FujiwaraPhoenix

Pokemon: Dream

Richard Evans

Byjerlfal City — Commercial District

The amount of mixed messages that Richard was getting from Laurel were rapidly growing in number by this point, but the fact that she had agreed to a battle was really the only thing that mattered in the moment.

"Thanks," he responded simply as Luna seemed to briefly jump into the air when the other Trainer's Sprigatito chose to play with her tail. With a smile, Richard patted the Snivy on the head before turning back towards Laurel and, at her (very valid) suggestion, followed her out of the Pokémon Center and onto the street nearby, with Luna following closely at his heels.

Having been given the liberty to act first as per his opponent's grace, though, Richard took a moment to pull out his Pokédex and trained it onto Luna as she hesitantly moved into position in front of him. Other than the requisite data about the Pokémon proper, it seemed the the device also recorded all of the moves she had available to her. The egg move that had been mentioned when he had first scanned his new partner, it seemed, was Glare—a welcome surprise, if anything.

"All right, Luna, let's get this show on the road. Open with Glare and make she that it sticks; after that, run away and Leer whenever you get a chance, okay?" he spoke simply, taking care not to shout and startle her. If there was any fighting style that would take advantage of the Snivy's strengths, Richard believed, it would be something that introduced the least risk or threat of being counterattacked at an inopportune moment.

@Rune_Alchemist

Pokemon: Dream

Richard Evans

Byjerlfal City — Commercial District

As the others made their suggestions, Richard sat by in silence and contemplated the options that were presented to him. Before he had pitched the question, the young man had considered a slower and more measured approach to get his Snivy to gain a bit more confidence in herself. A battle—at least in his mind—was always a far more serious affair, but if it came to one with no stakes...

Richard's train of thought was promptly broken as Kennet offered a small bell to him. Nothing about the item struck him as particularly noteworthy at a glance, but the following remark about it meant that it was at least worth trying to use.

"Thank you," he replied, a smile on his face as he took the bell before letting Snivy out of her Pokeball. The Grass Snake Pokémon seemed somewhat startled at being brought out so suddenly—and in a completely different place from where she had been moments prior, no less—but seemed to calm down slightly when Richard beckoned her over onto the seat next to his. After a brief moment of hesitation, though, she complied and walked over, only for Richard to tie the bell around her neck.

"Mmm... Yeah, that should do for now," he said, moving back as the Snivy curiously batted at the bell and caused it to ring. The smile on her face as she rang it a few more times seemed to put Richard at ease as well, if not for a different reason than it did his Pokémon.

"Yep, that works. Thanks, buddy; hope to see you again in the future," Richard said to Kennet as he bolted out the door before turning his attention towards the Sprigatito rubbing itself up against his leg. Laurel promptly picking it up and suggesting a battle thereafter, though possibly somewhat implicitly, caused him to shrug and take her up on her non-offer. Her Sprigatito seemed to be open to the idea, given its own reaction, so it was worth asking at the very least.

"Well, I don't want to keep you for too long if you're in a rush, but if you've got some more time, I'd like to request a battle with you. You did suggest one, after all, and your Sprigatito seems to have caught on to that, too."

There was a pause before Richard turned back towards his Snivy and seemed to think for a moment before patting her on the head.

"You're okay with that, right? Sni-hm... Nickname might be in order sooner rather than later. Luna, maybe?"

The newly-named Luna gave a little cry of assent and nodded in turn.

"Luna it is, then. Right, then; I won't hold it against you if you refuse, of course," he continued, turning his attention back to the other Trainer, "but it would be greatly appreciated."

@Rune_Alchemist

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

??? — Razed Town

"Uh... I mean, I guess that going large-scale isn't really necessary, and it's not like these are concrete buildings or anything like that, but it's not like stone and wood is that much better..." the green-haired girl responded, scratching the back of her head nervously before she tried (mostly in vain) to help clear the rubble and debris that Saria (and the still-silent Lily, who had only just regrouped with them none the worse for wear) was moving with ease. Not to say that she didn't give it a fair shot, at least, but after the disheartening results of the last fight her attempts at helping (at least by means of physical labor) didn't do anything to lift her spirits.

Rayne's voice calling out to them to regroup at least showed that she was unhurt, and the subsequent arrival of the one that Sanae still mentally quantified as a mecha—Lewa, if assumptions about Rayne's statements were to be made—seemed to be much the same. That left less than half the group from the church well and accounted for, but the problem was that the others were nowhere to be seen. Given how injured one of them was and how of the other three, two were still children and one was unconscious...

With the heat of battle settled, the young woman was at liberty to be concerned about their wellbeing. Hopefully they would arrive soon enough without incident, but given how things seemed to pan out the fear that someone had been taken or injured or worse did at least leave her somewhat concerned.

