A New Threat, and New Allies [Active, Closed]

[clashingtactics.livejournal.com]

Character(s): Hei, Squall, and Rinoa (featuring Lumens)
Content: Glowing white creatures start showing up to pester Hei. B| Squall and Rinoa see what’s going on and come to his aid.
Setting: Towards the center of the city
Time: Late into week 34, in the afternoon directly after this
Warnings: This is likely going to be a vicious battle...

Over a minute had passed. No response. Hei closed his journal and put it away, for Hope had gone silent. Something terrible had happened to him, he could tell. Something that involved him in his own world. Hei didn’t attempt to rationalize on what that could be, because so little was said about Cocoon and Pulse. He could only understand and sympathize on what had to be a deep, deep pain.

In listening to that grim bit of history, that triggered Hei’s own pain of the war he was involved in. Hearing of such destruction and calamity had come up unexpected. Heaven’s War had also ended with a lot of lives lost, thousands. He had a misstep out of character as Li. Pulse’s downfall deeply bothered him...and he couldn’t verbally evade or lie his way out of it. He had come dangerously close to unraveling his true self.

Hei was prepared to say some very vague details or half-truths about his sister and himself being in a war zone—but the way their discussion had come to an abrupt and unsettling end was for the best. And he wouldn’t pry or insist to look out for Hope when he didn’t trust him. Although he knew in his heart and mind that he wasn’t going to forget about him, not anytime soon. The concern he felt for the kid was noted, but Hei knew there wasn’t much he could do for him.

As he walked down the street, he wasn’t paying attention to the train that was going along the tracks to his left. Hei had seen it more than once, but he never felt any curiosity or desire to ride in it.

Head down and hands in his pockets, he kept onward.

Soon, a blur of white within his line of vision sprinted some feet in front of him. It made him pause and focus forward at the white, glowing creature. It looked cat-like.

Hei watched it with both curiosity and wariness, his hand quickly hovering toward his waist. The beast hissed at him as it leaped. His knife was out and into the its chest in under five seconds. Hei let go and watched it fall from mid air, dead.

Immediately following that, there was growling, coming from different directions.

Bracing himself for combat, he yanked the knife out of the white glowing cat's corpse that bled light blue goop. More creatures just like it started to encircle him--predators toward prey. They weren't all feline, for some of them appeared to be canine.

What they were, or where they came from, Hei didn't have the foggiest. Any questions about them would have to be asked later. The intent to put them all down showed through his cold gaze as he noticed two of them snarling towards the rest to attack.

His cobalt eyes began to shine red. His body temperature was slowly on the rise as he glowed a faint blue. The contract he and Bai shared had been activated. Thin multiple currents of blue-white lightning began to lace around the blade of his throwing knife, covered and dripping with the blood that came from the cat he just stabbed.

In wide horizontal swipes, he fiercely lashed out to defend himself against the feral animals closest to him.

Comments

[maybeimaleon.livejournal.com]

The sight of Lumens in the street was hardly a new sight, for Squall. True, they didn't normally seem to find him interesting, but he had seen them, even if it was out of the corner of his eye. Running across what could only be called a swarm of them when he'd only been out to see if he'd have any luck finding any more familiar faces across the city.

Okay, it had also been to give him some time to think about the various people who seemed to think they knew him. It was irritating, having someone he didn't know think they understood him; that they could understand why he did what he. He'd gotten used to the idea of having friends, sure. But friends that he didn't even know? That wasn't anything he could understand and so he'd largely given up trying. If they thought they knew him, fine. But he wasn't going to try to return the friendship when he hadn't seen them before.

Either way, what he'd been thinking about had been firmly chased from his mind at the sight of the Lumens. His own varied problems didn't matter right now. Right now, there was someone who need help, and without so much as a second thought he drew his gunblade and charged headlong into the fray, steel flashing as he brought it to bear against the Lumens.

[timberwings.livejournal.com]

Not even hesitating, Rinoa was already throwing herself into the fray along with Squall, her Blaster Edge raised as she let the disk from it fly towards one of the creatures with a bit of backlash for her, forcing her back a few steps before she recovered from it in time for the disk to return to her. It was a good thing she had decided to bring the Weapon with her, not that she couldn't fight without it, but it made her feel better to have it anyway.

Either way, the attack at certainly gained at least one Lumen's attention, though it hadn't fallen yet, and she quickly cast Blizzaga to remedy that before watching it finally fall.

So these were Lumens? Rinoa had heard about them from Squall when she'd arrived, but this was the first time that she had ever really seen them. Still, this wasn't the time to be curious about them, not while they were attacking someone. Not while that person and Squall still needed help fighting them off.

