Draco: Yeah, I dunno who I thought I was kidding.
Writing Shantotto is at once bothersome and painful and fun and amusing. To be honest, I was seriously tempted to position a sentence with "info" so that Lucent cut her off before she could follow through on her rhyme, but I couldn't make it work.
Dissidia Final Fantasy and all related properties © Square Enix.
Tower of Kefka: Furious Blade
"Such curious designs..."
Lucent Storm and Shantotto had arrived in Kefka's Tower through Castle Ultimecia with little difficulty (though Squall had been at the castle, he certainly hadn't paid them any mind). The harlequin himself was absent, but his 'mechanical manikins' were suspended in their tubes, and both the Tarutaru and the Void wraith had taken an interest in them.
"These automatons seem to be fairly well-thought out," Shantotto admitted, observing one machine labelled Stable Model IX-D-13 version 20. "They're more than capable of wreaking great havoc, of that I've no doubt." She tapped the glass of the tube with her staff, causing Lucent to turn from the VI-H-12 model and face her. "They have crystals most unkind within their eyes," she mused. "It's a curious blend of magic and machine, you realize. At first glace, it took even my by surprise."
"The harlequin's world was known for 'Magitek'," Lucent explained, floating towards her. "It would seem machine and magic acting in unison were commonplace. The shards, however, come from manikins." When Shantotto turned, she prompted, "Are you familiar with the term?"
"Afraid not," the Tarutaru replied. "Care to share a thought?"
The wraith bowed her head. "Manikins are creatures borne of the Rift," she explained. "They analyze the beings of the world in which they reside and imitate them. Defeat at their hands is a final death. Warriors of Cosmos were spared revival within the war more than once. They were the first clue to the cycles' continuity, for the Warriors of the thirteenth. However, though they could gather strength, their imitation was imperfect - a Warrior bearing an identical level in strength would easily overtake them." She beckoned to the plate near the tube Shantotto had been observing. "What do you make of this designation?"
Shantotto tapped the engravings idly. "Well, the Stable Model label seems to show that they can't change form. Have you borne witness to his automatons before?" When Lucent nodded, the Tarutaru continued, "It would seem he needed a 'control' model - one that wouldn't vary. He bases the transformations off these once the results leave him merry. This Warrior was of Discord?"
"He stood as such in the final cycle, though our memories cannot speak for the twelve preceding it."
"The D seems to refer to his latest alignment, then, within the war. This numeral, the 13; it's meaning is not obvious from my view. Perhaps it would refer to the cycle from which the automaton's abilities are to copy; does that match up with the memories you have on you?"
Lucent bowed her head. "The form is Kuja's. If Garland's words are to be believed, he was not particularly active in conflict." She closed her eyes. "Once against Squall Leonheart, and then twice against Zidane Tribal - one of the latter as part of the world's swansong. I imagine he was similarly averse to battle during the prior cycles."
"That explains the cycle designation," Shantotto mused. "If the clown is analyzing battle skills, then only discord's last stand would grant their combat ability any real demonstration!" She tapped the 20 at this point. "The version number seems to show how many attempts it took until he was satisfied. Note the other models are below ten; they must have shown off enough for their abilities to be identified. Meanwhile, this Kuja never displayed his skill even to those with whom he was allied."
The two of them fell silent for a moment.
"He's going out of his way to perfect their abilities, that they match up to and even surpass the Warriors they imitate," Lucent realized.
Shantotto nodded. "He is indeed. The crystals of the 'manikins' appears to be their abilities' seed."
Lucent returned her gaze to Kuja's copy. "Terra Branford claimed she was nearly matched against her imitation," she observed, "and he's only gone up to the first version on hers."
"These automatons carry immense destructive potential," the Tarutaru observed, turning to the machine herself.
Another moment of silence.
"It would be such a waste if something were to happen to them," the Void wraith claimed.
Shantotto nodded her head. "With all the research involved, applying destruction would be incredibly detrimental."
A scream of approaching voltage.
Lucent spun, her robe dissipating as her flesh paled and her markings turned to red and green with the force of the Void; the approaching attack, though bearing solid form, was beaten aside with her hand as she launched, with speed that failed to match its force, a 0-Form Particle Beam in the direction the attack had come from.
She felt rather than saw it connect with someone.
Only once the attack had faded, and the victim thrown against the wall, did she realize who it was.
"Farron!?"
"Who?" Shantotto turned idly - only to react when she saw the figure standing there, drawing her staff. "What have you done with Lightning, and who are you?"
Lightning's figure was adorned in a skin-clinging bodysuit, and Lucent could tell from a glance at the zebra stripes upon her leggings that Kefka was responsible. A heavy breath passed through clenched teeth as she realized he had resorted to using his magic on Warriors beyond Branford.
