Library of the Ancients [MISSION]

Gula sighed as their quest to gather all the books was interrupted by a titan of earth and rock. "Well, I guess were getting our money's worth out of this mission, at least." Gula was secretly glad that Rina brought the book with them when they found the fourth book. At least then there wouldn't be any more searching. The titan raised its fist to punch down at the puny mortals. It reminded Gula of all those Darksides he had fought. Gula used Leopard's Stride to dodge the fist and transport himself, hanging onto one of the bookshelves. He conjured his Keyblade again and jumped down. He only had a finite time before the titan would lift the fist. Luckily, Roxas and Rina were already on the offensive and in Rina's case, the defensive as well. Gula allowed himself a smirk. He wouldn't have minded fighting alongside these guys. Perhaps things weren't as hopeless as he perceived it. Perhaps... the Master was right. Gula shook his head. Now wasn't the time to brood. He charged past Roxas and Rina, his Haste making him almost too fast. "Cover me!" Gula said as he sped onto the titan's arm, running up it.

If this was anything like the Darksides or really any other giant monster, going for the head and eyes was the key to winning the fight. Gula managed to get to the shoulder, weaving through the rocky spires that jutted from its flesh. Gula then unleashed Mark II Arcanum and his companions would see Gula seeming to move so fast that they were more of him, clones slashing in sync with the original Gula. They fought with sheer ferocity, unleashing a blinding combination of slashes, stabs and slices. Then Gula hopped backwards and activated Mastered Strike Raid, throwing his Keyblade at the titan's head. He then teleported to the other shoulder and caught the Keyblade, only to throw it again. Gula then repeated this process again and again, once more moving almost too fast to be seen clearly. It was clear that, before, he hadn't been giving it his all in the previous fights.

----------

Boost: With this, Gula can boost the power of his physical attacks by one tier higher for the duration. Only one Boost can be activated at a time. [Cooldown: 3 posts]

Thundaga: Gula calls forth a lightning storm of fierce proportions, dealing Heavy Damage to an opponent struck by these powerful bolts of Lightning. [Cooldown: 1 post]

Counter Zantetsuken: Gula puts himself in a defensive stance. He cannot use any more moves while in this stance. However, if the opponent is foolish enough to strike Gula, he/she hits nothing but air as Gula speeds past his opponent, leaving an afterimage and looking as if he attacked. A second later, the opponent is struck by a delayed slash from Gula's Keyblade, dealing Medium damage that pierces defenses. [Cooldown: 1 post]

Haste: Gula can cast the spell to augment his already prodigious speed. This boosts his agility to the point of being very hard to hit and increase the amount of moves he can use per post by one. [Duration: 1 posts][Cooldown: 4 posts]

Leopard's Stride: Gula relies on speed to outpace and outmaneuver his foes. Through this ability, Gula can Blink a short distance, moving so fast as to appear to be teleporting. This can be used to dodge attacks as well as close the distance to his opponent in an instant. [Uses: 1] [Cooldown: 1 post]

Mach II Arcanum: Gula closes the distance between him and his opponent. He then unleashes a blisteringly fast series of strikes, so fast that it looks like the opponent is being attacked by several clones of Gula. After that speedy combo, Gula unleashes a devastating finishing blow. This move deals Heavy damage. [Cooldown: 3 posts]

Mastered Strike Raid: Gula throws his Keyblade at an opponent. After it goes through an opponent, Gula blinks to his Keyblade and throws it again. He repeats multiple times, seeming to be able to clone himself through sheer speed, before stopping. This does Heavy damage. [Cooldown: 3 posts]

“Yeah Rina I’m good…” assured Roxas as he staggered his feet in a bracing stance and held Oathkeeper and Oblivion outward. Slow and deliberate breathes brought the power of Ragnarok welling up inside of him. As a coruscating matrix of burnt orange light began to coalesce around the blades, Roxas shifted his weight in preparation. He hadn’t quite gotten the hang of Ragnarok’s gnarly recoil yet, as a pretty embarrassing earlier trip to the Apothecary with a shattered clavicle and shoulder-blade attested. The young man squinted as he focused on the Titan’s movements, waiting until he was one hundred percent sure Gula’s hyper-speed blitzkrieg was done. It was awesome and all, maybe more then a little intimidating, but Roxas didn’t want to chance accidentally pegging Cheetahdude in the back within Odin-force.

