Yummei, Lacene, & Athena

Athena quickly partnered up with one of her new class members Yummei. She grabbed Yummei's hand & slowly creaked open the door, & peered out into the dark long hallway. Getting nervous she wanted to push Yummei out 1st took the lead & tried to act responsible as the teacher & began to lead the way. Moving slowly & fearfully te 2 disapeared out of sight.

As Yummei and Athena walked down the dark hallway, they heard a door creak open ahead of them. Slightly scared Yummei had the sudden urge to run away charge forward and find out what was down the hall.

Athena recognized that both she & Yummei were scared! she wished her armor wasn't as creeky as the dore ahead She got ready to grab the axe attacthed to her belt as th door creeked over farther. Suddenly there was a big gust of wind that blew down the hallway, sweeping with it hundreds of pages. Athena showed a knowing glance with yummei as they realized they were at the library. Maybe someone left open a window? was what Athena thought. So she Yummei advanced as they heard a loud growl come from behind the door. Athena grabbed Yummei's hand, practically throwing her, & ran as fast as she could to the 2nd story stairs & lcoked the door behind them.

They were now in a picth black stairwell that was seemingly endless & noises were coming from everyside.....

Trying to ignore the noises Yummei took Athena's hand and started up the pitch black stairwell. About halfway up they heard a noise from behind them that sounded like something was trying to break down the door they had locked behind them. They glanced back toward the door, but saw nothing so they continued up the stairs at a mad dash more hurried pace.

Once they dashed up the stairs, Athena suddenly stopped. She listened closely to see if the monster was still behind them, having animal ears, she could pick up more noises than Yummei. Her face turned pale as she realized it had broken down the door & was catching up to them & qucikly. From the sound of it the creature was quite large. Yummei & Athena froze in horror as they could see an ominous glowing light turning around the corner. They both turned to run away but Athena tripped over a stair. & fell flat on her face..

Yummei turned around and helped Athena up as the ominous glowing light got closer and closer. They ran to the closest door and went inside as they heard the creature follow them across the hall. Looking around Yummei noticed they had made it to the third floor stairs. Athena quickly locked the door before they started up the dark stairwell.

As they were off to running again, the blue light went straight through the door, & right through athena & Yummei. They saw it glowing infront of them & then it disapeared. Athena was sure there was something wrong now, that light was deffinatley in the form of a creature before. They could hear it, feel, & everything. If Haven wasn't behind this then who was?
Athena decided to stop toying around. She pulled out a whistle & blew it, but yummei heard no sigh. Out of nowhere, Kuja *athena's data* came jumping through a window. The whistle was only audible to animals. She told Yummei to hop on & then helped her up. Athena jumped on Kuja's back, infront of Yummei & their adventure continued.

Kuja continued up the stairs and onto the third floor. Once on the third floor Yummie and Athena found themselves heading toward the basement stairwell. For reasons unknown to them Kuja had made a beeline straight for the door to the basement.
A load bang came from somewhere below them. It sounded like it came from the basement.....

Athena didn't noticed the loud noise. She was to busy thinking. She had been on quite a journey so far with her student who had barely said a word yet. She started to wonder if she was doing something wrong. "Am I acting weird or something Yummei?" she finally asked. I mean i know you don't exactly want to hunt ghosts all night with your teacher. Now that I think about it at your age i wouldn't either...But I'm sure you don't want to talkabout that. What do you think is going on inside the academy? I'd say Haven is out as a choice. They wouldn't wast their time with silly tricks."

"No, no of course you're not acting weird....I was just so caught up in the ghost hunting." Yummei thought about what Athena had said before continuing, "I think you're right about this not being Haven. But I have no idea who else could be causing any of this stuff to be happening. There is definitly something strange going on.....and I'm pretty sure that the noise coming from the basement has something to do with it." She turned to Athena and said, "Wanna go down there and see if there are any clues as to what has been happening up here?"

