Thieves and Bandits

[daemonsol]

Kigae laughed at the sight of the other guard's disorientation from the kicks. When Coffee asked if she was going to toy some more with her guard, Kigae shook her head. "No, I'll finish up." She said as she strode forward to her opponent.

When the guard tried to stab her with his spear, Kigae deftly pushed it aside with her free hand, touching it just below the blade part. The guard over extended with this motion however, and was vulnerable. Kigae's hand moved forward quickly, flicking off the helmet, and then grabbing the man by his hair to introduce his face to Kigae's knee. He fell and didn't get back up.

"Okay, let's go." Kigae said as she used the unconscious guard's toga to wipe the blood off her knee. I think I broke his nose. She thought as she turned to head up the stairs. That or he's a pervert. Kigae grinned as she walked.

Kigae could see that at the top of the stairs, the guards right next to the Temple were scrambling to get ready for the two approaching women.

[Ellie who has 0%]

A brow cocked with a stiffled chuckle at the unneccessary blow to nose. Red fluttered on the black pants leg that clung to it, her thighs, and her... The brow arched even higher as her eyes traced the curve of her rear. She always took advantage of an oppurtunity. Seeing how the pants clung to her, Coffee bet it was firm. Hearing stuttering feat, her ears turned; the viera cocked her head seeing guards at the top of the stairs moving.

"Okay let's go," Kigae was already ahead of her before she nodded and followed suit.

Her heels clicked with every step as she skipped a few stairs to reach the top quicker. The guards' poises were tense and stiff with their shields the guard them, while the held a gladius tightly. With a defense, it may take a bit longer to take them down then the last pair. Oh well, it would give Coffee more of a work-out.

With a smirk, the viera decided to shake things up as she ran towards the left. She used the long hilt of Esmeralda to hoist her up in the air to give her a height advantage. One leg bended behind her to decrease air resistence, while the right leg stretched out to impact the bulging shield. She used her entire weight to the attack, while even putting herself in risk of cutting herself with her own blade. She would rather slice herself then damage Esmeralda against the stone floor.

The weight impacted the shield as it disturbed the guard's center of gravity only to have a viera landing on top of him, pinning him. Feeling the shield shift under her as the guard strived to push her off, the viera moved the bladed halberd towards his neck. "Make another move and you will be swallowing your own blood."

The huntress wasn't satisfied until she heard the gladius hitting the floor with a clang and the body underneath her going lax.

[daemonsol]

After Coffee go ahead of Kigae, Kigae sped up, staying right behind her until they got to the top. When Coffee turned towards the left and jumped Kigae watched what the Viera was doing out of the corner of her eye. As it was, the guards seemed more focused on what they probably thought of as the real threat, Coffee, since she looked like a monster to them. So almost all of them were shocked by how effortlessly Coffee pounced on the one guard and disabled him.

"Flametongue!" Kigae said, her sword bursting into flame as she ran towards the other three guards. One of the guards, the one on the left, lowered his shield from surprise at the sight of a flaming sword. He got a swift roundhouse kick to the face, and went down easily.

Moving with the spin of the roundhouse, Kigae brought her sword down on the middle guard, hard. He had barely been able to bring his shield up in time, but apparently, since his opponent was a woman, he didn't put as much effort as he should have in keeping it there. There was a loud crack that could be heard even over the ringing of sword meeting shield as his arm broke from the impact, though surprisingly, the shield didn't even have a scratch despite how hard Kigae hit, hopefully indicating truth to the quality of their supplies.

By this point the fourth guard had watched as all three of his comrades got brought down with ease. He was in a more secure defensive stance and was determined not to be taken by surprise like the others. Kigae stepped back by Coffee as she looked at the guard. With a smirk she said, "When your done playing with that one," indicating the guard Coffee was sitting on,"Do you want this one, to keep it even? Or should we start a competition to see who can take out the most guards?"

[Ellie who has 0%]

Hearing her playful tone, Coffee's nose twitched with a childish snort as she sat comfortably on the guard. Before removing herself, a claw sliced at his skin as it glowed dully. Now the viera can dismount him without concern of the guard trying to be a sly fox to attack from behind; she wouldn't even give a push-over that much leisure.

