VG Rumble

(Alright, have fun. I'm going to leave the next post with the lava golem up to Ayumi since her character is fighting it too.)

Luke, Warren and Izuki fought their hardest against the rock golem but none of their attacks seemed to affect it. They tried attacking one part of it at once and knocked the rocks it used for legs away from it but the rocks just rolled back and reformed with the creature.

"This isn't working!" Izuki shouted.

In an act of desperation Luke called upon his earth magic. He thrust both his hands forward and a path of jagged rocks formed between him and the creature in a straight line. When the rocks came out of the ground under the creature it fell apart. Luke felt his usual wave of exhaustion from using that attack but it was significantly less than what he usually felt. If he had to he felt he could use the same attack again.

The rock golem reformed again adding the rocks from Luke's attack to its body. His attack had done nothing except add something sharp to its body. "What's its weakness?" Luke murmured.

Karana realized it would take forever to defeat it at this rate. Just blasting it piece by piece would take too long and waste too much strength...What could they do?

"Move!" Ilum pushed the girls to the side as the lava golem's foot came down almost on top of them. "Damn, this thing's tough!"

"Ilum! Raven! I have an idea!" Karana shouted as she continued blasting the beast with her ice magic. They followed suit as they listened carefully.

"Two aim for the neck, from either side, and one keeps a constant pressure on its chest! Hold it back from the lava! We can rotate positions so we won't get tired so fast!"

They all nodded as they took up positions. Ilum stepped in front of the beast first, slamming into it with his magic as Raven and Karana impaled its neck and head.


**Is this okay?**

They all worked together to put Karana's plan into action. Raven went to one side of the creature and Ilum went to the other, aiming their spells at its arms like Karana had instructed. Karana took a spot in front of the lava golem and blasted its chest with ice magic. They heard a protesting rumble from inside the creature as they held it at bay.

After a few moments its arm came off from Ilum's attacks, then its other arm from Raven's water spells. Its entire body seemed to melt into the ground under the weight of their spells.

That was until it let out a shrill shriek as the lava that formed its body rose up in the shape of a molten bird. Its giant eye blinked through the lava that was its body and stared down at Ilum. He took the chance to exploit its weak spot by firing an ice spell at its eye but the creature batted it away with its now wing shaped arm. The lava on its body just under its giant eye parted and out came a boulder of fire and rock. It crashed down in front of Ilum and threw him backward toward the edge of the platform they were fighting on. Ilum grabbed a hold of the edge just in time before felling into the lake of lava below.

"Ilum!" Karana bolted to her fiance that hung helplessly above certain death. As Ilum struggled to climb back up the edge under his grip began to crumble until it broke completely. Karana made it just in time to grab his arm before he fell into the lava. There he hung with only the strength of the woman he loved to keep him from death. "I've got you, Ilum!"

The creature turned its sights toward Raven now. It looked down at her with its giant blood-shot eye. She was alone against the lava golem.

No, not alone, she thought as she remembered the words of the Esper, Shiva.

I am forever in your service. I will fight for you should the need arise.

______________

As Luke fired off yet another void spell he caught motion at the corner of his eye. Ilum had just fallen over the edge and Karana was trying to pull him back up. "Warren!"

"What is it? I'm a little busy here!" he said as he cast another wind spell to hold back the rock golem.

"Help Ilum!"

Warren glanced over his shoulder to see Karana and Ilum and the kind of trouble they were in. He nodded and ran over to help them.

"Now what!?" Izuki exclaimed. "With Warren gone how are we going to defeat this thing?"

"I don't know," Luke said as he cast another spell. "Just keep holding it back until we can figure out its weakness!"

With Warren adding more bulk and strength, they finally pulled a horrified Ilum up over the edge, where he just sat panting for a moment.

"You okay?" Warren asked his best friend as Ilum regained his nerves.

"Yeah," Ilum nodded. "Let's kill these things!"

With that, the trio stood and returned to their teams, Karana and Ilum with Raven, and Warren with Luke and Izuki. They blasted the monsters even harder than before, putting all of their strength into the attacks. Bit by bit, the lava golem shrunk, but grew only fiercer.

