Sailor Nocturnus

She did her best to learn the names, carefully repeating them over and over in her mind. This would be important, at some point, when they found his children. Even though they planned to disable his ability to block them rather than end his life, Nocturnus felt that nagging fear that whatever "she" the dragon referenced would have other plans in store. She took a defensive stance and watched, anxiously, waiting for the others to strike.

Nix allowed herself to become visible once more, if only so that she might face the dragon and allow him to see her when she was doing what had to be done. She did not want to do it from the shadows; it didn't feel right somehow.

She took a deep breath and raised her arms, giving the creature a sad but comforting smile. "Glacier Freeze," she whispered, calling forth her power, and began to solidify the water around the dragon into thick ice.

Achelois was relieved that another way to handle the dragon besides death had been decided on. She took in his and his family's names in case they were needed as way to have rapport with future dragon meetings. Now that they had a plan to move past this obstacle, she wondered how much time had passed.

Her offer of assistance had not been rejected, and so when Nix softly said the words for her attack, Amatheia took it as a gesture to begin as well. She half sang the words for her own attack as she began making motions with her hands, as if creating something or directing music. “Glacial Sanctuary”.

She was momentarily intrigued that Nix's attack was named similar to her own, but she had to focus on her task at work and pushed the thought aside, instead turning her thoughts towards using her magic to help create another layer of fairly ice forming over what she could see of the dragon. She felt lucky to be surrounded by water, which made the effort easier for her.

I'm going to have difficulty forgetting those names unless we succeed..

Shadow's case of nausea, though short-lived, was intense enough to preclude him from doing much more than covering his mouth and keeping his thoughts private. There was no need to broadcast his feelings or his reasons behind the verbal tangent, however flawed they were. Oberon would vastly appreciate the man's discretion in not enumerating on what imagined fluids were swimming through his gut.

With Nix and Amatheia putting their powers together in an apparent bid to immobilize the dragon, Shadow chose to refamiliarize himself with their immediate surroundings. In order to keep a promise, he would need to keep tabs on Ribbon at all times.

Enyalius waited for the others to complete the freezing process, watching as the ice grew thicker and thicker around the black wyrm and finally force him to the ground with the immense weight, before she made the first move to push past it, swimming ahead and looking forward through the chill in the water that now enveloped the pass.

They would succeed here. 

Her eyes caught the Leviathan soldier, whose motions became a little more frantic as she approached, his gaze moving from her to the northern pass quickly; the motion seemed suspicious, and she slowed rather than rush head-first to see what the soldier was so afraid of. Waiting just beyond what would be visible of the pass, she thought back to the others, 'The soldier seems nervous about this pass; Nix, could you go invisible to check it out so we don't go head-first into an ambush?'

Sailor Nocturnus

She wanted to look away when the others summoned their powers to use against the dragon, but she kept her dark eyes focused on him, even though it twisted her heart and stomach to watch the stoic creature enveloped slowly in the ice. It was a reminder of how many living things were relying on them to succeed: the inhabitants of the city, these dragons, and whatever else called this planet "home". The group had to find that Chaos Seed and destroy it.

Sailor Nocturnus moved forward with the rest of the group, still sticking close to Ribbon. The smallest soldier was determined to protect her friend.

It was only as they moved around the now-frozen dragon that she spotted the uncomfortable foot soldier that appeared to be one of Leviathan's people.

"What is he doing here?" she asked, after listening to Enyalius' request of Nix. It seemed pretty clear that, like the dragon, he was guarding. But why? And why was he with the dragon? There had to have been a reason for the dragon to let him so close, rather than barring his passage. Sailor Nocturnus, unsure of the kind of network the sailor soldier of this planet had on her home world, wondered if he was someone that Sailor Leviathan would know.

Her job done, Nix watched as the dragon crashed to the bottom of this endless ocean. She looked at the soldier behind him, wondering if perhaps asking him if he knew what awaited there that made him look so nervous was a good idea.

At Enyalius' request, she replied with a simple, Certainly, turned herself invisible again, then swam carefully past the soldier and into the pass, keeping her guard up.

When Sailor Nix and Sailor Amatheia finished freezing the dragon, Sailor Leviathan yet out a sobbing cry.

She was crying salt tears, bawling almost like a child whose ice cream had fallen out of her cone. It seemed the overwhelming emotion now gushed out like a flood gate, after desperately holding it in during the dialogue exchange. The whole thing had taken a terrible toll on her and only Shadow and Ribbon would truly understand the fullest extent.

"Damn it," she said through the tears. "Now we have to save Planet Leviathan. If I don't, how could I possibly live with myself after that? After all of this?"

She perked up when she finally recognized a fellow fish man, a guard under Enoch. She waved to him, still in her familiar yet foreign human form.

