And then he dreams of cutting foreign throats [ Open! ]

[secondcity_npc]

Characters: Anyone interested in fighting off a giant tiger and the Unseelie Queen
Time: April 16th-April 17th
Location: The University of Chicago campus
Content: Round one is a celestial guardian. Round two is the Queen of Winter. Round three will hopefully be Hungry Hungry Hippos.
Format: Poster's choice
Warnings: None. No tag order.

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[eroded_earth]

Terra had missed many of the "main" events yesterday but that didn't mean he had been idle. He'd actually taken out a number of phages and rescued several people and shortly after that had crashed with exhaustion. Today, however, was a new day. He was sore and tired but he wasn't going to let that stop him from a fight and from protecting innocent people. Something felt different about today, he felt stronger. He wasn't quite his old self but there was something more there.

He hopped off his glider and as he did it returned to the form of a keyblade in his hand. He'd actually first appeared in this real Chicago not too far from this location and had heard about the strange attacks going on all over the city. At first he'd thought it was more phages but, up close, he could tell that this beast was no phage. This was a creature much more powerful than that.

It was destroying buildings with who knew how many people inside. Terra gripped the keyblade tightly and then, with a smirk, threw it at the tiger's head. It spiraled through the air before smacking the tiger right between the eyes before returning back to Terra. The tiger was not happy about this and its head spun to look at the one who dared attack it. The keyblade flew back to Terra's hand and he shifted into a fighting stance, "Here kitty, kitty."

[hiptobe_eraqus]

Normally, Eraqus fought against his students as a part of training, or stood back and watched them fight on the side. But today, it would be beside them, and against the possessed creatures that Morgana had turned on the city. He pulled up on his own glider, dismissed it and returned the Keyblade to his hand. Perhaps it was just the small bit of rest and meditation he'd gotten after returning to the city proper, but he felt a lot stronger today. After Merlin's discussion, though, he suspected it was much more than that.

Well, at least Terra had gotten its attention, even if the 'kitty' comment was a bit silly.

"We must be ready to surround it," he said, shifting into his own fighting position. With its size, one good swipe of its paw could knock them all over. But with some distracting from the front, there could be openings to attack in the rear.

[wavesinherheart]

If it had been Ven instead of Master Eraqus, Aqua would have likened this fight to the one they'd had in Radiant Garden. As it was, there was far more at stake, and it had been a very long time since she'd seen her Master actually be serious about anything. But if ever there was a fight that needed two Masters, it was something like this. Something that threatened the stability of more worlds than just the ones they knew, and she hopped of her own glider mere moments after Eraqus had.

This was a fight that would take all they had, although she had to admit there was something that made things feel more in their favor today, although she couldn't quite put her finger. But it was still something.

"Right," she answered with a nod as she summoned her own Keyblade. "It can't keep track of us all at once." Unfortunately she doubted Slow was going to work her, which meant they'd simply have to make do with their own speed and hope they weren't outclassed.

[scarfandknives]

Out of the corner of every eye you might notice a blur of dark motion. High above the city streets. Then, with as much care for the laws of physics as an armed robber has for the laws of a city, the figure high above the large tiger dove down feet first like a meteor. Completely disregarding that you can't crash down at a higher momentum than the gravity's pull. Crashing into the tiger's back and then bouncing, flipping off the large cat to the ground.

Knives didn't realize how much she was missing till she had it back. The Fallen was still in her head, still whispering, she just needed to stay on point for a little while longer. She also landed on the opposite side of the large cat from the trio of keybladers. So she was jumping in on a heartwarming family affair... she wanted to fight the big kitty.

[eroded_earth]

Terra nodded at his Master's commands. It would be best if they attacked it from multiple sides. There was a flash of movement above Terra as he made a move to rush forward. He gasped and looked up in time to see the small figure of Knives come crashing down on the tiger. The tiger, between being smacked by the keyblade and this recent attack, howled out in rage. The attack look like it shouldn't have injured the cat more as a large crater was left behind underneath the cat. However, the cat just howled and reared up, spinning to strike at Knives.

"Oh no you don't," Terra called out, presuming his rush forward. He jumped up and slammed Ends of the Earth into the cat's side, swiping upwards. The tiger howled again and swung at Terra. Terra was too close and went flying backwards, slamming hard into the ground at the cat's paws. The tiger growled and drew one of its paws back, aiming to crush Terra into the ground.

[hiptobe_eraqus]

With both Aqua and Terra beside him, Eraqus felt a confidence that he hadn't felt in awhile. He had to make it last.

At least with Knives coming in from above, they had a head start on getting at it from all sides. That also got it angry pretty quickly, but there was no stopping that now.

