[IC] Character Crossover Crisis City

[Dead Cruiser]

The plane now shifted around Sorin entirely, the landscape and scenery warping wildly. He found that the experience was like an inversion of Planeswalking; a long and gradual shift instead of a sudden jump. Quite inefficient, if you asked the ancient vampire. He held up a hand to shield his eyes from the sudden burst of sunlight, but adjusted to it soon enough. The light of day was discomforting, but would do him no direct harm.

This new area was vast, wild and full of huge, primitive creatures. It reminded Sorin distinctly of the primeval plane of Muraganda, populated by massive lizards, fang-druids, elves and dragonfolk. The challenge was set forth: to slay the legendary dragon. For a moment Sorin collected his thoughts, formulating a plan as the others around him broke into discussion.

When the small, haughty girl spoke up, lambasting the others for making assumptions, Sorin gave his input. "They are closer to the truth than you know, little songbird. I have visited more worlds than you can conceive, and the dragons I have observed and battled have been mostly consistent throughout." He paced as he spoke, his hand resting on his sword's hilt. "It is unwise to underestimate a dragon, under any circumstances. They are perfect engines of power and destruction. Swift as angels, cruel as demons, and relentless as ghouls."

He now more directly addressed the group at large, breaking away some to gather their focus. "This dragon likely became legendary by the terror it wrought. We can assume its notoriety has inspired many would-be slayers to rush to meet their doom in its jaws. We could track it down by the aura of death of carries. Like so...."

Gathering black mana, Sorin called to the aether and summoned a spirit into this plane. A seething form of roiling shadow, it hanged in the air like an ill omen, before listlessly drifting off in a particular direction.

"It seeks out where the energies of death and decay are strongest. Perhaps we can find our quarry by following it."

[Grey Star]

"Dragons..." Ranma muttered under her breath, eyebrow still twitching. She had met "dragons" before, the giant Orochi of Ryuuzengawa and Herb the Dragon Prince. Both were experiences that were a bit more violent than the norm due to the former being an eight headed woman eater and the latter being a humanoid that could casually destroy mountains. She just knew that things were going to get really ugly in the future really fast, and she needed to figure out a way to actually beat the thing this time. She was sure that this one wouldn't be as stupid as the Orochi since well... a lot of people with powerful abilities were rallied against it. If anything, that made the girl more anxious... and a little bit excited since besting a dragon would be something to boast about and further cement her as being "The Best".

Listening as everyone else told their opinions about Dragons, Ranma frowned as they described the Western variants that shot flames. Putting in her own two cents, the girl gave her piece of advice. "Yeah, maybe it might be an Eastern dragon too... they don't usually breathe fire but they're plenty tricky and powerful all the same, usually coming with some kinda weird ability to make up for the raw destruction the Western ones can dish out..." The martial artist said, fingering her pigtail as she joined in on the conversation. "The ones I fought controlled water and wind... and ki as well... And yeah, all dragons are plenty dangerous." The redhead affirmed with a firm nod of her head. "Still, that just makes it all the sweeter to take them down a few pegs." She said with a grin, cracking her knuckles as her battle lust flared up again.

"Splitting up seems like a good idea, yeah." Glancing about a bit closer, her eyes took in what looked like three routes leading out of the valley. The one nearest the herd of herbivores seemed to lead into a forest, the path farthest away wound towards a rockier trail, and the last one diverted into a natural cavern. "So, three choices..." Ranma then glanced at the weird inky black thing the magic-user summoned. It began drifting upwards towards the small mountain where all the routes were located near- which coincidentally at this time drew a bit of attention by staining the azure background of the sky with what looked like a cloud of purple ash and miasma that roiled from a point near the peak.

A devastatingly loud roar then emanated and echoed about the landscape with a harshly strident tone, which in turn caused more roaring and bellowing and other such cries to emanate from all three of the routes the girl could pick out, a clamoring of predators whipped into a brief period of excitement before settling down again after a few minutes. The herd of five in the background thundered for safety as they heard the hunting cries, charging blindly into the forest and disappearing from sight. Their bellowing continued on for a bit until something SHRIEKED and then several crashes could be heard, along with what sounded like splintering wood and falling trees. Then, silence descended once more on the land.