It was then that Roxas saw the literature-lanche headed for his co-quester. Rina had some sort of shield thing but he wasn’t sure how strong it was. With only a second to decide the boy glanced from the monster to the onrushing storm of hard-backed books, individually merely bruising but together easily enough to break bones. Roxas obeyed his gut on this one. “Rina heads up!” Tintian steams of pure force rushed outward in a spiraling patterning, expanding and contracting like an dilating iris. The satisfying thundercrack of impact allowed to Roxas to turn his attention back to the creature, which was attempting to pulverize Gula. “Gula up and 2-o-clock!”

1) Roxas uses Ragnarok to try and repel the Titan’s Book Fall move.

Rina Croft @gula

Gula's strikes seem to hit harder than the young Foreteller was expecting. He had completely forgotten that the Titan was not made of earth but of the paper from the books. However, the Titan was still standing, which made it far more robust than anything else the group had fought in this adventure. It twisted its body, causing Gula to try and hold on. He then heard a shout from below, which sounded like Roxas. Gula looked up to find a giant fist coming right for him. However, there was something the Titan hadn't counted on. It was big and slow and probably didn't realize just how big and slow it was. However, Gula was the speediest Foreteller of the group. It would be like trying to swat a fly. So many villains liked to say they could but never realized how hard it actually is to purposefully swat a fly. Gula used Leopard's Stride to dodge the punch, disappearing from the Titan's shoulder and reappearing on top of a bookshelf, skidding to a halt. He looked over at his compatriots to realize that the Titan's body twisting from earlier was him trying to knock books off the shelf onto Roxas and Rina. Unfortunately, he had succeeded.

Rina was lying there, unconscious.

A brief flash of thought hit Gula's mind. A memory he kept trying to bury. The Keyblade War... how many others had he seen like that? She seemed about the right age, if a tad older than most of the combatants. Gula's Keyblade shook in his hand as his grip tightened, the knuckles on his hand turning white. Rage started to consume him. Rage and regret. Well, he wasn't going to let it happen again. Not this time. Gula turned to the Titan and charged through with his Keyblade. To someone like Roxas, it looked like a Sonic Blade. However, Gula disappeared and reappeared above the titan, charging through the monster again. He did a third time, a fourth, a fifth and soon he was moving so fast, it seemed like dozens of Gulas were charging through the monster. It was Gula's ultimate attack, his Ultimate Sonic Blade. Gula then finally appeared right in front of the Titan, breathing heavily from the exertion. He then sprinted to Rina and cast Curaga on her. "Come on, get up! You've come too far to give up now, Rina!"

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


Boost: With this, Gula can boost the power of his physical attacks by one tier higher for the duration. Only one Boost can be activated at a time. [Cooldown: 2 posts]

Thundaga: Gula calls forth a lightning storm of fierce proportions, dealing Heavy Damage to an opponent struck by these powerful bolts of Lightning. [CAN BE USED AGAIN]

Counter Zantetsuken: Gula puts himself in a defensive stance. He cannot use any more moves while in this stance. However, if the opponent is foolish enough to strike Gula, he/she hits nothing but air as Gula speeds past his opponent, leaving an afterimage and looking as if he attacked. A second later, the opponent is struck by a delayed slash from Gula's Keyblade, dealing Medium damage that pierces defenses. [CAN BE USED AGAIN]

Haste: Gula can cast the spell to augment his already prodigious speed. This boosts his agility to the point of being very hard to hit and increase the amount of moves he can use per post by one. [Cooldown: 4 posts]

Leopard's Stride: Gula relies on speed to outpace and outmaneuver his foes. Through this ability, Gula can Blink a short distance, moving so fast as to appear to be teleporting. This can be used to dodge attacks as well as close the distance to his opponent in an instant. [Cooldown: 1 post]

Mach II Arcanum: Gula closes the distance between him and his opponent. He then unleashes a blisteringly fast series of strikes, so fast that it looks like the opponent is being attacked by several clones of Gula. After that speedy combo, Gula unleashes a devastating finishing blow. This move deals Heavy damage. [Cooldown: 2 posts]

Mastered Strike Raid: Gula throws his Keyblade at an opponent. After it goes through an opponent, Gula blinks to his Keyblade and throws it again. He repeats multiple times, seeming to be able to clone himself through sheer speed, before stopping. This does Heavy damage. [Cooldown: 2 posts]

Ultimate Sonic Blade: Gula blinks out of his opponent's line of sight and then dashes through his opponent and repeats until dozens of Gulas are dashing through his opponents, striking each time. After a flash of light, Gula returns to his original position and his opponent has been dealt Extreme Damage. [Cooldown: 5 posts]

Blessed with superhuman abilities since his unnatural birth, Roxas had lived largely in ignorance of the fact that normally people couldn’t fall from skyscrapers and land on their feet until he’d begun interacting with Somebodies who weren’t also keyblade wielders. Somebodies had incandescent hearts but such fragile bodies. Injuries that were an annoyance to Roxas could scar them for life if they were lucky. While some of his former comrades might regard such weakness with disdain, Roxas had to privately admit wonder. How could Somebodies take the risks they did? How much more courage must it take to face danger without the assurance that you’d be walking it off a potion or two later?

