World Refugees Final Mix

The storm was finally beginning in earnest.

The call had gone up for everyone to gather quickly in the town center in an orderly fashion. They didn't, of course. Panic ran rampant throughout the fleeing civilians, and it was all Ray could do to keep them from trampling each other as she opened Corridors of Light. She hoped the merpeople were making a bit better progress with their retreat. Ariel had talked to her father, and they'd been sent off, literally swimming for their lives. The consensus was that the Sea of Worlds would be their best chance of survival; that is, provided the Miasma didn't follow.

She nodded her thanks to Will and vanished into another Corridor, returning to the castle for anyone left behind. The refugees crowded around her like frightened lambs when she appeared. She sighed. It was tiring, opening the portal so often in rapid succession like this. But it had to be done, or...

Lightning flashed, and she saw something from the nearby window. Out in the ocean, something... The people could wait a second or two, she decided, staring out to make sure of what she'd seen.

Sure enough, there was a boat out there. It was barely even visible amongst all the waves, but she supposed the light had hit it at exactly the right moment. She shook her head. Who would possibly go out there in a storm like this, when the world was about to...

Her eyes widened, blood running cold.

The Atlanteans tugged at her sleeves, begging to go somewhere safe. Ray gritted her teeth and took them through, staying only long enough to tell Will and Lesley that she had to take care of something and she'd be right back. Her next Corridor took her to the beach, where the waves threatened to overtake her, but she fought to stand, stubbornly scanning the seas for that boat. There was a bright purple flash, and that was all she needed.

She stepped out of the Corridor of Light and onto the small boat, crouching low and grabbing the side. Thunder roared, another bolt flared, and Ray ripped it from the sky with a fierce cry, throwing it at the one steering the boat.

Now it was just a matter of this being the right target...

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The boat crested another wave and dipped forward, forcing Hex to crouch into the wheel.

Which was the only thing that saved her from the shot.

The lightning exploded flew past her, inches away from her face, blinding her.

Holy fucking shit.

This was supposed to be a somewhat safe operation. And now some one was throwing lightning at her! Lightning! Hex pulled her goggles over her face, covering her sensitive eyes. She couldn't afford to be blinded like that again.

There, on the other side of the boat, looking just as soaked as Hex was, was the Refugee, Ray. Well, how's that for an appropriate name.

Judging by the steam rising off her body, and the way her hair was almost standing on end, she was royally pissed off. Like I thought, these Refugees aren't normal people anymore. It's actually kind of scary.

Hex wanted to throw up, and just step away through a corridor, right then and there. She could escape at any time. To stay and risk getting killed would be increcibly stupid. There was no benefit at all to sticking around.

Except she was running out of time to search, and this wasn't something she could just abandon.

Hex could probably win a direct confrontation, but out here there would be no fate for the loser other than death. If the ocean didn't drown her, then the World submerging into darkness had a good shot at it. Having the blood of a Refugee on her hands though, would bring far too much attention and focus to her.

That left stalling. Hex mentally scrolled through her prepared Shadow spells, as she grinned outwardly. It's the middle of a storm, look a little crazy. Unnerve her. Sieze control of the situation. She only had four prepared shields. Thirty seven daggers and swords of varying sizes and shapes, and six 'Dragon Slayers', but only four good shields.

She was willing to bet Ray could throw a lot more than four more bolts.

Of course, there was always Thinking with Portals. Hex spat out a mouthful of saltwater, and her grin grew a little in the excitement. Showtime.

"Why, hello there miss Ray. What brings you out in a storm like this?" Hex shouted over the booming thunder and rolling seas.

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Ray's eyes narrowed. This woman looked familiar somehow, but she couldn't see why. For all she knew, it was her imagination and the storm working in tandem to trick her eyes. It had happened before. But that didn't matter now; the lady knew her on sight, which meant she was acquainted with the Refugees. That was a huge advantage when all Ray knew was that Maleficent had sent someone to this world.

On the plus side, though, that also meant that she had most definitely found the right target.

"I thought it would be a nice time for tea and cookies," she growled. Her attempts at stealing magic had vastly improved her ability to steal it from nature, too, if she had managed to catch and actually harness a natural bolt. Now, the time came to see if she could do it again, and as she pulled the next lightning bolt from the storm and redirected it toward her opponent, she asked, "And you?"

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"Me? I'm going after a certain treasure." Hex threw herself out of the way, and managed to escape the second shot.