The viera hardly remembers the last time she had smiled during such activities. Any other time she was doing this for pay and was quite serious to make sure her clients don't back out or deduct. This had a different taste to it, a different fire. Before she can dive too much thought into it, she found it easier to blame her new comrade. Before giving an answer, Coffee strolled towards the final guard, while rotating her neck.

Esmeralda twirled in her hand before resting on her shoulder. Her approach was slow, while pulling the guard under an intense gaze. She left herself exposed not even intending to defend. Looking back at Kigae she replied, "So you want to make this...a game."

Watching the viera increase her blind spot, the guard moved for a lunge, but an ear turned towards him. Pivoting on her toe, Coffee swung Esmeralda free blocking the attack leaving the guard open on his side. Swiftly she lifted the blade away on to swing it down at his open side. Her nose wrinkled at the smell of blood; it wasn't as satisfying as she would hope. The guard fell over clutching the wound. Without remorse, her nose wrinkled again, "serves you right."

The viera continued walking forward through the temple's threshold. "If you want to break the tie, you better come on."

Looking back she flashed a smile with a challenging gleam in her eye before quickening her pace.

Coffee 2, Kigae 2.

[daemonsol]

Kigae watched Coffee walk towards the other guard before answering. She pretty much figured what she was about to do, causing a wide grin to come across her face. Kigae had to bite her lip to keep from laughing as she saw the guard falling into Coffee's trap so perfectly. She nodded when Coffee asked if she wanted to make this a game. When the guard lunged forward to attack, Kigae pretended to cringe as Coffee swung her Esmeralda to block and then attack the guard, making him drop to the ground clutching his wound. Idiot.

"If you want to break the tie, you better come on." Coffee said as she walked over the Temple's threshold.

Kigae laughed, twirling her sword in excitement. "Alright, let's have at it!" She said as she started to run, catching up to Coffee. As they ran down the entrance hall, dozens of guards ran up to attack the intruders. Glancing at Coffee, Kigae's run drifted to the right side of the hall where she started to cleave a path through several guards.

The first guard lunged forward, trying to impale Kigae on his finely wrought bronze spear. Kigae side-stepped the stab, but the guard had expected that, Kigae realized as the spear began to sweep sideways, intending to knock her down. Kigae jumped, doing a no hand cartwheel over the guards shoulder. Their eyes met at the apex of the flip, the guard's eyes full of awe and fear, Kigae's full of confidence and fire. As Kigae landed gracefully behind the guard, her sword came down upon the guard's exposed back, leaving a jagged cut that brought him to the ground screaming in agony.

Two guards behind the first simultaneously tried to stab Kigae, hoping to get her off guard after her flip. Still feeling bouncy, she leaped up, landing on top of their spears, one foot on each. Her weight brought their spears down, straight into the back of the first guard. Again he screamed in pain as the spears broke from Kigae's weight, digging the tips into the first guard. While the two guards gaped at what they had done to their comrade. Kigae leaped again, both her knees slamming into their faces. Because of their helmets, no blood got on Kigae this time, but they both got knocked out.

As Kigae turned to fight the next couple guards after those, she quickly glanced sideways to check on Coffee.

Coffee 2 Kigae 5

[Ellie who has 0%]

Hearing the laughter, Coffee sped off with laughing adrenaline coursing through her. Already she was counting off the number of guards present. 4...8...12 she had concluded; her eyes glanced over seeing Kigae taking the right, so she darted to the left. The viera was built for speed, and she grinned seeing two guards holding their spears tightly. Seeing that she was going to slow down, two attacking her maybe more efficient.

Lowering their center of gravity, they lunged at her, but the viera's powerful legs jumped up behind their path of attack. While their arms were still extended in the lunge, Coffee swiped the blade at their arms cleaning the halberd from old blood, while drinking in a new batch. Landing behind them, she turned her head to see their attention shift. Their arms were wounded and the grip on their weapons slackened. With a spin, Esmeralda swiped freely drawing her name on their backs.

The temple was filled with cries of pain and the viera chuckled lowly, but her attention was drawn away from another sound.

"AAAAGH!" Side stepping over, her ears missed the blade of the gladius and a thrust of the shield. Her frown deepened at the loud pest. Rising her halberd, she swung it down on his shoulders. With a firm kick to the wound, she made sure he would feel every burn of it.

