---
Because he deserves a grand enough entrance---
The moment the words left his mouth, there was a loud
pop that echoed through the square. Under the fresh and extensive cracks of Riku's feet, there was a near blinding light, just before the cobblestone exploded in a geyser of rubble and concrete.
"I can't say I agree with your description of hell," the man's voice rang out as he stepped from his corner. His pace was measured, and calm like his tone, and when he stopped, he squared his stance as he peered solemnly to the corrupted one before him.
"But if you're so eager to see it, I'll be more than happy to bring you down there myself."________________________________________
He had arrived the same time the colossal creature did. Whatever pathway had been opened and dragged him along as well. The only difference was the monster had arrived smack dab in the middle of the celebration, while had ended up in a district farther from it. It gave him the benefit of seeing the titan from afar. The man in the suit furrowed his brow as he saw the shadowed shape against the blue of the night sky, illuminated by the last of a fireworks display now dying out.
"Great. One second in another city, and I'm already dealing with giant monsters."There was almost no inhabitants near where he was. It was almost eerie, seeing the desolate buildings in perfect condition, as the chorus of screams erupted ahead of him. He took off, heading straight for the destruction, taking a moment to curse his dress shoes. Definitely not the best attire, but it was not like he had been planning to be thrown into chaos so soon. And he was definitely not stopping to change.
When he approached the square, he saw the stragglers of people running, the remnants of the crowd still trying to escape, though not aimlessly. They all were heading in one specific point. Evacuating. That was good at least-
He did a double take as he looked at all the faces. Dog. Cat. Rat? But not one. Single. Human. For a split second, he gawked as his mind came to terms with this.
Chimeras? Whatever they were, were obviously not a threat, they did not even pay him heed, until one shoved into him and knocked him out of his reverie. He had a whole lot of questions and no apparent way of answers. Worry about that later, he told himself. Take care of the source of this first, especially not when there were giant gleaming balls of
electricity raining down on THE CITY HOLY-With a desperate jump he shot behind the wall of a building, keeping his head down and covered from the shock wave that resulted from it. He could practically
feel the static humming through the air. Enough to make his muscles spasm and twitch-
Oh no. He twitched another moment even once the light and sizzling died down, the aftershock enough to affect him even without the direct hit. Well, it
had been a close call. Electricity? How had it managed that, at that scale? Moving as well as he could, he took a look around the corner to better assess the situation and deem whether it was safe to come out, his mind whirring to come up with an explanation to this strange occurrence. Well, to this whole string of strange occurrences.
Which was hard not to do, since the source was now almost right in front of him, smack dab in the middle of the desecration and ruin and marching toward... something he could not see from here.
"Just stop it! Who are you? What do you want?"Damn it, there were still kids back there! He heard a groan, and he peered out further to see a man moaning in agony as he attempted to roll onto his hands and knees. Though from his face, the man was actually... a humanoid cow. Well, not the first strange thing he had seen today.
"Riku, snap out of it! It's me, Sora!""Hey," Roy muttered, feeling his motor functions coming back as he twitched a little less.
"You okay?""Uh, I- I think so..." he groaned.
"But, I don't understand. The Keyblade Master, he... he attacked suddenly, and his eyes were all red and scary, and-""Cut it out, Riku! You're stronger than whatever's making you do this!"Keyblade Master? More things he could not comprehend. And Roy could not brush it off as a dream, the painful shocks were more than enough to prove otherwise. He took a look at the battle, and stared in shock as a brown haired boy charged at a white -haired boy with blinding speed, yet the white-haired boy easily side-stepped, and released a blast something dark, smoky, foreign, but undoubtedly powerful. Roy did not get to see the result of the stunt, because a sphere of nearly pure white light struck the teen and sent him flying, crashing through the stone wall of a building.
Well, obviously this keyblade master, or Riku, was someone who wasn't supposed to be attacking innocent people but now seemed to be acting violent.
Is it the real him, or is someone else impersonating him? He had no way of knowing just yet. He looked at the giant... tortoise? That was what it was. And if he focused, he could see
something fluttering on top of it...
"Listen," he cut in suddenly, keeping his eye on the marching tortoise while reaching into his pocket.
"I'll take care of him. Can you stand? You need to get out of here. Evacuate with the others immediately.""I need you to hold him for a moment. If we can keep him still, I might be able to cast Faith and get whatever that controlling darkness inside him is back out.""Huh? But, you gotta get out too! With that giant monster thing and Riku, you don't stand a chance! Only Sora can fight against him!"Roy only partially heard him, cursing the fates when he saw Riku emerge from the wreckage in a calm, leisurely pace. Damn, another homunculous- no, he realized as he looked at his arm. He's not regenerating. That's a normal human, but he's not reacting to the pain. Then Roy finally got a good look at his eyes.
"Sora! I need you to help me get close enough to cast my spell at full strength! Whatever that Darkness is, it's furious."Roy had no idea what the hell was going on. But even in this situation, he would do what he had been sworn in to do: protect the people. Even if those people, at the moment, happened to be weird half-human half animal things.
Eh, he felt like nothing could really surprise him anymore, after everything he had come across.
"Worry more about getting yourself out of here." He pulled on his right glove and clenched his fist, stretching the red transmutation circle in the air.
"I stand a better chance than you might think."And that was how Roy Mustang found himself in the middle of the fight, playing the part of an extra piece to bring an end to whatever this was. Normally, he would have gone after the giant monster, but he definitely was not going to leave these kids to fight alone. And he could not be sure if they knew how to fight someone to delay them, without causing serious injuries. He had not seen everything this kid had gone through, but with a broken arm and who knew what else, chances were, if he kept fighting while taking damage like this, he could get killed in the process.
Or, his friends held back as he attacked at full strength, and ended up killing them. Roy was not about to let either option happen. So long as the focus was on him, both chances could be avoided. But from what he had seen, this kid was
strong.
So he would have to choose and calculate his attacks carefully, if he wanted to buy some time without destroying the kid in the process, at least long enough for the kids to get the mouse in the ball dress (not even going to linger on that) to cast whatever it was she needed to stop this nonsense. Even the explosion he had just created was controlled. He had aimed the center point several yards in front, and to the left of the target, meaning he wouldn't suffer the damage of the heat itself, or the direct hits of all the rubble. Just some. The broken rocks and dust made the attack look worse than it really was. Created a giant dust cloud, more than anything. At least he had gotten his interest.
He also sincerely hoped those others were smart enough to figure out that he was on their side, and didn't try to attack him in a twisted attempt to save their "Keyblade Master". Then again, he probably did not look like much of a threat, the way he was now. Underestimating him might have been in his best interest.
But at the end of the day, more than anything, he sincerely hoped he'd be able to get some damn answers.
"Eyes on me," He said sharply, snapping his fingers with another pop, and releasing a small explosion in front of his newest target.
_____________________________________________________
Cooldowns:
Demolition- five posts
Small explosion- one post