World Tree MUSH

    It's a sticky situation, and there are any number of ways those who show up could have heard about it. The Gardeners may have contacted someone asking them to look into it, or they may have heard of the situation on their own. Or perhaps it's just the right place at the right time, or even the locals asking for help.

    Whatever the manner of learning about it, the situation is bad but not unsalvageable. In fact, there's a plan in place to fix it! A recent 'collision' between two Worlds has resulted in some unexpected flooding, the water levels rising swiftly. Several important villages were in the path of this flooding, but since evacuation was difficult, and the flooding would be temporary but long term, a variety of solutions were offered. In this case, several barricades and a lift of supports of the more vulnerable buildings had put the village largely out of way of the flooding, and the small fleet of sailing vessels were scouting out any problems. At least, that's the plan.

    When people are arriving, through Vine or boat in one of the three rivers approaching it, the situation is just getting messy. A number of motorized boats are sputtering about, having some trouble in this area, but each bearing aquatic-equipped men and women who look like soldiers. And the sailboats? Torn apart by what looks like a gust of wind, and the culprit there is likely the black-winged, dark-skinned woman perched atop one of the buildings that isn't yet being attacked.

    Attacked? Yes, because the soldiers are engaged in pitched battle with the villagers, arrows flying about. Vivian, the woman on the building, is able to ignore with her wind abilities the occasional one sent her way, but she doesn't appear to be further messing with the town, just watching. The real danger is that the soldiers are attacking the supports as well, causing dreadful creaking and the start of leaning on some of the buildings. It's obvious that they're attempting to bring the village down to make the flood clear it out. Kind of a roundabout way to take care of the village though...

  Somewhere in Hyrule, a huge war-steed is galloping along the road, fleeing from the high-pitched shrieking of a hunting Twilight Messenger. Clutching close to its neck is a small figure in a hooded black robe. The figure might be ominous, but the wind has blown the hood back, revealing a young woman with exhausted features, dark blonde hair, and summer-blue eyes. Oh, and her ears are pointed.

  It was not actually her intent to come here, but in one moment her horse's hooves are on Hyrulean soil; and the next, the huge courser's hooves thunder onto the terra firma of whatever this place is.

  Crouched low over the horse's neck, the elfin woman doesn't so much as bat an eye, clutching the saddle like her life depends on it -- it's clear enough that this young woman, whoever she is, is a very accomplished equestrian. She devotes the entirety of her effort to controlling her steed, as she has a passenger behind her.

  Her eyes widen as they follow the ground before her horse's hooves; she barks an order and leans sideways, swerving the horse around a group of archers aiming at the skyborne Vivian. The young woman's head snaps up to note the figure, immediately twisting into a sour expression. She tilts her head sideways.

  "Terra!" She has to bellow to be heard over the wind, and her voice is impressively clear. "We must do something, before they are all slaughtered! Hold tightly; I will aim for that group, over there!"

  It's a lot of ground to cover, but she believes in the raw brute strength of her big angry steed. He surges forward towards the nearest group of armoured soldiers, hooves tearing up clods of earth and flinging them behind himself; so large is his stature that the rider crouching behind him could be missed.

How long had it been? Traveling from place to place after going through what had seemed like a hedgegate--which by now he was pretty sure was not hedge-related after all... or was it? Had it been months, or just weeks? Leo wasn't necessarily the best at keeping track of a calender, let's face it--even if he still had the calender function on his phone. Said phone was also acting screwy since he'd gone through that portal--which wasn't too surprising, the hedge did funny things to cellphones in general, nevermind smartphones. You never knew what you were gonna hear when you actually lifted the receiver to your ear--usually something you didn't want to hear.

The real question is--how the hell did he wind up in this backwoods type of area? After encountering the place--he'd thought he might try to perform a little bit to see if the people there might throw him some coins--but then he noticed just how /rustic/ it seemed here and then had to think better of it. What if they thought he was some kind of demon or monster and decided to run him out of the place? Decisions.

When the place suddenly experienced a flood however, he figured it was time to make himself scarce. Or he would have, if he was 'smart'--he had no business interfering in the business of mortals, at least as far as the Changelings of his Freehold had been concerned--they tended to try and keep a low profile.

When it came down to it though he realized he just couldn't leave the people like that--especially when armed men on jetskis showed up. He was a foreigner, he knew--and also was strange, that was also undeniable--but he had to do something--unfurling the large AK-style rifle from inside his large furred cloak--he brought it to bear and began trying to lay down a sort of covering fire against the soldiers.

    "Well, shit. Where's Costner when you need him?" A white haired man with an aversion to shirts muses as he inspects things from a tall, TALL tree. He's already given up hope of trying to fight off leeches and mosquitoes, beyond one last swat at his neck. Wiping the remains of a mosquito from his gloved hand, Dante sees a soldier on a jet ski, and he pops his neck as he proceeds to leap off the branch.

    By sheer defiance of physics the Son of Sparda lands unharmed on top of the jet ski. "Hey, bro! What's up?" He grins cheerfully, throwing on his red coat as he nonchalantly kicks the soldier off the vehicle before taking the controls.