Terra was able to protect Knives from the tiger's first attack, but now it was heading for him. Here, Eraqus stepped in...he drew back, leaped up high and landed a hard strike on the tiger's paw as it aimed a swipe. It backed off a step, shaking its paw and snarling in fury. While it was still focused on him, Eraqus ran around to its right side, preparing for a series of fast strikes.

[iamaman_punch]

Yesterday, to put it lightly, had been wild. Unfortunately, with three of four lost beasts now found, possessed, and causing damage to the city, it looked like today was shaping up to put yesterday to shame. Of course, Linkara wasn't about to sit any of it out - he'd dropped the artifacts and everyone carrying them into Morgan's trap, after all, and so he figured he needed to at least try to fix the problems that had caused. The giant tiger terrorizing the college was definitely on that list.

He'd missed the opening line and the very abbreviated strategy discussion, but his snap teleport - which he'd hardly felt; looked like Merlin hadn't been kidding when he'd said getting them their powers back was a priority - had gotten him there in time for Knives' entrance and Terra's subsequent...pawing.

It would be Terra. Of course.

He didn't have time to sigh or roll his eyes or snark, no matter how appropriate any of that would have been. Instead, he snapped his fingers, instantaneously appearing beside his fallen friend, then grabbed Terra's shoulder and snapped them again, teleporting them both back to where Eraqus and Aqua had been standing. He stood, looking down at Terra. "Seriously? We're getting our powers back and that's how you start?" There was a bit of a smirk playing about his face, though - Linkara had a feeling that this was going to be epic, and he was glad he was here for it.

[scarfandknives]

Knives watched everyone move, trying to figure out how to best help. They all had super magical weapons... or a hat, well, the weapons probably meant they could do more damage than she could. And while the rescue was nice- she's a ninja, she could handle it. Plus she has a ton of HP left! She hopped around throwing a few knives at the large kitty on the opposite side from Eraqus's run.

Those knives exploded when they struck. Knives kept moving because that probably annoyed it.

Finally she stopped, did a stunning physics breaking leap out of the Tiger's current range and smiled. An idea forming in that cute little head of hers. She put on a cap, in no way meant to go with her outfit, and spun. After her spin she had a HUGE cup of coffee. No, really, this is an absurd cup of coffee. I mean, you think you've seen the largest cup of coffee, and you're wrong because you find this cup. Then... it vanishes.

By the way, Linkara and the Keybladers? You're all now twice as fast as you were a moment ago. Behold the power of coffee.

[wavesinherheart]

Linkara's sudden appearance and subsequent teleport caught Aqua off guard for a brief moment. She hadn't known he could do that, although she was more than a little grateful that he'd gotten Terra out of imminent danger. She was well aware that Terra could take care of himself but no matter how she looked at it, getting mauled by a giant tiger didn't sound anything any of them was prepared for.

But there wasn't time to dwell on the fact. Terra had been rescued, the tiger's attention had been drawn away thanks to her Master's attack, and... whatever the other girl had done felt distinctly like a Haste-type effect, which was nothing to sneeze at. She was less interested in running straight into attacking, however. Sure, she could hit just fine, but with their powers coming back she had a few things she'd missed being able to do and instead her own attack came in the form of magic as she launched a ball of fire at the tiger - a ball of fire that exploded when it struck the tiger.

Extra damage couldn't hurt, after all, and it very neatly pulled the tiger's attention away from the others as it turned to come after the person who'd just singed its fur.

[eroded_earth]

Eraqus had managed to deflect the tiger's attention away from him, which Terra was grateful for. He started to get back to his feet only to find Linkara by his shoulder and then suddenly they were somewhere else. Terra blinked in surprise at the instantaneous teleporting. He shook his head, "Smashing my keyblade into it seemed like a good idea to me." Terra rose to his feet again. Apparently being thrown into a wall wasn't as big a deal for him as some people. Although if that kept up he was going to regret being without potions...he'd have to reserve his spells until his powers were back to full strength.

Terra rolled his shoulder a few times and looked up to see Knives just as the giant coffee cup vanished. It wasn't a heal spell or a potion but Terra did suddenly feel invigorated. He smirked, "Let's get back to taming the tiger, shall we?"

Fire started to erupt around Terra and he rushed the tiger again just as it made a lunge for Aqua. The Fire Surge slammed into the cats back legs causing it to stumble instead of strike his friend. Terra then went to town swiping at the tiger's legs with a multitude of attacks, his motion practically a blur thanks to the Haste ability Knives had apparently cast.

[iamaman_punch]

"Hit it until it stops moving." Linkara shrugged, grinning. "Yeah, that works." That tended to be how a good deal of his plans went, anyway. Still, it looked like a close encounter with a wall hadn't done too much damage to Terra, and they had a fight to get back into.

