World Refugees Final Mix

Roxas didn't know, and didn't really care either, whether he was late, early or on time, though it seemed fairly easy to rule out late given that Fox was still there and was the only one there. He assumed the seemingly brain dead Refugee had chosen not to meet up early in the morning because she didn't usually wake up that early. He would either if he had a choice, but sometimes it could be helped.

Aerith had let out a resigned sigh when it was mentioned that Ray and Auria were going to be involved in this Hunt. He dared not ask. Not that he needed to since he did know what had happened the last time the two were involved and he considered lecturing Fox about accepting their help, since she had also been there for the Behemoth fiasco. He decided not to. Though there were going to be three people with healing abilities, only two were really skilled with it, meaning they might end up having to watch each other's backs as much they did the others.

He also wasn't sure how he felt about Kairi being involved in this. He knew what Sora would have to say about it, but... well, that was another concern. What was taking them so long to retrieve that ship? Maybe that was a stupid question. There were some parts missing...

His musing were interrupted when Fox greeted him with 'Yo' and a wave and then went back to inspecting her sword. He noticed she had her bow too, but didn't ask after the weird smell coming from the quiver. She had mentioned incendiary arrows that didn't use magic. He assumed she had looked into ways of putting enough flammable substance on an arrow to keep it alight without weighing it down. Either way, this might get interesting.

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Ray arrived a little later, grinning in anticipation. She always loved a good fight, and she hadn't had one in a while. She'd missed it. That was the reason she'd volunteered so readily; with the Heartless gone, it was like there was nothing to do but homework anymore, and that was boring. She'd actually been a little happy when the monsters had started showing up. It put her in a good mood now, feeling the weight of the nunchaku and grenades as she walked.

"Hey guys!" Ray called cheerfully as she reached the bailey, pausing to stretch a little. "'Bout time something interesting happened around here, ain't it~?"

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Fox heard both of them approach, offered a 'Yo' to both finally decided she'd spent enough time inspecting her weapons. She moved on the making sure her armor was right while waiting for everyone else... actually, they were only waiting for two more people. But they weren't going anywhere until those two showed up.

"Define interesting," she said after a few moments, "I have a funny feeling that the video game wasn't exaggerating how tough this thing is... if it is of the type found in Ivalice. The client said the picture matched when I showed him the Wiki image, but... for all we know Final Fantasy 12 was just the one that got the monster appearances right."

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It was early, but the crisp air of the bailey reminded Auria of the home she had just left. She loved the sharp cold filling her nose. This air was more humid, and didn't have the scent of trees in it, but it woke her up and got her brain working.

Back home, she had kept her hammer leaning against her bed. Occasionally as she tossed and turned in her sleep, it would fall over, but its presence had comforted her. Now she took a few practice swings. She settled into the weight easily, all of her training coming back to her. It really was like riding a bike.

As Auria approached, she noticed Ray had already arrived. So, feeling the need to tease her, she cheerfully called out, "Hey Ray! You pull a Leeroy Jenkins this time around and I'll kill you!"

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She turned, grinning. "I wouldn't dream of it," she assured Auria, throwing a small spark at her. Leaning against the wall, the pulled out a nunchaku and started spinning it absently. "So where's Kairi? We're not getting anywhere just standing around waiting."

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"I'm sure she'll be here," Auria replied, making conversation. "Kairi's not someone to keep people waiting. How martially advanced is she, anyway?"

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"I'm not really sure," Roxas said, thinking, "I know she was learning to use a sword, but I have know idea what kind of progress she was making... if any."

Personally, he didn't really think she should be coming along on this. The few monsters actually going into town were no big deal, but all reports indicated that stronger monsters hung around just about everywhere else.

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"A sword? So she didn't get her Keyblade?"

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"I have it" A voice said directly behind Auria. "I just tend to be more comfortable with my short sword."

Kairi gave a little wave after moving aside from behind. "I'm sorry I'm late. I got a little caught up on something I was working on."

She glanced at Roxas then, frowning for a moment. "There was a reason we were constantly fighting with those wooden swords Roxas."

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Auria raised her eyebrows in interest but didn't reply to Kairi. Instead she turned to Fox and said, "So here we go?"