[Eviledd1984]

Joker

"Oh my what a entrance now that is how you make a appearance" He whispered to Ba'al with a wink and a soft nudge to his arm,But the Clown Prince of Crime didn't like the look of this one he felt something strange about the skull headed figure that spoke in a raspy sort of voice,But it didn't seem to bother him for long when the Clown smiled relaxing his body wondering if they will skip to the boring parts and let him get to the killings.

[Gummi Bunnies]

"More dragons...how inviting. I will best whatever dragon it happens to be," Angelus nearly growled at the announcement of some "ancient dragons." though, depending on the situation, she may respect the other dragons if they pose a good enough challenge, like the other strong dragons like Michael and Gabriella. Not giving much input to the human riding on the back, the red dragon landed to the ground nearest to the closest ground.

"So we are to fight some sort of dragons," Angelus spoke to the group, clearly not giving a proper introduction and also with the fact that she was a dragon as well. Caim silently stayed hoisted up on Angelus's back, listening in on what the group had to say.

[Vulpes]

“Pokémon are um, creatures, like my team”, she said and pointed at her Pokémon, which were still drinking at the river. It was pretty frustrating to have to always explain something which she had always taken for granted.

The conversation just went on and on. Every single one seemed to have a different assumption of the legendary dragon. It was so overwhelming that Whitney wasn’t sure how to respond. Those creatures they talked about were incredible, yet not a single one of them was a Pokémon. A magical creature who was able to breathe fire, another who could control water, wind and something. The girl couldn’t believe that such creatures could exists and not be Pokémon, but it clearly seemed that they did. Well, Nonon had been able to make a Mega Evolution -like transformation even though she seemed to be a human. “Seriously, is anything possible?” she managed to say. There was just one thing which bugged her; almost everyone had made an assumption that they could kill the legendary dragon, whether it was necessary or not. But weren’t legendary creatures immortal?

The terrible shriek suddenly filled the air and Whitney couldn’t stop the cry coming from her mouth. In an instant her Pokémon surrounded her, ready to protect her from any attacker, but it seemed like no one was about to threaten them.
“Was that the legendary dragon?” Whitney whispered. She really hoped that it was a Pokémon. “I’ll take the cave, if that’s alright.” The only reason Whitney chose the cave was that the dragon, which would live in the cave, would likely be most similar to the ones she knew. And even that wasn’t sure by any means. She looked around to see if either Felt or Nonon was about to come with her and wondered if she dared to outright ask them. That’s when she noticed that Felt clearly wasn’t alright.

“What?” she exclaimed and started to panic. “What happened to you? Are you alright? Is there anything I can do?” Miltank tried to calm Whitney down, for freaking out was clearly not the best solution. Most of the other Pokémon weren’t as helpful. Delcatty tried her best and blowed like Felt was a small child with a scratch. Bibarel ran around aimlessly and bumped to about everyone who was close enough and didn’t manage to avoid her. Lickilicky was about lick Felt’s face, like that would help anything, and Clefable just hustled. Girafarig was the only one who stayed calm as well.

The arrival of Caim and Angelus didn’t help at all. Whitney, who spent again zero seconds to analyse the situation, ordered her Lickilicky to use Ice Beam at the dragon. The Pokémon shot a beam of freezing ice at the dragon.

For those who aren

Girafarig
Lickilicky
Clefable
Delcatty
Bibarel
Miltank

[VitaVitaAR]

Jakuzure Nonon

Nonon narrowed her eyes. The old guy(she didn't care how old he actually was, he seemed old to her and that was what mattered) was trying to fight fire with fire, huh? Well she had a hell of a lot more fire then he did, that was for sure. "Oh, yes, 'cause someone who's memorized Bruckner's Symphony Number Nine clearly has no appreciation or patience for the classics. Yeah, that's right. Stupid old Geezer. Anyway, I'm just saying that you're all being stupid if you assume it's going to be anything like what you're used to. Normally I'd say you're being stupid for thinking dragons exist, but this place doesn't make any sense. It's like the contents of Eight Grader's head."