Athena wondered if she had been to direct with Yummei. maybe just blurting out your insecurities isn't the best way to make friends with your students -.- she thought to herself, how stupid can i be? She turned her attention back to the situation. Of course, that's got to be it Yummei. Kuja take us down at full speed *because you know you'll get yummy treats later ^.~* At his masters command Kuja spead up & took off faster than most animals could. In a flash they were in the basement. When they got in their they heard the faint sound of dripping liquid. They didn't need to look to know what it was ot where it was coming from. They could see a cool blue-ish green liquid running through the far side of the basement. Like a small river. The crack in Kira must be near by & huge to produce this much matter, Athena said. As she spoke she could sense her & yummei were no longer alone in the room. How could she not notice it before! Their were shell-datas all over the basement floor. The basement covered an entire floor of the school & they could see Kira from the other side. Their could be hundreds of monsters in here, Athena said grimly. As she slowly nudged Kuja forward, she quitley reached for her battle Axe & kept alert for danger.

Yummei was good at reading people so she quickly picked up on Athena sensing monsters in the room. She pulled out her dagger, ready to strike. As her eyes slowly adjusted she started to see shell-datas all around them. Yummei slowly slipped down off of Kuja so it would be easier for her to attack if necessary. As she slipped down, little Matilda popped out of Yummei's jacket and leaped to the ground ready to claw faces off to fight by her master's side. Yummei looked toward Athena and saw her tighten her grip on Kuja's mane reasy to fight along side her data. At that moment they shared a knowing glance and knew what they had to do. They turned back to back and braced themselves as the growls and snarls all around them grew louder and louder as the shell-datas closed in.

Now that Athena & Yummei were in their battle stance, Athena hastily braced herself. A long sharp yowl sounded from within the shell-datas. From the sounds of it, it came from quite a large creature. No shock, the crack in Kira was enormous!! As it howled again, the rest of creatures scattered & ran from the awakened beast. All the chatter of the new arrivals had woken him up. As the creatures poured out of the castle Athena could see 1 large beast & a few others that dared stay in its prescence. Athenas face grew pale. She knew the shell-data infront of her all to well. It slightly resembled her own data Kuja. It was indeed a shell data crugi. More than twice Kuja's height. Its form was that of something that crawled out of the pits of hell. Its flesh had long rotted away. Athena gasped as she noticed half of its face had been eaten away by bugs that feasted on his rotting flesh. He made a large narly growl & Kuja wimpered aloud. "Don't show him your fear" Athena whispered to Kuja as he started to back away. "We can kick this big mutts butt any day of the week, & Yummei & matti have your back." At Athenas encouragement Kuja stopped backing away & held his ground. he stared the beast directly in the eye & let out a war cry. Just as he did, another shell-data rammed him from the side. The battle had begun. Athena grabbed her axe, Furious that she had been taked by suprise & showed no mercy as she lopped off its head.

Lacene has wandered into the basement long ago, her staff out. Her mind definitely NOT calm. She held Kula tight and advanced forward slowly, hearing snarls and growls. Followed by yelps of pain, she tightened her grip on her staff, really wishing she had her magic at this moment to aid her. She walked in slowly and quietly only to be welcomed by a large group of shell data's as well as a battle, wincing as Athena decapitated one of them. She knew better than to feel bad for it but she couldn't help but feel a bit of sadness. Whispering to her data and sprinkling her special faerie dust on her data, the data was all too used to this. You see the faerie dust would give her the ability to fly only for awhile until she gave her more. She toke to the air silently, stopping her dust production for the moment so she could have the aerial assault, taking a breath to calm herself she toke her staff. It had a sharp jewel on the top so it could pierce things easily. Whispering a sorry for second she threw it fast as a shell data tried to sneak up on Athena, it pierced through its heart easily, calling it back to her it flew back to her hand. When Athena looked up quickly she waved shyly.

Yummei readied herself as she saw 3 shell-datas getting ready to charge her and Matti. She could her the begining of the battle happening behind her as Athena and Kuja took down shell-data after shell-data. When the first one sprang, Yummei dropped down and thrust her dagger straight into its heart. Matti quickly dispatched the other 2 that came running towards her and her master. Yummei had just enough time to glance behind her to see Athena chop off the head of the closest shell-data and Kuja slice another one with his sharp claws. She quickly turned back to the oncoming wave of shell-datas. Matti quickly jumped on the shell-data that charged at her holding it down for Yummei to chop of its head.