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"Bah, he's just being a brat," Fox replied. Then to everyone, "Ok, I think we need a plan. Getting there might not be too tough, but if my information on this monster is right, it's going to be a rough fight. I'm going to reserve my magic for Healing. It may or may not have other Flan varieties around it. The client did say there were a few tagging along with it. Anyway... Any other ideas?"

This was really going to be interesting. If there were more Flans around the Mark, the only one who was really going to be able to deal with them was Roxas, as he was the only one with a wide enough range of spells to account for different elemental weaknesses. It was a little more likely that there would jut be a variety of monsters generally, but Flans were a bigger concern.

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"Well, my only spell is Reflect, which covers me and pretty much no one else," Auria admitted. "So I'm better off just beating shit up."

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"So, we can just let the one with the effective magic take care of the monsters weak to magic. To be honest, if this Mark is really that bad, we should probably conserve our magic as much as we can anyway."

He pointedly didn't mention that he thought that maybe they should have considered their abilities before agreeing to this Hunt. He and Ray were the only ones with sufficient attack magic and Fox at least could serve as healer. If the information on the monster was right, the damned thing absorbed the same element is could cast, so Reflect could actually heal it. Kairi could help with the healing a little and he supposed she ought to be able to stand her ground, but Roxas had one thought on her presence here and one thought alone: 'Shit, if something happens to her, Sora and Riku are going to kill me!'

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Well, there really wasn't a whole lot to discuss strategywise. They're best options were just to keep the ones with the best magical offense available to deal with high physical defense monsters and make sure said magic users had a sufficient amount of ethers. Fox had plenty with her. She also had a number of potions and an Elixir. She had also acquired a Phoenix Down, but she really hoped it wouldn't be necessary.

"If we're ready, we can go. The Mark is supposedly hanging around the Crystal Fissure."

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"Fun," Auria commented, and strode off in that direction. Thinking of how the routine Maw Fight For Fun and Profit had been ruined, she had packed several potions and one hi-potion, along with a couple bottles of water.

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"Bout time we get moving..."

Ray strolled along, still spinning her nunchaku and looking around absently. Fox had said something about Thunder resistance, so she was limited to her Fire spells for now... She gave a mental shrug. It didn't really matter as long as her weapons didn't get too hot, and with her gloves on, that might not happen so quickly.

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Roxas rolled his eyes at Fox's remark. I was kind of a given that the minster might not be where they thought it was, but it was deemed best to try that spot first. Annoying, but also mildly amusing. Fox was a scatterbrain and didn't really seem to care about it.

It hardly mattered. The only real reason he was involved in this was because he needed some synth materials. He wasn't quite so lucky as to have a set of magical clothing/armor available, so getting some armor was a small priority. He'd already told the Moogles what he was looking for and they'd told him what materials he would need. Some extra monster encounters would actually help him with the armor. If he didn't get what he needed right from the monsters, he would be able to trade for what he did need.

He checked his pockets once more, counting his potions ethers and debating whether or not he should switch the key chain on either of his Keyblades. After a moment, he decided he'd make a switch later if he needed to.

"I just hope you know what you're doing, Scatterbrain," he said to Fox as they headed out.

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Auria overheard and scowled. "She prolly knows what she's doing better'n you do," she remarked. "She impaled Saïx, if I recall correctly."

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"I'm sure he knows," Fox said with a giggle, "Considering that we have discussed it a couple times. Either way, Scatterbrain is accurate." The fact of the matter was that Scatterbrain was hardly an insult when one found amusement in her scatterbrainedness. She suspected he didn't really mean it anyway. His tone was a litte too soft and even if there were going to be more battles than excepted, she doubted that she was the only one who would benefit from them.

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Kairi mostly stayed out of the conversation, only half paying attention while mentally reviewing what she needed again. After talking to the moogles earlier about upgrading her sword and getting a few defense charms, she had really had agreed to come only to collect synth shards as well. Seeing how she was nearly on her own again, with Sora away collecting the gummi ship parts and Riku disappearing again, it would be better for her to have a more than a few extra boosts to help her out.

A sound caught her attention and she gripped her sword tighter. "I think something's coming."

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At about the same instant Kairi spoke up, the Keyblades were out without Roxas calling on them. Whatever it was it was coming from the same direction they were headed. He listened hoping to have some idea what it was or how big it was, not to mention many if there was more than one. The general skittery nature of the footsteps made him think if a bug.