[clashingtactics.livejournal.com]

Hei's body continued to glow as he shocked some of the glowing beasts back. He continuously used his knife, and used martial arts to prevent them from coming at him all at once.

He had heard the human footsteps running his way, and out of the corner of one shining eye he noticed one of the two from his photo on the journal network. On his first day of entrapment under Paixao's domes, he had spoken to Squall as the kind-hearted and clueless persona he had used many times in his world. Squall had been very helpful through what little information he gave Hei.

The disc that flew and returned to the woman was a sure sign that help had arrived. He had no idea who she was, but he didn't say or do anything to object her aid as he hadn't toward Squall. He didn't have to think about her not being a contractor when she projected an ice attack onto one of the cats. Her body did not glow when she used that ability.

This he only glanced and calculated to himself as he stayed close to these people, and sliced through two of the dogs with his knife, the crude looking blade gleaming under the afternoon "sun".

The blue glow coming from Hei had died down for now. A third dog was about to leap onto Squall's back from behind. Hei dashed over in a few steps to thrust a hard kick into its side and drove his weapon into its skull with little effort as it fell.

The large weapon that was a mix of a gun and a sword Squall handled well to eliminate the pack of animals that came at him from the front.

He positioned himself to remain somewhere close in between Squall and the woman. Swaying back a step, Hei evaded the cat that tried to swipe at him with its curved claws. They glowed as much as the rest of its sleek form.

[maybeimaleon.livejournal.com]

Normally, Squall would have been surprised to find the person in the middle of the cluster of Lumens glowing. But even taking into account the way the Lumens themselves appeared to glow, it wasn't all that much of a surprise. People came here from all sorts of worlds, and with all sorts of abilities he'd never seen before.

Besides, even it had been unusual to the point of being surprised he wouldn't have let it distract him. Between the oncoming Lumens and the assorted attacks from both Rinoa and the stranger he had enough to keep an eye on, especially as the Lumens simply kept coming, Lionheart continuing to flash as Squall kept up with the onslaught as best he could. They couldn't last forever.

In theory, anyway, but he refused to give that thought the benefit of actually crossing his mind. There were still enemies, so he'd keep on fighting.

[timberwings.livejournal.com]

Personally, the person glowing was a bit of a surprise for Rinoa, but she had other things to worry about right now that didn't include a glowing person. You know, like that Lumen that had just almost managed to take a bite out of her arm before she managed to Fira it into a now extra crispy Lumen.

Well, somehow she was managing to hold her own for the time being, though she was starting to wonder if there was an end to these things. Well, at the very least, maybe she could give them some extra advantage. Like a Triple casting of Haste.

[clashingtactics.livejournal.com]

Hei didn't cease to slow down on his end. Slowing down would give those creatures and opening to hurt him or his allies. It wasn't that he'd been trained to fight anything like them. Contractors who were instructors of the organization he once been a part of however had drilled into his head on what to do when it came to enemies that were extraordinary. No matter who or what it was, no matter what their powers were--when it came down to it, part of it involved improvisation while the rest dealt with studying their movements and attacks during combat.

As he took in the enemy attacks, he also noted the abilities Squall and the female caster had. Occasionally, he heard the loud shots coming from Squall's weapon. So his assumption about it had been true.

When Hei began to notice himself moving faster than he intended, he knew to take advantage of this opportunity. The variety of skills the female had were impressive. Once those things would quit appearing, he could ask what she was.

He saw how close one of those beasts had come to biting the caster's exposed arm. That wasn't going to happen again.

A dog and a cat growled as they furiously charged toward her and Hei from two different directions. His arm wielding the knife moved as a blur to slice up the canine's face. He was indifferent to the beast's cries. As for the cat thing, he'd leave to the caster. Upon witnessing her power, he believed she would take care of it.

Apparently the next cluster closest to him tried to leap at him from different angles. Using his newly acquired speed enhancement, he horizontally swiped two of them while one managed to scratch at the hand that wasn't holding anything. Once he felt the sting of pain, he didn't hesitate to strike at that cat. Its needle-sharp teeth came close to biting his open hand as he retaliated quickly, mercilessly.

There was no time to see how bad the scratch was, yet due to what he felt it wasn't very bad. Just a light flesh wound, for no significant amount of blood would be lost.

[maybeimaleon.livejournal.com]

If Rinoa hadn't been up to the task before her, Squall would have stepped in to keep her safe. Since thus far it hadn't proved necessary, he stuck to what he knew best. Oh, he could have just as easily have been casting spells alongside Rinoa, but that wasn't really the point of a Knight. A Knight was supposed to keep his Sorceress safe and he couldn't see any better way to do just that then by tackling the hordes head on.

