The Legend of Heroes II: Trials by the Light

[Rapidfire]

Drych Lake

Of all the attacks in the world, the last one Quentin had expected from Marcy was a bop on the head from one of her pugil sticks before she gave her a shove off the side of the ship. Tobi came running across the deck just in time to see Quentin plummet right over the rail and hit the water with a hefty splash.

Gotta go with the flow.

Quentin assumed Marcy was simply being daft and reckless in her attack, because no good could come of shoving a water mage into water. With the force of an avenging angel, Quentin rocketed out of the lake at the head of a twirling column of water, somewhat similar to Rhoden. This time, the mage was ready to rumble. She was not quite sure how those stupid sticks worked, but Quentin was certain that those were what was responsible for making her ill during the not-quite football match earlier and again on the deck only a few minutes prior.

KABOOM!

Gramps had just blown the Pride's other boat to kindling. Quentin bit her lip; she was not sure what state the others were in after that attack and she wanted to rush to their side to get them out of the water, in case they were not good swimmers. On the other hand, she knew that hesitating on any offensive with Marcy mad as a wet hen would be fumbling the initiative, and those dang sticks had to go.

Even as Quentin thought this, her eyes made contact with Marcy's. Quentin glanced quickly at Tobi, yelling, "Get her!" With that, Quentin closed her eyes. The tiny water cyclone supporting the mage petered out and collapsed back into the lake. Gravity exacted its toll, shoving Quentin back into the lake with another resounding splash. Underwater once again, Quentin looked about to see the floating chunks of ice on the surface. She did some quick estimations of distance and height in her head. Nobody down here was going to bother her for a bit, so she concentrated, eyes closed, and then jabbed two fingers forward.

Above decks, a fast-moving wave, a little short of the height to crest the deck, erupted from the lake and surged toward the Spa's ship, poised to deliver a drenching punch to anyone in its path. Before she ran out of air, Quentin broke the surface, emerging like Aphrodite from the foam, and followed up by rising on a spray of lake water, cracking two long water whips in her hand in the direction of a certain pugilist cashier.

 

[Bunanigans]

Drych Lake

Bit by bit, the world became darker. She was sinking, deep, deep, deep into the depths. The water felt cold against her burning skin, pressing down upon her from all directions. Probably a decent metaphor for her late teens, really. She could see something yellow and ragged floating away, blurring as it went. Her life jacket, that she had ruined just handling the thing. Everything hurt, she didn't know what way was up, she was confused as hell, and she couldn't swim.

And then she felt a hand firmly grasp at her wrist, even this far down. Alien in shape but familar in movement, her bound partner pulled her up...

"Wow Gramps, you're brutal!" Tau gasped from his position manning the cannons, half from admiration and half from fear. "Are you sure you weren't trying to kill them?! Some of them aren't coming up..." He thought for a moment. He hoped they were okay, but... "Hey, could you teach me?!"

Meanwhile, Marcy rolled her eyes as Quentin aimed another attack. Huh, he must have slipped off the ice and into the water. She would almost consider it a misjudgement, were it not for a certain ally of hers.

An ally who arose from the water in another column, steepling his index fingers together before bringing them both down before himself. And in doing so, thanks to the connection he maintained through his submerged lower body, he outright cut Quentin's wave in half right from under his feet.

"Guilders are quite the livewires, I'd say," Rhoden smirked. Upon closer inspection, it could be seen that he too had some mild burn and scald marks on his skin - it wasn't just the Pride who were caught up in the electromage's accident. However, Rhoden had the luxury of being further away, and therefore got a smaller dose of it. "Leave this one to me, Marcy dear."

He let himself fall down, rapidly bearing down upon Quentin with that increadible speed. He flashed through his defenses in the blink of an eye, grabbing a hold of Quentin and plunging them both into the water, and the whirlpool which now existed within it. While he had no intention of getting any of them killed either, he did quite like the idea of scaring this cocky one something silly.

Marcy smirked in return, turning her attention instead back to Estelle. No, let's mix this up a little. "Tau, let me take the cannons," she called, and as much a Tau was very clearly not keen on the idea the pair swapped. However, she held one pugil stick behind her, spinning it towards Tau. While to a much more experianced fighter like Estelle, Tau was clearly broadcasting his every move... what she would not expect was for his staff to suddenly extend mid-strike, increasing his range. Hopefully he could get a solid hit in, and get that ring in there.

Plus the cannons suited her far more. She bent over flashing that fiiiiine ass of hers and aimed for Jett and Lute.

Finally, there was an almighty spluttering as Syed eventually resurfaced, dragging Moira along with him. It was amazing what a childhood of excessively harsh family bootcamps ran by your neurotic military father could instill in a person. That wasn't what bothered him though, as as soon as he was sure Moira once more had a hold of the ice he managed to crawl back onto it in exhaustion, hurting all over himself thanks to the scalds and the laser, collapsing into a bit of a fetal position. "I'm sorry..." he whispered through gritted teeth, his eyes completely obscured by his sodden fringe. "...I-!"

"It was only a matter of time!" called out a smug voice above them all. Moira looked up through stinging, blurry eyes, only to see... her. Penelope. Riding her staff like it was a godsdamned broomstick on halloween. Her expression had changed though, from that disconnected serene look to one much more serious. "Electric attacks are prohibited! Penalty!" She clicked her fingers. She had something in mind for this lanky arsehole.

A purple glow encapsulated the electromage... and quite suddenly he was a small giraffe, it all it's ungainly glory. Not the best place for one, admittedly.

As Moira felt that familiar, soothing golden glow wash over her courtesy of Amy, she knew one thing. She had enough.

 

[Pachamac]

Drych Lake: Spa Ship

"No, see, look! Some of them are surfacing! They're alive!" Gramps pointed with a toothy grin as Jett and Lute surfaced the water, the former dragging the latter back to the island of ice surrounding the spa team's ship. "Give ol'Gramps some credit, willya?" The older man said to Tau, laughing some more. "I have delicate precision and control over everything! Including almost blasting people to bits! Gyahaha!"

