Crossover Chronicles (6) - (Locked; see final post for details)

Torsolus saw him nicked and falling.

“Ahh—HEYYY!! Don’t do that!”

He took off his cape in two pieces. He spun one around and flung it straight up like a frisbee.

It perfectly clipped the wing of the gargoyle who’d hit Flint.
“RUDE!!” he shouted up in a firm, loud voice.

Link saw Flint falling and started flailing his arms in frustration. He looked around for someone who could catch him.

Two people entered the plains. One, a green-haired man wearing blue armour, looked up at the sky. “Celica,” he addressed the pink-ish red-haired woman next to him, “I see someone falling from a sky! They’re being attacked by some monsters!”

Celica also looked up at the sky, seeing the beasts and the falling winged-creature. “Oh my! Are those Gargoyles?! We should go help, Alm!” Celica felt worried, and she prayed for the creature’s safety. “I know Seraphim magic, so hopefully that’ll keep them away!”

Alm nodded. “Alright. Let’s go, Celica!” The pair ran as fast as they could to reach the area where the beasts were attacking.

"Flint!!" Lucina gasped sharply when their ally was attacked and started plummeting towards the ground. Knowing she likely wouldn't have the strength needed to properly catch the falling Kattaca, she glanced rapidly between her allies. If no one else were to step up in the next few moments, she likely would have just tried to break his fall anyway, despite everything.

"YIKES!" Mandy cried, her eyes flying open even wider than before. "H-hang on, Flint! We'll... Um...!!" she attempted to shout upwards to Flint in reassurance, but she was honestly at a panicked loss.

When Flint started falling, a group of the Gargoyles dove after him.

Cookie gasped harshly to the point where it sounded somewhat like a frightened squeal.

When Robin saw Flint fall from the sky, pursued by several of the figures--now close enough to actually see well--his mind began to race. He took a quick look around at the party, trying to assess the situation before acting or giving any orders. Thankfully, he came up with a plan without much delay. "Cookie, quick!" he called to his young friend, "You need to catch Flint!" He had seen her strength, so he knew she was the only one who could pull such a thing off.

Cookie stared over at Robin with wide eyes. She was about to call back to him, but realized she really shouldn't waste any time. Pushing aside any fear, she rushed towards Flint, positioning herself directly where he would be landing.

Quickly taking out his tome, Robin rushed in the direction of Flint's would-be landing site as well, levitating above the ground. On the way, he continued to direct his allies. "Marie! Now would be a good time to get some of that ink down!" he called to the Inkling.

With a single nod, Marie took out her charger and started painting herself a few paths and pools to maneuver in.

By now, Robin was in position, a short distance away from Cookie. "Lucina! Link! Keep your eyes on the enemy, but keep your distance and stand guard for now, with Mandy and Mintpaw at your backs!" he called out to his allies yet again--he had a feeling that Link's bow would come in especially handy here. He then started levitating again, this time straight up into the air. "Pit! Torsolus!" he continued as he prepared an attack, "Make sure Mandy and Mintpaw don't get attacked from behind!" He took aim at the group of Gargoyles following Flint, then fired off a quick Thunder, aiming to surprise them.

When the small bolt of lightning flew through the middle of the swarm--hitting one Gargoyle in the process--the fiends scattered a bit, ceasing their pursuit of Flint. Instead, they were going to turn their attention to the rest of the group.

While Marie was busy preparing her ink space, she couldn't help noticing two unfamiliar figures rapidly approaching the scene. "Huh?! H-hey, guys, we've got company here...!!" she remarked upon seeing them. When she heard the commotion coming from the swarm of Gargoyles, however, her attention quickly snapped back to the action. Seeing that they were about to attack, she assumed squid form and leapt into her ink, waiting for the right opportunity.

