The Skies Above Nowhere

[Agrias Oaks]

The holy knight was running down a random corridor when she finally heard the voice she was eager to hear call out her name. Agrias turned in place, her eyes wide as they starred at Beatrix, in shock at first, before running over to the woman as well. When the General stopped in front of her, and she was able to get a good look, she gasped, growing enraged at Beatrix's condition, "Lady Beatrix!" she would whisper, reaching up with both hands and closing her eyes-- They would glow a soft green, an aura would slowly creep upon the Tuscan haired woman as her friend repeated these words : "Life's refreshing breeze, heal from the sky! Cure2!"

When she was able to cover some of the severe wounds, such as the fractured ribs and infected scratches, the knight reached forward to give Beatrix a quick hug, before releasing her, "Thank God you are safe, Lady Beatrix... now, with haste!"

The knight held up a gloved hand to her own lips and formed a certain pattern with it. She whistled loudly, though it seemed to Echo even OUTSIDE the castle. It was the signal to retreat, or that the General has been found. The Alexandrian Soldiers would cheer together with a battle cry, now fighting harder than EVER against the enemy, showing no mercy!

Agrias turned to her friend, and held her hand, turning her gaze to a certain hallway, "Let us go and retrieve the first squadron, Lady Beatrix! Abigail is with them, but I know naught of their safety in this mad house! Depart as soon as possible, we must. Your Red Rose awaits!"

[General Beatrix]

[glow=red,2,300]Beatrix stopped in her tracks, tugging against Agrias' pull.

"Abigail and the First Squadron are down this hall!?" she cried, peering into the darkness of the black hallway, knowing full well the Audience Chamber was in this direction.

"That is the dwelling chamber of Maleficent, Lady Agrias." She shook her head and sheathed her blade, sneaking forward, directing Agrias along. "We have to be quiet here," she whispered, standing with her back against the double doors. She pushed one open slightly, and peered in.

"I can not see much," she lied. As a Blackheart, she could see full well in the darkness.[/glow]

[Agrias Oaks]

"The witch!?" Agrias face palmed herself, rushing over and following Beatrix, finally, it felt like everything was in control, since the General was retrieved. She walked in next to her friend, and looked around, trying to peer through the darkness, "Naught a problem." she whispered, closing her eyes, holding her sword out and pointing it at the darkness.

"Absorb power in the sky and strike!" her voice echoed, the sword, happily fighting along side her sister, would glow vibrantly. Save the Queen seemed a little tweakish, as if something was wrong, but she couldn't place it. The knight did not finish the attack, she just wanted the light of the sword so they could see their surroundings...

... What were they to find... ?

[Abigail Crescentlight]

Abigail waved a hand behind her for the soldiers to retreat. She backed away slowly, her staff raised in the ready in case the faerie decided to attack. "So you're just letting us go? Just like that?" she asked, looking all around for some sign of a trap or something to that effect. She didn't want to be caught off guard. She'd have a lot to tell Agrias and Beatrix when she found them.

She was nearly at the door when all the heartless appeared. She looked around as though anticipating an attack from all sides. The Soldiers would hear the whistle and begin making their way out. Abby looked up when she heard it and smiled. "Looks like we've got the General!" she said happily, smiling a bit before trying to retreat herself. "We're done here!"

[General Beatrix]

[glow=red,2,300]Beatrix and Agrias entered the chamber, seeing several soldiers pass them on their way. They saw some staying back, with Abby, while the Heartless attacked.

And then, in the distance, they saw her. Maleficent, but...not Maleficent.

"Oh my gods!" cried Beatrix, drawing out Save the Queen, her eye wide in terror. You habe ascended, she thought, with an interior smile.

"Lady Abigail, we must retreat!"[/glow]

[MeadowSong]

[glow=Purple,2,300]MeadowSong swooped forward and wrapped her beautiful, faerie body around the white mage, her hands running up and down the girl's face. She grinned, smelling the light beam off her, and made antagonistic comments as she backed off.

She backed up into a Large Body and disappeared, only to reappear a moment later across the room. It was a game for the queen; a Whack A Faerie, or something.

"The light...it smells oh-so delicious, I can hardly contain my urge to rip it out and destroy it! Hahahahahaha!"[/glow]

***Back to A Dark Alliance***

[Agrias Oaks]

The knight ran a few steps forward, seeing the Heartless enemy around the group, she called out " LIGHTNING STAB!" to make a clearing. A bright light would quake from her sword, and create a path for the others to get back. She would keep an eye out for other heartless, though paying most attention to a way out for the soldiers and Abigail.