Those thoughts promptly took a backseat, though, as she noticed what seemed to be a teenage girl trapped beneath a wooden beam. Her form had been obscured by the rubble that the other two were clearing away with relative ease, but with that out of the way Sanae could very clearly see that they were unconscious and bleeding—probably from a blow to the head from something or another, given the red painting half of her face over. At this, the shrine maiden tried to help as best she could in clearing the way before running in and dragging the girl out as fast as she physically could.

Though, again, given how much physically weaker she was than her companions, the only real benefit in her doing so was that the others could make sure that nothing fell on her head in the process and left the trio with more problems than they started with. Regardless of how much impact her taking the lead in this had, though, Sanae could at least see that the girl was still breathing and feel that her body was still warm. Whether or not the injuries she had would lead to complications was less important than the fact that she was still alive despite the situation—in a way, that was a true miracle. And while she wasn't someone who could, say, reverse causality or something insane like that, she could still help in her own way.

The girl's condition wasn't confirmed, after all, and even if it was "only" one person, a miracle to make sure that things wouldn't worsen was child's play.

Pulling out an ofuda out of thin air and leaving it to hover above the girl's body, Sanae brought her hand in front of her chest and began to pray. A faint light would begin to envelop the unconscious girl in front of her soon thereafter, but none of the physical injuries she had sustained seemed to be overtly mending themselves—as the shrine maiden had expected, really.

"...That might be the best I can do on such short notice," she mentioned before taking a deep breath. "Rayne said that there were a few people hurt at a hunter's lodge or something? It might be worth it to bring her over... Wait, maybe I should try stabilizing all the injured we find like that...?"

It was at this point, though, that the girl began to stir and ever-so-blearily seemed to open her eyes...

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

---

Rayne's and Lewa's efforts to scour the town for survivors and clear the area to make it safe for travel seemed to proceeding without issue—a mission greatly expedited by the lack of any enemies trying to interfere with their actions. It really did seem as if the Raven Heralds had come and gone like a storm—not unlike the literal storm that seemed to be rapidly forming overhead. The timely arrival of "proper" rainfall would likely put an end to any stray fires that the group hadn't already quenched or that burned out on their own, but that would also lead to more issues in rescue efforts when those clouds stopped simply gathering and began their "work" in earnest.

But of those who were left trapped beneath trouble, if even for a moment, Rayne's uncanny ability to simply drop them into the lap of the hunter's lodge meant that they were well out of harm's way when that rain did eventually come—never mind how startled those present seemed to be when their injured neighbors and friends began to manifest out of thin air into the middle of the building or when those still conscious when Lewa carved through broken pillars and debris to save them in all of his Matoran heroism.

One man who had just been freed by the Toa's efforts, though, seemed to give his thanks (however reserved) before heading off towards the nearest exit instead. If questioned, though, the mention that the rest of his family had run off into the woods (as had many others) to flee the moment they were made aware would make his motive perfectly clear. How to handle that statement, though, remained to be seen.

@DracoLunaris@Lugubrious

---

??? — Town Outskirts

Once Alvin was offered Joker's support, the child began to sob loudly as he fully abandoned any pretense of being "strong" or "brave" for his sister's sake. At the end of the day, he was still a young boy, and what the day had wrought would easily have brought most others his age to their breaking point far earlier.

The sobbing and crying continued for what might have felt like an eternity for the child (even if it had been far less), but eventually those cries turned into sniffles, and then to uneven breathing amidst a silence that at once felt both comforting and crushing.

"...Th-thank you..." the boy managed to say between breaths halfway towards hiccups before the group began to move back towards the town. The lack of any assailants despite his loud crying spoke of the fleeting safety that had been given to them, but even so Alvin continued to grip onto the hem of Joker's coat as they pushed through—and finally broke past—the forest.

And lo, the results of the carnage were laid bare in front of them. Bodies of the dead, friend and foe alike, were scattered about—but no sign of the Raven Heralds continuing their fight to be seen. It seemed that the woman's words held weight at a glance, but only the state of the town within would mean anything at this point.

As the group approached the gate, however, an older man with a sword sheathed at his side quickly ran over to the group, a look of concern clear on his face as he looked the two children over.

"Alvin! Millie!" he called out as he slowed to a stop. "You're all right—thank the gods! Can't imagine what would've happened if you didn't come back..."

The concern over the children's wellbeing soon took a backseat, though, as the man shifted his focus towards the other two present—though Anne most of all.

"Did you get those wounds protecting these kids? Gods, we've got to get you some medical attention as soon as possible!" he said in a panic, almost dragging the group towards the nearby hunter's lodge—which, given the groans coming from inside, could have easily led someone to assume that it had been converted into either a medical bay or torture chamber. "I'm sure we can spare some herbs and gauze for you..."

