The lightning flashed and crackled through the air, blasting against the orb cracking it but not quite managing to destroy it. Vivi looked in despair as she continued to attack knowing from how tired he was now he wouldn’t be likely to get out more than one or two spells... something was wrong with him... however it wasn’t that important at the moment as the creepy doll managed to destroy the gem. A blast of light flying into the air and that odd woman talking again, still his primary concern was his friend. “Freya!” He quickly wiggled his way out of Vincent’s grip and ran over to her kneeling down by her head and gently shaking her.

_________________
I... am plotting something... he he he he...

Frog wasted no time the moment ice began to coat him, four bubbled of water rotated around him as it encased him completely and then abruptly popped. Soon the ice burst off of his body, water rushing around it and coating it. Frog held the Masamune up in the air for a moment as the woman came to attack him. He brought the Masamune down towards the ground sending the torrent of water and ice towards the woman. "You attack me with my own element?" Frog shouted dashing forward behind the mixture of ice and water preparing to strike again. The blade sang as it whisked through the air seeking to meet the woman's spear.

He let out a gasp as Raziel tackled Reis and narrowed his eyes. Frog glanced at the torrent of ice and water he sent towards his enemy as a counter attack. Acting quickly Frog jumped through the air once more cutting through the attack with the Masamune and landing in front of the two of them, the force of Frog's blow causing the attack to diverge and land on either side of them. The tip of the Masamune pointed downwards towards Reis, "Ye cannot win lass." Frog said glaring at her.

_________________

*Pleateau*

Freya looked up at Vivi through the slit in her helmet. "Hello Vivi. I seemed to have caused some trouble." She attempted to rise, then fell back down. "It appears that that gem they forced into my leg supplied me with enough power to offset the draining effect of our transportation. So it seems I will be a burden too you. Who are your comrades?" She moved a little to look at Geno, then Vincent. She smiled weakly and said "Sorry about your arms. I wasn't quite myself."

_________________
Final Fantasy IX was the best Final Fantasy game ever and if you think otherwise you are WRONG!

My fanfiction account. Comments and criticisms are very welcome.

Plains:Firion

As soon as the dragoon unleashed her chilling breath, Firion moved. He was aimming for the gem on her back. Wether it was a magical booster or means of controlling this woman, he knew it had to be destroyed.
"Its destruction would free her or weaken her. Either way we end this conflict that much sooner", he thought as he prepared to tackle her.

Much to his suprise, Raziel had recovered and proceeded to tackle her. He continued his dash toward her, and slide the part of the way. As he did, he bent low, pulling one of his knives, which lay concealed in his boots.

In the corner of his eye, he saw a torrent of water and ice heading their way. With little time to do anything else, he continued the dash hoping that regardless of the torrent, he would be able to reach and damage the gem at least.

Like an emmisary from Cosmos herself, he saw Frog descend, cleave the water in two and say that she could not win. In that he concurred with his new friend, the dragoon would not win this fight.

"Razail, I'm going for the gem!", Firion shouted as he aimed his knife at the gem, with his other had ready to drive the blade into the gem

_________________
Mastery of magic is when telling time means telling time what to do.

In Honor of a true warrior: Quotes from Dinobot

Quickstrike: [gloating and tauntingly] So, what's a warrior without weapons, eh?
Dinobot: A warrior still! [Punches Quickstrike twice, then throws him so he lands on his head, knocking him out]

- Honor does not need to be won, but it must never be lost.

- The question that once haunted my being's been answered. The future is not fixed. My choices are my own. And yet... how ironic. For I now find that I have no choice at all. I am a warrior. Let the battle be joined.

Vincent looked at the woman calmly, covering his injured arm with his cloak. ”I am fine,” he said bluntly, ”Think nothing of it.”

_________________

*Plains*

The knife sunk deep into the gem and bright light shot out of the cracks. Then the gem exploded, creating a kind of second sun, just like the one they had seen before. This left Firion momentarily blinded but it didn't seem to cause any permanent damage. The woman stopped struggling, which had threatened to throw Raziel off moments over, disregarding Frog's threat. After a few moments, nothing happened. Then the woman stirred. Her voice was muffled but was polite enough, regarding her circumstances. After all, she was face down in the ground. "Would you please get off of me? I promise you I will not attack you. My name is Reis."