    "Ah crap, guess the Smokers made it after all. If Zombie Dennis Hopper's behind this, I'm outta here!" Drawing a sawed off shotgun from his coat, he takes aim at one of the boats, firing away and not doing much in the way of reloading as he tries to take out the crew.

    He has no idea what's going on here, just that bad guys are trying to flood an already waterlogged hamlet...and the good guy in Dante just refuses to let that go unanswered!

    Cornell had, admittedly, only recently learned of his own existence here in the World Tree, but having looked into parallel dimensions in the past and even fought in one, it was nowhere near as jarring for him as it probably should have been. What was truly jarring, rather, was the level of industrialization that some of these worlds seemed to possess.

    As a result, when a call went out from the Gardeners about two worlds apparently crashing into one another, Cornell felt a bit akin to the victims of the resulting accident. There wasn't any way that he was going to miss this one! The fact that some individuals were traveling on motorized watercraft, however, was a bit disheartening. He was, after all, on nothing more than a little wooden raft!

    Well, at least he was anyway...it seemed that a powerful gust was more than enough to throw him straight off of it and into the rising river. Heading toward the shoreline, he saw that the village itself looked more like something he was used to, but soldiers were attacking support structures in a scene that reminded him far too much of his homeland.

    As soon as he was back on dry land, albeit dripping himself, Cornell snarled a bit and glared forward, allowing his rage over what he perceived to be an injustice on behalf of these soldiers to alter his body. Throwing his arms to his side, his countenance quickly extended into the muzzle of a wild animal as he released a bloodcurdling howl. With his teeth elongating into fangs and fur springing forth from each follicle on his body, Cornell soon took the form of a nightmarish werewolf and ran with all of his might toward the nearest group of warriors. He hoped that a blur of claws and teeth would be more than enough to put a stop to their antics.

    Terra only wanted to ride along, see a bit of scenery and enjoy a friend's company! Fearsome beasts were a given, sure, but this is something altogether new and frightening! So, the half-esper, as Zelda drives the horse into full on flight, clutches at her companion to avoid being flung away!

    Then we're not being chased. More importantly, we're somewhere else. Where the very atmosphere of the world feels different and the sound of battle filters her way. "Uh?!" There's violence all around and she only just has time to take it all in before Zelda's riding down a group of archers about to attack a lone figure on a roof.

    "Right!" Rather than dismount and fight on her own, she aims to protect her and Zelda's flanks as well as the apparently innocent villagers being assailed by the comparatively well organized military group. Up come her hands and she cast waves of fire about the town, cutting off skirmishes and pursuits as she's able. Anything she can do to safely disrupt the combat, she'll try- but she only really has fire to offer at the moment.

Luke seems to have picked the worst (or best?, likely worst) time to try to explore the multiple wonders that the world tree has to offer!. One moment he is in Alola with Dynamo, checking on his backpack, and stepping through a vine, the other he is in the middle of violence, and guns!. It's certainly a bit startling to the kid, and causing the large, round lighting tiger to snarl and begin sparking with energy.
     The scene is kind of clear, after a moment, people are attacking a town, and he must do something to help!.
    Luke notices people already going after the Soldiers, and realizes that he should help as well, no time to over analize!. His battling instincts come in, glancing at the nearest group of soldiers, "Dynamo!, use Discharge on them!" The round tiger rushes with surprisingy agility towards the designated target, the sparks building to bolts of power shooting from it's fur, before it lets out a loud growl and a large bolt of power is fired at the group, the electric blast spreading around the warriors, hoping to knock down or stun some of them at least.

    Well, it looks like the buildings are still buckling and the people are screaming, because nobody is coming to help them! That's not a bad choice though... because as hooves smash into the men, they scatter in surprise, since they're now being attacked from two fronts. They're well-trained, so they start to collect themselves quickly...

    But then they're being shot at, and waves of fire are coming their way. It causes a panicked scramble right into the jaws of a wolf, while Dynamo blasts with an electrical storm that sends the retreat into a re-retreat, and makes them realize they have nowhere to go. Blades come out, attempting to stab at Cornell and Zelda's horse, while a few crossbowmen line up to take shots at Dante. The others are, for now, left alone... partly because there aren't many men left!

    Vivian stands up and considers, spreading her wings. "Hmm... I suppose it wouldn't be a good idea for me to lend my own support, this time," she muses. Which means she is... not doing anything? How odd.

    A loud crack sounds from the West though. One of the larger supports has snapped. It's still up, but the fall might kill anyone in there, or at least seriously injure them.

  Black-gloved hands clutch at the reins as Hyrule's last princess braces for impact. Her stallion plunges for the soldiers at a full gallop with absolutely zero regard for his own safety. Either he is confident in his strength, or he trusts in his mistress. Whatever the case, he's a one-ton wrecking ball of iron mean muscle thundering straight for the men.