Flint landed hard into Cookie. He felt stiff, but somehow managed to either fall out of her arms, or roll onto the ground next to her. He curled into himself. Surprisingly, he looked completely unhurt except for a tiny bleeding nick in one of his wings. Mintpaw had been listening to the Gargoyles, but when she heard the thud, she rushed forward and crouched by Flint, her ears fully listening to the gargoyles. She put her paw on his arm. "Oh my... His arm is rock solid!" She rasped. "I-I think it's some sort of paralysis... I barely smell any blood." She backed into her spot when she heard Marie, now she could smell the newcomers. They smelled somewhat similar to Robin and Lucina. She wasn't scared. At least, she had more important things to worry about. She could hear a gargoyle rushing at her. She unsheathed her claws in preparation. The sound of the wind made it both easy and difficult to pinpoint it's position, so she just leapt into the air, tripping when she landed on it's back, and rolling off it awkwardly. Getting back to her paws, she turned to face it again. "Oh my..." She murmured.

Lucina nodded in response to Robin and, without a moment of hesitation, she swiftly rushed into position, unsheathing Falchion and locking her gaze onto the swarm of Gargoyles overhead.

"Got it!" Pit called back to Robin, leaping towards Mintpaw and Mandy to watch their backs. When he noticed the Gargoyles turning their attention to everyone, he quickly assembled his bow and took aim at one of the monsters, steadying his arms before firing off a light arrow.

All Mandy could do at this point was watch the scene rapidly unfold around her, now wishing even harder than before that she could contribute something useful to the group's efforts. In the midst of the chaos, she heard Marie's comment about them having 'company', and she instinctively turned to look. "Huh?? O-oh, yeah...!" she responded with surprise upon spotting the young man and woman. "They're coming real fast, too...!"

Lucina only had time to glance in the direction of the newcomers for a second before she heard the Gargoyle's screeches drawing closer. Gasping as one attempted to swoop directly at her, she responded by swerving and lunging at its side. "HAAH!" she cried with a powerful swing of her blade.

Alm and Celica quickly rushed over to the group of friends being attacked by the Gargoyles. Alm unsheathed Falchion and slashed at some of the Gargoyles. "Stay back!" Alm shouted at the Gargoyles.

Celica saw that a Gargoyle was about to slash at her with its scythe, but before it could, she used a spell to make it disappear. "Seraphim!" Celica shouted. She cast the spell on some more Gargoyles trying to attack the group of friends. Celica felt more and more drained each time she cast her holy magic on the Gargoyles, but she quickly ate a snack to regain her energy.

Link began sniping gargoyles with his bow. He never missed, but they didn’t do as much damage as he liked. He didn’t give up.

One gargoyle with two arrows in it began diving back around to take another go at Mintpaw.
Torsolus snagged it in the face with his cape-piece, letting it boomerang back toward him. He now stood deftly wielding both cape pieces as defensive weaponry, swinging them like batons.

Link was almost out of arrows, and too fast. He grabbed his Zora’s mask, took a deep breath, placed it over his face...
let out an ear-splitting, overwhelmed scream...
And let loose on the descending hoard far more efficiently with his Zora fin-blades.

Two gargoyles dove toward the newcomers from behind, even as they joined the battle. Torsolus didn’t recognize the people; only that they were under attack.
“YOU!!! YOU GUYS!! LOOK OUT!”

After fending off an attacking Gargoyle with his magic, Robin glanced down at Flint and Cookie to see how they were faring. Seeing that Flint seemed mostly unhurt, he couldn't help smiling a brief, subtle smile in relief. "Great job, Cookie!" he called down to his surprisingly strong friend with a grin, "Now get him to safety with Mintpaw and the others!"

"Right!" Cookie chirped up at Robin, cheerily giving him a thumbs-up. With much enthusiasm, she scooped Flint up, then dashed off to meet up with Mintpaw so the little cat could tend to his injuries. On the way, she noticed Link's sudden transformation, causing her to stumble a little in shock. She tried as hard as she could to maintain her balance for Flint's sake, however, and was thankfully successful. Once she was in the center of the guarded area, she gently placed Flint down on the grass. "There... Sorry about the bumpy ride," she apologized to him, looking embarrassed and guilty.
When she heard unfamiliar voices, Cookie whirled around to see the two strangers who had just arrived, apparently to help them. Amazed by what she saw--especially when the woman made a Gargoyle magically disappear--she gasped slightly. "Whoa! Who are they?!" she asked nobody in particular.

