Rest in peace, Evil Sorceress!

[Zacke]

I take it the battle has been fast-forwarded, so Zacke doesn't have to be in the same place he was at his last post... ?

---

"Speak of thy wish, seekers of Sapphire's power. But reminded, as you are, of the terrible consequences released upon the awakening of the sister gems."

Zacke's eyes widened at the sight of the so-called Sorceress Goddesses, who appeared among them and were now seeming to overcome--or at least restrain--the unstoppable Adel. He knelt down close to a piece of large debris, wiping at the blood leaking from his now-busted lip with the back of his hand.

Terrible consequences? he thought briefly, casting a glance around. What did that mean?

So, what is thy will? Will you awaken Suthieal's Sapphire?"

He snapped out of his thoughts. They're the only thing that's been able to even affect her, he thought, in regards to the three Sorceresses and Adel.

"Yes!!" he shouted suddenly, rising to stand. He paused for a split second, eyes darting to a few people to make sure he wasn't doing anything anyone hated. "Awaken!!" he shouted. His voice wavered slightly with tension, but he stood firmly in his spot and tried to keep a steady gaze on Suthieal. If there was some consequence to be suffered or burden to bear as a result of this, he rather it be him than one of his teammates.

---

>.< if this post is somehow bad or messes up what you guys have planned, just smack Zacke and delete it!

[ST]

Nooo it's great XD Awww Zackie! *<(^_^)>*

----------------------

"If then..." The blue one smiles kindly, seemingly amused by Zacke's outburst. "What is your wish?"

[Hadrian D'arcell]

"Hold your horses!" Hadrian cut in before anyone can make a wish, standing in front of the statues to face the group. "This is the IT moment. You know something far worse is gonna happen after this, right? You might as well, reflect on your wishes. I mean, we can take down Adel by ourselves if they will curse us with some wise ass karma."

[Lex]

Zacke paused to listen to Hadrian.

"I mean, we can take down Adel by ourselves if they will curse us with some wise ass karma."

He frowned slightly. Karma? He looked over at the ethereal, smiling form of Suthieal.

He then looked back over in Adel's direction. The Sorceress was now advancing. It's now or never, we have to decide... He looked beyond the Sorceress and saw how ragged and weak Jun and Stardust looked. They were completely spent on this battle, as were most of the others. And the Sorceress? Unscathed.

"Face it," he said fiercely, addressing Hadrian mostly, but whoever else happened to be listening as well. "I don't know what this karma-curse thing you're talking about is, but we don't have time to reflect. We don't stand a chance at surviving without some help. And the whole mission was a waste if we don't use the help the gems are offering us now!"

He sighed. "This mission has gotten us into some really bad situations, but we always manage to get out of them together. Let's have faith in that."

He turned to Suthieal. "Please lend us all the strength we need to see this battle through; to destroy Adel." he commanded. He desperately hoped that call wasn't a bad one.

[Diego Stanton]

Sorry for the MIA guys, this week was finals for summer school, but I finished today! I'm done wtih summer school and back in the action!

---

Deo stood with his hands on his knees and with his eyes closed. Gemma, Jax, Stella, Sho, Polaris and Blaze all lay around him, sleeping like a baby. How he envied them right now, he wished he could just cast "sleep" on himself as well. But he wasn't confused so there could be no excuse.

He looked down at Blaze from the corner of his eye. He could see her eyes madly moving beneath her closed lids as if she was furious that she had been put to sleep against her will. He wasn't sure Adel had confused her like she had the others, but all that screeching was giving him a headache.

When he heard the sisters begin to talk, Deo finally opened his weary eyes and saw that the blonde guy who had joined them earlier was requesting a wish.

"Please lend us all the strength we need to see this battle through; to destroy Adel." the guy commanded.

"To destroy for good." Deo cut in, "we don't need her popping back up from the grave if you know what I mean."

[Gemma Ridean]

A painful blow to the shins knocked Gemma out of her reverie. Whisking around, she could see that the culprit was Blaze's foot, which was now slowly recoiling back into the sleeping fetal position.

Asleep huh? Gemma frowned as she took in the sight of crumpled bodies around her, including her brother.

