[Invading Alexandria, OPEN]

[livelyangel.livejournal.com]

Characters: Rinoa, Garnet, OPEN
Progress: Ongoing
Summary: Rinoa attacks Alexandria. Garnet cops it. SeeDs and others save the day. Check here for more details. OPEN to anyone who wants to come help defend the city.
Location: Alexandria
Date: 30th-31st August, 1804
Warnings: Violence and death.

The Alexandrians were more resourceful than Rinoa had anticipated. It was such a backwards country that she thought it would be easy: a fun distraction while Ultimecia laid waste to bigger threats elsewhere. But a squadron of airships had found them en route from the ruins of Midgar and proceeded to harry them all the way to the city.

The good thing was that it became easier to convince some of the students that Alexandria ought to be invaded. The rest were bewildered and scared; the entire Garden was in disarray. Rinoa didn't really care at this point. Garden was merely a vehicle.

A small squadron of students had been instructed to attack the city. But that wasn't Rinoa's destination. Under cover of darkness, she flew into the city, moving from rooftop to rooftop and casting fire spells as she went. Very soon, smoke and flames filled the air, along with the screams of panicked citizens. As the city burned and confusion took over, the SeeD students moved in to begin the battle. Rinoa didn't stop to watch them.

She moved on, staying too low for the airships to safely reach her, until the castle walls loomed before her. Here she abandoned stealth and flew straight up, her wings flashing white in the darkness. Shouts of startled guards followed her, but they couldn't chase her into the sky. The first Flare smashed into a turret, killing two soldiers and reducing half the turret to rubble. Rinoa was exhilarated. This was everything Ultimecia had promised her, and more.

There would be more deaths to come.

Comments

Tower Battle II

[livelyangel.livejournal.com]

[ooc: This is later on, after Garnet's death, when the cavalry come in, so to speak. She's still high up, so characters from outside Alexandria will have to climb through the castle to get to her.]

MID-BOSS BATTLE

[bastard.livejournal.com]

[ ooc; Seifer's going to be inside the castle, waiting to confront anyone that's trying to make their way up to Rinoa. He will have to get pwned, obviously, but I don't want to deal with a character death so just don't murder him too hard. ]

[heavenslament.livejournal.com]

As soon as Terra found Celes, she had boarded an airship bound for Alexandria. Now that she knew where the Garden was headed, the young woman wasted no time in getting there. She was as prepared as she would ever be, traveling light but making sure to bring essentials.

Upon reaching the castle, Terra paused to glance around, hoping to find Cloud and other familiar faces. Even if she found none, protective spells would be cast before heading onward; Protect, Shell, Haste. Then and only then would she proceed, hand on her sword hilt. Ultimecia needed to be found and stopped, hopefully without further loss of life....

[magitekrune.livejournal.com]

Celes was right next to Terra, having boarded the same airship and bribed the crew to fly as quickly as possible for the kingdom. She had a stash of potions with her, and nodded her thanks to Terra before taking the lead and heading towards the castle.

"Can you watch our backs? I'll get the front."

Sword out, she hurried onward.

[heavenslament.livejournal.com]

Terra responded with a nod, fine with playing rear guard since Celes seemed to know where she was going. Unfamiliar with the castle herself, Terra instead focused her attention on potential ambushes from behind, or possibly allies arriving to join them. Scanning the area as they continued, she waited for an opportunity to aid them further, with magic or sword.

[magitekrune.livejournal.com]

Celes' first goal was to get inside the castle. Second goal was to find whoever was in charge of the assault. If she met people on the way, they'd better be allies or they'd be in a world of hurt. She activated her trademark Runic ability as she hurried forward, checking to be sure things were clear enough before hurrying into the castle. Or at least she would try to make it as far into the castle as she could, keeping an eye out in front and on all sides, leaving rearguard to Terra.

[knighted-lion.livejournal.com]

If they were looking for allies, an ally they'd get. True, he'd seen better days and running straight to the battlefield after all that he'd been through wasn't the best of ideas, but is wasn't like he had a lot of choice. That this had happened at all was at least partly his fault, so there wasn't any other choice.

He would do his part in helping to neutralize the threat, one way or another.

[ladiesmanirvine.livejournal.com]

It all was such a rush and shock to Irvine, but he knew what he had to do, even if it meant hurting one of his friends. A scavenged knife was all he had right now, as he followed closely behind his commander.