Nonon happily gestured to Whitney on that note. She wasn't going to let that go, not by a long shot. She smiled cheerfully, and in spite of the insults and the dripping tone of sarcasm, the tiny pink girl's voice was light and happy. Oh, aside from wanting to pay back insults, she didn't truly bear any ill will towards any of this people. Well, most of them. Nonon simply enjoyed messing with people, truthfully.

And the weirdo with... Nonon had to assume it was dark magic or something, it sure looked unpleasant, was making the same kind of assumptions. "Aren't you guys listening? Even in myths dragons are all different, who knows what kind this could be? Planning for your dragons is just plain stupid. I mean I guess I shouldn't expect anything else from you bright sparks..."

... And then there was all the commotion and roaring. Well. That could be a dragon, she guessed. Or something else. She would have expected a bit more if it was actually a dragon.

"... Speaking of which, sending out that black thing sure was a bright idea, right? Look how many dragons it found already. It even totally missed the one we have, what success."

Nonon jerked a thumb towards the talking one. It must have just shown up, and she was pretty damn sure it wasn't the one they were meant to hunt if it was talking to them.

---

Saber

For a few moments more, Saber had paused. Swiftly she came to the realization that only a few here had an practical experience with matters concerning dragons. The pink-haired girl who made... grating comments certainly did not, though she had the resemblance of a point in that this dragon may not be so similar to ones that they were experienced with. Still... it was best to work with what knowledge they possessed.

Saber took a step forward, a bid to draw the attention of the group. No matter how many regrets she had about her rule, she had put it in the past now. She was still a King, and she moved with kingly grace as she took a bit to take center stage. The small blonde girl was the picture of the King of Knights. She did not want Ba'al to simply keep single command, as well... she was still wary of the System Lord even if he had spoken amiably to her.

"Dragons are not foes to be underestimated," she began, "Even if this creature is different from those I have slain, it is surely a powerful creature if it has earned the title of legendary."

The tip of Excalibur was swiftly planted in the ground, as she placed both hands upon its hilt and stood before the others. The sun shone down upon where she stood. "And if it is anything like them, the action of splitting up is not advisable. Even the most powerful of knights can fall to a dragon. To split up, we must first explain one another's abilities in combat. As such, groups may be arranged so they are able to hold their own if they are discover the dragon but are not able to contact they others quickly. The System Lord does make excellent suggestions, but there must be enough power in each group to slay the dragon individually if they must. I feel the better course of action may to reject splitting up entirely, or perhaps split into larger groups."

Saber herself... well, she had battled dragons in single combat. But not everyone could. She possessed abilities beyond those of many people, and as such felt it was deeply important to be aware of the others' capabilities if they were to split up. Or if they did not. And they appeared to have a dragon of their own... that could certainly be of use. The moment the terrible noises came, however, she raised her blade. It gleamed in the sunlight as she drew it up... and then... one of the other pink-haired girl's creatures fired a beam of ice at their Dragon.

Saber's motions were fluid. The creature they were hunting would not be so close, this was certain. And so... She intervened. Excalibur lept into the path of the beam. It was the shimmering, unblemished, unbreakable blade. Simple ice would do nothing to it.

[JonxlatheLion]

Ghost Rider growled at Nonon. "I've had plenty of run-ins with dragons. Some immortal gods. You try to argue with a mile tall dragon that eats the souls of fallen warriors, then go about insulting my intelligence." This argument was about the limits of good and evil, and what defines each. Ghost Rider already knew, but Johnny being the stubborn human he was, kept going about it. Johnny lost and learned a few things. Not that this was a shameful thing. Nidhogg had been around a lot longer than Johnny and Ghost Rider combined. Ghost Rider shrank back to his regular height, and says "So are we going to just sit around and insult each other, or go find us a dragon?"