He turned around just in time to see the giant cup of coffee disappear, and he felt its effects a few moments later. The power of caffeine was an amazing thing. "Sounds like a plan." Terra dashed in one direction and Linkara went the other, heading for the tiger's head and calling Razor Wit to his hand - much easier than it had ever been - as he ran. Putting himself in the line of sight of one very enraged mythological creature was probably not the best of plans, but it tended to balance out pretty well with attacking the weak point for massive damage. He hurled the Keyblade, barely waiting to see it crack across the tiger's jaw before calling it back to his left hand and pulling the Magic Gun with his right, aiming a series of quick shots at the tiger's eyes.

[hiptobe_eraqus]

Between him and Linkara, Terra had been spared a nasty hit from the tiger. He also felt the effects of Knives' unusual spell; it felt a lot like Haste, which was difficult magic to pull off. He was definitely grateful for the boost now.

With that extra boost, he narrowly avoided another wild swipe from the tiger, and decided to follow up Aqua's fire spell with one of his own. He felt a renewal of power surge through him, and called up one of his more powerful spells...an immense column of fire sprouted beneath the beast's right hind leg, causing it to rear up in anger. There was no doubt about it now...their powers were returning to their full potential.

All this fire had to be tiring it out eventually...or perhaps just making it angrier.

[wavesinherheart]

Even if it was only making the tiger angrier (which Aqua was going to consider as definitely a possible, at this point) it was still a result. True, the angrier it got it was only likely to get more dangerous, but that was still something, even if it taking it on had been less than ideal. Besides, between Terra and Linkara the tiger was at least having difficulty make a decision about who to attack.

And if a two-pronged attack was doing that much, then adding another would only be better for their purposes as Aqua took advantage of the added speed to rush in at the tiger. However, her intentions were far different than Terra's as she was already casting a Stop spell as she closed in. As she'd rather expected to be the case, it didn't take, but she didn't let that stop her as she leapt into the air. The tiger was easily large enough for the rest to work just fine as she began a series of downwards strikes, teleporting to a new position before each strike. Over and over she struck, the added speed only making the teleports more difficult to predict until at last the chain ended, with Aqua landing near where she'd been when she'd started.

[eroded_earth]

With Aqua went into overdrive with teleports and attacks Terra made his way back to his Master. They needed to use more powerful attacks if they hoped to take down this Tiger. The distraction tactic was working but it would only get them so far if all their attacks were doing was pissing it off.

"Master! We should combine attacks," he shouted as soon as he was close enough. His combined attack with Linkara that one time during the final fight with Mechakara had worked out well...maybe it would be good if he did something like that with his Master.

Terra drew in the energy, focusing on the earth at his feet. He could feel it inside him, the power he needed to help bring the tiger down a notch or two. With a relish Terra brought his keyblade up and knew right away this was going to end badly. His keyblade and hand were glowing with a blackish-purple aura and before he could really help himself the power was unleashed.

[hiptobe_eraqus]

Aqua's teleportation spell was proof that their powers were almost fully returned, and Eraqus decided to try for his for all they were worth. They needed them now.

So when Terra gave the suggestion that they combine their attacks, Eraqus responded with a nod and a "We shall!" He prepared to cast one of his own best spells...spells made of light.

Eraqus felt that building darkness in Terra even before it was released, but there was no time to do anything about it before it fully manifested. And that darkness manifested as an enormous, reaching hand, black and purple and red and swirling with power. It was somehow both impressive and horrifying.

But there was no time to stop his own spell process to correct or even comment on this rush of darkness. Eraqus floated a little ways off the ground as a half-dozen blades of light formed around him in a circle. The blades of light spun faster, then all shot out...towards that giant hand of darkness.

But apparently, their combined strength stood out even in this attack, with their two opposed elements reacting with each other. The darkness hand, instead of deflecting or being hurt by the light blades, grabbed them up in quick succession and slammed them into the tiger's body with many times more force than the blades would have done on their own. The enormous tiger howled in pain, wobbling on its feet at the force of the continuous strikes.

[wavesinherheart]

Much like her Master, Aqua had noticed the sudden surge of darkness from Terra. Even if she hadn't actually had to fight the version of Terra that she'd found waiting in the courtyard of Radiant Garden, there was no way to avoid the fact that darkness was deeply and uncomfortably familiar, and to see Terra actually controlling it was more than a little worrisome.

All the same, she did have to admit that between his darkness and Master Eraqus' light the tiger appeared to be taking far more damage than it might have with only one of them attacking it. It might have been a strange sight, to see a hand made out of darkness snatching the light blades out of the air, but did it matter how strange something was if it worked? For now, however, it seemed that she'd simply have to wait until the attack was finished. She wasn't about to get in between something like that.

She did, however, start drawing in her own power just in case.