  Zelda bares her teeth in exertion as she stays the course, ignoring the blades that fall, although one scores her thigh and draws a snarl of pain and determination. Another whips across the flank of her horse, and with a terrible bellow, the animal plunges forward into the nearest soldiers. Zelda releases the reins with one hand, drawing her sword -- a pretty ornamented rapier -- and pointing forward like a cavalry leader shouting the charge. "Terra! Focus on those!" She indicates a group of soldiers that she's now steering the horse towards. "Use your fire; drive them to me!"

  It looks like the rapier is only for signalling, though, although it looks very ornate; fit for a king. No, there's no need for a weapon. Her horse pretty much is her weapon. And she looks pretty content to use him as such, guiding him straight for the next group of soldiers with the touch of a heel; the fingers of her other hand still clutching the reins.

    Dante, whooping and hollering like a madman, seems completely disinterested in the crossbowmen as they fire at him. He keeps firing until a lucky shot pierces his jetski's engine and another hits his shoulder, and he angles the craft toward dryish land. "Guess it was good while it lasted...

    He leaps off the jetski just before it crashes, landing on top of a rather large hamster...tiger, thing and using it like a springboard as he leaps back into the air. A red circle forms beneath Dante's feet, springing him again until he hits the ground. A loud crack reaches his ears, and he looks west and east briefly. "Guess we better take care of that." He remarks, before whistling sharply at the two women on horseback. "YO! Not to tell you how to do you, but it sounds like the walls are gonna come down!" He calls out, before he takes off in a sprint towards the West side building.

    He swaps the shotgun out for a massive longsword on his back, the sword looking like it was meant more for decoration than actually killing anything. Dante then cuts down the door, and any other barricades keeping the people inside that building. "So uh, you guys may wanna get a hammer and nails. The walls sound like they're about to fall over any moment now." He says casually.

    Terra's still kind of finding the extent of her abilities and she's not really had a great many opportunities to really explore her limits. Sweeping curtains of fire along with more flashy, hissing lines raking the damp ground to add to the chaos the soldiers are experiencing. They're not alone, as well! There's others helping, so that lets her narrow her focus just a bit.

    The crack of a support under one of the buildings steals her attention for a moment but Zelda's call brings her back to the immediate threat of more soldiers. If she'd been paying better attention she might have perhaps stopped the horse or Zelda from being hit! Luckily, she's mostly escaped harm. For now. At the princess' direction, she funnels in the remainder of the troops with fire, setting Zelda up before Dante steals her attention away.

    She fires back with a horrified look but she doesn't say anything; was there something on his face? Oh, no, more like she doesn't know what to do about that is all. After a bit of a delay, "The buildings...!" Then, ever so helpfully, she'll tug at Zelda and point to where there seems to be some obvious structural failure happening.

    Yes, very good, but is she going to do something? Nope, not jumping down from the tank horse just yet. She would probably only lose time in that case.

As it turned out, the poor Lost was joined by a woman on a huge horse, a boy commanding electric gerbils, and a guy in a huge red trenchcoat to fight the soldiers attacking the village. Leo moved with supernatural grace and speed, his white boots tromping through the dirt as he helped the others beat back the invading attackers. He didn't like to shoot people, of course--he'd actually used his rifle more to forage for food in the last could of days than anything--but there was no choice to be had here--fight, or die--or escape, and let the people here suffer--which he was not about to do.

"EAT IT, jack-booted thugs!" of course, he was also prone to getting just a bit over-emotional, as it were. He huffed and brushed long black hair back, tucking it along his elongated bat-like ears. He breathed hard, and leaned over to blow into the ejection port of his AK--it had started to get quite hot, and he didn't want the upper receiver to fail or have an ejection issue--not that it tended to, but he was still applying basic firearms care.

Seeing that the areas of the city supported by struts are collapsing, he instead moves to try and direct those that are free to help in freeing people from the houses they are trapped in.

"Hey, come on over here people--lets move it--help us get these people out of here!" he uses his voice and the general spectacle of himself to aid in this.

    With panicked soldiers running straight into his clutches, Cornell found himself quickly overcome by his usual animal lusts. It would have taken a bit for him to realize what was going on as a result. Eventually, having realized what was going on around him in spite of his compromised state, the wolfman quickly kicked what he presumed to be an unconscious soldier to his side as he quickly noticed that there were blades striking at him.

Snarling in immediate rage, he took a few wounds to his side and chest before he turned around completely and did his best to reach out his claw to grasp the throat of any individual who dared to stab at him. Considering the kind of creature he was, he didn't fear such weapons unless they were crafted of silver. Those could have been deadly, but once he was able to dispatch these individuals, Cornell knew only all too well that his unholy abilities were going to take over.

For now, though, he did his best to simply swallow the intense pain of it as did damage to the soldiers and started to run immediately toward the collapsing support struts to the east. While werewolves were certainly known for their speed, Cornell silently doubted whether or not he was going to be able to get there in time to make a difference.