Gramps didn't have much more time to survey his handiwork, as other matters aboard the Spa ship's deck demanded his attention. From Nani's predicament with Harvey Jr impending, and Quentin's attempt to hit Marcy with a watery slap that was repelled by Rhoden, there was certainly a lot of lively action occurring up here. No less so then the spunky redhead Estelle, who drew her sheathed sword up in the air like a club and screamed towards him, Tau and Marcy. Spinning her pugil sticks and shaking that fine rear of hers from side to side, Marcy first led Estelle's attention towards herself, before Tau sprung up in front to block the Pride's leader from attacking. As Marcy worked on aiming one of the cannons nearest to her towards Jett and Lute below, she neglected to remember a certain other member of the Pride bearing at her from behind.

Tobi.

He had failed to defend Quentin in time, but that was a failure he had no intention of repeating. Thanks to Estelle's loud screaming, Marcy had overlooked him… a mistake she would come to regret, when Tobi slammed his ring down atop her, trapping her completely!

But his charge from behind came to a sudden, sputtering stop as he noticed something out of the corner of his eye below him. A certain, familiar doggy simply sitting there, panting, and watching him. Tobi almost fell over himself as he came to a stop in front of Jasper, glaring at the small puppy below him. His chance had failed.

"Geez, doggy!" Tobi bemoaned. "You couldn't have parked your butt somewhere els-"

Tobi's sentence couldn't be finished, as a particular sensation of pressure was felt around his shoulderblade. His entire body seized up uncontrollably, with Tobi unable to move a single part of his body, other then have his fingers involuntarily twitch. He was locked in confusion, unable to understand what was happening, and unable to register why it felt oddly… pleasant?

Gramps stood at his side, his hand on Tobi's shoulders and his fingers positioned in a particular spot above a certain nerve. As an old and wise (and perverted) man, he had many decades of experience in learning, training, teaching and executing his knowledge of the human body. This went from control of his own body's inner energies, his chi or ki, which could be manipulated and released in ways like he had just demonstrated or… knowing the particular weakpoints of a person's body. Points like the one he had just pressed on Tobi.

"Wha… the…?" Tobi tried to stammer, as Gramps threw over a ring atop the genderbent man, which extended to trap him entirely. He toppled and fell to the floor in the same way Trixie had.

"Now now, don't be ashamed," Gramps smiled down at Tobi. "I'm an old, old man and I didn't get to do anything last round. I'm allowed to be broken! Gyahaha!"

 

[Warden]

Drych Lake

At first it seemed like everything was going fine, but then a loud boom resounded from the ship and Lute thought one of the cannons had been activated. Not too bad, right? Wrong. A blinding purple ball hurtled towards them and before he knew it, their team was catapulted from their boat and into the water. Then, more pain? Tingling, fiery. Shocking. Burning.

Everything was cold and blue. Was he underwater? The virtuoso watched as bubbles formed directly above his nose and then jolted upright. Somebody grabbed his hand and pulled him up to a piece of floating wood. "Thanks, Jett," Lute coughed while shaking his head. There were still red spots in his vision, clashing with the cool aqua color of the lake, and his skin burned. How annoying. Jett started screeching and Lute held on to the recruit's collar in case he drowned himself. "We have to keep moving," the virtuoso said, his eyes narrowed at the Spa's ship in the distance. There were still flecks of ice mooring the destroyer in place, but seeing how they had no boat anymore… The best hope they had was to K.O. everyone in that ship and steal it for themselves. Easier said than done though, especially since they had someone who could make gigantic orbs of power.

Rhoden was distracted, so the ice stopped spinning. "Let's go!" Lute pulled himself up- ow- and ran with much difficulty past a giraffe Syed. His tender skin howled with every step he made against the frozen water, but thankfully Amy was healing them as he went. As he got closer to the destroyer he saw that one of the swivels was pointed precariously in their direction. "Ohhhh wonderful, just wonderful," Lute complained in a voice that just screamed 'tired of this shit' as he dove to the side. The blow never came, though? After a few moments of waiting for death to boom out of the cannon, the virtuoso sighed and continued rocketing towards the ship, zigzagging to and fro to give his attacker some confusion.

 

[Rapidfire]

Drych Lake

"Oh..." was all that could escape the water mage's lips before Rhoden slammed into her like a tonne of bricks. Taken by surprise as she was, Quentin was unprepared to submerge under the lake's waters once again. A thousand tiny bubbles escaped her nose and mouth under the surface, tickling against Rhoden's cheeks. Since she had no idea what Rhoden's intentions were, and the two of them were swirling about in a whirlpool after all, Quentin momentarily panicked and began struggling. More air escaped the mage's lungs. Dizziness began to cloud her brain. It was a dizziness unlike Marcy's handiwork; this was an out-of-body kind of dizziness, like Quentin could not believe this was happening to her. She flailed, wrestling with her swimmer opponent, who still had that damn smug look on his stupid face.

The vortex was now twirling her around in her struggle. Quentin's limbs started going slack. Every nerve in her body seemed to be alive as she felt the oxygen deprivation take hold. She knew she had to get air, even just for a second. What could she do? Rhoden had no reason to give up the attack. Her legs thrashed. Her lungs were burning. She imagined her eyes looked like they were about to bug out of her head. She gagged and more water poured into her mouth and nose. Her arms waved frantically.

Effort without struggle

Choking under the water, Quentin sure wished she knew how to apply that thought right now. It was not like the spa owner was going to give her any room to breathe down here. Her eyes widened. One chance. She had to do it now.

She grabbed the man by the ears and pulled his face forward. She then put her mouth to his and inhaled a lungful of air. Hopefully, he would still respect her in the morning. That still did not resolve the two of them in the spinning whirlpool but it was better than drowning.

 

[Capt. Blu]

Cuttersbury: Drych Lake Spa- At the lake!


Nani pouted when Syed denied her plan. Of course, she didn't expect the tall mage to have his own devious plans. "Heh, clever clever. You sir, get a point for that." The tides weren't turning for them all that much, so they needed a new plan. Unfortunately there were none, besides her all of a sudden being tossed like a toy onto the ship. Moira's strength was ridiculous, and yet so cool!