Athena heard a loud thud behind her whirled around just intime to see the lacene had just saved her. The gave a small hand nod of thanks to lacene & beckoned her over to join in. Athena assumed she had just arrived because she had not sensed her presence earlier. & with all the fighting she didn't notice her entance. Athena felt bad that these poor souls would never find rest until death. While it was hard to kill them, she carried on. After all this is what she was trained to do.
Athena didn't like feeling as if she owed anyone, & nothing made her feel more like this more than when someone saved her life. So she had Kuja take the lead in defense & kept an eye on Lacene till she could return the favor. As she was watching lacene, the enormous Crugi Shell-Data wacked Kuja & Athena & sent them flying across the room. They skidded to a halt, but Kuja was unconscious, & as Athena looked around for her weapon, she saw it snapped into 2 pieces. As the shell-data noticed she was defenceless, it started to approach her. Athena was left on the floor, helpless, as it started forward.

Yummei heard a loud thud come from behind her. She quickly turned around and saw Athena and Kuja lying on the floor as a large Crugi shell-data started towards them. Yummei snapped her fingers to get Matti's attention and they quickly raced over to where the large shell-data crept toward Athena. As soon as they made it over there Yummei and Matti took their stances around them. She reached for her backup dagger, which she kept in a holster on her leg, and handed it over to Athena.

Lacene watched in horror as the shell data crugi sent them flying. She toke one of the bottles she kept with her sometimes and gave it to Kula "Kula. Sneak over to Kuja and hold this up to his nose. It should be enough to jolt him awake." Kula made a sound of protest but nodded. Using the flight abilty Lacene had lent her she snuck over to Kuja holding the bottle out to him. Kula didn"t notice a shell data around her size advance on her however. And Lacene was too busy focusing on how to distract the large shell curgi. Finally she just prayed she didn't get murdered and flew near the large shell data "Hey! Curgi! Pick on someone who actually has a weapon!" watching as the shell data turned to her angrily.

Athena grabbed the dagger out of the air & charged. While Kuja wasn't next to Kula, his nose was quite sensitive & whatever was in that bottle woke him instantly once Kula was close enough. He jump to his feet & immediatley saw the Shell closing in on Kula. He Jumped full force & bit into its neck & killed it instantly. But he noticed something strange. Instead of dying it started to dissolve. Whatever was up, he couldn't think. he went for Athena & lunged himself under her & got her on his back. Together they charged the large shell Crugi & jabbed at his legs in attempt to bring him down.

Kula was a bit shaken up. Kula wasn't bulit for battle. Her kind was good at being lap pets. The most she could do is use a very small amount of magic. She flew back up to her master as Lacene was distracting the large beast as Kuja and Athena charged it.

(( Bed time for me here. I'll respond when I get up in the morning~ Night! ))

OOC: Ok =3 same for me anyways
Athena took advantage of the distraction of Lacene & called to Yummei, "Hey, maybe we could double team him!! I happen to know Kuja is sensitive in the hind legs. So if you can get the Shell-data there, maybe he'll have the same weackness. And when he turs around, I can have Kuja lung me onto his back so I can get closer to the head."

"Good idea," Yummei said as her and Matti raced around to the back of the large shell-data, thankful for the distration Lacene was providing. When the hind legs were within reach Yummei and Matti started attacking. "Get ready Athena," Yummei said as the shell-data started kicking out with its hind legs.

Athena saw her chance as the data started to thrash it legs back & turned its hed in the direction yummei & her small cat Matilda. Athena nudged Kuja & he lept and did a half turn, dumping Athena onto the creature's back. She ran up his spine towards his head, but he was moving too muc. So she grabbed a lock of his matted mane & held tight. She began digging her dagger into his neck over & over. It seemed to be effective as the shell data howled & fell to his knees. However he wasnt dead jus yet. As the data fell, athena jumped off rolled so she wouldn't get bitten.

Lacene watched as the large shell data fell to its knees, wincing at the smell of rotting flesh that just got to her nose. Yelping when something bites her leg, she looked down and saw a shell data biting into her leg, hissing in pain she kicked it and stabbed it with her staff. Grateful she could still fly and keep the pressure off her leg. But she knew after this was all finished she would need to dress the wound or it would get infected.

Athena could smell the blood as soon as Lacene got bit so she decided to end this quickly. "Kuja!" she yelled. "Finish him off." Kuja lept at the command and bit the large Shell in the neck until he killed it. Once the large shell died, all the other shells in the room slowly disintagrated. "They must have been a creation of that big shell-data. A cheap trick." Athena said angrily.