These questions and more ran through the back of Roxas’ head as he staggered over to see Curaga’s emerald light suffuse Rina’s body. Verdancy flooded her veins like summer sunlight streaming through the veined leaves of stretching oaks. Pale ethereal petals drifted around her inert form on a windless breeze. Bruises vanished as cellular necrosis reversed and blood cells were revivified from blackened clots. Roxas wondered if it was enough, but didn’t want to screw things up by mixing his magic with a stranger’s for unexpected results. His own Light might be hitting a nail with a jackhammer.

Instead Roxas did his best to disentomb Rina from the avalanche of books crushing her. The normally cagey Gula’s disquiet brought on unease in Roxas. You become used to a certain view of people, their outward semblance becoming entrenched in your assumptions. This ‘first Master’ stuff aside, it was clear that Gula had way more expeirence at this Keyblader gig then himself. Even the stances Roxas vaguely recognized were taken a step further. That being of course when he could physically see the moves at all. Seeing the powerful and perpetually composed Gula start losing his cool wasn’t doing good things to the churning in Roxas’ gut.

While rushing through freeing Rina’s limbs and torso from the tome tomb, Roxas came across the last object of their search. Success was didn’t bring on much elation while nervously glancing for any sign of stirring from his companion. He stowed the prize for now. “C’mon Rina…hey can you hear us?”

1) Roxas moves all the books off Rina
2) Roxas retrieves Herbs of Istory

Rina Croft @gula

Gula uttered a sigh of relief as Rina woke up, his Keyblade disappearing from his hand. She seemed well and they had accomplished their mission. Gula's relief then turned to shock as she made some sort of joke. Well, perhaps it was just her method of coping. She probably didn't realize how much danger she was in. That made sense. Then she saw the worried faces of her comrades and... thought it had to do with the book. Confusion and mild anger replaced the relief in Gula as his face somehow managed to have five emotions being conveyed at the same time, even with a mask on. "You... No! Roxas has the book! We were worried about YOU! Just... gosh! You could've died and all you're worried about is the dumb book?! Just... Can't believe I did all that work to heal you for such ingratitude! It's not like I even like you or anything! Just... fffffffft!" Gula walked off a bit, sound a bit like a deflated rage balloon as his ability to convey thought through language devolved into unintelligible sounds and sentences that trailed off halfway through. Eventually, when he calmed down, he turned back to the group.

"Let's just... Let's just get these books back so we can go our separate ways. I think I've had my fill of libraries for the next few years." Gula then took out the books he had and started to walk back towards stairs leading back to the ground floor. He also didn't really wait for the others, figuring they would follow in their own time. He regretted getting so mad at Rina, but it was true that he was indeed worried for her. Oh well. What's done is done and he was unlikely either Rocksocks or Rina ever again. They'd probably forget about him as well. It was for the best, to be honest.

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

Boost: With this, Gula can boost the power of his physical attacks by one tier higher for the duration. Only one Boost can be activated at a time. [Cooldown: 1 post]

Haste: Gula can cast the spell to augment his already prodigious speed. This boosts his agility to the point of being very hard to hit and increase the amount of moves he can use per post by one. [Cooldown: 3 posts]

Leopard's Stride: Gula relies on speed to outpace and outmaneuver his foes. Through this ability, Gula can Blink a short distance, moving so fast as to appear to be teleporting. This can be used to dodge attacks as well as close the distance to his opponent in an instant. [CAN BE USED AGAIN]

Mach II Arcanum: Gula closes the distance between him and his opponent. He then unleashes a blisteringly fast series of strikes, so fast that it looks like the opponent is being attacked by several clones of Gula. After that speedy combo, Gula unleashes a devastating finishing blow. This move deals Heavy damage. [Cooldown: 1 post]

Mastered Strike Raid: Gula throws his Keyblade at an opponent. After it goes through an opponent, Gula blinks to his Keyblade and throws it again. He repeats multiple times, seeming to be able to clone himself through sheer speed, before stopping. This does Heavy damage. [Cooldown: 1 post]

Ultimate Sonic Blade: Gula blinks out of his opponent's line of sight and then dashes through his opponent and repeats until dozens of Gulas are dashing through his opponents, striking each time. After a flash of light, Gula returns to his original position and his opponent has been dealt Extreme Damage. [Cooldown: 4 posts]