"Oh, hi, person. Can you tell us about what's going on here? We came when Guardian Leviathan, Enoch and the Guard did not return. Is there something we should be cautious of in the darkness? I mean, the only reason I ask is because... well... it's because I haven't been back there, you know?"

Leviathan had a cringe-worthy grin on her face. It was not hard at all to tell that she was very embarrassed. She scratched at her head and laughed in a nervous cackle.

Nix saw the creature up ahead and felt dread. If there was going to be one of these around every corner... Was this one another innocent, or a creature of Chaos?

She turned back toward the others and swam back to them, still invisible. There is another creature up ahead. It is like... A squid or octopus? she thought for a moment to remember the words the Earthians used for the creature. It is blocking the end of this pass.

They didn't kill it. 

It was nice of them not to; it was really great that they could work creatively and find another way, but still, how Leviathan reacted, it was almost as though they had killed him. The way she sobbed... she was right though; they had to save her planet, for him, now, if no one else. Ribbon went with Nocturnus, glad to have the younger girl lead her along; though she wanted to comfort Leviathan, she didn't really know what to say. She wasn't even sure of how much help she'd be here, so she couldn't make any promise that they could save the day, but she still felt good about their prospects; many of their group had apparently been successful back on Andromeda, so they stood some chance, right?

She waited with Nocturnus, only too glad she didn't have to see what was around the next corner yet, and her partner's question alerted her to the person below. He was odd-looking, but he matched Leviathan's other subjects, so he wasn't odd to Leviathan or her people, right? He did look scared though... and uncomfortable... she waited to see how he would answer Sailor Leviathan.

Guard wrote:

The guard looked at Sailor Leviathan, then back to what they now knew was a giant squid/octopus/something squishy and tentacle-y. He quietly replied, "Uh..." and looked back at Leviathan, before swimming farther back towards the mountain wall, while still staying in sight of the creature, "That. You should be cautious of that." He pointed ahead, "The dragons weren't exactly helpful, but at least they promised not to hurt us unless Enoch or Guardian Leviathan did something stupid. Be a good senshi and protect me, okay? I saw that thing eat a huge fish earlier and I don't want to go the way it did!"

Callisto wasn't sure how to feel about this new plan. The entire situation seemed like a loss either way, and it was with sad eyes that she watched the dragon freeze and sink to the bottom of the trench. She knew that life wasn't just good and bad guys, but it was the grey ares like this that she hated the most. It felt so wrong to attack the dragon, yet it was the only solution with a chance of sparing his life and the lives of his family if they succeed. But only if Planet Leviathan didn't fall.

Hesitantly, she followed Enyalius on their way forward, and Nix's message came through to them via the mind link. A squid? Did they even have the time to face another creature?

"Should we attempt to avoid it, or engage it before it attacks us?" Callisto asked, musing over telepathy.

Sailor Leviathan's face fell when the guard addressed her. It wasn't hard to tell that what he said hurt her deeply.

Be a good senshi and protect me, okay?

Her demeanor went cold. Her yellow eyes glared at the guard, looking at him as though she might have looked at one of the other sailor soldiers when she had first met them on their mission to Zenar. It wouldn't be hard for one of the others to assume that Leviathan hated this guard.

"You of all people should know you can't rely on me to do a good job," she said with an obnoxious grin. "Don't try and flatter me. You're better off getting out of here."

She turned toward the others when talk of a squid or octopus came up.

"Calamari sounds really good. I'll leave it up to you guys, but whatever gets us to the core quicker, the better... at least... that's what I think would be good, maybe."

The dumb smile continued to stick on Leviathan's face. She was trying her best to be an effective leader but it was clear that she struggling. Her poker face was incredibly weak.

Once the large dragon was immobilized in ice, Shadow swam forward to retrieve his weapon. He was still reeling from the inability to talk Kalenen out of his opposition, and attempted to bury himself in more pressing matters by watching the surrounding mountains. At this point, the only senshi he really cared to face directly was Leviathan.

At some point, Nix had slipped ahead to gather information on what was lying ahead of their group. He did not realize she was absent until her telepathic report echoed through their minds. Though it was a trivial difference, Shadow could identify which of the two possible creatures that the invisible senshi had observed. He cleared his surface thoughts, quietly replying to Nix's report.

How many arms does it have?

Amatheia hummed a soft song of mourning under her breath as she watched the last of the ice form over the dragon, her eyes sad. She wished there had been another way, that they could have just passed him by. But she comforted herself with reminding herself they would succeed, and come back to free him before any harm was done. Then she turned and saw Leviathan crying unrestrained and her heart went out to the girl.

She had no idea how old Leviathan was, but her attitude made Amatheia think of a pipling. She swam to Leviathan. “We will save your planet.” She said, then watched as Leviathan's attention went to the guard, the voice beyond the dragon. She feared for the girl, thinking perhaps that her sanity was breaking under the stress. This was not something she was used to. What did other races do when this happened?