Above them, the orb appeared again. The woman was there. "Hello there, you win the silver for defeating your opponent second. Unfortunately, we couldn't quickly find someone related to you in our theme of these fights but she is a hero who had entered our land so we decided to use her. Be nice to each other." The orb then popped like a soap bubble.

_________________
Final Fantasy IX was the best Final Fantasy game ever and if you think otherwise you are WRONG!

My fanfiction account. Comments and criticisms are very welcome.

Raziel was reluctant to get off the woman, as for obvious reasons she had kicked him hard in the face not moments ago. But he got off and helped the woman up. "What does she mean 'Couldn't find someone related to you in the theme of fights? Are we going to face more like this?" Indicating to Reis before looking to his new comrades. Raziel then shuddered at the thought of having to fight Kain again.

_________________

To the suprise of both the party on the plateau and on the plains, the bubble had left behind several items, including healing potions and various items to increase their abilities. There was a message saying "Your reward" nestled among the gifts.

_________________
Final Fantasy IX was the best Final Fantasy game ever and if you think otherwise you are WRONG!

My fanfiction account. Comments and criticisms are very welcome.

"If that man is fine then I'm no worse for wear, though proceeding without arms might be..." Geno started to say but his attention soon caught the 'reward' that had appeared. Initially questioning the meaning of it he soon saw something which seemed familiar amongst the items. After cautiously approaching the items he knelt down and took a drink from a cup with a straw in it, it's recovering effects having an immediately noticeable effect as his splintered arm reformed and his detached arm lightly floated back to him and into it's proper place. Additionally there were a few other familiar items; some zoom shoes and a finger shot if he wasn't mistaken which he quickly equipped to himself.

Looking back to his companions after this was done, "That's much better, perhaps these other items are articles from your worlds?"

“They are." Vincent picked up a ring with his clawed hand (Protect Ring) and gave it to Vivi (Mag Elem Null, Half MP), “Here.” He took a Bolt materia and placed it onto his gun. He looked and saw no more materia on the ground but there was a potion, which he drank, flexing his—now uninjured—arm. He picked up a Bronze Bangle (+8 def). “Where to now?” he asked softly, blinking his red eyes.

_________________

~Forest-Montblanc: Alright kupo! Let’s keep it up!~

The spell worked great and burned the beast’s hand but then Wakka warned him not to use any spells since it will get reflected back to him. “My fire seemed to work but if I can’t use spells then I can’t really fight kupo! It’s not like I’m a Mog Knight, those guys are physically strong kupo. Anyway let’s finish this up! Bizzard kupo!” The moogle said waving his staff horizontally causing shards of ice to be flung towards Kimhari’s legs. Montblanc hoped the ice would freeze his legs a bit and slow down his movement or better yet freeze his legs solid.

_________________

~Forest: Adelle~

Adelle almost screamed in frustration as her strike left only minimal damage on the giant blue beast. This was one of the most troublesome fights she had been in in a while, and she did not like it one bit. Once the thing has flipped it's spear from one hand to the other Adelle rushed it, looking to prevent him from attacking again, wishing that she had not left her swords behind when she went to look for a way to visit Luso. She had packed light so she could travel quickly, and not many monsters presented her much of a threat in Ivalice anymore, and she was severely regretting it now. Not to mention she was too short to be able to get the gem behind the horn stump on the monster, so she could only do surface damage and provide a distraction for the other two.

_________________
Zath: Behold, Karo: The only woman in existence who can make Fenix shut the fuck up.
Redsnow: That, and, frankly, if Karo doesn't like you that much, your character is probably going to die soon after his acceptance anyway.
Keiran: Bad RPs don't get picked, unmemberable RPs get ignored.
Zelosse: I don't usually laugh at blatant attitude, but when I do. It usually involves Karo.

Vivi was relieved to find that his friend was okay... well... mostly... she seemed to be tired, her comment about the draining effect helping the little mage to fully understand why his own spells were so weak. Yet her question about his ‘comrades’ made him realize he had absolutely no idea who these two people were... he waited for a bit hoping they would just introduce themselves though that didn’t happen... he took the ring when it was offered recognizing it easily “Um excuse me... what are your names? Oh, i’m Vivi, and this is my friend Freya” he equipped the ring and looked between the other two creepy guys waiting to find out their identity.

_________________
I... am plotting something... he he he he...

"Vincent," the man said near silently, just blinking at Vivi.

