Event || The Answer

[melodiesmods]

Characters: All characters who signed-up for the event.
Where: South Continent of Balance (Imperial Territories)
When: April 20th to April 30th.
Summary: The Heroes of Light have lost consciousness and now find themselves in the middle of nowhere, without their Moogles and away from everything they know. They will have to get back home, but what awaits them on the path? For more information, please check the First OOC Post and Second OOC Post.
Warning: Bad things.

Group 01: Team Hijinks House
Group 02: Team Brigands
Group 03: Team Discovery Channel
Group 04: Sephiroth's (In)Sanity Squad
Group 05: Team (Bad) Shipping Advice
Group 06: Team Blue-Haired Lords on Fire
Group 07: Team Mom and Late Sleepers
Group 08: Nothing Bad Will Happen
Group 09: The Hellhounds
Group 10: Loftwings, A Working Title
Group 11: Team Oni
Group 12: Team F.N.T.I²
Group 13: Team Name-In-Progress
Group 14: Team The-Mods-Couldn’t-Brain-A-Name
Group 15: Seraphim Shenanigans

Comments

[answernpcs]

"Here I thought we had something to worry about. It's Just a bunch of brats getting in the way," replied another man with rather exquisite taste in attire. He carried himself rather well with a huge sneer on his face when he greeted the group alongside the guy with wild red hair.

"Did they run out of actual Heroes?" he added in a mocking tone.

[just_want_normal_knees]

"You?! How did...?!" Ruby stammered before putting on her game face, reaching back... and then remembering that her scythe is back home. Oh, she'd kill for even Zwei right now. Roman Torchwick was good. Real good. But, the last she saw of him, he got put away in jail.

"J-Just because we're caught off-guard doesn't mean we're not Heroes!" she called back, trying her best not to look a little scared.

[her_rose_is_red]

"Who are these guys?"

This question is directed to Ruby and Erika. Because it seems like they know them somehow. But what would people like that be doing here? It almost seemed like... they were waiting. Like they expected a bunch of heroes of light to be.... wandering around in a cave...

There's only one reason Ib can think of for them to be expecting that. She frowns at them.

"Are you the ones who brought us here?"

[answernpcs]

Kumojacky turned his attention to Ib and hummed a low laugh. "Of course not. If I could do so, I would pick someone matching my power, not a group of children and their babysitter."

He turned his attention to Erika. "One-on-one? Don't be ridiculous! You rookie Precures can't win a fight without cheating!"

[stupid_erika_shenanigans]

"You know that's not true!" Erika pointed at him, hand on her hips. "If you were the real Kumojacky, you would remember that we fought hard, matching our power, Coffret and I beat you together! A Precure fairy and a Precure are as one, you should know this!"

"So why arey ou here anyhow?"

[answernpcs]

"It's one excuse or another with you isn't it Red?"

He shifted with his cane. Maybe he felt obligated to hit her first. Of course, the whole conversation was getting a tad bit annoying for him. Of course, he's ignoring the rest of the conversation and decided it would be more humoring to poke at Ruby.

"Enough with the talking. Let's get rid of them before I get a headache."

[iknowtheconsequences]

"Hold the hell on." Kaji steps forwards, intentionally in front of Erika and Ruby. Especially Erika, because she's not getting in any fights, let alone winning them, with her current Job loadout, in Kaji's mind.

"We have zero reason to fight." He looks between the kids and the random antagonists. Were they just waiting around for people to bully? Or is this more...targeted? "Especially not against other Heroes."

The word is thrown out there as a test, to see how these two will respond. In classic Kaji style, he pauses for just a second to see their reactions before backpedaling, "A convenient catch-all name for the people brought here from other worlds, even if it has nothing to do with any individual 'heroic' actions. We're still here to fight the Calamity, not each other."

[just_want_normal_knees]

"Back off! He's not any sort of friend!" Ruby shouted, trying to get Kaji away, pointing towards Torchwick. "He's nothing but a creepy crook!"

She knows this because she's fought him a few times. But, those times she's had the rest of her friends around.

[her_rose_is_red]

Ib glances nervously between the two men and her own group. Things are moving very quickly toward a fight. And they're unarmed.

She backs away a little and starts looking around for something, anything that she could use as a weapon. The advantage of warrior is the versatility of being able to use a wide variety of weapons. A large enough stick could easily be used as a staff or a club.

[answernpcs]

"I believe in solely participating in fair fights," Kumojacky replied to Torchwick, not moving from where he was standing and pointedly ignoring Erika's question. "But if you must..."

He glanced at Kaji from the corner of his eye. "Your reason to fight has nothing to do with this." Then to Erika. "And I recall no such fight. If you had your fairy help you, it's still cheating. A true warrior can depend on only themselves."

[iknowtheconsequences]

Kaji is ready to step in a second time, when he pauses. Every time they've had something strange like this, it's been thanks to those damn Avatars. But what was it that the Sage said? It had to do with the Heroes facing down their pasts. Confronting them, playing them over, doing them right this time. That's why they had ended up in that place where Kaji saw the world-between-worlds.

