Welcome to Gaia! ::

(( *snap* Let's get this s**t started. ))

After Kurai's Big Gay Adventure in the cave or whatever had ended, the masses were starting to grow restless as they crowded Yggdrasil. All hope seemed lost, until...

BGM: ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWAAAAAHHHH

Blinding light. A shimmer of complete brilliance. These were the shining jewels to the crown of excellence, and for but a brief second they were his. A force, a power beyond his own filled his soul and radiated to every other within a seven mile radius. All eyes and ears were focused on a single message.

"Who the hell do you think I am?!!"

...............

The silence did not deter him, rather, it inspired Exsel to rant further. His finger was pointed to the sky as he posed upon a freshly cut stump.

"Have you lost your spirit!? Is this how you want your lives to end? Monotony, lacking any complexity, never knowing the possibilities?"

A fist. A fist as strong as an unbreakable stone was clenched.

"We all have our responsibilities, things that must be done... I say to you, go back to your lives without shame. But all the better to those who wish to stay! You are our future, our protection, our sword! Let us not grow dull!"

Toni's inactive corpse was strung up in Exsel's arms and raised for all to see. If not for the surrealism of it all, it might have been disturbing. To some it may well have been.

"Let us have faith in Toni! We were called here for a reason, a purpose, and we must fill that purpose!! Who's with me?!"

There was silence in that forest, and then....

Exsel was... understandably dumbfounded. He hadn't thought that far ahead, as usual. He was losing what little credibility and shock value he had. Without word from Toni, he was left to improvise. Ha. As if that wasn't what he always did anyway.

"Danger!"

Sync facepalmed. Hard. He shot his Leader a look and hissed under his breath, "What danger?"

"Just go with it..." Exsel, too, lowered his voice, and then was back to preaching, "It must be of great importance to us all! Why else would we have received such a calling?"

(( Toniiiiii... I talked to him earlier today and he said he was cooking something. ))

Kurai was still marveling over her KFC giftcard. She listened to Exsel for a little while, and then walked off somewhere. Zelos quickly followed.

"Where to?"
"The MANSION."
"Why? Exsel's..."
"YOU can stay, but I feel like going back to the mansion."

Zelos thought for a second, and then shrugged. "I'll come to-"

"Naw man, we need a rep from the Red Cult around. Rid's second-in-command, but he's incompetent. And Seles has no rank, so she's pretty much useless. So go on."
"Not fair."
"Neither is your face."

Jon notices Kurai walking away, and decides to follow her with Asch quite literally in tow. Tied up with rope. Asch lets out several curses before finally shutting up and letting himself be dragged by Jon.

"Where're ya going, Kurai?" Jon asks when he finally reaches her, kicking a Waddle Dee out of the way. "Where did these things come from, anyway?

Amanda sat on a nearby tree root and rolled her eyes as she listened to Exsel's speech. "This is ridiculous."

Tear hid a smile behind her hand. "Well, you've gotta give him credit for trying. No one seems to really know what's going on."

"Yeah? Well, I'm going back for now. Can you stay with the others and listen?"

"I guess so, but...what are you going to do?"

"Whatever else needs to be done." Amanda jumped off the root. "I'll be back at our base."

Tear frowned. "Not the Green base? It's closer than ours. It'd be--"

"No." She replied firmly, cutting her partner off mid-sentance. She turned on her heel and slipped through the crowd, heading towards the Brown base.

There's a little thing called divine intervention and it was starting to boil something fierce. There was a flower in front of Amanda and it was just about the prettiest flower in existence. Now, knowing her, she wasn't going to step on it, so she instead stepped to the side a few paces. As soon as she had, a cannonball came whistling down and blew a massive crater into the spot she'd been standing.

BGM: INVASION

"Let me part with you a few words of wisdom..."

A super arrogant, mid-30's-ish Male voice boomed down to everyone on the ground as if from amplifiers, which did NOT help the ringing in their ears from the cannonball at all.

"If you kill someone, make sure they're nothing but DUST!!"