The Brimstone Rider glanced at the sword of Saber warily. It wasn't too much of a problem, she seemed a paladin type. But he would have to be careful about her swinging that around close to him. He'd rather not get smite with a holy weapon just yet. The roar of what could only have been the dragon did not shake Ghost Rider at all, in fact it made him even more anxious to capture the beast. "I feel that we no longer need to split up, that sound should lead us to it."

[Lost Cause]

Minna

It didn't take the airborne Witch long to spot the site of the battle, even without her magic abilities. Something about the massive beam of ice being sliced clean in two made it just a little bit obvious from above. Tightening her grip on her machine gun, she pushed her Striker into a dive, pulling up into a hover just short of the group. What she found was a rag-tag bunch of misfits, to say the least, even by the standards of the 501st.

"All right, what's going on here then?" She asked, having at least gotten the basics about the whole "hunt the dragon" thing from the floating text.

[Gummi Bunnies]

Having experiences that were much more strange things that both Caim and Angelus had seen before. Well, another thing was that a creature that resembled some sort of cow had fired a beam of ice at them, specifically the dragon. Even if it wouldn't affect the great dragon that much, it would be bothersome to have to deal with ice afterwards. That was when one of the other humans had intervened, how lucky, so she didn't have to waste her own energy to deal with the ice at all. At least one of them had some sense that the red dragon was not the dragon to hunt down for. With a great opportunity, Caim struck the back of Angelus's neck with the handle of his sword, most likely to get her attention. There was some silence between the two, but it was telepathy that made some speech possible for him.

"Alright...I will work with these...people if we're going to fight this 'ancient' dragon," Angelus sighed, seeing that for once, Caim had some sensible reasoning. Well, for this hunt for another dragon. Usually Caim would just go about with bloody murder at this point if they happened to piss him off, but he's only planning this so Angelus would be the only dragon around these parts.

"So...shall I scope upwards and keep an aerial view for this other dragon?" the red dragon spoke to the group, it was certain that she only wanted to kill this other dragon herself.

[clanjos]

"The fair knight speaks true," Evahld said, nodding alongside the blonde Fighter woman's words. "Don't you know, you never split the party? However, should we make our specializations known..."

With a freezing burst of air, several motes of blue light appeared behind him, before vanishing into him. A blue breastplate formed, and in its wake, they left ethereal manifestations of various parts of beasts. A shining white pegasus laid its wings across his back, giving him a snow-white cape of feathers. A tremendous worm with insectile mandibles sprung from the earth, chomping down over his head and leaving a horned helm in its wake, followed by a wolf leaping from behind, its pelt laying across his shoulders and poking through the front of the helm. Finally, a larger aura jumped from the earth, leaving him with boots and gauntlets with long, sharp claws.

"I am a totemist, sworn to protect and speak for the people and spirits of the beasts! I have traveled from one end of my home plane to the other! I have studied in the schools of the masters of the Stone Dragon and Tiger Claw styles! I have argued for the souls of mortals in the courts of hell and won! I have slain evil sorcerers without number, brought to justice a cult bent on the destruction of half the world's population, and with a single blow I struck down a being from before the birth of my home Material Plane who was feared even by the gods themselves! I AM EVAHLD, SON OF NIEL! AND I AM READY TO SLAY A MOTHERFUCKING DRAGON!"

[MagusDream]

Agnès continued to wander alone and lost. She looked around for clues and trackes of how to get back home, but what she found what the vast nothingness. How am I supposed to get out of this place...? I have to hurry, or else, the Great Chasm will engulf the world!, she thought. But, as soon as she started to run, she fell down to her knees due to exaustion. It seemed that her battle with Alternis Dim left some marks to remind her the painful mark of war. She got up a little wobbly and continued to walk. "Where am I? Is there no one out here? Am I truly left alone?", she started to question herself.