This was one of those days, he really didn't want to be a part of.

[boomchucka.livejournal.com]

Selphie was flabbergasted about the past series of events but had decided to sort those out later. For now, there was one thing on her mind as she picked up a rapier from an unconscious student and gave it a couple of flicks. Somehow, it felt natural before she raced to catch up to Squall and Irvine.

It was a necessary fight but to the perky brunette, it felt wrong at the same time. It was like they were fighting Matron all over again but again, it was necessary.

[eidolon-soul.livejournal.com]

Rydia followed not too far behind Selphie, a whirlwind of green. As soon as Garden was dealt with, Rydia rushed toward the castle as swiftly as Edge could keep up. She was terrified for her friends -all of them- and that fear manifested itself as speed and determination. The green-haired Summoner wasn't going to let anything get in her way, and just let anyone try to stop her.

Of course, someone would and Rydia counted on that. She used one of her rods to cast Protect over herself and anyone nearby, but didn't have time to do more before she spotted more allies up ahead. Encouraged by that sight, Rydia moved to catch up with the SeeDs.

[arrogant-flirt.livejournal.com]

Where Rydia goes, Edge will follow. The only surprise is that he is having a little trouble keeping up with her for once. Making sure that his shurikens are in place as they should be, he grins because their foe won't know what hit it.

[bastard.livejournal.com]

As the group of heroes neared one of the larger chambers, they'd begin to notice the increased number of bodies piling up around them. Most were castle guards who had been dispatched when Seifer and Rinoa had first arrived at the palace, but there were others among them; would-be heroes who had fallen before they had ever been able to make a name for themselves.

Although Seifer didn't have any magic to rely on outside of a simple fire spell he used to distract his enemy before setting up a much more powerful attack, Rinoa had been kind enough to cast aura on him prior to the impending battle. While Celes' runic ability may have absorbed the initial fire spell before it could catch the group off-guard by blasting them all in the face, it didn't stop the energy discs--one for each of them--that came arcing toward their group immediately afterward.

If they hit their marks, perfect. If not, the resulting destruction to the castle proper would likely engulf them in so much chaos that they would be open to the next volley of discs, as Seifer was already beginning to charge his gunblade with another round of the aptly named attack: No Mercy.

[ ooc; For those unfamiliar, attack reference is here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAPS_XXJ2D0). ]

FINAL BOSS BATTLE

[livelyangel.livejournal.com]

[ooc: To speed things up a little, let's have the final confrontation with Rinoa here! No tagging order, just tag whenever.]

The night was at its blackest when the Sky People arrived. Most of them were people she knew, people she had considered friends. But to Ultimecia's puppet, they were simply in her way.

Rinoa perched on the highest remaining turret, her dark hair flying this way and that as she looked around. Many of the Alexandrian soldiers were dead or wounded, but reinforcements had arrived.

She huffed when she saw the SeeDs. "What, you guys can't stay in a prison cell for just a couple of days? Seriously."

[heavenslament.livejournal.com]

By the time they were able to reach Rinoa, the protective and enhancing magics had faded, so Terra set about to renewing them. She wanted to rush over and heal those wounded, but something told her that it wasn't a good idea to take her attention away from the dark-haired woman, even for a moment. So, Terra lingered near Celes, hoping that Squall would be able to get through to her, but ready to act if he couldn't.

[knighted-lion.livejournal.com]

At this point, Squall's thoughts were less on getting through to Rinoa and more on dealing with the problem at hand. Rinoa was under there but... he didn't think she'd listen. Not any more. Not after everything that she'd done.

But her question deserved at least a passing answer, and so he raised his gunblade (not Lionheart, if she were to look closely, but Hyperion) in her direction, his face all but set in stone. It was horrible that circumstance had brought them to this, but so be it. He'd come to far now to turn back.

"A couple of days was long enough. How long have you been planning this?"

[boomchucka.livejournal.com]

Selphie sidled up right beside the Commander, all hints of her sunny personality gone. Only the warrior that she'd been bred to be was left staring up at someone she once thought was a friend but was thoroughly questioning this now. It wasn't right as the perky brunette flicked her rapier through the air and looked at Rinoa with a determined look on her face. The darked haired girl would not be allowed to get away with this and if they had to take her out then so be it.

"If you think we'd just sit by and let you destroy everything that a lot of people -- us included -- hold dear, you're dead wrong!"