"There has to be a way! Raven, got any ideas?!" Karana shouted as she dove away from an attack.

Raven's face had an expression of realization.

(This would be post #8, so 7 more posts until the battle is over.)

Raven closed her eyes and focused on calling the Esper, Shiva. When she opened her eyes again she found herself standing in a room covered in ice. The cold ice was calming, inviting, especially after being in the volcano for so long. She took a few steps forward and looked at her reflection an the surface of one of the larger pieces of ice. But it wasn't her reflection she saw, it was Shiva's.

Raven opened her eyes again, this time to find herself back inside the volcano. She heard someone's voice. "Raven!" Karana came to her side. "Did you hear me?"

"No."

"Move!" Karana pushed her to the side as the lava golem shot a boulder of molten rock at them. As Karana helped Raven to her feet she asked, "What were you doing? You were just standing there, Ilum and I tried calling to you but you wouldn't answer!"

"I was calling her," Raven said.

Karana gave her an odd look. "Her?"

A white mist blew through the volcano, swirling like a small whirlwind in front of Karana and Raven. A patch of ice began to form on the ground despite the room's high temperatures. The ice suddenly spiked upward creating a spire of ice, in the center of the ice was the blue skinned beauty that they fought on Mt. Gigazet. She broke through the ice and stood in front of Karana and Raven facing the enemy.

Karana beamed when she saw Shiva. Hope had come at last! With Shiva, the lava would cool so fast, the golem would drastically slow down and weaken. Then it could help with the rock one.

"Let's go!" Ilum commanded, blasting the lava golem again, this time aiming for its head. Karana soon joined him, and then Raven. Shiva moved around gracefully, using magic of her own against both creatures as the heroes battled on.


**All I can think of...I'm in pain right now from my sunburn. I've got blisters, its so bad!**

Raven told everyone to stand back as Shiva squared off against the lava golem. Luke and the others were keeping the rock golem occupied so it would try to interfere.

The Esper lifted her arms and spires of ice formed over the creature. She brought her arms down and the spires followed, piercing into the creature's body and holding it down. Even though the spires were made out of ice they were so cold that instead of melting they cooled the lava around them, turning it into rock.

With the enemy's movements halted Shiva was able to deliver the final attack. She lifted her arms over her head and drew in cold energy in her hands. When the energy was too strong to contain she thrust her arms forward, releasing a beam of cold energy at the lava golem. The energy froze the creature solid, containing it in a giant block of ice. Shiva took a step back at see what she had done and smiled at her work. She snapped her fingers and all the ice exploded in shattered pieces, throwing ice shards and hardened lava all over the place. Luckily none of it hit the heros.

With the lava golem Shiva disappeared in a gust of cold wind. Raven knew the attack had drained the Esper's energy and she wouldn't have been able to help them with the rock golem. At least now they could focus all their strength on one giant enemy instead of two.

Karana jumped up next to Izuki, tossing powerful ice attacks into the mix. Ilum and Raven filled in on either side of Luke. The positions had the golem completely surrounded.

"What should we do with this one?" Raven asked Luke as they continued to blast it. It had to have some kind of weakness. If they defeated the lava one, they could defeat this one.


**Sorry, all I've got...**

Luke thought furiously of a way to defeat this creature as he fired yet another blast of void. He hit a relatively small rock on the golem. The blast from the spell threw the rock over the edge of the platform and into the lake of lava below. Unlike all the other times when the golem lost parts of itself and they came rolling back to the creature this one sank in the lava.

Luke had one of those a-ha! moments when he realized how they could defeat this thing. He turned to Karana and Ilum. "Karana, turn the ground between the golem and the edge into ice! Ilum, use your gravity magic to push the golem across the ice and over the edge!"

(I've kinda lost count of the posts, so why don't we just finish this?)

**Well, this is post 13. Close enough!**

Karana focused her magic on the ground. With effort, the ground between the wall and the edge was covered with several inches of ice. Karana was wearing herself out trying to maintain the substance's temperature. The lava was too hot.

