Analyzation (Open)

[serif]

"Haste!" Aerith called out, a warning as she cast so that Tifa could compensate for the extra speed. She couldn't see where he'd gone, or where he would come from.

The adventurer girl was going to be a problem, she thought, reaching for her Libra charm. The girl had that have-to-be-in-it look of someone spoiling for a fight. It she got in Tifa's way...

The Protect took about half the blow; it would hurt, but not disable.

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A shadow-walker. A flipping shadow-walker. You couldn't grapple a shadow-walker, especially when even one who was trying to take you with him slipped through your fingers like air and couldn't keep hold.

Ah, well. Petulance it was, then, till she found something to hit him with. Because apparently it was fighting time now. Least, everyone else seemed to think so.

[gorrad]

Tifa hit the ground and time slowed down slightly for her, she never could get used to that. Prepared for him to come out of the ground, she instinctively spun up over the blows and kicked at his head at what she knew to those outside her own special version of time to be a lightning speed. She wasn't going to kill him, but at the very least she could drive him off. The last thing Garden needed was the Twelve playing havoc in the streets.

One thing that did cross her mind briefly was how nice it was to have an opponent that fought as she did. Sure, the styles were different. His was to disappear and reappear quickly while hers was more aerial, but for once she wasn't going against someone with a sword or gun she had to dodge. She knew precisely the limits of the human body (less so the Heartless body, but they were close enough in this case), and could fight as she was trained.

[Charme]

Ienzo knew he was in for hell as soon as the kick went her way.

1.) She was as fast as he was, and possibly faster. Not good.
2.) She understood his practice already.
3.) She was an aerial fighter.

Shadows rarely touched midair, and Ienzo would have to think of a creative way to knock her out of her element. He wondered if his abilities would stop her... He didn't want to try to envelope her sight in Darkness, because then Aerith and the young girl would be able to attack him while she fumbled about. He had to strategize.

He threw himself up out of the ground and threw his foot forward, but his skin seemed to cover in ice as her kick spun towards his head. In a single instance of panic, his hands shot out to catch her boot, and he felt the impact smash him towards the ground... Only he disappeared again into the shadows, his hands stinging like hell. While in the shadows, his body was one being, and pain was spread out through his entire shadow, but it was reduced like oil. The more pain, the more he hurt. The less pain, the less his metaphorical being hurt.

Right now, time slowed as he examined the battle around him, his thousand viewpoints targeted on three different objects.

What to do, what to do...

[serif]

Aerith slipped the Libra charm on, so that it nestled at her throat. Colors washed across her sight, letting her see health and hurt, spell and status. It was psychedelic, way to distracting to keep on all the time, but invaluable in battle. It did not show her where he was, but it did show her how hurt he was. Which wasn't much, yet.

And then Lily caught her eye and brought her up short. The girl had no color but her own, the charm added nothing. What did that mean?! It couldn't be good.

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Lily crossed her arms, dropping her guard something awful. No temerity, no consideration -- if this was a Heartless, she much preferred their counterpart. There wasn't much she cold do - she didn't really want to get in Tifa's way, as it would only make Tifa try to cover her and get hurt, and they weren't going to listen to a word she said while they were flipping about and throwing blows.

[gorrad]

A hit! Tifa landed in a guarding position, aimed at where she had seen the Heartless vanish. Of course, odds are that he wouldn't come out of that shadow, but it was as good a place to face as any. Now it was time for a plan.

This one fought like a Neoshadow, but was obviously more skilled and intelligent. Also, if he had managed to vanish like that so soon after that kick, much more resilient. That meant that just punching it and dodging wouldn't do the trick this time. However, Neoshadows did all have one essential weakness, the precise opposite of what you would expect.

"Aerith, Lily" Tifa said just loud enough for them to hear, trying to keep the rush of a fight from her voice. "We need as much darkness here as possible. No light at all, and nothing blocking the light. Completely magical. Can the two of you do that? I'll be fine fighting him until then." When Sora had first told her his story, that was one of the things that stood out the most to her. The stronger the light, the bigger the shadow. Turn off the lights, and suddenly there's nowhere to hide.

The best thing about this is that very few people realized it. They drew power from darkness, never understanding that a dark field would be a liability until it was too late and there were no shadows to hide in.

[Charme]

Ienzo listened to her speak, his shadow examining the scene from all around. No light... Was it possible? Could he be thrown from his shadows when shadows were nothing? Of course...

Nothing.

With an absence of light, there could be no Darkness. Therefore, with no light, there were no shadows. There was only Nothing, the essence in which his own counterpart fed off of. Ienzo had to figure out a defense against this... Or he could be in trouble. Luckily, he managed to escape Tifa's combos. Thank the gods for that... He could have been hurt badly if he had stuck around for that fiesta.

In a moment, he had taken most of his essence to where a young girl sat, and he slowly pulled himself out of the shadows, silently...