Idiot For that moment she paused and scanned around. She had already took down three, and glancing over at Kigae, she caught her gaze. A brow peaked at the irony. We're tied again

Twelve minus three times two equals six. If she wanted to get an upper hand, she had to move faster, and there was only six guards left. Looking over, she saw less spears...and more swords. She smirked, bring on the bad boys.

She looked over a Kigae with a challenging grin before taking off again.

[daemonsol]

((Depending on how long this thread goes on, and when we get to the Godly loot, I may have Kigae find a Dressphere and say it was made by Hephaestus. If you've played FFX-2 do you have any suggestions for her next Dressphere?))

Kigae's eyes met Coffee's for a moment as they both realized they were still tied. It wasn't often that Kigae met someone that could keep up with her. Kigae grinned back at her friend as they both turned to continue fighting. Kigae also noticed that there were swords instead of spears waving at them. I guess they do learn after all, spears aren't working, so try swords, nice conductive swords... Kigae thought to herself with a grin as she charged forward.

"Thunder Blade!" Kigae yelled as she swung her sword, golden lightning arcing along her blade and bouncing in the little gap bit in the middle. As Kigae got to the guards, she spun, holding her sword so the hook-like blade caught their swords, electrifying them and making them let go of their weapons before she tossed them aside with a flick of her blade. They all quickly raised their shields. Of the three guards she was dealing with, Kigae kicked the middle one's shield with a reverse side-kick with enough force to knock the man away.

Her leg hanging in the air for a moment after the kick had left her somewhat open, as the guard on the left reached out and grabbed Kigae's ankle to stop her. Without even stopping, Kigae stabbed her sword in the ground and used it as a spring/fulcrum to launch her other leg up, hitting that guard in the side of his head, making him let go of her leg. Not finished, Kigae clenched her thigh muscles, bringing her feet together on each side of the man's head. Using all the muscles in her body and her sword stabbed in the ground as a base, Kigae roared loudly as she swung the entire guard over, slamming him on top of the guard on the right, who was too stunned by the sight to stop his comrade from landing on top of him, taking them both out.

As she landed from her stunt, Kigae ripped her sword out of the ground, taking a little chunk of stone with it. She then threw her sword at the guard she had knocked down first. It hit him in his shoulder, the bit of stone shattering as the sword pinned him to the wall. As Kigae went forward to pull her sword out of the screaming guard, she glanced over at Coffee.

[Ellie who has 0%]

She growled lowly once noticing that the guards had splitted off evenly towards them. With a swift run, a grey blur followed behind her. Again she wasn't going to slow down. These guards were hesistant to charge forward after witnessing the last trio that had dealt with her; instead that stood guard in a defensive position, but they will thrust their sword at her in unison.

Brows narrowed watching their stance; she concluded that they won't charge at her. The viera legs redirected her towards a pillar that held the temple together. They weren't expecting her to be able to run and jump against the pillar stones. The duo suspected that she landed behind them like the last two, so they swiftly turned around with shields out, but she wasn't there. Instead of going after the closest target, she went for the third guard that was farther away; with a gentle land, she sliced his back with the halberd, which glowed grey.

The guard stumbled forward at the cut with a groan slowly feeling confuse taking over. The duo looked at him with a concern and began to run up towards him for aid against the viera, but they wasn't expecting for their own comrade to turn on him. The wounded guard thrusted his shield against them throwing off their balance and taking them by surprised.

Coffee's ears twitched in delight hearing their cries to bring him back to his senses. She watched their futile attempt as they were forced to defend themselves against the confused attacking guardian. Rolling her neck, she decided to take advantage of this; again she ran, but in a curve. Swinging her arms, Esmeralda attacked the defending guards mid-back. Now she can watch them finish each other off, since the trusting bond between them had disintergrated and replaced with confusion. What they were about to do to her, they did upon each other. It was a pity though; the more they moved, the more their wounds became more effective.

Her three were handling themselves for her and soon will fall out from the difficulty of fighting one with the same training and similar wounds. Her interest in them was gone as she whipped the blood off her halberd. This time she took her leisure to watch Kigae, while leaning comfortably on a pillar stone. She was able to capture her swinging a guard down; the viera held her back from pouting; she had missed the bulk of it all.

