blocks before he regathers his balace. "Fine then! Be that way!"

The boy knows that it's important to make sure that his injuries aren't entirely too obvious. He quickly draws one of the swords from his side and snaps it through the air, cutting across towards Magnius- nothing fancy... just something quick and to get the guy to stay behind. "I'll take another one! You can keep that one!" He laughs before he turns and leaps off to another set of blocks some ways away from the one he had been on. Exspheres are useful for that sort of thing! :D

Lloyd Irving strikes Magnius with his weak Ack! Not in the face! Not in the face! attack.

The lightning bolt is countered, as one of the dark robed monks raises some sort of unholy icon - a glowing, pulsing sphere, covered with veins of some sort, contained with a large golden spherical cage. The lightning bolt bends, guided to the cage, and dissipates across its surface, leaving nothing more than the crackle of ozone in the air. The monks all begin to chant in unison, looking upwards at Biske and his companions. "Join us. Join us. Join us. Join us." Over and over again, all of the monks swaying back and forth, back and forth. Chanting the same two words over and over again. The effect is hypnotizing, mesmerizing... even as the hordes of Dracula's minions surge around the large groups of monks, heading for the Palace's defensive lines, they continue their chant. Biske and his friends might find it a little... distracting.

Dracula strikes Biske La Varet with his Mystic Mesmerism stun attack.

The sounds...the harmonics...so entrancing...

While the intrepid werewolf and his gang are tough enough not to be 'converted,' they're certainly distracted. And...dazed.

The Omega Pirate groans as he is stabbed in the eye by an eletric dart, shocking the monster for a few seconds, before shrugging the pain off. Pain is expected in the service of Mother Brain. And there is nothing but service to Mother Brain. Not for this species.

It hisses, and fires a powerful dual-beam, the cannon shuddering as the long blast with the force of a shotgun flies at Ziggy, trying to push him off the blocks.

Mother Brain misses Ziggurat 8 with her Look Behind You! attack.

Gameshark continues dropping blocks, destroying defenses, building bridges. All to catchy Russian Tetris music. BIG EVIL PARTY! EVERYONE DISCO DANCING!

Magnius tries to twist his way out of the path of the blade, but is far too slow to manage, becoming sliced by the sword across the chest. It's not a life-threatening gash, it's actually rather shallow, but it's certainly bleeding. And it's certainly fashion damage. Oh well, he could always force that one cheerleader Desian to fix it for him. He was always a little strange.

Fortunately, Magnius manages to stay on top of the tetrad Lloyd was previously on, and not fall off. Not that falling off scares him. "Don't toy with me, boy!" he snarls, leaping off that tetrad and onto the one Lloyd is now standing on. Accompaning this is an overhead cleaving swipe of his axe at Lloyd.

Magnius strikes Lloyd Irving with his It's time for tetrad musical chairs attack.

Not ceasing his assault, Ziggy quickly leaps into the air to dodge the blast from the Omega Pirate. Having long ago learned to take advantage of every moment of every situation, he uses the height gained from his latest attack to fire off a few blasts of fire down at the Omega Pirate.
Specifically, the fiery orbs are blasted out of his feet. The continous blasting keeps the cyborg airborn for awhile as he keeps up his rain of fire. He ends it by forming a particularly large ball of fire then in a move a certain blitzball player would envious of, he spins in mid-air and punts it down at the villain, then descends to land on his own two feet as well.

Ziggurat 8 strikes Mother Brain with his Meteor Shot (eat your heart out, Tidus_ attack.

The monks all continue to sway for a moment, until they see that Biske and his friends are quite entranced by their spell. And then... several of the monks begin to rise, still chanting low and under their breath in latin, actually soaring into the air. And then they swoop down, aiming to grab the Werewolf and his companions from their mounts and bring them down to the ground rather brutally. And as they do so, they speak - a thousand voices seeming to come from each of their throats, all speaking to Biske. "It is inevitable... join us... become one with us... submit now... kneel before our lord..."

In the meantime, the horde of undead and other assorted creepy crawlies go surging across the bridges that Gameshark is building, disregarding casualties from the withering fire that the Palace defenses are putting out - mainly due to the fact that the first wave consists entirely of blood skeletons, whom are shattered into their component bones - only to rise again moments later as the binding magic stirs them to life once more.

Dracula strikes Biske La Varet with his Dragging You Down (To Your Doom) attack.

"Woah!" Lloyd quickly moves to slip out of the way of the strike from the Desian, though he finds the axe blade tear through his arm and sleeve. He winces a bit, then sputters. "...look at that. I'm going to have to patch that up /again/!" This time, the second blade is drawn and Lloyd pulls through one, two, then three strikes to the Cardinal. "Demon Fang!" He finishes with a quick slash towards the ground and sending a quick, burst of energy in a single shot towards Magnius. "C'mon! Don't make me leave you behind!" He offers a laugh and turns... taking another jump to slam heavily on top of the next one over.

What is he doing? He's drawing the Cardinal away from his troops! That's what!

"I bet you can't catch me! You're too slow! C'mon!" Taunt, taunt, taunt.

Lloyd Irving misses Magnius with his Combo + Demon Fang attack.

There is some late backup for the defenders of Tetris Space namely a pair of late fighters are arriving namely. Maya and Sheena, she looks up and sees the command ship of the IMFD dropping in Space Pirates and Desians. This isn't good and if they just pick off the lesser troops the command ship will keep dropping more of them. Maya watches as one cable drops and she moves to jump kick the Desian dropping in, she sends the half elf flying and starts to climb up the line. "Sheena! We have to get on board and put a stop to these troops drops!"

The Omega Pirate is slammed into the ground, bouncing roughly over Ziggy's FF10 ripoff-I mean, attack! Yes. Attack. With pain. And everything. The Pirate groans, leaping back up and snarling at the "hero", holding both of his cannons out, and fireing a spray of energy.

Death energy, that is. How can a drug enhance a laser, anyway? Isn't that weird?

Yeowch! Pain! Thankfully...well, that's enough to snap the spell. Falling, that hurts. Especially as the griffons kick a little as they drop. Griffons are skittish. But...also obedient. They swoop down to catch the five warriors and soar back up...and this time, the gang has blades ready. And they're slashing. Sarah's searching her books again.

Oh, and in the upper corner of their vision, a little meter is going up. The damage made it jump. It cna be seen by those who know what to look for.

Biske La Varet misses Dracula with his Claw, Claw, Sword, Axe. Whee! attack.

Mother Brain misses Ziggurat 8 with her Digression attack.

"Right behind you, Maya!" With ninja grace the summoner jumps after the junker, literally using one Desian's head for a stepping stone to leap and grab the rope, kicking him to the ground in the process. Or blocks. Whatever passes for ground out here. She's not going to bother stopping to ask for specifics, as Sheena just starts climbing up.

Beatrice blinks, glancing over to the fight with Lloyd and Magnius. And Desian Punks! "Demon Fang? Why do they always blame us for all their nancy pancy attacks?!" She complains, "Just because you name it after the great race of demons, that doesn't make it any better, you know! Hmph! Besides... Demons don't shout the names of their attacks, that's why we're better.", she crosses her arms, hmphs again, and pouts.

The Mighty Magnius doesn't need his troops to deal with you, foo'! Those troops are busy anyways with securing the bridge, though some of them catch sight of the dread SHEENA. They recognize her, yes, but it'll take a direct order from above to get them to attack her. Not because they're afraid of the female ninja or anything. Seriously!

"Hah!" the Desian snorts, first blocking the three strikes with the handle of his axe, then sidestepping the following demon fang. Magnius: showing a rare display of agility. The desian crouches, then leaps on after Lloyd, smashing the butt of his axe into Lloyd's chest this time, rather than swiping at him with the blade.

Magnius strikes Lloyd Irving with his weak All parts of the axe are painful! attack.