"W-w-what?" she sputtered, suddenly feeling very confused. The last thing she remembered was hitting the floor after Adel's Meteor Attack.

"Where---How long--?" Her head was reeling. Grasping her head with both hands, Gemma gasped as she began to hyperventilate. Suddenly, fragmented memories of everything that had happened in the last 30 minutes imploded in her visual consciousness.


Fueled with anger.

Blaze.

Blaze's body hitting the floor.

Blood spattering onto the floor.

Herself laughing.

Adel laughing.

Adel's little puppet.

A vortex of wind seemed to burst from Gemma's lungs as she screamed. Screaming so loud, as if she could cleanse herself from the horrors she had committed.

[vanesse]

Vanesse stood before the goddesses, slowly taking in the unfolding events. The Zacke fellow already made a wish which was emphasized by Deo despite what Hadrian said. It couldn't be helped. It probably wouldn't be as bad as they claim it to be. What was the worst thing that could happen? It wasn't like the world will end.

Wish, huh? A thought sparked at the back of her mind.

"Where---How long--?" Vanesse turned to see whose voice was it.

"Gemma?" She kneeled beside her. "What's wro---" She hadn't finished her sentence yet when the girl burst into a mournful scream. Frantic, Vanesse shut her eyes and quickly hugged the girl.

"Hey, hey, hey, it's all right now. It's all right," she assured. "Everything's fine! The three sisters are going to help us." She pulled away slightly and pointed to the spirit of the gems. "See?" She tried to grin casually.

[ST]

A long pause ensues before Suthieal speaks again.

"Hath you wavered, we shall not hath asked twice." She flings her hands together, slipping a cold glance towards Adel. "You wish to incur this vile sorceress's eternal death with thy own hands? Such a vengeful yet wise request, so shall be it."

A cool gust brushes past you, and you feel your health replenishing to full. The voices of your fallen GFs have come back inside your head coupled with the aura spell bursting forth within you.

Sorceress Adel remains immobile in her spot despite the movement of her eyes, telling you that she has just become aware of everything going on.

"Indulge." A shadow of a smile is evident in Suthieal's face.

--------------------------------------------
WOOO! Adel the punching bag!!

[Jax Ridean]

A shimmering light blinded Jax momentarily as he found himself wide-awake, yet sprawled out on the floor as if he had passed out in some drunken stupor. Scratching the back of his head, his attentions were caught by the sniffling sounds that seemed to be coming from his sister---His prim, polished sister who never showed any emotion on her face was now sobbing incontrollably and using Van's shirt-sleeve as a hanky.

"What's wrong with her?" he asked Van, gesturing downwards to the mousy-haired SeeD.

As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized that he knew the answer. His mouth, left in a permanent "O", Jax awkwardly nodded, "Right..."

Hey...I wonder if....

Fortunately, the pyro-manaic child was still fast asleep on the ground, emitting soft snores now and then. Gingerly, Jax placed a hand on her elbow, gently jiggling it a bit.


"Yoohoo....anyone alive in there?"

Indulge

"What did you say?" He leaned, pressing his ear to Blaze's mouth.

Then he saw the great being hovering before him. Luminous sapphire eyes locked onto burnt sienna.


So this must be Suthieal...

<<Now you get it.>>


Hey, you're alive!

<<Obviously.>>

Within seconds, Jax began to feel beads of sweat beginning to collect on his forehead. He felt warm--flushed. The familiar heat an Aura spell slowly made its way up his bloodstream---toes to head.

A droplet of sweat fell, landing on his shirt collar.

"Indulge huh?" he murmured.

Remaining kneeled, Jax twisted his torso to one side, reaching out a hand for Ravaner beyond the cluster of weeds and rubble.

But as if summoned by some mysterious being, the gleaming rifle suddenly appeared in his lap--barrel loaded, cocked, and ready to fire.

[Zacke]

Zacke's eyes widened slightly at the exhilarating feeling sweeping his nervous system. He hadn't been in bad shape at all, suffering only that minor bang to the head when he crashed. But Suthieal's magic felt amazing, all the same. He could feel the adrenaline pumping through his bloodstream, and knew his limit was close at hand.

