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[Audio | Action TO ALL | Fourth Wall Event]

--stay!

[ Is that a distorted, but may be recognizable voice? Why, yes, maybe, to those who know her. There's heavy breathing, but it distances itself from the Gear, and there's surprised sounds from a Togekiss, Typhlosion, and Gabite in the background.

Xion shakes her head. No, no, this can't be happening. Wait, she knew this place might have had a chance for something like this, but... A-Ahhghhh... She holds up hands that aren't human, gold talons moving at her will...

Fix this... Have to fix...

Swish swish swish. Clothes are being put on. Then: ]

I need... I need help. With something. Please.

[ Maybe it doesn't have to be Roxas this time. Maybe it could be Sora. Or Ven. Or anyone. ]

[ooc: 4TH WALL EVENT! GUESS WHO'S GOING TO TRY AND FIND SOMEONE TO FINISH HER? She'll be under her hood, and underneath she'll look... like this. Just maybe not gigantic. And it can be anyone. Corridors of Darkness can be convenient in traveling around, why can't Johto just allow that...

So yeah! If you're up for a fight, or just to convince this derp and stop her dead (hah) in her tracks from setting on a selfdestruction path... by all means! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Tch!

[ She feels the bit of lightning surge through her body, made slightly worse with the metal. She resists, though, despite the momentary feeling of being stunned. ]

I'm not looking for anyone else's death.

You're right. All you're looking for is the coward's way out.

[Lightning's eyes finally narrow as her grip on Xion's arm tightens, the lightning stopping as it does. This is what's truly been bothering her about Xion's death-seeking. That she's not fighting for herself anymore.]

All you're looking for is someone to kill you because you're too afraid to do it yourself, aren't you.

[ If you're trying to anger her, Lightning... it's not really working. She doesn't deny it's a coward's way because... just how is this a "coward's way" out? If she could actually do herself in, they wouldn't be having this conversation in the first place. ]

... You don't understand. You can't. [ She presses harshly down on Lightning before suddenly springs off of her. Someone... There's probably some maniac out there who could give her the kill she needs. ]

You... [ Lightning never will. ]

Edited 2011-12-11 12:42 (UTC)

[Angering Xion wasn't the idea. The idea was to make her see that she would be hurting her friends by doing this, but that's obviously not working. Not if she just had the wind kicked out of her like that. Time for another approach. One that involves getting up quicker than most people would be able to after a press like that, and then running at Xion, taking her arm, and flipping her like she weighs no more than a pencil just before pressing down to keep her lying with her back on the ground.]

Then why don't you explain it to me? Make me understand, Xion. Force me to see things way you do and maybe I will then.

Maybe. [ It's grounded out, her voice the only conveyor of her feelings since her helmet lacks any means to do so. She's struggling a bit more vigorously now. ]

Why... Why won't you understand? If I exist, I'll hurt others; I nearly killed Roxas by being with him, and I...!

[ She just can't bear to have that happen again. It was so close. If she hadn't pushed Roxas to off her first, then things would be... well, certainly different. ]

[The struggling makes it difficult for Lightning to hold her down, but she can manage for a bit longer. She has to. She needs to make Xion understand.]

That's what people do, Xion! We hurt others with our words and actions all the time, but we also help them. Why won't you understand that? Friends don't turn on each other because of things like that.

You don't get it. You don't!

[ The struggling becomes a thrashing. She's getting visibly angry and frustrated again. It's not words. It's not with actions. Just simply being is enough to be a danger. ]

I'm going to help my friends. I need to return to Sora!

[It doesn't take very long for the thrashing to knock Lightning off balance, and she backflips away before Xion can hit her again. She lands in a crouch, staying there for a moment before she stands up, eyes downcast to the ground as the sword reappears in her hand in another flurry of feathers. She won't kill her. Killing Xion is never on the table as even a considered idea, let alone an option, but if this is the only way to stop her plans, well, so be it. A good knock on the head might work.]

Fine. If that's what you really want and I can't convince you to stop....you'll have to go through me, first.

[And, judging from the look on her face, she actually means through.]

[ As soon as Lightning is off her body, she springs back up, Keyblades coming back into her own hands after they were thrown off from Lightning's earlier trick. Finally. Finally. Either stop her dead, Lightning, or don't stop her at all.