Good thing Ziggy is keeping his attention focused on the Omega Pirate, because that Death Energy beam looked like it would have hurt! As he touches down on the ground, he quickly strafe-leaps to the left to dodge the beam. But that's not all, as he nears the ground this time, he slams his fist down onto it and sends a current of focused electricity into it which seeks out the Omega Pirate. Yeah the electricity seeks it out, specifically, it's Xenozone technology, and this is the low-grade stuff. The Omega Pirate is lucky he's facing one of the lower-end people from the zone. No angel wings, Zohar drives, U-DO, magical powers (Granting miracles!), or abs-lasers with this guy. Just a lot of fire and lightning.

Ziggurat 8 misses Mother Brain with his Lightning Fist attack.

A few surprised Desians and Pirates plummet to the blocks... or fall into the Aether, for the unlucky ones.

Travis continues to send blocks spinning out and around, ruthlessly using them to block attacks and destroy emplacments... And he doesn't appear to be aware that he has two boarders. The crew, however, is getting an idea, and there's a line of them all with guns and weapons outstretched, waiting for them to get close enough...

Xenozone technology is impressive...

But so is the sciences of Zebes. Iron rods emit from the Pirate, and fire into the ground, forcing the energy into a small, triangular prison. And away from Omega Pirate. The monster snarls, and pops off a few short blasts of energy, continueing to hold his line for as long as possible. The creature is ready to die for Mother Brain.

Mother Brain strikes Ziggurat 8 with her Quick Shot attack.
You have taken 19 damage.

Lloyd shouts out as he's knocked, almost stumbling over the edge of the blocks that he and Magnius are currently standing on. He looks ready to attack again, when he shouts- but not to the Desian this time. "I didn't name it that! Don't blame me that it's called Demon Fang!" Speaking of... He quickly lashes out with another combo, finally finishing with a powerful slam attack meant to knock Magnius back towards the other edge of the Tetris blocks, "Beast!" As he sweeps upwards from the attack, a gust of energy taking on the form of a lion's head roars towards the Cardinal with a great deal force.

The kid lands on the block, wincing a bit. He takes another deep breath before shifting the two blades a bit. "Alright then... If you aren't so afraid of heights... Is there anything else you're afraid of? Like falling?"

Lloyd Irving strikes Magnius with his Beast attack.

The cyborg takes the shots around the shoulder and ribcage. Parts of his uniform look quite singed at this point, and one of his wounds leak an odd mix of blood and mechanical fluid, still, the cyborg stands and advances again. Funny that the creature is ready to die for Mother Brain, because Ziggy is certainly willing to kill in order to defend the Palace, if that's what it takes.

Deciding to get back up close and personal, Ziggy decides to make one final offer to the Pirate "Desist and flee now, this is your last warning." The language of words is rarely effective on the forces of EVIL, so Ziggy backs his rhetoric up with more force. Planting his left leg into the ground, and raises his right leg and starts off a flurry of kicks that Chun-Li would be envious of, reinforced by blasts of fire from his heel.

Ziggurat 8 strikes Mother Brain with his Cyber Kick attack.

Sheena Fujibayashi keeps climbing, and keeps climbing, and then stops, pondering for a moment instead. "Maya, hold up for a moment!" She's done enough sneaking into places to know better than to just think they can charge in. Reaching into her gi, the summoner pulls out a ninja smokebomb. Normally, she just uses them for the spiffy ninja entrance/disappearing. But they're good for distracting people too, like as she lobs it up towards the gunners waiting above them.

The Monster Pirate's thick neck skin-armor cracks under the raw force of Ziggy's kicks, as the Pirate is forced back. However, the thing refuses to stand down, snarling and charging forward again, swinging its sword-arms wildly. It was having more luck in Melee anyway; the technique finishes with a double swipe for Ziggy's belly, possibly resulting in an..

Mother Brain strikes Ziggurat 8 with her Evisceration smash attack.
You have taken 35 damage.

Maya is still climbing up ahead of Sheena and unaware of what Gameshark is doing but before she climbs up futher as Sheena gives her the call to hold up. For one she heard her and two she's seen some movement from the ship's weapon above. "Good idea." She can't draw a fate card to cast right now or she'd be adding a Joker spell to make things more interesting for the gunners. Though she may have to risk hanging on one handed if things get bad.

However, it seems that the blows that are being struck against these strange (flying) monks are useless - while they cut through armor and cloth as they would against any normal opponent, once they strike flesh, it feels like all that Biske and his companions are accomplishing is to cut into wet clay. Their blows lose their strength, unable to cut deeply to do damage - and what they see under the clothes of these monks who have been struck is skin so white that it would seem to be unnatural, and no blood whatsoever. Are these vampires of a sort? Its impossible to tell - but they keep coming, until the entire mass of monks is in the air, all of them attempting to beat on Biske and co - and to try and slay their mounts. They come from all direction, weapons flashing, eerily silent except when they speak - and they all speak at once when they do. "Submit." "Join us." "Become one of us." "Foolish mortals. You can not win." From all sides, over and over again, striking brutally as they do. So many that it seems there is naught but a swirling sphere of black clad monks in the area where Biske and his companions do battle up above.

Dracula misses Biske La Varet with his Aerial Burley Brawl attack.

The use of the smokebomb sends the line of ship defenders reeling back, coughing. The Space Pirates less so because of their... tek-no-low-gee, but it still doesn't help them see any better. A couple of them even fall off the ship, resulting in some screams as they plummet down to something really painful. Hope they have enough HP for that fall.

Gameshark finally notices what's going on. Turning, he lets the cannoneers handle the blocks on their own (which is significantly less accurate and useful) to pull his blade free. "Well well, what do we have here?"

Knock him back it does, a good deal, right to the edge where he teeters dangerously, his arms pinwheeling at exactly the same time that Lloyd begins to taunt him about falling. Wow, it /is/ a long way down, and Magnius notices this.

Grunting, the Desian pulls himself upright, digging his axe into the tetrad and using that to regain his balance. With a scowl, he rips the axe out of the block, "NO." Instead of pursuing Lloyd, he claps both hands together in front of him, a red spell-circle appearing around him. This should be familiar.

Moments later, the tetrad that Lloyd is standing on just...bursts into flames.

Magnius misses Lloyd Irving with his Eruption! attack.

"#### you and your fangfaced master."
The griffons, now accustomed to the new foes, dodge. The fact that their weapons aren't working is...mildly disconcerting, but the group's fought weird undead before. Of course, time for Biske to reveal the secret weapon, if these are undead and maybe bloodsuckers, as they seem to be.
"I should tell you something. I found out a while ago, back in Palatinus...I'm holy. And you want to know what to?"
He points up at the moon, grinning nastily.
"Her. I'm a werewolf, holy to Luna, goddess of the moon and change and the hunt. I am /holy/, ####ers. Remember that!"
For a moment, the moonlight seems to glow on his fur. For just a moment, but maybe enough to faze these idiots.

Beatrice huhs, "Really? Oh, well, okay then.", she moves back into a more reclined position to watch.

Biske La Varet strikes Dracula with his Holy...werewolves? stun attack.

The Omega Pirate's attack is spot on, unfortunately for it, Ziggy's innards in that general area have been almost entirely replaced by circuits and other mechanical parts. Though they are, as a result, quite heavily damaged despite the fact the cyborg avoided evisceration.
A few warning alterts blare in Ziggy's optical and audial sensors, pretty much telling the cyborg that he cannot afford to take many more hits like that one. If he doesn't bring the Omega pirate down soon, he's not going to at all. Lifting his cybernetic arm into the air, it crackles to life with electric energy, which starts branching out to the space above him, and gather together various bits of debris. Normally he would use this to form a blade, but since he's in Tetrispace, he'll just have to settle for a large blunt object. The electro-magnetic beam eminating from his hand becomes like a chain, which he then 'pulls' down to send the gathered mass of blocks crashing down on the Omega Pirate.

