I can think of no applicable Nightmare Before Christmas Lyrics

[smooth_sith]

Who: A lot of people and a lot of Mannequins.
When: Sometime after this post.
Where: All over Ultimecia Castle.
What: There are subtle ways to rescue hostages and less subtle ways to rescue hostages. This is going to be one of the second ones.
Type: Whichever works.
Notes/Warnings: Violence. Specify which area of the castle (I.e. PRISON, where most

Comments

Prison? Wherever Kefka held her captive. (for Shadow, OK and Kefka)

[heavenslament]

Terra was finally free of her small prison, but she barely noticed, and wasn't at all in the frame of mind to savor that fact. Drained as she was, the young woman had no defense against Kefka's magic. The weariness was suddenly gone, replaced by the overwhelming desire to attack anything nearby.

Leaping into the air, the young woman transformed. Gone was the pale skin and green hair, replaced by a wild mane and claws. She glided around the area, ready to strike at the first target that crossed her path.

[alittletoosmart]

With the fluctuating power levels, it was hard to tell how challenging a fight with any one manikin would be. Bad luck could make even a manikin a difficult battle. Normally, this would have bothered the Onion Knight a lot more than it did. He needed to know how strong his foes were in order to know whether he should fight them or not

[obsidian_chaos]

The sheer number of Mannequins only served to annoy the black hedgehog. All of the ones that mindlessly found themselves in his path moments later found themselves wiped out of existence. But it was the shift in power levels that irritated Shadow to no end: It made reaching their goal that much slower. Thank goodness for his own speed and abilities as well as his comrade's. There was no time for games or trivialities

[heavenslament]

[ooc: I think Kefka's just watching the show for now, so....]

There was no sense of reason in those eyes, nothing but the burning desire to unleash her magic as quickly as possible. Not even Onion Knight running toward her was enough to snap Terra out of her frenzied state. Upon spotting him, he became her first target.

She shot a large piece of ice at the boy, then ascended as she charged magical energy into her arms. After that, she spun and whipped them out to fire several crescent-shaped bands of energy at him.

[alittletoosmart]

Skidding to a halt, the Onion Knight dodged the ice with ease. "Terra! What are you-?" His question was interrupted by the Riot Blade. The first band knocked his legs out from under him and he cried out in a way that expressed disorientation rather than pain. Cries of pain came less than a second later, the bands that followed striking as he fell.

He flew backward, skidding across the ground until he finally reached a stop and struggling back to his feet shakily. When he spoke, his voice was trembling with shock and rage just as much as his body was. "What- What did he do to her?"

[obsidian_chaos]

He was going to be doing that more so this time around, the cursing under his breath. At least the knight had risen to his feet by the time Shadow had also reoriented himself after dodging the magic attack.

Transformation. Sheer power. All that energy raging inside, he knew all too well what it had meant, what it could do.

How this was done, how this was possible, did it really matter?

He glanced over at the boy.

"We have to stop her."

Without another moment's hesitation, Shadow channeled the power of chaos that coursed through his veins, and soon unleashed bolts of yellow lightning from his hands straight toward the hovering Esper.

[heavenslament]

Seeing those bolts of lightning streaking toward her, Terra did her best to maneuver around them. Her dodge attempts mostly succeeded, but a couple of those bolts struck and she cried out as they threw her back. She shuddered mid-air, doubling over.

But she wasn't done, not yet. After a fitful moment, Terra rose higher into the air and leaped toward them, summoning her tornadoes. It was less a defensive maneuver at this point and more a means to slam them both into the nearest wall.

[alittletoosmart]

The Onion Knight looked a little shocked at Shadow's attacking Terra despite knowing there was really no other solution. He tightenned his grip on his sword as Terra leapt toward them, preparing to strike.

He hesitated a fraction of a second too long, though, and the wind caught him and shoved him roughly away, his sword striking nothing but air. He recovered in the air but not quickly enough to avoid his back slamming into the wall. Winded, he gritted his teeth as he stated to fall and pushed both feets against the wall, leaping forward. Breath finally returned to him just in time to use it to chant spells and he stopped in the air, aiming a comet spell at Terra.