He thought right, as the thing came skittering into view from wherever the hell it'd been hiding. It looked like some sort of mantis, but beyond that, he really had no ideas. At least there was only one.

Only one and it must have been hungry as it moved into attack as soon as it spotted the potentially tasty morsels, raising its sharp forelimbs to go for a kill. It was feisty, he could give it that, but it really was out of luck. As it brought the claws down he skirt around to its left, striking quick at its side. This wasn't a serious attack. He just wanted to get its attention. It worked. The bug turned toward him and raised its claws again.

"That's a nice stupid bug," he said with a smirk, taking a defensive stance, "Care to dance."

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Auria took a couple steps forward to help Roxas when two things occurred to her. One: This was Roxas, a dual Keyblade-wielder who despite being a bit of an angsty brat was good at what he did.

And two: There were more behind her.

Auria spun, realizing in half a second that it would be no good to strike at the thing leaping towards her. At the last moment she swung her hand out and cast what was probably going to be one of only two Reflect spells before she needed an Ether.

The creature bounced back, rolling ass over teakettle until it rose again to face her. This time Auria had her hammer ready, and she swung it sideways to knock her target a good twenty feet to her left.

Then Auria frowned and recounted a move she had used during Xemnas's final battle. In desperation, she had thrown her hammer at a Nobody and then used a Reflect spell to make it bounce back to her. She wondered if she could do it again.

As the creature prepared to come back, Auria tossed her hammer. She had managed to misjudge the length of the handle, though; it caught on the dirt and the spike came crashing down to a dead stop. Seeing an excellent opportunity, the bug leaped over the fallen weapon and put itself between Auria and her only means of survival.

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"Now this is more like it!" Ray crowed, grabbing her other nunchaku and throwing a quick Fire at the monster going after Auria. She followed up with a swift, strong kick.

With the creature out of the picture for now, she turned and smirked at her friend. "Who needs saving now, hm~?"

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Auria threw a scowl in Ray's general direction, then sprinted to her fallen hammer. She hefted it over her shoulder.

"Fuck off," she told Ray airily. Then she downed an Ether.

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The bickering was not going to help. Fox was already pondering the wisdom of announcing this venture at the community. She had briefly toyed withthe idea of just seeking out a handful of people and asking, but had feared the job would be gone if she took too long. Hell, she'd even just toyed with asking Roxas if he was bored enough to help and leaving it at that. He could probably have handled the hunt alone... and would gloat if she told him that to his face, so she made a mental note not to.

Instead, she considered her options. There weren't that many of the bugs and no one was in need of healing... yet. With a mildly disgruntled sigh, she drew her sword took on the nearest bug, dodging its claws and stabbing into its side between the edges of its carapace. It kicked her away in its death throes.

"Fucker," she growled standing up and looking for another target.

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Kairi ducked a swipe from one of the claws, once again thankful that she had insisted on the boys helping her during their time back home. Her reaction time still wasn't the best, and she hissed to herself quietly as the countering claw came a little too close for comfort.

Gritting her teeth, she swung her sword and sliced off the offending arm. Hop stepping away from the flailing monster, she paused for a split second before stabbing it though what she assumed to be it's neck.

A small part of of her recoiled at a killing it, but there was no time to think of such things now. She paused, taking a deep breath before spinning around to take care of the other monsters behind her.

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Roxas gave his own opponent another feint before deflecting its claws one way with one blade and stabbing into the bug with the other. It flailed, its dying thrashing shoving him back. He stepped away and turned his attention to other monsters. He had been hoping there would only be the one, but he supposed he should have known better.

He felt his stomach twist a little uncomfortably when he saw Kairi taking on one of the bugs and was reminded again of the fact that Sora and Riku might just kill him if something happened to her. He shook the thought away. There was more than one monster coming up on her and he wasn't sure he wanted to find the hard way whether or not she could handle all of them alone.

At least these were the last few. He wasn't going to bother counting them but there didn't seem to be any more coming. He dashed past Kairi and the closest monster to her and confronted the rest... ok so there were a few more than he thought, but as long the numbers weren't growing, he saw no problem. He would just have to step up his game a bit.

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If Fox was counting right, there were only about five or six more bugs to fight. And she needed to remember to take down some notes on them so she could add the info to the Bestiary when they got back. Which was part of the reason she took the hunt. There were other monsters that just weren't coming into town and she wanted the info on them. Who knew when they would come into town?