There were a few things wrong. Her teammates were starting to be counted out meaning the Spa team was close to winning, Harvey Jr. was coming at her, and that referee Varren still had a ridiculous outfit. "Of all the spa..." Nani stepped back, lightly kicking Trixie back so she rolled away and then put her hands up. "Aye, sport I don't think that many rings are quite necessary... Let's be reasonable, eh?" Obviously that wasn't going to work, so she did the next best thing. Nani darted off. If she got too close to him, she'd be trapped.

Fortunately, the rings that he did throw, Captain wasn't too far behind to knock them off course- or at least squawk at Nani in order to get her to duck. With one of the rings Cap caught, he decided to fly over Marcy and try dropping over her head while she wasn't paying attention.

"Err, oi, your girlfriend is in need of saving! She could drown ya know!" Nani tried her best to sound convincing- and hopefully get Harvey to focus on someone else besides her. And with the brief distraction, she could grab a ring and get him out the game.

 

[Fox of Hearts]

Drych Lake - Where's Marcus?

The shadowy patches appeared from above. Doomsday! Jett sucked in his breath and urged Lute to move faster. Impatiently he gave his white haired friend's wrist a sharp pull. Lute slipping on the ice caused the two of them to go into a tailspin. As they spun crazily in their scream-filled tango, the in-coming floats were knocked away. The girls slammed into the side of the Spa Ship then fell. Somehow the virtuoso landed up seated on Jett's stomach. The latter burst out laughing. Tears were literally streaming down his cheeks. Dyn! That had to be their closest most heart-stopping moment today. Those floats – gosh – those floats were almost the end of them. Someone above must love them!

"You know! A blast or bang would be good."

Lute's eyes lit-up and Jett feared for his soul. Still being the new recruit he was more than happy to oblige. He whipped out of his yo-yo and flung the disk as far as he could. The weighted end wrapped firmly round the opening of one of the lower cannons. Soon the string grew taunt and he wrapped his arms around Lute's waist. The whiplash rebound catapulted both lasses skyward at a 35-degree angle. Just as they passed the mid-way of the ship Jett tugged his yo-yo back to him and swung it out again. This time he snagged the cannon Marcy had been firing at them. The daredevil smirked.

"Go go Luty!"

 

[Pachamac]

Drych Lake

As the remaining pieces of the Pride's broken ship swayed atop the surface of the lake alongside small chunks of wafting ice, all of the Pride bar one had resurfaced and pulled themselves atop the ice mooring the Spa's larger ship. As Lute and Jett struggled against incoming shots of rings from Marcy's cannon, Moira and Syed had to contend with Penelope's penalty – transforming the poor, guilt wracked electromage into, of all things, a giraffe! Was there any limits to the woman's magic or cruelty at all? Moira, now oblivious to the antics of her friends or anything else, was consumed in a bout of screaming and swearing at the staff riding Penelope, shouting obscenity after obscenity until a calm voice from behind her stopped her.

"Easy, Moira," Marcus' gentle voice called out, and she turned to see the well endowed Marcus lift himself out of the cold water and onto the ice. "We need to keep our heads about ourselves, and from there we'll be able to win."

"Bah." Moira spat. "She pisses me off."

"Hahaha." Marcus laughed, as a gentle golden glow washed over him, courtesy of the distant spell casting Amy.

As the antics aboard the stalled Spa ship continued, Amy and Aria, in the Pride's remaining ship, were actually moving as quietly as they could towards the finish line. After all, the rules of the game were to not only ring the entire opposition, but cross the finish line as well. The duo trusted their friends to be able to accomplish the first part, as they took care of the second. They also couldn't risk getting too close to the others and having their boat destroyed as well. To help cover them, Aria threw up an illusion about them, rendering them completely invisible should anyone look in their direction. Hopefully that would work.

"Let's wipe the smirk off her face and win this, shall we?" Marcus smiled, closing his eyes and concentrating his magic. The ends of his robes began to flutter from the wind generated by his channelling, growing faster and faster the more his concentrated power grew. Until, suddenly…

Moira, Syed and Marcus were lifted off the ice, flying through the air from a gigantic gust of concentrated wind erupting beneath their feet. From behind, Jett and Lute were blasted forwards by another gust of wind from Marcus, so that all five members rocketed towards the deck. All of them landed atop the Spa ship's deck, the majority on their feet, Lute predictably on his derrier, to a stunned and disbelieving Marcy. One second the Spa team had stolen the advantage against the Pride who were attacking them and now… now the numbers were definitely against them!

"See? Gyahaha. Toldya I didn't kill them." Gramps laughed, cracking his knuckles and limbering up his body to face the oncoming challenge. By his feet, Jasper stood ready to battle as well, one ring in his mouth, his tail wagging determinedly from side to side. Marcy cautiously stepped backwards to create space between them, his pugil sticks already twirling in her hands.

---

"Ugh!" Estelle grunted, as a strengthened Tau came upon her. Estelle raised her sheathed sword up, ready to parry against the young man, but didn't anticipate what was to happen next:- the youth's staff extending, hitting Estelle with a solid whack from a distance she had assumed she'd be safe in. Estelle's body toppled with the hit to her shoulder, and recoiled in the other direction after Tau spun and smacked Estelle from the other side. Twirling his staff about so that its movements were a flurry, Tau centered his ground and thrust his staff forwards, in a stabbing motion aimed as Estelle's chest. He scored another solid hit, and with it Tau's confidence began to grow.

Until he discovered he couldn't pull the staff back. He tried tugging it a number of times, but simply… couldn't.

"Er…"

"You." Tau yelped as he saw Estelle's angry eyes lift up from the ground to stare daggers at him. With the end of Tau's staff pressed against her chest, Estelle had, with her free hand, caught it. With her newly gained muscle from her transformation aiding her, Estelle was willing to bet that Tau wouldn't be able to pull the staff free from her. In fact, with a yank from Estelle on the staff pulling it towards her, and Tau with it, he'd be lucky if he didn't lose his weapon and footing entirely! "I have had about enough of you, you little punk!!"

