Rain and Lightning and Sin [active; open]

[summoning_sin]

Character(s): Sin and anyone who wants in on the fight
Content: Boss fight! In the rain!
Setting: L7
Time: early evening, while it's still raining
Warnings: Destruction, mayhem, and violence. And a hole in the domes.

Comments

[stretchmeout]

"I finally made it!"

One lone voice came ringing out into the symphonic chaos, against the sound of the raining debris from the monstrous creature's firey spell. The voice was angry, determined, and seemed to call challenge the behemoth all on its own.

But where it did come from...?

All around, nothing but buildings and the wreckage of what were buildings as well. Smashed streets, littered with shattered stone and the splintered remains of the psuedo-plant life that had been used to decorate the eerily 'normal' landscape of Paixao. There was no sign of anyone, certainly no one large enough to challenge the awesome power of the creature now terrorizing the city.

"Now I'm gonna kick your ass, you giant fucking bastard!"

There it was again, that same tiny voice, like a bell being proudly knelled inthe midst of battle. Sin probably didn't even notice it, though, in which case, this would be Sin's mistake. It would have no one to blame but itself for what came next.

A rumbling sounded, an addition to the already panicked scene in which everything in Sin's path was being brought down to rubble. Suddenly, there came a dull whooshing sound, the same sort of sound as a solid object being thrown, with the wind whistling behind it.

It wasn't a rock. It wasn't a pile of rocks.

It was an entire building, and now, it was sailing straight towards Sin's left side.

Monkey D. Luffy stood at its source, snarling angrily at its target. Even then, this wasn't enough; the fury-driven pirate came running forward aafter it, his arms thrusting and his legs pumping madly. There was a great deal of distance to close between them, but once he was in range, Luffy was going to demonstrate that hurling Paixao's city-scape was the least of what he could do!

[sparkplasma]

Ivan had seen a lot of strange things since he'd been in Paixao. Demon overlords, sudden disappearances, magic carpets, people who didn't exist... not to mention Sin itself. After a while, you started to build up a certain tolerance to it - except that instead of becoming normal, the strangeness of the city had, at some nebulous point, become simply terrifying.

In spite of that (it wasn't as if he'd never been scared witless before), he'd finally stopped hiding outside the radius of destruction and rushed in headlong to try and do something about it. True, he didn't know where his friends were, but they'd said they would be along, and he trusted them. Actually, who was to say they weren't already there ahead of him?

The closer he got, though, his stomach knotted uncomfortably. They weren't. They weren't there yet. Sin was still standing unopposed -

Except for the flying building.

That was a new one, and the sight of it stopped Ivan in his tracks. For a second he thought Sin had just knocked it over, but no, it was flying. And towards it. As if somebody had casually picked it up and thrown it at the monster.

A second later, from the same direction, he caught sight of - what had to be someone, although moving fast enough that he couldn't make out who. But it was someone, trying to take Sin on by themselves.

That was what Ivan saw, although for now he failed to put two and two together. Alarmed, he dashed forward, but stopped a second later as if thinking better of it - "H-hey! Wait! Don't!" he shouted at the lone fighter's fast-advancing back, although at this distance (and that speed, and over the sound of the building itself) he had no idea whether the guy would actually hear him.

[summoning_sin]

Admittedly, the lone voice scarcely attracted Sin's notice - it was built to notice far larger things, when it noticed them at all - and one single person wasn't anywhere near that threshold.

The building that followed the announcements, on the other hand, was definitely large enough to attract Sin's attention, as it crashed into its side. And yet, for all the glass and stone that made up the building it didn't seems to have all that much of an effect on Sin, save for creating a rather impressive cloud of dust and debris.

Of course, it also let Sin know which direction the attack had come from. And with that, it could arrange for an appropriate counterattack; a blast of lightning shooting out of the cloud of dust and debris.

And while it was mostly aimed at Luffy, the blast was wide enough to strike Ivan as well, should he not move out of the way in time.

