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Hallon leaps back. "Careful! You'll kill us at this rate."
__
Gale seems to be growing frustrated with the current situation and assaults Kyushin with a barrage of sword swings, he intended to end this soon.

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"Sorry." Rikali's voice seems to be heard more in the thought then the voice. She slowly shifts her wings, attempting to loosen the stones and free herself.

Rose walks over to the crater. She stares down at the group and curses under her breath. If Gaia wasn't in there...nevertheless, she begins to kick stones down, causing mini-avalanches to pelt the rescuerers.

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A rock pelts her in the back, and she whirls around to gaze up at Rose. "Oh for the love of--" Another rock hits her shoulder, sending her stumbling back slightly. She smirks up at Rose, otherwise unphased by the blow. "So you're looking for a fight again..."

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Hallon frowns at the sight of Rose. The child obviously had been manipulated into this, as children could be easily swayed. However, his patience was running thin. He said a quick pray for the Lord to grant him the stamina for this. Hallon then continues trying to help dig Rikali out. For now Rose was not a threat.
((Let's get this chapter done soon alright? We only have about three more.))

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Kyushin risks another quick glance at the group. "Why are you still here?!" He turns back to Gale just in time to defend himself. Finally, he chooses to wield his weapon against Gale, but only to block the oncoming attacks. The supercharged blades clash violently and send faint rumbles through the scorched ground. Within three strokes Kyushin locks their swords together and their auras flare angrily. Both blades screech and spark under the stress.

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"It would look that way, O Great Gaia." Rose smirks and continues to kick stones down, adding a little magic to make the mini-avalanches bigger. Rikali blinks stone dust out of her eyes and looks up at the child, as though seeing her for the first time. She sees a creature given over to the force of evil, shrouded in the dark blanket. Hissing, she spits a lightning bolt at Rose. Rose side-steps it and continues her avalanches. "Did you finally realize, dragon, that I am not your daughter? A shame that you opened your eyes now-just when I am about to close them forever!"

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Hallon had just finished moving many of the rocks that trapped Rikali when he was petled by some of Rose's 'mini-avalanche'. He had given the child ample time to run, he would now act. He reaches to his belt and unhooks a fine looking crossbow and trains it on Rose. "You hinderance, I shall say but once to be gone from this place! A child or not, you are responsible for your actions and if you stand with evil then you must share the fate of the wicked."

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"What rock did you crawl out of under?" Rose's voice is amused, she seems untroubled by the crossbow. She kicks another rock, a special one that bounces off Hallon's head.

((err, what's happening with Riki and the rest? We were really hanging on to ReyKas...))

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((I'm not about to post with them for the sake of posting as them, I'm more concerned about getting everyone out of Capital.))
Hallon's face turns grim. "Very well." The arrow in the crossbow begins to shine with a golden light, as Halon uses the only magic he knows, charging his arrow with divine energy.

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The arrow whistles by Rose's cheeck, but she hisses from the light, which, as Hallon suspected, causes her pain. In reply, she creates an arrow-like blast of dark energy to return fire. "Bastard hero and the force of light."

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Hallon ignores Rose and this time aims directly at her. "I have tried to show mercy, but I shall strike down evil, regardless of it's form. Do you believe darkness can pierce light?"

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Rose stares down Hallon and his weapon without flinching. "Darkness is like a blanket; it will envelop you all and wrap you in its sweet embrace-extingushing light forever."

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"What a misguided response. It's a simple principle that even the smallest light tears through the greatest darkness." Hallon releases the arrow, which soars directly at Rose.

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The sound of a loud shotgun is heard and the arrow is destroyed by a shower of shotgun shells. Cloud stands a small distance away at the top of the crater. He holsters the short barrel shotgun in his belt and frowns, looking down at Hallon. "Now what was the meaning of that? She's just a little girl."

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Rose stares at Cloud. Her mouth works silent words and she stares, completely dumbfounded. "You...?"

Rikali snarls. "You again. Get lost, already. She's an evil pawn and deserves to die like one."

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Cloud smirks and closes his eyes, shaking his head and chuckling. "Rose, you need to stop this now, it's not nice to all the grown-ups here. Reeve said he didn't want you getting in the way anymore."

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((*cough* I don't mind posts, but I suggest anything that's keeping the crew from leaving is resolved in one more post. We've been here too damn long. Let's finish this, aight?))
Hallon looks at Cloud, shrugs, and places his crossbow back on his belt. "I don't know how you know that kid, but I suggest you help us leave before it's too late."
((I also forgot, welcome back to the party, Cloud :P))

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*Kadino and his Foxen friend walk into a lazy meadow, and nothing seems relatively special and finally stop their journey*

"This is it?"

"This is basically it."

"What would that mean?"

"We're probably within a mile from where he'll pass through, I hope"

"You 'hope' now? So not only do you not truly know if he will be here, but you do not know when. Why do we not simply... simply... Why do we not simply hunt him down like we would any other... whatever he is!"

