Will I find something in there to give me just what I need

[joinmyreunion]

There were advantages to having a reputation for being a brat.

For one thing, no one thought that Kadaj might be useful to whatever powerplaying machinations they had on the go. He wasn't important enough to be in anyone's way, and he wasn't significant enough to court. He was just there. Being a brat. He wasn't powerful enough for anyone to worry about him, or even give him much thought.

So when people approached Kadaj they were either really far up a particular infamous creek for allies, or they were just genuinely being nice. Or perhaps curious.

Kadaj wasn't one hundred percent on where the Lucians fell on that spectrum. The stuffy nerd had been working his ass off befriending everyone and anyone that crossed his path. He lived in the kitchen more than Nel, but unlike Nel, seemed to enjoy being there. The guy had missed his calling as a restaurant cook and somehow ended up being sent to make nice with the sort of dickheads Khamja attracted.

The big brawny one had concentrated on making an impression on the girls. Well, it was either effort or the fact he dressed like some lost leather daddy and constantly had his muscles out. He was affable once you got past the rough tough guy look, though. Kadaj kind of liked him.

He was still on the fence about the nerd.

So when Gladio had asked about seeing a summoning, Kadaj hadn't seen reason to refuse. Aeons weren't really a thing on Jylland. Tayuya had been pretty sure that there weren't any Fayths there, and without the War history it sort of figured.

It also gave Kadaj a bit of a chance to show off, and he wasn't about to turn that down.

The underground training facility was nicely deserted, and despite the sand the weather had been set to the 'probably the Calm Lands' setting, so the projected skies were clear, and the wind was low.

Tayuya twirled her flute between her fingers. They'd made sure to leave their audience far enough back that they wouldn't get covered in debris. "Ready?" he asked Tayuya, unsheathing Souba. Working with Even had improved his magical ability, and, not that he was ready to admit it, his tactical acumen, but you had to work with Aeons to improve your bond, just like you did a Zanpakuto.

Comments

[shieldoftheprince]

Ifrit was awesome to behold, but Bahamut... Bahamut held a special splace in Gladio's heart.

He'd seen many depictions of a creature called by that name, sleek black dragons on four legs with reptilian muzzles and claws like scythes and wings like a bat's, metallic silver wyrms with mirror scales, deep purple and red creatures with more spiked protrusions than you could shake a stick at .... it was a side-effect of the name, the word, 'Bahamut' being used as general word to describe a dragon as well as as a proper noun.

Bahamut was the name of the dragon that adorned the armour and standard of the Kingsglaive. It was always wrought in silver, so its colours were never really fully realised in use, but books that depicted the figure's full design didn't spare the brighter hues that adorned the wings, always shown as a stylised fan of blades, or stick to the monotones of dragons seen in nature.

This... was far closer to the Bahamut he knew than he had ever expected of a Lowerworld Aeon.

His mouth hung open as he looked it over, taking in every detail as though if he looked away, it might disappear back into the pages of a fanciful reference book.

[thatsit]

Ignis breathed in slowly through his nose. Bahamut's power was palpable, and the majesty of his entrance was breathtaking.

Bahamut meant dragon, and dragons came in many shapes, but this was the closest to the Bahamut of Lucian iconography that Ignis had ever seen. It was like seeing mythology with one's own eyes. From the style of the wings, reminiscent of blades, and the way it held them, to the haughty confidence in its stance, Ignis had seen this Bahamut a hundred thousand times on the sigils and crests of the Glaive uniform.

"My word," he said, and pushed his glasses up with one finger.

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj sheathed Souba and threw Tayuya a sour look. She'd started it. She'd been the one to go the whole hog and show off what Summoning could look like to the Lucians first.

"We stop when they tire," he reaffirmed, ignoring her comments. Aeons were sturdy, and might be made of reishi, but they reacted to getting tired and weak just like people did. You could see when someone else's Aeon was flagging, when they'd been pushed, and were still being pushed. He'd seen Bahamut drop his cocky dick stance, and Ifrit was no different. That was the time that you needed to call them back. Even if you were new and didn't have a grasp yet on what their power felt like, and should feel like, and how it would change over the course of a battle, you could see them getting weary.

You only pushed them further if your life depended on it, or if you were an idiot that didn't care about your bond with them.

Like Kadaj used to be.

[soundfivebitch]

"Don't need to tell me twice," Tayuya replied. "Go," she commanded, throwing her arm out towards Bahamut.

Ifrit didn't hesitate. The second the word was spoke he leapt forward, swinging a huge clawed paw at Bahamut. Both of these Aeons were strong in the physical category. Ifrit had an affinity for fire, which also meant an unfortunate weakness for water and ice. Kadaj, however, had never bothered much about his Aeons' magical abilities before, which had always hobbled their performance.

One thing Bahamut was good at though was evasion. He was a fucker for it, especially when you didn't want him to be, and the cocky shit sidestepped out of the way of Ifrit's claws as if it was no big deal.

"I fucking hate when he does that," she hissed.