/Summon me./ Iris' voice was smooth but urgently compelling.

This is Adel... we're not playing games with status effects. he quickly dismissed his Guardian Force.

Adel stood erect before them, frozen in her spot, poised almost as if she didn't know what she should do. This is the moment!

Zacke rushed the Sorceress, sweeping up Dizzy from where he'd dropped it earlier to help Jun, and swinging one side up into a wide arch. His boots slid across the bits of rubble left in the wake of his crash landing. He captured his balance, bent his knees, and dropped low to the ground, close to Adel's legs. His jaw tightened with resolve as he whipped the wild-flying end of his nunchaku in a quick circle, snapping the bar and the extended blade across the front of her legs and releasing an Ultima with each connection.

His speed was lighting quick as he launched himself into a backward shoulder-roll away from her and the spells and sprang to his feet. He panted briefly, and moved in for another strike.

---

*grabs him by the scruff of the neck* >.O okay, give the others a turn now.. XD

[vanesse]

Vanesse looked up to see Jax towering over her and Gemma while flashing his gleaming rifle. She waited for a few seconds but someone beat him to Adel. It was that new guy. The way he handled the nunchaku coupled with the Ultima spell was a feat to watch. So he was one of the SeeDs? She was enjoying how Adel was taking everything in.

/Indulge huh?/ She repeated the words of Gemma's brother in her head. No, that wasn't her.

Paridge!? He was back to normal.

"Indulge!" Clashing her brows, she smiled mischievously. Beating Adel into a pulp like this wasn't something that happens everyday.

Her hands reached for her Black Wings, and before anyone can go at it with the sorceress again, she threw it towards her in full force creating a gash across her abdomen. Bringing a hand to her forehead, Vanesse summoned her gigantic GF. The griffin hovered over Adel and unleashed a powerful tornado attack to the sorceress. The impact shattered the wall behind her revealing the gloomy night sky and chilling wind inside.

"Gotcha!" She caught her boomerang. "Next!" That was all she could do for now.

[jaimelewis]

"OKALEE!" Jaime ran at full speed towards Adel, skidding to a stop right before her gigantic feet. She released a few Flare at Adel, then pulling out her Jade Torture, she curled the whip around Adel's left ankle, pulling it as taut as she could to cut off the blood circulation in her leg. "Her legs! Amputate it so she can't stand!"

[Hadrian D'arcell]

Hadrian had never felt better in his whole life. He gazed down on his hands to check out the Aura spell that was casted to them by Suthieal. He bet he probably looked rad shining like a sun right now. He knew this spell was useless since he didn't have any 'special attack' to be awakened, but all was good.

CQ, are you there? he talked to his GF. There was no reply. That just meant she could hear him.

The Opps and Zacke were already having a go at Adel. While he...He was trying to explain logically how Suthieal got Adel under a time spell of some sort. She was consciously taking the damage, no doubt, but she was too immobile that the impacts of the attacks couldn't even budge her. He heard Jaime suggest to amputate her leg to make her lose balance. What would happen if they did that?

What kind of magic did she use? There were signs of REMs so it couldn't be a time spell. This is a good one. How did she do it? Can I wish for her to reveal that?

"You know, it's sort of amazing. How Suthieal got her all strongly pinned so easily like that," he mumbled randomly to the person next to him. "Makes you wonder what kind of price would we have to pay for this feat."

/Hadrian, this is not the proper circumstance for such analysis. There is approximately 96.4% probability that tells me your level of skill is insufficient, I will commence offence for you at your signal./ Hadrian noticed the anticipation in CQ's tone. It could be that she was feeling as energized as him from that wish earlier.

Yes, yes, I'll summon you now, love of my life. He shook his head, amused. He sure was taking his time.

Metal...metal..... Lurking his gaze around, his eyes landed on the huge Galbadian airship protruding inside Adel's tower. Ahh, metal.