She watched Beatrix a moment, her reaction... a little startling. Had the witch gone so powerful that it had alerted the General to...retreat?"

"Understood." Agrias made that whistle sound again, and this time, everyone began to retreat, stomping and slicing away at the enemy as they headed toward the exits. Three soldiers would stay at the White Mage's side, in need of heals and offering further protection.

"ABIGAIL WATCH O--" The knight rushed over to the healing sister when Maleficent made such a disgusting advance. This new form of Maleficent, her seeming a faerie of some darkness... of all darkness? Whatever she was, she was able to wrap herself around the white mage with ease, and a moment later she was across the room. She began to back away toward the door a hand out to keep Abigail protected behind her. She watched the remaining of the Alexandrians go through the door-- it was about time to go.

"Lady Abigail." she tried to call her, "Please, heal lady Beatrix." - with that, she pointed the sword, ready to stall for some time. It glowed a bright color, along with her eyes and armor... It was about to be a critical. She did NOT like her friends handled that way...

" Think of light a treat, then still your hunger with this!" She growled, holding the sword up, it beginning to vibrate with power, "Heaven’s wish to destroy all minds…" she started, her voice echoing through the chambers. This was going to be a big one. The light bright enough to even ward the small heartless around them. Large bodies would shrink away- something was not normal about this sword...they felt it.

[Abigail Crescentlight]

Abigail smiled brightly when she saw Agrias and Beatrix, dropping her guard only a moment to express her joy, but that was where she went wrong. Suddenly, the dark one was wrapped around her, holding her in such an.... an... an UNWELCOMED way! She gasped, feeling the dark squeeze around her heart painfully and the illicit closeness the woman demonstrated. The dark one even had the gall to touch her face!

Then, she was let go. She fell to her knees and coughed a few times, shivering all over as she recovered from such an advance. She stood up slowly, looking behind her to see Agrias defending her. She blushed at this, taking a moment to realize she had been spoken to. "Oh! Right!" she said, then ran over to Beatrix and held her hands up. She closed her eyes and made the gestures she needed to.

"Healra!" she called confidently, healing Beatrix a great deal (by no means to full health just yet, but certainly enough to where what was left was merely superficial). She then looked behind her to see Agrias preparing a massive light attack. Something... wasn't rubbing her right though...

She looked up to the massive portal that the creature had summoned earlier. She recalled how her attack, though made of pure light, was somehow drawn upward into it, where it simply disappeared. That's when it hit her. This entire room was rigged so that the faerie wouldn't be touched! Anything they did would prove ineffective and she was just stalling for time until they ran out of energy.

"Fool me once..." Abby muttered, then turned from Beatrix and ran over to Agrias, grabbing the back of her armor tightly and yanking backward. "No good! Let's just go!" she called, pulling Agrias behind her as she ran to the hallway, looking to Bea as she passed. "Don't just stand there! Listen to me this time!"

[General Beatrix]

[glow=red,2,300]Beatrix watched this advance with shock, confused at why the Mistress of All Evil was playing with her prey.

"Lady Agrias, I must insist that we rush on out of here..." she turned, waved some soldiers standing by the door to make way for the ship.

She saw the light pour from Agrias' blade, and the Heartless wavering, as well as the black hole above, which seemed to be feeding off the light. "Really, Lady Agrias...we must run..."

MeadowSong reappeared at the throne across the room, hovering playfully above just the seat, directing the Heartless with her sceptre. She stared at the light with some difficulty, as did Beatrix, but they both managed it. Beatrix was going to have to pay for that later, as she had to make sure she was keeping up this facade for the Sisters.

And then Abigail grabbed ahold of the knight, and began dragging her out of the room. When Abby yelled over to Beatrix, she followed her and Agrias out of the room, turning back to get one last glimpse of her queen.[/glow]

[Agrias Oaks]

"DIVIIIIIIIINE," started Agrias, her sword about to swing down, "RUIN-- ACK!" -- The attack would fail and still hold, the sword vibrating with energy, even giving a beautiful, yet dangerous metallic song. She flailed her arms forward a little, somehow being dragged by the white mage, "A-ah, Lady Abigail, wait!"

"No good! Let's just go!" said the kind Abigail, the sword controlling the massive power being stored, also draining Agrias' stamina force. Another voice spoke, and this time, it was of the General: "Really, Lady Agrias...we must run..."

