Lugubrious Member

The sound of burning, rising steadily into the cacophony of an inferno, caught Ivan's attention before either the cowboy or the tall, skinny one could respond. Wheatley's offhanded response went ignored as Ivan watched the growing blaze through squinted eyes. Finally, when the fireball had reached monstrous proportions, so much so that it wouldn't have been a hazardous prediction to say they might consume everything in sight, Ivan could be sure. “Aha!” He thought aloud, wiping a bead of sweat from his massive, bare scalp. The air had grown warmer. “Giant fire has Pyro written all over! Thanks for nothing, babies! I find team myself!” Resettling his hat, Ivan once again hiked up his Tomislav and bustled away in the direction of the pyroclasm. Halfway there, the flames abruptly vanish. This did not deter Ivan in the least; he had given up trying to understand how the Pyro operated long ago. Though he was feeling fine, it still took him a fairly long time to trot over to the scorched zone. Along the way, he missed the flash of green high above, and only when he heard "INCOMING, ALL NON-DUPS GET OUT OF THE WAY" did he look up. Delsin's descent was a few hundred feet away, and while the method of his arrival momentarily perplexed the Heavy, Ivan quickly turned back to resume his trek. “Clumsy, painful death for him,” he muttered. Not long after, he arrived at the site of the immolation. Upon witnessing the young woman huddled at its locus, he became befuddled again. Without much consideration, he began to speak in his usual boisterous tone. “Little lady! Where is Pyro friend?” As an afterthought, he added, “And how did you survive burnings?”

There is a ghost of a chance that I would be willing to step in, actually. Before I'd consider that, however, I must check to see who is still here. I am going to be acting as if I can coax multimedia to rejoin. Let us see... Me Harine Lucius kaben Jangel Shadow Multimedia Guess Who Sho Asura NarcissisticPotato I'm being a bit generous there maybe, but that's seriously more people still here than most rps ever get. Honestly, I'm warming up to the idea of Gming. I've done it before (even finished a roleplay once, with five players) so I wouldn't be bad at it. Who might be in support of such a thing?

I think you were doing a fine job, Irish. If you're done, though, then this roleplay ought to be done. We can start again, same OP and everything, I don't really care, but if we're under someone else's leadership I feel we should start from scratch. So if another RWBY roleplay goes up, I'm down. For now, though, I think this is best left where it is.

To expedite this duel, and to have revenge for autohitting Arrghus, I'm giving Dark Link a choice of fleeing or dying.

All the triumph in her spirit crumbled away as Midna helplessly watched the Link spring into the air and drive his blade into the top of Arrghus's eye. Her heart sank as the tissue parted like butter against the edge of the master sword, and gravity allowed Link to perfectly slice the whole lens in half. Yellow blood and other juices spattered from the gruesome, gaping wound as Arrghus collapsed with a moan. Her trident finally hit its target, but off to the side, lodging in the crimson flesh instead. Its skin darkened, losing its definition, until it was merely a shrunken black image of its former self. Midna saw the hero turn to face her, and behind him Arrghus exploded into purple smoke; it was a one-hit K.O. When compared to that, her best effort seemed lackluster and superfluous. Doubt began to creep into her mind. Could it be her destiny to be upstaged by the hero? No. That is not the future I want. I refuse. As she descended to the ground from the rooftop, she became aware of the battle between Dark Link and Zant, but before she could get involved the real hero stopped her. Upon facing him, she found his blue eyes piercing and cold, almost enough to make her wilt like a dark flower beneath their glare. She was forced to breath deeply once again to steady herself before answering the blue stare with one hued red. She found herself looking down upon him, for he was several inches shorter than her. It gave her confidence. “There are a thousand things I would rather do, but perhaps it is for the better. Though you are the chosen one and I a mere stranger, our goals are the same: the protection of Hyrule. There can be no election with only one candidate, regardless, so the Princess must be regained, even if she is my opponent. Now, if you will excuse me...” The duel had reached a fever pitch only to momentarily break. Dark Link was taunting Zant lazily, dragging his sword. Unlike the specter, Zant was indeed tired. He had expended a great deal of his energy on the Arrghus alone back in the swamp; teleporting it here had taken another chunk out him. The rest had evaporated when he had furiously attacked the one who threatened his princess. He hunched over, breathing heavily, but even there he could see two things. Firstly, Dark Link had left himself open. Secondly, Midna was approaching from behind him. Zant grinned maniacally, thinking of a devilish fate. He called out in his native language, and gathered his energies into a condensed barrier of black and red twilight magic. This he sent forward. Behind Dark Link, Midna created her own wall, one of turquoise and black that she also sent forward. The two walls approached one another quickly, too large to dodge effectively, threatening to crush Dark Link between them. Only two options awaited him: to melt away into shadows and retreat, or to remain where he was and be flattened.