"You may do this if you wish, take the map and it should lead you to him.... I will stay here, I will not travel further. I need to concentrate. Plus, as a moogle I don't know if I can take the seriousness of our situation much longer." *Kadino grins slyly*

"Hah, I guess I can at least stay for that!"

*As the sun lowered in the sky once again, they both walk off to examine their surroundings, especially for food, which had been in short supply*

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Cloud smirks devilshly, almost reading her thoughts as he looks into the little girls eyes. "He won't be here to control you too much longer, I promise." Cloud frowns and looks past her in Gale's direction, then back at her. "So what'll it be, Rose?" He turns and gets on his motorcycle and looks back at her. "Us or him?"

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((-_-))
Hallon continues to move boulders, trying to free the dragon from the debris.

Meanwhile, Gale seems to have noticed that his other enemies have yet to retreat. A foolish mistake on their part. At breif pause in his battle with Kyushin, Gale extends his left arm and fires a volley of energy orbs toward the group, which explode on impact. Gale begins to retreat from the first Fury brother to continue firing on the group bellow, but keeps his eyes on Kyushin as their fight is not nearly finished.
((Yeah, haul ass out. NOW))

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Cloud motions for Rose to get on the back of the bike, and as she does, he revs the motorcycle up and speeds away from the incoming blasts, swirving from them and following Gale, wherever he may be going. ((Jezum Crow, wait for them to get on, Gale! :P))

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((I said one more post to wrap it up, which wasn't done. (thought I see some things were resolved) So I had to step in. Simple really.))
Hallon dives back as a blast explodes dangerously close to him, destroying the boulder trapping Rikali (not that Gale ment to do it :P ). After a moment, Hallon rises and begins to make a break for the remaining vehicle. "I told you we had to leave!"
___
___
Chapter Six: 1 John 3:15-"Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer..."

It had taking nearly an hour to reach Estecia after a narrow escape from the ruins of Capital. Upon arrival, the two seperated groups had rejoined and rented out the Copper Stone Inn (bonus points for anyone who remembers where I got that from, *hintapastRPhint*). The group was faced with two choices. One was to wait for Gale, who had surely realized Kyushin's key was a decoy, to strike at them. Or the second option, take the battle to Gale on his own turf at the nearby Estecia(Gale's) Castle. In comparrison, neither option looked promising. All the while Hallon sat in a chair, not bothering to enter the conversation yet.

Lara, however, had been quite vocal. "We're definately not prepared to fight again, but I prefer hunting our enemy as opposed to letting him hunt us. Unless, anyone else has something else to add."

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Cloud listens to Lara's explanation of the obvious and sighs, watching the fire in the fire place crackle. He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed. "Were not going to beat him the way we've been fighting. He's gotten too powerful. I have never seen him as strong as this, and normally him and I are pretty balanced. We need better tactics." With that, he shut up and took out his short barrel shotgun and reloads it with explosive shells and putting a purple orb in a slot on the handle of the gun.

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Hallon shakes his head. "Aye, he's strong, but also mortal. I think the ambush we used on him proved that. I can see he's a duelist, he can't fight all of us at once."

"Hmph. Three Abbis couldn't stop him, how would it be diffrent this time?"

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He smirks as a thought comes to mind. "I have no doubt that three Abbis are very strong, but I've held my own against him before. If we come up with a plan, the others may find a way of taking him down. Can't say I can keep him held up with me for long, he's become so much stronger than before..."

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Kyushin watches the last vehicle drive off, then looks back to Gale, who's placed some distance between them. He holds his sword out sideways and wills it to transform back to its original state. This frees the sphere from the hilt of the blade, and it falls free to the ground, where it shatters into a million crystalline pieces. The glowing aura rises from the center of the debris and evaporates.

For a change Kyushin doesn't smirk at Gale, but continues to watch him with an almost absent stare. "Glass."

***

Once they had regrouped in the humvees, Fury took the opportunity to bandage himself after taking three hits from Gale's shard trick. So he sat there in front of the fireplace, looking like a fresh hospital patient, listening intently to the group's conversation. "How can we keep him busy long enough to strike?"

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"If you all find a way to surprise him enough to get some good hits on him, I could make sure he focuses his attention to me. All I have to do is start a one-way conversation about Laena. It'd be a death wish most likely, but I'm hoping I won't have to keep him occupied long." He runs his hands through his hair and sinks down to the floor, still leaning on the wall and waiting for any kind of response.

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The dragon rests in a corner, breathing shallowly and listening with closed eyes. At arrival to the inn, she had rejected all help and sought solitude in the shadowy corner. Her body, already weak, was battered and broken. She remembers with a bitter grief the body she had once, long ago, a body full of power and strength. Rikali shakes her head and stares at a wound on her side. It was already mending, powered by the strength of her magical essence. In days, she would be whole, but it would take weeks, even months, for the dragon to regain her energy and for the pain to dissapate. As her body mends, she nurses her wounded pride and dignity for letting herself be beaten so, telling herself lies to make that stinging barb of being beaten by a demon child sting less.