"Palazzo," she growled. Then, with a roar; "Show yourself, harlequin!"
"That's my cue!"
Kefka's roar came from below, and Lucent quickly skidded back as he shot up before her, upside down. He quickly lashed out with a split-kick and arced into a flip - which meant the front of his foot slammed itself into the metal Lucent was perched above. A howl of pain screeched from his throat as he leapt back, still upside down; this meant he was hopping down and up on the roof as he nursed the impact point.
Shantotto gazed dumbfounded as Kefka began loosing a string of curses that even Prishe would not be bothered to recite. "Attempting to make an intimidating entrance, he injured his own toe," she observed. Turning to Lucent; "This is the Warrior of Chaos that your vengeance calls foe?"
"Note that he does not appear to realize he is both jumping from and landing upon the ceiling," Lucent mused. "In any case, we will not rest until we have exacted revenge for his actions in the twelfth cycle."
Kefka heard; his hands parted from his foot as he looked up at her. "WHAT?" Then, realizing the world was upside down and glancing at the ceiling under his feet. "Huh. You know, she's right," he said to Shantotto, pointing at Lucent as he hopped in such a manner that his figure performed a nearly motionless 180 rotation. Shaking his head to clear it of distractions; "You're still pissy about what happened in duodecim? Are you serious? Come on, I didn't even stab you that hard!"
"You..." Shantotto looked over his person curiously. "You carry no weapon on you, let alone one with a blade. Do you refer to something like these automatons, that it was something you made?"
"Oh, hell no," Kefka protested. "There was nothing good to make with. Nah, remember that blitz king guy with the huge sword? He was kinda dead halfway through oh-twelve. We all rendezvoused near the Brink where Mateus had left him. Chaos was busy dealing with that Strife guy, so I just kinda took the blade and shoved it up your-"
He was cut off when a Wide-Angle Particle Beam slammed into him, throwing him clear across the top floor. Lucent was seething, Void energy gathering on her hands.
"Leave us," she commanded of Shantotto - who looked nearly sickened. "We have business with this harlequin."
Shantotto swallowed heavily. "You are free to inflict your pain," she complied. "I shall depart to cleanse my brain..."
She quickly dashed away - and was interrupted when a burst of fire slammed into her across the floor, sending her into the air. Lucent turned in time to see an inferno consume the Tarutaru, launching her into an empty stasis tube that proceeded to shatter.
A moment's horror; then she spun to face the Esperkin landing upon the flooring; her helm sparking, her hair singed, and her eyes blank.
"Oh, good haea..."
Doctor Shantotto recovered from the collision with a vicious screech, her officious robes shifting into a jet-black set with venomous blue trim. "Save the bleach, I've a class to teach!"
Kefka snapped his fingers to signal his other servant; Shantotto's magic had only begun to form before a spiked wheel slammed into her side, throwing her into the railing of the walkway she had neared. Lightning was on her feet, and now Lucent realized that Kefka had equipped her with a pair of wind-and-fire wheels. Shantotto groaned in irritation, flying back-to-back with Lucent with magic on her staff; a Burst spell surged voltage across the Flash, distracting her long enough that the Tarutaru could call up a Quake to imprison Terra.
When the stones faded, the Esperkin was unscathed, and Shantotto's rage quickly succumbed to fear.
"Er..." The mage collided with Lucent's heel as Lightning and Terra began to advance upon her, and Kefka's garments started to blaze as he slowly approached the void wraith over a gap. "I'll take the wheel and spell, you deal with jester's hell?" she offered.
"I can't guarantee either of us stand a chance against these two," Lucent admitted. "Palazzo's magic is powerful in this world, and I'm not certain Branford's force has limit."
"What of the Flash?" Shantotto requested, pointing at Lightning. "Can she take a lash?"
"Only of her right mind," the wraith admitted. "Under control, she's little more than an irritation."
A high-pitched burst of flame sounded behind Lightning, who only had time to turn with her wheels extended before a familiar Firaga sent her flying. Lucent ducked as the Flash slammed into Kefka, who - unprepared for the blow - was knocked into the corner; the connection was such that even Lucent winced as Kefka spine bent in a direction a human spine most certainly should not bend.
Then a whistle prompted her to turn; and she saw Onion Knight standing there, in his Sage robes, leaning against his Onion Sword.
"Someone order a vegetable?"
Lucent blinked. "What...?"