[chaoticelement]

Even as amused as Kefka was at the fight, he wasn't about to let Terra take too much damage too soon. He wanted her friends to see her for what she truly was; pure destruction. His intervention came in the form of a Trine spell forming around the short knight. The sheet of energy materializing in front of the knight would hopefully absorb most of the meteors summoned by the spell, but Kefka had no doubt the boy would avoid the attack ultimately.

Spell cast, and intervention enacted, Kefka retreated to the shadows once again, being careful to use his knowledge of the dungeon to his advantage.

jumping order to respond to this. hope that's okay!

[alittletoosmart]

A few of the meteors got through before the Trine spell intercepted them, forcing the Onion Knight to stop concentrating on the spell and instead concentrate on letting himself fall to avoid the encroaching energy.

He recognized the spell and hit the ground running. "Shadow, Kefka's around here somewhere! That spell's his!"

And then, trying his hardest to pretend it was someone else - anyone else - that he was charging toward, he ran at Terra aiming to strike her with his sword.

Hope this is okay too, but if Shadow's going after Kefka....

[heavenslament]

When Terra saw those missles headed in her direction, she moved to dodge them. However, her efforts largely proved unnecessary. Kefka's efforts did indeed protect the Esper from most harm, at least for now. One of the missles did strike her, knocking her back, but there was more than enough life in her yet to keep going. And she would, until killed or knocked out.

Of course, had Kefka been closer and in view, he would have been attacked just like the others. The fact that he stuck to the shadows saved him from Terra's wrath, unlike the charging Onion Knight. She charged him in turn; the sword of his created a fresh wound along her arm, provoking a cry of rage. In turn, she swiped at him viciously with her claws. There was no sense of tactics, only the desire to make him bleed as well. He would need to be more ruthless in order to get the better of her.

It's fine! ^-^

[obsidian_chaos]

Shadow saw it was going to take more than just a mere offensive attack to stop the Esper. Although he had seen the Tornado spell before in action, it had been at a distance away. He had attempted to dodge once more, relying on his speed, but the magical wind had proven that much faster than him. He suffered a similar fate to that of Onion Knight, having been knocked down and away from where he had been standing

[alittletoosmart]

The Onion Knight grimaced and almost hesitated again when he saw blood. Distracted too much by the fact that he had just cut Terra, he didn't think to block in time. He cried out in pain again as Terra's claws dug into his unprotected arm before they glanced off his chest armour.

Ideally, he needed to fight at close range (well. ideally he wouldn't be fighting at all right now and this would be something that could be resolved with hugs but he'd given up hope for that outcome around the time the riot blade struck.). Terra would have the advantage at a distance, more than he would. But at the same time, fighting at close range meant there was no easy way to ignore the fact that what he was doing was hurting his friend.

He didn't have time to think that much! Gritting his teeth, he tightened his grip on the sword and swiped again. It was clumsier than before, his injured arm already taking a toll on his ability to use his sword,

[heavenslament]

While the strike was clumsy, it wasn't entirely ineffective. Terra, driven into a frenzy beyond reason, did not have the luxury of defensive thinking. The sheer force of her attacks worked in her favor, but at the same time she had no attention to spare for anything else. The sword swipe raked along her wide, provoking a snarl. She glared, then sent several Holy missles at the Onion Knight.

Branch threads for individual fights from here? y/n?

[chaoticelement]

Kefka watched in elated amusement as the battle unfolded. Yes, the rodent-like thing was veering away from Terra, but he had anticipated that. It was enough to pit Terra against one of the few of her comrades she had truly bonded with, and knowing they would both remember this as the second time only made it that much more amusing

It's on, Kefka! XD

[obsidian_chaos]

Shadow skidded to a stop, dust rising up in a nebulous cloud as he did so. He immediately brought his free arm up to block his eyes not from the floating debris, but from the overpowering light emanating from who knew where or how from behind his current target