@EchoWolff@Drifting Pollen

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

??? — Burning Town

Despite her best efforts, Sanae found herself unable to break through the enemy mage's defenses. For better or worse, she didn't even seem to register on the girl's radar beyond something to be blocked as she attempted to handle the perceived "real" threat—a fact which did hurt her pride a bit—but the sudden light show from around the city caused the green-haired wind priestess to pull back out of instinct. Where she had expected a follow-up attack to try and take her out from the skies, though, she found...

Well, nothing. Less than nothing, in fact—the enemy seemed to be moving to retreat from the town outright.

"I... Guess that counts as a win? Doesn't really feel like it, though," Sanae grumbled as she floated back down to ground level and landed near Saria. A wary glance around proved that the Heralds that could still move were retreating or dragging their injured peers away, but the young woman had no intent to engage in further combat with an injured enemy force—not when it seemed likely that she was a bit out of her depth here. Maybe more than a bit, really.

With no signs of any attempted parting shots, the young woman glanced towards the sky and, upon noticing the gathering storm clouds (a result of the town being lit aflame, possibly?), shook her head and sighed.

"Talk about dramatic timing. Rain should help put out what I couldn't, at least, but I don't want to think about how bad it'd be for the injured people who might be stuck out in the cold," she remarked before glancing towards the other woman at her side.

"...Or, well, that's just common sense, I guess. Might be a bit of a silly question, but you wouldn't happen to know how to handle rescue and recovery stuff, would you?"

It didn't help much that the tengu and kappa on Youkai Mountain were perfectly capable of preventing natural disasters from happening, of course, but if there was any time to want to hope that someone else would be able to lead the rescue efforts instead of her having to rely on bits and pieces she remembered from before she had moved to Gensokyo to begin with.

@Raineh Daze

---

Despite the explosivity of what the sniper had wrought, the rubble created from what had been destroyed didn't seem to have resulted in any loss of life. Missing large swaths of their walls made the houses structurally unsound, of course—a lack of supporting framework was what had caused the rest of the collapse to begin with—but there didn't seem to be any people unfortunate enough to have been caught up in that.

That didn't mean that there weren't any casualties to speak of, though. The bodies of a few dead townsfolk were strewn about the inside of a few homes, and some still showed traces of being recently ransacked by the invading forces. Those, however, seemed few and far between; most of the houses had been left mostly untouched, save a lack of human presence inside.

Eventually, though, Rayne's call to action drew some sort of response from a somewhat worn-down building closer to one of the town's southern gates—in other words, where the group had initially arrived from. The building itself was clearly not residential in nature, and the miraculously untouched sign featuring a bow and arrow alluded to it's intended purpose. The building seemed undamaged by the carnage at a glance, and upon entering the number of townsfolk—injured or otherwise—made clear that they had come here to seek refuge.

With that said, the sight of someone armed entering had immediately put the armed among their number—hunters, given their garb and the way they handled their bows—on edge. Seeing that the one who had arrived was not one of the Raven Heralds, though, the group slowly lowered their weapons as one of them chose to take the lead and speak up.

"Never seen your face before. Guessing you're part of the group that drove those guys off?" the hunter asked, gesturing at a few others who were still on edge to lower their weapons before stepping forward. "Name's Jeire. You have my thanks for stopping the Heralds before they got a chance to knock at our doors. That being said, we're a bit short-staffed right now—lots of people missing right now, of course, and we've got our hands full with the injured. Hope it isn't presumptuous of me to ask for whatever help you can give: first aid, rescue, cleanup... Not going to force you or anything, though.

@Lugubrious@DracoLunaris

---

??? — Town Outskirts

Though he was still visibly shaken by everything that had happened, Alvin seemed to be doing remarkably well in terms of keeping himself together. Joker's words seemed to register in his ears as he shakily tried to stand up, only for his legs to fail him once more. But with the sounds and shadows of what he could only guess were the Raven Heralds disappearing, the young boy felt somewhat more at ease about the situation panning out as it had.

"I hope so... Maybe she's just tired...?" he asked in response to the black-haired teenager's assertion, hoping that such a simple explanation like that held true. "But if that lady really had the Heralds go away, then it should be safe for us to go back home, right?"

There was a moment of pause before Alvin's thoughts finally seemed to catch up with his body, and almost as if a dam had been broken, tears began to stream out of the child's eyes.

Even if it had taken place over what could only have been the shortest of timespans, one could only imagine how long that must have felt like to a child not used to such things.

@Drifting Pollen@EchoWolff

Pokemon: Dream

Richard Evans

Byjerlfal City — Pokémon Center

Though some part of him expected Laurel to help, a Max Revive was the last thing that Richard had expected to receive. On top of actually helping the injured Munchlax, the other girl had gone so far as to get something this expensive for...

Well, given her story the Munchlax was probably wild? Even so, that sort of gesture did stand out to him despite the somewhat sour first impression he had of her.