[stretchmeout]

Luffy, bull-headed as ever, kept right on charging forward, his face contorted wildly with gritted teeth and narrowed eyes to give shape to the boundless spirit and boiling temper that usually lay dormant beneath his child-like smile. It didn't matter how much damage the building had done when it slammed into Sin; Luffy had simply used it as an opening salvo. A solid punch from the rubber-man made an impact like that look paltry.

He was certainly expecting retaliation, but he wasn't sure how until a streaming wave of energy came punching through the thick cover of dust. Luffy was able to recognize it, though: this was the same sort of attack as Enel, and more recently, Larxene. It wouldn't affect him at all, and he knew it! This thought drove Luffy to run forward even faster, clentching his fists just a little harder to give him that extra push.

Then Ivan's cry caught his ear. Luffy blinked sharply as he caught a glimpse of him as he peered back over his shoulder. He looked forward again, seeing the lightning coming towards him. Then suddenly, he threw on his brakes, and hard, turning on a dime towards Ivan.

"Hold on to me!" Luffy shouted ahead, running as hard as his muscled legs would carry him. Sharply, he literally threw his own arms forward, causing them to stretch out. As his hands reached Ivan, he took a firm hold, just in time as his arms grew taut and came flying back towards the rest of him.

The blast from Sin hit the ground, causing the very ground beneath them to erupt in a thick, sharp shower of earth. Luffy leapt into the air swiftly, carrying Ivan with him, with enough power behind him to carry them away from the blast radius and on top of a felled building, now laying at an angle against the ground.

Luffy, panting, looked positively panicked. "Naa-AH, that was close..." he gasped, his tongue hanging out. "You've got to get away from here! That stupid thing is gonna keep on shooting until the whole place is one big pile of junk!"

[sparkplasma]

Ivan instinctively raised his arms in front of him as the building impacted the monster's side and erupted into a cloud of mortar and debris, even if it was still far enough away that he had little to worry about from it. It made it hard, when he looked again, to tell whether it had done anything, but -

The prickling sensation in his skin warned him it hadn't.

That was when he heard Luffy again. His attention had switched so fully to the monster that he'd completely lost track of him, but that was impossible anymore, because by the time he looked back, the guy had already grabbed hold of him - while most of him still appeared well out of reach, no less - and yanked him clean off his feet.

There was a bright flash of light, the massive CRACK of nearby thunder, an upheaval of pavement below and behind them - and it was only when Ivan could hear himself again that he realized his latest breath had actually been a scream.

... Well, it still was, for another second or two. Although, perhaps to his credit, he managed to shut his mouth by the time they landed - not crashed, that was important. Soon his feet were back on solid ground (if a diagonal building could be called either solid or ground), and he could catch his breath again.

He was still in the middle of regaining his composure when Luffy told him, in so many words, what Ivan had been trying to tell him. "I - I know that," he blurted out. "I came here to help stop it."

[summoning_sin]

Stopping Sin, however, was going to be easier said than done. On a far away world it had been nothing short of a destructive force that had been nigh-unstoppable; here it was smaller and less powerful but no less dangerous all the same, especially with the fact that unlike Yu Yevon had been Seymour had nothing to constantly summon and could therefore keep a more watchful eye on the proceedings.

Not that he was going to announce that little fact just yet. His Sin was doing an admirable job on its own. And it was hardly going to let them escape so easily; moving a little closer to the pair before sending another blast of lightning heading their way.

[stretchmeout]

Luffy, for at least a moment, looked dumbfounded as he stared back at Ivan. He had actually assumed Ivan had only been in Sin's range by accident, a bystander suddenly caught in the crossfire. It hadn't occurred to him that Ivan was actually here to fight! Once he realized this, Luffy began to smile, a very bright and strangely energized smile that almost seemed inhumanly wide. "Yosh, I see!" he replied, nodding his head firmly.

Sin, from behind, had let loose another attack. From the corner of his eye, Luffy had seen it coming, and immediately turned to face it head-on. He raised up a single fist and clentched it so tightly, it gave off an audible sound almost like leather tightening.

"Okay then!" he yelled out, then oddly began to dig his heels into the cracked rubble beneath him. "Show me what you can do, and we'll move in together!"