The Knight reluctantly turned in place, following the others to the exit. The Telepods were still being massively used, since full squadrons where making their way back into the ship. Agrias seemed to pant a little, though the run wasn't far, the attack was still draining her, a weak point when it came to using such a powerful sword. When out of danger, she would sheathe it though still suffer the effects. She had to find away to unleash the powerful Critical.

[Shego]

[glow=green,2,800]Shego watched everything unfold from the towers roof. She was studying the resources of the good guys- something she wondered, why she never did in the first place. Either way, this was a good opportunity to catch up on their fighting techniques.
That boy with his little gravity trick, that super girl with cowgirl complex, the Alexandrian soldiers: Archers, swordies, and such... nothing she couldn't handle.

There was even a large bird in the picture- she counted about 18 Heartless stomped, and 2 of her 10 Dusks injured. There was a familiar knight, a white mage, and her 'dear' friend, The General. Everything was going according to plan. The thief stretched a little, and sat down after a while of observing, looking down to watch the women retreat after two whistles. What trained dogs.

Well, she did her part... now it was up to Beatrix to handle the rest. Good luck, General, she muttered in thought before disappearing through a corridor. On to the next set of ideas.[/glow]

[General Beatrix]

[glow=red,2,300]As they navigated the halls, Beatrix thought of where they would go next.

It has to be somewhere I can work in peace, while having enough room to grow the army...and, well, Prince Adam's Castle is all right...and there's a pool of light there stationed inside that Princess of Heart Belle...perfect.

When they finally reached the hangars, she stared up at the chaos, her eye wide and flaring in anger. They were destroying her ship!

"What is this treachery!?" she cried out, turning to the others and putting her fist out in the center of their circle. "Grab hold!"

The hand began glowing, and when they took her arm she called out "Recall", and were each transformed into bubbles of various colors, and brought directly onto the bridge. She marched over to the panels where soldiers worked, and even pushed Ellis aside from the helm and took charge.

"Alexandrian Knights," she called into the megahponic intercom. "Commence withdrawal immediately! And those on board, fire back at that ship!"[/glow]

[Agrias Oaks]

Agrias would be a little pale on the return trip, and she would try and shake it off. She watched the massive ship in front of them, and muttered an incoherent, but obviously nasty word. They needed a distraction, and she REALLY needed to get rid of the charging attack.

"Excuse me.." She spoke softly to the others, trying to make her way outside, at direction to face the ship. She watched it from the rails, unsheathing her sword, the blade replaced by pure light on how CHARGED it was, "Damn.." she mumbled weakly, looking up at the sky and then down at the ground. She was figuring out how to cause little damage to the ship as possible.

The knight stood only a few moments before making some calculations, pertaining to air speed, ship speed and the massive target ahead of her. She went for it. Her boots and guards began to glow a bright blue, "JUMP!" she shouted, and launched herself up into the sky, Save the Queen cutting the thin air around her, "DIVIIIIIIIIIINE-- " She shouted tiredly, pointing her sword toward The Harbringer...

"RUIINAAATIOOOOON!" Boomed her voice, a momentary silence would fill the air, before a pressure would get to it. It was as if the skies over the castle opened up to reveal the rays of the sun! Long has that world been so shrouded in darkness, to suddenly have it infested with light! The dark creatures scatered, shrieking in disgust and running away through the small cracks available to them, fleeing from the attack.

Agrias swung the blade down, and it was as if releasing the nexus from her sword, a long wave of light would come out, the pressure so strong that the woman was thrown back. The light would sing a heavenly song, similar to the one Save the Queen does...and it was on direct course for the Harbringer! If it would land, it would damage the ship severely.

The knight flew a few ways away from a good landing on the Red Rose- exhaused, she slowly connected her sword to some part of her, so it wouldn't drift."Uhgn.." she'd whisper and began to free fall. She was unable to gain her ballance... she began to pick up speed, on course to the cold stone of the world's surface!

[Sai]

Sai... was outmatched. He was in a location with almost no weather-dependant variables outside of air temperature, he was physically weaker than his opponent, and to top it all off, this was his Heartless! He didn't have the will to destroy the creature, as to do so would mean giving up his chances of being whole again. He wouldn't-couldn't put up a proper offensive in this case. So, to say this fight was somewhat one-sided was... something of an understatement.