Ziggurat 8 strikes Mother Brain with his Executioner (revised) smash attack.

Sheena Fujibayashi twists around th rope to avoid one of the falling gunners from hitting her, before quickly continuing on her way up while they're dazed and confused by the smoke, and onto the ship itself. Wheee. Now the REAL fun is likely going to start.

Holy Werewolves? Who would have thought? But the flash of light from Biske is enough to cause the entire group of monks to recoil for a moment, buying the werewolf and his friends a few moments in which to react - to escape, if they know what is good for them! There is a muttering, very dispersed across the entire group, and it sounds distinctly displeased with everything that is happening.
Meanwhile, the bridges are either being completed with tetrads, or the corpses of Dracula's armies that throw themselves into the gap in order to ensure that their companions can make it across unhindered. It is a very disconcerting sight, seeing Dracula's armies march across the bodies of their dead, and using their own casualties to build skeleton and flesh bridges by which they can attempt to gain the top of the Palace's defenses in this area and attempt to overrun them.

There's a wide grin from Lloyd as he's already running towards Magnius when the Desian gets his bearings. However, Lloyd isn't charging him. With a leap, obviously strengthened by his Exsphere, he jumps over the Desian's head and flips midair... to land onto the set of tetrads that they were standing on moments before. Just in time for the kid to look down and see the eruption of fire on that one set of blocks he was on seconds before. "Whoo... That would've been painful. Glad I wasn't there!" He offers a grin then leaps up into the air to cross back to where Magnius is.... however, the kid seems to be met with a rush of force that throws him into a diagonal direction towards Magnius. "Rising Falcon!" With that shout, both blades sweep through the air before he lands back onto the platform and twists around to face the Desian again.

Lloyd Irving strikes Magnius with his Rising Falcon attack.

And know what is good for them they do! Retreat time, sort of. Actually, more 'redirect attacks' time. Time to focus on the main might of Dracula's forces. From above. Which means swoops. Griffons swooping towards the army, group attacking, and griffons swooping up. And avoiding the scary monks until a plan can be come up with.

Biske La Varet strikes Dracula with his swoop, swoop attack.

Smoke bombs are useful indeedy as she does her best to avoid a falling pirate as well. Maya then starts to climb as fast as she can. She's up on the deck a moment and she pulls herself up on to the deck. "Lets go Sheena."

The problem is that boiling mass of monks is coming after them, moving through the air and attempting to catch Biske and his group before they can do too much damage. Some of his minions are killed, and others wounded, but there are simply so *many* of them here. Something is focusing the power of Castlevania into this area - and while Dracula has not made an appearance, there must be some way that the chaotic energy of that place is reaching here.
It doesn't take too long for the black cloud of monks chasing Biske to catch up with him - and then it is time for the beatings to begin. Griffons might be able to swoop, but it'll be a lot harder if all of their bones are broken.

Dracula misses Biske La Varet with his Maces, Spears, And Other Nasty, Hurty Things attack.

The Pirate is buried under pounds and pounds of blocks, seemingly crushed. After a few seconds(in which the regular pirates all get as far away from Ziggy as they can while still being able to work.), the blocks shudder, as the Pirate forces itself out, snarling at the moon. It charges, leaping into the air and into...a jump kick?!

Mother Brain misses Ziggurat 8 with her That wasn't in the game! attack.

Gameshark strolls over to the edge of the railing, casually looking over the rail to find out what the hell is going on...

No, it wasn't in the game... (but Ziggy's player hasn't played Metroid Prime, so it's all good). As the Omega Pirate attempts to drop-kick the cyborg, Ziggy leaps into the air and deflects the attack with a kick of his own, and while in mid air he spins around to deliver a second kick to try and slam the Omega Pirate into the ground. While he's at it, if the hit connected, he descents on top of the the Pirate to slash him with his elbow-blade while he has the momentum of his fall on his side. Need to pierce that thick Pirate exo-armor, afterall...

Ziggurat 8 misses Mother Brain with his Cross Lancer attack.

Ah, but that's why they dodge! These are /trained/ griffons, although they may not normally have riders. And...well, Sarah's found her page. And it's in the Book of Fire.
Chanting...
Chanting...
The symbol of Zosohonel appears, a stylized, angular flame. The chant ends. A fireball appears over the symbol, and flies straight for the monks. Where it explodes.

And /just/ as Magnius finishes casting his spell, he's getting slashed by Lloyd's twin swords in the air. So much for trapping the human on a burning tetrad. That would have been amusing. The sudden burst of pain that rips through his body as the blades bite into him is enough to give him pause, dropping to one knee. "You'll wish you /WERE/!" The Desian growls, suddenly whirling, a hand outstretched to GRAB Lloyd and slam him face-first into the tetrad they stand upon.

Biske La Varet strikes Dracula with his FIRE BAD. smash attack.

Magnius strikes Lloyd Irving with his Show the tetrad a little love, Lloyd. attack.

The fireball arcs upwards - and explodes among the mass of monks, burning away clothing and weapons. Leaving behind nothing but pale, white figures - figures that only approximate the human shape. Figures that writhe for a moment in the flames, before gathering themselves back together. And they 'look' down at Biske and companions. There is a sound like a roar. Like the tide itself is coming in. And perhaps it is - for the monks have all begun to gather up above Biske's group, swirling together, moving in an unnaturally packed formation. Almost as if they have gathered into a massive sphere of some sort. But there isn't much that you can say to this sort of thing - for with a shout that sounds like it comes from a thousand voices at once, the ball of writhing humanity descends, aiming to crush Biske and his companions between it and the ground . It is a rather horrid attack - the sheer weight of the group must be enormous, and even though it will shatter back into its component individuals when it reaches the ground, the very sight of it descending like some obscene meteor is enough to make even the steadiest hero turn pale.

Dracula strikes Biske La Varet with his *squish* smash attack.

Sheena Fujibayashi gets up far enough to climb onto the ship finally... and apparently the Gamemaster is there waiting for them nearby. However, the summoner just hehs a bit softly. Most of the smoke has cleared away by now, those ninja smokescreens don't last very long. "Knew this was going too smoothly."

The kid flails slightly, but there's not much time to do much in that field before he's slammed painfully down into the blocks below him. He lies there, face down, as the wind had been completely knocked out of him by the force of that attack. He quickly starts to pull himself back onto his feet, however, shifting the twin swords as he sweeps around. He seems to manage to hold a still and confident gaze... despite the fact that the slam to the ground hasn't helped much- he seems to have a gash along his forehead, the blood running down his face.

"Nice shot." He offers a bit of a grin at this point. "...maybe I should offer something back..." He quickly steps forward to shove both swords into the Desian- not really an attack... it's only meant to cause him to stumble to the side a bit.

Lloyd Irving strikes Magnius with his Please step to the side for a sec, mm'kay? stun attack.

Ow. OWOWOW. Oh, and that was freaky. FREAKY!

Flesh. Lots of flesh. Scary. That should not happen again. THAT SO VERY SHOULD NOT HAPPEN AGAIN.

"Rip 'em to shreds."

The group stand, letting the griffons fly away...they've done enough. The werewolf starts to rage, and the berserker and fencer start slashing. As does the ninja, although slightly less so. Sarah's book-hunting again. Oh, and that meter? It's jumped. Filled twice, now. Biske grins.

Biske La Varet strikes Dracula with his PAINGRAAAARGH! attack.

Magnius is a big dude, so when he stumbles, he /stumbles/. Inadvertantly, he drops his axe in the process. Don't worry Lloyd, he doesn't need it to CRUSH YOUR INFERIOR BEING SKULL!

The Pirate leaps under the laser blasts, moving to get back in melee range. Somehow, it manages to dodge Ziggy's blast. Snarling, the Space Pirate raises its sword-arms up, and swings them down in a brutal double slash.
Meanwhile, the normal pirates continue to work. And whistle. And work.