Also hearing the two voices, Robin glanced in their direction, finally noticing the two newcomers in the chaos of battle. He had only a fleeting moment to be surprised and intrigued by what he was seeing before another Gargoyle rushed towards him, wielding a lance. Turning to face it the moment he heard the beat of its wings, he floated upwards and a little to the side, out of harm's way. "Nice try," he remarked with a scoff, then swiftly retaliated with a particularly potent Thunder. The warmly-glowing ball of lightning that flew forth from Robin's outstretched hand did considerable damage to the monster, which plummeted lifelessly to the ground afterwards.
At this moment, Robin noticed Link--or, rather, the peculiar, finned creature that he could only assume was Link. He had seen the small hero transformed into a different sort of creature before, so he knew it was possible. How many different forms does he have access to...?! he wondered briefly before turning to fend off a Gargoyle that had noticed a ripple in Marie's ink pool.

Mintpaw gave a hurried "Thank you!" To Cookie when she brought Flint over. She then started looking for link, and noticed he was focused on battle, the pouch on his side 'great... Didn't think before I put those herbs in there... Ok... I-I'll find something... I-I don't know what will fix this though...' Just then Flint made a soft groan. She looked down at him. Resting her paw on his arm again. It was ever so slightly softer.

All of the sudden she heard Marie's call. She parted her jaws, taking in their scent. She scented fear from them, not smoky tang of aggression, although there was a hint of it. But she figured this was because they were in battle. She could smell their adrenaline was through the roof. She guessed they wouldn't hurt her or her friends. She opened her jaws to call to them when she heard wings flapping behind her. She leaped out of the way of a lance carrying gargoyle as it jabbed it's lance at her. The lance made almost no noise, and there was so much fear scent and other chaos going on in her nose, she felt blind fighting this particular flying enemy. She slashed at where she heard the wings, and her claws met scaly skin. It was tough, and hard for her to get her untrained claws through, but she swatted anyways, hissing, and taking only a single step back, so she didn't abandon Flint.

Alm, upon slaying another pair of Gargoyles, turned and saw a cat trying to slash at a Gargoyle. He heard Celica shout, "Alm! That poor cat! We have to save it!" Alm, knowing how much Celica loves cats, quickly ran over to where the cat and the fallen creature and slashed at the Gargoyle with Falchion. The Gargoyle retreated, and Alm let out a sigh of relief. "Are you two okay?" he asked. Celica rushed to Alm's side and examined the fallen creature. "Oh my!" Celica cried. "He's paralysed!" Alm asked her, "Do you know any healing magic for paralysis?" Celica shook her head.

Suddenly, another Gargoyle approached them. Quickly, Celica cast her holy magic, making it disappear. Celica noticed how one person in the group was staring at her in amazement. Hmmm, it seems no one else here knows any holy magic. It really does help out a lot, she thought. She cast her magic on a few more Gargoyles, making them disappear. It seemed the battle was getting less harsh with fewer Gargoyles around. I hope this battle will end very soon. Using all this magic is taking a toll on me. . .

Mandy happened to be looking in Link's direction when the young hero transformed, causing her to stare for several moments in disbelief as she watched him continue to fight with bladelike fins. Her attention was then suddenly brought back to the newcomers, who were now drawing closer as they began to examine Flint. She listed to their discussion and then observed-- her gaze instantly widening-- as the young woman made several Gargoyles disappear right before her eyes. "Whoa..." she breathed in awe. "That's amazing, the way you keep making these things just... disappear...!"

Lucina once again only had a moment to watch the newcomers before she noticed two more Gargoyles diving towards her. Fully returning her attention to her attackers just in time, she got into a better position with a swift, backwards leap, sending both beasts plummeting to the ground with a wide slash the moment she landed. Taking a deep breath, she quickly looked around in search of any more approaching Gargoyles.