"...Huh. Well, if you've handled the culprit then that's one less problem on our hands," the young man responded as he used the item on the injured Pokémon in his arms and watched it perk back up. "But we should still make sure that there wasn't any long-term damage done, just to be safe."

The rest of the walk over to the Pokémon Center was rather uneventful, thankfully enough, and before long the nurse and a squad of Chansey had all but carted the Munchlax off and left the three people who had brought it in behind. The results of that assessment remained to be seen, of course, but that did mean that they were at least stuck here for a while. At the very least, though, Laurel seemed to take this moment as an opportunity to fill the two of them in on some of the details about the incident. Given how she seemed to know the most about the situation, she'd also likely be the one to fill out the paperwork; whether that would amount to anything was anyone's guess.

"Hm. Well, some stranger choosing to resort to personal physical violence on your behalf raises a few red flags, but if you dealing with them—whatever that's supposed to mean—didn't teach them a lesson, hopefully a visit from the police might," Richard said as he settled down in one of the nearby seats before glancing at the Pokeball still attached to his belt. "It'd have been one thing to try and use that as an excuse to capture it, but that felt like violence for the sake of violence."

The young man took a deep breath before briefly glancing at the other two people waiting with him.

"...Bit of an odd segue here, but I probably need to get my own partner here at least used to battling at some point. I don't want to throw her into the figurative deep end right away since she seemed like the type to be easily spooked when I first met her, but we have to start somehow. You two got any ideas on how to help, maybe?"

@Rune_Alchemist

Pokemon: Dream

Richard Evans

Byjerlfal City — Park

Though it wasn't backbreaking strain, lifting the injured Munchlax off the ground was no easy feat. The injuries weren't life threatening at the very least, but that didn't mean they could just loiter around in the process.

The appearance of a familiar face, however, did pull Richard's attention away from the Munchlax—at least, for a moment.

"Uh... More acquaintance than friend, I'd say?" he responded, glancing over towards his Rotom phone as it beckoned him over. "We're technically coworkers, if you want to get nitpicky. Met her about... Half an hour ago?"

It took a moment more before what Laurel had said registered in his mind, though.

"...Wait, hold on. You know what happened here? Actually, before that: can you help us bring this Munchlax over to the Pokemon Center? Doesn't really matter if this guy's a food thief or whatever right now, but if you could at least fill us in as we get moving that'd be great," Richard said before glancing down towards the injured Pokemon. "It wouldn't exactly be safe if it was their Trainer responsible for this, y'know?"

@Rune_Alchemist

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

??? — Town Outskirts

"I take offense to the idea that I do not know the worth of a life—or that I couldn't simply cut you down where you stand," the woman responded simply, not bothering to see what the group of people behind her might have been planning to try with her back turned to them. "I do suppose my phrasing might have been less than ideal, but I should clarify, in case you consider my actions those of a coward: if you do not wish to hand that child over, then make sure you are ready to place your life on the line to keep her safe rather than barking like a stray dog desperate for scraps. Consider the contents of that box a gift of sorts; whether or not you plan to make use of them matters little to me."

With that, the Raven Herald left the four behind. Alvin, who by this point had been subconsciously holding his breath the entire time, let out a sigh of relief as he fell to his knees. The tension in the air had been nearly suffocating, but the woman's choice to retreat meant that they were (hopefully) in the clear.

The black box that the woman had thrown only contained a few items, though: a necklace adorned with a black-metal emblem comprised on a circle and a cross, a delicately engraved jewel of some sort with what seemed to be symbols of some sort on every facet, and a vial of some strange blue-green salve. None of them were labeled, but it was clear that there had to be some sort of purpose to everything here.

@Drifting Pollen@EchoWolff

---

Kochiya Sanae

??? — Burning Town

Despite her attempts to break through the mage's new barrier, Sanae found next to no success—at least, not immediately. The green-haired girl's projectiles hammered into the barrier without pause, and with there being little more than a fraction of a second between one volley and the next, that barrier surely could not last forever.

At least, that was what Sanae hoped was the case. She didn't have the speed to simply try and press the attack from a different angle, so all that she could do was attempt to push through with sheer volume. A point-blank spell card also seemed like a course of action to take here, but that would inevitably result in far more damage to the surrounding town (or what remained of it, at least).

Those thoughts were promptly thrown out the window, though, when a baseball-sized rock seemed to barrel through the skies and struck the mage in the shoulder. Sanae couldn't help but wince at the sound, despite it being her enemy that was struck and not her. She had a front-row seat to the results, of course, and the bleeding arm and cracked bones together did not a pleasant visual make.

Hopefully leaving Saria to try and block the attack that had just been fired in retaliation wouldn't lead to a less-than-ideal situation as a result.

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

---

"Retreat? You would dare suggest that I retreat!?" the blonde man spat back, now thoroughly insulted by the toa's choice of words. It had been one thing to catch him off guard in a fight, but it seemed that insulting his pride was one thing that the glaivier would not—no, could not forgive.