Terra screeched, hurling pearls of Holy at the little knight. He only raised an eyebrow at the magic, taking the blow without even tensing up, and the controlled Esperkin quickly launched herself forward, bursts of Flare rocketing from her hands. The shots lifted Onion higher off the ground, his blade still driven into the steel below him, and when he was about to collide with the roof Terra wrapped him in a wave of Ultima, his body quaking until the blast threw him to the earth.
He was still bouncing up off his ricochet when Terra slammed him into the wall, her fingers digging into his chest like her claws, and screeched at him.
The little knight raised his gaze to her... and snickered, closing his eyes as his left hand went to the folds of his robe.
"Either Kefka traded power for crazy, or you're toughening me up," he mused. "That didn't hurt half as bad as Ragnarok did."
His hand came out with a metal ring that he set over Terra's head, his index finger trailing a line across her forehead as the sparks upon her helm faltered out against the circlet of gold.
+x+x+x+
"Onion Knight, may I speak with you for a moment?"
"You better have a good reason," the ninja grumbled, getting to his feet and following Ultimecia into the stairway to the next floor. To his astonishment, she hadn't even gone halfway up the stairs before he had arrived; Onion arrived at the same step as she was before she spoke.
"You're here to protect Terra, right?"
The question caught him off-guard, and he turned to face her, drawing off his cowl. "Of course I am," he reprimanded. "Didn't Lucent tell you as much?"
Ultimecia blinked. "Oh, you know her light name," she mused.
"Get to the point," Onion insisted. "You didn't bring me here to press rhetoric."
The sorceress bit her lip, reaching into the folds of her robe. Onion's eyes were already half-closed when he saw her draw something out. It was simple in appearance - a circlet of gold, with no protrusions or engravings - but its very presence seemed to spark, like circutry out of the Tower of Kefka.
He remembered a conversation he had held with Terra during the war - of a crown that had been forced upon her helm to seal her obedience - and his breath caught in his throat.
"You know what this is?" Ultimecia asked.
"Where in Hellfire did you get that?" Onion demanded.
The witch lowered the crown, both hands upon it. "Mateus had it," she explained. "He must have taken it from the harlequin's tower, sometime during the war. Palazzo is looking for it. It's more solid than his magic control."
"And Terra will never escape his hold if he gets this on her head," Onion realized.
Ultimecia nodded. "He can still get ahold of Terra while her Trance acts against her," she insisted. "If she can't control it - call it out, and calm it down, of her own will - he'll be able to use it to take control. If that happens, I need you to promise me that you will set this on her head. Override his spells, and get her somewhere safe."
Onion raised his gaze to her. "You want me to make her a slave?" he demanded.
Ultimecia shook her head. "We need you. To stop her from remaining his."
The ninja's garb shifted on his body, yet his sword remained in his hand as he raised it towards her.
"Who is 'we'?"
Ultimecia set her hand on his blade and drew it to the gap in her dress.
"Every Warrior condemned to these battlegrounds."
That she had the blade so close it threatened to draw blood proved that she was not his enemy.
Onion's gaze lowered, and the blade faded from his right hand as his left gripped the slave crown. With the time witch watching, he slipped the circlet into the folds of his robe.
"I just brush it to turn it on, right?"
Ultimecia nodded. "A magical touch is enough to trigger it. As long as you're not a theater stagehand, you're good. It'll only come off by your hand, and she will only follow your orders. You know her limits better than anyone. Don't push them, and she'll be fine."
She turned down the steps, and Onion breathed through clenched teeth, stepping down after her. As the witch cleared the staircase entrance, he heard Terra talking to Lucent about Kefka. "I don't look for him. He finds me. I'm really surprised he hasn't walked in on me and Onion yet."
"That would be rather awkward, wouldn't it?" Without so much as flinching, Ultimecia had gone back to her snarky match-teaser attitude. "Someone as insane as Palazzo, in garb so unkind, walking in on a moment such as that?"
"I told you to shut up already!"
+x+x+x+
"I swear to Goddess, she's worse every time."
Kefka was hunched over like a bell-ringer as he walked up the wall, irritable. There was a rough X burned out in the chest of his garments, and the face paint was charred off around his left eye. One hand was on the small of his back, nursing the impact point where Lightning had been thrown over him. "That's it," he muttered as his feet rounded the corner. "Next time, I'm gonna make sure she screams first. Ten seconds straight! Otherwise the mind trick's not gonna work worth-"
He silenced himself as he turned on his heel - to see Terra kneeling at Onion's side as he whispered in her ear, a circlet of gold around her helm. The knight set one hand on her shoulder, and the Esperkin quickly lifted off the ground and flew out of the tower, passing through the join to Rift Castle without so much as glancing at Kefka. Lucent Storm and Shantotto were both staring at Onion as Cure magic glowed over his chest and back, where Terra's grip-and-slam had hurt him. The clown was silent as he watched Terra leave; then his gaze snapped to Onion Knight.