As the lightning bore down upon him, Luffy flashed a devilish smile, his eyes wide with excitement, then took a swing with his balled-up fist just as the crackling energy was inches away from striking. His hand poured down the center of the blast, suddenly releasing a tremendous burst that sent a concussive wave emanating outward; an acric smoke billowed out, clouding the scene completely in perfect black.

Once visibility was regained, though, Luffy was standing perfectly unharmed, with a small, fading wisp of smoke trailing away from his fist.

"LET'S GO!" he shouted, issuing a thunderous war cry, then began to run straight at the source of the chaos once more.

[sparkplasma]

Ivan stepped back as the second burst of plasma approached, glancing uncertainly between it and Luffy. Shouldn't they be trying to get out of the way? But by that point it was too late, and though he braced himself against it, he almost lost his balance in the ensuing shock wave.

The thick cloud of smoke it kicked up set him coughing into the crook of his elbow, and he was honestly surprised to see Luffy still standing there when it cleared. Without so much as a scratch on him, either. "O-okay!" he shouted in reply. It wasn't as easy to follow; he landed squarely on his feet when he jumped from the building, but one of them continued to hurt after he'd run off the ache in the other.

He was sorely outclassed here; he'd known that from the beginning. Being a Jupiter Adept didn't grant him immunity even from his own lightning, much less this, and nothing stood to protect him from either debris or the monster's feet. He wasn't a demon, he wasn't a warrior, he was just ... just Ivan.

But he had to try.

Elsewhere, he noticed, the others were starting to arrive. Some just blurs of speed he didn't recognize, but one he would have known a mile away; Laharl had firmly made his entrance. That lifted Ivan's spirits, and he looked ahead to Luffy, who was pretty easily outrunning him.

It didn't matter. He didn't have to do this alone. It was like facing the Doom Dragon again, but just like then, he would face it with his friends.

Still a decent distance away, he skidded to a stop, gathering his power around him. If he could Bind the monster's Psynergy, even for a short time, that'd remove a lot of the threat it presented (he reasoned), but he had to act fast. Ideally before it got another chance to fry him. To anyone but an Adept, the Psynergy would be invisible as he cast it, but in his mind's eye, the seal he was trying to set shone clear as day.

A gamble, maybe, but it was the best gamble he had.

[ooc: If successful, this would make it temporarily impossible for Sin to cast Psynergy and stuff. Whether it is successful (it tends not to be, esp. in boss fights), and if so, for how long, is up to thee, Sin-mun. ♥]

[summoning_sin]

And ultimately, a gamble that seemed to have no effect; a rumble of lightning splitting the air only moments later. And while it would have no effect on either of them thanks to the NulShock that Braska had cast on them only moment earlier (and natural immunity in Luffy's case), but it would break the barrier NulShock provided.

Of course, it wasn't going to let that be the only counterattack it offered, for as soon as Luffy got within striking distanced, he'd find a vicious backhand headed his way, courtesy of one of Sin's forelegs.

[stretchmeout]

Luffy had managed to sew up a lot of distance between himself and the lightning titan rumbling steadily through the city; he may not have been as fast as certain prickly, blue speedsters, but Luffy could make a cheetah lose its breath in a footrace. He was right in front of Sin's monstrous feet in no time flat.

Briefly, he glanced back towards Ivan who had stopped to conjured up some sort of technique. He couldn't see Ivan doing anything except concentrating, so Luffy quickly decided not to distract him. Thankfully, Sin's next blast broke away from Ivan without causing any damage for reasons the pirate didn't quite understand, but felt thankful for nonetheless. It left him plenty of time to concentrate on his own...attack?

WHAM! Sin's limb came rushing towards him from the side. Luffy barely had time enough to react, but he managed to brace himself and stick both of his hands out in front of him to catch Sin's enormous heft.

"Nnnngh! Strong!" Luffy managed to gasp as he strained to hold the attack away from himself. Though he dug in his heels, his feet actually digging long, straight trenches into the ground beneath him, Luffy just wasn't strong enough to stop Sin's limb. He was caught in its momentum, though, and if he didn't keep pushing back, he'd be swept in and slammed away by it.