She couldn't dwell on it long. Nix was warning them about some kind of sea creature ahead. That would need to be dealt with. As Shadow questioned Nix over the mental connection, Amatheia hummed a few comforting notes of melody at Leviathan and gave her a soft smile before she moved forward a bit. It was all she knew how to do.

It may be quicker to engage the creature and get ride of it than it would be to try and find an alternative route, Sedna said through the mind link. While she was glad that they had been able to deal with the dragon without having to harm or kill it, they were still on the clock and needed to find this seed as quickly as possible.

Nix sort of expected Leviathan to decide how to handle the creature ahead, but to her surprise, the senshi said she was leaving it up to them. Nix was having a really hard time understanding her. One moment she seemed like she knew what she was doing and the next she was leaving the fate of her planet to everyone else’s. Something was definitely going on, but Nix had no clue what. She just hoped it wouldn’t prevent them from saving the planet.

She was pulled from her confusion by Shadow’s question.

I can’t tell for sure from its current position as it’s wrapped around the rocks. I can see at least five though.

She wasn’t sure why it mattered, but she supposed maybe they would have to engage each one or something.

Fishman wrote:

The fishman looked back at her with a confused expression. "Are you sure?" he asked, his eyes darting behind them, down the path by the frozen dragon, "They won't hurt the others if I leave, will they? We're due for an earthquake soon - I could help out back at Pearl City, but I don't want to be the reason they die." He was obviously torn, his attention flitting from Sailor Leviathan, to the inert form of Kalenen, to the creature at the end of the path. "I think it's a messenger; it might report if I leave --" 

He stopped talking, sucking his next sentence back into his chest as one of the senshi darted out, sword drawn, to attack it.

Enyalius listened carefully to Nix's report, only half-hearing the conversation between the suddenly-laughing Leviathan and the soldier in favor of thinking strategy, pushing down and in the feeling like acid reflux, wishing it would just go away, accept that she wasn't coming, and leave her alone. Her cheek twitched as she concentrated on the rock face beside her, choosing not to answer Callisto's question in favor of waiting to see how Leviathan reacted to the revelation of the creature while simultaneously ignoring how a similar meeting between herself and a soldier that had been fighting to protect her planet against an agent of Chaos would have gone. 

"Calamari sounds really good," Leviathan said, and that decided it for her - if Leviathan were making comparisons between it and food, it probably wasn't intelligent in the same way the dragons were. She braced, looking at the opening before her, checking her angle. As soon as the soldier said something about the creature being allied with the enemy, she was gone, releasing her pent-up energy like a tightly-coiled spring. She darted forward, bounced off the other wall of the pass to change trajectory, and rushed up the path as quickly as she could, copper eyes glaring down at the pink-hued creature as she approached, her sword appearing in her right hand. She clutched the handle tightly, her left palm enveloping the pommel for more thrust as the closed the gap.

The creature saw her coming and uncurled itself from the rocks, its tentacles quickly floating around it in many directions, revealing that at the edge of each was a six-inch long claw; it readied these as it used two small wing-like appendages on either side of its mantle to attempt to flee up the pass to the northeast --

Enya caught up to it before it could get too far.

Battle wrote:

Enyalius attempts to attack the Giant Vampire Squid!
Does it hit?
--6
Critical hit! Enyalius's sword strikes it in the mantle, injuring its ability to communicate with other creatures!
How much damage?
--3
--WPN 2
--STR 25
----Total of 30 points of damage

Enyalius's sword sunk deep into the creature's flesh, her momentum driving it through the rubbery hide almost to the hilt; she was moving too quickly still, and in the split second before the impact she released her left hand and pivoted around her right, so her back would hit the squid, leaving her front able to see and defend herself against any attacks from its appendages. Her nose crinkled as she realized the blades on either elbow had sunk into the flesh of the creature as well; she wouldn't be able to release herself as quickly as she would have liked, having to get those out on top of the sword. 

battle wrote:

Additional 1 point of damage dealt by each of Enyalius's bladed gauntlets sinking into the vampire squid's flesh at high speeds.

The tentacles pulled up close to its head, reflexively trying to protect itself, and she yanked her left arm free and summoned her shield to protect herself.

'Eight arms!' Enyalius answered telepathically, her mental voice tense and agitated.

With Enyalius attacking the squid, Sedna decided to join in. Summoning her Halberd, she spun it in her hands as she swam towards the creature quickly. Keeping her eye on where her companion was and a few of the arms, she brought her halberd down in an arc infront of her, aiming for an arm with the intent to severe the limb.