Begin planning for combat scenario. Open up with a feint, three Shadow Daggers from straight ahead. Use portals to drop in from above. This is another feint. Use portals to escape before entering striking range, or to avoid counter-attack. The true purpose of this is to build up momentum with gravity. Re-orient and launch momentum powered kick from observed weakest angle. That should carry her forward into the next portal. Re-orient again, this time from directly above the boat. After she falls, throw a Dragon Slayer at her. Target is not Ray specificaly, but the boat. Destroy it, grab a large piece to use as a raft, then portal a safe distance away. With a smaller silhouette, I should be harder to detect at a distance. She should be incapable of following, or performing a proper search of the area, since there's no solid ground and she can't fly.

It was a rather extreme plan, but it should work.

She should wait, though. Maybe she could persuade Ray to leave her alone for a minute.

"Ah, but that shouldn't concern you. I thought that you were assisting with the evacuation of the settlements on this world?" Hannibal lecture, that ought to do it. "If you are supposed to busy saving people, why are you trying to kill me? It's not like I'm endangering anyone other than myself right now."

Lightning flashed, and thunder boomed.

"Time you waste chasing me, means lives lost that you could have saved."

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Alright, so the lightning wasn't working. That was fine. While it may have been her strongest spell, it certainly wasn't the only one, especially when there was an entire storm she could use against the lady. And if Hex was out here looking for something in this mess, then she was desperate. That meant this "treasure" was something important to Maleficent - which in turn, meant that Ray couldn't let her get her hands on it.

But she apparently wasn't so willing to fight for it. That was rich.

"Oh, but it does," she drawled. "Anything that draws out Maleficent and her lackeys is of interest to me." A gust tossed the boat to one side, throwing Ray to the floor. She skimmed off what she could of it and it churned around her, combining with the Aeroga she'd been preparing. "And you can try to guilt trip me all you like, but it won't work. If you know me, know my history, you'll know that some of the things I've done are worse than this." Okay, so maybe that wasn't entirely true. But who cared; Hex couldn't know everything. "Besides, I have insurance. What about you?"

The spell went hurtling at Hex. Throwing her overboard should be enough, Ray reasoned. The ocean was a cruel mistress, after all.

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So much for the peaceful solution. Execute plan B.

She'd have to be quick.

"Really, so do I!"

Hex swung her arm horizontally. Three black daggers shimmered into existence, and then flew straight through the winds. Thirty four swords left. Not even waiting to see if they hit, Hex stepped through a portal, and was suddenly a hundred feet above the boat accelerating towards Ray at nine point eight meters per second per second.

Ignore the vertigo, don't throw up, ignore the vertigo don't throw up...

Her left leg straightened out. This would hurt. This would probably hurt a lot. But she had to strike hard, and end the pursuit decisively.

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The bright dome of a Reflect flared into life around Ray, deflecting the knives. It was a good thing she'd finally made time to learn that with Yen Sid, even if it had taken forever and a quite a few distractions. Through the spell's surface, she saw Hex vanish into a Corridor of Darkness, and she struggled to hold Reflect in place as she awaited the next attack. Or, failing that, she'd just have to cast it again.

But another idea hit her as the spell faded. There was no way that she would be able to locate the woman in this mess - not without a proper light source. But if she was using the boat instead of a Corridor to get where she wanted to go, then she wouldn't stray far from it.

That left very few choices of where to place her exit portal. Ray could easily take advantage of that.

After ensuring that her footing was steady enough under the circumstances, she released her grip on the boat's railing. Arms spread wide, she started to pull in all of the wind in their immediate area and swirled it all together, forcing it to stay around and above the boat. She struggled to keep the massive winds under her control, but it wouldn't take long for Hex to reappear. And when she did, if this worked right, she wouldn't be setting foot on the boat again.

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Wind based defense. Hex thought as she fell.

20 feet.

That'll probably bleed off some momentuum, but as long I knock her off her feet...

10 feet.

5 feet.

Portal.

Hex sprang through a Corridor with her foot six inches from the small of Ray's back. Impact. OH GOD, MY LEG! I THINK I HEARD SOMETHING SNAP!

Her opponent was carried forward with her, through the whipping wind into the next corridor. The same spot as before, a hundred feet above the boat. While she fell away, Hex went through yet another corridor, adding another fifty feet to her altitude.

Time to use that Dragon Slayer.

What Hex called a Dragon Slayer, was basically identical to her Shadow Dagger technique. Which is a lot like saying a rifle bullet and a tank round are basically the same thing. Instead of a dagger or sword, it had more in common with a greek pillar someone had decided to sharpen an edge on. Throw a bit of spin on it, and you have a weapon that leaves behind property damage on par with an airstrike.