[daemonsol]

Kigae pulled her sword out of her final guard's shoulder as she looked over at Coffee. She noticed that she was lazily leaning against a pillar while her three guards fought amongst themselves. Kigae walked over to Coffee with a confused smile on her face. "Did you cast berserk or something on them?" She asked, as that was the only thing she was familiar with that could do this.

Since they were still standing, Kigae wondered if she could steal the points for these guards by taking them out herself. She wondered for a moment how her friend would take to having her toys stolen from her like that. Before she could however, she heard a roar from further down in the Temple. It sounded way too big to be a human.

Kigae stepped sideways until she could see into the next hallway. Her eyes went wide with excitement at the sight of a heavily armored Cyclops charging down the hall towards them. From the size of the armor, and the quality, Kigae thought that surely this Cyclops's armor had been forged by Hephaestus himself. Its club however, was merely an entire Oak tree. A bit disappointing considering the Temple they were in, but Kigae assumed that it was what the Cyclops was most comfortable wielding.

"Coffee, finish up with your toys, we have a Cyclops to kill." Kigae said with a grin as she ran ahead. She figured that the Cyclops should be worth about 20-30 points, maybe more, and if it took both of them to take it down, it was whoever did the most that would get the most points.

Realizing that her Warrior Dressphere wasn't the best choice for dealing with this monster, unless she wanted to get squished, Kigae switched to her Gunner, twirling her revolver before she aimed it at the Cyclops eye. "Scattershot!" She said, firing a shotgun spray of bullets at its face. Several bullets went into its eye, blinding it, and sending it into a rage as it stumbled around, swinging its tree and bashing it against the walls and floor, shaking the entire Temple. Kigae turned to see if Coffee caught up yet.

[Ellie who has 0%]

"Did I do something? Yes. Is berserk the proper term? No," Coffee clarified, then glanced at the sparring trio. As if she can read her companion's competitive nature she clarified, "And since they will handle themselves thanks to me; they are mine, so we're still even-"

Ears quirked at a distant sound; it twitched in a walking rhythm, but they flattened once hearing a roar. It truly wasn't a satisfying sound, and it sounded like it came from something...rather bulky, thick, big. With the thumping of feet changing to a run becoming louder and obvious, the mocha nose started to wrinkle and not up...the stench of the blasted thing was wretched and so was its face. It's tanned skin looked as rough like an Archeosaur's hide. Luckily she didn't have to see all of its fat layered but muscular form thanks to the armory it wore. What made her brow quirk in sarcasm was the tree club. Was he serious?

Hearing Kigae refer to her victims as toys made her snort. They will finish each other off soon before faltering from blood loss. Playing with them would mean giving her a head start on the cyclops, as if. The viera was already on the run, "Pssh for you can have more fun without me. They won't be standing for long."

She frowned hearing the gunshots loudly; it seems like Coffee will have to make up for it. Crouching down, she jumped up to land on the tree bark; she really didn't like looking at the disformality of one eye, so she would remove it. Looking up she saw some bullets contacting the eye, and if she doesn't move quickly who knows what the oaf would do. She already had to stab Esmeralda into its club for security as it stumbled, rank it off, and jump as hard as she could. She wanted to slice that eye out to bleed and once she got close, she made a long slash, but it came with a price of the club swinging at her towards the ground.

"Damn," the wood smacked on her back, but she controlled her landing to a dodge roll missing a fatal blow tot he head. Standing back up, she looked up at the stumbling creature. It knocked into the temple causing some of the stones to crack. The viera rolled her eyes. Does she have to be cautious of a collasping temple soon? The cyclops growled lowly as one hand grasped its damaged eye coated with the interior fluids and blood, but it had regained his composure in full rage. It's adrenaline and perhaps its rough life had increased pain resistance, but it will have to rely on something else other than sight to track down the invaders. Coffee didn't knew too much about it, but watching its nose twitch and inhale wasn't indicating that it will be going down soon. Ears turned backwards in disdain at the roaring hiss as it bared its sharpened fangs.

"I think this is the berserk you were referring to...," hearing Coffee, she wasn't surprised to see it raise its club and slam it in her direction. With a jump, the viera evaded it before running in zig zags towards its bare feet.