"Wha-wha-whawhawha-wha- what WHAT WHAT!?" he screeched, his face snapping back and forth between the door she had passed through and the knight who had sent her through it. "WHAT!? WHAT! WHAT?! WHAT THE HELL KIND OF BAHAMUT WAS THAT?" Here he held out both hands towards the exit point.
Shantotto aimed her staff at him. "Oh, shut it!" she snapped. "Your screech is worse than that of a spoiled Mithra kit!"
Lucent set a hand upon her head, the markings upon her body returning to blue and colour returning to her flesh as the cape formed over her back again. "Where did you even get that?" she asked of the Onion Knight.
"Not here," Onion insisted, stepping forward and drawing out his Onion Sword; the Sage robes upon his person shifted, forming his Ninja garb as his crimson katana appeared in his other hand, and he aimed his weapon at Kefka threateningly.
"Alright. You wanna do this here, or should we take it outside?"
Kefka's shock wore off the moment Onion's angry tone caught him; in the time it took his face to go from confused gape to angry snarl, his garments and face paint had burned off entirely, and as he raised one hand heavenward the six wings tore out from his back, leaving him to lash his hand forward with the dark divine glow that made Lucent move.
"DIE!"
Onion's form was wrapped in smoke as the Light of Judgement seared out of the roof, tore through the air he had only just occupied, and ripped through the steel all the way to the bottom floor. The Void wraith had grabbed Shantotto by the arm and was dragging her through the air like a doll, trying to reach the lower door that would lead to Castle Ultimecia; Kefka saw them move, however, and quickly willed the rubble to obscure the passageway, colliding with Lucent and knocking her to the side. Shantotto struggled herself out of the wraith's grasp, seething as she called her staff back to hand.
"I swear," she snarled, "that clown stops calling in back-slashes and I'll tear him apart before he can touch a hair!"
"Don't get cocky," the void wraith mused. "He adapts to magic."
Shantotto shook her head. "You'll see. He won't adapt to me."
Onion had appeared in the air above and behind Kefka; he quickly lashed a pointed kick into the peak of the clown's spine, catching his attention enough that he was turning by the time the ninja swung. The blades were going in the opposite direction that Kefka's face was, and he quickly recoiled as the swords were drawn back and swung again. This wasn't Onion Knight's usual swordplay, landing as many fast swings as possible; this was a forceful, drawn-out combo intent on dealing him as much damage as possible.
The ninja ended with a fierce cross-blow that sent Kefka flying, the clown landing next to the point where his attacker had just prior been. His wings flared out to lift him; but by that point Onion had a shuriken in hand, and as he hurled it a maelstrom of sharpened stars flew towards the clown. He raised the feathers to catch them, but this barrage was laced with magic, such that each one set a flame upon his feathers. Sixty stars; then the Onion Sword was thrown after them, and as Kefka lashed out his wings to put out their flames the blade tore through his chest.
"Damn it!" he roared, grabbing the sword and hurling it back at its owner. Onion drew his crimson katana in a backhand grip and beat the projectile aside with an earthward swipe. In the time it had crossed the gap, Kefka had drawn from nowhere the bladed chain flail he had given to Lightning; now he leapt forward, kept aloft on his demon wings as he lashed the weapon up at Onion.
The ninja stepped aside from the mace blow, leapt over a slash with the dagger, and landed behind Kefka, driving his katana into the small of the demon's back. Kefka had stopped feeling impalement the first time he had tried that, and this time Onion was using it to his advantage; whilst the clown was looking for his opponent, he turned and lifted the monster into the air like an enemy of life itself.
"Lucent Storm," he called as he turned to the gap, keeping Kefka upon his blade. "You have revenge to take."
Shantottto and Lucent exchanged brief glances; a wordless game of janken triggered between the two of them, and before three seconds had passed Shantotto had stepped forward.
Onion only shrugged, glancing at Kefka. "It's your lucky day, freak," he mused. "You get to die by magic."
"What!?"
Then Onion angled his blade, such that gravity dragged Kefka off it, and turned away as he was dragged into the swinging range of Shantotto's staff. A howling gust of wind slammed him into the wall, and as Onion stepped through the join to Rift Castle he heard Shantotto begin to cast.
"Singe! Sink! Spark! Stone! Storm! Shiver! Singe! Sink! Spark!"
Draco: I need to stop with these midnight submissions. I don't think anyone is noticing these things.
Someone who knows VIers once said of Terra Branford, "you don't F%#*ING touch her F%#*ING kids." And now I say of her kids, it goes both ways.