[Penultimate_Pi]

There was certainly a lot of theory and guesstimates being thrown around as to what this legendary dragon actually might be, or what finding and slaying it would entail. Sazh didn't quite have any experience with literal dragons; the closest 'dragon-like' monsters were just different variants upon flying beasts, and he didn't even know how quite to categorize Bahamut's Gestalt Mode. So that left the better side of fairy tales for any sort of insight on Sazh's part, which, however accurate it could end up being in this setting, was ultimately very dwindling in substance in and of itself.

And then the huge roar happened.

The l'Cie and his chocobo passenger were visibly shaken, and as the wild commotion died down he whirled around to find that first triggering noise. It seemed to be from the large mountain relatively nearby, with a swirling cloud of dark dust swirling in large wisps about the peak. Wow. Talk about cliche. "And... how did I miss that before?" Sazh again thought out loud, his statement laced with threads of both annoyed sarcasm and genuine confusion.

"Welp, nevermind. Guess we found our dragon," The pilot shrugged with resignation, clapping his hands together. "So~, next problem: How we're all gonna get over there..." The three available routes that the female martial artist was keen to point out all seemed to lead to that foreboding mountain. That far-off path that looked to lead up a rocky slope appeared to be the most direct, but also one of the longer and potentially treacherous. The path through the forest didn't fare much better; it seemed easy to lose a sense of direction in there, and that clash of anonymous forces moments ago hinted to something very dangerous in there. The cave was a compromise of the two: a path straight through the mountains itself that could suffer from high danger with potentially low visibility and guidance.

Plus, who was going to go where? Though Saber's valiant stance forward and explanation of her perspective was pretty logical, it didn't bring up a social issue. The fact that all these different worlds and ideologies were clashing together meant conflict between them in most every way wasn't far off; something that had already made itself apparent with all of the in-fighting and confusion abound. Perhaps the act of splitting the party, so to speak, was just to push the greater-conflicting folks away from one another. A balance in combat didn't seem to present itself as much of an issue, as most everyone present here was keen to have their own means of battle or defense (with the curiously obvious exception of Morito)...

"I mean I guess I shouldn't expect anything else from you bright sparks..."

"All right, what's going on here then?"

"Alright...I will work with these...people if we're going to fight this 'ancient' dragon,"

"I AM EVAHLD, SON OF NIEL! AND I AM READY TO SLAY A MOTHERFUCKING DRAGON!"

"Oh dear lords..." Sazh groaned uncontrollably. Just when he had the inkling of a thought that maybe this situation he was stuck in might be in some way not as bad as what happened throughout his previous Focus, something always seemed to have to try and one-up that by several degrees. This 'companionship' here was starting to get painful now. "I think I'm gettin' too old for this shit."

[Flamelord]

Ba'al was slightly amused by the girl in the suit, figuring she would provide good amusement for thew future, should she make it that far and keep her witty tongue about her. He could use a verbal sparring partner. Hopefully it wouldn't get too annoying though. A sit was, his attention was drawn to Sorin, who released a seething cloud of rolling shadow, apparently concentrated malice or despair or something, that would find the dragon. And it certainly seemed to elicit a reaction on the three paths they had to follow. a clod of purple ash and smoke stained the sky from the mountain peak and there was a tremendous roar, as well as a clamoring of predators that had Ba'al reaching for his Zat'nik'tel.

And then a dragon showed up. Ba'al was about to speak against killing the thing, but fortunately Saber stopped the girl who had the Pokemon that fired ice. For one, the roar they just heard had obviously come from that, and for another, if they were supposed to hunt it in this wide terrain then it wouldn't come directly to them. Fortunately, they all seemed to calm down now, and that was for the better, besides the lady wearing what looked like a plane fuselage on her legs with no pants showing up.

Given changing circumstances, he re evaluated his plan and options. "Indeed. Since that roar indicated where the dragon was, and now that we know there are other, less gentle creatures here, we don't actually need to split up, unless some would prefer. there is always the possibility of discovering more than just the dragon here."