The fact that Rinoa had cast Haste only made things easier, as he took full advantage of the increase in speed to cut even deeper swathes into the oncoming Lumens. As far as enemies went, they weren't exactly much of a challenge and he'd pretty much stopped registering what the various oncoming Lumens looked like, save to register that it was, in fact, actually a Lumen.

(Not that that was hard, of course, given the current way of things, but best to be safe, in this case.)

[timberwings.livejournal.com]

Rinoa knew full well that as a Sorceress, her magic was far more effective that any weapon that she herself could use, and so she continued to cast one spell after another, taking full use of the extra speed she had cast on herself to get more spells out in a shorter period of time. She kept just far enough away to stay on the outskirts of the fray and out of Squall and the other man's way while she kept an eye on them in case they should need the magical assistance.

Casting another Triple, she instantly cast Fira, taking care of three Lumens at once, and in the process, not noticing the one coming at her from the side until it had almost reached her. Making an attempt to dodge, she was slightly too slow, and felt the edge of the Lumen's teeth scrape against the skin of her right upper arm, leaving only a small cut. Instantly, she cast another Fira, making the Lumen fall just as the others had. Now that had really been too close of a call, but she wasn't about to give up the fight over just a little cut. After all, it hadn't been the first time she'd had run ins with close calls, and she was sure it wouldn't be the last time. She would just have to pay more attention.

[clashingtactics.livejournal.com]

Hei had a cluster of beasts to concentrate on, so he didn't notice the woman backing away. He had stayed close to Squall however, covering him from behind, since the gun-swordsman was mostly working on those who were dashing and leaping in front of him.

The on-going adrenaline was a side effect in the speed enhancement, and it kept him going. He focused and mentally reached towards the contract he and Bai shared. His body began to glow a blue hue again. His eyes shined like a twin set of red stars.

With still a lot of energy to spare, he slashed and electrocuted the glowing beasts that aimed to bite him. The heat from the fire attack consuming three medium sized cats Hei could feel--but he wasn't going to let himself be distracted by yet another variant the caster had in her arsenal.

A larger cat bounded out into the open, past one of the buildings nearby. As big as a Great Dane, Hei kept watch on it the best he could while knocking down and frying more of the smaller ones with blue-white currents of lightning. He noticed the spikes bristling around its neck and down its back, but most of his attention was towards the closer horde.

[maybeimaleon.livejournal.com]

...Of course there'd be a larger compatriot to the small ones they'd been making inroads on. It always seemed to turn out that way at home; why would it be any different here? For the time being, however, it didn't seem inclined to attack. That or it couldn't actually get in close enough to manage to land an attack yet, but that was just as well. If they could take out the smaller ones first it would make things easier later.

Not, of course, that he didn't keep an eye on the larger one when he could actually spare it. It was simply that it took something of a lesser priority at the moment.

[timberwings.livejournal.com]

Great, a larger one. Just what they needed. Well, at least it didn't seem to be attacking anyone yet. Though she highly doubted they were going to get lucky enough that it might just leave without it even trying, and so, she kept an eye on it as best she could while fighting off the smaller ones. Though she might have managed to keep an eye on it a bit too much as a Lumen that had been singed by one of her spells came lunging directly at her, not even giving her enough time to dodge or cast even as she saw the bared teeth coming directly for her upper shoulder.

[clashingtactics.livejournal.com]

Hei had been keeping watch on the big cat as it started to encircle them, looking for an opening to strike it seemed.

Hei kicked down and stabbed another canine. He turned around to see Squall faring all right for now, yet one was too close and was going to harm his companion. Not even a voiceless gasp escaped from him as he ran directly in front of her. The beast sunk its teeth into the exposed flesh of his arm, and it hurt considering that he had no time to throw on his dark overcoat.

With his other hand, he grasped the creature's head from the top to send enough volts of white-blue lightning. Its mouth opened to roar, but it was cut short.

An intense burning sensation spread across Hei's forearm as he tossed the limp body at another feline that looked like it was targeting Squall. Hei inhaled sharply upon impact, but he told himself to not let the pain slow him down.

His dark blue eyes searched for the bigger animal again. The big glowing feline took notice of Hei's action to use himself as a shield. The spikes down its neck and back bristled upwards.

"Aim and strike as hard as you can at that thing," Hei suggested to the caster as he glared at the large cat getting in position to leap, claws outstretched. He could picture it. "I'll take out the smaller ones who come close within range."