Instead, summoning up a huge burst of strength, Luffy managed to roll off to the side and left Sin's 'hand' sweep past him as he tumbled to the ground, not unlike rolling out of a moving vehicle.

Luffy snarled, dusting off some of the rubble he had been pushed through from his clothing. Angered, he began his aggressive rush towards Sin again, and now, he was close enough to try and do some damage! With a quick leap, Luffy bounded off a collapsed build, using it as a platform for a tremendous jump straight up in the air. Luffy was practically flying, Sin's ethereal body falling past him as he soared. He was only able to leap up to the chest-level of Sin's skyscraper-sized body, though...but it was close enough!

Just before he began to fall, Luffy twisted himself around in midair until his head was aimed towards the ground, his feet pointed straight towards the underside of Sin's 'head'. "Goooomu gomu noooooo..." With muscles tensed, he kicked his legs straight up, calling out his attack before his pliant, rubber legs came together with his feet pressed together into a point. "...SPEAR!"

[sparkplasma]

It wasn't working.

Ivan grimaced as the next bolt of lightning cracked the air ahead of him, and braced for an impact he didn't have time to evade. But it didn't come. He felt the current, his hair standing on end, heard the deafening boom of thunder around him, but... He tentatively opened one eye as it cleared. It was a direct hit, but the attack hadn't touched him.

How was that possible?

Shaking his head, he put the thought aside. He couldn't count on getting that lucky again. He looked for and quickly caught sight of Luffy again, going quite literally toe-to-toe with the monster, and holding his own pretty amazingly, at that. For a second he wavered, debating whether to follow, but... no. At that distance he'd be more a liability than an asset.

Silently wishing Luffy good luck, he darted out, looking for somewhere he could be more helpful.

[ooc: threadhopping out, carry on~]

[summoning_sin]

Not terribly surprising, Sin didn't appear to have taken much damage from Luffy's attack - its skin was far to thick for bare feet to pierce it, even if the feet were as powerful as Luffy's were. And while he did knock its head it wasn't like it exactly had a neck to break.

The attack that followed wasn't exactly one that needed to be aimed either as only moments after Luffy's attack a tornado tore its way across the field. And no ordinary tornado either, but one that had lightning crackling amongst the violent winds that it was comprised of.

Of course, the lightning would have no real effect of Luffy, still, but surely the winds and the debris that was being thrown around by the tornado would have some effect.

[stretchmeout]

Though he felt his attack connect, the sandals shielding his feet sinking into the thick, rippling surface of Sin's body, Luffy was obviously dissatisfied with the result; he fell away, his legs snapping back into place, and angrily grit his teeth, tensed by the frustration by his ineffective attacks.

Hoping to quicken his descent, Luffy lashed out his arms quickly, taking hold of a firm surface on the ground. Tightening his grip, he pulled himself down, his arms suddenly retracting, and landed in a tight and crouched stance. Luffy then shot his head back and glared up at Sin; "Dammit, what do I have to do to hurt this stupid thing? All I can do is knock it around!"

Then he felt a strange bit of pressure, a strong, tugging sensation that seemed to creep up on him from out of nowhere. The winds picked up suddenly, violent and stirring up all the dust and smaller stones that had been smashed and scatterd by Sin's rampage; Luffy's hand shot to his hat, keeping it from blowing away. He spun around and saw the tornado that Sin had created, roaring its away over the battlefield. His eyes went wide, and just before the vortex could sweep over him, he lept backwards, taking a stunning jump away to safety!

The tornado kept on coming, though, tracing a line of destruction over the ground. Its size and strength were undeniable, pulling at Luffy's loose clothing, causing it to ripple audibly. Luffy had to keep himself moving constantly, running, tumbling, and leaping away from the winds, but it wasn't long before the powerful suction managed to take hold of him, drawing him straight into the swirling mass of wind and lightning.

Like he had been tossed into the dryer, Luffy was tossed and thrown about inside the tornado, whirled and twirled until he could barely see straight anymore. After it had played with him enough, he was thrown wildly away, his light body effortlessly flung across the air and into the distance.

((Jumping threads!))