_________________

{ Wakka - We'll get you back, brudda }

"We gotta stop him now or we'll end up hurtin' him badly!" Wakka said, frustrated. He tossed his ball up and down a couple times, thinking of a good method to use, coming up with an idea. He tossed the ball up into the air, backing up while doing so. As the ball came down, he started running towards where it would land, kicking it as hard as he could with the momentum he built up. "Meteor Strike!"

_________________

"♥♪!?" Geno said, or sneezed out, or perhaps whistled. "Though I realize that might be a bit hard to pronounce so I've also adopted the name 'Geno'. It seems the only direction we can travel from here is down."

*Plateau*

The woman nodded and managed to push herself up, getting to her knees and using her spear to keep herself balanced. "It is good to meet both of you. It is unfortunate we met in these circumstances. I assume you wish to know what that strange gem was." She paused to remember. "After I was transported away form the others, I found myself in a strange room. It was like being inside of a huge sphere. There was this strange woman there. She overpowered me easily. It was not only my weakness but she was unbelievably powerful."

She shuddered, then controlled herself. "She dragged me to somewhere underground. The place was full of gems of all types. There were these strange creatures there. They kind of looked like a small humanoid with features of both a bear and a dog. They were chained so I assume they were slaves. They spoke a strange language, only using words like 'dub' and 'dah'. The woman seemed to understand them, though. She instructed them in the same language and they brought forth the gem that was recently in my leg."

"I experienced quite a lot of pain during the process but when the gem was implanted I felt my strength returning. Unfortunately, while my mind remained mine, I could not control my body. A man came into the mine and opened a portal. There were two others that came with him. One was a woman in full armor and the other was a hulking creature. He his face looked almost like a lion's and he had blue skin. Both wielded a spear like myself. The man opened a portal for them as well and we all entered them. I arrived and we fought. That's all I know."


*Forest*

Fortunately, the teamwork worked out well. While Kimahri broke through the ice almost immediately, he lost his balance. Adelle's attacks pushed him back even more. This left him completely open for Wakka's attack. While Wakka's attack wasn't as powerful as he had wanted it to be, it managed to crack the gem. Kimahri stumbled backwards until he hit a tree. Then he slumped to the ground. His eyes closed and he dropped the spear. A few moments later, his eyes opened again. "Wakka." His voice was deep and that was all he said at the moment.

Then the gem fragments exploded, creating a blast of light. It momentarily blinded everyone. Right after that, the orb reappeared. The woman raised an eyebrow "You three were the slowest of the current selection. You better hurry up or you'll be left behind." The orb disappeared, leaving a goodie bag of items and equipment. Then they heard a branch snapping behind them. When they turned, they saw someone or something move behind a tree. In fact, they thought there might have been two figures but it was hard to tell.

_________________
Final Fantasy IX was the best Final Fantasy game ever and if you think otherwise you are WRONG!

My fanfiction account. Comments and criticisms are very welcome.

Frog twirled the Masamune and sheathed the weapon, the clang of steel meeting steel echoed around him as he let go of the weapon. "Mayhap our host thinks this is some sort of game she's dragged us into," Frog said, eying the woman. He glanced to Raziel for a moment before stepping towards the 'rewards' that had been placed before them and scowled, "And she intends to make this an easy one," Frog said picking up a seemingly useless medal from the pile.

'What does she mean by that, I wonder,' Frog thought as he stared into the medal. Thoughts of having to raise his sword against Cyrus, Crono, Robo, or any of his former companions filled him with dread. "Its no use worrying about it now," Frog said, pinning the Hero Medal to his person. The spirits of the Masamune seemed to resonate with the blade, increasing its ability further, almost as if the medal began to awaken the Masamune once more. "We should continue, staying in one place for to long can be dangerous." He looked back at the three that were with him, "We can talk while we move."

_________________

*Plains*

With his enhanced senses, Raziel heard it first: the sounds of someone approaching them. Since there wasn't anywhere to hide and the person wasn't being very stealthy, they were able to see the pair clearly. One was a man with what looked like a permanent scowl. He had on a large green cap with a feather on its side and had a scimitar at his side. He had a travel cape dyed in the same color as the cap. His most striking features were a fist-sized, dark blue gem implanted in his chest and a left arm made of rock and crystals.