[shieldoftheprince]

Gladio watched, barely keeping the joy from his face. He felt like a kid watching his first chocobo race or, lately, Blitzball match. He hadn't been sure what to expect, and there wasn't the infectious enthusiasm and anticipation of a packed stadium, but he was nonetheless excited to see how this match would play out.

It was strange to see those two Aeons paired up for a battle. Ifrit looked every bit a wild beast, all claws and horns and fur and mane while the lines of Bahamut's form looked curiously inorganic, almost robotic. The overly smooth, nearly unnatural move it made to avoid Ifrit's swing just hit that home.

[thatsit]

Ignis contained his joy at the spectacle better than Gladio did, but his mind raced as he watched. These Aeons held a power on par with some of the fiercest daemons, and were an unknown weapon on Jylland. Something like this could, potentially, help Lucis defend itself.

They were fascinating, powerful, and rather quite beautiful in their otherworldly grace. It almost felt like a privilege to see two Aeons standing before him, exchanging blows for his edification.

"Perhaps I'm biased," he said softly, "but I find myself rooting for Kadaj."

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj grinned at Tayuya's complaint. "I don't," he replied. "Retaliate," he instructed Bahamut. He wanted to build up his Overdrive a little, although he'd never use it on one of Tayuay's Aeons because he'd never, ever stop bouncing. He'd just have to wait for Tayuya to have Ifrit bust out some magical attacks.

In the meantime, well, showing the Lucians just how hard a dragon could smack something seemed only fair.

[soundfivebitch]

Bahamut lifted from the ground and glided over to Ifrit. Ifrit braced himself, knowing what was coming, but Tayuya still felt the blow when it landed. The ground seemed to reverberate with it.

Ifrit shook his head, shaking the force of it off as Bahamut came to rest by Kadaj's side once more.

"Firaga," she responded, calmly. Bahamut could more than weather that sort of spell, but it would still hit him pretty hard.

Ifrit spread his arms, gathering the magic, and then let it loose. Bahamut became engulfed in roaring flames, and reeled.

[shieldoftheprince]

"They're both pretty cool," he said, fairly. "But... yeah."

He wondered if just anybody could get an Aeon. He had never been good at magic, or the more esoteric arts in general and his fighting style tended towards the 'hit it until it stops moving' so he didn't know if he'd be any good with an Aeon, if it was even possible for him to get one, but the idea of it appealed to him like the new fad toy advert appealed to kids before Hogswatch.

Pitting Aeon against Aeon was like a crazy, large-scale dogfight, but he expected they were less showy and more visceral in an actual battle against actual risks. More visceral and more awesome, in the correct sense of the word.

[thatsit]

Ignis couldn't help but smile. It was a difficult bias to resist; faced with a proud, almost mechanical looking Bahamut, and a smaller, more animalistic horned beast, Ignis was inclined towards the dragon.

Even if his elemental affinity called him to Ifrit. The Aeon felt like fire personified, and as it cast a spell under Tayuya's command Ignis could feel the power of it building before Ifrit let it go.

"They're breathtaking," he said, softly, adding his own words to Gladio's summation of them as 'pretty cool'.

[joinmyreunion]

Bahamut reeled from the magical attack, drawing back as if it would help him evade the spell. It didn't. Kadaj grit his teeth. Ifrit's fire was pretty powerful, and Tayuya was using every ounce of her elemental affinity with him.

It hurt. Bahamut was pretty strong, but it still hurt.

"Attack," he answered, keeping his eyes trained on Tayuya.

Bahamut reared forward, still smoking in places, and gave Ifrit a smack that echoed.

[soundfivebitch]

"Boost," Tayuya hissed, seeing the incoming attack. Ifrit had hit Bahamut pretty hard, but Bahamut could smack just as hard if it came to it. She wasn't about to use Ifrit's Overdrive in a sparring match, but it would be handy to help build his reserves up again if she needed to summon him out in the wild.

She swore she could feel the thump run through the floor. Ifrit didn't try to dodge, taking the damage like a champ. He probably wouldn't weather too many more blows, though. "Hang in there," she told him, moving closer.

[shieldoftheprince]

"Any idea what happens when one of them's beaten?" He asked.

Ignis, of course, had little idea about Aeons. They weren't his forte, even if information on them was available in Lucis, or even on Eos in general. Did they disappear, heading back through magical arrays like they had been summoned through, or did they simply fade to steam like Daemons did? He supposed they'd get to find out.

[thatsit]

Ignis opened his mouth to answer, and then stopped himself. He'd read a little about Aeons since finding out both that they existed and that some members in the Palace were Summoners, but it had rather been like trying to understand complex mathematics without ever having seen it before. He'd gleaned a little, but a lot more eluded him.

He closed his mouth and pushed his glasses up with his fingers spread across the frames. "Not a clue," he admitted. He did not admit ignorance easily.

[joinmyreunion]

Bahamut stood proudly by Kadaj's side, dwarfing him. If Tayuya was boosting Ifrit then she was alright with him taking some more damage yet. If she got worried she could always command Ifrit to heal himself with a fire spell.

Kadaj had never found magic spells to be worth the energy output compared to just smacking an enemy, but time with Even had changed his mind at least a little.

"Watera," he instructed.