---

Meanwhile, on the remaining spot of the Spa ship's deck, the contest between Harvey Jr and Nani continued. With Nani fleeing from the large, more muscular Harvey, the only tactic really available to the pirate was one that came naturally to all good seabound dogs – duplicity. Nani's call, of Harvey Jr's girlfriend being in danger, did the trick in making him stop, and be left completely confused by the comment. Girlfriend? What girlfriend? And danger? What danger?

He didn't understand any of these things, but nevertheless he turned around to look over the side of the ship, and try to find an answer to it. He just blinked, at the calm waters below.

And that, was Nani's chance to strike.

From behind, she lunged at Harvey Jr, swinging her lifering down at Harvey Jr's head, capturing him just as she expected…!

Except the life float got stuck against his shoulders and didn't really cover his waist as it was meant to. Harvey Jr, being a big lad, was simply just a bit too big for the float to cover. Harvey Jr and Nani locked eyes for a moment, blinking at each other and staring in dumbfounded silence. Were there different sized rings, or was this another Spa cheat, or… what? Neither knew.

Then the ring extended and cut off Harvey Jr's vision, even if it failed to cover his body. He flailed from the sudden blinding, his arms swinging round and round like a windmill. He stumbled back and tripped, banging his head on the floor. He didn't move after.

Nani looked over the still body, wondering if this was really a victory or not, and if the giant ox would get back up again.

 

[Bunanigans]

Drych Lake - Whirlpool (Rhoden vs Quentin)

For the first time in the last two days, a completely new expression crossed Rhoden's features. Not smug, not laid back, not overall calm or relaxed or anything of the sort. No, it was a different look altogether.

Suprise. As an involuntary action he pushed Quentin away with all his might, the water creating a jet to his whim and shooting the feminine-bodied mage out of the water and high into the air. Rhoden chocked a little as he pushed himself up to the surface for a lungful of air himself. Damn, he was a married man! Windowshopping is fine, but this certainly wasn't! And Pen... Pen was going to kill him. Or worse.

His eyes focused on the ship, where now pretty much all of the Pride members had congregated by now. Damn, things were getting hairy. He quickly arose from the waters, water covering his entire body up to his neck - a thick column supporting his height, and a thick water whip extending over each arm. He'll just wash everyone off the ship. Lift the Spa team back on. Sorted.

In his somewhat muted fluster he hadn't even realised where Quentin had gone.

---

Drych Lake - Spa Ship (Marcy vs Lute and Jett)

"What?!" Marcy exclaimed, watching as pretty much everyone descended upon the ship. She grit her teeth and held her pugil sticks before her, keeping a couple of the rings hooked over an arm where it wouldn't trigger it's mechanisms. At this point she needed to change tactics. Focusing on Lute and Jett, she simply seemed to... stand down.

"You got me, sweeties," she crooned, putting her hands into the air. "Come and get me!" She winked, looking as confident as ever, with a sweet pose to boot. She simply watched with a smile as Jett picked up a ring, cautiously stepping towards her...

She moved, ducking under his arms to smack Jett around the back of his head with a stick. With the other she immediately began twirling at Lute, dizzying the virtuoso. She removed the ring from her arm, throwing it forward to ring him out.

Meanwhile, Jett would find that his ring had in fact hit home, it falling past someone's shoulders as he stumbled. Unfortunately, it was the wrong someone, as Jett soon found himself being assaulted by a horrifying aura of berserker rage from a certain pale-eyed bearded lady. Not really a lady at this point, but details.

"WHAT THE EVERLASTIN' FUCK ARE YER DOIN'?!" Moira boomed as she found her arms snatched to her sides and tightly bound by the ring. Oh boy. She was mad.

---

(Tau vs Estelle)

Tau found himself in a bit of a dilemma. Welp. He stumbled forward as Estelle snatched his staff, although try as he might he couldn't stop the stick from being torn from his hands. Nope. No thank you very much but he was outta here. As soon as his next foot come down on the deck he pushed, jumping up in the air and over the swordsman's head. Agility was his thing, it'll get him out of this. It always did.

What he wasn't expecting was for her to snatch him clean out of the air and slam him back into the ground. Winded, all he could do was make a protesting coughing noise before he found a ring forced firmly over his head. And with that, he too was out. So this was what fighting a Guilder was like...

"Hey... at least I got a couple of hits in!" Tau grinned, flashing those sparkling pearly whites again.

---

Finally, among the havoc stumbled a female giraffe. It's legs slipped this way and that, it's tiny hooves and high centre of gravity just not being particularly well equipped for a life on the seas. Or even five minutes. Or thirty seconds. Or however long this spell would last, since Pen fustratingly didn't say.

Nonetheless a guilt-ridden Syed stumbled onwards using his even greater than usual height advantage to take a good scope of the situation. And how much he really fancied a salad right now. Gramps. Gramps was the dark horse of this fight. Ordinarily he'd focus him, especially as he felt he had to make up for electrocuting pretty much half of his friends, although as a giraffe he had no idea how. He had never seen a giraffe, he had no idea what they even did. Other than eat delicious salads. Probably.

It didn't matter either way, as he attempted to turn this great gangly and ungainly body around, his legs flying everywhere and threatening to knock pretty much everybody standing anywhere near him... he lost his balance and fell over. Right by Jasper.

He wasn't having a good day.[/hr][/hr][/hr]

 

[Rapidfire]

Drych Lake

For the second time in the span of maybe five minutes, Rhoden had knocked Quentin around like a pinball. Quentin shot through the air, limbs flailing wildly, trying to get off this merry-go-round of unexpected flight. Being airborne was hardly her specialty and it showed by the graceless way her arms and legs floundered frantically like a bug that had been stepped on. Of course, what goes up must come down, and when gravity looked up from its newspaper and saw one water mage reaching the peak of her flight, it prodded her downwards again. She spun around, able to see the lake drawing so much closer. She did not even have time to formulate a plan for re-entry.