The Dragon Slayer flew straight past Ray, never coming closer than three feet, on to it's true target. The boat.

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She cried out in surprise as she fell forward, everything going cold as they went into the portal. The wind shouldn't have let the bitch touch her; what the hell?! Stupid Maleficent lackeys with their stupid Dark portals.

But, she thought darkly, watching Hex vanish again and the Dragon Slayer flying by. Either Hex had missed - an easy thing to do in this weather - or she wasn't aiming for her at all. A flick of a hand, and a Corridor of Light appeared, warming her limbs from the storm, and when she emerged again, she was back on her feet, on the boat, looking up at the weapon. Ray stole another lightning bolt from the skies in retaliation, melding her Light spell with it, aiming right for the incoming pillar.

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"ARE WE DONE!?"

"Three, two, one, aaaaaand that would be the last. Let's see what Ray is up to."

"WHAT!?"

"Easy, I'll take control. I may not be as powerful as you in general, but I am the better fighter."

Utter silence signalled Eliphas' reluctant admittance. Feeling free as a bird, Sid walked to one of the castle's many windows overlooking the sea beyond. He squinted his eyes to get a somewhat better view, and saw what could only be a battle, judging by the conveniently local currents of lightning, and the flashes and contortions of Light and Dark Corridors respectively. What he did next was possibly one of the most stupid and out of character things he had ever done, but he was in a hurry. Perhaps the presence of the more impulsive Eliphas in his mind had rubbed off on him, who knew?

Anyway, what he did was taking a running start, sprinting towards the very window he had just looked through, and opening a Corridor of Darkness at the last possible moment before jumping through. The exact location of the exit portal was a guessing game, but his guess was quite accurate as it seemed. As he shot through the air towards the boat Ray currently found herself on, he encased his right arm in a solid layer of darkness. With a primal warcry he punched the rather large odd looking projectile midflight, snapping it in two and sending the parts flying away. He would've roared 'FALCON PUNCH!' if he had thought about it, but as said before, he was in a hurry.

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With another thunderous boom, her Dragon Slayer was destroyed, before it even reached the boat.

That was unanticipated.

And then a rather eery sounding moan started. As was that. It can't be the wind, so...

Again, that low pitched, bizarre moan. Louder this time, and with more of a rumble behind it. Hex realized, as she started falling, that it was coming from below them.

A third time it rumbled, and Hex realized that they were at the center of the storm. Come to think of it, didn't I think that the macguffin would be guarded by something? A mottled green hand with fingers the size of train cars reached out from the center of the maelstrom. Oooooh, shit.

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"Lesley? What are you doing here; you should be helping with the relocation!" Ray shouted at him. She couldn't say she wasn't grateful for the help, though. Any little thing counted in a storm like this.

Then the boat shook, and it wasn't because of the storm.

She stumbled, regaining her questionable balance only a moment later. "What--" A hand rose from the water, and she stared at it in shock, nearly forgetting about the woman falling from above. "What the hell is that?!" As lightning flashed once more, she got a disgustingly good view of it, and stole a quick glance at Hex while she had the chance. From the look on her face, she hadn't summoned the thing, either...

This was ending up so much worse than planned, holy shit. It was supposed to be a fast battle, over just as quick as she'd gotten here. And now they'd have to face some monster of the deep and Maleficent's little bitch minion?

Awesome. That what's this week was. Just. Awesome.

After this was all over, Ray vowed to sit at home in a warm, hot, uninfected-by-Miasma bath for a fucking week.

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Aaand the Refugee has no idea what it is either.

Hex landed on the boat behind them, portaling the distance to control the fall.

Options, I need options. She thought furiously as the green... thing rose out of the ocean. Lightning flashed again, revealing the details of it's body, beyond warped and green.

And that's why it looks so creepy. It's made of thousands of Heartless, shipwrecks, and oh, god please say that wasn't a rotting body that fell out of it's chest.

It was vaguely manshaped, and glowing yellow eyes were scattered across it's body. Hex took a look at the face, and wondered if Sauron's eye was on lone.

I AM LEGION. FOR WE ARE MANY.

Hex forced herself to breathe. It was just a giant composed of Heartless forged into a single composite being. There was no way it should render her unable to move or think. There was absolutely no reason to panic. She was just in a little over her head. It was times like this one learned to swim.

And maybe if I keep thinking that, it'll be true.

"Please tell me that this isn't your normal turn of luck."