SIlently shoving all such thoughts out of his mind by focusing instead on the pain of his sealing wounds, the lycanthropic warrior used every last bit of speed he could muster to get to that support in time and bolster them up. Eventually he found that he was running on all fours, using his forepaws more like feet. To the vantage point of an outside observer, it would have appeared like he were in a full gallop before he finally got to his destination and did what he could to hold up the crumbling wreckage.

    Luke blinks as a white haired guy with guns lands on Dynamo, "Be careful!" he shouts, Dante thankfully bouncing away before getting zapped by the sudden flare of electrity from the Electiger, which stumbles, but seems more surprised than hurt. Seems the combat is over, or at least, it is teh first thing to come to his mind, as he hears the very clearly bad noises coming from the buildings. At first, he panics, he really has no clue on how to fix the supports!. But helping people out of the trapped houses, that he might be able to do.
     "Dynamo, Return!" he calls, the big electric cat dissapearing in a beam of red light, only to be replaced by another creature, looking a bit like a mix of a bear and a big cat. "Agni!, come with me!" he is not as fast as the others, but he does make his way to the collapsed buildings, "Use strength to help keep the supports!." The creature growls and nods, moving to the closest of the creaking pillars and planting it's large paws, growling as it strains to hold the building up. Luke assists on getting people out of the way.

    The soldiers were taken by surprise by the rush of attacks on them, so Zelda and Terra finishing cleaning them up isn't hard. In a few moments, many are laying on the ground... killed by gunfire or fangs, or perhaps just unconscious in other cases. The remainder were routed, retreating or surrendering, and from the shouts it sounds like they're more mercenaries than loyal soldiers.

    In fact, Vivian doesn't seem very intent on stopping the heroes from thwarting her plans, today. She hasn't made a move, though she is watching with some fluttering of wings. "Now that is interesting." The lovely woman sighs, and then smiles, for some reason. "Well now I really can't get involved, so I suppose I will take my leave." She spreads her wings, getting ready to just fly off. "A pleasure seeing you again," she adds to Zelda.

    Of course there are plenty of distractions. The Pokemon summoned rushes over to help Cornell, and the werewolf feels the weight of the supports crushingly on his back... but also the weight lessening as people are moved out.

    That's because Dante's sword has cut open one of the blocked doors, and the villagers are pouring out. Some of the other villagers, called over by the flamboyant Changeling Leo, are there to catch them as they fall.

  The horse scatters men like toy soldiers, although both princess and steed sustain more blade wounds. Zelda snarls in pain but does not flinch or turn aside. There is steel-true determination in her eyes.

  No sooner do the soldiers fall than she jerks her head in an abbreviated nod to Terra, turning the horse to a full-steam gallop for the falling western support. It doesn't take long to reach it, and no sooner has she gotten close than Zelda flings herself from the still-galloping horse, leaping and landing with surprising confidence.

  Panic momentarily overrides her senses as the wall cracks ominously. She flinches before rushing forward, slapping both hands against the damaged structure, voice rising in a rushed litany of prayer. The words are strange and archaic, and the power that suddenly springs to life around her is like a bonfire springing to life, blunt and obvious.

  The woman is a standing fount of divine energy, touched by some manner of gods. It doesn't just surround her but /suffuses/ her; her own energies as caught up in it as though she herself rather than just the power she calls were something god-touched.

  Her hands flare and glow in brilliant, golden-white light. Curiously, her hair seems just a little lighter in the wake of that radiance, and her eyes strangely darker, like the crisp hard blue of an autumn sky. Her presence, on a supernatural level, suddenly seems bizarrely... /greater/. She seems to be conjuring some kind of barrier around herself, using leverage and position to try and support the damaged structure.

  "Terra!" Zelda snarls in her exertion. If the pressure is too great, it will shatter her barrier and crush her like an insect. It's not a very efficient use of her divine power, but it's all she has to work with. She is a leader of men, though, and a protecter of the same; her instincts drive her and will not let her back down any more than her sense of responsibility. "Help me; somehow!"

Leo does his best to attract attention and get people helping to get people out of the homes that are obstructed along with Dante, the Lost wishing he had more time to talk with the half-demon, he moves with a supernatural grace that rivals his own--even as people rushing past nearly bowl him over--slipping and falling before pulling himself back up. Being a selfless git is a dirty job sometime, noticing the dark mud stain now showing on the edge of his white button-up shirt.

"Yechh--aww that is /never/ gonna come out--lets go people we can't wait 'till manana!" he joins in using the butt of his rifle to break open doors and tries to usher people out of the way of the likely impending flood.

    Dante steps aside to let the civilians bail from their building. "You guys better get to high ground, unless you're all really good swimmers." He advises casually, before he takes off after the East Side. On the way, he stops by a storehouse and gets an idea. Grinning, he kicks down the door before emerging with SEVERAL support beams over his shoulder.

    Ever seen Commando? You know that bit at the beginning where Arnold is carrying a tree? Imagine him hoisting like six of those. Dante isn't some kind of genius macguyver, but he does know a thing or two about not making something break.

    He slams the beams into the ground one after another, using them as a diagonal pike to keep the walls standing for a bit longer. A SHITTON of duct tape helps, hopefully.