[maybeimaleon.livejournal.com]

Squall frowned as Hei got in the way of the blow that Rinoa would have otherwise taken. He should have been the one to take that. He was Rinoa's Knight, Rinoa's sworn protector. Not this strange man they'd quite literally just met and knew nothing about. That he was then proceeding to make suggestions only bothered him more, sound though the suggestions were.

Of course, he knew better than to assume he meant anything by it, but his next few strikes were a little more forceful than the ones before it had been, as he started cutting a path towards the larger monster. If their new ally wanted to take out the smaller ones than he was going to assume that he could actually make good on that - especially as the swarm thinned - and if he could manage to make his way through to the largest enemy then it would be all the easier to take it down.

So for now, he channeled his irritations into his blade as he struck down any Lumen that so much as got in the way of his progress.

[timberwings.livejournal.com]

The fact that it was the stranger instead of Squall who had protected her from the blow had most certainly surprised Rinoa, but despite that, she didn't waste the time afterwards thinking about it.

The moment she was able, she cast a Cure on the stranger to heal the wound before even considering the stranger's suggestion. She glanced at Squall for a single moment, and seeing that he wasn't arguing the suggestion, began casting again, but first if the other man was going to go after the smaller ones on his own, then she might as well offer some extra protection. For all of them.

Quickly, she cast Triple Protect. It wouldn't stop damage completely, but it would at least reduce it.

Finally, she moved onto the larger Lumen, ready to show it what she had as she cast Firaga on it.

[clashingtactics.livejournal.com]

As the burning on his arm went away, Hei showed his gratitude by keeping to his part on disposing of the last of the lesser beasts.

He was knocking and slashing them away from the caster as she launched a heavy flame attack. The growls and roars coming from the large cat told him that it wasn't going to back down easily.

As he evaded from getting scratched and bitten, he could feel the effects of the speed enhancement diminishing. He had no idea what she had cast on him next, but he had no time to make an estimation on what the new supportive spell could be.

[maybeimaleon.livejournal.com]

Of course it wouldn't. Monsters rarely did. Sure, one could hope that they might. But it wasn't like hoping was going to stop an attack. Hope couldn't blunt a blade. It couldn't even really keep someone alive, when you got right down to it. It just... was.

(A lot of the details of life were, when you got right down to it.)

Squall nodded to himself as he felt the Protect slip into place properly, half in thanks and half as a note to himself that it was there. The last of the smaller Lumens standing between him and the larger one fell mere moments later, and as might have been expected, he wasted absolutely no time in attacking it. He didn't have anything to fear from Rinoa's magic.

[timberwings.livejournal.com]

Rinoa remained where she was a short distance away, still far enough to keep an eye on the two men while they fought, and still be able to make contact with them and the beasts with her magic.

She let another Firaga fly at the larger lumen, but this time, her spell missed as the beast dodged it, making her purse her lips in slight annoyance. It was rare for her spells to miss it's target, but it did happen on occasion.

As she prepared for her next attack, a smaller lumen lunged at her from behind. It had obviously managed to pull away from the group of them and had focused it's sights on her.

Rinoa heard it's growl from behind her and dodged as soon as she saw it coming at her, managing to move out of it's way before it could sing teeth and claws into, but the moment it landed, it was lunging at her again, but this time, she was ready for it as she cast thundaga, hitting it with a large bolt of electricity, and making it fall instantly before returning her attention to the larger lumen and her two allies again, intent on finishing this fight.

[clashingtactics.livejournal.com]

There were so few smaller glowing cats and dogs left on Hei's end as his intentions of seeing this fight end were similar to Squall's and the other person's.

He kicked and zapped away until there was nothing left to keep him from focusing on the big target. Hei assessed it in his mind for Squall to charge forward and strike at the cat. Perhaps running toward it from the other side might help take it down for good, but for the moment he watched Squall, to know for sure on what he was going to do.

Beads of sweat broke out on his face as he wore a steely serious expression. This had better be the last one. Any smaller ones who might be heading our way will see the larger of their kin fall should retreat.

Hei knew he wasn't intending to die here--not now, not ever. He had made a promise to a missing friend, and he was going to do all he could within his capabilities to keep it.

[maybeimaleon.livejournal.com]

While he didn't bother to turn his attention for the Lumen he was currently fighting, the sharp crackle of Thundaga was enough to tell Squall that Rinoa was still managing well enough on her own. It also spoke of there being more Lumens trickling slowly in, and that was enough to make him all the more interested in taking out this one. The sooner the better, even.