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Oh. Oh god. Oh god, that was so gross. Sure, the crew back in Port Royale had talked about sea monsters, but never like this. And it talked, too. She shuddered at its words. Cliche as they were, they were still creepy as shit.

Holy shit this is so fucked up why is this happening WHY.

"This" Ray yelled, gesturing at the thing, "is the sort of shit that happens when Maleficent is involved. It's never even mildly good with her; bitch fairy has got to do everything in extremes."

She had never seen anything even remotely like this before - so gross, so gross, ew ew ewwww - so it probably wasn't what normally happened as a world fell to Darkness. This was something specific to Atlantica, and considering the reason Hex had cited for being out here in the storm, it must have been some kind of guardian. Ray had half a mind to Ultima the thing, or to summon Bahamut, but she didn't want to do her enemy's work for her. And if it was a guardian, she and Lesley could possibly use it to destroy Hex, or, failing that, the treasure she was searching for.

"You must be pretty desperate to get your hands on that treasure, if you haven't gone running into a portal yet. Must be something really special. Important, even. Valuable." She turned to show Hex a wild grin, azure lightning flaring into life in her hands. "Wonder what Maleficent would say if we got it first."

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"Yeah I know, but Eliphas supersized the portal so we got-WHAT THE FLYING SHIT IS THAT THING!?"

The Royal Guard was cut short as the... thing in question rose from the seas below, along with the realisation that momentum was carrying him straight to it. He raised a gloved hand and summoned another Dark Corridor, warping him to the empty space a few metres behind the boat, where he promptly crashed into the ocean. Once he resurfaced he grabbed the small vessel by its edge, parts of his face covered by the same solid darkness found on his arm.

"Any ideas?" he asked, having calmed down somewhat.

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"Oh, you know how she is. 'Fail, and suffer the consequences,' and all that. I might not agree with her on a lot of things, but there's now doubt who's got the edge in power and cunning if I decided to back out." Hex adjusted her goggles.

"For the time being, I move we put aside our differences in the interest of actually surviving this encounter. All of us want the same thing, and share a common enemy. We can try to kill one another again as soon as this things is dead." Her old smile started to come back, white teeth shining in the darkness.

"I've got a spell that should do the trick. The downside is it has a charge time. Keep this brute busy, and I should be able to cast it. If any of you have another suggestion, I am entirely open to it."

Internally, Hex was still reviewing her options. Alone, she had absolutely no shot at killing this thing. Thanks to some lucky chance, she had, if not allies, then parties interested in the same thing and happened to be facing a common enemy. However, it was still possible that they would decide to try and kill her first, and then move on to the beast.

A part of her found it oddly convenient that when there was no way she could have done it alone, events seemed to have conspired to provide more people. Narrative Causality? No, I'm just reading too deep into it. Besides, I'm not the Hero, even if I'm trying not to be the main Villain.

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"Call me crazy, but I'm not too keen on handing you the perfect opportunity to destroy both us and that thing at the same time," Ray growled. "Especially not when Lesley and I could handle it on our own, if we had to. What about you, Lesley?"

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"My genre sense is tingling, and I can't help but agree," Lesley spoke, his body now completely encased in a protective layer, making his voice sound somewhat metallic. "While the three of us certainly would be able to defeat that monstrosity quicker, these sorts of temporary alliances rarely end up in favour of the good guys."

He cracked his knuckles to emphasise the point.

"But on another note, do we actually know what exactly she's after?"

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Oh wait. I got that wrong. I'm the henchman that got spotted while Macguffin hunting.

Hex sighed as she massaged the bridge of her nose over the goggle straps.

"No, you actually don't have any idea at all. Miss Ray just decided to chase me out to sea. Moving back on topic, we can either role with my original plan, or I can portal away for a moment while you fight this thing, return when you're exhausted, kill you, finish it off, and claim the prize. That's actually what I don't want to do."

"Whether or not you realize it, some bigger fish than me are swimming around. You people have the power and ability to deal with them better than I can. If I genuinely wanted you dead, you wouldn't be breathing. As things stand, I believe you people are an important and neccesary group."

"And if you can't trust my pragmatism, believe me when I say that the spell I'm thinking of using is basically only good for a large mostly stationary target. It's basically useless unless you're planning on cracking open a castle." Which wasn't quite a lie. Scaled down, it could work faster and be practical in combat. Of course, that was assuming it worked in the first place. She hadn't actually tested it yet, but it should function. In theory.

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"If we have the power and ability to deal with these dudes better than you, it stands to reason that we can deal with you, too," she retorted. Yes, Ray was only refusing now out of pure spite. No, she was not entirely above being this petty, even in a situation like this. Besides, they could portal out, too, if it became necessary.