  The horse scatters men like toy soldiers, though it costs him and his rider more injury. Zelda snarls in pain but she neither flinches nor turns aside. There is steel-true determination in her eyes.

  As soldiers fall she jerks her head in acknowledgement to Terra, turning the horse toward the collapsing western front and spurring him to full gallop. It doesn't take long to get there. No sooner has the horse arrived than Zelda lunges for the ailing structure.

  What exactly is the fragile-looking woman going to do? She rushes forward and slaps hands with fingers splayed against the structure, voice rising in a rushed litany of prayer. Power surges to life around her, invisible but overwhelming to the spiritually sensitive; pure light, like a bonfire crackling suddenly.

  Divine energy radiates from the woman like heat from the sun. She's touched by gods of some kind. It doesn't just surround her but suffuses her and rushes forth from within her very being. Golden-white light surrounds her and wells from her hands as she forms a barrier out of it, trying to support the wall.

  It must be taxing. Her chest is heaving as she tries to maintain her own barrier. Curiously, her hair seems just a little lighter in the wake of that radiance, and her eyes strangely darker, like the crisp hard blue of an autumn sky. Her presence, on a supernatural level, suddenly seems bizarrely... /greater/.

  "Terra!" Zelda calls to her friend. If she doesn't have help holding it, the failing support will crush her, but it needs to be evacuated. Backing out isn't an option. "Help get everyone out!"

  Oh, hey, she knows that voice. Zelda's eyes snap upward, by now slightly bloodshot, blood trickling from her nose and the corner of her mouth. Her mouth tightens at the sight of Vivian.

  "The feeling is very much not mutual," she grates between ground teeth, shaking her head and throwing her attention back into her efforts. "Wherever you go, disaster seems to follow!"

    Though Cornell couldn't have possibly understood what a summoned pocket monster was, he was more than grateful to have some assistance with the eastern side supports. Even if he was a rather strong individual, which was rather an understatement for a shapeshifted werewolf, this was among the most difficult tests of strength he had yet faced.

    Considering that he was feeling the weight begin to seriously crush against his back while his previous wounds were still wearing on him, Cornell wasn't entirely sure how long he would have been able to hold up. That being said, he once more decided to focus on the pain more than anything else to shove feelings of doubt out of his mind. In spite of what he had seen in the past, the werewolf knew that he had to give into the animal side of his brain as opposed to anything related to so-called rational thinking.

    For now, he shot over a brief glance to the other...well, he was sure that creature wouldn't have been a bad way to internally put it, seeing as they were both monsters in a certain sense. Soon he threw back his head, once more letting out a howl that was more like a soft grunt. It was difficult to control the urge to let out noise as it was a natural part of his being, but his human side kept telling him that making too much noise was an excellent way to make the structure around him crumble even faster than it already was. As a result, he finally just shut his eyes and used the remainder of his discipline to keep himself from budging. It certainly wasn't easy since he was fighting against wild animal lusts that were, essentially, a force of nature.

    Slowly it seemed that the burden was getting lighter, however, presumably because there were fewer people there to deal with. Better yet, whatever it was that elf woman was doing...it made it look, superficially, like they were going to win. He lacked sense magic, but his supernaturally-attuned beast senses were more than enough to detect that something was going on.

    The ride across the town is fast, rough and Terra foolishly chooses to keep her hands free. Just in case anything unexpected happens! The hired soldiers are in full flight but it never hurts in case there's a straggler!

    Still, when the horse grinds to a halt she's likewise off of her seat and she lands a bit less gracefully than Zelda. She doesn't fall but she very nearly does. Here, she hesitates. Zelda's direction goads her into action and she goes for the doors, drawing her own rather thin sword and slashing with wild desperation.

    Her sword, not meant for such use, would surely fail at breaking down the door but something happens as she steps into the blow. Her blade sketches a shining crescent of raw magical power that sweeps out, impacts the door and in her panicked confusion she can only hope it /just/ breaks open the door.

    "I-I'm trying!" Whether successful or not, she'll step back and turn to Zelda, summoning up her magic in preparation to lend her strength to Zelda's own efforts.

    This is certainly an interesting dose of perspective to the otherwise rather sheltered half-Esper.

    Luke wishes he had more to offer to the situation, but he has to keep an eye on Agni, to bail the creature out if things came out badly. While he can't sense supernatural things, he does turn to see Zelda doing something that he is certain no normal human can do... And Dante is not far behind either!. He really feels like a small kid compared to those. Still, "Agni! keep it up! shouldn't take much longer!". The large 'bear' growls and glances back at the odd wolfman near it, certainly feeling a similar level of strain, focusing on keeping up the east side, the mark on it's forehead glowing as the pokemon emanated warmth. "Agni, no! keep cool!". IT did sense... something odd, nearby, but not being able to see, it trusts Luke's lack of concern about it and ignores it.

    Leo busts open some doors in a hurry, and with Dante propping up the supports, he has a steady platform to walk on. Thus Agni and the werewolf get the half-demon helping them out, and for a creaking moment, everything settles. It obviously won't hold long, but the entire platform is level long enough for Terra to zip up next to Leo and suddenly blaze like a beacon, much like Zelda herself is.