The declaration by the Viking as he pulled out some strange illusions made Ba'al chuckle audibly. Geez, he would fit right in as a System Lord. All he was missing with the certainty in his Godhood, and being evil. He then spoke up on his own attributes. "I prefer to fight with my mind," he pointed out. "However, for defense, I have this." He pulled out his Zat and deactivated the safety, the head of the snake snapping up with a 'tch' and a rising buzz as he showed it off to those there.

[JonxlatheLion]

Ghost Rider scowls and takes the key out of his pocket. He tosses it behind him and it turns back into his motorcycle. He walks over to it and mounts it, revving the engine a few times. "I've been patient long enough." He revs the engine once more. "I'm going to go to the cave to search around. Meet me there if you want to join me, but I won't wait very long." He roars off toward the cave, burning a path through the forest and screaming in a bone-chilling laughter that only a vengeful spirit could muster.

[Javier]

Korra began to hear everyone talking and just sat down, waiting for people to calm down and come up with a plan, though she was beginning to lose her patience. Just when she was about to say something, she heard a roar and looked around until she saw what looked to be a dragon. "Looks like that's our objective." she said reluctantly, she was in no mood to find and kill a dragon, even less so now that she was in this weird place with weird people when just hours ago she was with her friends on an airship. She heard one of them talk about the paths to get to the dragon, luckily everyone had settled down by now. Korra frantically looked around to find something to do when a man that looked like a walking skeleton on fire decided to ride off for the cave on his motorcycle. "Well, looks like he's leaving our team now." she said as she sighed and began to try to find someone among this group of "Challengers" who might have some sort of plan. She then looked over to Ba'al "Well, he does look like he might know something." she said as she began to make her way towards Ba'al. She stood close to Ba'al and asked "So, you look like an intellectual, any ideas on how we could get to that dragon?".

[Dead Cruiser]

Sorin rather disliked the tone the small girl was taking with him. Even so, he kept his temper; she was only a child, and she could be disciplined at a more convenient time. For now, there was the obvious presence of their quarry in the distance. Sorin tapped his chin, working out a plan to bring down the dragon.

"We will want to bring it to us. If there is one thing that I know dragons despise, it is a rival. We could lure it with this fellow," He gestured to the dragon that had just spoken, "To where we have the advantage. Something like a marsh, unlikely to set fire."

Surveying the resources at hand, he continued to plot aloud, "We should harry it from above, those of us that can fly or attack from afar keeping it busy, wearing it down. Once it's been fatigued, we can bring it down to our level. Perhaps someone among us could conjure a storm or some such to ground it. From there, we can restrict its movement; binds, barriers, close-quarters battle, what have you. And then-"

With supernatural quickness, Sorin drew his sword. It slid silently from its sheath, butit gave off a faint hum as it sucked the ambient mana from the air around it. Its blade was black as the void, light itself not daring to touch it.

"The killing blow."

[Kaga]

Observing everything that happened around him, it quickly became clear that there were too many people dead-set on killing the dragon that mere words wouldn’t be enough to change their minds. And that worried him deeply.

Just as he was wondering what to do about the situation, another dragon appeared. …Which was then almost immediately attacked by one of those ‘Pokemon’ things. (The concept of such creatures also unnerved him a bit — did they just exist to kill each other in battle or something? Jeez.) Thankfully, that sword-girl managed to deflect the attack. …Which gave Vash somewhat of an idea, but he’d need to separate from most of the group to carry it out.

And, he thought of it just as the skull fellow decided to drive off. “Oi, wait for me!!” Vash called after him, chasing the Ghost Rider through the scorched forest path as quickly as his legs could carry him.

[Raineh Daze]

Archer

A man in red joined the growing crowd, skilfully navigating his way to where the King of Knights stood, trying to organise the groups, and mentally cataloguing the strange new weapons. Magical blades even he hadn't seen in his long life and exposure to an armoury that contained almost every weapon of repute... this was truly a strange place to be summoned to.

Though he could have introduced himself, or made his presence clearer, Archer merely stood and waited. There was no reason to call out to Saber, when in all probability she would have no idea who he was or even recognise him as an Archer. No, he took his position in order to better hear the plans; accomplished at working alone, knowing what the others would do would better allow him to plan around them.