Pit tried very hard not to be distracted by all the happenings around him while he continued to pick off Gargoyles in flight, as he needed to maintain precise aim, but he couldn't help casting several glances around every so often

Mintpaw gasped when she heard the newcomers mentioning her, then heard and scented them running up. It took her a moment to realize the gargoyle had been defeated, but once she did, she purred. "Thank you. And yeah... One of those creatures got him in the wing. His paralysis isn't as bad as it was when he first fell.. But I don't have anything to relax him." She put her paw on his arm again. Another, slightly more significant bit more relaxed than before. His tightly closed eyes looked more relaxed now. At the moment though, even if he might have had the strength to croak something out, he didn't.

Torsolus got a little overwhelmed by all the goings-on. Link’s transformation, disappearing gargoyles....he also noticed some difficulty among Mintpaw and the newcomers in healing Flint.

“Eh...uh....LINK!! Are you okay?? Would you mind healing Flint while I keep fighting??”

Link didn’t leave his post until he saw Torsolus using his cape pieces essentially the same way Link used his fin blades. Annoyingly, Torsolus wasn’t KILLING any of them, but by breaking their wings and legs, or just knocking them out, he incapacitated them quite skillfully. Link dashed off.

He looked straight down at Flint, thinking this wasn’t an HP-restoring situation....
He whipped out a giant fish skeleton guitar and played an ominous, yet soothing melody by plucking the bones.

-You played the Song of Healing!-

Flint’s ear twitched, flicking back to listen to the song. He felt his strength return to him and his muscles relax the song played. He rolled into his back and pushed himself up to a sitting position his wings dropping “Urgh. Thanks.” He slowly stood. His legs were a bit shaky, but he kept his balance. And the song continued to restore him. Mintpaw purred “thanks Link!” Flint eyed the gargoyles through narrowed gaze. Mintpaw hesitantly asked “you’re not going to fight them, are you?” “I’m fine, Mintpaw. The paralysis was wearing off anyway.” “But what if you get hit again?” “I won’t.” Flint promised, turning to her. More quietly he added “I’m not fighting alone anymore.” Mintpaw made an unhappy cattish whine, but did nothing to stop him, except call “Be careful!” As he hurried to help Pit with the gargoyles after him.

Cookie couldn't help getting caught up in the melody Link was playing for a moment. To her, any morsel of music was a precious thing in a place like this. After the tune was finished, she felt freshly motivated to continue fighting at full strength. "Ahh, even I feel better somehow now!" she remarked cheerily to Link. "Welp, back to the action!" After giving the others a quick wave, she was off.
Cookie dashed off to back Flint up as he assisted Pit, but an armless Gargoyle with a scythe in its claws got in her way, taking a swing at her. "Whoa!" she gasped, jumping backwards to avoid being hit. "Hey! Trying to be heroic here!" she shouted in irritation at the monster, knitting her brows. She then leapt forward with a backhanded swing of her flail, striking the Gargoyle incredibly hard in the side.

By now, Robin's feet were on solid ground once more. He dashed over to where he saw Marie's ink rippling and assumed a ready stance, with the bright green-painted ground behind him. "Alright, I have your back. Ready, Marie?" he asked, briefly glancing back over his shoulder with a small grin.

"You bet," Marie responded, still submerged in her ink as a squid. Suddenly, she leapt up out of the liquid, transforming into humanoid form just before landing on her feet with a charged shot at the ready. Taking just a moment to aim, she launched a powerful blast of lime-green ink at a lance-wielding Gargoyle soaring overhead--a direct hit.

The Gargoyle, now very disoriented, accidentally swooped in front of Robin. He responded by simply striking it with a quick jolt of electricity, finishing it off. "Ha, perfect!" he exclaimed, feeling proud of his and Marie's teamwork.

Link smiled and nodded to Cookie, and began running around finishing off Torsolus’ incapacitated gargoyles with his fin blades. Torsolus didn’t notice, instead congratulating Robin and Marie on their stylish teamwork. “Goodness!! That was amazing!!”

He was caught off-guard by an incoming gargoyle from behind, and struck from
the back. “Aaaughhh, WELL....” he grabbed his cape-piece and slammed it backwards like a double-edged sword, only drawing no blood. He then jumped incredibly high—about ten feet—and engaged in close brawl-combat with the gargoyle, sustaining cuts and scratches all over. The gargoyle began to fly him up into the air, grabbed onto his leg with its jaw.