    And what of Zelda? Propping up the West side is entirely on her... in a glowing glorious shine of divinity to the eyes of Vivian. It's enough, because the villagers are moving. There are only a few people left, and as the villagers come up they call out, "Just a few more seconds and we'll have everyone! Th-thank you strangers!" They're... frightened of the power they've seen, but with an obvious villain to blame the assault on, a werewolf beast is met with wariness more than outright fear. At least for now. And with Luke controlling his monsters, they're willing to put aside their fear to rescue their comrades.

    Someone is behind Zelda, and reassures her, "I think you've bought us enough time, whatever you've done."

    Vivian tsks, "Hmm... the Black Swan heralding Disaster, without malice bringing doom upon the cities around her. While the heroes display their hidden power and monstrous natures in a noble attempt to thwart fate. It's a lovely song, I think I will make one for all of you." She flutters fingers and blows a kiss, then leaps up to take to the air properly. "Slaughtering peasants makes me ill, so giving you this victory is not so grudging this time. I will find some other way to break this world, perhaps one less... bloody. Congratulations, heroes~" She takes to the air to speed off.

  Easing up until she stands as close to the wall as she can, Zelda keeps her palms flat against the stone, using it as a support for herself as much as the structure leaning on it. The light radiating from her is almost too bright to see her, as though it were radiating from her very skin. Her head is bowed, now, ragged breath fluttering the wind-tossed hair fallen into her face.

  She turns her head to spit and clear her mouth, ignoring the spatter of blood on the mud at her boots. She's shaking by this point, but the villager behind her reassures her that she's done enough.

  Zelda gives it a few more seconds, just in case, although it costs her. Once she decides it's been long enough, she tears herself away from the wall with a ragged cry of exertion and pain. She stumbles a half-step away, the light winking out like a snuffed candle. Unless someone plans to catch her, the last princess of Hyrule will crumple to the ground like a string-cut puppet, bleeding from the nose and mouth. Whatever strength she summoned up, it cost her. Maybe she just needs a few minutes. Or some healing. Probably the latter. Yup.

    By the time villagers approach Dante, the Son of Sparda just throws a casual salute their way, before he notices Zelda falling over. He takes off like a man possessed, sprinting towards her before suddenly zipping towards the cloaked elfin lady like he just teleported the rest of the way towards her position to catch her.

    "Hi. You don't look so good, lady." He manages a cheeky grin, carrying her in his arms like a weird inverted version of that statue with the Virgin Mary and Christ.

    Terra might wanna hurry.

"Phew... I didn't know this would turn into a Rescue 911 situation," Leo, tired and haggard after all that excitement, re-slings his rifle and proceeds to get out of the way so the people that are not taking part in the evacuation and instead are trying to shore up the defenses of the supports (no pun intended) can get on their way.

"Good thing that lady on the horse was here--it was like freaking Galadrial showed up," he brushed his forehead, ash-black hair mussed, to add insult to injury. "Gonna need a shower, too..."

It is then that Leo notices that the area apparently needs to be given some distance, and so he does that. Hopefully he can find someplace safe to sleep where it's more dry!

    Luke waits for the last moment as well, or at least, for Agni to signal him to retrieve him, and of course, does his best to assure the big fluffy bearlike thing is not going to cause trouble. He will gush and fanboy over the clearly supernatural things around him the moment he is sure Agni is out of trouble. He does steal glances at Dante, Zelda, Terra, and the wolfman!. Cornell might find it a bit odd Luke is more intrigued on the others, rather than him, but then again, he didn't spot the transformation, and... Luke has seen at least one animal like person or two already. The fluffy beast is 'recalled' with a beam of red light, into an orb he holds in his hand, misterious!.

    Stunned by what she's done, stares for a few long seconds before she realizes everything's okay! People are escaping the stricken building, Leo makes a comment and she looks up. "Hm?" Oh, right, Zelda!

    Before she says anything to the man, she turns toward the princess and manages to get about a step before Dante's caught her and stopped that fall. Still, she trots over and looks Zelda over. "Ah... Right. I'm sorry!" Then the half-Esper lifts her hands over her friend as her body tingles with the power she's channeling; healing, lots of it, all directed at Zelda. At least at first!

    While Dante does get a curious glance, she's grateful enough to not even question further. She's not much of a talker, huh?

    Fear had a distinct odor to a canine, and it assaulted the wolf-beast's senses even though it was only present in the slightest of doses. While the villagers had only felt a slight wariness as opposed to outright terror because of the existence of an individual to blame their problems on, it was enough to bother him. Worse, though, was the fact that it seemed incredibly ungrateful to him.

    Scoffing a bit, the wolfman held the weight on his back for a few more moments before he finally let go and readied himself to lick his wounds, as one might have put it. Nevertheless, he did share a glance around for a moment - directed both toward those who had escaped as well as the one who had helped him out.

