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.

GREAT HALL / heading to PRISON (Cecil and Kurtis, open to Chaos)

[hallowedlight]

[ooc: sooo the plan is, these two will fight their way to Rosa first then quickly make their escape, because any fights after that against the three of them would be unfair. If any of the Chaos bunch want to fight them before they reach her, go ahead and jump in, otherwise we'll throw some mannequins at them. ;) sound good, Kurtis-mun?]When all of this had started, Cecil had gotten the strangest sense of deja vu, a nagging feeling that he'd been through all of this before. The more he thought about it, it had turned into a concrete memory, something that drove him to put an end to this repeat of the past: he knew without a doubt that Rosa had once been held to ransom for a crystal, and that last time he had handed it over. Because she was his friend. No -- because he cared about her more than anything. Because he couldn't let her die for the sake of a crystal. He also had the vague memory that his brother and Kain had been involved, but how or why, he didn't want to think about. They'd never do anything to hurt him or Rosa that way.

[38thdefender]

[ooc: Sounds good to me!]

For Kurtis, there had been no long deliberation. A rescue attempt was the only option. A Defender of Earth never let evil triumph. A Defender of Earth never let innocents come to harm, either. If it proved impossible to save the prisoners, he'd just have to do the impossible.

Kurtis was impressed with Cecil's poise. He seemed calm, despite the danger, and Kurtis got the feeling he'd hold up just as well in battle.

He'd never been to Ultimecia Castle, before, so he was following Cecil's lead for now. He nodded at Cecil's advice. Best to avoid Pringer Beam in a delicate situation like this. They didn't know where the prisoners were held, and if the attack became unexpectedly powerful, they could be harmed.

"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind," he replied.

[hallowedlight]

Cecil was about to respond when he heard a sound that was suspiciously like a door slamming shut. His head snapped up to the source of the sound -- the balconies overhead, the stairs in front of them -- but there was nothing there. He dropped his voice a notch and checked his sword. "We shouldn't linger here. Kain told me the castle is well-defended, and there could be traps or ambushes anywhere

[38thdefender]

Kurtis leaped out of the way when the Delusory Knight appeared. This was his first time getting a close look at a mannequin. He was used to seeing demons of all kinds, but something about this creature was strange. It seemed to be void of soul. He'd worked with machines all his life, but even machines have a soul of a sort. That much was clear when looking at Thursday or (though he was reluctant to admit it) the Kurtis copies. This mannequin lacked even the soul of a machine.

"Right." Kurtis nodded at Cecil's words. It was disturbing, but not enough to make him hesitate. With the mannequin distracted by Cecil, Kurtis dashed to the creature's side and, pointing his wing at the mannequin, fired a burst of energy at it.

Rescuing Vanille (for Vanille, Kefka, any Cosmos peeps who want in)

[twistedjudge]

[Here's a song for you! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLNCX84-kfA ]

For once, there was some sort of advantage in being on Chaos' side. She hadn't known about this plan, but Fang only had one goal for anything she did in her life - keep Vanille safe. And while Dooku might seem to be enough of a gentleman to honor his promise to not harm her, she did not trust him entirely, nor did she trust just about anyone else on her faction to leave the captives alone.

Whatever sort of rescue was being mounted, Fang wasn't waiting on them.

At least getting there was easy - the Chaos faction didn't expect this. Hopefully she was being the Cosmos people who were coming. With any luck, she could have Vanille slipped out of the area before anything went wrong.

[brightsiding]

[ I just want you to know that I blasted that while writing this tag. ]

Vanille had been trying to figure out how to get in touch with everyone- anyone. She felt so stupid, going off on her own and getting caught like this. It seemed she hadn't been alone, but... She knew the whole reason she'd been one of the ones who'd gotten captured was because of something she'd done. She hadn't been lured out or anything. She'd just gone wandering off and had ended up in someone's trap.

No matter what she'd done so far, she hadn't been able to find her own way out- whatever had brought her here was obviously a one-way type thing. She'd tried just about everything she could think of, but nothing had worked.

She'd given up a while ago, and now all she could really do was wait. It wasn't as if she thought no one would come for her- she knew they would. Vanille just regretted that doing so would probably get them into some kind of trouble, and she hated that. Always needing someone to save her, always putting other people in danger

[twistedjudge]

[It deserves it. BTW, no Kefka now.]