Hell, she'll probably keep on fighting until she doesn't have much energy left. Once Lightning's ready, Xion's going to rush forward with wide side strokes at Lightning. ]

[Xion's wide strikes are met with either a dodge, a deflect brought on by the shield, or a matched attack with Lightning's blade. She's not aiming to kill, she's aiming to disarm and assuming that'll work.

But she's not assuming that these attacks are all Xion has, and she's careful to watch the girl's hands. No use getting blasted.]

[ Nope, that isn't all. With one point of a Keyblade, a Thundaga's roaring over Lightning's head. The other Keyblade is being pulled back before Xion hurls it at Lightning in a Strike Raid.

At least this time, if Lightning knocks it away, Xion can simply summon it back to her hand to follow up with another charge. ]

[Lightning has no way to dodge the Thundaga and therefore has to take the hit. The magic sparks over her armor, lightning crackling between the plates and leaving her fingers twitching and her body almost unable to move due to the shock of it. Almost is almost, though, and she manages to knock away the flying Keyblade at the last second.

This, of course, leaves her open to whatever charge Xion is bringing up next; for all her experience in using them, Lightning really is terrible at working through Thunder spells.]

You said you'll stop me! [ Xion attacks with a swing, then a thrust with her Keyblades. ] So stop me!

[ She has to be on the aggression, force Lightning to step up her game and injure her, make her go away. Sure, Xion seemed like such a novice in hand-to-hand combat, but with her powers back, this seemed like a different person. ]

[There's no vocal response; Lightning's never been one to mince words nor back down from a fight. But she needs room if she's going to do this, and so she lunges forward, taking a few hits in order to bring the shield on her arm down hard on Xion's helmet with the ringing of metal against metal. It's a hard blow, meant with the intent to stun, and Lightning back flips away directly after it lands, needing only a few seconds.

What did she need those seconds for? To cast a Thundaga of her own, the bolts of lightning crashing down around and on top of her pupil. This is probably going to hurt.]

[ The shield bash does throw her off, head thrown back at the attack and it successfully stops her charge. Man, Lightning's strong. She doesn't have further time to think on that when she sees the spell and it hits her. The pain is intense, her nerves lit up on fire and her body shakes terribly as the spell runs its course.

Yet, despite the pain, she doesn't scream out or make any sort of sound. She hasn't been unless she talks. She can deal with this. Give Lightning more image of dealing with a monster.

Once the aftershock of the Thundaga spell wears off, her body momentarily slumps. Then her head jerks back up almost a second later and she brings up her Keyblades. ]

Is that all you got?

[ She charges up the spell, then releases it in the form of Ragnarok, multiple lights flying and spiraling towards Lightning. ]

[Almost immediately, Lightning flips back again and again, trying to dodge the attack before it hits while tossing weaker Thunder spells at Xion to cancel this attack out. Some may hit, but not enough to dispel the Ragnarok and several of the lights hit Lightning head-on, the force enough to send her flying and crashing into the ground, knocking the air from her system before she can scream in pain.

The majority of the lights do go over her head as she lays there, winded and sure that every bone in her body has broken, and they hit the ground just past her as she struggles to get up through the pain wracking her system. She's been hurt badly before and has the scars to prove it, but this? This feels a hundred times worse than when that Behemoth had nearly gutted her, and there's not even a wound or mark to show for it.

An attack like that would have sent everyone who could cast them scrambling for healing spells back home, but here, Lightning only has Thunder spells and her sword, which finds a home in the dirt as she uses to it struggle to her feet. She manages, and though still hurting enough to spit blood from her mouth from biting her tongue, she shifts her sword to a more gunlike form, firing off several balls of quick moving energy that look like concentrated Thundagas homing in on the girl in front of her.]

I'm just getting started.

Edited 2011-12-13 10:44 (UTC)

[ For her part, Xion tries to whack some of those shots away from her, but one hits her in the shoulder, then the other shoulder, and another one square on the chest. The last shot threatens to make her keel over backward, but she wills this body of hers to stand firm in its ground despite the intense pain assaulting her body.

This body is expendable.

She straightens her stance and spreads her arms out before she rushes at Lightning again with a cry. This time, she'll be going for underhanded strokes and scissor cuts with both of her Keyblades. ]

[Still shaky from the Ragnarok, Lightning doesn't try to get away. She instead holds her ground, only stepping back with each attack that she matches. The impacts that get through are bruising, some making it hard to breath, but she gets in more than a few of her own with the blunt side of her blade.