Sin unleashed itself and Ienzo held the blade up to the girl's back. In truth, he didn't want to cause her pain, but Sin had other plans. He fought the Heartless back, and the beast submitted. Good, thought Ienzo. The blade was still up, just in case the girl attacked, but he spoke to Tifa.

"You don't want to move any further," he yelled to her, the black edge of Sin shining malevolently. "In all truth, I would rather not fight..." His silver eyes shined past his disheveled black hair.

"Let's talk this out..." He frowned and examined the other two people. Aerith and Tifa... Two members of the Restoration Committee. Where was Leon and Cid? In all truth, it didn't matter. He had somebody he had to protect.

"Whether I am a Heartless or not, do you think I feel only sin?" He shook his head. "No, I have a full Heart, even though it has been flooded with Darkness. Still, I feel joy, and happiness... And I didn't come here to attack you." He held the blade down and stepped backwards from Lily, his silver eyes sharp. "Let me leave... Or I will take away her sight, and she will forever see Darkness."

Ienzo held his arm up. This choice wasn't a hard one. He felt a smile cross his lips. He wondered what they would decide. Either way, he would enjoy the ending.

[serif]

Aerith gave Tifa a look that said very clearly, Great plan. If I could cast darkness it might even work.

And then the Heartless was back, and suddenly it was a hostage situation. She could feel the darkness in the blade, what it might be able to do.

"She's not a part of this," Aerith said, working to stay calm.

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Well, that was better. Lily half turned when he stepped back - and turned the rest of the way as she got a look at the situation. There wasn't a scrap of fear in her eyes - no fear, no worry, no adrenalin, not even everything's-all-right-please-put-the-gun-down-sir sort of calm - if anything, there was exasperated amusement.

"Good grief. That thing's as big as you are."

It was. Sure, the man was tiny, but it had to be four feet! And black. An honest to really black sword. "What's with the Saturday morning villain routine? You really are bad at this - here, look," she continued, completely ignoring all geopolitical ramifications inherent in the scene. "I dunno what you feel, or why you're going on about it, but you could have tried to get me on your side - heck, you still could - and it might have at least confused the issue. You might have found out some things that would help you here."

This couldn't be the caliber of bad guys around here. She moved forward, putting herself back in range like she was strolling in the park, such an unthreatening movement, you'd hardly notice it.

"But mostly, you need some child-nabbing lessons. Seriously, they'd come in handy."

((if no one interrupts her too much, Lily will have more on the subject. just sayin'.))

[darkunslint]

(Sorry, but this is just too good an opportunity for Dilan to befriend lenzo. I cannot waste such an opportunity.)

In the Dark Xll, there where things that where known. Dilan’s pride was one of these things. Everyone knew Dilan was over-confident and most of all, Dilan knew this, he knew it and believed in his own power because of it. He saw himself as almost godlike. So when he had gone to see on the progress of other missions, checking in with the other members, looking down the corridors of darkness and saw who but lenzo ducking in and out he got intrigued.

The Dark portal flicked open into its usually strange door-like pattern, slowly stepping from it was Dilan, looking upon the scene with piercing purple eyes. The Typhoon Angler had arrived. Dilan wasn’t the most intelligent, but on a battlefield he was good at taking in information. Quickly he noted facts; lenzo was using a hostage; hostage wasn’t afraid; One girl looked like she had been fighting; another looked like she hadn’t done all too much and finally, lenzo looked worried.

“Well well” Dilan spoke as he walked forwards to come into line with lenzo. “ What do we have here? Having a few problems are we lenzo?” he spoke with almost a chuckle, looking up at the girl; she had some strange feeling about her. “ So tell me who it is you have been fighting?” Dilan wanted in on a fight, it’s what he loved most of all. “ Oh and lenzo, anything you see…” he turned his head to lenzo letting off a slight wink, Dilan was in an exceptionally good mood today. “ You never saw anything at all.” Dilan’s main concern was that he didn’t want anyone to know his techniques, these where his, and his alone.

Slowly, he placed two hands out, a large harpoon forming into each one, the harpoons that gave him the title of the Typhoon Angler. “ lenzo, are you going to be ok? I can’t have you fail your mission.” He tried to cover his act of kindness with the cold words and strictly business sound, but someone as intelligent as lenzo would have probably quite easily seen through this. Dilan bent his knees lightly, preparing his winds to his hands and getting ready for some combat.

[sulcal]

(Jumping in for the sake of... well... it being Garden. And Heartless, please keep in mind the claymores.)

When things happened in Garden, it wasn't a surprise how word got around. Id the Committee and Tifa were involved? Then ,well, it was likely a good idea to just book it and keep out of the way. Leon wasn't so much one of those people. Darkness. Powerful darkness, at that, and concentrated in such an area?

Yeah. Not a good thing.