[soundfivebitch]

Tayuya's eyes widened when she heard Kadaj's command. "Defend!" she shouted, not that it would stop a fucking water spell from hurting like a motherfucker against her fire elemental Aeon.

Bahamut spread his arms as he cast, his fingers curling as the spell took hold and Ifrit was drenched in a surge of water. It would have got her too had it not been for the protective barrier Ifrit's presence created.

Ifrit blocked what he could, his huge paws shielding him from at least some of it, but the spell still hurt. "Firaga," she spat back, before Ifrit had completely recovered. Her eyes were set on Kadaj. "Bastard." He was using Ifrit's elemental affinity against him, playing to his weaknesses, which was good, it showed improvement, but he was still a bastard for casting a fucking water spell on her Aeon.

[shieldoftheprince]

In spite of him being on Bahamut's side for this little match, he winced when he doused his opponent in a torrent of water. Aeons seemed very much to be their elemental affinity made flesh, or ... reishi, at any rate, and that probably meant they felt the hit from an attack of the opposing one twice as hard as anybody else did.

Ice might have been worse, Gladio wasn't sure, his elemental rock-paper-scissors was a little rusty, but Water must have sucked.

Ifrit seemed to recover well enough, but even Gladio could tell that it was flagging slightly under its sodden fur.

[thatsit]

Ignis pursed his lips. Bahamut was using mid-tier -ra spells against Ifrit's -ga attacks. Was that because Bahamut didn't know the stronger spells, or because Kadaj was holding back? That might be something he had to ask.

Ifrit was definitely flagging. Bahamut hit hard, both physically and magically. Bahamut was faring better, but perhaps that was down to his base stats more than anything else. Ignis wondered how much of a beating Ifrit would be able to take if he was being summoned by a novice summoner right now, instead of Tayuya.

[joinmyreunion]

Bahamut was engulfed in flame again, and Kadaj winced. He could take more, a lot more, but if Tayuya was walloping him as hard as Ifrit could he wouldn't last forever.

Would he last long enough for him to chip Ifrit safely down until Tayuya surrendered? He couldn't be sure.

He grit his teeth. "Heal," he instructed, and held his hand up at Tayuya.

Bahamut was scorched in places, and he hadn't dropped his stance but he wouldn't hold it through another hit like that. He drew himself up at Kadaj's instruction, and cure magic swirled around him, smoothing over the worst hit parts.

"Thank you," Kadaj told him.

[soundfivebitch]

Tayuya blinked when Kadaj lifted his hand, palm out towards her in their mutually understood halt sign, and then cured his Aeon. She didn't think she'd ever seen him have one use healing magic before.

They were done, then. Healing in sparring was cheating. "Your turn," she said, turning to Ifrit. Ifrit cast with one paw, engulfing himself in his own flame and recovering himself. Then she stepped up to him and stroked his muzzle. His fur was soft, and hot under her fingers. "Well done."

[shieldoftheprince]

Gladio glanced at Ignis, fairly sure that a healing session signaled the end of the match. It had been a good one, showcasing their abilities, both natural and magical, pretty well. He'd read that they had multiple personal, unique abilities, but he figured they were too powerful to be using in sparring matches, so he knew it would likely be a real battle he had to witness those in.

"Well, I'm impressed," he said, in Lucian, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand.

[thatsit]

"They're truly magnificent," Ignis agreed, slipping into their native tongue. "I suspect this was but a taste of their true power."

They both had much more to give, that was clear from their reiatsu. Ignis had never felt the like before; they were overwhelming, and yet lacked that crushing pressure the powerful could wield. It was expertly controlled, enough to give the sense but not enough to affect bystanders.

It was also strangely soothing. Ifrit's fire seemed welcoming, and familiar to Ignis as another fire elemental. Bahamut showed no elemental affinity, and yet there was serenity in his power.

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj dismissed Bahamut with a bow. The Aeon dissipated into light, and a lone pyrefly ascended slowly to the heavens. The soft wail made Kadaj's hair stand on end, and he waited until it had stopped before he made his way to the Lucians.

"If you want a real show we'd have to go to The Island Closest To Hell," he said, "but the stakes are higher." A lot higher, but if they wanted to see Bahamut's Overdrive it would have to be against something worth it.

[soundfivebitch]

Tayuya dismissed Ifrit, and then followed Kadaj over to their audience. She didn't understand a word of what was being said between them, but she understood Kadaj's comment well enough.

"I'll pass," she said. She didn't want to go making any long trips to monster riddled places just to flex her Summoning muscles.

"What did you think?" she asked, looking at the two Lucians.

[shieldoftheprince]

"Impressive," Gladio said, switching back to Ivalician. "Not something I could manage, but... damn."

The closest thing to Aeons on Eos were Remnants and they weren't anywhere near as easy to come by. They were bonded to one person at once and tended to be either city-sized monsters tethered to the mayor or president of any given city state, or weapon-types more comparable to Zanpakuto than Aeons. They used Chakra directly, as a power source, making many of them dangerous unless you were one of those with vast, vast reserves of it, and they were generally handed down through families as heirlooms or ancestral weapons.