Even after all that, she's still aiming to knock down, not kill. Xion is likely to deal a finishing blow long before Lightning will, even with another shield bash at her head to knock her off-balance and light Thunder spell to stun following. She's putting up a fight now, at least. That probably stands for something.]

[ At this point, Xion's numbing whatever pain she's feeling from Lightning's counterattacks. It makes it easier to ignore when she should just stop because she can't. Not until Lightning deals a killing blow herself.

However, one hard, blunt strike of her blade to Xion's head causes the visor to crack. Given the fact that Xion's putting most of her tactics on the offensive, she keeps going forward... that is, until the second shield bash hits her again, and a part of her helmet is destroyed in the process.

Xion momentarily retreats, jumping back and breathing hard when the Thunder spell hits her afterward. She blinks her now exposed eye when she feels blood drip onto it before shaking her head. Another charge! ]

[The momentary retreat lets Lightning catch her breath, shaking hair from her face and looking straight up at Xion in time to catch that exposed eye.

A human eye. This changes things. Lightning's more defensive tactics have changed to offensive with the intent to break Xion's helmet clean off, to prove that she's still human under that armor, and not a monster. It's probably going to take a while, though; she's off her game and winded from all the blows she's taken already, so getting in clean hits to Xion's head isn't the easiest thing in the world. Especially since the girl is so determined with her charges.]

[ Xion notes the change in dynamics with Lightning's current moveset. Offense meets offense, but Xion notes the older woman's getting tired, which is... no, no, she's not going to kill Lightning. It has to be the other way around.

A thrust of Lightning's sword causes Xion to dodge to the left, with the blade barely scraping by the undamaged side of her helmet. come to think of it, Lightning seems more intent on going for, well... headshots. Most likely because of the exposed part.

Gritting her teeth, she becomes more focused on deflecting those strikes than outright attacking now. ]

[Just because something has to be one way doesn't mean it will be that way; even with the armor not weighing her down, Lightning is tiring and tiring fast. Another hit like that Ragnarok and she's out of this fight.

Until then, however, she's continually striking at Xion's head to dislodge the helmet. She's careful to strike with only the blunt end of the blade, not wanting to cause any more harm than she has to, but every time she strikes she looks Xion in the eye, trying to get her to back down. It's probably not working, though. Offense meets offense and stubborn meets stubborner. It does happen sometimes.]

[ Whatever intimidation tactics Lightning is trying on her by making direct eye contact isn't going to work. Not this time. She'd seen such looks before when they were human, equal. But now... They were different. Xion has a chance to really show what she's made of.

One of her Keyblades smashes against Lightning's shield while the other prevents Lightning's blade from hitting her helmet again, and they're locked in a standstill. Despite Lightning having the obvious height advantage, Xion's pushing against her, defiantly glaring through the lock. ]

[When intimidation fails, another approach is needed. Especially when in a weapons lock with someone only a little bit weaker in terms of pushing power, because Xion is managing to move her back very small amounts as Lightning tries to get out of the lock. It doesn't work very well, and she soon grits her teeth. Is she planning something?

Yes. She is. A Thundaga spell roars over both their heads, striking down at Xion, but it's a double edged sword this time; the magic is strong and it courses through Xion's keyblades and into Lightning's sword and shield, shocking her as well as the girl. Only difference is, Xion can jump away; as the source of the spell, Lightning can't do that so easily.

Yep. Almost seems like she's playing martyr, too. Pot, meet kettle.]

[ Xion grits her teeth through the pain, intensified further by all the metal and the injuries from before. But she sees that Lightning isn't moving... Why won't she move? She's too close, she'll get hit, too.

...

... No, no. You're not doing that on her, dammit. Anger overrides the pain and dulls it to the point of nonexistence as Xion forces a break in their lock to try and shove Lightning to the ground and away from her.

One of her Keyblades dig their teeth into the ground as Xion struggles to stand from that attack. Even in this form, she can only do so much. ]

You're not... You're not doing this... [ She's gasping and breathing hard for air as though underwater. She jerks the Keyblade out of the soil and almost shakily points it at Lightning. Whatever "this" is... whether it be Lightning not trying to kill Xion despite the obvious intent to stop her or going down with Xion... hmm, maybe both. ]

[Audio | Action TO ALL | Fourth Wall Event]

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