[daemonsol]

Kigae was somewhat concerned as she watched Coffee jump and try to take the Cyclops head on, though she was amazed by the skill she was showing. When Coffee jumped and attached herself to the Cyclops's club, Kigae couldn't shoot for the moment, because with the thrashing around of the Cyclops, she might hit Coffee. So she watched as Coffee jumped magnificently, cleanly cutting out the monster's eye before nearly getting squashed by the club. Kigae had to stop herself from breathing a sigh of relief when she saw Coffee land safely. When did she start to care that much about Coffee?

Kigae watched as the Cyclops stopped for a moment to touch its eye, feeling the blood and jelly seeping out onto its fingers and the ground. It wouldn't be able to rely on sight anymore, not that monocular vision was very helpful in the first place, very poor depth perception. Kigae noticed both its ears and its nose twitching, as it tried to smell and hear its opponents. Its trying to smell us? How can it smell anything over its own body odor? She thought to herself, mentally acknowledging the stench that had been permeating the room since the creature arrived.

"I think this is the berserk you were referring to...," Coffee said, attracting the Cyclops's attention and causing it to attempt to crush her again. She dodged and began to zig zag towards its feet.

"Indeed." Kigae said with a smirk in response as she pointed her gun at the Cyclops's right shoulder. It had heard her response and was about to try to crush her. "Now we can't have that, it'll ruin my figure," Kigae said, a devilish grin on her face because of her morbid joke. "Cheap Shot!" She sent a bullet into the Cyclops's shoulder, seeming to pass straight through the armor like a ghost before hitting the flesh, piercing all the way to the bone.

The shot had multiple effects. One, the pain made the monster's arm shift, causing the club to hit the ground ten feet to Kigae's left, causing the whole room to shake a bit. Two, assuming that their physiology was similar to humans, Kigae had shot a nerve cluster that controlled the Cyclops's arm. She had in fact been right and the monster's arm went limp, dropping the club completely as the monster roared in pain, clutching its shoulder.

Kigae stopped for a moment to admire her handiwork. Considering that she had blinded it, as well as crippled its arm, she figured she would get most of the points for this one, about twenty out of thirty points, though in all fairness, she was using a gun at a safe distance, so maybe it should be considered half. Only if Coffee mentioned it though.

[Ellie who has 0%]

Looking up at the creature, Coffee smirked at it; she gave a silent promise to repay it for nearly sending that club at her. The halberd's blade was a eerie bright granny's apple green. With the ring of gunshots, the viera motivated herself to move faster. Working her way to the left, she prepared herself. With a jump, she reinforced a thrust into the cyclop's left ankle; her weight and gravity naturally pulled her to the ground bringing the halberd down with a clean cut.

Spinning out, she tug the halberd free whipping the blood off of it before committing a side slash at the right ankle. Instead of contacting flesh and dragging to the bone like it did the left, the halberd knicked the bone before Coffee pulled it away and striked again with a thrust. With the curse given by the halberd, it was inable to attack again. Although, the cheap shot had ceased usage of its right shoulder, disable prevented it from even trying to utilize the left. The cyclops' options shrunk immensely.

The only option now was to flee or die. Coffee decided to walk away from it before it made its choice. She rather not be in range if it collasped from the pain and damage of its joints that bore a lot of weight from his stance. Also with damaged ankles, it won't be able to travel far. Maybe the temples will be more tightly secured than with feeble humes and a large cyclops that can be disabled piece by piece.

Clutching onto its right arm, the Cyclops swayed only to howl louder with the pressure and pain on his ankles. For a moment, it swore it heard a snap of breakage caused by his movements. To not cause more damaged to his legs, it leaned against the temple walls breathing heavily.

Watching him, Coffee titled her head. Hilt down, she held the halberd close, while her free arm's knuckles rested on her hip, "So how shall we distribute this? Now shall we leave it alive...perhaps it will be encouragement to leave something more...less clumsy."

[daemonsol]

Kigae noted how Coffee's attacks left the Cyclops even more thoroughly screwed. Between the two of them, they had gotten this monster to the point that it had given up. Kigae noticed how the Cyclops was listening to Coffee talk. It knew full well that its life was in their hands now.