[waterblade.livejournal.com]

"Rinoa!" And another joined the fray, shield up and ready to guard but just as determined to get his friend back as anything else - this wasn't Rinoa, wasn't the girl he had a lot of fun with and could laugh about just about anything over. This was someone else entirely, and it was dead wrong to see this person using Rinoa's face and form. "This isn't you! Come on, give up! You can't take us all!"

Foolhardy and optimistic the words might've been, but Tidus wasn't acting like a complete moron - even as he spoke, he was invoking Cover, fully planning on taking the hits for his allies. After the past day, none of them was in perfect shape, and Squall was probably going to be the best for a physical assault at this point, so at least he could act like a protective bulwark.

[ladiesmanirvine.livejournal.com]

Irvine of course stood right beside Squall, dagger clenched in his hand. Hearing his allies speak, he held back his word and only looked at the woman standing in front of him. He didn't want to hurt her, more or less kill her either. But she had to be stopped.

The cowboy said nothing as he readied himself, Dagger close to him, almost ready for an attack. She had to be taken down, no question about it.

[magitekrune.livejournal.com]

Celes wasn't far behind. She didn't know Rinoa personally like some of the others seemed to, but she was pissed off enough not to care. This could not be allowed to continue. It would not. Her sword out and ready, shield up for protection, she activated Runic and ran in to point her blade at Rinoa's chest. Not outright attacking. Just showing the woman that she was grossly outnumbered.

[livelyangel.livejournal.com]

Rinoa recognised the gunblade that Squall was carrying. She answered his question with another question.

"What have you done to my knight?" She shook her head, eyes flashing with anger. "God, you're like a swarm, aren't you? This ends here."

Standing up, she didn't hesitate to cast Tornado. The wind rose around her, whipping back her hair, but that was nothing to the twister that whipped up around the party facing her. With any luck, it would blow a couple of them right off the tower. And it was such a long way down.

[knighted-lion.livejournal.com]

"He'll live," Squall snapped back.

He might not be pleased about having been trounced and then having his weapon stolen, but he'd live. There'd been enough death as it was, and Squall hadn't had any desire to and Seifer to those who'd already fallen.

Still, the Tornado was a far cry from anything Seifer had offered, and not even having half-expected it could have helped. It was all he could do to hold on to what little there was to hold on to and wait for the winds to die down.

"It's not over!"

[heavenslament.livejournal.com]

As the Tornado approached, Terra stepped back and braced herself, clinging to the nearest wall. Thanks to her timing, she succeeded. Of course, she could have changed forms and flown, but she didn't want to do that, unless it had to be done. After those winds began to die down, she glanced around to see if anyone needed saving. If they didn't, Terra would hang back and hope that the others would keep Rinoa's attention long enough for her to direct Dispel and Silence at their opponent.

[magitekrune.livejournal.com]

Celes definitely slid into practiced warrior mode, grabbing hold of the wall nearby so she wasn't swept away completely. Runic didn't work on full-ally attacks, which had always angered her. Taking a deep breath as the spell ended, she glanced at Terra and swung in to draw Rinoa's attention to her and her shield.

The expression in her eyes was cold and calculating, similar and yet different to anything the Sorceress had shown them. Let her deal with the general who had once torched a town and many of its inhabitants. See how she liked that.

[ladiesmanirvine.livejournal.com]

Of course, Irvine was at the biggest disadvantage as the wind circled, the force knocked him down to the ground almost close to the edge of the tower. Using the dagger, he he slammed it in between some of the stone in order to gain some sort of handle. When the wind died down, he picked himself up and glared at Rinoa.

He still wasn't talking. There wasn't anything he could say now.

[boomchucka.livejournal.com]

Selphie braced herself against a wall as the winds whipped her hair in every direction before dissipating behind them. She could hear the cries of the people who weren't expecting the attack as the perky brunette found herself discovering a new talent of her own. Quickly, the words of a spell that Selphie had never learned came burbling from her lips before she was casting a fire spell and directing it at her friend.

It was no match for the magic that a sorceress had in their arsenal but at least a Red Mage would help to even the score a little bit. "What the -- we can't cast magic at home..."

Not that it mattered because it meant that Selphie could help take down Rinoa without having to resort to a sneak attack. Although... the sneak attack was starting to sound like a good idea.