His enemy's warning unheeded, the blonde man took a deep breath and readied his weapon once more. There was but a second's delay before he sprang forward, a smoky black trail left in his wake as he attempted to close the distance between himself and his enemy. Another blast of wind not unlike the one he had taken on in earnest moments prior bore down upon him again, but this time——————

"Enough."

Before the blonde man could attempt to crash through the winds that he had found himself victim to moments prior, the voice of a woman seemed to ring out through the battlefield. Anger had since clouded the man's judgement, though, and it seemed almost as if he would continue forward in spite of that declaration before the appearance of another between the two combatants stopped him in his tracks.

Mainly in part due to the blade gleaming in the sunlight pointed at his throat, though.

"Stand down before I take your head myself, Varst," the newcomer—a woman that the other Heralds seemed to be all to aware of—stated simply as she turned towards the tornado and swung her other sword up towards the sky through it.

In an instant, the howling gales seemed to be split down the middle, diverting away from her and her apparent subordinate. The presence of the being that 'Varst' had been fighting against seemed to matter little to the woman, who then waited in silence as she stared at the blonde man who seemed to be fuming in rage.

"Not until I cut that oversized—"

"Jerevic will be notified of your failures today. My choice to oversee your mission today does not mean that you will be given the same treatment I provide those under my command. Understood?"

It took a little bit for the implications of what the woman was saying to register, but eventually—and with a look of pure fury on his face— Varst slowly lowered his arms as his weapon returned to "normal".

"...Understood."

"Good," she said, finally turning to look at the opponent Varst had been fighting all this time before pointing her sword towards the skies above the town. "Regroup with what remains of the troops you so brazenly wasted the lives of and withdraw. I've already notified the mage assigned to your team to send the signal out."

As the woman continued to stare down the axe-wielding toa and the glaivier made to leave the battlefield, a beam of intertwining dark blue and yellow energy was promptly launched into the skies by one of the nearby mages. One turned into two, then more as they seemed to pop up all over from the town before simply disappearing. Once that brief light show had finished, though, the woman would begin to walk away, following after the other Heralds leaving the area.

@Lugubrious

---

With his body more or less left prone from falling, the red-haired teenager had no room with which to react as he was promptly thrown out of the way of the collapsing debris. Though he had resolved himself to his death when he had fired those arrows, being thrown to safety by the person who he had to kill was far from what he had expected. Seeing her escape the debris with little more than discomfort from the dust cloud brought forth by the impact was a bit disheartening to see on top of everything else, but the words that she spoke only left the archer confused and, oddly enough, angry.

"Grand words from someone who was ready to kill me moments ago," he spat back, shakily rising to his feet. "Does me being younger than the soldiers you cut down make my life worth more than theirs? I'd rather die with the other Heralds than go back to that damn orphanage they picked me up from, so if you think I'm going to—"

Before he could say any more, though, the sight of those multicolored beams of light rising into the sky caused the archer to stop his tirade and simply glare at the girl who had chosen for a few moments before continuing.

"...You'll regret this. I'll make sure of that."

And with those words of spite, the teenager pulled something out of his pocket and threw it into his mouth before biting into it. The shakiness in his body seemed to disappear as he began to run away, heedless of whatever words she might have thrown back in response, if any.

@DracoLunaris

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

??? — Burning Town

Despite the response that her words seemed to have upon the mage opposing them, Sanae noted that nothing in particular actually seemed to change with regards to how the battle was panning out—at least, not at first. Her danmaku being blocked by an array of defensive spells wasn't something foreign to her, but seeing Saria's own projectile pierce straight through caused the flying shrine maiden to pause for a moment to register the impact. The injury that came about as a result of that attack seemed to be somewhat shallow, but the fact that she could make it out from this distance—and how the mage seemed somewhat rattled by the attack—meant that it could just as well be an opening to exploit.

Of course, that brought with it a renewed offensive from their opponent—and one that Sanae would choose to meet with more aggressive movement. While she had been careful until now, the new cluster of laser beams seemed to be trained onto her position. So long as she didn't stay in one place for too long or could simply outpace the speed at which they approached her, then they wouldn't be an issue.

With that thought in mind, Sanae quickly barreled into the array of lasers and began to weave through the barrage on a path towards the mage. If Saria's own attacks were more likely than her own to leave any lasting damage, then it fell to her to force her opponent's eyes on her to allow for another opportunity for those hits to land.

As the lasers seemed to crash into one another or miss outright, Sanae quickly closed the distance between herself and her opponent before attempting to barrage the mage with even more bullets. While the earlier engagement had resulted in her bullets being rendered ineffective, maybe reducing the amound of time between impacts would allow for some of them to get through at this distance.