(He was, of course, only assuming taking out the largest would leave the smallest to scatter, but it wasn't like getting rid of the smaller ones had done anything in particular.)

Of course, actually killing it was looking to be easier said then done, but Squall wasn't ready to let that be end of things. He might not have had Rinoa's gift for spells, but there were still things he could do. A moment of concentration later, and he came in once again, blade swinging. He wouldn't be able to get at the strongest versions like this, and he knew it, but hopefully it would make a dent, as his blade struck again and again. Six times, in fact, before he brought the blade up and around in a more powerful upwards blow that ended in an explosion.

The rest would need to be taken care of by other means, but even as the final blow was landing, he could tell that he'd managed to do something to Lumen at the very least.

[timberwings.livejournal.com]

Rinoa watched as the number of lumens thinned, and the larger one took a hard hit from Squall. A hit that she found herself almost instantly backing up with another thundaga, giving the lumen a good electrocution before it could recover from the previous blow from the gunblade.

[clashingtactics.livejournal.com]

Hei stayed out of the way as he witnessed Squall swinging and shooting away at the large cat. The heavy wave of lightning from the spell caster surging toward it made it fall forward, all four knees buckling.

The feral thing was about to get up again, slowly. It was weakening.

Hei sprinted and made a move to get out a thick cable from one of his pockets. A simple toss and hard pull later, he managed to trip the beast that just wasn't turning around quick enough. It snarled out, furious as Hei backed away. While its back legs were tangled in the wire, his allies could take the opportunity finish it off since Hei had quickly prevented it any chance of escaping.

[maybeimaleon.livejournal.com]

Truth be told, Squall wasn't entirely sure that their ally had needed to trip the Lumen up. But neither was he going to complain really hard. It did make it significantly less likely that it would actually retaliate, if nothing else. Still, if he had the ability to do that, Squall had to wonder why he hadn't used the time to weaken the beast further.

But there wasn't any time to dwell on the fact. He could ask later, if there was any particular need to do so. For now, all that mattered was that the creature was helpless, and weakened enough that it might well be on its last legs. There was no way he was going to be able to repeat the attack he'd done last time, and he didn't want to waste a spell on something like this. So instead, he returned to his usual default - gunblade swinging down yet again in a flash of metal as it bit deeply into the trapped creature's flesh.

[timberwings.livejournal.com]

Not willing to waste the opportunity given, Rinoa cast again, keeping mind aim so as not to hit Squall in the process when she cast blizzaga on the beast. It was all she could do. True, she could always use her own weapon, but it was far less effective and controlled then her magic was, and so what else could she do? She could attack it with her spells, she could heal, she could aid the other two, and that's exactly what she would do, though she had to admit she was glad this battle was almost over.

\o/ Finally, some time to add onto this. *cue FF victory fanfare*

[clashingtactics.livejournal.com]

The big cat's heaving had been cut short as Squall pierced deeply into its flesh. Hei thought he saw another smaller creature as he turned his head to glance at the two small cats remaining--the only two witnesses to see that these three had not given in, not even an inch.

They both hissed in contempt, more so in Hei's direction, before scampering off. He watched as they ran in retreat for a long moment.

A quiet sigh of relief escaped from his lips as he let himself relax, but not by much. Even though Squall and the spell caster had come to his aid, he felt the need to be on guard. He already exposed his powers, so his cover had essentially been blown. On the way, there were going to be questions about that. In return, he had questions of his own, specifying about those glowing animals and why they had so much conviction to kill him. He had done nothing to them, and they most certainly weren't Heartless.

He wore a calmly neutral expression as he glanced to Squall and the woman. Some of the tension and adrenaline that had built up during the battle were starting to dither down, roll off his back like water on feathers.

"What were those things," Hei felt a need to ask. One more obstacle, one more danger in this all-too-complicated world. It would be wise to learn enough to be wary of them in the near future. There had to be some kind of reason the beasts were so furious at him. Does the Organization know about them? Do the creatures belong to them...? Are they another sick game to their delight?

[maybeimaleon.livejournal.com]

Despite Hei's concerns, Squall had no curiosities in the slightest about what he'd seen. Magic was perfectly common in his world, at least among SeeDs, and even if it hadn't been, he'd been in Paixao long enough to know that different worlds did things differently. To be quite honest, he was more concerned that the Lumens might come back in larger numbers.

After a moment or so, he carefully put his gunblade away. If they came back, it wasn't going to be until they managed to find some more of their number and that would take time.

"Lumens," Squall explained, as if it was perfectly obvious to him. "One of the local varieties of monster."