Group 1: The Search for Monty Python and the Eleventh Pillar

[secondcity_mods]

Characters: (1) Sora, Kaldur, Ninja-Style Dancer, Granny Weatherwax, Franky; (2) Eraqus, Fred Weasley, Agent Derek, Galahad, Linkara, Clare Edwards
Time: After the Bean meeting
Location: The forests of the Nevernever
Content: It’s time to find the eleventh pillar.
Format: Poster’s choice
Warnings: No tag order.

Comments

Subject: Group 1A: Sora, Kaldur, Ninja-Style Dancer, Granny Weatherwax, Franky

[fey_npc]

Just outside, the tremendous and continous pounding of something very large and very fast drew closer to the cabin until out of the darkness, three pairs of demonic red eyes hovered from the black density of the forest. From the level of the approaching eyes, the beasts that were quickly approaching out of the forest's gloom were taller even than Franky, and as they emerged from the darkness, it soon became clear that these gargantuan beasts were perfect guardians to whatever lay deeper in the forests of the Nevernever

Re: Subject: Group 1A: Sora, Kaldur, Ninja-Style Dancer, Granny Weatherwax, Franky

[barefootbadass]

Kaldur was the first out the door and thus was the first to see what they would be up against. When the horses came forward Kaldur had to give pause because while he had heard the hoofbeats he had not expected them to be without riders...much less for them to be unicorns. Granted, these were not the unicorns he was used to hearing about but something larger and clearly more dangerous.

He did not move his eyes from them even as the owl took off, "Some of you should follow the owl. The rest of us will stay behind and ensure they do not pursue." Kaldur didn't wait to see who stayed and who went with the owl. There was no time for that. Instead to ensure that the horses didn't follow he twisted one of his water bearers into a whip and cracked it against the ground beside the horses hooves, "Hee-yah!"

As he pulled the water whip back he made sure to crack it again against the horses' bodies. Yeah, that would get their attention.

[bailarinja]

The Ninja-Style Dancer followed close behind Kaldur, and the moment he saw the three unicorns his eyes widened. This was starting to become a pattern he really didn't want to continue; even in Linkara's home he never had to fight things so much bigger than he.

His hand darted for his knife as he gestured to the others to go on and follow the owl. Being lent Harvey's gun was looking like a better idea now, but if he could get away with not using it, he was going to. Kaldur occupied the three great beasts, so he took the chance to slink behind. It was probably pointless to hope his dark clothes would conceal him in the dark; it honestly wouldn't surprise them if they could see in the dark. But he still tried, swiftly leaping to slash at the joint on the back of one of the horse's legs.

[itsasecretmecha]

Ohoho. Now this, this was Franky's territory of weird. Looking up at the big, bizarre things, it almost felt like home. If nothing else, it was an interesting version of unicorn after having interacted with Sparkles.

"Giddyup, kids!" He called out with a grin. "I think we got things covered on this end!" Slots and compartments in his arms flipped open all over, missiles and bullet shafts all at the ready as the big man put himself between the massive fae and the other group. A barrage of bulletfire--yeah, iron bullets--would make sure the creatures wouldn't go after the retreating team.

[thisoneis]

Technically speaking, Granny wasn't unfamiliar with unicorns. These bore almost no relationship to the half-mad thing that had come bolting through the Ramtops, although she didn't need to brush across their minds to realize the common thread between the one that had gotten loose and these ones.

There was only one thing left to do, especially in the absence of a proper blacksmith. Someone was going to need to stand between the monsters and the people headed for the tree and she'd had years of standing between people and what was coming and after carefully sizing up the unicorns, she shot the mental equivalent of a shot across the bows at the one that appeared to be the leader of the group.

[fey_npc]

The moment the separate attacks hit, the horses let out screams of fury. Bullets ricocheted off their armored flanks, but the water and the bows seemed to strike true. One of them reared up on its hind legs, suddenly nearly as tall as the cottage itself before slamming its front hooves back onto the ground and causing it to shudder violently.

The other, whose leg had been slashed by the ninja, kicked out its back legs ferociously before sprinting off to the right as the other remaining unicorn charged at the group, its head low and leading with the deadly horn.

[skylit_torch]

The size of the unicorns didn't bother someone who had faced off against Ursula, Chernabog, the Hydra, and countless gigantic Heartless and Nobodies. Plus, the odds were in their favor - the frenzied red-eyed monsters didn't really faze him at all. He was concerned, though, with making sure they didn't go galloping after those who were following the owl to the eleventh pillar. Everything depended on what they would do here, and he wasn't going to let the unicorns stop them.

Summoning his keyblade, he turned to face the unicorn that was charging at the group, quickly going through his spells. He didn't know if these unicorns belonged to Summer or Winter and- well, it was far too close to really think about, he really was just going to have to go with instinct or he was going to get impaled and Kairi and Riku would never forgive him

[bailarinja]

The unicorn's kick struck true, grazing Ninja across the face as he flew back against the tree behind him. There was an obvious trickle of blood down his face, but he ignored it, quickly taking a moment to slip his hood back in place as he hurried to his feet.