She tossed a rock at one bug to get its attention and draw it away from the pack. She preferred to fight one-on-one if she could. The bug took the bait, hissing as it rushed toward her and raised a claw to strike. She ducked under the claw as it swung and went for a soft spot between the sections of its shell. The bug stepped away quickly and countered. Fox was starting to really love her quick reflexes at this point. The bug managed only a small scratch on her shoulder and managed to get its claw stuck in the ground. She took advantage of the predicament to to finish it.

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Auria finished off what she thought was her third or fourth crab-spider thing and hugged the handle of her hammer to her chest, panting. Why the small fry? Why were they wasting time, actually killing these things, instead of just fending them off?

Are you askingfor another Behemoth? she asked herself, part in disbelief and part in derision. She shook her head. Whatever this thing was, it wasn't going to be as bad as the Behemoth.

Auria worked her way over to Fox as she killed her quarry. "Fox? I think we should regroup and just wait for this thing to show up. Killing the small-fry isn't really getting us anywhere."

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"I'd like to just wait for the Mark to show, but the guy asking for help was out where it hangs out, not in town, when he lost that locket," Fox replied, "There's only four more of these. I'd rather finish them off than have them follow us."

Incidentally, Roxas seemed to have drawn the attention of all but one of the remaining bugs. She supposed they could just let him finish them off, but not only would that not be any fun, it would take longer. Fox tossed another rock, drawing one of the bugs away. It charged in with its claws up, not seeming to have learned any lessons from the deaths of the other bugs.

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Auria voiced her understanding and, with a sidesweep, dislodged a bug from the pack to attack it separately.

She didn't know if "the Mark" was the creature's actual title, or if it was just another word for "target".

That's kind of a stupid thing to worry about.

Yeah, I know, but it'll stick in my head and keep bothering me.

Look out; that thing's going for your leg.

I know. Auria brought her hammer spiked-end down on the beast's face and watched it struggle. She moved back before letting the pressure off. The bug surged to its feet, but was extremely disoriented and soon fell back over.

An emptiness had taken over Auria, and she wasn't sure why. It made her turn away from the half-dead bug, lean on her hammer, and doze. Suddenly she was exhausted; she wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep. But then this Mark would come and she wouldn't be here to help.

Auria downed her only hi-potion and watched it stitch her scratches together and ease her bones. But though she pulsed with new energy, she still felt empty.

She turned around and crushed the bug's skull beneath her hammer.

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This was getting aggravating. There weren't many bugs left, but they were still annoying. Roxas had no way of knowing what kind of magic they were weak against and he wasn't going to burn the mana to find out. He met the next bug that charged at him, deflecting its talons to the side with Oathkeeper and swiping its head off with Oblivion. Another came in right behind. He skirted around its side and stabbed into it with both Keyblades. It kicked him in the shin in its death throes. That was going to be a pretty bruise.

Wasn't there one more somewhere?

Oh. Fox had it... And had already killed when he looked. Now she was... writing some notes. He didn't ask. She had mentioned making sure to get some information. That included finding out what the monsters had to give up. It also meant the messy task of gutting the monsters, since they had no other way of carrying anything other than in their stomachs.

As it turned out, these bugs carried a synth material none of them had seen before and Roxas wasn't quite sure he wanted to know what they'd eaten to have the crystals in he first place.

"Hmm... you could probably make a good armor out of these shells," he remarked, tapping on one of them, "See if an armorer in town would buy them. Anyway, maybe we should move on. We could pick these up on the way back if someone else doesn't take them while we're gone." He did pocket his share of the synth materials and made a mental note to ask the Moogles what type they were.

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"Oh come on, they hired us for a reason - they're scared. You really think many people are going to be around here to grab 'em?" Ray asked, eyebrow raised. She sighed and started walking again, spinning a nunchaku as she did.

"Anyway, where's this thing we're hunting supposed to be? I dunno about anyone else, but these little guys here are kind of boring to me."

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"You never know," Fox said, "Anyway, the target's supposed to be at the Crystal Fissure. I don't know if we'll see anything else on the way there, but anyway..."

