My Legacy lives on...

[Culaki]

Culaki's mind flashed with troubled nightmares. Dark tentacles wrapping around his feet, pulling him under into the water. The breath in his lungs exploding as vicious darkness ensnared him. Spots dancing in front of his vision, his mind panicking and resorting to fight mode. His roars, audible even underwater as he fought the peril to his last breath...

He awoke with a snarl. On the Sarengeti Plains, all was calm and peaceful. Several species of bird flew overhead, their song twilling through the air cheerfully. Rolling over, Culaki stood up from his position in the large tree, grabbing the Lion's Pride and flipping out to land on three paws gracefully.

Keeping his head low, he scanned through the bush, securing the weapon across his back as he flexed his powerful muscles, settling down on all fours and allowing a bestial roar to escape from his jaws. Taking off across the plains at a loping stride, he allowed his tongue to hang slightly, enjoying the warm, crisp wind on his fur.

His muscles stretching, the blood pounding in his ears, his nose taking in all the wonderful scents around him, his ears picking up any noise...he led out a joyous yowl. He was home. This was where he belonged, in the wild. Sure, those other four-legged cats he'd seen weren't nearly as big, nor nearly as powerful as him, but he respected them nonetheless.

He stretched out in the sun, yawning contentedly, his tongue flopping out as he panted under the shade of a tree.

[The Brass Duke]

Deep within the Elephant Graveyards several humanoid figures could be seen traversing the dimly-lit area beneath the pale moon, searching for something. In the center of their ranks stood a fop above all else, his nose covered by a white handkerchief, his face scrunched in a look of disgust as he peered around.

"Your excellency," sounded the metallic, echoing voice of a soldier to his side. "I believe we have recovered the slip of parchment you were looking for."

The man, in all of his elegant attire, jumped at this and barreled through the others to meet the face of his outspoken golem soldier. He plucked the notes from the automaton's grips and read greedily, tucking them away when he'd finished and throwing up his hand and pointing to the sky for declaration.

"Excellent! Now I can worry about other things. For starters, this place is disgusting...and yet, have you seen the world around it? Positively prime real estate!"

His soldiers nodded with him and agreed. He spun the cane he held now in his hand and slammed it down hard on the ground, a stray elephant bone jumping at the sonic wave pulsing outwardly.

Soon there was the sounds of grinding gears and earth-shaking booms. When the Brass Duke turned he could see the roving golem castle, Colossus, stomping into view. Grinning, he snapped his fingers and the golem entourage he'd brought along went to retrieve his Palanquin; when they arrived back he was less than pleased they'd abandoned it so far away.

"Let's just go..." he said with a grunt. Shrugging, he climbed in and closed his curtains, ordering his soldiers to take him back to Colossus, where he would oversee his next move.

[Culaki]

Culaki looked up from his laying position as a deep rumble shot through the earth. He pulled himself to a squatting position, flexing his haunches as he roared a challenge in return. His body tightening, he began to run through the tall grass, moving quickly and stealthily so as not to alert the newcomer(s) of his presence...

Finding a small raise in the land with several rocks and dried trees, he crouched there, rolling in the dirt and such to blend his appearance into the landscape, sneezing once as dirt entered his nose. Raising himself up, his eyes the only thing visible, he scanned the landscape from left to right, simply waiting...

[The Brass Duke]

The only thing Culaki would see roving across the vast plains would be a large, castle-like contraption, moving on treads and four, tower-like legs. Steam seeped out of several pockets and chutes on the sides every couple of seconds, and from Colossus' front balcony stood The Brass Duke and several golems.

With one arm folded behind his back and the other pumping the cane in the air as a cheer of victory, he cackled and moved to the railing to survey the landscape.

Pointing at several locations with the cane he discharged lightning bolts, marking certain points that he wished to claim and lay siege on for his development plans. And soon after he pinpointed, a large tablet, perfectly masked to look like the castle's base, slid open, the sounds of grinding gears following it.

From within the black chamber lowered a barrel-like structure; on all sides were clear glass containers which held glowing turquoise liquid, that which would fuel the cannon. The duke held onto the railing now as he peered over the edge, watching as his weapon was introduced.

Once it had found its first target the Duke wailed out his order for first fire; the containers on the barrel's side began to glow for a moment, as did the inside of the barrel. A moment later and a radiantly-bright beam shot forth, decimating a squat little oasis about a quarter mile from Colossus.

"Hahahahahahahahahaha!"