Mother Brain misses Ziggurat 8 with her wtf stab attack.

That's okay, because Lloyd doesn't need it either! In fact, that axe is BIG, SLOW, AND STUPID. /TWO SWORDS/ are always better! :D

The kid slips around as the Desian is knocked to the ground and he snaps the blades through the air. The first... is a swipe along the Cardinal's head- though he seems to have aimed his swipe precisely so that he can ensure that he gets away with something... and not a blow to the man's head... more like to his ego.

The next blade snaps about the man to strike at his waist. It doesn't take long before the kid moves back again... though he pauses, finding himself on the edge of the tetrad blocks again...

Lloyd Irving strikes Magnius with his trivial I want a pretty red braid from you, yes I do! :D attack.

Lloyd Irving strikes Magnius with his weak Oh... and here. Have a consolation gift of a hit to the side. <3 attack.

There is much pain and hurting among those white figures, and several of them are torn to pieces... and they act *just like clay* as they are rended apart, bits flying everywhere to land upon the ground. And after a few moments of violence, all of these creatures are standing about 'looking' inwards at Biske and co. "You can not defeat us. You can not encompass us. You can not begin to comprehend us. For we are many. We are one."
And the white figures begin walking together, lifting off the ground and... attaching to each other. Fusing together. Melding into a single mass, that begins to grow larger and larger. Wings appear from it, holding it up, and its surfaces appears to be covered with the pale white figures - all of the writhing, abet in ecstasy or torment, it can not be said. "You can only join us. For we are Legion. The Many and The One."

Dracula strikes Dracula with his Transformation : Legion - Saint healing attack.

Maya is on deck now and sees the Captain of the ship, namely one Travis Cross aka Gameshark, Aka Gameguppie, Aka The Cheet! She nods in agreem ent with Sheena, "It never goes that smoothly for the whole thing."

Times like this Ziggy wishes he were compatible with most AGWS units, that would make this so much easier. But he's never needed to rely on AGWS before, and he's not about to now. (It'd just be handy, is all.)
His systems are starting to become sluggish, despite being able to dodge the Omega Pirate's latest attack. Even if he manages to avoid more damage, the amount he has recieved thus far will eventually wear him down. His bpdy is the outdated, archaic one of his allies, afterall. Deciding to give his lightning and fire systems a bit of a break, he goes for a classic sword move (even if he isn't weilding an actual sword) and tries to run the pirate through with his elbow blade.

Ziggurat 8 strikes Mother Brain with his Blade meets stomach.. abdomen... whatever it has attack.

And as soon as Sheena crests the railing, Travis is there, with the blade of a saber leveled at her. "And what the hell are you doing on my ship?"

"HOLY ####."
That's about all they have to say. All five. At once. But Ogre Battle Zone isn't forgiving of mistakes...and it's just like a third-tier dragon, right? Sort of? And a demon. At the same time. But still.
Biske motions around to the back of Legion, and Wulf and Jared (the berserker and ninja) head around there. Then...well, a four-pronged attack. All four sides. The four melee warriors are spread far enough apart for that. Sarah's still book-hunting.
That meter? Filling slowly.

Biske La Varet misses Dracula with his WHATISTHATTHINGKILLITKILLIT! attack.

Magnius notices the stab to his side much more than he notices the fact that he just gave him a haircut. It's a good thing too, because when he notices, it won't be pretty.

Quite violently the Cardinal lifts himself up to his feet, turning rapidly to Lloyd, one big massive, meaty hand swinging out to backhand the boy with a closed fist. Driving the boy away while he was unarmed gave priority over picking up the axe, since that would give Lloyd an opportunity to attack again.

Magnius misses Lloyd Irving with his weak My forehand is pretty good too attack.

Sheena Fujibayashi, despite having a sword pointed at her, merely folds her arms, head tipped to the side a bit as she smirks. "What the hell ais your ship doing here that we need to be on it in the first place?", retorts the summoner ninja.

Lloyd ducks the swipe and uses this as a chance to get away from the edge of the Tetrad block. He lets his eyes flicker to where the braid has landed to the platform, then offers a bit of a grin.

New game now... Not to mention it yet. He reaches up with his right hand, sword still gripped in his hand as he wipes the blood from his right eye. He offers a bit of a grin. "Go ahead and get your axe- it wouldn't be a fun fight otherwise, now would it?"

...and step away from that braid so that he can gank it and take off to the next block again! Teehee. <3

Attacking Legion in this form is difficult - for it has many means why which it can defend. Each time one of the melee fighters moves to strike it, one of the figures breaks off, taking the blow and collapsing to the ground in a puddle of whitish colored mud. And that is only if it is a forceful enough blow - otherwise they simply fall of the main mass, and stand once again, moving forward to attempt to strike their own blows at the enemy.

But Legion simply rumbles for a moment... and it begins to roll towards one of Biske's companions. The figures on one side shifting to form what appears to be a giant face - and the mouth opens wide as it rolls towards the ninja, and attempts to engulf him completely. Those who are one will become one of many... if they are not skillful enough to escape, or be freed by their companions.

Dracula strikes Biske La Varet with his It Is Inevitable, Mr. La Varet drain attack.

The Pirate doubles over as Ziggy stabs it in the gut, black blood leaking out, corrosivly reacting with the elbow blade. And yet. And yet...the Pirate perseveres! It snarls, and reaches in for a savage bite, while blasting madly around the two of them, desperate to end this...

Mother Brain strikes Ziggurat 8 with her Savage, we love you attack.
You have taken 23 damage.

Gameshark tweaks the blade a bit, with a grin. "Conquering the Palace of Power, Duh. Now get off before I throw you off."

"AAAGH!"
Jared screams from within Legion...and begins desperately slashing to get out. The rest of the gang are too busy staring in horror...but Jared's steel claws are moving quickly as he tries to cut a way out. Ninja does not like this. At all.

Biske La Varet strikes Dracula with his weak WTF? attack.

Maya holds off as she faces down Gameshark as well she listens to Sheena's replay to Gameshark's question. She now smirks as she adds. "He darn well knows what he's doing here, he's going to be going for a trip in a little bit. Wouldn't you agree, Sheena?"

The Desian pauses. He was...telling him to get his weapon? This kid obviously had a plan of some sort that involved him picking up his axe...but why. Maybe he SHOULDN'T pick up his weapon! Hah! Glancing away from Lloyd for a moment, he sees his axe then...

...what the heck is that? It's red, it's small, it's braided. Magnius's eyes widen, a hand flies up to brush against his dreadlocks. More staring at the red thing. "That...that..you...RAAAAAAAAARGHHH!"

The desian flies into a rage and grabs the axe, responding in kind with another "haircut", aiming to take a little TOO much off the top.

Magnius misses Lloyd Irving with his THIS IS FOR MY EGO YOU LITTLE VERMIN! smash attack.

Magnius strikes Magnius with his trivial Ego damage attack.

Nobody likes a biter!! Except that kid from A Series of Unfortunate Events, she was cute. But no one certainly likes Space Pirate biters! Especially not this cyborg. The damage causes some of his emergency warnings to go berserk, though he's not quite at the 'self-preservation takes priority: flee' level yet. Still, he needs to hurry it up, his body's not going to last much longer...

With his blade still embedded in the Pirate's gut, and with such close proximity as a result, Ziggy really has but one attack to use in a situation like this. Planting one foot square in the ground for support, his elbow jerks to lock the blade in a specific position and he lifts his other leg off the ground. At which point, the cyborg starts spinning madly on the axis of the ankle which is currently supporting the cyborg. Normally this would give him a sort of bladed-tornado effect, but since his elbow-blade was still lodged in the Space Pirate, Ziggy hopes it will be enough to tear the Space Pirate to pieces.... or it can backfire horribly. It's a longshot, really.