And as far as she was concerned, they didn't need to know what Hex was after. As long as she didn't get her hands on it, mission accomplished. Who knew, maybe they could throw her to the monster out there and be done with it.

"And we have no reason to trust your pragmatism or your word regarding your abilities," she muttered, taking advantage of the momentary respite to gulp down an Elixir.

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Lesley merely raised both hands in silence, opting to stay out of what could grow to be a lengthy discussion. If it did, it would waste time, time they did not have as the monster did not remain idle during their chat. He observed the creature's approach with wide yellow eyes, in a typical 'oh crap' fashion.

"Pardon me for interrupting ladies, but uhm..." he cut in, pointing at the monster, which was now way too close for comfort.

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"So, we are at an impasse."

New plan. I can see the shore from here, and I can certainly spot them and this guy from the shore. There's a little old shack I scouted out earlier. I'll just hide there until these guys go away, since they can't track my portals and don't know if I'm hiding or truly gone. Better port' to another world first, before popping back to throw them off my scent if they can with weird Dark Spirit the knight picked up. Once they're gone, I'll just throw my spell, cap this son of a bitch, and make off with the rock. Everyone goes home feeling like they've accomplished something.

Still, I have to at least put up a show to make them think they've 'won'.

Hex brushed some of her hair back, that reckless grin back in full force.

"Well, I wonder just what I did to piss you off so much that you seem to take so much delight in in spiting me. In the mean time, you may wish to step aside." I've got to make this look good, after all. And, whether or not you believe it, I really don't want you people to die.

Hex unzipped her coat, taking one corner in each hand, bringing her arms back. I have other got to get an actual cape for casting this, or work out another way to generate shadows large enough to do this. This looks stupid.

Thirty-four swords, five Dragon Slayers, and throw in one of the shields modified to explode. All set to rip out of the shadows in her jacket. Maybe, if she was really lucky, it would kill it rather than just piss it off.

Let 'er rip.

And then they fired, right in the thing's chest.

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"Whoa!"

The Royal Knight dove out of the way as the Witch did her thing, creating a Corridor along the way, which transported him to a location high above the events unfolding below. It was a good thing the slight measure of overconfidence that came with his newfound powers had removed his fear of heights, otherwise he would've shat bricks at this point.

As gravity started pulling him down again, an idea popped into his mind. Time to get creative with portals.

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"Personal offense has nothing to do with it." Ray turned and walked into a portal. When she stepped out onto the deck behind Hex, the Corridor started to move, closing as it pooled around her feet. Her eyes narrowed. When she spoke next, her voice was quiet, cold.

"Light."

The Light magic on the deck suddenly surged forward like a living being. It lanced forward in a quick arc, racing for Hex's back.

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[i]Oh, Fuck.

Inbound Light spell, qualities unknown. Too close, can't see it, can't dodge it. Only three shields remaining, but deploy one anyway.[/i]

A black orb erupted behind Hex, it's shiny black material catching the light, before the 'Light' caught it. And burned straight through. It clipped her shoulder, throwing her to ground, and melting part of her coat away. The flesh beneath it was already turning blue, as though from a nasty bruise. Hex wanted to scream.

[i]Options, options, options! Pepper Spray? Useless! Rug trick? That should work![/i]

Dark Corridors erupted beneath all three of them, the other ends depositing Leslie and Ray fifty feet to either side of the boat. Hex's own portal dropper her unceremoniously on the floor of the shack she had been planning on retreating to earlier.

[i]Ow.

That... really... Hurt. What the hell... is that Light spell supposed... to do, anyway? Ok... Follow the plan... It can still work... Could work better, actually.[/i]

She dragged herself to the window, and braced againt the sill. Her legs didn't really feel steady, but this would have to do.

[i]Alright, I know where the target is...[/i]

She closed her eyes. Miles away, a large boulder slowly sank into a portal.

[i]Portals, set.[/i]

Finally, it fell through. And then it fell again. Hex had put the exit point directly above the entrance point. And it fell again. And again. And again.

[i]Gravitic acceleration in progress. Assumed pull of gravity is nine point eight meters per second, per second. Can't be bothered to do math right now. Hold pattern for two minutes. That should give enough acceleration to blast this thing.

Strange. I thought I was wet before, but now it feels like I'm sweating.[/i]

Breathing hard, Hex squinted out at the beast out at sea, focusing on it just in time to see the boat smashed by the things fist.

[i]Just got to hold it together for a little bit longer...[/i]

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