shadowsaint007

Kingdom Hearts: Signs of Zodiac

Joshua Tamashii said Before Jake could get to the bottom of the volcano, his head was grabbed from behind and shoved unceremoniously into the ground, with the same thing happening to Reno. Neither would get a change to register what had happened before simultaneous explosions went off at point-blank range at them, with Reno's mostly be focused on his marks. Explosion after explosion would go off until both lay on the ground heavily wounded."Fools." the Elven girl said, standing over them" Never turn your back on an opponent."

"GRRRRRRRRR..."

The snarl was angry, bestial. It was not a sound that came from a human, rather a feral, antediluvian beast. Rage reverberated in the air, and the first thing the Elf realized was the clasp of a giant metal hand wrapping around her upper arm, bending it like a straw and then lifting her into the air like a rag dog before slamming her into the ground so hard it caused a giant crater.

Before the shock wore off, another hammerblow struck her in the chest, cracking several ribs and breaking another, knocking the breath out of her lungs. The hand - now feeling like a giant metal paw, grasped her leg, and proceeded to slam her several times in vicious, rapid succession, the person smashing her about with herculean strength. He then lifted her once more above him, spinning her about, then smashing her down one last, brutal time into the ground, this time following up with a powerful stomp that left everyone nearby feeling the tremors.

When her vision cleared, she would see above her a giant metal lion-man, glaring at her through glowing red eyes, his golden skin bulging with massive musculature. His iron teeth glinted menacingly at her.

"You may have had a point about watching one's back," he snarled, "but I very much disliked your arrogant tone...

"Oh, and since we're talking about making sure the foe is done for..."

He picked her up and slammed her into the ground, again and again, using terrifying strength to hammer her until she stopped moving. Then he lift her up in the air, and with a terrifying growl, swung his tail so that the mighty mace-like tip smashed her right through the volcano walls and slammed her into the wall at the other side.

He snorted at her, then turning to Reno, now apparently Oner.

"Kid, you alright?" he asked, wincing at his own snarling, monstrous voice.

Kingdom Hearts: Signs of Zodiac

*meep meep* :D

Kingdom Hearts: Signs of Zodiac

"Yeah, the kid's right," Jake said, walking over to Reno. He put his arm around Reno's shoulders. "I may have only joined these kids a short time ago, but I too fight for-"

Jerry suddenly ran away so fast he literally created a dust outline in the shape of himself and Reno. By the time the Elf realized it, Jake was carrying Reno and running down the side of the cola bottle volcano so fast he was kicking up a large dust trail.

"Kid, sorry to break form like that, but something's off," he explained to Reno. "Not just the better part of valor and all, but if she's that strong, she's certainly holding back. I saw the others, but for some reason, I can't see Thomas. Something is really wrong.

"Right now, we need to regroup and plan. We're going to head for Thomas, see if we can't get some more numbers to boost our situation."

Kingdom Hearts: Signs of Zodiac

I think the main reason why they have to be magical girls is because:

a) it's tradition for it to be girls. How many magic boy shows do you know exist?
b) the energy generated by emotions is higher if the puella magi are young girls entering puberty. While boys may generate similar emotions, it's the girls who have higher energy output from said emotions - or at least how Kyubey put it.

Kingdom Hearts: Signs of Zodiac

'Prepare to die'.

How many times has he heard that line? Or 'meet your doom!'? Or, really, any other such line? The more Jake had thought about that during his travels, the more he was convinced bad guys had a Big Book of Cliche Quotes stashed away somewhere. In retrospect, maybe it was less a book and more some zeitgeist of villainy that engendered such quotes.

Of course, all it meant in this battle was the elf chick was generous enough to telegraph her attack, even if she didn't know it. He managed to dodge the fire column, even if he did feel the flames get a little too close. He made a mental note to patch it up, but his attention was already elsewhere; the Elf was charging at him full-bore, attempting to take him by surprise just as he was trying to recover from the flame strike. Solid strategy, really.

He managed to get his axes up just in time to counter the elf's sword swings, parrying each blow as quickly as he could. Some he got fully with the axe, some he managed to anticipate, and some he barely managed to block with his bracers rather than his axes. Sparks and embers filled the air as speed met strength. He had to admit, even though he hadn't slowed down that much since his youth, this particular fighter was a pretty fast blade herself.

"Nice follow-up on the backhand there," he retorted as he managed to dodge a swipe so fast he literally heard it whistle by his ear. "You might want to work on the balance, though, it's a bit off-"

He managed to perfectly block another attack the Elf had aimed at his torso, before then slamming his mass into the smaller form of his adversary.

"-like so!"

He managed to switch to attack this time, or at least footing more equal to his foe.

"And in case you were wondering," he said, grunting as he countered and parried enemy strikes, attempting to force her back into the defense as she had attempted with him, "about the kid?