[Culaki]

Culaki gasped from his position hidden in the rocks as the strange man's contraption rolled into view. Huge, mechanical gears and such showing from the massive stone walls that rose into the sky. A large black barrel showed itself from the confines of the machine, a strange turquoise fluid sloshing around in clear containers on either side.

Culaki leapt from his position, about to run forward when the fluid and the inside of the barrel glowed deeply for a few seconds. A giant energy beam shot from the cannon, laying waste to an area a good distance away. Culaki's eyes widened as he realized the effect that it could have on his comrades...

He opened his mouth and let loose a massive roar, so loud and powerful that even the man so far away couldn't have failed to hear it. Beating his fists on his massive chest, Culaki took off on all fours, strapping the Lion's Pride to his chest as he ran. He had to find a way to stop that machine...

[The Brass Duke]

"ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRR!!!"

"Hm?" Brass was startled by the sudden lion's roar emitting from below on the plains. He unfastened from his belt a golden spyglass, extended it with a sudden jolt and popped off his monocle and stared in, gazing out over the Savannah. What he saw was...something, running towards Colossus. How quaint.

He chuckled, allowing some of his soldiers to come take a look. Having no emotions, these soulless golems simply shrugged, but the Duke was not led astray; he returned to watching this beast and simply cackled, mocking its bravery.

"Emit shock waves below Colossus. I wanna see that kitty blown back some couple yards. Target practice!" He retracted and sheathed the spyglass and instead replaced it with a beautifully-crafted, three-barreled revolver and aimed it downward, squinting to catch a glimpse of Culaki. Brass was a fantastic shot, so the creature far below would have to be quick after the pulse.

The base of Colossus had a large stump-like protrusion extend from the bottom surface, and it hovered for just a moment before it began pumping up and down, slamming hard on the ground, crushing anything below it, emitting massive waves, knocking down small trees, disturbing the quiet waters of small ponds, and causing the grass to be ripped from its place.

"Come on, let's play!"

[Culaki]

Culaki continued racing towards the Colossus, his teeth bared as he covered ground rapidly. His ears twitched as he picked up sparse bits of the conversation going on above him.

"Emit...Colossus. I wanna...kitty...some yards...PRACTICE!"

Culaki blinked a few times, digesting what was said, albeit slightly confused. Then he noticed the massive stump-like apparatus that extended from the bottom of the Colossus, picking up speed as it raced towards the ground. Culaki braced himself, coiling up his muscles and continuing to run.

BWOOOOOSH! A giant shockwave burst across the ground as the stump hit the ground, tearing up grass, creating a cloud of dirt, and racing towards Culaki. As he watched, an idea began to form in his mind, and he met the shockwave head on, leaping at the last moment to avoid being blown backwards.

Sailing cleanly over the first one, the stump began to raise itself again, and Culaki brought himself to a stop, several hundred feet from the machine. He noticed guns and cannons beginning to turn his way and load themselves, and he grunted, slamming his staff down on the ground, the wide flat of the blade turned.

Beginning to spin, he called upon all the powers of the wind that he could, reciting incantations as his circles grew wider and wider, bringing the dust up in a miasma of whirling grains. The wind power intensified until a raging tornado extended down from the sky, and Culaki began to spin at the same velocity of it, rising into the air.

Using the power of the wind tornado, he began to slowly move towards the Colossus, rising higher and higher, keeping his chin up and his sights set on the man that invaded his homeland. He raised his voice to be heard over the din of the wind, roaring to make his words clear.

"Culaki does not know who you are, mysterious Metal Devil! But he will find out, and he will make you pay for the monstrosity that you have brought to the Pride Lands!"

[The Brass Duke]

As the cyclone of terrible wind power was conjured to the strange, tribal-esque creature below Brass leaned over the railing and growled, staring deep into the storm. Soon Culaki was airborne and Brass smirked.

"A closer target begets more refined, positive results," he admitted to a golem on his left, raised his revolver and fired. A trinity burst of pure sonic energy, followed by a wave of force, launched forth from the triple barrels, directed to tear apart both cat-thing and its enchantment. He fired again as the first blast merely blew a hole in the cyclone, missing Culaki by only three feet. This next blast was filled with his fury from that first failed attempt. He was dead-set on succeeding.

Alongside that he hoisted up his free hand, palms outward, and called "Taste electric death!" before firing off a bolt of eletricity towards the being. The Brass Duke was spamming his attacks, mostly because he feared close combat, and decided it would be best not to allow this wind-witch to make it where he stood.

"Die, die, die!" With each cry he'd fire off another trinity of sonic and force energy. It was chaotic.