[stardust]

/All right, Stardust, breathe./ Diwata's soothing voice was back inside her head again. /I'm here now./

Stardust knew she had to get a grip of herself. The situation had changed. She couldn't exactly follow what happened in detail, but the sisters came back. Adel was in front of them, immobile, waiting to get killed, and her mind was swathed with temperaments. She pressed the back of her palm on her eyes and took a deep breath. She could feel the burst of energy overflowing within her. She exhaled.

/Stardust?/ It was Diwata again. /Can you tell me what are we fighting for?/

This tone was overly familiar. She paused to recollect her thoughts.

Revenge.

/For who?/

My village.

/And?/

My friends...Vyse.

/And?/

Stardust lifted her head and watched the others attack Adel. "And?" She could still remember the last time Diwata talked to her like this. Often times, Diwata liked to bring her down, but whenever she started talking like a teacher, then that meant that she had to get serious as well. This was the only way she could preserve her hateful self, her purpose, and pour it all onto Adel.

/Make sure you don't forget./ Diwata said. /Those feelings./

"Ah," Stardust slapped her cheeks with both hands. Pausing for a while, she started towards Adel. Jaime put a torniquet around Adel's leg using her whip, but that wasn't necessary. It was Stardust's turn to attack now. She knew if she focused hard enough....It's all rushing in me again in full force....Like it just happened yesterday. Everything just seemed clearer now that Diwata was here to remind her.

"Get away! I'll blow her to bits!" She yelled at Jaime.

I'm fighting here because this damn sorceress ruined my life! With a fierce growl, she leaped and did a spinning kick on Adel's head. Landing on her palm, she pushed her weight to go up in mid-air and fired an arrow directing to the sorceress's right arm.

"This is for my village."

The arrow made thunderous explosion once it touched Adel's arm. Stardust was surprised with the amount of firepower the arrow had. It was many times stronger than the arrows she used earlier. She liked it.

The explosion caused a huge smoke and still hadn't died down when she fired another arrow straight to Adel's other arm.

"This is for the people you took away from me!"

The loud explosion rave continued as the smoke thickened. Stardust landed on her feet and stood up, firing another arrow directed towards Adel's leg. Her pink hair was blown back by the impact as soon as the arrow touched the sorceress's limb. The smoke thickened some more. She hoped Suthieal got a shield of some sort around Rinoa because she still didn't want to stop.

"And this is for me going through all these crap just to shove this arrow on your face!" Ciceronian glowed even brighter, and she adjusted the height of her aim to target Adel's face. Without any hesitation, she fired, unleashing a final explosion as thunderous as the previous ones. She stepped back from all the smoke her explosive arrows caused.

/Boom./ Diwata giggled.



------
Sorry Jaime, Stardust has no tact in her system. -_-

[junkuroki]

When Suthieal's glow suffused Jun's body, she felt ready to go, but she also knew that she could no longer perform her better limit break in such a short space of time.

I shouldn't have wasted it then! She muttered angrily to herself. It only proved to her that she did foolish things whenever her head wasn't screwed on straight, and Sapphy wasn't around to chatise or guide her. Thankfully it didn't happen that often.

Sapphy... She whispered mournfully.

/Missing me so soon?/ Sapphy's gruff voice meandered into her mind. /You're just as immature as I thought, you can't live without my advice, admit it. And all this while you've been whining about how long-winded your Great Guardian Force dragon is, now you know his worth don't you?/

Sapphy--

/Cut the happy reunion, I'm going out right now. / Without warning, Sapphy surged forward from Jun's mind, her forehead scrunching at the slight pull. The dragon materialised midair in his full form, tail lashing left and right while looking at the SeeDs, then back at Jun.

"Everyone stay back! My GF is gonna do his beam attack, don't be caught in it!" Jun called out to everyone.

With his scaly head reared back, Sapphire Dragon let out a thunderous roar, unleashing a near-blinding beam straight into Adel's face. Then another, and another, aiming at various parts of her body until his energy had dwindled.

The beams fried Adel's skin to the crisp, making the room even smokier than it had been after Stardust's attacks.

Sapphire Dragon floated back, looking at Adel with a challenging glare, then turning to face the SeeDs and giving them a bow of reverence.

With that, he disappeared back into Jun's mind again.

Showoff. Jun snorted, pretending to be disgusted.