Two people that two of the Heroes have fought before. They're being manipulated.

But maybe for a good cause. Kaji steps back, puts a hand out to keep Ib back. "Consider us here to keep these a fair fight, then."

He looks to Erika and Ruby. "If, that is, you two are really intent on doing this. You want to fight, have at it. You want us to turn around and walk away, that's still an option."

[stupid_erika_shenanigans]

"I see... so you forgot the power of fighting together with friends."

Erika whistled, throwing her arm to the side as a Chocobo appeared, running into place. "All right, Kumojacky. I'll take you on. With the same conditions of our first half of the duel. Just you and me. Strength of body is powerful, but the strength of friends and heart is another."

Turning to Kaji, she smirked. "Trust me, take the chocobo and protect Ib with it. We'll keep these two occupied for as long as possible."

"Because..." Erika clenched her fist and slammed her foot on the ground, holding it up in a victorious pose. "Cause sometimes you just gotta TALK WITH YOUR FISTS!"

[just_want_normal_knees]

"I'm sorry, you two." Ruby said, looking back at both Kaji and Ib. "I didn't sign up to be a Hero of Light, but I want to a hero like in the stories my sister used to read to me when I was little. She's not here right now, but I have other friends here to help me."

Ruby went into a fighting stance. "I may not have my scythe, but I'm not defenseless. I'm going to save the day and get everyone out of here safely!"

[answernpcs]

Kumojacky smirked at Erika's display of bravado. He made no move towards the girls or to draw a weapon. Instead, he shifted his stance to another relaxed one and waited half a minute before he closed his eyes and focused.

Erika would feel something invisible hitting her stomach and knocking her back. Despite not seeing whatever struck her, it felt like it came from Kumojacky.

[stupid_erika_shenanigans]

Whoa what the hell was that?

Erika was thrown backwards from the attack but with considerable effort, managed to land in a crouch. Strange, it wasn't like Kumojacky not to announce his move. This was clearly a new move, Kumojacky Air Punch perhaps?

Getting to her feet, Erika charged forward. As a normal girl without Precure powers, she was also without her considerable defense. Despite this, she charged headlong at him and swung her tiny fist to try and connect with his stomach.

[answernpcs]

A brave move for a girl without any of her powers, but a powerful attack. Unfortunately, despite her strength and will to fight, Erika's fist flew through Kumojacky's stomach as if he weren't there. There was nothing to connect the punch with, just empty air.

"It's useless, you know."

[stupid_erika_shenanigans]

"A spirit? So that's your thing today?" said Erika, whirling on Kumojacky. "So what, are you some kind of disembodied Kumojacky like the ghost of Christmas past?"

[answernpcs]

"Come at me then, Red."

He sneered, grounding himself, before pointing his cane at her in manner as if he were going to start a fight with Ruby right then and there, though the girl as in for a surprise if anything.

He didn't care for the other red haired guy that was next to him. It seemed like he could hold his ground well enough in any case.

"All I hear is useless talking and it's quite rude to call me a crook."

[just_want_normal_knees]

With a battlecry, Ruby threw herself towards Torchwick,, using her Dragoon's initial ability, Jump, to leap up and drop in on him. Of course, where they were, there wasn't much room to really jump...

[answernpcs]

Unfortunately, for Ruby, the attack connects but doesn't connect with flesh. In fact, it merely slips through him as the man laughs.

"Is that all you got Red?"

[just_want_normal_knees]

"Wha...? How...?!" Ruby stammered as she just... Went through him. Like a ghost. "There's no way you can be that fast!" Even without her weapons, she swings her fist, intending on using Crescent Moon to strike him with a swung fist.

[her_rose_is_red]

Ib watches the fight nervously. What's going on? Are those guys ghosts? Or illusions? The attacks are going through them like they aren't even there. She tugs Kaji's sleeve.

"Sh- should we try to help them?"

[iknowtheconsequences]

"They cant touch them, but they can attack back..." Kaji muses out loud. He stares intently, focused and worried in a way he rarely gets. "It's a trick, or a trap. I thought it was another of those tests! That they had to pass..."

But maybe they're going about it the wrong way. "Wait. This still might be for them to do." Kaji raises his voice.

"Ladies! I know you've got some pretty personal vendettas with your targets there, but they know it too. Con man only works on a mark that he has confidence will fall for it. Might I suggest?"

"Switch places."

[stupid_erika_shenanigans]

Erika and Coffret paused in surprise at Kaji's statement.

And then the pair facepalmed as one, seconds before Coffret proclaimed, "COUPE-SAMA USE CHOCO BEAK ON THE GUY WITH THE STICK!"

"WARK!"

And there's a divebombing Chocobo coming at him.

[answernpcs]

Unfortunately, Erika and Coffret passed right through Torchwick as well, which caused him no small amount of amusement.

"I can't believe you guys. You idiot keep on fighting like it's gonna change anything." He turns to Kumojaki with a smirk. "In more ways than one, right?"