If not, though, maybe it'd give Saria's next attack a chance at leaving more of a lasting impact.

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

---

Outclassed though the archer was, surrender seemed to be rather low on the list of things that they seemed to be considering as they continued to fire away at their target. The combination attack that they had loosed seemed to do little to actually disorient the girl in front of him as it had traditionally done—no thanks due to the muscle memory that had caused them to fire the flashbang arrow above rather than below them. The ensuing combat had left the plant he had caused to sprout little more than a mild nuisance, but there seemed to still be some amount of confidence in the archer's actions as they began to retreat from the fray. Pursuit was buit a given, but the girl's apparent recitience towards taking a life was something that they reasoned could be taken advantage of.

Dropping a small orb of something as they fled, the sniper began to run into a more claustrophobic area between the houses. The alleyway was narrow and left little room for cover to dodge behind, but that was an acceptable trade given the situation. As the knight-apparent gave chase and fired away, her opponent would leap against the walls, gaining just enough vertical distance to be able to fire another few arrows from above.

The goal, however, was not to actually hit the girl this time, given how well that had fared the last few times. No, the goal this time was whatever had been dropped behind moments prior. The follow-up attack cracking their bow in half had left their defeat all but guaranteed, but the impact of one of the stray arrows onto the orb below had caused the latter to begin to light up and glow an unnerving mix of orange and white.

Then, after a brief delay, the reason for that glow made itself known as an explosion rang out from behind them, destroying the nearby walls and the pillars supporting them and causing the buildings to begin to collapse towards both the archer (who had begun to fall back towards the ground) and their opponent.

"I'd sooner bite off my own tongue than surrender," the sniper—whose hood had finally begun to fly off from the descent to reveal the face of a teenage young man with matted red hair—said as he threw what remained of his bow away as he fell. "Better to die a person than live as a slave."

@DracoLunaris

---

The fact that the cloud of poison had been nullified in an instant seemed to cause the assassin to grow at least somewhat agitated. No matter how they assessed the situation right now, their chance of victory was infinitesimal; the initial sneak attack had failed miserably, their backup plan was made nonexistent with next to no effort, and at this point in time recovering their discarded blade to try another attack could only end in a humiliating death given how quickly the girl seemed to be able to switch between summons.

As the girl seemed to prepare a counterattack, the assassin's eye seemed to flash for a moment, and a magical sigil appeared for but a brief moment before the orbs rained down upon them. Rather than attempt to dodge, though, the assassin's body seemed to slacken as they stared at the oncoming attack.

The cloud of dust and dirt thrown into the air left the air humming with tension, but the sight of the assassin's body now left headless and peppered with holes made it quite clear that the only result from this last attack was a quick but brutal execution.

@VitaVitaAR

---

The fact that his slash hadn't exactly pierced through the toa's open body didn't seem to concern the blonde man as much as it did annoy him—though maybe such a result would have been expected when he was facing an enemy he knew next to nothing about. The blows he had taken were incredibly weighty, but the glaivier felt that the attacks were nowhere near as calculated as those of a fighter's should have been. Rather than fighting people...

"A golem made for fighting monsters, huh?" he guessed, readying himself for another clash of blades as the toa retreated for a brief reprieve. "I guess that if you just hit beasts hard enough, they're bound to die eventually."

Almost as if in response to his taunt, though, his opponent loosed a howling gale towards him. The Heralds who were waiting in the wings were swept back by the attack if not barely holding on, but the blonde man facing the attack head-on chose to dig in his heels and keep his eyes trained upon the golem ahead. With his cape flying in the wind, the glaivier simply braced himself and remained steadfast. All the while, of course, the glow upon his weapon began to flare up once more.

What he did not expect, though, was the toa closing in upon him in mere moments. Leaping high into the skies was no odd feat in his eyes, but a massive golem closing that distance in next to no time caused the blonde to flinch. That hesitation would prove to be his undoing, as the spiraling winds in the golem's hand swiftly met his torso and sent him flying backwards. His stance broken as he careened backwards and into a tree, the blonde man let out a cry of pain at the moment of impact before falling to one knee.

There was a brief pause before he slowly rose back to his feet, though, a look of indignant anger on his face quite evident to see as he spit out a bit of blood from his mouth.

"You're smarter than you look," he growled, stabbing his weapon into the dirt to push himself back up, "Guess I need to take your head first."

By now, the aura that was radiating off of the blade had consumed the weapon in its entirety and seemed to be slowly crawling up his arm. Even so, the blonde man seemed to not be going on to counteroffensive—at least, not quite yet, if his previous mannerisms were anything to go off of.

@Lugubrious

---

??? — Cave Entrance

"To be quite frank, I don't know what madness would have caused that fool to stretch his forces even thinner," the woman responded, disdain evident in her voice, "much less the rest of the things he's done since arriving here. I have dozens of complaints about him acting as he has, especially given how we could've resolved this issue in a matter of hours, but I suppose there's no merit in telling you about his failings when they're evident enough."

