Grandium: Underground Ruins: Metalwork Room
Kara, Don, Amy, Moira, Lucien, Lisette, Kapi, Nani, Thunderhawk, Marise, Quentin - Annabelle
"Lisetteeeee!!!" Screamed Quentin in pure horror at the same time his hands instinctively shot out to catch the airborne Kapi safely in his arms. His eyes simply couldn't believe the scene that was unfolding before him. Lisette had done so well to stop her fall and keep her capybara partner safe, but it wasn't enough to stop the entire walkway from collapsing with her caught in the center. And for Quentin, despite all his hopes and wishes otherwise, there was simply nothing he could do in order to prevent it. All he could was watch on, slack jawed as the tower of metal came to an ear piercing, shrieking fall.
'No! No it can't end like this!!'
It wasn't just Lisette, but the others too. Against that small pink haired child there was simply no respite from any of it, no safety no matter where they turned. Annabelle had been practically running rings around them, hurting Moira, Thunderhawk and Nani quite severely and on top of all of that… transforming both Lucien and Don's bodies into a horrible pastiche of what they should have been. And as for Quentin himself, there was nothing he could to prevent any of it. He was utterly powerless.
'Damnit, no! This can't be how it ends… it just can't…!!'
But then the smoke started to clear from where the pile of metal rubble had landed, revealing everything before the water mage, and he could do nothing but just stare in pure amazement. There, in the middle of it all, just in front of it all was Lisette, safe and alive and wrapped in the arms of a violet hued savior.
Kara!!
"Easy, Lisette, easy. I've got you." Spoke Kara, with a weary smile. Lisette's eyes opened slowly, as if caught in a daze, as equally surprised as Quentin was to see herself still alive. Eyes bulging wide, her head and pigtails spun from side to side to try and discover what had, wincing with fright at how close the metal beams and rods that had once comprised the section of catwalk she had been standing on had been to skewering her. If it hadn't been for Kara's intervention and narrow slowing down of the falling debris, she would have surely been a goner.
"I'm sorry I kept you all waiting so long, but... let's not lose hope just yet." Kara continued, as much to herself as to Lisette and Quentin too. Setting Lisette down carefully on her feet, she rose up to stand again, all physical sign of exhaustion gone without a trace. "We've still got a job to do, so let's finish this."
"Such ridiculous insults are the refuge of the weak and scared," With a roll of her eyes, Annabelle scoffed towards Nani's remarks whilst sweeping her Magitech Scythe out in front of her. "Instead of running off your mouth, try fighting. Or instead, die-"
It was at that moment before she could finish that Captain tried to aid his master by dropping a small piece of metal he had found down on top of Annabelle, aiming for her head. With a sigh Annabelle lifted up her free hand and grabbed the falling metal without even needing to look. With a swift, deft turn, Annabelle flung the metal back out and clipped Captain on his wing. With a pained sqwark and raining down of several of his beautiful feathers, the parrot began to plummet down from out of the sky, whilst Nani cried out in horror and anger for what the Pride's deadly adversary had done to her beloved friend, companion and firstmate.
No matter what Nani's following actions might have been however, she didn't get the opportunity to make do on it- not when a horrific shockwave courtesy of Moira swept out across the entire room. The fearsome horizontal slash generated by the Berserker's Greatsword severed everything in half that it sliced right through, including wall and ancient machinery. Anyone caught standing in its path would soon become a lot, lot shorter.
"Down!" A chorus of voices echoed all across the Pride, as simultaneously the Pride - Nani, Amy, Thunderhawk and Lucien - were all pulled down to the floor. Around them were multiple clones of Marise, generated just in the nick of time to save them all from a very close shave, as well as rescue the defenseless baby Don whom had still been wailing in front of Annabelle's feet, carrying him to safety.
"Would you just quit already?" Annabelle's eyes narrowed towards Moira. With a single, simple downwards vertical swing of her Magitech Scythe, Annabelle cut a gap inbetween Moira's own shockwave, gifting her safe passage whilst Moira's devastating shockwave continued on either side. Shaking her head from side to side, Annabelle turned her back on the remaining Pride and instead started to walk towards Moira. She didn't regard the older woman as much of a threat, not after their earlier battle during the tournament and every other one of their skirmishes here just now. However she was annoying, and she had just about had enough of it. "If you're so eager to die, then so be it. Die."