He'd never had to kill a dragon before. Maybe some of his swords would finally see use.

---

Nanoha

Nonon's airspace was invaded once again, this time by an obvious magical girl. She seemed more interested in the small girl than the mass below, though that seemed to be looking curiously at the musical cannons on her shoulders. Seeming satisfied, the magical drill instructor took a position looking around the scenery for a dragon. From the commotion, she'd gathered that they didn't need to attack the dragon that was already around.

Now seemed like a bad time for introductions. Plus, the young woman was worrying about dinner--Fate had time off, and she'd been getting ready to make a meal for three people, but now... nothing.

[VitaVitaAR]

Saber

Saber lowered her blade, flicking it gently to shake away the shards of ice. Her explanation was quick and to the point.

"This dragon does not seem to be the one we seek," she stated, quickly. It was... unlikely that the creature they sought would be so close to them. And speaking to them. Still, for someone who had done battle with dragons in the past, it was surreal to see one simply speaking civilly with her and those she was currently allied with... needless to say, this would be an important asset. "And... we cannot be certain that the roar from the forest was, either. This appears to be a wild land, it could be any creature. We should still investigate, as a group."

Saber was certainly one to attack in single, honorable combat. But against dragons... she did not wish to lose her allies. Even those who could prove to be enemies, she wanted to be certain and not simply allow them to be killed by such a creature. And... and then the flaming skeleton, followed by Vash, simply... ran off. "..."

Saber took a step after them. While the creature that had roared may not be the dragon, it was possible it was...

... And then, her eyes caught a familiar face, and widened in shock. He... he was here?

"... Archer?!"

---

Jakuzure Nonon

Well, things were certainly getting ridiculous down below. What was with all the people rushing off like dumbasses? Jeez, was she going to have to handle this? Not the dragon, but...

...

Who was that. There was this girl. She was flying. There was a flying girl what the hell was she doing in the air right now. For a few moments Nonon rigidly stayed in place as she approached, investigating her cannons... and then her voice came out in a snap.

"No-one is allowed to fly on my level!" she cried, angrily. Really, was it that hard to get? Only one person was allowed to go higher then her, and she sure as hell wasn't here! In irritation, Nonon did the only acceptable thing, forgetting about the rabble below for a few moments as she began to ascend. Soon enough, she floating above the brunette who had so recently appeared, folding her arms tightly across her chest and glaring down at her.

"There."

[Flamelord]

Ba'al sighed as Ghost Rider drove off on a flaming motorcycle, not all too saddened to see the strange...thing go. Let it do as it wanted. In the long run, he would triumph even if it managed to get to the dragon first. He attention was drawn to some mid air quarrel as the witty girl argued with some other flyers, them doing aerial acrobatics for the sake of being 'on top'. That drew an inward smirk, with the remembrance of the saying of heights and falls. He was a System Lord after all, with over 20,000 years of memory, and how many others had he seen fall as a result of their arrogance and their egos.

Saber did raise some points, and another walked over to ask him how they were going to get to the dragon, as well as Sorin's imaginative plan. He addressed transport first. "Well, since most of us, unlike the man with the flaming skull, have no vehicles, I assumed we would be walking. Besides those of us who can fly anyway. Ideally those with an aerial advantage would scout the path ahead and be some advance warning of ambushes, but who can tell at the moment."

He then turned to Sorin's plan. "Should the dragon allow itself to be used as a lure for our foe, then that plan may have merit. Still, there is no guarantee that this dragon is a creature of fire, as so many have pointed out. We must be careful." He then turned to look at Saber. "I agree. More likely than not what was in the forest was some other predator, and the dragon is, in fact, near the mountain peak." He gestured towards the ash and miasma that rose into the air at the indicated location.

"Now then, to best take advantage of our flying companions, as well as the fact that we know there is something dangerous in the forest, I would suggest we take the rocky path, even if it means moving somewhat slower as a result," he said, stepping forward to see who would follow.