SPLASH

This was getting crazy. Quentin bobbed up to the surface, disgorging water from her mouth and nose. She took a moment to clear her head and take stock of what was happening. For one thing, she was quite certain, delirium of momentary oxygen deprivation aside, that she could see a small, mopey giraffe. In general, though, there was a lot of chaos on the ship. For another, Quentin felt wiped out. Even if the fight on the deck was going well, she was not sure how much she could contribute to it at this point. Exhorting her limbs to coordinate with one another, she swam slowly to the large ice floe mooring the Spa ship and climbed on top of it. She stood quickly, the frozen water chilling her hands to the bone, and looked up at the ship. She touched her left hand to her right shoulder and rotated her arm, working out some kinks.

Quentin mustered enough strength to get a spout of water going, enough to boost her up to the rail. Shaky hands clutched the rail and she scrabbled over the side. Yeah, she was definitely out of steam. She could see Marcus nearby, and an idea sparked in her head.

"Marcus!" Quentin called. "Keep it chill!"

With the last ounce of her strength, she splashed around some water on the deck at Marcy's feet. Quentin was not quite sure what Marcus's talent was at ice magic, but rooting the pugilist to the spot with frost would definitely make things easier.

 

[Warden]

Drych Lake

A blast or a bang? How about both? Both is good. Hell, Delilah could do better than that. Lute's mind was suddenly filled to the brim with all sorts of nefarious schemes the familiar concocted on the go. Of course, he didn't pay her any attention seeing that he was too busy spinning around with Jett. They even ended up falling, the virtuoso, as fate would have it, planting all of his weight on the poor recruit's stomach. Hope his intestines weren't crushed. He was distracted by the sudden touch on his side since that was a tickle spot and before he even knew what was happening, the two of them were up in the air and a gale buffeted them further into the ship's deck, where Lute's supposedly triumphant entrance was ruined by him falling on his face.

"Ughhhhh, grand. Lovely. I think I broke my nose," Lute grumbled as he stood up. He missed Jett's cue, darn it. There went the element of surprise and all that hullaballoo. Anyway, that lady from earlier… She was the one fighting Aria, right? She relaxed her stance as soon as she saw them, but the virtuoso wasn't taking any chances until everybody on the opposite team had at least one ring wrapped around their bodies. Yes, even including the adorable little doggy. Jett rushed forward to trap Marcy but she, quick as a viper, outmaneuvered him and moved towards Lute. He suddenly felt nauseous as he watched her twirl that weird designer stick. Wait, was there three of her now? Ugh. "Don't get me wrong, you're pretty. But uh, stop moving. Please? Or I'm gonna barf all over your shoes," he groaned then held a hand to his forehead, the dramatic gesture coincidentally saving him from the ring their saucy opponent had thrown earlier. It did clip the side of his head, though, so points to Marcy.

Good think Moira came into the picture, because that was what spurred Delilah into action. With the virtuoso's already miniscule sense of direction and balance compromised, it was up to her to provide Marcy's correct coordinates! As Lute bent over with his hands on his knees, gagging, the berserker's voice boomed all over the ship… and then vanished without a trace as it roared past Jett's boundary. Not even a single echo for a small fraction of a second, like the small area where the virtuoso's team were in was suddenly covered by a thick felt. "Straight ahead, watch out for the rope on the floor. Got it!" Lute suddenly raised his head and charged at the pugilist, straight up jumping over the thick rolls of twine on the floor and tackling poor Marcy.

 

[Fox of Hearts]

Drych Lake – Sorry Moira! Don't kill meeeeeeeee

"I …."

His lips flapped about uselessly then the words returned. Only the tail "-ise" could be heard. Eh? He shifted his focus back to the supposed 2-on-1. Marcy smirked as she continued twirling her batons tauntingly. He tensed his shoulders as he prepared to pitch his yo-yo at her.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?"

He felt the floor tilt and this time he skidded to the right. Woah! His palm came into contact with the damp woodened deck as he tried to steady himself. Too late! A few small wobbles later the deck dipped to the other side and Jett stumbled hand and legs towards the left. His hazy mind struggled to make sense of the contradicting information. Here he was slipping and sliding everywhere but there just in front of him was that lady. Both her feet were firmly planted on the deck as she swayed her hips. He blamed those pixy sticks. Those damn rods!

"Twoooooooooooo," Jett skated to the right, "can plaaaaaaay."

He swerved violently to the right again in response to the oncoming leftward tumble. His yo-yo shot pass Marcy's arm. Ha! His plan was about – oh LUTEY! The impact brought Marcy careening straight at him. Jett's brown eyes widened in horror as his trusty weapon came looping back. The out-of-control disk twisted round the squished trio to form a snug string cocoon. A crimson blush crossed the poor man's face when he realized he was chest-to-chest with the pugilist with no wiggle room in-between.

 

[Pachamac]

Drych Lake: Spa Ship

Gramps watched with a furrowing brow as Jett and Lute descended upon Marcy, the two newly turned women charging at his oh so fine coworker without a single drop of hesitation or guilt at the thought of battling two against one… and with both of them seemingly willing to forget him as well as they did. Now, that simply wasn't fair.

Before Gramps could take a step forward to intervene, the chaotic din of the other battles raging across the ship's deck stole his attention. From the poor lad Tau's defeat at the hands of Estelle, and the large viking's inadvertent capture from the rookie Jett (Moira's subsequent toppling and fall sent a quake about the ship, and sent the large Guilder rolling into Trixie) to a giant gangly giraffe prancing about, Gramps honestly did not know what to make of things. Not at all.

And then he saw his own grandson lose to that strange young man with the parrot… and a burning rage ignited within Gramps' own heart. No, he needed to take charge of the situation right away and do what he could to stop this all at once!!