[Culaki]

As Culaki rose up inside of the dust-nado, he noticed Brass pull a gun and aim it at him. Panic set in, and he pushed himself as high as he could before Brass pulled the trigger. He winced, anticipating the impact, but it simply slammed into the tornado, disrupting it. Culaki spun a few more times, then his descent slowed. None the matter, he was nearly up to the top, but he didn't want to risk being so close to Brass...

Too late. As he pulled more wind to help his descent, Brass fired another shot, and it whizzed right past his shoulder, singing his hair and knocking him to the side. He was thankful, as it made the next shot miss. But one more was coming his way, and he knew he couldn't avoid it all.

At the same time, Brass yelled, "Taste electric death!" And began shooting blasts of lightning from his gloved hand. Culaki began shooting blasts of water to counter the lightning, continuing to rise in the face of the bullets racing towards him. He spun himself sideways, bracing himself.

A few of them he managed to dodge or block with his halberd, but it caused him to lose concentration. He pushed himself forward hard with a final gust of wind, but to no avail. His body felt slightly drained, and he knew his magic was running out. Several bullets struck him on his thigh, and he roared in pain, his cries echoing around the Sahara.

As his momentum diminished, he began to fall towards the deck rapidly. A blast of Brass' lightning caught him in the chest, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to shake violently. His mass, plus the force of gravity, turned him into a plummeting comet, essentially. He raced towards Brass at ridiculous speeds, threatening to slam into the deck any moment.

[The Brass Duke]

Brass snickered, watching as the beastial creature took the hits and came plummeting straight at him! His eyes wide, the light on the moon reflecting off his monocle, he quickly slammed down his cane; the golem soldiers standing all around him quickly took maneuvers to stand before him as a shield, while he backed up and raised his weapon once more, spinning the revolver on a finger and holstering it.

Now it was close-range; he readied his cane, which also acted as his sceptre, and watched as the monstrosity before him crash-landed with a thud, knocking down two soldiers in the process. Those remaining hastily grabbed the beast, holding fast to his arms and legs; part of the balcony was breaking off and those who survived--about four of the six soldiers--moved the creature to the foot of where their master now stood; the others fell hundreds of feet to a crushing death, alongside some fragments of their platform.

"What a hassle," said the duke, moving forward and pressing his steel-toed, brass-coated boot right on the left shoulder of Culaki. "You've managed to disrupt my expedition and ruin a perfectly...perfect observatory seat!"

He directed the crested end of his cane downward at the monster, preparing to give him a taste of magical fury before he noticed the creature's anthropomorphia.

"Can you speak, or are you as primordial as the rest of your fellow residents in this heap?" Another grin.

[Culaki]

As Culaki had been shooting water at the bolts of lightning, he was unaware that it would cause a volatile reaction. As the bullets impacted his flesh, the lightning/water fusions would explode, sending him twisting and convulsing to slam into the deck, impacting at least two of the metal soldiers. His vision began to grow dark as he rolled several times, feeling his hands and feet being restrained. Just as he lost consciousness, he heard a voice.

"You've managed to...and ruin...seat!"

He drifted back to, roaring loudly as he struggled, his muscles bulging and shifting as he attempted to escape. The Lion's Pride dug into his back, and he roared again, filling the deck with loud, guttural noises. He was pulled over to be at the foot of Brass, and he took in the man's features before fainting again.

He was awoken by the feeling of a boot resting on his left shoulder. The man proffered a grin, essentially sneering at Culaki, causing him to roar again.

"Can you speak, or are you as primordial as the rest of your fellow residents in this heap?"

Culaki grunted in return, yowling lightly before speaking. "Yes, Culaki can speak, human. Culaki does not appreciate you imposing on his land and threatening his..." Culaki trailed off. He'd interacted, hunted, and even spoke primitively in roars and growls with the lions, but what were they to him? His people? His followers?

He simply regarded Brass with a cool gaze, waiting for his next move while struggling against the restraints of the soldiers...

[The Brass Duke]

"What on Earth is a 'Coo-lackey'?" muttered the duke, removing his foot and kicking hard across the creature's face. "Hmph..." He shook his head and turned, shrugging his shoulders. "Dump him over the side with the two failures," he said, leaving the crumpled beast with the soldiers, who were hard at work taking him down the side of Colossus, not gently, but efficiently.

When they reached land by hovering down with cooler-bottoms they dumped him on the dried, burnt grasslands and stayed by his side, ready to fight him if he tried to assault the castle once again. Colossus, on the other hand, continued its assault, attacking each location that Brass had pin-pointed.