Mannequins let her by - she was one of their own, after all. Though she'd avoided the branding at the hands of Chaos after the last battle - barely, she was fairly certain - she had absolutely no doubt that if she was caught in this, she'd be chased halfway across this godsforsaken protoworld only to meet her end. And she simply didn't care if that's what happened, as long as her partner was safe.

The cells weren't hard to find once she'd arrived, and on a guess continued down until she couldn't anymore. Once there, Fang simply grabs the bars over the windows and gave the apparatus a shove, checking to see which ones were locked, and seeing if any of the noise provoked a shout from an occupant. It was an innocuous enough way to search; if any from Chaos saw her, she could easily claim she was testing the doors' strength. Hopefully this would be over quickly...

[brightsiding]

[ I figured as much! Sorry for being so late. ;; ]

Vanille perked up at the noise. It could have been someone from Chaos coming down to check on them, to make sure no one had escaped, but, on the off chance that it wasn't...

She hopped up from the floor, running over to the door she'd been trapped behind for what had started feeling like forever. Even knowing the result already, she couldn't help giving it a little push, trying to make it swing open and let her out. Of course, it didn't. If it was anyone on Chaos' side, it would make sense that they were still trying to escape, right? But really, she was just trying to see out, to figure out who it was down there.

"Hey!" She banged against the door again, turning her face up and shouting. "Let me out!"

Dungeon (Kairi, Riku, anyone else who wants in?)

[starlitshores]

[did someone say rescuing? as always, disney provides!]

Days - it had to be that since she'd been here. But even as doubt threatened to plant seeds in her mind, Kairi stayed subdued and determined, watching, waiting for the moment to try and break free. She'd thought of many ways to untie her bonds, but there was one definate way to get out of the cell; the door. Her Keyblade. It unlocked things, right? So technically it should unlock that, too. If not, there was always the hack and slash approach.

All she had to do was break her hands free enough. That was what she concentrated on, until the distant sounds of - footsteps? Or an uproar? Or something else entirely? - made her look up. What was going on?

Towards the prison (for Angeal, Saleh and Count Dooku)

[red_leather01]

Finding the castle where the prisoners were being held hadn't been too difficult, nor was fighting the mannequins he and Angeal had encountered so far on their journey.

Genesis was itching for more though, and if he had a chance to prove himself as worthy as any of Cosmos' so-called heroes, that was more than fine to him.

"Hey, Ang," he said, looking sideways at his companion as he strode confidently forwards.

"It's just like being back working for Shinra, isn't it?"

Except this time I don't have to worry about anyone stealing my thunder, he thought as he effortlessly attacked an approaching mannequin, a small smirk on his face as it fell.

Re: Towards the prison (for Angeal, Saleh and Count Dooku)

[hewleyhonor]

Angeal took down the mannequins that threatened their progress with relative ease, displaying great strength with his SOLDIER sword. Even in the great battle that would surely follow, he still kept his Buster Sword sealed to his back, unwilling to use it.

"Just like old times," Angeal replied, grinning briefly at his childhood friend before focusing on the beings at hand.

It still unsettled him that some of the mannequins were made in his image, though full of darkness, at least in Angeal's mind. He wondered if it was a sign. He shook the thought from his head as he charged right into an Angeal mannequin heading for Genesis, throwing his entire bodyweight into the monster.

Re: Towards the prison (for Angeal, Saleh and Count Dooku)

[red_leather01]

"This isn't as difficult as some of the missions I've done," he complained, sighing melodramatically as he dodged sideways, content to let Angeal deal with the mannequin. They were small fry, and there wasn't much glory or respect given for being able to defeat them.

"Hmm, I wonder where the powers behind this are hiding?" Genesis said, casually throwing a fireball at the last mannequin in the small group that had charged them.

Now they could be a challenge worth getting involved in.

Re: Towards the prison (for Angeal, Saleh and Count Dooku)

[hewleyhonor]

Angeal scanned the area for more mannequins in the hiding and where they should head next.

"Away from the battlefield I expect." They always do...

He discretely glanced at Genesis often, inspecting for signs of degrading. Nothing. He was relieved, but hoped things would remain that way.