Gramps' eyes, flashing with intensity, shifted towards the snugly tight trio of Jett, Lute and Marcy, trapped by the taut string of Jett's yo-yo. For Jett, being so close to a woman like Marcy in a situation like this was enough to turn the youthful rookie bright red, even if he himself was already a woman by now. Lute, in contrast, was less embarrassed and more annoyed by the whole affair. Unlike Jett, he had seen enough of women, and been squeezed by them like this at the Red Parasol that this particular circumstance wasn't as embarrassing. Marcy on the other hand… of course, she wasn't bothered. If anything, having her face pressed up so close to Jett like this made her smile at seeing the way he squirmed and fidgeted, trying to avoid eye contact. She was frustrated that she couldn't move or use her sticks, but if it meant the other two couldn't either…

Suddenly, the cashier's ears perked up, and as she craned her neck as best she could to turn and face Gramps, her eyes widened in horror and surprise… at the particular way in which Gramps' whole body was flaring up with his aura again. Charging his chi yet again… and in a way Marcy had seen too many times before. She braced herself to move backwards at the right time.

Suddenly, a tremendous gale surged forwards from Gramps, as he thrusted his right arm out and hit the trapped trio with a powerful wave of energy. To Jett's horror, the string of his yo-yo was destroyed, disintegrated by the wave. But that… that wasn't the only thing at all. For to his and Lute's horror, they found that whatever Gramps was doing, whilst it wasn't hurting them like his earlier charged attack had on their boat… this one was disintegrating more then just Jett's yo-yo!

"Oh gosh no." Lute spoke, as the intensity of Gramps' violet light engulfed them, erupting in a bright, violet explosion.

From the pink smoke that wafted up in the air from the aftermath of Gramps' attack, Marcy's body emerged, back stepping as she could. Parts of her clothing were torn and scraped away, hanging in places by the barest thread. It was only thanks to seeing Gramps do this particular skill before that she knew to avoid it, but even so…

"A bit of warning next time would be nice!" She smacked the old man about the head.

As Gramps nursed his throbbing head, the smoke from his attack began to slowly clear, and there standing before him and everyone else was Jett and Lute… completely unharmed by the attack.

But also very much completely naked.

Gramps' class wasn't 'Perverted Masseur' for nothing!

"Ooh la la~" Marcy cooed, the smoke still barely covering the two ladies dignity… for now. Picking up and twirling two of the life rings the participants were meant to trap the other team with, she grinned at the helpless Guilders. "I have something here that can help cover your modesty… wa, ahh!"

Suddenly, Marcy slipped over and landed on her back, smacking her head on the ship's deck. At her feet was a pool of ice, that had first been generated by Quentin and then finished by Marcus. Gramps turned and looked towards the two ladies, shaking his head. He saw two more targets for his destructo ray!!

 

[Capt. Blu]

Cuttersbury: Drych Lake Spa- At the lake!


Harvey was down and out! Well, she thought so... "Alright!" Nani fist bumped Cap before looking towards the others still in need of assistance. There was Gramps, who looked like nothing but trouble. She didn't have a quick idea to get him to stop. There was also Marcy, but it seemed like Lute was handling her. Actually, the only unattended spa opponent was Rhoden, but Nani couldn't actually reach the water mage at the moment. Everything else ensued from Moira being trapped, Lute, Jett, and Marcy being tangled up, to Gramps once more showing his...capabilities.

"They don't look hurt. But they sure do look...nude. That's some trick he's got there." Nani realized she had been just standing there like an open target and decided to actually do something of use. "Is this where I'm s'pose ta be a gentleman and offer my shirt? I'm sure he'd just blow it it off ya again. And then everyone'd be in the buff. Hold that thought ladies."

She saluted and moved towards Marcy when she fell. Nani scooped up a ring, thanks to them being scattered when Harvey threw a few- along with failed attempts by others. Getting the girl while she was down had to be the easiest thing! Maybe not at all, but it was worth the try right? "Can I just say, you're quite the lass, but I think you should take a break. Wouldn't want to mess up such pretty hair eh? And of course wouldn't want any of these daffy brutes givin ya scars?" Nani wasn't super close, but she was in enough range to easily toss the ring over Marcy's head while she attempted to regain her balance. Of course, if that didn't work, she was fully prepared to grab her sword if another attack ensued.

Cap flew over head, scoping out the scene. He couldn't really help nude humans being nude or humans turned into animals, but he gave help where he could. Particular help was when the pink bird swooped down while Gramps had two more humans in his line of sight. He flew down and obscured the old guys vision, serving as a distraction- but the bird was a pirate still so he made sure his own hide was out of harm's way as well.

 

[Bunanigans]

Drych Lake - Spa Ship

Marcy made a funny noise as she lay on the floor, her head throbbing from the blow. Oh... oh my. Now she was the one seeing double! And she was doing so well too! Or as well as someone could when everything was so chaotic.

It was no matter. She cracked an eye open, catching sight of a particular handsome dark haired man wielding a ring standing just before her. The cute rough and ready girl who spoke quite strangely, her eyes locked on the cashier. Far enough to be out of range for a swift kick in the balls, but close enough to be within easy throwing range.

Well, for anybody who wasn't Marcy.

She sighed theatrically, putting the back of her hand to her forehead. "I know, I know. I can't keep my eyes off myself either!" She winked. In her spare hand, her pugil stick span... and before Nani knew it, Marcy had extended her own range to do just that - a swift kick in the balls. Nani may be a chick, but while she had a male body she would always have this weakness!

Of course, her cockyness would prove to be her own undoing. Marcy attempted to stand up once more, although her feet simply slipped on the ice, this time her falling forwards. ...Right into the ring Nani had just dropped.

Once more she made a squealing noise as the ring coiled around her body and bound her arms to her torso, leaving her lying face down on the floor with just her legs kicking about. She lied about the stripes! They totally weren't in fashion!

That left two members of the Spa team - Gramps and Rhoden. Or... was that three?

---

Syed became aware of an odd, ticklish sensation on his nose. His eyes flickered open, trying to focus on whatever was before him... to find something white, fluffy, fuzzy and completely out of focus before him. And it... it was licking his nose. He made a funny noise, scrunching his face up... then became aware of his body once more shifting back to a much more human form. Although still not quite normal, since he was still missing the Y chromosome and all.