"Destroy it all! I will have my paradise soon! Kwa-ha-ha!"

[Culaki]

Culaki grunted again as Brass' boot connected with the side of his face, but he kept it rigid, snapping at the man's foot as he retracted it. He would not show weakness, no matter what. He was a warrior! He had failed those back home when Sin attacked...he closed his eyes, his nostrils widening as the flashbacks threatened to swallow him again.

When he opened them, he was being jostled roughly as the soldiers brought him down the side. Some sort of elevator or something...he let his eyes and head wander around, memorizing every detail like he had on the ship. As he hit the hard, burned dirt, he snorted once, shooting up a puff of dust. Turning so he could regard Brass as the Colossus continued to pummel the landscape, he spoke.

"Culaki is my name. I am a Ronso. I hail from the proud Race of creatures. What business do you have here, threatening these animals?"

[The Brass Duke]

The duke had been unable to hear Culaki's last words himself, but through his golems and the Aether they were infused with he simply lowered his head and spoke through one of them. The creature's glowing "eyes" changed from yellow to green in a split second and though the voice was metallic, echoing and monotone, one could tell that the Brass Duke spoke through it.

"So Culaki is your name, then, is it? Pha! Such is the humor of parents who give birth to mutant mistakes like yourself! Hahahahaha!"

The golem shifted in its position slightly, taking on the pose Brass usually took; one hand rested on its hip while the other held an invisible cane forward, making the soldier look like it was imitating the fop. It chuckled dryly.

"And as for your latter question," Brass' golem spoke again, its commands given by its master. "This is prime real estate, you simple-minded freak! What man with loads to spend and the fittings for an emperor wouldn't take advantage of such a prospect? Hmph...I'm done with the cat. You golems can stay; I've got more where you came from, and look, you've got a new toy--or friend--whatever. Hahaha! Bring me his head later and we'll play ball! Kwahahahahahahahahaha!"

The eyes of this particular golem went back to their empty yellow once more, meaning that the connection with the Brass Duke had ended; Colossus retracted its stump-like stomper and continued its voyage, walking directly over Culaki and the abandoned brigade. Continuing his onslaught, Brass cackled at the top of his lungs, tearing apart the Pride Lands as far as the eye could see.

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***Later***

When Colossus had ceased its rampage it stationed itself on a dry patch of cracked earth between the area of Pride Rock and the Elephant Graveyard to the west. Several of the Duke's golems were in the process of rebuilding the balcony so rudely damaged before by the smurf-like Ronso while others were jetting down to the surface on Cooler Disks alongside the Brass Duke and a younger man at his side wearing all manner of grey and blue; his hair was black and his eyes a perfect shade of cobalt.

When they touched land several more men and women followed quickly behind, some looking like scientists, others like mechanics. Hastily they went to work setting up a camp-like dwelling and built a fire; a large tent surrounded by several smaller ones would be where the Duke and his associate with the cobalt eyes disappeared to. Inside the two looked over the latest Keyblade Notes discovered while trekking through the Graveyard.

"Hm...it is quite an interesting finding, if I do say so myself, don't you think, Cobalt?"

The younger man nodded, his attention both on Brass and through the curtain-like door peeking out at the destructions far off in the distance behind the golem sentries.

"Lothar...was all of this really necessary?"

"Of course it was! Why else would I be doing it?"

"I guess..."

[Culaki]

Culaki groaned as he spun in and out of consciousness. Flashbacks again threatened to consume him, and he struggled to hold onto the light. He felt his magic power slowly building back up, but it would take some time before he was at full strength. His thirst burned in his throat like an oven, and he coughed, scattering dust on the ground in front of him.

Pulling on a bit of his reserves, he summoned a spring of water through the ground, concentrating as he let the cool spring gush up, spraying him with cool, refreshing, life-giving water. Slaking his thirst, he simply laid there for a few moments, letting his strength return through his body like water.

Grunting as he stood, he attempted to move several times before succeeding. His muscles were sore, but he was a Ronso! He beat a fist on his chest and roared, pulling himself up to full height and trotting forward at a casual lope that didn't strain himself too much. His endurance building back up as surely as his magic, he scanned the area.

There! Across the savannah, the Colossus raged on, that cursed cannon blasting away earth and the strange man atop cackling. Culaki gritted his teeth, following their path of trajectory. The Colossus was settling near Pride Rock by the Elephant Graveyard. So he would head that way, climbing atop Pride Rock in an attempt to converse with the human. If he had to resort to violence, he would not hesitate to tear out his throat...