Ziggurat 8 strikes Mother Brain with his Cyclone attack.
Mother Brain has been knocked out!

It doesn't take Jared too long to cut his way free, but the entire time the ball of corpses wirthes in pleasure, absorbing his emotions, and the emotions of Biske and his companions as well. It laughs, rumbling darkly, and the parts of it that have been knocked off begin to reform, walking back towards the greater creation and leaping up, rejoining with the greater mass. And then the mass begins to spin, faster and faster... aiming to pull Jared from their mass and throw him right back into Biske at extremely high speed. Talk about 'rejection'. But it was only a taste - more would come. Much, much more.

Dracula misses Biske La Varet with his Using Your Friend As A Blunt Projectile attack.

"Well, I suppose that setles it, don't it?" Sheena just chuckles a bit again, though, as she lowers her arms.. and there's a brief flick of something green into her hand from one sleeve as she does so. "As Genis would say..." She jerks to the side of the blade, whipping the card she drew at Guppy's feet as she does so, which whips up into a small spiral of air and ofudas on the impact. "We'll just have to BLOW you away!"

Sheena Fujibayashi misses Gameshark with her weak Cyclone Seal attack.

Eyes widen. The kid finds himself charged at by an angry and furious Desian! He quickly tumbles past the man, feeling the axe wiff by and likely taking a bit of the errant tips of his hair- that's good and all. He's probably got horrible split ends anyway, all things considered. The boy turns around... though this made it perfect. He quickly kneels down and looks at the braid he picks up... then lets his dark eyes flicker back towards Magnius. "...." There's no need to /say anything/, however.

Lloyd regathers himself... especially after pocketing said braid. He's keeping it? O.o;

"You shouldn't worry /so much/ about your hair, Magnius! You've got other things to be worried over..." Lloyd takes a quick dash across the shrot way to the Desian. One blade whips through the air, the second follows... does he use a third?

Nope. He does better than that- "Beast Sword Rain!" With a flurry of attacks, the kid unleashes a number of strikes with the blade held in his left hand... finally finishing with a powerful thrust of the blade in his right. This is immediately followed by a suddenly explosive surge of force, not unlike before- one that would most likely knock the Desian back.

Lloyd Irving strikes Magnius with his Beast Sword Rain smash attack.

But ninjas are tougher than that! Jared vanishes in a puff of smoke as he's thrown and reappearing below. With ninja skills.

"Not so tough, you bag of skin! Right, boss, magic might be best."
Biske nods, flicking an ear towards Sarah (ah, the joys of a canine form). She's found her page. This time, a bigger lightning bolt. Sort of.
Chanting. Chanting.
The symbol of Harnella appears again. And lightning arcs down towards Legion. The wrath of an elemental goddess? No. Just magic channeling her power. Slightly.

Biske La Varet strikes Dracula with his Lightning Bolt! You're the size of a...really big thing. Like a lightning rod, you know? attack.

The Omega Pirate gurks...

And, to preserve rateing, his twisted innards and additions simply collapse before the sword can tear him apart. The monster wobbles, coughs, and falls to the ground, defeated.

The regular pirates...will continue to work, though they look ready to run.

Omega Pirate 'passed out'! Ok, whatever, he's defeated, and that's all that matters. The cyborg stands up right again, and glances over at the other Space Pirates. He can tell when forces look broken and disjointed, and though he is heavily damaged himself, he decides that a few well-aimed warning shots would be enough to disband the group. ...well he hopes.
Lifting his cybernetic arm into the air again, he forms a few more lightning darts, and flings them into the group of Space Pirates. Most are aimed to 'just miss' the Pirates, though a few are spot-on, just to make the threat real.

Oh boy does it knock him back. Clear off the tetrad that they're standing on, angry shouting following, getting farther and father away until...it stops.

Dead silence. Is the Desian general gone?

Suddenly, the tetrad beneath Lloyd begins to heat up quite quickly. An angry roar of a voice coming from down below, a tetrad beneath the one Lloyd stands on. "ERUPTION!

Magnius strikes Lloyd Irving with his Eruption MK II attack.

Gameshark braces instantly, thwe whipping winds blowing Travis back in a blast of air... but not blowing him away. Far from it, as he slashes back at Sheena. "Foolish ninja! Your Jedi Mind Tricks will not work on me!" The Cheater cackles, chopping out at her with maniacal furor, and leveling a kick at Maya. "Off!"

Gameshark strikes Sheena Fujibayashi with his SABER'D! attack.
Gameshark misses Maya with his weak Giving You The Boot attack.

The lightning bolt crashes into Legion, blowing off a chunk of its surface, many of the bodies that compose of its mass flying off and landing on the ground, smoking there and twitching slightly. A strong blow, but against Legion's nearly impenetrable mass, its still going to take more. A thousand voices echo from it, laughing. "Foolish mortals. Foolish indeed. Each of our parts are the construct of hundreds of dead humans. And of our parts, we are made up of thousands. To destroy us is to destroy a continent."

Legion turns, and begins to roll forward - aiming to crush Biske and his companions under its mass.

Dracula strikes Biske La Varet with his Rolling and Crushing, Crushing and Rolling attack.

Well. This again. One thing's become clear to Biske: LEGION IS AN EVIL BASTARD. And also OW. Very ow.

Well, one advantage: under the thing means cutting it should be a little easier. If a little harder, too, thanks to its massive weight. Ow. Owowow.

But yeah, slashy slashy, bub.

Maya sees Sheena's reslove and says "I couldn't have said it better myself." Maya goes for a card of her own but rather than use a wind spell like Sheena is using against Gameshark, she's going to go with using a water spell but she doesn't get something off the bat like Sheena did. She then tries to form a column of water under Gameshark as she jumps away from Gameshark's kick just in the nick of time.

Biske La Varet strikes Dracula with his What he said. attack.

Maya strikes Gameshark with her weak Hydro Attack attack.

As the Desian fell, Lloyd begins to take a few steps forward... until he hears the shout. He quickly moves to get back, but not fast enough. He throws his head back, crying out sharply as the eruption of flame tears from underneath him on the very block he was standing on. The boy staggers a bit, fighting to keep the swords in both hands... and he takes a deep breath to regather his composure... then he turns around takes a flying leap to the next block. He crouches down there for a moment to keep an eye on things for Magnius to show himself again...

On the bright side, that would of been a lot worse had Sheena been standing still. On the other hand, it still takes a nice whack out of her even as she hits the deck and rolls a bit before coming back to her feet. Drawing an actual attack card this time, she springs back at Gameshark, a glowing streak cutting through the air as she swings.

Sheena Fujibayashi strikes Gameshark with her Card of Fire attack.

Time to play 'find the Desian' Lloyd! Let's see. Tetrad. Tetrad. Tetrad. Desian on a tetrad. Tetrad. Tetra-wait.

Lloyd can now see the bloodied cardinal standing on a tetrad that was floating beneath the one that Lloyd was previously standing on. Seeing that his object of agression has moved to a farther away tetrad, the Desian is quickly in pursuit.

Quietly, he hums the tetrad theme to himself. Gameshark went and got it stuck in his head.

This time more and more pieces fall off of Legion, striking the ground and standing against, but it appears that the weapon is losing mass. Not much, but it is losing some. But the ball floats higher into the air, and begins to pulse ominously - gazing down at Biske and co. "You will become one of us. And you shall fall before our might. There is no other option." It pulses, seeming to grow again.. and then the creature ripples, growing, and the bodies seeming to have their mass fall away, leaving skeletons. Many, many skeletons looking down at Biske. And they all laugh, their empty eye sockets staring, their jaws laughing silently. And the creature grows... more and more, absorbing the fallen in Dracula and Mother Brain's armies, increasing its own power.

Dracula strikes Dracula with his Transformation : Legion - Corpse healing attack.