It was none other than Miktran (Kronos, Tales of Destiny) atop a mighty black behemoth of an airship. It was more like a flying stalagmite than anything and had innumerable heavy guns. Miktran flicked his flowing blond hair back like the uber f*****t he is and slowly held his hand open as if to offer something. What he had to offer was a rain of more cannon shots and laser fire. The entire area was thrown into absolute chaos.

Seeing as how I'm just a narrator and not about to be blown to bits, I can take the time to note it was a rather awkward and yet highly effective meshing of old and new, and sure enough, there was another cog to the wheel of evil beside Miktran. Shizel (Tales of Eternia). They were like King and Queen to their throne, The Dread Voluspa.

"HIT THE DECK!"

Exsel grabbed Sync's arm along with Toni and motioned towards the cabin, which... wasn't a cabin at all anymore. The wood had been completely covered by a grayish steel and all manner of rather futuristic turrets had sprouted from the ground around it. Trees came toppling and cracking down, making the once calm forest more like hell.

"This is... what I was talking...."

"Damnit, Toni! You anemic b*****d!" Exsel slumped his limp body up against a pillbox and called to those inside the Green's cab-.. fortress. "Protect the tree at all costs!"

"How dare he! My Liege, let me...!" Shizel was silenced by a gentle wave of Miktran's gloved hand.

He stepped forth with regal strides and played the role of King down to the hilt. His eyes fell on Barbatos from on high and something struck the blue-haired maniac. Something he hadn't felt in a very, very long time. Fear. Not enough to quench his anger, no, but he was taken aback.

"Goetia, you fool. Over a thousand years and still you persist with that defiant air of yours."

Miktran's fingers twisted and pinched as if to smash an invisible grape, causing Barbatos to clutch at his neck and his eyes to dilate. His axe fell, as did he, to his knees.

Miktran released his hold on the man and folded his arms. Looking quite pleased with himself and the result, he chided the man further, "There you are. Kneeling before your king as all pawns should."

Something overcame Barbatos. Blood Red was the color of his eyes as all control was lost. He was nothing more than a raging bull, and anyone, anything that moved was, to him, a waving flag. All the while the bombardment did not stop for even an instant.

"YOU ASSHOOOLLEE!!" Barbatos yelled.
"I'LL SHOW YOU WHO THE REAL PAWN IS!!"

Jumping to and from the cannoballs, all the whilst destroying them, Barbatos made it up to the deck of the ship.

His red-eyes charged directly at his former master with all his might, as did his entire body.

"THERE IS NO NEED FOR YOU ANYMORE!!" he swung his axe down.

....it missed. But it did hit something.

"Fufufufu.... GA HAHAHAHAHAHA!!" Barbatos laughed as he saw the ancient relic shatter to pieces.
"What do you intend to do now without a weapon you blithering idiot?"

He extended his axe out and pointed at Miktran.
"PAY CLOSE ATTENTION!!" he yelled.
"YOU WERE NEVER AROUND TO BEG FORGIVENESS OF WHENCE YOU CAME!! SO AS SECOND IN COMMAND FROM THE FORMER, YOU ARE TO GIVE ME ALL THE RESPECT IN THE WORLD!! IF NOT, THEN THE BLOOD OF YOURS SHALL BE OF THE UPMOST DIVINE!!"

Barbatos gave another swing but his eyes returned to normal, causing him to collapse.

....some strange new power he had been able to tap into. It was indeed quite frightening. Though now he was a perfect sitting duck to be killed off...

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We gotta get everyone to safety!" Yuan yelled at the Waddle Dee.

No response was given to him though.

"What are you doing?!" Yuan said.
"....nevermind! If we don't stop these cannonballs now, we, along with this tree, will all be destroyed. If you still crave that senseless destruction, Kenta, enjoy it while it destroys you!!"

Yuan ran off to help fend off the incoming barrage of cannonballs.

Sailor Dee looked up at the behemoth ship and winced at it.

"I can't go where I want to," he said.
"Until I close all ties...."

He stood up and began to jump a lot, causing him to walk on air, and ran towards the battleship.

He landed right in front of Barbatos and gave a glare to Miktran and Shizel. Then he completely lost it and gave a wave.

"Hii!" he said with glee.
"Why you hurt my former friend?"