It went too high for Link to lock on with his fin blades, but he wasn’t worried. The faint, shrill sound of Torsolus’ “WOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOO!!” Could be heard from below.

Torsolus curled himself up over the gargoyle’s upper jaw and made eye contact, even as his leg was clamped in its teeth. “Well, sir, I hope you’re happy,” he said with concern. “You messed with my new family, and look what it’s got you! Do you even know what we’ve just be—OW—been through!? My, your teeth, heh....very nice and sharp...”

"Okay Celica," Alm said to Celica, "what's our next move? It looks like there are just a few Gargoyles left. Do you have enough energy to expel them all?" Celica looked around, counting how many Gargoyles there were. "Uhh, I think I might be able to expel a few of them. Do you still have some oranges on you?" Alm checked his provisions bag. "I have some left, yes!" Alm tossed an orange to Celica.

Celica caught the orange and quickly peeled and ate it, regaining her energy. "Alright, I feel better now." Celica cried out, "Seraphim!" once again, casting the spell and making some Gargoyles disappear. I think we're close to winning this battle. Honestly, if Genny were here, she could totally expel pretty much all of these Gargoyles. Or if Boey were here, he could use Sagittae. Or Mae could use a bunch of her lightning magic on them. And Saber. . . Celica began to feel upset when she reminded herself of her friends, but she knew that now was not the time, and that she at least had Alm with her.

Alm continued to slash at more Gargoyles. He quickly gave Celica a thumbs-up after seeing how many Gargoyles she made disappear.

Mandy noticed Link at the corner of her gaze as he pulled out a fishlike guitar, once again leaving her quite surprised. Wait, he has a guitar?? That's a really interesting-looking one, too...! she commented internally, gaining an enthusiastic glimmer in her eye as she listened to his song. Seeing it also sparked a longing to be able play one of her own instruments, but she managed to push that thought to the back of her mind for now--especially when she noticed Torsolus being lifted into the air by a Gargoyle. "GAH! T-Torsolus...!" Shielding her widened eyes from the sun with her hand, she watched him and the monster rise higher and higher into the air.

Pit turned to look at Flint with a grin when his ally came to assist him, then returned his attention ahead to keep picking off airborne Gargoyles. "I'd say we're doing pretty well, here...! We've gotta be close to done!" he remarked, taking aim and firing at a Deathgoyle that came swooping from high above.

Lucina was able to watch Robin and Marie for just a few moments, the sight of their successful teamwork bringing a brief, proud smile to the corners of her mouth. Then, all of a sudden hearing a screech coming from behind her, she whipped around to face another Gargoyle.

Flint nodded "These things aren't so tough when separated into individuals and small groups." he sidestepped to dodge the Deathgoyle Pit fired at, and swung his tail at it as it swooped past. "But still. We shouldn't let our guard down. Some of these guys have paralysis.... Obviously.."

Another Scythe wielding Gargoyle swooped at Flint and Pit from the side. Flint swung his tail, catching it in the face, and slammed it into the ground, before finally drawing his tail back closer to himself.

--

Mintpaw kept generally close to the side of stronger allies, as she didn't seem to be very effective against these particular enemies. Since the newcomers were closest, and had already saved her once, she instinctually stayed relatively close to them, while focusing the rest of her senses on locating the nearest enemies, or enemies looking to attack them. But she was hearing allot less commotion. So it was starting to get easier to pinpoint individuals.

(5-SECOND TIMESKIP TO REFRESH SLATE WITHOUT INSTANTLY ENDING BATTLE YEAAAAAA)

At last, the end of the battle was drawing noticeably nearer. In truth, it hadn't lasted very long, though it likely felt longer to those actually participating. The fight definitely wasn't over, however; a few foes still remained, and some were particularly nasty.