Wind! Water! Fire! It's elemental mayhem as Travis is launched across the deck by water, only to get abruptly cooked by the attack card. He grunts in pain, rolling himself to his feet. "Not bad. But I don't think a win is in the cards for you two! HA!" The Cheater twists, raising a hand... And behind him, an L-Block rises, twirling around in the air to Travis' demented control.

The crew ducks.

With a WOOSH, the block swings across the deck, attempting to slam Sheena and Maya around!

Gameshark strikes Sheena Fujibayashi with his Knocking Your Block Off attack.

Gameshark strikes Maya with his Blockination! attack.

"In my experience, there's /always/ another option."

Biske and Co. jump back as Jacob (the Fencer) digs through his voluminous robes. And pulls a sack out. He opens it, releasing its magic. Healing magic, specifically.

Biske La Varet strikes Biske La Varet with his Sack of Magic. It's the /sack/. healing attack.

Sheena Fujibayashi oofs as the block catchs her in the shoulder, making her stagger back for a moment. However, the Mizuho woman isn't off her step for long. Ninja balance and all that. Instead of witty remarks, she just grits her expression, and sprints closer to the Cheater once more, this time as mystic energy glows in the cards. "Let's see how you like a taste of this!" She strikes out, but the force that flows with her attack has something other than damage crackling in the air.

Lloyd moves to stand up once he sees Desian again. He watches the redhead for the time being, quite pleased with his vantage point. One blade is sheathed before he crouches slightly. He sets a hand down on the edge of the Tetrad and moves to stand up slightly, preparing a jump....

Just gotta wait... wait for it......

NOW.

"YAAAAH!" Right when Magnius is at the best point for it, the kid launches himself with a shout high into the air. He raises both hands above him, trying to add to his height as much as he can, holding that blade up in the air. It's obviously not meant to be the attack- in fact... it looks like..., he's planning to use the Desian as a spring board to jump to the next set of tetrads across the way.

Lloyd Irving misses Magnius with his These boots are made for walking... over /you/! attack.

Legion laughs once more, and slams hard into the ground, shaking the earth for a moment, and sinking almost halfway up its length into the loamy earth. "There is no other option. Your companions shall die and become one with Us, and you, werewolf, will serve Lord Dracula for all eternity. Do not resist. It is as inevitable as the dusk itself." The ground continues to shake... and bones begin to erupt from the earth, the ends sharpened into spears. Bones everywhere, coming up to impale Biske and his friends. It is a rather horrid, nasty attack - can they find some way to escape it?

Dracula misses Biske La Varet with his Unlimited Bone Works smash attack.

"Power Seal!", shouts Sheen as she attacks

Sheena Fujibayashi lowers Gameshark's defense!

...however, the boy misses the Cardinal by quite a bit.... Quickly he flails slightly... before a gloved hand reaches out to catch hold of the edge of the tetrad that the Desian Cardinal was standing on. He kinda hangs there for a moment, finding himself... in a bit of a problem now. Damn. This isn't good.

"Never saw a Silver Hourglass, then? Dusk ain't so inevitable, you bastard!"

Bones? This is an easy dodge. Skeletons and ghosts do similar things. Well, close. Maybe. But dodge they do. And then...they slice at the bones, assuming they're part of Legion. They could be, yeah?

That meter? Nearly full again.

Okay bad puns from Travis this wasn't what she expected and here comes a block flyiing at her and she's got no chance to dodge the attack as it slams into her full force, knocking her to the deck for a moment. She takes a while to recover from that one as she looks down to Gameshark, it was like getting smacked by a big blue and possibly peeping block. She owes the little swarm some jam and toast from a while back and needs to give them their treat. She watches Sheena move in and weaken Gameshark a little bit, with this done Maya follows up with her rifle and snaps off a burst of fire at the cheater.

Biske La Varet strikes Dracula with his Bones, meet Blades. Maybe you'll be friends. attack.

Maya strikes Gameshark with her Rifle Vulcan attack.

The Desian stops dead in his tracks as Lloyd charges. So the boy went on the offensive? This makes him grin a little. As Lloyd nears, he continues to remain calm, not moving or jumping to any of the other tetrads to get out of the way. Instead, as Lloyd's foot comes down upon his face to use as a springboard...

He grabs it, flinging Lloyd down, then holding him up, upside-down, dangling in the air in front of him. The Cardinal glowers down at him, a cruel smirk upon his face. "Desian vow number one." Magnius takes a step forwards, now dangling Lloyd over the edge of the tetrad.

"You suck. Go home."

And drops him.

Magnius misses Lloyd Irving with his It's a long way down smash attack.

Ziggy quickly scans some of his records and data files on Tetrispace. A region of spontanously appearing and disappearing blocks, they seem to have a weakness with being arranged in a certain order. So, instead of trying to force all of the Space Pirates to flee, he instead tries to thwart their efforts through a different means. He scans their work on the bridge, locates the most approriate places to insert specific blocks, then locates them. His body may be heavily damaged, but it can be rebuilt. Locating the first Tetris block, he lifts it with a loud grunt (making it more than apparent he's doing all of this with his remaining bits of strength) and with an accurate toss, he flings it toward a matching empty hole in the Tetris bridge.

Ziggurat 8 strikes Mother Brain with his trivial Block 1: T-Shaped attack.

Magnius strikes Lloyd Irving with his DOWN BOY smash attack.

Lloyd Irving has been knocked out!

The Space Pirates blink, collectively. "Oh sniz-ap!" One, who spends too much time with Dual, says. They skitter along the bridge, desperately throwing one of the blocks to, well, block the Palace Agent's vile attempts to destroy their work. Because, darnit, that's an EVIL trick!

Mother Brain misses Ziggurat 8 with her trivial O no u don't lol attack.

And the bones are indeed a part of Legion, and they all crumble into dust as they are cut. But the Corpse God simply laughs, and rises out of the ground once more, and begins to rumble. And from within its mass burst several tentacles, which lash around widly - aiming to spear Biske and his companions before they can manage to get out of the bone field. This is turning into quite a brutal fight - who will be the victor at the end of all of this?

Dracula strikes Biske La Varet with his Tentacle Skewer attack.

*BWOOP* The Space Pirate's attempt failed! The first block fits in perfectly... two more to go. Quickly clomping over to another pile of blocks, Ziggy hefts another one over his head with a louder grunt. It is clearly taking its toll on him, but he throws it all the same. He can be repaired once it is all said and done, destroying this bridge takes priority. The second, perfectly square, block should presumably be the easiest to fit in properly... but it could just as easily be deflected...

Ziggurat 8 misses Mother Brain with his trivial Block 2: The Square attack.

Lloyd blinks as he finds that the Desian had caught him. He just hangs there for a moment, staring at the man upside down. Eyes flicker upwards to the empty sky below... and he simply says nothing as he's dropped. There's not a sound as his ankle is released- only a gasp of breath.

He'll be fine- he has a promise to live up to. That's all he can worry about. He promised Kratos... and more importantly, he promised Colette... He would not die. He had something that he needs to accomplish still. The winds whip through the torn sleeve of his red coat and he falls through the clouds, vanishing below the battle field.

With luck, he'll have a landing place. Don't worry. He's too stubborn for this to be the end of him.

Yeah, this is getting painful. Ow, tentacles! This is...like fighting nothing they've ever fought. Not even demons. This is getting painful.

So, Biske and Co. just counterattack the tentacles. Hit what hurts most, right? This is close. Hopefully, though, Luna's smiling on her holy beast.

Biske La Varet strikes Dracula with his AAAAAAAGH! TENTACLE MONSTER! attack.

And the block misses! The Space Pirates, being not exactly bright, begin to chitter and cheer, waving their hands in the air, almost as if they did not care. One of them starts getting a block ready, for the next barrage.