Listening to the group, she snorts in derision. "Would it matter if we wait or attack? Gale's powers are almost unworldly, there would be no battle with him that wouldn't claim the world. He wins, either way."

Riki says nothing, running her thumb around the edge of a wineglass. She didn't care about Gale anymore. In her opinion, she should be killed right along with him. A demon. A cursed and vile creature. A demon had hurt Rikali. A demon on steriods. Shuddering, she stares blanky into the red wine. A demon.

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Cloud glares her coldly. "Then why don't you let him slaughter you without a fight? I'm willing to save the planet, along with a few others here. Why don't you quit bitching and see if you can be more than dead weight to the group!?" He looks back at the fire place and relaxes, he needed to see what could be done as soon as possible. Waiting here was senseless unless they came up with a good plan to keep Gale on his toes.

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Hallon crosses his arms. "The warlock acts out of emotion. It is very controlled, it does not blind him, but it is what fuels him. He fills himself with hate as to surpress what he's trully feeling. Salting old wounds will do no good for us, as we don't have the luxery of not caring for the lives of the beings in this world." He then looks at the dragon. "We're also bound to die if we do nothing. A women was once attacked by a murder. Many people saw this, but did nothing. All of those people decided that someone else would take responsibility, and for that false notion someone die who might of been saved. If we are to die, than nothing can change that, but at least we rised to the challenge. One of the most wicked things in the world, is the indiffrence of good people. (more bonus points from where I got some of this from ;) ) We have at least half the key, that alone haults Gale's plan, running or waiting will only give him the key. If we face him, then he can't throw any suprises at us."

Lara shrugs, the day had been growing darker, storm clouds began to gather in the forest nearby. Gale wasn't standing still. "Even with only the key of Hades, he can still strike at us in a diffrent way. We don't have much time."

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"Then what do you soppose we do? I believe that waiting any longer is only going to give Gale time to recooperate and find a way to beat us with his own plan. If we don't act soon, I think any other attack would just be history repeating itself." As Cloud finishes speaking, he takes a green orb looks at it and lets it go. It floats around the room to most of the wounded, showering them with magic. It then returns to it's owner and he pockets the materia. "Just to let you know, that is in no way going to heal everything. The most it's going to do is give you more strength, that way you won't be so tired like that dragon over there." He looks to Hallon inquisitivley. Awaiting an answer to his question.

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Rikali rolls her eyes, but says nothing. Riki watches Cloud with interest, finally tearing herself away from her own thoughts. "I think we should spilt up. Half of us to go and distract Gale, while the other half figures out what will help us defeat him."

"I think I can help." All eyes turn towards the new speaker. Rikali snarls and raises to her feet, followed by Riki. The speaker is a little girl of about thirteen years, with shockingly blue eyes that reflect everything and show nothing and with strawberry blonde hair. "We don't need traitors, Roselenna." The dragon snarls.

Rose ignores Rikali and looks at Cloud. "I can help."

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Cloud closes his eyes and sighs, laying his head back. "No Rose, you should stay with the group I'll be covering for. You'd serve much more of a purpose there. And I don't think Gale would be too happy with what you've done." Cloud, unmoving, begins speaking in regards to Riki. "Great plan, only he is a duelist and would resort to something far more drastic if it were a group attacking him. Either way, you all are weak enough as it is and I'm the only fresh one here, sadly. I found my son and took care of him until I could come back and find you all. I think that since Gale does have a sense of honor in him, he'd be up to at least one more one on one fight with me." He smirks. "...And I wouldn't miss it for the world."

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Rose's face pales and she bites her lip. Gale was probably cursing her right now for fleeing at the scene of battle. But Cloud was right. Staying here would be the smarter thing to do. "Smarter...if not really all that safer." Roselenna was no idiot, she realized with her acts, nobody trusted her and all would like to see a dagger fall into her back. Self-conciously, she pulls closer to Cloud.

Riki sighs and nods. "You're right, of course. We've been idiots, attacking Gale like a mindless mob. There must be someway more intelligent to bring him down."

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Cloud opens one of his eyes and looks down at Rose strangely, then, remembering Bianca, shrugs and allows her. He spaces out for a few minutes before waking up. "..Hey... has anyone seen One?"

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Lara laughs, almost sadistically. "You're all idiots. The group that would be distracting him wouldn't surive. Gale is a devil now, he's been screwing with us for the fun of it since the day we started. He could of killed us all everytime we ran into him, but he didn't because he seems to amuse himself with watching us trying to stop him. He could of found the Heaven key if he LOOKED for it, but he didn't. He spent his time systematically hunting down the angels and toying with them, just like he's toying with us. Ayn's probally the only one he couldn't kill on the spot, yet here we are. It's pretty pathetic." Lara snickers to herself, it seems she's feeling rather disillusioned with this entire effort. "Besides, half of you are injured. You intend to march to his castle this very day?"