Though it wasn't so much that as a bit of a nagging feeling. Maybe it had something to do with old injuries and mindscapes and being so tangled up into each other in that degree that just formed that nagging, who knew? Either way, it'd taken a while to pull himself out of de-infesting the Bailey of some troubles of the general Dusk verity before he could get to the main cause of all of this. And he was not a happy camper at what he found. At all. Fighting was one thing, taking a hostage (even if Lily wasn't so much worried about it, by the looks) was something else. Never mind the calm of Aerith being there and unhurt. Tifa? Tifa could take care of herself. She was just as strong.

He'd been right when he'd said peace was going to be a long way off...

"Not exactly a good idea to go goading them," came Leon's calm, rumble soft voice. Oh, he was pretty good at getting places people didn't need him to be in, and do it quietly.

He was currently parked with the sharp tip of Revolver right at the dead center of Dilan's spine, a good foot off, stance proud and still.

"And you," Since Dilan seemed to like opening his back to others, "should worry more about yourself."

Hey, Tifa was here, Aerith was here. Everyone had all the back-up they needed. And Lily? She probably had a trick or two up her sleeve. No one was that fearless when they didn't.

[serif]

((The claymore thing's been covered. They're protected against them for now.))

[sulcal]

((OhFFFF Now that I went back to double check... Woops! Okay then.))

[gorrad]

((Anyone else want to chime in? Ansem? Cpt. Jack? Sora? Other Ansem? Other other Ansem? Ansem^6? I'll have a post up in a day or so.))

[gorrad]

((Sorry about the delay. RL knocked on my door with a flaming bag of dog doo.))

Suddenly, in the heat of battle, things were harder. Lily, nonchalant as she was, still had a sword to her. The Heartless (Ienzo. She was right!) had backup, and Leon was here to even the sides. In a way, Tifa was a bit disappointed. She disliked using violence, but it was so nice to go against someone who didn't use a weapon. And now he had one! And not only that, but as Lily said it was quite a large one.

It was the newcomer that attracted her attention most. Lily clearly had demonstrated that she could handle herself, and there was very little someone with Tifa's range could do in a hostage situation without risking moderately bruising the hostage at least. Besides, this new one looked tough.

She faced him and resumed her battle stance. Words wouldn't be useful here, she knew his type. Headstrong and violent. Just what we needed, she thought sarcastically to herself. Now let's hope we can stop them from causing too much damage to the city.

[Charme]

Ienzo sighed and looked to Dilan, then back to Tifa. "Okay... You got me." The strange black weapon seemed to turn to oil, and it slowly withdrew into his hand, black tattoos stretching unseen up his arm. His silver eyes looked to the three RGRUC members and he knew that this wasn't the time to throw the "Oh-I'm-So-Evil" act. "So I'm not really the 'villain' type. That's the truth. I don't fight for no reason, no... I hardly fight at all. I'm more a thinker than a fighter."

He shrugged at Lily, then turned to Dilan. "Hey, I know we don't get along too well, but at the moment, it's four against two. I say we fold and attempt to save our asses while we still can, eh?" He smiled slightly. "I'd rather you not die. The Dark XII needs its members." Turning back to Lily, he shook his head.

She glared at him. Ienzo just chuckled. "Sorry, but I needed some camouflage. Nothing personal, I hope you understand. But it doesn't look like it worked, so I have to be on my way."

He looked to Dilan. "We've completed our mission. At this point, let's focus on helping Era." He gave a short shake of the head to end that conversation. Dilan couldn't repeat anything about that mission... Not when Leon was right behind him. Hell, the next thing they know, Sora could be here. Then they might be a little screwed.

[serif]

Aerith's attention split and settled into a new pattern. She could afford to worry about what Lily was later, other things came first. Like the Protect that flashed to settle over Leon.

She wasn't looking to stop them leaving. That was the whole point of fighting them, to make them go away.

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((Synthest, you did that thing again.))

But she wasn't glaring. Not at all. She'd gotten through the pouting, and then the exasperated rolling of eyes, and she wasn't glaring.

Lily was grinning. It didn't look like it worked? "That's 'cause you did it wrong," she told him, gleefully.

"Here -" One step brought her inside his guard, with the wrist of his sword hand in her left hand, and she pulled and stepped and twisted and in about three quarters of a second had him effectively immobilized with both arms trapped across his chest, legs blocked, and her forearm in his throat. She hadn't stopped talking while she did so, either - "look at this. See how I've got your arms? It's real hard to use a weapon like that, or even hold it if I dig. I'm not hurting you."

She wasn't, eaither. The twist on his arms was enough to keep him from moving, and her grip tight enough to be uncomfortable, but not to cause actual pain, and the arm on his throat was enough be uncomfortable, but to to make him really struggle for air.

"So, you're Ienzo? A pleasure to meet you, I'm sure. I'm Lily. Now, see how this works with the airway?"

((Did I ever mention Lily pulls some stupid stuff? Ienzo can interrupt this post at any point that seems reasonable, if you like.))