Magnius watches Lloyd fall with a great amount of satisfaction upon his blood and sweat stained face. So he was right, no mere HUMAN could defeat him! It was the fault of KRATOS that he fell to the chosen and their group. Lowering his axe and stepping backwards, Magnius begins to laugh. Long and hard.

"GLORY TO THE COMING AGE OF THE HALF-ELVES! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"..." That was an easy shot, his aim should not have been so off... it must be due to his deteriorating condition. Ziggy pauses for just a moment to let his damaged systems keep up to the strain, before he grabs a second square block. His cybernetic arm screeches as he lifts it, voicing its displeasure over being so taxed. But destroying the bridge and securing the Palace takes priority over all else.

Ziggurat 8 strikes Mother Brain with his trivial Block 3: Squaresville attack.

Demons? Be realistic - demons were the sort of thing that Dracula commanded all of the time. Demons were something below Legions level of power. Demons were weak when compared to the corpse god. And even though the tentacles are hacked at, and show some signs of damage, they still continue to lash about and strike, showing signs of wear and tear now, but still far from defeated. These are not your normal tentacles - they appear to be made out of some kind of gold colored metal, with a strange silver clawed tip on the end. And they sweep about, aiming to simply crush Biske into the ground by virtue of sheer brute force now.

Dracula misses Biske La Varet with his *crush* attack.

The Space Pirates screech in terror. If this bridge goes, they might as well go with it. Otherwise, Gameshark will have their hides or...worse...give them to Mother Brain. The monsters leap to it, flinging a brick of their own at the flying Tetrad.

Mother Brain strikes Ziggurat 8 with her trivial Denied! attack.
Gameshark chuckles, tossing the Tetrad off the deck before resuming his regular attack. He slashes out at Sheena, but the ninja evasion proves superior, giving her the opening he needs to land the attack. The cheater's motion slows, surprise evident on his face. "What the-"

And then he's filled with bullets of Core Energy. OW. His clothing blooms with red blood as the weaponry gashes his body, and he hisses. "What's with the girl squad, anyway?" rhetorical question asked, the Cheater twists, flipping over Sheena and lashing out to try to grab at the back of her tunic...

Beatrice tilts her head. Ouch. Beaten by a halfy. Ah well, if Lloyd dies from this he isn't worth the effort! If he lives, then well, that's okay too! She vanishes in a flash of static.

Gameshark misses Sheena Fujibayashi with his This Isn't How You Normally Pick Up A Girl attack.

And misses horribly.

Silver? That'll hurt if it hits. Big if, though. Biske's not the Beast for nothing. He just...pushes back. Hard. A block. Followed by...more striking. Claws, steel claws, axe, sword...even Sarah's helping, fending things off with her staff.

"If this goes on too much longer..."

Biske grins. The meter's nearly full.

Biske La Varet misses Dracula with his More of the same, you vile tentacle beastie! attack.

*plink!* And the next block is deflected, it would have hit too... Ziggy almost growls in displeasure, but doesn't waste the effort on it. If he has to keep going, then so be it, he'll throw another one. And another, and another, until the bridge is gone. Or until his arm falls off, whichever comes first. Thankfully there is an almost endless supply of blocks, and he quickly finds another square block to toss. Adjusting for wind resistance, damaged limb, and....

Ziggurat 8 strikes Mother Brain with his trivial Block 4: Once you go Square you never go back attack.

"Dude, he's not giving up."

"Let's try an L-shaped!"

"Those suck, dude! Go for the T! The TTTTT!" The Space Pirates come to a compromise, throwing the "dude' speaker at the flying block.

Mother Brain strikes Ziggurat 8 with her trivial Its not a rock, but... attack.

But... might the tentacles just be a distraction? Because Legion is getting close and closer all of the time now. Close enough that it is almost right on top of Biske. And the tentacles continue to lash about, planning where they will strike next. And then, with a great, echoing, booming laugh - Legion descends, intending to use its body almost like an enormous wrecking ball to try and roll over the entire group. It doesn't matter what the 'meter' that Biske is going to use will do - soon enough, he'll be beaten into the ground, and all of this will be over.

Dracula strikes Biske La Varet with his Rolling Over The Competition attack.

*plink!*

And the next sure-shot is deflected again. Warnings of excessive stress on his cybernetic arm blare in Ziggy's optics, but he ignores them. His legs still operate, if he must he'll KICK them in place. They're good and strong! But his arm is still working, so he'll keep trying to toss them. Though he's getting visably distracted, it must be getting harder for him to concentrate with all the strain. But that's a minor point to worry about, he has a job to do. Score a Tetris!!!

Maya doesn't reply is at it is a well rhetorical question. The blue haired desert warrior finds she's not on the business end of one of sharky's attacks so she takes this moment to return the favor thay Sheena gave her. She pulls out a fate card and casts an spell she seldom uses known as Blessing on Sheena.

Maya charges up Sheena Fujibayashi's next attack!

Ziggurat 8 misses Mother Brain with his trivial Block 5: And once the merger is complete, it will become the Square-Enix bridge! attack.

The pirates chime in! "Way to fail, faily!" "Guess failure /is/ an option!" "Its a giant bridge, how could you miss?!"

Meanwhile, tetrads are loaded up for defense...

OW! Not again! Stupid, stupid Legion!

The group is gasping in pain, now, but still moving. And ready to fight. And are going to swing when...

BING.

The meter's full. Not matter, eh? Well, Legion, you'll now learn how wrong you are. Biske stands up, reaching to the sky. In his hand, a small stone appears, shaped like a six-pointed white star with an hourglass-shaped pair of triangles taken from the middle. The symbol of Ishtalle, goddess of Virtue. This is a Pedra. This is one of the magic stones of Palatinus. A white glow appears above Biske...and squirrels begin to pour out. Glowing, giant squirrels.

Ignis Fatuus, spirit of Virtue.

Biske La Varet misses Dracula with his GIANT GLOWY SQUIRRELS OF DEATH! finisher attack, but is stunned by the effort.

Sheena Fujibayashi ducks and twists away as Gameshark leaps over her, knowing better than to stand still in middle of a fight. Sure enough, the maneuver slips her past his grasp. Not waiting for him to land as she feels Maya's assit ripple across her, she springs closer, letting loose with her card magic once more. "Force Seal!" A single ofuda lashes out, but erupts into a swarm and explosive force.

*riiiiiiip*

That was the sound of Ziggy's cybernetic arm going kaput. It doesn't fall off, but it does go limp, as Ziggy looks at it in annoyance. Well it IS an ancient part, by his zone's standard, he's already overused it to its limit. But still, he's not about to quit just yet. If anything he's persistant. And, as if taking out some anger at the Space Pirates mocking, he calmly walks being another square block, then PUNTS it in the appropriate direction. Eat this, cannon fodder.

Sheena Fujibayashi misses Gameshark with her Force Seal attack.

Ziggurat 8 misses Mother Brain with his trivial Block 6: Laces out? attack.

Summoning some spirit of purity? Of light? Foolish werewolf.

Today, this is Dracula's battlefield.

Legion shakes even as the summoning begins, the giant, glowing squirrels of death appearing out of nowhere, intending to rend the ball of corpses into many tiny, tiny pieces. But that isn't going to happen today. For more and more of those tentacles begin to rip their way out of Legion's inner core. Many, many more. And they lash about for a moment, before stopping... leaving Legion looking like some sort of extremely weird, unholy octipoid related creature. And the claws at the end of those tendrils begin to glow brighter and brighter, energy gathering around them as Legion prepares to unleash its most devastating attack yet. And as the Squirrels begin their charge, there is a massive flash of light... and a network of energy streams devastate the battlefield, dispersing the squirrels... and likely laying Biske and his party to waste as well.

Dracula strikes Biske La Varet with his The Legion Lasers smash attack.

Ignis Fatuus fades.