As some odd luck would have it, they saw no other monsters on the way to Fissure. The Fissure itself seemed deserted, though Flan type enemies, being what they were, could have some interesting ways to hide...

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It was all silent in the Fissure but Kairi knew better than to relax. The hair's on the back of her head stood up once they had entered the area, making her tighten her grip on the sword once again.

There is something here." Kairi said softly, not wanting her voice to echo too much. "I just can't tell where." With whatever luck she had, soon as she finished the sentence a trail of slime dropped in front of her. Resiting the urge to yelp in shock, she glanced up to stare at the Flan attached to the ceiling.

"...Or maybe I do."

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Fox had heard the plop of something thick and possibly sticky hitting the ground and Kairi's comment. She turned to look at Kairi and then followed the girl's gaze.

Yeah, that was the White Mousse and it was a little bigger than Fox thought it would be. As matter of fact, fighting it inside the fissure was not advisable.

"Shi-iit! Here we go!" she called out as the slimy creature loosened itself from the ceiling and dropped down, splashing all of them with a good coating of slime. Fox swore again. This... sucked.

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Auria, the last in the Fissure, watched the thing fall with a plop with dead eyes. She ignored the slime that coated her. With her inner self settled easily into her battle aura, she hefted her hammer and waited for a chance to attack.

Chances were, a slimy enemy was not going to be hurt by her hammer, as Fox had warned her. She had no offensive magic. She would probably be limited to casting Reflect whenever it looked like someone was about to be hit.

So she hung back and charged her magic, letting the energy flow until it was time to be released.

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Ray stopped dead where she was as the slime covered her allies. Somehow, she'd avoided it by sheer luck, though it had just missed her. Some of it was on her shoes, which she glanced at with distaste before laughing at the whole situation. Even on a serious mission like this, they managed to get themselves in such ridiculous situations.

"So, Fire, right?" she asked between chuckles.

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The sliming wasn't funny. It was a distraction and a hindrance. They had another problem as well. This was a large monster and this was a tight space. And the monster, by whatever means it had available, was winding up to take a swing at him. He dodged it, barely, and gave it Fire spell to distract it. Judging by its reaction, Fire was definitely the way to go.

"I think we should try to get it out to a more open spot," he suggested, "It's a little tight in here for fighting."

As if to punctuate that point, the Mousse cast a strong water spell his way, the force of soaking spell slamming him into the jagged wall of the Fissure. It could've been worse, though. It could've impaled him on one of the sharp bits of crystal sticking off of the wall. Thankfully, it hadn't and he could hope that that little display demonstrated the need to try to lure the monster out into the open.

Not that it seemed like the monster would need much motivation to follow. If it didn't want to do bad things to them, it could've stayed up on the ceiling and let them pass unharmed.

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Fox agreed. She also gave the creature a small Fire spell and taunted it for good measure. That did seem to get its attention, judging by its response.

The response was to cast its water spell again and give chase. Fox darted out into the Maw, possibly squealing like a stuck pig...

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Ray started to laugh outright when she heard Fox, but ran out into the Maw without another word. She had her Fire magic ready; she just needed a chance to properly attack it...

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Roxas also found himself suppressing a chuckle at the absurd squealing as he followed them out to the Maw. At least the Mousse was moving out to a more open space where it would hopefully be easier to deal with. He doubted that only one spell could kill it, but since he knew what was needed and the thing was too focused on the squealing Refugee, he figured he might as well go ahead give the slimeball a good Firaga. While it would likely draw the monster's attention to him, that shouldn't be a problem. There were others around to take advantage of that.

Not surprisingly, the Mousse retaliated with that Water spell again. Better prepared this time, Roxas was able to dodge it... or at least avoid a full force blast of it. He still got wet. As a matter of fact, if it retaliated with that spell enough, things could get dangerous. As long as no one was stupid enough to cast Thunder, they should be fine...

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Roxas wasn't the only one amused over the squealing, and Kairi had to quickly cover her mouth to hide the giggles.

Though...with her sword unable to do much damage, and her only magic being cure, Kairi was beginning to feel a bit useless. There wasn't much she could do here besides make sure everyone lived though the fight.

Noise behind her caught her attention and she turned - just in time to avoid a claw swipe. The wolf growled at her and she swallowed a bit before moving into an offensive position. If she couldn't help defeat the actual target, she could at least help keep away the other ones from attacking them.

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