The one next to him was a pretty, young woman. She had a white dress on and had a white, opaque gem implanted in her chest. Her hair was brown and she had a kind of silly look on her face, as if she wasn't really paying attention. That idea was confirmed when she tripped over her own feet. The man sighed and helped her to her feet. He only used his normal arm. When they got to the ground, the man continued to scowl and the woman said "Hello, it's nice to meet you. My name is Pearl. This is Elazul."


*Plateau*

The four on the rock heard a cry of "KWEH!" Vivi, Freya, and Vincent recognized it as the signature sound of a chocobo. Moments later, a rather pudgy chocobo with a rather pudgy rider shot up into the air and landed on the plateau. The rider was a rotund, humanoid rabbit with what looked like a big grin on his face. "Hello, everyone. My name is Niccolo. Need something?"

_________________
Final Fantasy IX was the best Final Fantasy game ever and if you think otherwise you are WRONG!

My fanfiction account. Comments and criticisms are very welcome.

I wonder what they wanted with her, Vincent thought, not outwardly reacting to the tale. But the wheels in his head were turning. This is a plot, like Hojo's, what is the conclusion they wish to achieve.

"A way down," suggeted Vincint, moving between the chocobo rider and Vivi, his friend and Geno. He didn't look like much of a threat, but then again, neither did Yuffie.

_________________

Raziel was suspicious, these two also bore them same gem to Reis but their's was a different colour. "I am Raziel, state your intent as in this place any being could be a foe with those gems." Raziel pointed at their individual gems, he hadn't taken any of the gifts as he didn't need them. All Raziel needed was to feast to return him to his true glory. "Now state your intent before I get angry."

_________________

Geno startle for just a moment, jerking his head to see what the sudden sound was. Though his concern seemed to be for naught as it was just a large bird and a rabbit-man, both unfamiliar creatures to Geno, neither acting hostile.

"That's an interesting creature..." Geno mumbled "at least it's not Birdo."

Vivi listened with shock at Freya’s story about her enslavement, it struck a bit close to his own fears of being turned into a puppet... especially since if they lost a fight then that’s what they would end up as... still he moved close to her trying to support her seeing she was still weak and trying to comfort her as best he could by his proximity. The sound however was surprising, he doubted what it was for a few moments but it really did turn out to be a chocobo when it bounced up into the air landing nearby to them. The boy noticed Vincent moving between the bird and them though didn’t think too hard on it... what he was thinking about was the difficulty there would being taking their whole group down, particularly considering Freya was still weak so it wouldn’t be easy.

_________________
I... am plotting something... he he he he...

~Montblanck: Forest~

Once Kimarhi fell and regained his senses now that the gem was broken Montblanc let out a big sigh of relief. Driving his staff into the ground he shouted “Victory!” smiling happily and flying a bit into the air doing a back flip before landing in front of his staff. Montblanc’s victory was cut short when an orb appeared after a blast of light let out from the shards of the shattered gem. Something tasted like a rotten kupo nut around here. “Slowest? Hurry up? Left behind?” She wasn’t a judge but she left some rewards from the battle this was all too suspicious…Montblanc’s hypersensitive ears picked up on the sound of a broken branch. It looks like they were being watched. After he collected his thoughts Montblanc spoke, “I don’t care what that hume lady says, we shouldn’t rush into this situation without thinking about a course of action kupo. It’s probably another trap and not rushing in will probably piss them off which could reveal there motives. For now let’s tend to our former enemy’s wounds kupo. I also don’t know if we should open that bag the contents could make us lose control of ourselves kupo.” The moogle said trying to think rationally if a little on the paranoid side. It was hard to admit to himself but this situation made him worried and scarred.

_________________

~Forest: Adelle~

Adelle kept her dagger in hand as the gem shattered and the orb appeared. She frowned at the woman, and kept a wary eye on Kimarhi. There was no reason to trust that the woman had released him completely, just because they had shattered the jewel. She walked over to the bag, and drew a sword from it, testing the weight before sheathing her dagger and buckling the sword to her belt. She watched Montblanc celebrate, a hint of a smile playing at the corners of her lips. When the twig cracked, she turned to look in the direction it came from, her eyes narrowed.

_________________
Zath: Behold, Karo: The only woman in existence who can make Fenix shut the fuck up.
Redsnow: That, and, frankly, if Karo doesn't like you that much, your character is probably going to die soon after his acceptance anyway.
Keiran: Bad RPs don't get picked, unmemberable RPs get ignored.
Zelosse: I don't usually laugh at blatant attitude, but when I do. It usually involves Karo.