With the large threat out of the way, Kigae switched back to her Warrior Dressphere as she walked over to Coffee and stood beside her, resting her sword on her shoulder. She looked again at the Cyclops before she answered Coffee. "Yeah, if we leave it alive, its proof that we didn't need to kill it to beat it. But then again, in the state we're leaving it in, it will never recover. It will never be able to hold its little club again. At this point, killing it would be merciful." Kigae said with a shrug as she turned and started to walk down the hall, not bothering to show it the mercy she was just talking about.

She noticed that at this point, the hall was a downward incline, heading into the Earth. As she went she absently said, "I'd say the beast is worth about thirty points, and should be split..." She paused for a moment while she thought. "17-13, with the bonus going to me for blinding the sucker and taking away his weapon." She figured that was fair.

She looked back at Coffee to see if she was going to kill the Cyclops, and if she did, to see if it was out of mercy or spite.

[Ellie who has 0%]

Coffee glanced up at the cyclops; perhaps for its duties these 'gods' would be merciful to their servants and those who follow them. Unfortunately she wasn't one of them. Also she wasn't here to make kills, but to find something more worthwhile then slaying a one eyed individual. She can't gain anything from this, but those treasures are another subject. Nodding, she continued onward with Kigae down the sloping hall.

Only a few paces behind, Coffee's ears twitched and turn to detect any movement. She didn't sense any mist, so atleast that's one concern far away from her. Her ears did twitched when Kigae spoke up again, so she was still playing the game.

Hearing her score distribution, the viera snorted and caught up with her walking beside her to make a correct clarification,"You didn't take away its weapon...you just eliminated one arm to use. I stopped its chances of moving period, sooo if I did nothing it would still be moving."

At this point, the actual points weren't a top priority; sure she can live with a good debate just to fuel the woman over, but the viera was comfortable with her company to not feel a hostile competitive edge to be excessively argumenative. She can co-exist with her, since she fitted the criteria of those she keep as her company: strong, independent, determined, and a luscious body was a perk.

Coffee would even give her a nickname. Although cinnamon can be used for sweets as well as a spice, it really didn't flow from her tongue as smoothly as she wished. The warrioress can be hard, solid, and rough as a rock, but the viera had an ebbing feeling there was a molding softness in her whether its hidden in her personality or the soft skin covering her hard muscles. For no reasonable reason in particular, Carmela flowed fluidly; Carmela was for the hard-core warrior, but Coffee wondered if there was a soft Carmelita under that rugged exterior.

"I wonder if we're closer to it...if this is all the tests they throw at us...I'm a bit disappointed."

[daemonsol]

Kigae grinned and chuckled at Coffee's argument about the points. She was right, though Kigae felt she could argue that since it was blind it wasn't likely to find the club again. She liked how the Viera had decided not to end the Cyclops's life. Though Kigae didn't have a problem with mercy itself, after she had spared that brat back in Traverse Town, they were raiding a Temple, and they didn't have time to waste making sure to kill every creature they defeated.

"Fine, fine, since you put it that way, let's split the points evenly, again bringing us to a tie, unless I missed something. Since we can't break this tie, let's forget this little competition and call each other equally excellent." Kigae said, patting Coffee on the back. Kigae was glad to have met Coffee, it had been too long since she ran with someone who matched her skill level.

"I wonder if we're closer to it...if this is all the tests they throw at us...I'm a bit disappointed." Coffee said.

Kigae shrugged. "We may end up facing a couple puzzles down here, since this is also the temple of Athena." Kigae sincerely hoped there wouldn't be any puzzles or riddles or whatever it was that Athena was into. She was bright enough to solve most puzzles easily, but she preferred fighting to earn a prize.

She suddenly noticed a change in the air temperature. It was getting hotter. "Do you feel that?" She asked as she peered down the tunnel. She noticed that the tunnel started to twist sharply to the left, into a downward spiral staircase. Since they were heading down, and it was getting hotter, Kigae figured that they were getting close to the furnace where Hephaestus forged his steel and Athena cooked her pottery, Kigae vaguely recalled that Athena, in addition to Wisdom, governed crafts such as pottery. On that note she was also supposed to be the Goddess of Strategy, War, and Strength. She was supposed to be a counterpoint to Ares' more rage focused style of War. War with a womanly touch, Kigae supposed with a grin. Maybe the guards and such later on would be more cunning as well as armored in high-quality gear. She could only hope though, for so far it seemed as if all the guards before were only Hephaestus's, strong, armored, and lame.