A Pedra? Fail? Impossible! Biske and Co. /are/ hit by the lasers. It hurts. A lot. They're somehow still standing, though. Just barely.

The Desian cardinal is far from finished yet. Neither are the troops he brought with them, though they've seemed rather..ill-equipped for this whole 'tetris' job. A lot of them haven't been into Videoland proper, so they're a little confused. But they're learning! Some have even taken to trying to throw tetrads at Ziggy.

The Desian general runs a hand through his hair, damn, he should have taken the hair away from Lloyd. Now he has a momento. No matter. Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a lemon gel and stuffs it into his mouth. Once finished, he begins to hop along the tetrads to make his way up to the Arcana. Gameshark had requested his assistance.

Magnius strikes Magnius with his Mmm gels healing attack.

"Do you see how helpless it is, Biske La Varet? You can not hope to defeat the Count's unlimited power. Nothing that you can do will match the power he commands - nothing. Now bow down to us, and offer up your companions as sacrifices - and perhaps we will be content to left you live. Perhaps." Legions' tendrils lash about for a moment, and occasionally try to strike Biske, their ends still glowing red hot from the energy they had just unleashed. Such are likely to be quite painful, but the creature isn't trying to seriously wound the werewolf. Not yet. "Submit to Us. Submit, and you shall be spared. Resist Us, and you shall die."

Dracula strikes Biske La Varet with his weak Join Us, or Perish attack.

"I submit to /no one/."

Revolutionary. Chaotic. Anti-authoritarian. Beast. That's Biske La Varet.

Yes, the hits hurt. But...well, pains' getting slightly ignored, now. This is rage. Pure and simple. The Beast. Yes, he might be about to die. But he'll damn well go down colors flying.

"Kill it. Nowrrr."

There's a very noticeable bestial growl to his voice. And then...well, attacks. They happen. Biske's even willing to use his teeth for this.

Biske La Varet strikes Dracula with his YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO! attack.

Another miss. Ziggy is going to have to re-adjust his aim, since his legs are currently much stronger than his arm was. Still, as determined, and thourough as he is, he walks over to yet another square block. Pauses for just a moment as he adjusts his aim, lifts his leg back, and boots it. Hey, at the very least he is keeping the Pirates occupied and not focused on completing the bridge.

Ziggurat 8 strikes Mother Brain with his trivial Block 7: Goal? attack.

Gameshark tumbles forward instantly as he lands, realizing that he's not in a good position to deal with retaltiatory attacks. This puts him just out of reach of the Power Seal, the explosion propelling him forwward a couple more rolls than he expected. Still, he recovers with a flourish, twisting around to look at the pair. "I've had enough of you two." With a deft movement, he sheathes his saber, and punches at his Holo-Computer... And his captain's outfit vanishes, transforming into his Game Over outfit. The Cheater grins, as he goes for his guns, blasting the Phaser's beam of death at Sheena, while aiming the Justifier at Maya. "Time to die!"

Gameshark strikes Sheena Fujibayashi with his Set Phaser To 'Extra Crispy' attack.

Gameshark strikes Maya with his Justifier Level 2: Cross-Justified attack.

Bones and bits of Legion go flying everywhere. Its not a very pretty sight as Biske tears into the creature, but the mass is flowing underneath him - even as large numbers of bones and corpses fall off of the Legion, it still continues to flail about with its tendrils. But the shape of the creature is changing underneath where Biske is clawing at it. And the section of Legion in front of the werewolf transforms into a giant, grinning, sharp toothed maw.

Which opens wide. Much wider than one would think would be possible. And attempts to take the werewolf into itself. The hard way.

Dracula strikes Biske La Varet with his Join Us. JOIN US. attack.

Biske La Varet has been knocked out!

The block CLINKS into place...

And, a 50000 points mark appears over Ziggy's head! Tetris! Tetris! The bridge phases out of existance, and the Pirates fall, presumably to their Doom.

The Space Pirate part of the bridge, that is.

Biske is...pulled in. This vampire can never do a fair fight, can he? Always siccing giant beasts or attacking during the day...

Well, that's when the griffons come back. And when the four boon companions rush in to pull Biske out. And get on the griffons, unconscious werewolf in tow. This was not a good day. Just before his eyes close for a long, unwilling sleep, Biske shouts.

"Next time, fangface, face me like a man! Don't hide behind your dead toys!"

Sheena Fujibayashi hisses as she's struck with the gun blast, gritting her teeth. All these people utilizing ranged weapontry around here gets on her nerves sometimes, since she's more of a up-close-and-personal type of fighter. That, and whacking things with the Power Seals so Lloyd and Co. can blow it up instead of doing it herself. Doesn't stop her from trying, though. The ninja runs towards him as he shoots at Maya after her, and then goes low, using her momentum to sweep a kick at his legs instead.

Sheena Fujibayashi strikes Gameshark with her Not how you normally sweep a man off his feet, either. attack.

It takes some time for the Desian to board the Arcana, since his fight had taken the two away from the main action quite a bit. But no sooner than has the cheater done his magical Gamemaster transformation, the manly Desian is thumping down onto the deck next to him, large axe in hand. Sure, he's taken a bit of beating from fighting with Lloyd, but he's not down yet.

And if he wound up going down, doing so on the ship would be a whole lot better than falling off a tetrad like Lloyd did.

Naturally, being the vengeful Desian that he is, he goes after Maya, swinging his axe in a manner that is reminiscent of Presea's infliction attack.

Maya watches as Gameshark starts to change into his next form, well its the classic Game Over outfit and Maya doesn't dodge in time however the shot is grazing as it catches her in the hip. It hurts a good deal but the damage is minor. She's back on her feet and takes aim at Gameshark with her rifle. "I have heard this one before." oO(And it was nearly right the last time.)Oo With Sheena's own attack getting up close an personal with Gameshark, so away goes her rifle and out comes her knife as she dashes in to get a slash off against Gameshark's side.

Maya strikes Gameshark with her Dash and slash attack.

Magnius strikes Maya with his Evening the odds attack.

50000 points! If only it really meant anything to Ziggy... but he's taken the bridge down and stopped the space pirates, and that's what's important. Taking this brief moment of pause to grab his cybernetic shoulder with his organic hand, he looks at the spacious gap where the Pirate's bridge once lay. There's about nothing more he can do to assist here, so he decides to turn around and return to the Palace, before he's KOed by a cheap-shot by some other villain, and forces an ally to carry him back.

Still somewhat too damaged to respond to the fact that Biske and his companions are fleeing on their griffons, Legion laughs, booming in amusement. "You can not flee from the Master forever, werewolf. Sooner or later, you will submit to his will. As will the rest of this pathetic universe, bowing before Mother Brain, Count Dracula, and all of EVIL." Legion begins to spin about, its tendrils reaching out and seizing corpses from among the fallen of the battle - human, space pirate, and whatever else might be available, and pulling them into is own form, restoring some of the damage it had taken.

Dracula strikes Dracula with his Bringing In Your Dead healing attack.

Since Ziggy had been targeted as an enemy throughout the whole fight, one of those little tiny raybits that often accompany Desian troops takes a pot-shot at the departing hero.

Magnius misses Ziggurat 8 with his weak CHEAP SHOT attack.

Here comes the Desian with his new hair cut from LLoyd and while Maya's busy with Gameshark the Grand Cardinal gets the drop on her. Maya doesn't have very long to respond to it but its enough time to keep from losing her head or any other body parts as he gets one hell of a slash in even as she pulls back, blood flowing from the exposed areas that were hit, the armored ares have a nasty gash in their wake. "Nice haircut." Comments Maya as she looks to her knife and says "HASTE!" Triggering the magic Meis put into the blade maya zips in with a frenzy of blade strikes on Magnius.

Maya strikes Magnius with her Not your normal Haste Spell attack.

---

Online Life is graciously hosted by RPGClassics.