"Even if what you said was true," he countered, deflecting two rapid sword strikes with a single vicious axe swing.

"Even if he never uses magic again because of you-" He spun around her, using the force of one of her own attacks for momentum, making sure his feet only hit the floor when he could manage a safe foothold.

When she swung again, he made a wide circular double-parry that locked their weapons together. In the flat blades of the weapons, he caught a glimpse of something happening in Oner's direction, and glared back at the Elf.

"Well, even if he can't cast magic, he's still my buddy, and I won't think any less of him.

"That answer work for you?"

Before she could respond, he raised both feet and planted them square in her chest, kicking himself away while setting her up for a powerful blast of lightning. He let go of his axes to temporarily tie up her swords, back-flipping away from her, and then resummoning his axes halfway through the jump.

Kingdom Hearts: Signs of Zodiac

"What the-" Jake sputtered in surprise as his strikes seemed to be all blocked by a hurricane of sharp blades. He took a couple of steps back, taking stock of the situation around him.

Apparently, a couple more had entered the fray.

"You know, I asked her the question," Jake said in mock exasperation, before turning to the Elven swords-lady. "I mean, come on, lady, common courtesy and all, right?"

No answer.

"You know, this is going to be a very boring conversation if you don't contribute," he joked. He shrugged. "Oh well..."

Still he resumed a readiness position, and glanced to Oner.

"Kid, you okay?" he whispered. "Got any ideas right now?"

Kingdom Hearts: Signs of Zodiac

Jake saw the challenge, but decided not to slow down. Making a quick note of his surroundings without breaking stride, he swung his axes, slashing in strong, speedy arcs that left afterimages of his key-axes. He mixed it up, combining a series of quick, probing attacks with one-handed power strikes, keeping his other hand ready to follow up in case of a weak point in his opponent's defenses or a slip in his own. Sparks flew as weapons clashed, creating sounds akin to a vicious thunderstorm.

Finding the enemy wasn't going to yield so quickly, Jake then switched tactics. Switching gears to a more serpentine combat style, he began dodging and bending around his foe's counterattacks, his agility belying his size. He might have been a big bruiser, but there was at least a decade or two of experience within his muscular frame. Every time the enemy would go for a coup-de-grace, he responded with rolling defenses, counters, and sliding parries intended to force the foe off-balance.

And yet through the dust, sparks, sweat, and steel, Jake could not help grinning. It had been a while since he had a fight this intense. He was enjoying this.

"I really need to complement you, that's an interesting style you have," Jake said, hoping to spice up combat with a little conversation. "Not bad on the speed techniques, either. Self taught, or can I inquire about your teacher?"

Kingdom Hearts: Signs of Zodiac

Jake managed to dodge the fires once again, picking up the pace to circle around the opponent. The guy had taken out Shiva in a single hit; no use fooling around with this one. Instead, the best he could do was get the heat (pun unintentional) off the kids, so that they could flank the guy. Superpowered fire or not, he couldn't keep his focus on everyone at once.

Jake smashed his axes into the ground, managing to snag a couple of large rocks on the edges. With a loud grunt, he swung his axes, hurling the boulders at the enemy, then running in a different direction, zig-zagging to keep the enemy's aim off. Performing a Tiger roll, he slammed his axes into the ground again, kicking up a large storm of dust and debris to obscure himself, then taking advantage of the smoke cloud to toss another couple of large rocks by his sheer arm power at the enemy. Back-flipping, he then turned around and made for a nearby piece of debris sticking out of the ground, then took a running jump off the tip as he made right for the enemy. He knew this wasn;t going to work, but he could at least throw a few surprises at the enemy.

Kingdom Hearts: Signs of Zodiac

Well, sorry for the delay/absence everyone, but I'm back. Just a bit of a busy week or two.

Kingdom Hearts: Signs of Zodiac

Jake cheered when the volcano erupted.

"Now THAT'S what I call roasting to perfection! Look at the suckers pop!"

He wiped off the remaining Cy-Bug muck off himself, allowed himself a relieved grin - but then noticed something was amiss.

"Hey, Guys... where's Thomas gone off to?"

He barely had time to get a response when the Cy-Bug queen's corpse suddenly exploded into flames, burning so quickly all that remained of it was ashes.

"Sonuva-!" Jake swore, going into a tiger roll to avoid getting caught in the heat blast. He looked up, and saw a man wreathed in flames, wielding a sword in one hand and more fire in the other. He picked up his keyaxes, twirled them in his hands. "Great, some people really know when to pick a bad time to visit."

He got up, stood his ground, and got ready. For some reason, he wasn't going to start a fight unless the other guy moved first.

He felt the cornucopia of boosting spells surge through his form, and rolled his shoulders in response, grinning as he felt the warmth spread to his limbs and fingers. Taking the chance, he braced himself, ready to strike once he found an opening.