Disappearing in a blur, Annabelle charged forwards, ready to finish off Moira once and for all.
Grandium: Underground Ruins: Cavern Basin
Estelle, Marcus, Trixie, Cole, Tobi, Selan, Syed, Aria, Xandra, Lute – Grant
'No… no not this. Not again…!' Staggering backwards, her entire body trembling with tears forming at her eyes, Trixie looked up in complete horror at the golem of sand that towered so high above them. It was just never enough, was it? No matter what they tried to do to him it just wasn't enough! What did they have to do to finally make him stop?!
"Least the Boss isn't here… if she was then…" Trixie gulped, reliving the memory of the Pride's adventure deep within the Ruins of Museo. Their battle against the giant skeleton had been something she tried to forget about it ever since.
It would have been easy to give into fear and desperation, and if she was being honest then Trixie was close to it. But seeing her friends fight on so hard gave her the determination and will to keep on trying too. Even if her attacks ultimately did little to help stop this thing, she still had to fight! They were the Pride! It's what they did!
Lifting up her uzis again, Trixie once more pressed forward the attack alongside Dylan's laserfire and Aria's knife throws.
That wasn't all however, not when it was reinforced by Syed and Lute's attacks. The Electromage wasted no time in magnetically lifting up another large chunk of the previous metal walkway and flinging it forwards through the air, aimed towards the towering sand monster's face and the shoulder which the Masked Man Grant rode upon.
And it was all of that together which was then bolstered by Lute's next attack, following the siphoning of all the sound that had been within the room. Even Selan's own strength imbuing singing fell mute to her comrades, instead absorbed and amplified into a single, devastating attack from the virtuoso. Coupled altogether, the result was a whirling tornado of pure, white magic that streaked straight ahead towards the giant sand golem's chest. Everything that had been in its path, from Aria's knives to Trixie's bullets and Dylan and Xandra's laser fire, and the chunk of metal walkway Syed had been throwing, were all propelled with blinding speed directly towards where Grant and his sand monster stood.
The result was phenomenal.
The collisions that peppered across the sand monster's body was tantamount to a series of explosions. It quivered and recoiled, with wild flurries of sand bursting out in every possible direction. To everyone watching it seemed to appear certain that such a devastating strike would have destroyed it and yet… it held. In mid collapse the giant behemoth of sand's fall stopped, its giant body once more rising and regenerating from the near endless supply of sand that littered the entire room. Lute's attack had been so close to destroying it… but Grant's will of control was better.
Atop the giant's shoulder, Grant once more simply stared down at the Pride below. Despite his expression being rendered invisible to everyone watching, there was little doubt knowing what he was feeling.
Faltering after his herculean effort, Lute stumbled forwards and toppled over, caught only by Tobi. Without pause, Tobi started to carry the virtuoso backwards towards where Selan waited, hoping to move his friend out of the way of danger before Grant could retaliate.
But such retaliation came far too quickly.
A giant fist of sand swept down to pound down atop Tobi and Lute. The two men looked up in terror, so huge was the fist and so swift did it attack that there was no possible way they could dodge it…!
"Oh no you don't!!" Another giant fist met the sand monster's pummelling it into disintegration. Standing amidst the Pride was now another giant, terrifying monster, albeit one not quite as huge as Grant's beast of sand was. It was, however, much more solid then Grant's beast of fine sand.
Stepping forwards, Cole's body, now transformed into his giant Golem's form moved to meet Grant's monster in mortal combat.
Meanwhile, on the ground, behind Grant's giant monster…
"Marcus!" Racing across the sand, Estelle hurried as quickly as she could towards the slumbering mage rested inside the safe cocoon Dylan had conjured for him. Whilst Lute's attack had not been enough to entirely destroy Grant's summoning, it did enough to help blast Marcus out from its center!