Cookie, locked in one-on-one combat with a Magvellan Gargoyle, hopped to and fro as she evaded the tip of its lance and responded with quick flicks of her flail. It was really a shame these were just mindless, destructive monsters; they were definitely swift and effective fighters, not to mention neat-looking. Perhaps someday, they would come across reasonable monsters and actually convince them to join the party? Cookie could only dream... but of course, not now. Her main concern right now was to avoid being speared.

An armless Valentian Gargoyle was just about to join its lance-wielding Magvellan counterpart in battle against Cookie, when suddenly, it was knocked out of the sky by a blast of lime-green ink. "Coulda hit that one with my eyes full of ink!" Marie remarked with a scoff. "I think they're gettin' worn down. Finally."

"It would seem so," Robin responded in agreement, glancing around at the monsters his friends were currently fighting.

Just then, without any warning whatsoever, a Magvellan Deathgoyle screeched and swooped down from an incredibly high altitude. It had been watching for an opening from such a height, in fact, that it was near-impossible to notice from the ground, especially in the heat of battle.

Robin, having heard the screech, whirled around hastily to see the purple-skinned Deathgoyle coming from behind just a moment too late, much to his shock; it was as if it had appeared out of thin air. As he leapt out of its way, he felt a stinging pain in his shoulder as it was slashed by the monster's lance. How did I allow myself to be caught off-guard like this? he scolded himself mentally. He retaliated with a hasty jolt of Thunder, just managing to hit one of the Gargoyle's wings. The persistent sting of his wound certainly didn't help his aim, either; it felt as if it was gradually radiating to the rest of his body...

Mandy, keeping close to the center of the battlefield as she attempted to evade any incoming attacks, caught a glimpse of Marie skillfully knocking a Gargoyle right out of the air. "Aah, nice...!" she breathed, clapping her hands together in applause. Though she couldn't fight alongside her allies right now, she figured she could still provide them with some moral support, at least.

Pit, meanwhile, was still dashing back and forth, his eyes locked on to his current target: a Magvellian Gargoyle. "All right," he uttered, eyes narrowing briefly in focus as he readied his bow. "Aaaaaand... NOW!" he cried out as he fired an arrow of light directly at the creature, the corners of his mouth turning up in a triumphant grin when his attack was successful. "Consider your plans Gar-FOILED!"

Before Lucina could spend any time being baffled by Pit's pun, she caught sight of Robin, under attack by a Deathgoyle. He was no doubt in pain--and it seemed to be affecting his ability to fight to some extent--so she didn't hesitate in rushing over to support her dear friend and ally, leaping into the air towards the monster with a wide slash of her blade and a powerful shout. "Not on my watch!!"

(I'll be trimming things down now for ~momentum~)

As it turned out, the gargoyle that Pit had just shot down was the very same one that Cookie was keeping busy. As for the pun that followed, Cookie apparently found it delightful. "YES! Perfect!" she exclaimed with genuine laughter.

Robin sighed with relief when Lucina managed to finish off his attacker. "Thank you," he told her. He sounded tired, even a bit hoarse. He didn't look so well, either; he was growing somewhat pale, and seemed a little unsteady on his feet.

"Hahah!" Pit, feeling energized from his and Cookie's moment of excellent coordination, chuckled brightly. "Guess we're a pretty great team, huh??" he chirped, then trotted in Cookie's direction to offer her a quick high-five.

Lucina dipped her head respectfully in response to Robin's thanks, but then paused upon getting a better look at his face. "... Robin... How are you feeling right now?" she questioned, her voice growing a bit tense with concern. She could tell something was the matter--the tactician appeared as though he might fall unconscious at any moment. Glancing around, she hoped deeply that this fight had almost been won, so that the group could make their way to someplace safer.

Link scanned the area and slowly removed his mask. He breathed deeply to reorientate himself.

Torsolus dragged the unconscious body of one gargoyle toward the rest of the party.
“Hey! Do you guys wanna take this guy to a hospital, or leave him, or...”

He noticed Robin looking awful. He compared his own skin with Robin’s. They were almost the same color.
“Whoa. Robin? You ok buddy?” He dropped the gargoyle and surged forward, ready to catch him if necessary.