He was indeed grateful for the lack of graphic details surrounding Shadow's discomfort, many emotions related to sadness and uncertainty that weren't his own floating in his mind. He felt himself sad, if only because most of the others were. He wasn't heartless, but to keep a rather clean mental connection between them all, he had to make his own emotions scarce and small and sometimes, duty had to come first. They had to save this planet. Emotions could wait until later.

When the dragon sunk towards the ground, Oberon chose to push himself upward, going back to swimming so he would be able to go over the frozen rock that had become Kalenen. He stopped near when the others stopped as well.

How many foes between here and their goal? How far was their goal? How many hours since their departure from the city?

Do we even have time to fight it? We lost a lot of it with Kalenen...

But Enyalius was gone. With a shrug, he landed again, more comfortable on ground than not. His wings were usually what gave him speed and though he could swim rather well, he preferred to keep his energy for something else that wasn't flapping his limbs around.

He ran behind the other senshi but when she jumped on the sea creature, he chose another alternative; jumping behind her would be risky and so he leaped at the walls surrounding them. He climbed, membrane sticking to the hard surface, the senshi looking between Enyalius and the creature's arm. He swiftly pushed himself from the rock, aiming at the tentacles further away from the already fighting soldiers. He swung both his swords at it.

Achelois appreciated all forms of life, intelligent, sentient, or not.  She felt content that they did not have to kill this dragon so willing to die for his children.  While the others may have felt strong emotions about the situation, about Leviathan's planet, and other things, she was lowering her own.  Meditating herself down to a calm state to reduce the pressure of their time limit and consequences of failure while the dragon sank to the ground.  She allowed herself to mellow out and only focus on the next task at hand.  As Enya took off, this became obvious.  She followed behind, watching for the other's attack and launched her own energy spear at an open spot on the creature before them.

Shadow swore under his breath. The giant squid/octopus/mouth-with-arms was going to be a lot for one single person to handle. He would have suggested that the senshi overwhelm it with attacks from multiple directions, but the first casualty of any conflict were the existing plans.

While a handful of senshi were quick to follow the amazon's example, Shadow wasn't quite so fast to spring into action. If he had been the first to go after the squid, would Enya have scolded him like with their experiences in the maze? Was he being held to a different standard because he didn't possess a Sailor Crystal?

He could find answers later. While the cephalopod lashed at Enyalius with a barbed tentacle, Shadow swam around the large sea creature, then brandished Schwarzpferd and lunged towards its main body. He would strike at the largest exposed portion of the squid's rubbery flesh, taking care to position his cut so that it would travel away from Enya.

OOC:

"Is everyone alright?" Sedna called once the creature had been defeated. Banishing her staff, she readied herself to heal anyone, wanting Achelois to save her magic for later.

A sharp wedge drove itself into her exposed thigh, and Enyalius sucked in water between her teeth, wincing at the pain and kicking at the tentacle with her other leg in an attempt to drive it away; something had released while the barb was still in contact with her new open-wound, and she grimaced at the thought of what it could be, keeping hidden behind her shield as she attempted to roll up and see it; she fell back, unable to see much.

As Achelois's spear sunk into the flesh of the creature, Enya caught her eye from behind her shield; as she expected, once the energy-spear struck its mark, the creature began to fall, dead in the water. She rolled up, tearing her armor out of the creature's flesh, and stuck her knee into its skin to get leverage to pull out her sword; once it was free, she jumped backward, off of the creature, and winced at the discomfort in her leg. It had gotten her pretty good.

"I'll be fine," Enyalius lied, but quickly decided against it, "...but I could probably use something for this. It's starting to burn."

Upon missing - quite the miscalculation, but beating himself over it wouldn't help anyone - he rolled and caught himself before his own attack's momentum could throw him against the opposite wall. Pain shot through him from a wound that wasn't his and he slowly stood, grimacing. Achelois then brought their foe down, his respect for the other senshi's aim increasing steadily. His eyes turned to Enyalius, but found nothing to say when she finally admitted needing help.

Where next?

He asked, knowing that those with healing abilities would be able to take care of the warrior and so his quiery about their next step shouldn't be taken as uncaring.

"EXCELLENT WORK, MY UNDERLINGS," Sailor Leviathan said proudly with her hands on her hips. "YOU DID IT. NICE JOB. Now just go right and make a left when the path breaks!"

Her one eyebrow twitched. She still looked terribly nervous and frightened, perhaps scared that the others wouldn't be able to do it. But sure enough they did! She stabbed the poor thing to death! If only the planet wasn't in terrible, terrible danger. Leviathan thought she could order the guard to drag it back to the castle and they would have a fine calamari dinner.

It was then that Leviathan realized the matter of the guard that they had previously saved. She sighed in frustration and made a swift motion for him to follow them through the very narrow path.

"Come on," she said as she guided him along the path. "If you want our protection, you got it. Now what were the dragons afraid of? What exactly did you guys see in there?"