I am unhappy with this.

This is regrettable.

None of Ganondorf's actions reached Midna, for she was on the attack. Gathering her magics, she created a nebulous cloud of twilight particles around her, which then began to crystallize into little shards that rocketed toward Arrghus at high speed. Most hit the guardian bubbles at bad angles and dissolved, but several managed to pierce the watery membranes and strike down the bloodshot eyes within. When three were destroyed, Midna paused to watch the remain dozen or so shift slightly, so as to keep the monster's core eye covered. Interesting. The braid beneath her chin glowed brightly before springing out into the shape of a hand. Concentrating carefully, Midna leveraged her trichomancy to form the hair into a huge mitt that swiped away six Arri at once, though she was forced to reign in the hand shortly after. Nearby, Zant took advantage of the moment by releasing a hail of hot-pink projectiles that spattered against the beast's main body. To their annoyance, the bubbles merely zipped back into place after a few moments. In those few seconds, both missed Vaati's sudden and insidious maneuver. Midna prepared to unleash her trichomancy a second time, but was abruptly interrupted by the appearance of the hero's demonic doppelganger before her. An eerily calm look settled across her features as he spoke, his words scabbing and scraping and altogether odious. She did not yet fear the monster. As he wasted time trying to provoke her into acting first, she built up a small orb of teal twilight magic behind her hand, keeping it hidden from sight. When he stopped to summon his shield, Midna shouted out a short phrase in her native tongue. When Dark Link uttered his one-liner and charged forward, the Twilight Princess was ready. She hopped back from the dancing blade and threw overhand the twilight ball, which burst on the ground beneath Link's feet. While she didn't expect that the ensuing blast would have much of an effect on him given its size, she knew it would buy her enough time to escape. There was no time to be dealing with the small fry when the big fish was just outside her grasp. As such, when she floated backward, her body dissolved into particles, and through them barreled forth the masked form of Zant. Zant released a contemptuous laugh and engaged the foe. While Dark Link's slashes were powerful and deadly-quick, they contained little consciousness, and so Zant held one of his scimitars back-handed to guard against them while he aimed an overhead cut at Dark Link's head. He knew that the demon's longsword would be capable of thrusting, which was a capability his own scimitars didn't really share, and one that he -with no shield for defense- would be vulnerable to as well. He suspected his longer blades and ranged attacks would be able to keep his foe from getting close enough. As these thoughts rushed through his head, they were accompanied by a sort of chaos—before long, he would not be lucid enough to fight coherently, so he had better use his wits while he could. Midna, meanwhile, had teleported onto a nearby roof. Now she was at eye-level, so to speak, with Arrghus. The sound of music, however, made her pause. The fairy's song burrowed into her heart, and she collapsed into a sitting position, entranced. Each note held within it a hint of hurt, a tone of sadness, and above all the pang of loneliness. It was all Midna could do to keep herself from shedding a tear. Everything else in the plaza, except for the wild duel between Dark Link and Zant, had also stopped. Then it was over. Midna breathed in slowly, her eyes shut. She had not lost sight of her goal, but her anger was gone. She was aware of the fairy calling for Link, but paid it no mind. At this moment, she was the hero. She summoned a new weapon. It was like the spear, but larger, and with three tips rather than one. For a moment she hefted the trident, making sure her throw would connect with the dazed monster, and then she heaved it with all her might. Despite that, the spear was slow-moving, and there was a small chance that a skilled individual could obstruct its flight.