With a sigh, the Raven Herald shook her head and glanced at the group. Her gaze lingered for a moment upon the young boy who had begun to move behind the two older people in the group, but soon enough her attention shifted back towards the woman who had taken the role of de facto representative before she continued.

"But that's neither here nor there. I have no reason to disclose why we came to retrieve her, though, so I would advise against prying into—"

Before she could finish speaking, though, a small white magic sigil would appear next to the woman's ear, and her previously impassive gaze turned to one of mild concern. There was a pause before she nodded her head and responded with a simple 'understood' before turning back towards the four people in front of her.

"...Well, that certainly changes things. Maybe leaving her in your care isn't the worst idea..." she mused out loud before throwing a small box towards the injured woman. "I suppose this works just as well, then. A different choice, then. Hand the child over, take the items in that box and fall into hell with me, or a fight. Given the current situation, my leeway for negotiations has been cut rather short, but I presume you're still not willing to hand her over. The choice is yours, and for your sake I hope you choose quickly."

@Drifting Pollen@EchoWolff

Pokemon: Dream

Richard Evans

Byjerlfal Cjty — Park

Weaving through a crowd was nothing new for Richard, even if it was a bit faster than he was used to. It helped that a few people had the sense to get out of the way of the two fools barreling down the street in pursuit of a runaway Fletchling, but he was still running fast enough that bowling into people would leave both of them out for the count.

Lucky for them, though, there were no such incidents. A few close calls, maybe, but for the most part the run to the park (and through it) had only left Richard winded by the end of it all.

What they had been led to, however, left a pit in the new Trainer's stomach. While the idea of disciplining Pokemon that misbehaved was not foreign to him, whatever had happened to this Munchlax was well beyond what any sane Trainer should have allowed.

There was a silent, indignant fury rising up within Richard's chest as he rushed toward the injured Munchlax and, after a bit of straining, picked it up. Though he was a bit winded from the chase, the Pokemon's physical wellbeing was at stake here. Had he some potions, the young man would have attempted to stabilize the Munchlax on the spot...

But, well, that clearly wasn't an option.

"Rotom!" Richard called out, causing his phone to fly out of his pocket. "Guide us to the nearest Pokemon Center and notify them about the situation so they're ready to receive us when we arrive."

A thumbs-up flashed on the screen before the Rotom-Phone whirred and brought a map up on screen with the directions he had requested, and Richard simply turned towards Kennet before grimacing.

"Uh... Crap, this Munchlax is... Not easy to carry. Mind helping me carry 'em over?"

At the very least, it'd speed up the process to moving the injured Pokémon compared to if he tried to go about it alone.

@Rune_Alchemist

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

??? — Burning Town

With the approach of the apparent head of the mages came a shift in Sanae's method of attack as well. While the frogs worked perfectly fine when it came to clearing out huge swaths of enemies, focusing one person out was a different story.

In other words, it was time for a bit more focus.

While her rapid-fire streams of ofuda continued en masse, the exploding amphibian-shaped projectiles were replaced by ones that looked like snakes. Instead of exploding on impact, though, these projectiles seems to suddenly shift direction the second that they were in line with any enemy they barreled towards. They weren't explicitly homing, per se—that was and had always been Reimu's schtick, after all—but the speed and force at which they barreled towards their targets more than made up for that lack of perfect tracking.

The appearance of a massive laser crashing into one of Saria's shields, though, caused Sanae to pull backwards by instinct. Lasers were fairly common in danmaku battles, of course, so it was less their presence that shocked her and moreso how much of a change of pace they were from the comparatively slow projectiles she had to dodge until then they were.

"I don't know about you not participating," Sanae quipped back as she shifted herself to the side to allow the lasers to barely graze past her body, "because I'm pretty sure that lasers that strong cause a lot of collateral. Speaking from experience, of course."

The less to be said of Marisa's Master Spark, the better.

@Raineh Daze@VitaVitaAR

---

With their position now exposed, the sniper wasted no time in trying to create more distance between themselves and their target. Being charged at was in and of itself an issue—ideally the situation would have been resolved well before the enemy had any time to ascertain where they were or had any chance to close in to begin with—but at this point there was nothing else to be done but try to deal with it as best they could.

In this case, that meant diving out of the way and back behind cover as the being in front of him began to fire away.

"Semi-instantaneous movement, shield, projectiles... Annoying, but probably less so than that green one," the figure muttered under their breath as they peeked out from behind cover every few seconds or so in an attempt to wait for the initial suppressive fire to time out. Once the barrage seemed to relax (if even momentarily), though, they sprang out and fired a few more arrows from a shortbow before breaking into a sprint. A few more arrows were let loose as the archer tried to force their opponent to maintain focus upon their frontal assault, but the last among them seemed a bit... Different. With their opponent's vision obscured by the shield in front of them, the sniper took the chance to aim this arrow, head glowing a faint white-green, towards the sky. Another, glowing a deeper shade of green, was aimed below beneath their target.