"I bet you think this is just as bonkers as we do," he croaked, thankful that he no longer sounded like an asthmatic cat. He raised a hand to scratch Jasper behind the ear. "You don't happen to know why she's doing all this, do you?"

"Ruff!"

"Haha... shame I can't understand you," Syed laughed as he sat up, only for the expression to be replaced with one of his over-the-top looks of horror at the sight of Jett and Lute. Oh Vayu what?! He instinctively cringed, throwing his hands before himself defensively, only to get an eyeful of Jasper... throwing the ring over his head.

Never had Sy wore such a look of betrayal.

---

Meanwhile, Gramps continued to charge his newest chi blast. What kind of nonsense was this?! Gods knew what was going through poor Lute and Jett's minds right now. And now with Quentin and Marcus in the firing line, it looked like the chain of disaster was only going to continue. Something had to be done! Like what Captain was trying to do!

Which was why Moira charged - bound and all - and rammed Marcus out of the way and onto the floor. Syed found himself jolted across the floor by their curse. She was too far from Gramps, although she slipped just before she managed to reach Quentin.

Bless those bazookas!

[/hr][/hr]

 

[Rapidfire]

Drych Lake

Quentin was barely able to process what had transpired before her eyes. There was a boom and then there was smoke...and then Jett and Lute were naked?

"Nice..." said Quentin, despite herself. Well hey, just because she was dudette in body didn't mean she was totally dudette in spirit too! But now that she stopped and thought about it, that left her with a lot of funny feelings and she was not sure how to answer all of these questions.

Then she remembered where she was and assumed a fighter stance. Marcy was still on the move and she was not the best news she had heard all day. Luckily, Marcus understood her meaning and froze the water at the cashier's feet, causing her to take a tumble. She was snared by Nani's ring. A quick survey of the deck showed Harvey Jr down for the count, too.

Quentin pumped her fist excitedly at the thought. Or, at least, she would have done, but she was so exhausted from the day's events already that what she managed to do was form a fist and then slump onto her rump. If only she could muster up a bit more strength...

Still, she got to smirk victoriously at the immobilised Marcy. That babe had it coming.

And then she felt a disturbance in the air. Her eyes flashed over to Gramps, who was charging his chi. Time seemed to slow down as Moira, out of practically nowhere, rushed Marcus and knocked the wind mage out of the line of fire, leaving Quentin standing there like a deer in headlights. She barely had the strength to run, and where would she even run to? She was not about to jump off the ship again. She would never make it in time if she rushed the old man and tried to take him down. She barely had the strength to stand right now.

Go with the flow.

Abruptly, Quentin turned on her heel and stuck out her posterior, waving it in Gramps's direction. She gave it a firm smack and said, "You want to see this shake for you? Come on! Show me how bad you want it!"

She really kind of hoped, whether she ended up denuded or not, that someone took advantage of Gramps being distracted and ringed him out of the competition too.

 

[Warden]

Drych Lake

Landing on his face? Just as expected. Getting entangled with a lady? No problem. To be fair, the latter happened almost every day back at Thaum, so there was no need to feel all weird about it. Seriously though! "Jett! What were you thinking!? We almost had her!" Lute hissed and tried to wiggle out of the trap. Sure he didn't feel bad about getting wrapped with Marcy and Jett, but that didn't mean he felt good about it either. Unfortunately, the yo-yo that looked pretty useless and fragile at the start had a much stronger string than any of them could have expected; whatever efforts there were to break free of the ties were useless. So, Gramps capitalized on this opportunity and attacked! The old man did that bright violet thingy again and Lute fully expected to get blasted a thousand miles away. Adverse to his expectations, Gramps opted for a more… subtle assault.

"Okay, that was cold. Literally," the virtuoso coughed and tried to fan away the smoke as the light faded away. Goosebumps started to break out all over his arms and he rubbed his hands together. It was suddenly cold and windy. Who knew energy ball grandpa could control temperature as well!? He was suddenly reminded by the fact that he could move enough to have brought his hands together, and so glanced down to see where the string went. Was it cut off? Where was Marcy? The haze cleared and he was able to see the woman… and other additional parts he really didn't want to.

"What the frick, lady! Keep your bits to yourself! Damn it! Is this some sort of- whoa whoa whoa, what!?" Yep, he found out soon enough that what little clothing was left over the pugilist was far better than his current state. Lute's next emotions and reactions could be plainly narrated in a staccato headline: Blind panic. Screaming in an extremely high-pitched voice. Denial. The virtuoso was soon as red as a lobster as he tried to hide whatever should be hidden from public view… and failing. "You… You fiend! Sexual offender!"

Let's just say Gramps got a lot of objects thrown his way one after another; a barrel lid, a short piece of rope, a banana, and even a shoe. Marcy's shoe, which the other pair was quickly removed by the virtuoso- with much kicking from the pugilist- and then thrown at poor Gramps. Those things wouldn't probably do much, but that was all Lute could offer in the moment since he was too busy panicking and Delilah was rolling around in laughter.

 

[Fox of Hearts]

Drych Lake - Aboard the Spa Ship

Geez Lute could have signaled or something then none of this would have happened. Grumbling loudly, the recruit attempted to pull away only to find the same woman he and Lute were arguing about moments ago pressing her fat nose against his. He hissed and attempted to bite it when she turned away abruptly. Off in the distance the weird old man's aura started blazing brightly. Soon a violently gale surrounded them shortly before they were enveloped by a thick bright pink smoke.

The cloyingly sweet smell that lingered only annoyed Jett even more. Seriously he can't remember the last time he was this mad. His favourite yo-yo and jacket no longer existed and it was that stupid Gramp's fault. He screeched loudly before charging towards the culprit.

"GIVE THEM BACK!"