Ilum pushed against the golem with his own magic, making the monster slide along the ice, closer to the edge. He heard Karana groan in effort and distress; he could tell it was almost too much for her to handle. He instinctively warped gravity more, making the golem slip farther and faster. Finally, it fell over and let out a horrible roar of what must have been agony. It sank into the lava, never to return.

Karana let go of the magic and fell to her knees, panting. "We did it..."

Ilum gained Level 2 Gravity!
Karana gained Level 3 Burst of Strength!
Raven gained Level 2 Lightning!
Warren gained Level 2 Lightning!
Luke gained Level 3 Void!
Izuki gained Level 3 Wind!


Current Abilities:

Ilum:
Level 3 Ice
Level 3 Fire
Level 2 Gravity (Advanced) UP!!!
Level 3 Burst of Strength (Skill)

Karana:
Level 3 Fire
Level 3 Lightning
Level 3 Ice
Level 2 Meteor (Advanced)
Level 3 Burst of Speed (Skill)
Level 3 Burst of Strength (Skill) UP!!!
Ifrit (Summon)

Raven:
Level 3 Healing
Level 3 Water
Level 3 Lightning UP!!!
Level 1 Holy (Advanced)
Level 2 Empathy (Skill)
Level 2 Metaphysical Shield (Skill)
Shiva (Summon)

Warren:
Level 3 Wind
Level 3 Lightning UP!!!
Level 2 Time (Advanced)
Level 3 Enhanced Sight (Skill)

Luke:
Level 3 Lightning
Level 3 Void UP!!!
Level 2 Healing
Level 2 Earth (Advanced)
Level 3 Shadow (Skill)
Level 3 Intimidate (Skill)
Leviathan (Summon)

Izuki:
Level 3 Void
Level 3 Wind UP!!!
Level 1 Bio (Advanced)
Level 3 Unlock (Skill)
Level 2 Burst of Speed (Skill)

Ilum ran to her side as soon as it was done. He gently checked her body for any injuries as Raven used her magic to heal any of them.

"I'm fine, Ilum," Karana insisted, finally putting her hands over his. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, thanks to you."

The others stood around as Ilum helped Karana to her feet. She was exhausted and staggered slightly. A good night's rest would help.

They all looked at the stone. Finally, they had it.

The Pyrolith suddenly flashed with a bright red light before floating down toward the group. Karana held out her arms as it landed gently into her hands. The surface of it was bright red. As she looked into the stone she saw that it was burning on the inside, like an eternal flame that could turn anything to ash.

"Two down, one more to go," Karana said.

As Luke put his sword back into his sheath he said, "Let's get out of here."

They stood still, simply looking around. They had fallen into the core of the volcano, and there was no way to get back up. It was a straight drop...

Then Izuki spotted a ray of light. She pointed at it, and there was a shaft. It was a small climb, but accessible. You could see the sky outside.

"Let's try it," Warren strode forward, and began to examine the area. "Looks stable enough. Shall we?"

They followed the shaft up until they found level ground. They followed it until they arrived outside. The boat was still waiting for them.

They were back on the boat in the afternoon. Luke was talking to the captain.

"You want to go where?" Rick asked.

"Can you get us there or not?" Luke asked.

"Well, yes, I can sail under it but it's not going to do you guys much good if you can't fly."

Luke sighed and nodded. "Yes, I understand. If you could do this one last thing for us we would greatly appreciate it."

"You guys opened the docks back up, the least I can do is take you to your next destination."

Luke nodded. "Thank you, Rick." He went back to the others. Everyone was huddled around the Pyrolith, staring at it with awe. "Everyone, listen up."

"Did you talk to Rick?" Raven asked as she came up to him and curled her arms around his chest.

Luke wrapped an arm around Raven's waist and said, "It's just as I feared, unless we have a means to fly we can't get into the Wind Tower."

Everyone sighed in defeat. They didn't have any way to fly so they were stuck. Warren on the other hand didn't seem the least bit disappointed. "Is that all?" he asked.

"Yes. Why, do you know another way in?" Luke asked skeptically.

"Just get the boat under this floating castle of yours and I'll do the rest."

(I've already got an idea of how the group is going to get into the tower so I want to post that part.)