The first arrow seemed to explode at the apex of it's arc, letting loose an incredibly loud explosion of light; the latter instead seemed to sprout into a quickly growing, writhing mass of vines surrounding a flower that looked eerily reminiscent of an eye with black sclera.

Before long, the plant would attempt to lash out at the nearest being—namely, in other words, the one situated above it—and attempt to bind it in place. All the while, the sniper began to move around in an attempt to land a follow-up shot—hopefully one that would lead to a more decisive result.

@DracoLunaris

---

If the assassin was shaken by the sudden appearance of the girl's savior, no sign of it would be seen on their face.

Not that much could be seen to begin with, given the apparent mask covering the lower half of their face.

Regardless of what they thought, though, it was quite apparent that despite everything going "right" that the attempt on the girl's life had failed—and rather spectacularly at that. But while the option to simply flee was on the table, another attempt would have an even lower chance of success now that she was on guard.

It was rather unfortunate, but that meant that the only choice they had left was to die trying. Failures like these could only be rectified as such.

After making clear distance from the girl and her summon, the assassin pulled down their mask and seemed to slip something into their mouth before attempting to close the distance once more. Once they drew close enough, though, they would quickly attempt to feint an attack forward before releasing what it was they had prepared moments prior—a poisonous mist that promptly billowed out of their mouth in an attempt to cover the area.

The goal was never to stay in the fight for too long, of course; ducking in and out of the fray of combat and wearing the enemy down until they could try and land a lucky hit in seemed like the only course of action against an opponent like this.

@VitaVitaAR

---

"I guess that's what they call golems overseas, huh? But no memory of a maker... That's a damn shame," the blonde man sighed, shaking his head as he watched to see how his opponent would react to the wave of energy he had just loosed. "Oh well. Guess dragging your remains to the magicians to study will have to do."

Of course, when the "toa" blocked his attack, the glaivier couldn't help but feel a little bit surprised. That surprise was only compounded as the hulking humanoid leaped far beyond what would have been possible of something of that size.

That only seemed to excite him more, though.

"Haha! All right, if that's the sort of game you're going to play, then I'll take you head on!" he shouted back, weapon ready to clash with his opponent's own. The blast of air that preceded the strike pushed him momentarily off balance, however, and the strike that followed forced the blonde man to block the attack somewhat awkwardly. Using the ground as leverage was doing him no favors, but at the very least it wouldn't mean that he would fall to a simple trick like that.

"Not bad, not bad!" he called out, using both arms to brace himself against his weapon as he attempted to push Lewa back or the weapon to the side to create an opportunity for a counterattack. "But I'm not going to fall over that easily!"

@Lugubrious

---

??? — Town Outskirts

Though shaken by Anne's shift in demeanor, Alvin paused for a moment before swallowing and nodding. Leading everyone to the location wouldn't be difficult, but doing so while treading carefully and while on edge was doing him no favors. Every time the shadows changed or he heard something shift, the boy would pause for a moment before continuing.

And by some stroke of luck, the group would make it to the cave without issue. Glimpses past the underbrush en route would make it clear that their suspicions were warranted; soldiers wearing the same sort of garb of those that had been present during the attack on the church seemed to be combing through the area in search of... Well, them.

"This is the place..." the boy trailed off before the sound of metal meeting stone caught his attention.

Slowly, from within the cavern came a young woman, her armor that same shade of purple as those that the Raven Heralds donned. At her sides were a pair of swords, and though neither was drawn it would be foolish to assume that she wouldn't try to strike back.

But rather than immediately call out for backup or attack, the woman simply came to a stop and stared at the newcomers. Her gaze passed over the group—the woman ready for combat, the boy mustering all of his strength to stay standing, and the young man holding an unconscious girl—before she spoke her piece.

"...I suppose I've the fortune—or possibly misfortune—of finding you," she said, glancing for a moment towards the cave behind her before placing one hand onto the hilt of one of those sheathed blades. "I'm only here for that girl, though; the other Heralds under Varst might be bloodthirsty brutes, but I'm not keen on needless bloodshed. If you hand her over, we can simply move on with our lives. Given your injuries, that seems like an enticing offer, no?"

At this, Alvin seemed to realize what it was that was happening and turned to the others before shaking his head from side to side in a panic. Though words seemed to be failing him, gestures alone seemed to convey what it was that he was feeling.

"Well, regardless of if you want to accept or not, the sound of fighting will inevitably draw others here. I'm in no rush, but I would recommend you weigh your options here before someone less open to negotiations arrives."

@Drifting Pollen@EchoWolff