    When it came time for him to be the recipient of a glance, having come from Luke, Cornell had indeed found it a tad odd that the other didn't respond in much the same way as the villagers had. That actually pleased him, though some bit of a proud streak deep below the surface of his personality probably enjoyed from time to time the more odd looks that he received. Eventually, though, it seemed as though that his rage had calmed and an increasing need to recover had taken over. Thus, as a result, the tufts of fur began to retract back into his skin while a human face started to grow where his muzzle began to retreat.

    There was something...emotional about the shift, but he again shoved these thoughts to the back of his mind for now. That sort of thing would have to be dealt with later. Regardless, if he thought Luke's response was a little bit odd, Cornell could only have imagined what Luke's response to that might have been like in the end.

  It's nice to have friends who are also healers. The Hylian stirs, eyelids fluttering as the internal damage done by drawing on too much power begins to mend itself. Her breathing turns a little less desperate, and she even manages the energy to groan in vague protest.

  Zelda's eyelids flutter, and in the space of about half a second she lurches awake with a ragged gasp, tears Rydia's knife from her belt, and lashes for the Son of Sparda's face. In that instant the Hylian is fully alert, eyes bright and hard and autumn-blue, golden highlights in her hair, and that divine presence flaring to life again like a slap in the face of the supernaturally sensitive. Her skin seems strangely luminous -- that sense of divinity and light is coming from /her/.

  "DEMON!" she thunders, and there is power in her voice -- and also a little horror, maybe because she knows, instinctually, that she's injured. Terra may have to restrain Zelda a little as she lashes out again with her knife, but the Hylian is too disoriented to actually clip Dante with the small blade. He's fast enough that dodging it would be trivial.

    Dante...sighs. He tilts his head just enough that the knife leaves a glancing strike, before he gives Zelda a bemused look. He's had this happen before, but at least now he's not holding someone over a massive abyss. Credit where it's due, he keeps Zelda held up in his arms before he kneels down and sets her on the ground. "Ow. You're welcome, by the way." He says in a dry tone, already feeling the cut on his neck knit together far too swiftly for any normal human being.

    Speaking of injuries, he only just realizes he's been shot, and pries the crossbow bolt in his shoulder out in a nasty spray of blood, likely nicking an artery. This too heals quickly, and he's gracious enough to avoid spraying anybody's clothes in the red stuff. "Don't bother trying to patch me up, kiddo. I'm built tougher than the normal human." He smiles to Terra, in the event she tries to cast Cure.

    "Think I better vamoose, unless you'd rather let her vent whatever's going on with her on me. Nice work by the way."

    Luke's lack of reaction for Cornell was in no way a lack of respect, but more like, he seemed slightly less extraordinary than the seemingly human people doing super crazy things. He is from a world where humanoid creatures with super strength might not be completely unheard off (at least one pokemon comes to mind), and the wolf man was helping!. Since Zelda and the others seemed busy, he does approach Cornell, "Are you ok?, I wanted to say thanks for helping with this situation, I...", he gets close en ough to notice the change happening. That certainly gives him pause, blinking a few times and just staring, ok, that was new. Still, it's not so much horror as just being intrigued... well, a bit of fear maybe, but he thinks Cornell is not likely to be dangerous.

    Admittedly, the wolf-man was, too, from a world where there were many who could do amazing things. However, there were countless numbers of such who used their powers to wreak havoc and cause pain for the innocent where he was from. Regardless, once he was again in his human state, Cornell blinked and looked over Luke. His nose twitched for a moment and once again picked up the smallest amount of noxious odor - the smell of fear that drove him so wild. Sneering, he did his best to purge it from his memory and instead stick out his hand. "Frome one warrior to another - it was an honor serving with you. Call me...Cornell. And you are?" The whole thing was rather jarring to him, but he figured that he should give Luke the benefit of the doubt - being in an out of place situation was probably every bit as obtuse to him too. Cornell's words, for what they were worth, were indeed completely honest.

  When she's set on her feet, the Hylian wavers and drops her knife, but she doesn't fall. Her head bows and her shoulders slump as she tries to gather up what little's left of her strength. That divine light winks out again. Without that blazing radiance, her hair seems darker, almost a light brown; her eyes lighter, like the soft blue of a summer sky. Entirely different from that earlier darkness.

  "Oh. Goddesses." She pales, but her trembling is probably more out of exhaustion than fear. Uncerimoniously she reaches up to swipe at her bloodied nose with a sleeve. "I--I'm so sorry, I don't--I don't know what came over me..."

  Terra might have an idea. She's seen it before.

  "Thank you for the help," she finally offers, humbly, and somewhat lamely, in the face of Dante ripping a crossbow quarrel out of his own shoulder. "Are you hurt? I can--"

  Mend your wounds, she's about to say, but he does it all by himself. She stares, unsettled, looking distracted for a fraction of a second.

  Hylia really wants to kill that thing and she's being very insistent about it in the back of Zelda's mind. Zelda is trying very, very hard to remain civil because this guy is ostensibly on her side, for the moment.