Not even the jingling of his hefty bosom could deter the raging recruit as he closed the gap between the two of them. Deftly he dodged the last shoe Lute threw and launched himself at the old coot. Seeing the man block his punches with ease made Jett even more incensed. He reached down to try throttling the jerk when the wrinkly old hands pressed against his naked chest. A huge push made Jett staggered backwards. He landed with his head between the old man's knees.

"COME ON PLAY FAIR!"

A cool watery tendril wrapped firmly round his wrists and hoisted him into the air. He kicked and screamed in protest. Determined to give QT a piece of his mind, Jett turned to glare at his fellow Cuttersbury Guilder only to realize the latter wasn't the one responsible.

 

[Pachamac]

Drych Lake

The air around Gramps' body continued to throb and pulse, the aura surrounding him rising up from and wafting about him, as he renewed his focused chi to prepare another attack, this time against Quentin and Marcus, who stood upon opposite sides of the old man's position. He lifted his arms up, hands focused on both mages, readying his aim as his body continued to charge up his attack more and more. As Cap flew in to try and distract Gramps' attention, the poor bird found it to be in vain – Gramps seemed entirely nonplussed. He didn't need to be able to see where the Guilders were in order in attack them, and even Cap flying in close and pecking at the old man did nothing. If there was going to be a distraction used against him, then it had to be something decidedly more potent then that.

Niether too, did Lute's frantic throwing of objects at him seem to unsettle him. They bounced off Gramps' body, with Marcy's shoe even bonking him on the head, and still the old man didn't move, even as a lump and bruise began to grow. The air around Gramps grew ominous.

As Marcus was thrown to the ground and out of harm's way by Moira, Jett and Quentin had opted for something they hoped would prove more distracting towards the old man. Given everything they had seen so far, if anything was going to work, this was it. Afterall, how could any man resist a completely naked woman charging at him, her assets bouncing in every direction, and another adorable cutie shaking her fine derrier at him? How indeed? Even one as enlightened as Gramps could not resist.

His hands fell from the air, rapidly blocking Jett's attacks with little effort. With a firm hand (and grope) he shoved Jett back, to be snatched by a tendril of water and hoisted into the air from the calculating Rhoden who oversaw everything else happening on the deck from his position at the head of the ship. These Pride members were a tenacious bunch, but they really were out of their league.

"My, my," Gramps said, turning to focus his attention on Quentin, and his still continual swaying from side to side of his rear. "That is indeed a lovely behind to be proud of. Still… who do you take me for?!" The old man shouted, his aura flaring ever greater. "I an enlightened masseur and martial artist! I have been training and honing my spirit for the last ninety years! No butt, even one as lovely and shapeable as yours, is able to defeat me! I cannot be stopped!!"

As the man's shouting grew louder and louder, reaching its own fever pitch, everyone aboard the ship prepared themselves for another blinding flash of violet light to engulf them. But none was to come. Despite his words, Gramps were still fixed completely to the spot, watching Quentin's constant wiggle. As mentioned before… no man could resist something like this. Not even one as enlightened as Gramps.

A trickle of blood ran down his nose.

"God you're annoying!" A loud crack erupted from besides Gramps, from the point where Estelle's sheathed sword swung and smacked him about the head. Gramps went spinning away and crashing into the side of the ship, his aura completely vanishing as the man sat dazed and woozed. Estelle sighed as she leaned back, arms folded over her chest. She had had enough of that old perverted coot! To think he could do what he had to Lute and Jett… just who did he think he was?!

"Ruff!"

Suddenly, a figure jumped in the air and flew across Estelle's back. The next thing she knew, a life ring was around her waist, extending out to wrap her up and snare her. Estelle toppled, falling on the ground, and cursing as she saw Jasper land on the ground, his tail wagging from side to side and another life ring held in his mouth. The little runt! Was what Estelle wanted to think, but she couldn't stay mad at such an adorable puppy like him for long. All hope rested on the others now…

Marcus, Nani, Lute, Quentin and Jett were the only ones on their side atop the Spa ship who hadn't been captured yet, and on the other side was Jasper and… Rhoden.

Rhoden, the man whom everyone had forgotten about until now, thanks to Gramps' outrageous display.

Rhoden, the man whom had Jett trapped and who had untold power coursing about him...

Rhoden, the man who had just concentrated on and focused all of his magic to be able to unleash it at the weak and weary members of the Pride...

 

[Capt. Blu]

Cuttersbury: Drych Lake Spa- At the lake!


Nani raised an eyebrow towards the theatrics Marcy displayed, only for an agonizing pain in her lower body to hit. A rather high pitched and pained yell was all Nani could managed before she realized she had fallen into a fetal position. "You filthy wench! I oughta skin you alive and feed you to a shark!" Nani's threats turned into hissed curses as she laid in fetal position. Sometime in between trying to catch her breath from holding it and hoping the pain would end, she noticed Marcy bound and out. Too bad she couldn't taunt the cashier.

Instead she let out a pained and really short "Ha!" before she was back to her own pained issues. She thought back to if she had ever kicked any guy like that. Nani could only think of one, but in her defense he deserved it. "Only- Only if they deserve it..." No random low blows. A tear or two streamed down her face around the same time Cap rushed to her and stand by her face.

"Nani! Naaaaani! Yer sailor talkin'!"

"Y-Yeah. Guess I was." As much as she didn't want to move, Nani knew that if she laid there, she'd be captured. She was no Moira though, which meant it took her a bit more time to heal and recuperate from such a blow. "Oi, Cap. Fly high and don't get caught, got it? I'll be fine- sorta. Don't need them tryin' ta ring ya...Kay?" Cap listened though quite reluctantly. In the midst of her rolling and laying, she noticed Estelle get captured.

She realized there was only 2 of the spa team left. "Mangy fuzzball and the water guy. Geez." Somehow, she managed to stand- quite tempted to push Marcy off the ship. She found a nearby ring and looked at the dog.

"Well...it's worth a shot." Nani whistled and tossed the ring overboard towards Rhoden. Even if he could block it, she wondered if Jasper would jump ship to catch it. "Oi! Fuzzy, fetch!"

...There was ice by the boat. The dog would be totally fine. Nani was like 75% sure.