It was difficult to tell if his strike did any damage at all, as it was clearly still mobile. Now that he thought about it and got a better look through the dark that skin did look like armor. Well that made his job look more difficult. His eyes narrowed in concentration, trying to think.

Sora had leaped onto one of them, standing on its back. It was certainly worth a shot, and now was his chance as they charged at the group. He ran toward the one he'd just slashed, hoping to jump on its tail to climb to its back.

[barefootbadass]

Kaldur manages to keep his balance on the shaking earth. Sora had taken the horse that was charging the group and Kaldur decided to focus on the one trying to make them loose their footing. The horses had armor but surely they had to have a kink in it somewhere. Kaldur pulled his water whip back and swirled it around before swinging it back again at the back legs of the horse that had reared up. Hoping it was unstable, Kaldur used his strength to attempt and pull it down.

[itsasecretmecha]

It takes more than a little trembling to get a man raised on the sea to lose his balance. Looked like bullets alone wouldn't make a lot of difference, but when did they ever? The kid with the big shoes seemed to be having a decent enough idea, though: if they were on top of the unicorns, it would be a lot harder to get poked at with those giant head needles.

The one charging was the closest, and therefore the obvious option, Franky considered. With a grunt, he lifted his arm and launched off his hand, to loop the attaching chain around the beast's neck. Either he'd be able to reign it in and get an easy ride, or he'd choke it. Or he'd miss and get impaled, you know, whatever.

[fey_npc]

The unicorn that had reared up whipped its head to the side, eyes blazing with unbridled fury and suddenly it too was charging at the group from its unguarded flank, even if it had to go through Kaldur and the ninja to do it.

More alarmingly was the fire that suddenly engulfed its horn.

The unicorn Sora had mounted skidded to a halt the moment the keybearer grabbed its mane and began bucking wildly, trying to dismount its sudden rider. Matters were only complicated when Franky tossed the chain around its neck - the unicorn screamed in fury, backpedaling, and finally attempting to just gallop away.

The remaining unicorn seemed to have decided that this was far too much, its head turning in the direction the other group had vanished in. One of its ears twitched, and it abruptly turned to follow the group that had vanished into the forest.

[skylit_torch]

Sora held on for dear life the moment the unicorn began bucking wildly beneath him - man, this thing was worse than the Hydra and it was smaller. He glimpsed Franky throwing something at the unicorn he was still trying not to fall off of, and only had a moment to wrench himself backwards to avoid getting smacked in the head with the chain.

In doing that, he caught sight of the one of the other unicorns making a break for the woods.

"No!" he shouted, one hand still clasping the unicorn's tangled mane while he used his keyblade as balance. Swinging the blade in the direction of the retreating unicorn, he shouted, "Blizzara!" The sound of ice cracking along the length of the blade snapped through the air, and blue magic, sprinkled with tiny flakes of ice, shot from the tip of the blade and towards the unicorn's legs.

[thisoneis]

Granny scowled as the flare of Sora's magic drew her attention to the third unicorn. The damn fool thing was leaving. Running away so as to get at the other group of people and as much as Granny couldn't stand cowards* there was something else worse. When she extended her protection to someone, if by implication then they were damned well going to get it, and no unicorn was going to sneak past her, no matter what the thing looked like

[barefootbadass]

Kaldur's eyes widened at the charging unicorn, but he wasn't going to back down. Instead of dodging Kaldur ran at the unicorn and jumped up at the last minute. He was taking a page from Sora's book and was planning on landing on the thing's back. Kaldur barely got over the flaming horn, but he twisted at the last minute and avoided it. He landed on the back of the unicorn and his tattoos glowed as Kaldur sent a surge of electricity from his arms and into the unicorn. If his water was not going to work then perhaps he could shock it down.

[bailarinja]

He barely evaded the unicorn's fierce hooves, leaping and grabbing onto its tail and clinging as it swayed back and forth as it galloped. Just out of the corner of his eye he saw Kaldur jump onto the beast's back. It was a bit too risky to attempt getting down now; he thought of a better idea. A contingency plan in case there was no way to bring them down from the top.

With no one looking at him, he pulled his mask down just enough to hold the knife between his teeth, and he swung forward on the tail, finding a handhold in the plated armor and grabbing it. Feeling around in the dark, tossed about in the horse's stride, he managed to climb a few paces onto the underside of the beast, where he held with one hand and both feet, raising the knife again and driving it towards the horse's stomach.

[itsasecretmecha]

With a grunt and a whoop, Franky grounded himself against the unicorn's thrashing and attempts to escape. If it had been so damn eager to rush the group, why should he let it back away so easily?

Giving the makeshift reigns of chain a good yank, the cyborg glowered at the screaming fae. "Whoa there, nelly." Every tug it gave against him was met with a hard pull and stern word. He had beaten more than enough animals into being his steed before, and this fussy little thing wasn't going to break his streak.