  "I'm sorry. I'm... I'm an agent of a goddess. Your nature..." Zelda gestures vaguely, picking up her knife and returning it to her belt with undue care. "It's hard to ignore. Thank you," she adds, to Terra, quietly but sincerely.

  Well, he's gone, though, so she turns back to Terra. "Let's return to Snowpeak. The others will be wondering what's become of us." Raising a hand, she places two fingers to her lips and shrills a sharp whistle; further away, the stallion answers with its own whistle, thundering back to them.

  Zelda swings herself into the saddle and reins him to a halt, extending a hand for Terra to climb aboard.

    Luke tries his best to calm down, especially as he realizes he might upset Cornell, who didn't really meant anything, he does not really know much about wolfmen, beyond seeing a wolf person before. He is quick to return the gesture, reaching for the offered hand, "It's nice to meet you Cornell, you can call me Luke." he replies, and rubs the back of his head. "I think my pokemon deserve more of that praise, they do the hard work, I just lead them." he says with a grin. He is still new to even having humans able to do half of what he has seen here, at least alone, so he was quite out of his element as well, it was good to focus on just talking to someone.

     As it appears that everything that had transpired had begun to calm down, a new figure would join the group. Though he could have been there the entire time and just not have been noticed. It's a cloaked figure, covering his entire body except his head, where a simple tattered dark blue head band remains, keeping his long hair out of his face, even if one of his bangs covers his left eye. 

     This figure was Sasuke Uchiha. While he doesn't seem to mind the group, the wandering Konoha Ninja seems to just be passing through. Though...more than a few of the people here get a bit of a curious glance thrown their way, even though he says nothing.

    Naturally, one might have thought that Cornell's handshake was rather heavy, but he had assumed that Luke would have had quite the strong grip himself. Anyway, in his culture a good strong handshake meant that you were a trustworthy person. "It's clear that you and your...monsters are they? Pokemon you say? You make quite a team." He then frowned a bit as he realized that he was still very much in pain himself at the moment. "You are unhurt I assume? Let me know if you need any assistance." While he needed to recover, he figured it was prudent enough to ask for the time being. It seemed like the villagers were tending to themselves for now, and he hadn't had any requests for further assistance just yet. That was when his sinuses were assaulted by an entirely new odor. Turning around with a sudden gesture, he saw what he thought was...a ninja off in the distance?

    The whole outburst after healing Zelda catches Terra /completely/ off guard! She reaches out but it's all so sudden. No time to do much but help take control of Zelda as Dante puts her down.

    "You were hurt and-" Well, it's hard to describe, at least for Terra, someone like Zelda as scared but she totally thinks it for a moment. Dante's demonstration of ripping the quarrel from his body makes her pale just a bit. Blood isn't new but the casual manner it was shed...

    "No, you've done the same for me. I wish I could do more." Then, it's back to that reserved demeanor. She's got a lot to think about, as always. "Alright."

    She reaches up for Zelda's hand but she's mindful to not lean too hard on her weary companion. "Oh, no. I think I dropped the apples."

Luke Gray smiles and shakes the hand the best he can! which is not quite impressive really, but he tried! He seems honored at the praise from the wolfman and nods, "Pokemon, but monsters work I figure... thank you." he says softly. "Yes, thankfully I managed to stay away from the danger, so I am unhurt, and I'll give Agni a proper check once I can get to a proper hospital to a proper checkup and rest, and... I might need some time to calm down, but I hope to talk to you again sometime." he offers, bowing politely before he begins making his way away, searching for a way back.

  "I... know." Zelda looks haggard and disoriented, and she eventually shakes her head in dismissal. She reaches down to grip Terra's hand and haul her aboard, although her arm trembles, and Terra might need to climb under her own power a little more. "Never mind. Let's go back. I... I'm exhausted."

  She glances briefly to the structure she had been supporting, and while more cracks riddle its surface, it held long enough to get everyone out. Even the princess can't help a flutter of pride at that.

  That knowledge can help her suffer through the monstrous headache she can feel brewing. Drawing on Hylia's gift is always rough on her, especially in such measure and desperation. She's gonna regret it later.

  Once Terra is safely astride the horse behind her, Zelda claps her heels to its sides, sending it into a ground-eating trot for the nearest Vine.

  Which will, this time, hopefully take her to the /correct/ location.

    In spite of the fact that Luke didn't have quite as strong a grip as Cornell had hoped for, he could tell that the Pokemon trainer had certainly tried and that meant plenty to him. People who offered you fishy or wimpy handshakes could be easily discounted, because they were trying to hide something. "Pokemon? I'll have to keep that name in mind for the future. Your...Pokemon are lucky to have someone like you to look after them as such." Since he'd never heard of them, the werebeast warrior couldn't have possibly known how ironic it was that he used the term monster when Pokemon had indeed been a contraction of the words pocket and monster. Standing back a bit, he allowed his shoulders to simply droop for the time and nodded again with a more sincere expression on his face. "I have a feeling that this isn't going to be the only mission the two of us fight together on." With a toothy grin, he gave Luke a gesture of farewell.