Sweet! The current big event should be over before to long, so you'll be good to go!

When Midna had issued her challenge, she had not been thinking of the Happy Mask Salesman, but his sudden outburst inflamed her. _I can do whatever I wish_, she seethed. _Don't think for a moment that you know what's best for me, merchant._ It was a fight to restrain herself, but some of the rage worked its way onto her face. Her heart was pumping, but as she listened to the fairy speak, she found it waylaid in the doldrums of confusion. Conquer? Crippled light spirits at Ganondorf's behest? Midna almost laughed to hear Ciela say them. She had never done any such things; she had never ventured beyond the Twilight Realm in her life, and neither had any of the other Twili. Such blatant lies placed this fairy-woman firmly on the side of Zelda, though Midna had to give her credit: she certainly had an active imagination. It astonished her at all that Ciela had such detailed information on aspects of the Twilight Realm, though it and the world of light had not converged in millennial. The bit about the Fused Shadows stirred a memory in her. While not enough to tell Midna what exactly they were or what they did, it did suffice to inform her that they were lost. Only one Fused Shadow existed in the Twilight Realm, and it was stashed away deep in a vault beneath King Mizorant's palace. Midna crossed her arms as Link took his turn. Her face had lost all of its friendliness and cheer, and in fact sported a look more like scorn. She permitted him to reach the end of his tirade, then broke out into a speech that was more shouting than talking. "Save us all? How? You've never saved the Twilight Realm. Since the beginning of our recorded history, we have been left to deal with our own problems. We have no golden goddesses, no triforce, no hero eternally reborn. I am the first Midna and the last Midna. Our people is a forsaken one! We survived on our own! You speak of puzzles, magics, defense, revenge, music, life! We have then all not because we are 'chosen by the gods', we have them because we worked hard for them! As for the demon king you say cannot be defeated..." She whirled, her cloak and half-dress billowing in a sudden wind. She raised a hand above her head, and in a shower of black particles a long, lethal-looking spear appeared in throwing position. It pointed directly at Ganondorf's chest; clearly their allegiance was undergoing some stress. Midna's teeth were bared in a smile that almost looked insane as she cried, "Watch me!" Something big and black fell from the sky, but before anyone could tell what it was, it collided with the ground and released a shockwave that bowled everyone over. Midna, suffused by adrenaline, was among the first to right herself, and she found herself staring at a gargantuan eye. It was emerald-green, enclosed in a spherical red body draped with yellow tentacles. Its body was spattered with cuts and burn marks. As she stood transfixed with wonderment, the creature shrieked. A dark shape, merely a toy compared to the huge beast, leaped from the top of it and landed by Midna's side. Zant, masked and bearing his scimitars, attempted a rushed bow. "Mistress!" he cried. "While I am indeed a powerful force to witness, I encountered some trouble with the monster Arrghus! I brought it here so that we could kill it with our combined power!" By this time, Midna was sufficiently recovered to slap his mask, causing him to tumble comically. _"You moron!"_ She shrieked in the tongue of the Twili. _"I was having a defining moment! Once I rip this thing apart, you and I will have words! Repeatedly and painfully! Understand?"_ The spear levitated back into her grasp, but as Midna armed herself, Arrghus did also. A cloud of smaller, bloodshot eyes, suspended in the air by bubbles, materialized around it, protecting the central eye. Midna threw her spear, but it struck a bubble and lodged there, halfway in. She ground her teeth, and the spear exploded, sending the little eye reeling. _"This is going to be annoying."_