Not that he didn't do his best. When Atticus came charging at him, he fired off blasts of lightning from his wand, trying to slow him down. However, the Heartless beast rushed forward, deflecting the blasts into the walls before rushing into the Nobody, grabbing him by the neck and slamming him downward into the ground. His grip was tight, crushing Sai's laraynx. Good thing he didn't need to breathe...

Sai took his wand and jabbed the heartless in the eye with it, using the momentary distraction to get free from the dent in the floor the impact had caused. He ran to the panel he had shot with lightning earlier. He threw the summon gem over his shoulder, calling on Bill Nye to distract Atticus yet further.

The summon was instantaneous, erupting into the music and craziness of the Bill Nye Theme Song. Items began to slam into the Heartless, keeping him busy as Sai attended to his offensive. The lesser creatures around the instrument panel ran away as he grabbed an electrical cable from the blasted up remains. "It'll have to do..." he muttered before running toward Atticus once more, his wand held up.

"C'mon..." he muttered, closing in on the winged nightmare and willing all the liquid in the low-humidity to pool around him. Beads of water would form on Atticus, who was only just now recovering from the stab in the eye and multiple slams from light bulbs, space shuttles, and Bill Nye's head. Sai rushed forward and thrust the cable forward, making contact with the liquid and finishing the circuit.

"RRRRRAAAAAAGGHHHHH!!!" Atticus roared, electricity coursing through his body. So much in fact that the lights flickered on the bridge of the ship. It took effort, but slowly his arm came up to rip the cord free of its hold on him, throwing it aside as his body smoked heavily. He, however, seemed barely effected. "You want lightning...?" he growled, throwing his hand out and charging the air.

Sai didn't have time to do much more than cover his face with his arms. A wave of electric pain hit him as the world erupted into a chaotic mix of light and sound. He was thrown backward into an instrument panel, charred and burned. His vision was getting blurry.

Atticus ran forward and leapt into the air, slamming his foot down on Sai's gut to drive him further into the machine. He knealt down and grabbed the man's face, lifting and smashing it backward into the metal and cable a few times before pulling him close. "You... are NOTHING..." he hissed into the man's face.

Sai coughed, his eye fluttering open slowly. "And you... have lost..." he muttered. Sure enough, the whistles could be heard, and the soldiers retreated. Then, a sound outside The Harbinger...

"DIVIIIIIIIIIINE-- "

Atticus's eyes widened, and he let go of Sai to face one of his pilots. "Turn this ship!! NOW!!" he roared, but too late. The massive ship began to turn, only to move its main engine coupling into the line of fire.

"RUIINAAATIOOOOON!"

The attack rattled the ship, breaking the coupling and sending massive amounts of power out into the air. The ship lurched to one side, though staying afloat. Several Heartless ran to the auxillary gun controls and began to open fire on the small ship, creating a rain of laser blasts that would be difficult, if not impossible to avoid. Meanwhile, Atticus growled, realizing his error. He looked to the defeated Sai and picked him up by his scarf, throwing him to a nearby large body. "Toss this trash out into Hyperspace. Then, get together a repair crew... we have a mess to clean..." He walked to his seat and sat while the large heartless dragged Sai across the floor to a nearby jettison chamber.

The air pressurized around him... and before he knew it, Sai was shot like a cannon blast into Hyperspace, his weatherwand drifting along behind him...

[General Beatrix]

[glow=red,2,300]Everything was happening too fast now; Beatrix held onto the large wheel, holding the Red Rose steady while waiting for her soldiers. Most of them had come back, but a lot had not. That only meant she'd lost some people, and it was unacceptable.

Though a Blackheart, Beatrix was nothing without her troops. And a severe loss like that was an insult. What were they doing, marching into battle after their general, anyway? Hadn't she taught them anything?

"Lady Agrias?" she said, the moment the other woman made a great leap, charging up an extremely powerful attack. She watched with total fear of what might happen should Agrias turn that power against the Rose. That was monumentally disasterous.

And then she began her fall; she wasn't going to land on the ship, that was for sure. She looked around, warning her soldiers, even these strange newcomers she hadn't seen before, and even hopped over the bridge front railing and headed out to the frontmost part of the deck, looking out over the explosions.

"Lady Agrias!" she called. There is no way I'll be able to reach the woman unless I conjure a Corridor...

"Blast it all! You there!" she called out to a woman wearing strange clothes (Lilith). "You are the closest down there, Catch Lady Agrias!" Beatrix pointed upward, directing the vampire's gaze to the falling knight.[/glow]